By Sinting Lai

EUROPE

LONDON. Oscar Wilde, who ended his life in obloquy, will be honored with a place in Westminster Abbey's memorial window near Poets' Corner next week. The Valentine's Day unveiling of a diamond-shape glass plaque inscribed with his name and dates of birth and death will coincide with the 100th anniversary of the opening night of his comic masterpiece, The Importance of Being Earnest. Wilde's pane joins those dedicated to Alexander Pope and Robert Herrick in the window, which was installed last year above the tomb of Geoffrey Chaucer and near the Poets' Corner memorials of Lord Byron and D.H. Lawrence. DRESDEN. In 1709 Augustus the Strong, King of Poland and elector of Saxony, built the ornate Taschenbergpalais as a residence for his favorite mistress. The Baroque palace, later occupied by the Wettin dynasty, was virtually destroyed by Allied bombing raids in 1945. Five decades later, the architectural treasure has been rebuilt and reopened as the Grand Hotel Taschenbergpalais Kempinski, with 213 guest rooms. Located in the heart of the city, the hotel has a fully restored facade, grand staircase and reception rooms.

THE AMERICAS

AIRLINES. A new frequent-flyer program, LatinPass, allows travelers to accrue mileage in a single account from any of 15 member carriers serving Latin America. The awards can then be redeemed on any of the carriers, which include airlines based in North, Central and South America. Call the LatinPass Service Center in Miami at (305) 870-7500.

NORTH AMERICA

U.S. Over the next nine months, the Amtrak rail-passenger network will phase in route and service reductions that will cut nationwide train service 21%. On Feb. 1 the daily Palmetto, which ran between New York City and Tampa via Washington and Charleston, was discontinued. The daily Crescent, operating between New York City and New Orleans via Washington and Atlanta, has reduced the Atlanta-New Orleans leg to three days a week. The Empire Builder will continue its daily schedule between Chicago and St. Paul-Minneapolis, but the connecting service to Seattle and Portland is now available only four times a week. The Desert Wind, which was a daily link between Chicago and Los Angeles via Salt Lake City, Utah, now runs three times a week.

WASHINGTON. This month marks the centenary of the death of Frederick Douglass, the Maryland slave born in 1818 who became the most renowned African-American voice of his generation in the U.S. antislavery movement and a relentless tribune of racial equality after the Civil War. To commemorate the abolitionist's triumphs and disappointments, the Smithsonian Institution's National Portrait Gallery this week opens ``Majestic in His Wrath: The Life of Frederick Douglass,'' an exhibition with more than 80 paintings, sculptures, photographs, engravings, documents and personal memorabilia. Through Nov. 19.