December 7, 1993

Companies Mellon Bank said it would acquire Dreyfus, the country's sixth-largest mutual fund company, for $1.85 billion in stock. Mellon is trying to move from traditional banking, which has a declining share of the nation's financial activity. [ Page A1. ] The sale gives Dreyfus an opportunity to improve a sagging performance. [ D7. ] Microsoft is entering the children's computer software market with the introduction of a writing program to guide youngsters through the mysteries of computing. [ D1. ]

North Korean Offer Rejected An offer by North Korea on inspections would not enable experts to tell if it had quit a nuclear arms effort, a United Nations agency said. Page A6. East German Spy Chief Guilty Markus Wolf was convicted of treason and bribery in Germany and sentenced to six years in prison, suspended while he appeals. Page A13. Durenberger Case Dropped Saying Senate documents were used wrongly, a Federal judge dismissed criminal charges against Senator David F. Durenberger. Page A22. Death Penalty Challenge The Supreme Court will hear a challenge to the death penalty in California, the state with the most inmates on death row. Page B10. Mourning 3 Promising Lives Three young Navy officers are dead in a double murder and suicide, leaving confusion and grief. Page A22. Easing the Pain in Albany New York governments can take 12 years to pay $4 billion illegally taken from pension funds. Page B1. New President for Penn As the new president of the University of Pennsylvania, Judith Rodin, provost of Yale University, will be the first woman to head an Ivy League institution. Page B8.

The United States and the European Community struggled into the early morning hours today to bridge differences that are holding up a world trade agreement, now divided mainly by a bitter dispute over access for American movies and television programs in the European market. Despite more than 19 hours of talks between the United States trade representative, Mickey Kantor, and the European Community's chief negotiator, Sir Leon Brittan, officials on both sides reported little progress.

THE promise of cheap, clean fusion energy is about to undergo an acid test as tritium fuel flows for the first time into America's most advanced fusion test reactor here. A landmark series of experiments, scheduled to begin before Christmas and end next September, when the test reactor will be dismantled, could be either a giant step toward the dream of unlimited fusion energy or a blow that hobbles progress indefinitely.

Mayor David N. Dinkins joined with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority yesterday in giving the developer Mortimer B. Zuckerman 90 days to close on his deal to buy and build on the New York Coliseum site at Columbus Circle or forfeit his $33.8 million down payment. City officials said the move was an attempt to prompt serious negotiations for a development there, though not necessarily one as large or as expensive as the contract specifies. Under the 1989 contract, Mr. Zuckerman is required to pay $338 million for the site and build a 2.1 million-square-foot office and retail complex.