August 20, 1993

Islamic militants renewed their attacks on Israeli forces in southern Lebanon Thursday, killing nine soldiers on patrol in two separate bomb attacks in the most deadly assaults on Israel's troops there in years. After the first attack, which killed seven soldiers and wounded two, Israeli warplanes retaliated with strikes against bases near the Syrian border of the Iranian-backed Party of God, whose guerrillas said that they had killed the Israelis. Two guerrilla deaths were reported but not confirmed in the air raids, which Israel said took place away from civilian areas.

International The nation's trade deficit widened sharply in June to $12.06 billion, the largest in more than five years, as exports shrank and imports rose, especially in trade with Western Europe. The size of the June deficit startled experts, who had expected only a modest increase from the May figure of $8.38 billion. [ Page A1. ] Markets The dollar rallied sharply after the Federal Reserve system and the Treasury Department apparently intervened to halt the surging Japanese yen by buying dollars in large quantities. [ D1. ] Gold prices tumbled $3 an ounce, and other precious metals fell in response to the Fed's move in the currency markets. [ D14. ]

The New York City Budget Director, Philip R. Michael, resigned at the request of the Mayor yesterday, one day after a city investigation determined that he had shown favoritism to a company seeking a $150 million contract to collect parking ticket fines. Mayor David N. Dinkins announced Mr. Michael's resignation yesterday at City Hall after a tense day of meetings with his top staff to fashion a response to the report, which asserted that his administration gave the company, Lockheed Information Management Services, unusual time and attention and special treatment.

Young boy copes with the Depression in seedy St. Louis hotel, via Steven Soderbergh. Warm and witty.

For a month, nothing has been as it should be for the children in this blue-collar town. The bloated Missouri River chased them from their homes and took school books, kittens and anything else in its path. The children have mourned and cried and led a vagabond existence in gas station parking lots and the homes of second cousins. But one August ritual survived. Today, school started at the appointed hour in a Baptist church a state and a river away from their own flooded school.

Rethinking Carcinogen Law Under pressure from a strict court ruling, the Clinton Administration is proposing to repeal a law that prohibits cancer-causing substances from being added to food. Page A14.

After years of refusing to consider the use of supertitles -- projected translations of opera texts -- the Metropolitan Opera has abandoned its objections. In a major change of policy, the company has been experimenting with a title system that its officials hope will overcome both technical and philosophical problems. The system may be in place for the opening of the 1994-95 season. The company's attitude change was reflected in a speech that Bruce Crawford, the president of the Metropolitan Opera, made in June to a group of donors. A transcript of Mr. Crawford's speech appears in the September issue of Opera News and was reported yesterday in Newsday.

NEW YORK CITY NEW YORK CITY BUDGET DIRECTOR RESIGNS The New York City Budget Director, Philip R. Michael, has resigned at the request of the Mayor a day after a city investigation determined that he had shown favoritism to Lockheed Information Management Services, a company seeking a $150 million contract to collect parking ticket fines. A1. DISGRACE WAS NOT FOREVER How a company that was disgraced just seven years ago, implicated near the heart of New York City corruption scandals, managed to resurrect its standing and ultimately win an extremely lucrative city contract is the story of a well-calibrated campaign by Lockheed Information Management Services. A1.

When George J. Marlin called himself "the conservative Republican candidate for mayor" at a recent housing forum, the partisan audience erupted in catcalls and laughter. But Mr. Marlin, who is actually the Conservative-Right to Life candidate for mayor, was not joking or mistaken. He was firing a barb at the man who would follow him on the podium, Rudolph W. Giuliani, the Republican-Liberal candidate for mayor.

On Fridays, television and radio news, listings and advertising now appear at the end of section D, with Home Video. Today, pages D15-16.

Rethinking Carcinogen Law Under pressure from a strict court ruling, the Clinton Administration is proposing to repeal a law that prohibits cancer-causing substances from being added to food. Page A14.

I AM a swimmer; I live in New York. These facts are linked by something more than just circumstance. I swim in waters outside New York, and avidly, but in no other place -- in no other city -- does the daily swim feel quite so critical. Swimming is essentially an interior activity, reflective, solitary and private. Whether you swim to test prowess against the clock or the tide, or like Byron to fill a "craving void," or like so many swimmers of poetical or sensual inclination to feel the "soft caress of the water" (Rupert Brooke), or merely (though I don't think it's ever merely) to exercise, foremost, always, is the almost mystical relationship, as much mental as physical, between the swimmer and the water. It stands outside both time and place.