January 31, 1994

In the 1980's many companies agonized over whether and how to withdraw from South Africa. Now, some of those American corporations that bailed out are sweating almost as much over how to go back. Last week, Honeywell Inc. became the latest of these companies to return to South Africa, and how it went about it suggests that many companies may end up spending more time and resources mapping out their return than might ordinarily be justified, given the amount of business they expect to do there.

In the most detailed complaint yet against the Towers Financial Corporation and Steven Hoffenberg, its former chairman and chief executive, the bankruptcy trustee overseeing the company said he had found evidence of the theft and squandering of more than $400 million. A suit filed Friday by Alan Cohen, who was named by the Federal bankruptcy court to protect Towers's creditors, provides fresh and vividly detailed accusations of fraud and a pattern of wrongdoing that it asserts goes well beyond the accusations brought by Federal regulators in a suit filed against Mr. Hoffenberg and the company last February.

Television and radio news and listings appear today on pages B6-7.

Extraordinary as it may seem, this heavily industrialized country in the center of Europe boasts low unemployment and a balanced budget even as it takes on the treacherous task of transforming itself from Communism to capitalism. Squeezed between well-off Germany, where 10 percent of the work force is jobless, and struggling former East Bloc countries that face the possibility of 20 percent unemployment this year, the Czech Republic is proud of its 3.5 percent figure.

NEW YORK CITY BUDGET SESSION IS SCHEDULED After grappling with a budget plan he will present this week, Mayor Giuliani will meet with leaders of the City Council to present his ideas for closing a projected $2.3 billion deficit. The Council leaders said that they have some concerns about the plan -- whose details they have so far received from newspaper accounts. They added that they were unwilling to criticize the proposals until they been received more information about them. B3.

In a library at Public School 6 in Manhattan, teachers went on an unusual shopping trip the other day. As part of their first "book fair," they were looking for children's literature and historical novels that their classes will use instead of textbooks. Teachers at the elementary school, on the Upper East Side, do not use textbooks as the framework for their classes in the way most Americans remember. The curriculum is based on themes, so there is no mandated textbook for every subject, every class and every pupil.

Until last month, the Omnipoint Corporation was just one of hundreds of promising high-tech start-ups getting by on a few research dollars and a dream. But on Dec. 23 the Federal Communications Commission handed the tiny Colorado corporation a license to sell enhanced wireless voice, video and data services to the 27 million people in metropolitan New York. Although the license is conservatively valued at $250 million, the commission considered Omnipoint a technological pioneer in the field, and granted it the license free.

It was the Buffalo Bills in Super Bowl XXVIII running up the middle and around the ends and into the end zone. It was Buffalo putting pressure on the Dallas Cowboys' potent offense and limiting it to two field goals. It was Buffalo with the better passing game, the better kicking game, the better scheme and with fewer mistakes. It was Buffalo by 13-6.

Stock prices soared nearly 8 percent here today in one of the biggest one-day rallies ever, after the Japanese Parliament broke a major legislative bottleneck by passing political reform bills late Saturday. The Parliament's action cleared the way for the Government to focus on long-delayed emergency measures to revive the economy, sending spirits and stock prices soaring.

Looking Inward at Pentagon William J. Perry's nomination to be Defense Secretary has pleased those who say the Pentagon's most pressing concerns are internal. Page A12. Mixed Results on the Beat Queens's 103d Precinct shows the mixed results of community policing: more officers on the beat, but confusion about their mission. Page B1. Standing on the A Train Somewhere in New York City, two prototypes for the subway of the future quietly glide along, with fewer seats but more windows. Page B3. Bosnia Says Enemies Pour In In defiance of international peace efforts, Yugoslavia and Croatia are sending more troops into Bosnia, its intelligence experts say. Page A9. A2 Arts

Companies G.M.'s president and chief executive said the company's North American operations had "absolutely" turned the corner. John F. Smith Jr. also hinted that the company's 1993 earnings would surpass its goal, attributing the improvement to cost-cutting, the company's restructuring, and to the strong yen, which has raised the cost of some Japanese cars in the U.S. [ Page D1. ]

It was a Herbert London kind of crowd: middle class and brimming with discontent about high taxes, failing schools, illegal immigrants, welfare mothers and Ford Foundation liberals. Chilled by the freezing rain outside, they looked in no mood for moderate nostrums -- and the man seeking the Republican and Conservative party nominations for Governor did not disappoint. He would cut taxes deeper than Christine Todd Whitman. He would sentence repeat felons to life in prison after two convictions, not three. He would slash the state work force, put every able-bodied welfare recipient to work and reintroduce capitalism into this, the last socialist state.