February 27, 1993

President Clinton declared today that having spent trillions of dollars to win the cold war, the United States must summon the will to spend much more than planned in Russia and the other former Soviet republics "to support democracy's success where Communism failed." Documents sent to Capitol Hill with the President's economic message last week, but little noticed at the time, indicated the President will ask for $700 million in aid next year for the former Soviet republics, nearly doubling the $417 million allotted for this year. Mr. Clinton, who plans to meet with President Boris N. Yeltsin of Russia on April 4, said "the world will suffer" if Russia's tottering economic reforms collapse. [ Excerpts, page 6. ] Wants America to Compete In a speech at American University consciously evocative of one delivered there 30 years ago by John F. Kennedy, the President endorsed the broad thrust of former President George Bush's trade policies. But at the same time, he sent two signals of change with his call for greater support for Russia and a suggestion that he would demand progress on human rights as the price for continued growth in trade with China.

It depended on where you were in the towers when it came. For some the warning was a trembling underfoot or just a blank computer screen and flickering lights. For others, it was a shocking noise. One woman was blown out of her high heels. Another, desk chair and all, sank into the floor. And then, instantly it seemed, came the billowing smoke and the chilling realization that you had to get out of there. The Face of Death There were those who panicked, those who coolly absorbed it, those who got sick to their stomach and those who saw the face of death. No one was sure what had happened; did a plane hit the building, was it an earthquake, had lightning struck? Many wondered why there seemed to be no evacuation plan and no guidance -- not realizing that the blast had knocked out the center's operations center.

Economy Ended 1992 With Robust Growth The gross domestic product grew at the robust rate of 4.8 percent in the final three months of 1992, the best quarterly performance in five years and a full percentage point higher than initial estimates. Page 35. Judge Rebuffs Gay Group On St. Patrick's Parade A Federal judge ruled that New York City cannot order the Ancient Order of Hibernians to include a gay contingent in the annual St. Patrick's Day Parade up Fifth Avenue. The city will not appeal. Page 21. Bosnia Sees a Turning Point After hearing of American plans to airdrop relief supplies, many Bosnians said they sensed a major change in their plight. Page 5.

An explosion apparently caused by a car bomb in an underground garage shook the World Trade Center in lower Manhattan with the force of a small earthquake shortly after noon yesterday, collapsing walls and floors, igniting fires and plunging the city's largest building complex into a maelstrom of smoke, darkness and fearful chaos. The police said the blast killed at least five people and left more than 650 others injured, mostly with smoke inhalation or minor burns, but dozens with cuts, bruises, broken bones or serious burns. The police said 476 were treated at hospitals and the rest by rescue and medical crews at the scene.

Traffic snarled to a standstill in lower Manhattan. Major arteries downtown closed, and a half-dozen subway lines were rerouted. Nervous relatives jammed the 911 emergency lines. And an anxiety that began in lower Manhattan at lunchtime yesterday grew infectious as the day grew long, generating a restless buzz throughout New York City. As news spread that the explosion at the World Trade Center -- which the F.B.I. said may have been caused by a car bomb -- had been followed by a bomb scare at and evacuation of the Empire State Building, nerves began to fray. Drivers sitting bumper to bumper on Canal Street leaned on their horns, waiting over an hour to enter the Holland Tunnel. Subway riders jostled their way onto overcrowded trains, pondering their commuters' headaches as well as what seemed to be a different kind of urban terrorism. An Eerie Quiet on Closed Streets "It's frightening," said Charles Sampey, 34 years old, a building superintendent riding the IRT No. 3 downtown at 6 P.M. "You'd expect more to get robbed in New York than to get hit by a terrorist bomb."