August 10, 1993

VICTORIA ELIZABETH FOE seems to have the wrong voice for the rest of her. On the telephone she sounds small and timid, like a character from a moody novella who sits by herself at a corner table, sipping tea and dispassionately reviewing the minor disappointments of her life. But in person, when she lets loose and starts talking about her work as a developmental biologist who spends days upon nights peering into a microscope, observing the earliest moments of embryonic life and charting every throb and tremble of every individual cell, she expands to epic dimensions and superlatives fly.

If one measure of influence in this power-hungry city is the number of people someone represents, Olena Berg, while hardly a household name, could well lay claim to being among the mightiest. As the nation's top pension regulator, Ms. Berg, who took office last month, has a constituency numbering around 50 million. Her economic reach is even greater: she is the watchdog for $2.3 trillion in pension investments, nearly 40 percent of the nation's total financial assets.

Is the corporate president an endangered species in high-tech America? John F. Welch Jr., chairman of General Electric, has long resisted having one. Two weeks ago, Louis V. Gerstner Jr., I.B.M.'s new chairman, said he had no intention of picking a president. And yesterday, another big computer company, the Unisys Corporation, said it was eliminating its president's position as part of a reorganization.

International The Clinton Administration's low-key support for the North American Free Trade Agreement has angered the pact's backers, who contend that the White House has botched the lobbying effort and made passing the accord much more difficult. [ Page A1. ] Chancellor Helmut Kohl of Germany cast doubt on the European Community's timetable for creating a single currency by 1999, saying the process might be delayed a year or two. [ D2. ] The Economy The nation's top pension regulator says she will be asking fund managers to consider how their investments can contribute to "the long-run health of the economy." [ D1. ]

The emergency program to inspect for asbestos in New York City's public schools has advanced more slowly than expected in its first days, and city officials said yesterday that they would have to add new platoons of inspectors to have any hope of finishing the job before classes resume in September. Inspectors who began on Saturday to collect samples of wall plaster and other materials had worked their way through only 21 schools by yesterday morning, and the unexpected extent of wall damage they found in most buildings will force them to return for more samples, the officials said.

The NATO allies approved procedures and targets today for air strikes against Bosnian Serb nationalist forces if they kept up their strangulation of Sarajevo. But they put off a specific bombing decision and confirmed that such missions would not begin without specific approval by the Secretary General of the United Nations. NATO airplanes and coordination procedures with United Nations peacekeeping forces in Bosnia and Herzegovina are already in place. The actual decision to launch attacks would depend on additional judgments -- that the Serbs were tightening the noose around Sarajevo and other besieged areas, and then only after all 16 allies met here again to approve.

Slow Start on Asbestos The emergency asbestos inspection program in New York City's public schools has advanced more slowly in its first days than expected. Page B1. Dinkins Begins Radio Ads Mayor Dinkins says his campaign will hit the radio airwaves in an effort to get money and volunteers via a toll-free telephone number. Page B1. C.I.A. Agent Killed A diplomat was shot and killed near Tbilisi, Georgia, and officials identified him as an agent of the Central Intelligence Agency. Page A6.

Fearfully, painfully, the nations of Western Europe are recognizing that immigration is probably the most explosive problem they face, and they are taking drastic steps to fend off unwanted foreigners. France, Germany, Britain -- all the Western European countries, from Sweden to Greece -- feel that they are under siege as hundreds of thousands of poor people cross the newly opened borders of Eastern Europe or flee economically desperate countries in Africa and Southeast Asia.

President Clinton opened a drive yesterday to convince the American public of what he narrowly managed to convince Congress last week: that his $496 billion package of spending cuts and tax increases was worthy of its support. The White House billed the President's visit to West Virginia as a victory lap to celebrate Congressional approval of his five-year economic plan. But his campaign-style rally reflected the Administration's view that though the plan had passed, it remained to be sold.

How do you keep well-fed gulls swimming in your drinking water from doing what gulls do? Other cities have covered their reservoirs with plastic, in the equivalent of a tent. But this is New York, and so city officials are drafting plans for concrete, the equivalent of a pyramid. When investigators traced an outbreak of bacteria in city tap water to gulls at the Hillview reservoir in Yonkers this month, city officials said the problem was temporary because they had plans to cover the reservoir with a concrete deck topped with a reflecting pool.

The yield on the 30-year Treasury bond shattered the 6.50 percent level yesterday, falling to 6.46 percent, as the bond market rallied across the board. But the rally, traders and analysts said, was not necessarily a positive response to Congressional approval of President Clinton's deficit reduction plan late Friday. Rather, the rally resulted from a host of factors, including the fact that the 30-year bond seemed to take on a life of its own, an indication that its spectacular performance was not a reflection of overall market sentiment.

The United States will not be able to withdraw its troops from Somalia as long as Gen. Mohammed Farah Aidid's faction remains a disruptive political and military force there, senior Clinton Administration officials said today. The assessment came the day after four American soldiers were killed in Somalia, and it reflects the gradual expansion of Washington's original mission from a short-term relief operation to a lengthier effort to bring stability to the country.