January 2, 1993

Joe Kraus tries not to think about race, but being retired, he's got time on his hands. The other day, as he sat near two other elderly white men playing cards in a Bronx social club, Mr. Kraus allowed himself this simple proposition: People can live together peaceably, more or less. He did not have to look far for proof. As his friends played rummy, Jose Rivera sat across the hall explaining the invention he hopes will make him rich: United States Patent No. 4,598,918, the sideways-skating roller skate. Behind a partition, eight children grunted as Kevin Hall, a black kung fu teacher, said to them, once again: concentrate, concentrate.

Jason Daubert, of San Diego, was born 19 years ago with only two fingers on his right hand and without a lower bone on his right arm. Eric Schuller, 12, also of San Diego, was born without a left hand and with one leg shorter than the other. As birth defects go, limb deformities like theirs are relatively common, afflicting about 1 in 2,000 American infants born each year. Yet these two boys' stories could help shape thousands of legal decisions now mired in a debate over what sort of scientific evidence should be admissible before a jury and what sort of credentials a scientist or other expert must possess to take the witness stand.

Late last fall, a dark sedan carrying a group of olive-uniformed army officers raced down University Avenue in Yangon toward the home of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the dissident who won the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize for her campaign to bring democracy to Myanmar, the nation once called Burma. As a group of startled neighbors looked on, the officers stepped from the car in front of Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi's lakeside villa and ordered laborers to begin rolling up the long coils of barbed wire that had been placed there the year before.

Paradise Loses Visitors What with hurricanes and the economy, Hawaii's tourism industry declined in 1992. And some Hawaiians say that's good. Page 6. Salvadoran Warned on Pact The U.N. Secretary General warned President Cristiani that he appeared to have violated the accord that ended 12 years of civil war. Page 3. Vote Fraud Cited in Kenya Citing what they called cheating, opposition parties in Kenya said they would not accept the outcome of this week's elections. Page 3. Tufts Chancellor Dies Dr. Jean Mayer, a leading nutritionist who led Tufts University for 16 years, suffered a heart attack. Page 9.

As United States troops blocked roads and posted armed lookouts on rooftops, President Bush ventured today into the epicenter of the Somalia famine, praising the American forces that had successfully escorted food convoys but pledging that when the time comes, "we'll do what I told the American people we'll do -- we'll leave." Later, the United States military command said the withdrawal of American troops from Somalia could begin by the end of January.