Informed Sources

JUSTICE DEPARTMENT MAY BE CAUGHT IN WEBB

Washington -- Associate Attorney General Webster Hubbell is snarling communications between the Justice Department and the White House, claim sources at the department. Hubbell is Hillary Clinton's former law partner and Bill Clinton's golfing buddy and functions as Attorney General Janet Reno's link with the White House. But the big-picture Hubbell tends to focus on issues that interest him and lets crucial details fall through the cracks. Justice aides say that's one reason the White House is sniping about being blindsided by Reno.

WHAT IS NORTH KOREA DOING WITH ITS PLUTONIUM?

Washington -- The international Atomic Energy agency will circulate a report this week detailing the agency's unsuccessful negotiations with North Korea over nuclear safeguards. Barring an eleventh-hour breakthrough, the report will say that those safeguards have broken down and that the IAEA is no longer sure what North Korea is doing with its plutonium stockpile. The iaea is likely to force the issue and refer the matter to the U.N. Security Council, which will then have to decide whether to impose sanctions on North Korea. Pyongyang has threatened to treat sanctions as an act of war.

CHINA'S GRUMPY OLD MEN

Hong Kong -- Aged Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping, who finally made an official appearance in Shanghai last week after being out of the public eye for almost a year, is the focus of much silly gossip over what seems to be a battle between him and rival Communist Party elder Chen Yun to see who can maintain his faculties longer. A source close to Deng's inner circle tells this story: the 89-year-old Deng can no longer write but can walk 50 steps; the 88-year- old Chen can write but can walk only 30 steps. Says the source: "Deng is so feeble, taking him out in public has become an enormous production."