February 24, 1992

Guns have always been Izhevsk's business, even when this city on the western edge of the Ural Mountains was a ramshackle outpost of the czar's empire. In 1947, the city produced the first AK-47 rifle, which became perhaps the world's most popular automatic and arguably one of the best known products of the Soviet Union's vaunted and secretive military-industrial complex. Today, nine months after officially opening its doors to the outside world, Izhevsk finds itself on the edge of an economic void. Military contracts, which once accounted for more than 70 percent of local production, have been cut back to practically nothing, leaving factories that produce guns, rockets, anti-aircraft systems and other sophisticated equipment to fend for themselves in an empty marketplace.

ALBERTVILLE, France, Feb. 23 The XVI Winter Olympics ended today, just about the way they opened, with a curious but entertaining, tres Francaise ceremony celebrating the Games, the Savoy region of France and the Olympic spirit. Amid hundreds of local children, singers, dancers and Olympic athletes, Juan Antonio Samaranch, the president of the International Olympic Committee, beckoned the youth of the world to reconvene in Lillehammer, Norway, two years from now for the start of the Winter Olympics' new quadrennial cycle. - And wouldn't it be a treat if those Games turned out as successfully as these? For all the anxieties associated with organizing Winter Games spread across 600 square miles of mountainous terrain and holding a 16-day party for a reconfigured world, the Albertville Olympics worked. The glorious French Alps became a warm and welcoming maitre d' in sight, sound and emotion. So often, the French get a bad rap beyond their borders. Maybe in Paris, the reputation is justified. Not here. There was not a hint of haughtiness in the Haut Savoie. As the Games unfolded, the organizers and their volunteer staff of thousands could not have been friendlier or more accommodating. For that, they deserved to celebrate themselves. "We delivered what we promised," Jean-Claude Killy, the 1968 Olympic ski champion who served as co-president of the 1992 Winter Games organizing committee, said today in a final news conference. He was ebullient, proud, even jocular, admitting that "we still have not found our Colombian athletes." Colombia became the running joke of these Games. That country's athletes were on the entry lists but never appeared to compete. Anyway, 2,174 athletes did compete, a record for the Winter Games, and so did 64 countries. That was a record, too. In the grandest way, friendliness and accommodation became the themes of these Games. With the recent melting away of political philosophies that used athletes as propaganda tools, the Albertville Olympics became the first devoid of any major "us-versus-them" mentality. There were new divisions, like separate teams from Slovenia, Croatia and Yugoslavia -- and something called a Unified Team, a combination of athletes from five former Soviet republics, and separate teams from three other former Soviet republics, independent Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Not that it all made much of a difference in practice. The Unified Team finished second in the overall medal standing, with 23 to Germany's 26, and the independents won none. Nor did Yugoslavia or any of its former republics. A World Turned Upside Down

Slowing sales of consumer electronics goods and shifts in computer chip technology are cutting profits at Japan's electronics giants. Page D1.

Everything was bright orange. The horses were orange. The sky was orange. The other jockeys were orange. The stands and crowd and track were orange. Then everything went black. "For five nights in a row in the hospital, I had this nightmare," Angel Cordero, the jockey, said last week. "All I could remember was orange, because I was wearing orange silks when the spill happened, and I went somersaulting through the air. I don't remember anything else for days afterward, not being hit by the horse, not slamming into the pole, but later I was told that I kept calling out, 'Doctor, give me something for the pain.' "

In a quiet courtyard in the Bronx Saturday night, a German exchange student's adventure in New York City came to an abrupt end with a fatal knife wound to the chest. The student, Stefan Groppel, was killed by a would-be robber who did not give him a chance to resist, the police said. A second man had grabbed Mr. Groppel's girlfriend seconds earlier and had tried to rob her as the couple walked to a party at a nearby apartment.

Never mind that no one can pronounce his name or that polls show him at the bottom of the heap. Bob Mrazek will tell you he is doing quite nicely, thank you, playing the tortoise to some very big hares in New York's race for United States Senate. True, his race for the Democratic nomination isn't exactly sizzling, especially in the New York City area. But upstate the five-term Long Island Congressman, crawling from town to town with only a rental car, a driver and a map, has scored some upsets. Finally, his poor man's whistle-stop campaign is getting noticed.

Former Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr. of California won, at the least, a symbolic victory today in Maine's Presidential caucuses, vying unexpectedly for first place with former Senator Paul E. Tsongas of Massachusetts as the final votes were counted. Gov. Bill Clinton of Arkansas, originally thought to be Mr. Tsongas's main opposition, finished well back, struggling with "uncommitted" to eke out a distant third place.

Dan Rostenkowski will be leading the fight for the Democrats' middle-class tax cut in the House this week, but that does not mean he expects it to become law. Or even that he necessarily thinks it should be.

Bill Clinton is counting on a strong showing in the series of Southern primaries that culminate on March 10, and many analysts have been asking whether the widely publicized accusations of draft evasion and marital infidelity will hurt his campaign there. In interviews around the South, some voters said they were troubled by those reports. But many more said Bill Clinton the son of the South counted more than Bill Clinton the tabloid target. Article, page A16.

At Top of Time Warner, A Clash of Personalities They were a corporate odd couple: N. J. Nicholas Jr., from buttoned-down Time Inc., and Steven J. Ross, of freewheeling Warner Communications. In the wings was Mr. Nicholas's archrival, Gerald M. Levin, who now moves to the forefront. Page D1. Accord in Talks on Haiti Haiti's exiled President and legislative leaders reached agreement that may lead to a restoration of democratic government. Page A3. United Way Chief Under Fire The nation's largest charity network began an internal inquiry as its president faced accusations over spending and management. Page A12. The Mrazek Juggernaut? You still may not recognize the name, but the Long Island Congressman is making progress in his low-budget campaign for Senate. Page B1.

In a strong sign of shifting political winds in China, the official press is abruptly attacking the hard-line attitudes it espoused for the last two years and has instead started to call on the nation to emphasize economic growth and even adopt useful elements of capitalism. The pirouette was reflected in a front-page essay today in People's Daily, which in the past carried mostly dour warnings against Western subversion. Today's article, headlined "Opening up to the world and using capitalism," was the boldest in a monthlong flurry of signals that change-minded leaders may be gaining the upper hand over ideologues.

The head of the Food and Drug Administration is making clear to manufacturers of more than 100 untested medical devices already in use that they must present data from rigorous safety tests or face restrictions on their products. Like breast implants, which were restricted earlier this month, these products were in use before 1976, when a law went into effect governing Federal approval of new medical devices. The law also required Federal review of the older products but set no time table. Now the Commissioner of Food and Drugs, David A. Kessler, is making a priority of such reviews.