February 26, 1994

Russian Diplomat Is Expelled After Moscow refused to act, the United States expelled a senior diplomat for the co-opting of a C.I.A. officer charged with espionage. Page 8. Turmoil in the currency markets led to a one-day loss of $600 million for George Soros, normally one of the world's savviest investors. Page 39. Holy Cow! The Wait Is Over Phil Rizzuto, former Yankee shortstop, and Leo Durocher, former Giants and Dodgers manager, were voted into the Hall of Fame. Page 29.

Facing resistance to his plans to reorganize New York City's municipal hospitals, Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani warned yesterday that the board of the Health and Hospitals Corporation could be "reconstituted" if it opposed him. The Mayor did not say how that would be done, nor did he elaborate on any other changes he could make on the 16-member board. But changes beyond the appointment of members to new terms would require the approval of the Legislature and the Governor. Such changes would almost certainly face fierce opposition, as some of his proposals for the system already have.

Expressing regret for briefing the White House on his agency's investigation of a savings and loan central to the Clintons' real estate investments, Roger C. Altman, the head of the Resolution Trust Corporation, removed himself from the inquiry.

On the bloodiest day in the occupied territories since Israel captured them in 1967, a Jewish settler killed at least 40 and possibly 50 Palestinians and wounded an estimated 150 others today, spraying them with automatic rifle fire as they knelt together in prayer at a shrine venerated by both Muslims and Jews. The gunman, Dr. Baruch Goldstein, a 37-year-old resident of Qiryat Arba, opened fire on the Muslim worshipers at dawn in a mosque at the Cave of the Patriarchs in the tinderbox West Bank city of Hebron. The terrorist attack came as the victims were gathered to offer prayers as part of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month of fasting.

When she had completed her routine, Oksana Baiul put her hands to her head in disbelief at what she had done, a final bit of daring improvisation that may have won her the Olympic gold medal. Then she put her hands to her chest and looked up, her eyes wide in wonder, as if to say, was this good enough? "My goal is to do well and give joy to the spectators and show myself to the judges," the 16-year-old Ukrainian said. "Judging by the applause of the audience, I thought I had done well."