November 23, 1993

Gauging Brady Bill's Effect Experts say the impact of the Brady bill, which would establish a waiting period for gun purchases, may be symbolic. News analysis, page B9. Ammunition Is Withdrawn A maker of a hollow-point ammunition announced it would withdraw the rounds from public sale. Page B9. Gulf War Syndrome Studied Many veterans of the Gulf War have reported similar symptoms but no single cause or disease has been found. Science Times, page C1. His Honor the Professor Mayor Dinkins plans to teach at Columbia after leaving office, a university official said. Page B4.

SOFTWARE DESIGNER ACCUSED OF VIRUS USE The president of a New York City software-design company and one of his technicians were charged with infecting a dissatisfied client's computer system with a virus that would cripple his business unless he stopped withholding payment for the system. A1. WHITMAN IS A STAR ATTRACTION The star attraction as the nation's Republican governors met in Phoenix was Governor-elect Christine Todd Whitman of New Jersey. B6.

"Arkan," campaign posters proclaimed in letters three times as high as those of the Serbian Unity Party, and none of the crowd that jammed a drafty basketball court in this grim industrial suburb or indeed in all of the former Yugoslavia needed further identification. "We have a Serbian dream!" he shouted, standing stiffly in a dark double-breasted suit as several thousand supporters, huddled in ski parkas, roared from the bleachers.

Concerns over rising interest rates and a weakening bull market pushed stock prices down yesterday and intensified fears that American stocks might be facing new downward pressures. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 23.76 points to close at 3,670.25, after tumbling more than 40 points in the morning. But even more troubling, market traders said, was that the number of stocks falling in price outnumbered those gaining by a margin of about 7 to 2 -- an indicator of broad market weakness.

Ending one of the most bitter battles in the credit-card business, Mastercard International said yesterday that it would allow the rival Dean Witter, Discover & Company to sponsor a Mastercard credit card. In a compromise, Dean Witter would offer the card jointly with an existing Mastercard member, Nationsbank of Charlotte, N.C. They will split the expenses and the revenues of the product, which will be introduced early next year.