June 17, 1993

ONCE upon a time in the Philippines, 10,000-odd miles from the nearest Knoll International furniture showroom in New York City, Charlotte and Jacques Raven, young residents of Manila with a penchant for classic modern furniture, bought a pair of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe's chrome-and-leather Barcelona chairs for at least $1,000 less than the original. They were knockoffs, of course, made to the German architect's original 1929 specifications by Filipino artisans, but the two X-frame chairs with matching ottomans cost the Ravens 50 percent less than the Mies-approved editions manufactured by Knoll. Better yet, the imitations looked just as good as the real thing. Only an expert could spot the difference; five years later, a child could.

Legislative leaders in Albany said that they had agreed to toughen penalties on motorists caught driving with suspended licenses. For the first time, the authorities would be able to bring felony charges against the most serious repeat offenders. Article, page B1.

AT first glance, it seems a simple portrait of privileged Southern living -- a sparkling backyard pool, a family gathered in a comfortable den, a four-foot-wide television that flickers with camcorder images of a relative's sprawling new home. Only one thing suggests that Carol Rasco has seen more than suburban comfort. That is the figure strapped in a wheelchair. That is her son, Hamp.

The system of limiting rent increases on apartments in New York City and surrounding counties is under the most determined attack in nearly two decades, with the system's defenders and opponents in the Legislature locked in an uncommon test of wills. The current law, known as rent stabilization, was to expire at midnight Tuesday. But with only minutes to spare, the Legislature passed, and Gov. Mario M. Cuomo signed, an extension of the law that will last eight days, allowing a continuance of the fight over one of the most sensitive laws on the books of New York.

Prostate cancer is being diagnosed at a higher rate than ever before, according to new data from the National Cancer Institute. And as more cancers are diagnosed, record numbers of men are undergoing radiation or operations to remove the prostate. But no evidence exists to show that this aggressive effort to diagnose and treat the cancer has had any effect in improving survival. And most of the increase in diagnosis can be attributed to new, more advanced diagnostic techniques, researchers say. 16% Increase Reported In fact, they say, more cancers are being caught at an earlier, more treatable stage. The real risk is in the treatment. Removal of the prostate not only has a higher death rate than comparable kinds of surgery, but it can also cause impotence and incontinence in large numbers of patients.

As several new reports emerged yesterday of cans of Pepsi-Cola containing needles or syringes, executives at the company's headquarters in Somers, N.Y., intensified their efforts to allay fears that public safety was at risk. In general, the company won high marks for its response from marketing experts and stock analysts, and also from its retailers, nearly all of whom continue to sell Pepsi products. However, some crisis-management consultants questioned whether the company was doing enough.

No one knows how much criminal money flows through Jackson Heights, but no one doubts the current is steady and strong. On its busy and peaceful surface, the Queens neighborhood is like so many others where immigrants settle into new lives. People work hard, buy houses and shops and send money to the places they once called home. Most of the enterprise is legal. But Jackson Heights is also the home to Little Colombia -- where high-level drug dealers operate and where much of their cash is laundered through travel agencies and wire transfer services that line Roosevelt Avenue in conspicuous numbers. By coincidence, the community is also the city's new capital for houses of prostitution.

There is something fascinating about seeing the rich get poorer, and the spectacle is even more engrossing when it involves a storied location -- Rockefeller Center -- and storied owners as well. It was just a few years ago -- 1989 to be exact -- when the Rockefeller family created an uproar by selling 80 percent of the center's owner, the privately held Rockefeller Group, to the giant Mitsubishi Estate Company of Japan. (The other 20 percent of this symbol of American capitalism remained in the family's hands.)

Plan From Serbs and Croats Serbian and Croatian leaders proposed scrapping the Bosnian peace plan and placing Muslims in two separate landlocked areas. Page A3. Easing German Citizenship Responding to pressure after fatal attacks on Turks in Germany, Chancellor Helmut Kohl announced steps to make citizenship easier. Page A6. Doubts in Pepsi Tampering Reports of syringes in cans of Pepsi-Cola mounted, but the nation's chief food and drug regulator expressed doubt about their validity. Page A16. Window on Immigrant Crime Because of its drug dealing, money laundering and prostitution, Jackson Heights, Queens, offers a glimpse into immigrant crime. Page B1. Bulls Close In on Title The Chicago Bulls got 55 points from Michael Jordan and beat the Phoenix Suns, 111-105, to move one victory away form the N.B.A. title. Page B13.

THEY give rhythm to summer evenings and rainbows to the late afternoon. They are the heartbeat of suburbia, all those Impulsilators and Revoluons, Hydro-Fans and Aqua-Guns, Time-a-Matics and Travel-Matics, pulsators, oscillators and revolvers, turrets and spikes, sleds and rings. Sprinklers are mechanical sculpture, miniature monuments to the American obsession with the lawn. They are unnatural objects in natural settings: high-tech objects in low-rise turf. Sit in your lawn chair and contemplate long enough and they begin to evoke larger models: the fountains of Rome or the Central Valley irrigation project.

Nigeria's planned return to civilian rule was suspended today when a commission appointed by the military leaders set aside the results of Saturday's presidential elections. There had been growing indications that the candidate of the Social Democratic Party, Moshood Abiola, was well on his way to a resounding triumph over his rival, Bashir Tofa, of the National Republican Convention. Both had campaigned against military rule.

United States and allied forces mounted a major strike tonight against the leader of the dominant Somali faction in an effort to destroy his base of operations in Mogadishu and rout him from his headquarters. United States officials said the aim of the air and ground attack on the commander, Gen. Mohammed Farah Aidid, was to end his ability to disrupt United Nations operations and to eliminate him as a factor in Somali politics.