June 17, 1991

On the eve of a visit to the United States, Brazil's President and his new Economy Minister said in interviews here today that they planned to speed up talks with commercial banks over Brazil's $50 billion foreign debt. "We have a sense of urgency," Marcilio Marques Moreira, the Economy Minister, said of the debt impasse which has moved little in the first 15 months of the Government here. "I hope that by the end of the year we might have it wrapped up."

Two weeks after New York City officials removed about 150 homeless people from Tompkins Square Park and closed it for renovations, a thick cloud of tension permeates its East Village neighborhood. Bitter animosities remain between groups of residents, some of whom wanted the homeless people out and others who argued to let them be, as well as between demonstrators rallying to have the park reopened and scores of police officers assigned to the area to maintain a tenuous peace.

Airbus Industrie plans to announce this week that the Federal Express Corporation, the express airfreight carrier, will order up to 75 new cargo planes from Airbus in a $6 billion deal, officials from the European aircraft consortium said. The deal, which is set to be announced at the Paris Air Show in the next few days, will be one of Airbus's biggest successes in the American market, which has long been dominated by Boeing and McDonnell Douglas. The order will also be the consortium's largest ever for cargo aircraft.

When four Canadian tourists burned to death in a fiery collision with a tanker truck in the Bronx last month, condolences poured in to their families from friends, strangers -- and many New York lawyers. One New York lawyer showed up at a memorial service at McCall's Bronxwood Funeral Home.

Pink Slips in New York City Thousands of city workers will get pink slips today, as officials struggle to balance the budget. Page B1. 43 Shots, One Big Question