December 14, 1993

If his party had not won almost a quarter of the vote in parliamentary elections on Sunday, Vladimir Volfovich Zhirinovsky could well be dismissed as a crude parody of a primitive right-winger, fired by self-pity and primitive nationalism, quick to blame foreigners, intellectuals or unappreciative betters for all his failures, certain of his cause. His posters show the 47-year-old lawyer wearing a badly knotted tie and a puffy scowl over slogans like, "I'll raise Russia from her knees," or "I'll not allow anyone to offend Russians."

The Loral Corporation, a weapons contractor that has prospered even as the Government has cut military spending, said yesterday that it would pay $1.58 billion for I.B.M.'s Federal Systems Company, whose products include software for radar-warning systems, antisubmarine warfare, satellites and air-traffic control. The deal, to close on Jan. 1, effectively takes the International Business Machines Corporation out of the weapons business, although it will continue to sell other computer software and hardware to Government agencies.

As recently as three years ago, American military officers in El Salvador trained a group of wealthy Salvadorans associated with right-wing death squads, State Department documents show. The training occurred as the threat of Communism was receding and the Bush Administration was pursuing peace settlements in Central America.

As a closely watched target date came and went with no change in the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin suggested today that there could be still further delays in withdrawing Israel's soldiers and introducing Palestinian self-rule. "No dates are sacred," he said.

Volvo may have built its reputation on solid reliability and a concern for safety, but its shareholders are enduring an uncharacteristically hair-raising ride. The messy collapse earlier this month of the Swedish company's plan to merge car- and truck-building operations with those of Renault, which is owned by the French Government, has left Volvo without a chairman or a functioning board, and without a strategy or enough long-term financing for the next few crucial years.

International The European Community rejected a U.S. offer aimed at securing better treatment for American movies in Europe, virtually insuring that the final content of a world trade accord will remain in doubt until shortly before the deadline. [ Page A1. ] Germany is playing a subtle yet powerful role as an intermediary in crucial disputes involving France and the United States. [ D7. ] Japan's Socialist Party dropped its resistance to opening the country's rice market to imports, pushing global trade talks closer to a successful conclusion and preserving the fragile coalition Government of Prime Minister Hosokawa. [ A6. ] Britain's coal-mining industry has shrunk by half in only the last year, along with a falling demand for coal. These most recent mine closings and layoffs have had a profound effect on thousands of people, for whom the mines and mining have been a way of life for generations. [ A4. ] Companies Shawmut National will pay at least $960,000 to black and Hispanic customers who were denied loans, and it promised to end discriminatory lending practices in a settlement of a Justice Department case. The settlement could clear the way for Shawmut to continue its buying binge in New England. [ D1. ] Loral will buy I.B.M.'s Federal Systems military software unit for $1.58 billion, effectively taking I.B.M. out of the weapons business. Loral is growing by specializing in modernizing older equipment while many military contractors are shrinking. [ D1. ] The board of Paramount Communications decided not to set up an independent panel to evaluate rival bids from QVC Network and Viacom, an executive close to the Paramount board said. [ D1. ] Banks are looking for mutual fund companies to buy in the wake of Mellon's purchase of Dreyfus, but few are for sale and prices are high for those that are available. [ D1. ] Southwest Airlines will buy Morris Air, a carrier roughly an eighth its size, in a $129 million stock swap. Analysts see a good fit because Morris Air, based in Salt Lake City, uses Southwest's strategy of no-frills service and low fares. [ D2. ] V. F. pushed further into the licensed sports apparel business by agreeing to buy Nutmeg for $325.5 million in cash. [ D5. ] General Motors will invest $25 million to assemble 10,000 Opel Astra cars at the plant of a Polish state-owned auto maker. [ D5. ] Computer and telecommunications companies plan to work on standardizing how computers can talk to each other. [ D5. ] National Medical will pay $89.9 million to 13 insurers to resolve the last disputes over billing at its hospitals. [ D5. ] Phoenix Home Life sold $500 million of commercial mortgage loans, partly because of new capital rules going into effect. [ D5. ] The Economy The Supreme Court ruled that Federal rather than state law governs an insurance company's handling of certain pension fund assets. The decision could change the way the insurance industry keeps track of billions of dollars in pension funds. [ D2. ] Markets Stocks were mixed with blue-chip issues posting modest gains and the broader market slipping in subdued trading. The Dow industrials set another high, rising 23.76 points, to 3,764.43. [ D8. ] Treasury prices fell and yields rose ahead of important fourth-quarter economic data and a Treasury auction. [ D16. ] Oil prices fell to a five-year low and gasoline to a seven-year low on signs of weak demand. [ D18. ] The dollar rose. [ D18. ] Today's Columns Volvo shareholders are enduring a hair-raising ride with the company facing a broad revamping. Market Place. [ D1. ] A survey shows most parents think advertising is making their children "too materialistic." Stuart Elliott: Advertising. [ D20. ]

In the nurturing and sometimes unusual environs of Fordham Heights Academy, an alternative public high school in the Bronx, Chad Ali is a model student. His teachers say he is a respectful, hard-working fixture in the computer laboratory, where he quietly scrolls through information on his favorite subject: social studies. But before he voluntarily came to the 85-student school that is a string of rooms shoe-horned into the first floor of a subsidized housing project near 187th Street and Webster Avenue. Chad was a ghost of a ninth grader. Rather than go to class, he preferred to haunt the hallways and stairwells of DeWitt Clinton High School as a chronic truant. 'A Lot of Stress' "I couldn't concentrate at all," the 16-year-old recalled of his days at DeWitt Clinton, where he roamed faceless in a crush of thousands of students. "It was just a lot of stress."

DR. ELLEN B. MENDELSON, a 52-year-old radiologist, had her first mammogram when she was 35. She had another one when she was 38. Since age 40, she has had routine screening mammograms every year, and she passionately urges women in their 40's to do the same. Dr. Mendelson, who directs the Breast Diagnostic Imaging Center of the Western Pennsylvania Hospital in Pittsburgh, said she knows four radiologists who had breast cancer that was found after routine mammograms when they were in their late 30's or 40's. Mammography saved them, she said. "It seems really immoral to me to remove this potentially lifesaving benefit from women who are right at the height of their careers and family lives," she said.

The Justice Department said today that it had settled its large lending discrimination case against the Shawmut National Corporation, New England's third-largest banking institution, a decision that could clear the way for Shawmut to continue its buying binge in the region. Prosecutors said they approved the settlement because the company had agreed to take steps to prevent discrimination and pay at least $960,000 to black and Hispanic customers who were denied loans. Under the settlement, Shawmut denied the allegations but agreed to pay $10,000 to $15,000 to any black or Hispanic customer who could provide evidence of possible discrimination.

New School Chief in Trenton Governor-elect Whitman said she would nominate a senior Education Department official to be her Commissioner of Education. Page B1. Giuliani Fills 2 Posts Mayor-elect Giuliani named a former Koch administration official as Corporation Counsel and a lifelong friend as deputy mayor. Page B3.

The board of Paramount Communications Inc. decided late yesterday not to set up a committee of independent directors to evaluate rival takeover bids from QVC Network Inc. and Viacom Inc., an executive close to the Paramount board said. The move was something of a surprise, because the board has come under stinging criticism both in the courts and on Wall Street for its failure to consider QVC's higher bid in the face of a friendly merger agreement with Viacom.

CLINTON URGES INTOLERANCE TO CRIME Preaching to a choir of contributors to Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, President Clinton urged his audience at the Waldorf-Astoria to "become more intolerant of things we take for granted" such as violent crime and the collapse of the American family -- things, he said, that Mr. Moynihan has been warning about for a generation. B3.