May 29, 1992

The Serbian Orthodox Church urged the President of Serbia to step aside and backed a boycott of elections for a new parliament. Page A10.

INVITE an unusually large number of choreographers to present 11 new works for the New York City Ballet in five days, proclaim that the series is aimed at developing the classical ballet makers of the future and you are taking on one big self-imposed gamble. Well, we may not have seen the future, but we have seen the opening of City Ballet's Diamond Project, and it works.

The number of Americans filing initial claims for unemployment benefits fell to a seven-month low in mid-May, the Government said today in a report that suggests the labor market is regaining vigor. First-time claims fell to 403,000 in the week ended May 16 from 407,000 the previous week, the Labor Department said.

It was with an unmistakable air of satisfaction that George Hammer Jr., the son of a Manhattan real-estate appraiser and grandson of a Bronx developer, plunked a cardboard box with 97 property-tax complaints on the counter in the town assessor's office and demanded to be heard. For three years, until an appellate court ruling last month, Mr. Hammer, a realtor and owner of a Montauk hotel, had been something of a nonperson in East Hampton, ignored by officials as he battled for justice for overtaxed homeowners -- and a 50 percent contingency fee.

Centel, which announced on Wednesday that it planned to merge with Sprint, appeared yesterday to be in the midst of a full-scale revolt by institutional investors outraged at Centel's tentative $3 billion sale price. That price is far below the $4 billion or more that investors had expected the Centel Corporation to bring and that some of them still consider possible. Centel's shares plunged nearly 25 percent in value yesterday in feverish trading.