July 15, 1992

Moderates' Hour of Truth Since its founding, the Democratic Leadership Council has argued that it knows best how to put a Democrat back into the White House. Now it will be put to the test. Page A7. Protester Confronts Clinton Bill Clinton's heavily scripted convention schedule was marred by an anti-abortion protester who thrust a fetus in a plastic container at him as he was leaving his hotel. Page A11. Six Minutes in the Limelight Four members of Congress will speak tonight on "Democratic values." And so will the Manhattan Borough President. Page A9. Other Winners, and Losers What determines who wins and who loses among party hosts, actual and would-be, this week? Politics, naturally. The Living Section, page C1. And Back at the Ranch . . . President Bush is the guest of his Secretary of State, who, many Republicans hope, will take over the Bush campaign. Political Memo, page A13.

Concern on Fetal Test Some experts expressed fear that a widely used prenatal test might cause birth defects in a small number of babies. But others say the data are inconclusive. Health, page C13. An American in Belgrade Milan Panic, a Serbian-American, took over as Prime Minister of a smaller Yugoslavia. He raised hackles, declaring Bosnia is free. Page A6. Bush Limits Nuclear Tests Limits are being set on nuclear testing in a decision that might reverberate in Congress but is not expected to have much real impact. Page A5.

David N. Demarest can't get a credit card but his debts are history. The two mortgages on his apartment and the credit card bills that forced him into bankruptcy last year are paid now. Recently, he bought his dream car, a Jeep Cherokee, with cash. Such is the difference three months can make.

A Federal judge in Brooklyn ruled yesterday that the Government acted illegally when it seized abortion pills from a pregnant woman as she entered the United States two weeks ago. But before the pills could be returned to her a Federal appeals court ordered a delay. The Federal district judge, Charles P. Sifton, refused to order the Government to lift its overall ban on importing the drug, the French pill RU486. But his ruling said that other women, acting individually, could ask Customs agents to allow them to import it for personal use.

A judge has ordered New York State to pay a Utica nurse $5.4 million after she contracted the virus that causes AIDS from a prisoner during a frenzied scuffle at a hospital in 1988. The judge determined that two corrections officers assigned to the prisoner had done nothing to restrain him as he punched and kicked at a medical team and the nurse was jabbed with a hypodermic needle containing his infected blood. The decision, by a Court of Claims judge in Binghamton, includes the largest pain-and-suffering award the state has ever been required to pay a victim. Legal experts said today that they believed it was one of the largest civil awards in the country to result from a person's being infected with H.I.V., the virus that causes AIDS. Graphic Description The ruling was unusual in its graphic description of the events leading to the infection, including testimony from a fellow nurse who described the look of horror that crossed the plaintiff's face as the infected needle plunged into the palm of her hand.