March 8, 1993

The Economy Plunging interest rates are putting money into the pockets of millions of Americans and many corporations. And so far they have been using this new-found cash mostly to reduce their debts, behaving with much more wariness than in the past. [ Page D1. ] President Clinton has chosen Joseph E. Stiglitz to be the third member of the Council of Economic Advisers, Administration officials say. Many economists view the highly regarded Stanford University professor as an odds-on favorite to win a Nobel Memorial Prize at some point in his career. [ D1. ]

The Compaq Computer Corporation intends to announce several new desktop and notebook-size computers on Monday, each with more features and in some cases at prices lower than those on previous models of its machines. Analysts said the aggressive moves by Compaq were likely to touch off another round of price cuts by the International Business Machines Corporation, Dell Computer and other companies in the intense battle for market share that Compaq started in the personal computer industry last June. The pricing war, along with a race to package more software, services and other features with their machines, has forced companies to cut costs as rapidly as possible as their profitability eroded or, in some cases, evaporated.

In cramped, unheated rooms on the outskirts of Amman, the relatives of Mohammed A. Salameh, the man charged in the bombing of the World Trade Center, gathered today and pondered the magnitude of the crime and the infamy that has befallen their name. "He went to the United States to get a job and make money," said Aysha Salameh, his mother, as she keened to and fro in a red vinyl chair and clutched a damp tissue. "He went to make something of himself, to speak English, to study, to have a future. And now they say that he did all this, that he did this bomb. No, no, no . . . "

Brian is a 3-year-old towhead who throws so many tantrums that his playmates, who like him anyway, call him Cryin' Brian. Heather has blond hair down to her waist and a purposeful expression. She is 8 years old, but older children gravitate toward her as something of a leader.

When it became possible, Sergei Vishnevsky's grandfather sent him to Moscow to study for the priesthood so he could come back and take over his country parish. It took him 45 years, but Father Sergei came back. Two years ago, he quit his large, rich parish in Moscow, made his way by train, bus and foot to his grandfather's church deep in the forests and bogs of the upper Volga valley, picked up a broom and started sweeping out the decades of debris and neglect.