March 23, 1993

After previously reporting a 1992 profit, Tenneco Inc. said today that it had restated last year's results to show a $1.3 billion loss partly because of a $920 million restructuring of its troubled J. I. Case farm- and construction-equipment division. The announcement caught analysts by surprise, but they generally viewed it favorably since the restructuring could help stem losses at Case, which had a $228 million operating loss last year and a $618 million loss in 1991.

THERE once was a warrior by the name of Harvest Mountain Lord. He lived in a hot, humid land by the bend in a river that flowed into another river that ran to the sea. Many were the battles he fought and the blood rituals he endured, for this warrior was ruler of the people by the bend in the river. The exploits of this warrior-king who lived more than 1,800 years ago -- perhaps another culture's King Arthur or Napoleon -- were recorded in hieroglyphics carved on a stone monument, or stela, found in 1986 in the Mexican state of Veracruz. On the face of the stela are a full-figure portrait of a richly attired man and a lengthy text telling of his rise to kingship through several years of warfare and elaborate accession rites presided over by a shaman.

The triple-witching hour, which in days past often sent stocks spinning 40 points or more in the final hour of trading, no longer casts such a possessing spell. Only once in the last 12 triple-witching days -- when three sets of options and futures contracts simultaneously expire each quarter -- has the Dow Jones industrial average moved as much as 1 percent. Last Friday, for example, the Dow gained less than 6 points.

With the showdown between Russia's executive and legislative branches now in his arena, the head of Russia's highest constitutional tribunal made an 11th-hour appeal Monday to President Boris N. Yeltsin and the Legislature to find a peaceable resolution to their menacing duel. There was no indication, however, that the President was backing down from his declaration on Saturday assuming broad powers and calling for a national vote of confidence on April 25.

KAHANE SUSPECT INNOCENT, WIFE SAYS She said she has lived on donations in a place she won't disclose because of death threats to her children. But the wife of the man tried in the killing of Rabbi Meir Kahane broke her silence and vowed to defend her husband and the men charged in the World Trade Center bombing. B2. NEW YORK CITY EDITOR MOVES DESK TO A DINER Pete Hamill, the embattled editor of The New York Post, moved his desk to a diner next door to the newspaper's South Street offices yesterday after four top news and editorial employees who were laid off by Abraham Hirschfeld last week tried to return to work but were barred by security guards. B3.