February 5, 1992

In unusually direct language, Alan Greenspan, chairman of the Federal Reserve, said today that the central bank had not ruled out further interest rate cuts as insurance to push the economy out of its doldrums. In testifying before the House Budget Committee, Mr. Greenspan, the nation's most influential economic policy maker, seemed to aim his remarks at the nation's financial markets, which had tumbled last week after he testified before the Senate Banking Committee.

On a narrow street near art galleries and boutiques, next door to an acupuncturist who trades in Chinese herbs, is an encouraging sign of how the nation's scientific best and brightest might redirect themselves now that the cold war is over. It is the Prediction Company, a private spinoff of the Los Alamos laboratory, the birthplace of the atomic bomb high in the mountains near here. Computers and young men with ponytails dot the office. Company scientists, once on the Federal payroll, are now private entrepreneurs using world-class skills in chaos theory to predict the rise and fall of stocks and bonds. Some Win, Some Hunker Down "We have something that wins," J. Doyne Farmer, 39 years old, a company founder and theoretical physicist, said with an easy smile, his computer screen alive with numbers.

Congress voted overwhelmingly today to extend unemployment benefits for two million jobless people for 13 more weeks, agreeing on an issue that inspired bitter debate much of last year. President Bush has promised to sign the bill quickly. The quick and nearly simultaneous actions of the House and the Senate demonstrate that the White House and Congressional Republicans want to avoid being portrayed as insensitive to the needs of those who have been hard hit by the recession in an election year.

Lifted by an active stock market that generated commissions for its brokerage subsidiary and buoyed by lower operating costs in its retail operations, Sears, Roebuck & Company yesterday reported sharply higher earnings for the fourth quarter and full year. Earnings for the fourth quarter, which ended Dec. 31, jumped 35.5 percent, to $513.1 million, from $378.8 million in the period a year earlier. In the fourth quarter of 1990, income had been reduced by a pretax charge of $264.4 million to pay for the costs of laying off more than 33,000 employees and consolidating some operations.

Attica Trial Jury Gives Mixed Verdict A Federal jury found a former Attica deputy warden liable on two civil claims of having overseen brutal reprisals against inmates. But it rejected claims that the former Corrections Commissioner, Russell G. Oswald, failed to provide adequate medical care to inmates. Page B1. Venezuela Repulses Coup Soldiers repulsed an attack by rebel troops and tanks on the presidential palace. A leading paper said 70 were killed and 300 arrested. Page A10. U.S. to Ease Haiti Embargo The Bush Administration said it would modify its embargo against Haiti's Government to ease the plight of workers made jobless. Page A8. Whistle-Blower's Fate The Government found that a technician at a nuclear plant was told to sit in a room filled with toxic chemicals and do useless work. Page A16. Sumo Movie Canceled Sony Pictures canceled the filming of "Hell Camp," a comedy about Americans in Japan, after the Sumo Association refused to cooperate. Page C15.

Mayor David N. Dinkins moved yesterday to quiet feuding between members of his administration and of a mayoral commission on the homeless that has called for sweeping changes in New York City's shelter system. In his first public comment on the commission's recommendations, the Mayor said he was open to all of its proposals, including rent subsidies for the homeless and creation of a new agency to manage programs for the homeless.

IN an evening that had some of the pomp of the Academy Awards but lacked the polish, the Council of Fashion Designers of America held its 11th annual awards ceremony and dinner Monday night at Lincoln Center. Among the winners were Isaac Mizrahi, as designer of the year; Karl Lagerfeld, the Chanel designer, for his accessories, and Ralph Lauren, who received the council's lifetime achievement award.

NEW YORK CITY THE MAYOR WEIGHS IN Mayor Dinkins moved to quiet feuding between members of his own administration and a mayoral commission on the homeless that has called for sweeping changes in the city's shelter system. In his first public comment on the commission's recommendations, the Mayor said he was open to all of its proposals, including rent subsidies for the homeless and the creation of a new agency to manage programs for the homeless. A1. DEPUTY MAYOR TO RESIGN Deputy Mayor Milton Mollen, who for two years oversaw New York City's vast criminal-justice programs and coordinated the Dinkins administration's anti-crime policies, will resign tomorrow or Friday to accept a private job, city officials said. He will be the highest ranking official to leave the Dinkins administration. B3. MR. DINKINS GOES TO ALBANY Mayor Dinkins went to Albany to lobby for approval of the local tax increases he has proposed in his budget and for a rejection of cuts in social-service programs proposed by Governor Cuomo. But as in previous trips to Albany, the Mayor was greeted by the harsh realities of the state's complex politics and fiscal plight. B3. TAXATION BY FEAR In his opening statement, a prosecutor argued that an organized-crime faction headed by Thomas Gambino used fear conjured by the Gambino name to extort a "mob tax" on every garment delivery in New York City. B3. Neighbor charged with slaying woman, 87. B2. Setback in Gotti jury selection. B2. REGION KEY RULING ON MEDICARE In a decision that could have national repercussions, a Federal appeals court ruled that New York State must pick up the difference between what doctors and hospitals charge for treating elderly poor patients and what Medicare pays in reimbursements. B5. DEFENSE ON THE OFFENSIVE Continuing the defense attack on the state's contention that Phillip Pannell was killed with his arms raised, an expert witness testified that there is no scientifically sound way to duplicate the position or movement of the teen-ager's arms at the moment he was shot by Officer Gary Spath of Teaneck. B4. RECOMMENDATIONS ON TESTING An eight-month study by a panel of educators will recommend to the New Jersey Board of Education the uniform testing of fourth-, eighth- and eleventh-grade students in science, civics, geography and history as well as the core skills of reading, writing and mathematics in an effort to establish a statewide educational assessment and monitoring system. B5. PUTTING THEIR FAITH IN FISH The New Jersey State Aquarium will open on Feb. 29 in Camden amid expectations that it will be an immediate tourist attraction and the anchor for a host of waterfront projects that will end the city's long economic and social slide. B5. Suffolk Executive calls for building sale and up to 1,000 layoffs. B5. Shipyard plans up to 4,000 layoffs. B4. New York State sells $85 million in bonds. B4. Life imitates the movies on L.I. B2. Neediest Cases B6 About New York B3

TWO years ago, Binh Duong, who fled Vietnam in 1975 as Saigon fell, returned for a visit during Tet, the Lunar New Year. "It was the first time I had heard the firecrackers again and, oh, man, it made me so happy," he said. Mr. Duong, who owns Truc Orient Express, a restaurant in Hartford, and La Truc Restaurant in Boca Raton, Fla., explained that during the war, the Government had forbidden New Year firecrackers because they could be mistaken for gunfire. "They still don't celebrate like before, but slowly it's getting bigger and bigger," he said.

A jury in a civil suit found yesterday that Hambrecht & Quist, a prominent venture-capital and investment banking firm, and Coopers & Lybrand, the accounting firm, behaved fraudulently and negligently in connection with the Miniscribe Corporation, a disk drive manufacturer accused of falsifying its financial records. The jury, in a state district court in Galveston, Tex., assessed damages of more than $550 million against Coopers & Lybrand and Hambrecht & Quist, as well as against William R. Hambrecht, founder of the investment firm, and against Q. T. Wiles, a noted corporate turnaround expert who ran Miniscribe for several years when the actions being questioned occurred.

Guided by ancient maps and sharp-eyed surveys from space, archeologists and explorers have discovered a lost city deep in the sands of Arabia, and they are virtually sure it is Ubar, the fabled entrepot of the rich frankincense trade thousands of years ago. Leaders of the expedition reported that excavations so far have uncovered the ruins of eight towers and adjoining walls and deposits of pottery dating to Roman times and as far back as 2,000 B.C., perhaps earlier. They said the location and size of the site and evidence of a violent destruction appeared to match historical accounts of Ubar's rise and fall.

A New York State Supreme Court judge ruled yesterday that the Dinkins administration has violated the city's mandatory recycling law by failing to collect the required amount of paper, glass, metal and plastic. The city's recycling effort has fallen sharply behind targets mandated in a 1989 law because of severe budget problems that have frozen expansion of the program for the past two years. Under the law, the city's Sanitation Department is required to recycle 2,100 tons of its 17,000 tons of daily residential trash by April. But city officials have said that they would be lucky to reach 1,000 tons a day this year. New Law Considered The ruling is a victory for environmentalists, who said yesterday that the decision will force the city to move ahead faster on recycling. They intend to ask the judge to set a new deadline for the city to comply with the law. But the City Council leadership said yesterday that the 1989 goals are unachievable and that it is considering legislation to scale back the targets. And aides to Mayor Dinkins said they are working with the City Council to amend the law.