MISSILE "CRISIS" . . . CALLING DR. STRANGELOVE!

A false report from a Russian news agency that Moscow had shot down a Western combat missile touched off a brief international crisis today, as several European countries and the U.S. scrambled for explanations. The report by Interfax, a Russian news agency, cited an unidentified military source reporting that a missile launched from northern Europe was destroyed at 10:30 a.m. (2:30 a.m. EST). The killer missile turned out to be a NASA-funded research rocket, launched from Oslo, Norway, to study the Northern lights. "We are a little puzzled by the report," said Erik Lanke, spokesman for the Norwegian Supreme Defense Command in Oslo after the Interfax report. Spokesmen for NATO, several European countries and President Clinton said they were looking into the matter. When the dust settled, Interfax blamed a high-ranking - and not suprisingly, still unidentified -- military source for the error.