September 2, 1994

The Body Shop International P.L.C., the retail cosmetics chain that has expanded rapidly from Britain into American malls, has carefully crafted its image by pledging sensitivity to the environment, promising not to test its products on animals and seeking to be a progressive force in the communities where it operates. The success of the Body Shop, its 1993 annual report intoned, "proves that profits and principles can go hand in hand and that business can be a force for social change."

FEDERAL INQUIRY UNDER WAY IN NEWARK Federal law-enforcement officials said that they had begun a sweeping investigation into the Newark city government's dealings with private companies during the last five years. Officials said they had obtained subpoenas for the Newark City Council's records since 1989 as part of the inquiry into whether politicians accepted bribes and favors in return for granting contracts, tax abatements and zoning changes. A1. NEW YORK CITY WOMAN, 3 CHILDREN FOUND DEAD IN HARLEM The bodies of a woman and three children were found in a West Harlem apartment where they were apparently killed last week, the police said. The bodies, found stacked in a bathtub, were so badly decomposed that the police could not immediately determine how they had died, said Chief Joseph Leake of the New York City housing police. B3.

Eleven stowaways endured four days locked in an oven-hot shipping container with little food or water and no bedding, apparently dreaming that their voyage from the Caribbean to the United States would bring good jobs. But it appears that all they will get for their agony is a quick trip home to the Dominican Republic. The 11 were discovered this morning when a deckhand aboard the Carolina at the Elizabeth Marine Terminal heard them yelling and pounding on the sides of the container, which was stacked about 40 feet above the deck. Firefighters, ambulance technicians and seamen let the stowaways -- 10 men and a woman -- out of the container before dawn today.

The day after the Irish Republican Army declared an unconditional cease-fire, people in the town where the troubles began 25 years ago emerged into the sun today and wondered if this is what peace feels like. In a way, it was hard to tell. Like any other warm day in September, streets were bursting with shoppers, and schools were back in session.

Federal law-enforcement officials said today that they had begun a sweeping investigation into virtually all of the Newark city government's dealings with private companies over the last five years. Officials said they had obtained subpoenas for all of the Newark City Council's records since 1989 as part of the inquiry into whether local politicians accepted bribes and other favors in return for granting contracts, tax abatements and zoning changes.

Cloistered in a crumbling garage below the boardwalk, Larry Belfer is the keeper of the rolling chairs. As wooden planks creak overhead, Mr. Belfer sits among dozens of the three-wheeled wicker vehicles that are as indigenous to Atlantic City as saltwater taffy. He dispatches the chairs to operators who spend summers pushing tourists around the boardwalk, continuing a tradition that has endured for more than a century.

There is a basic reason that one, and possibly two, of the broadcast television networks may be close to being sold to companies that operate Hollywood studios: For both buyers and sellers, the time is right, and may never be more so. The broadcast business, once considered shaky, has made a strong financial comeback in the last year. And the owners of the two networks in question, NBC and CBS, have indicated a desire to relinquish control.

United States and Cuban negotiators met for six hours today in their first face-to-face talks in nine months amid indications that Cuba was seriously weighing Clinton Administration proposals to resolve the crisis created by thousands of refugees setting sail for Florida. The talks, which Administration officials said went well, were held as another hundreds of Cubans continued to be picked up by the United States Coast Guard in the waters off Cuba. As of 10 P.M., 1,792 Cubans had been picked up, bringing the total to more than 20,000 since early August.

John E. Bryson, chairman of the Southern California Edison Company, looked at the power-industry requirements of this country and was staggered by the scale of building that must occur in order to sustain China's extraordinary economic expansion. "This is the largest power market in the world," says Mr. Bryson, one of 24 American chief executives who accompanied Commerce Secretary Ronald H. Brown to China over the last week. Mr. Bryson visited China for the first time, though his company's Mission Energy unit is negotiating power-plant deals in three southern Chinese provinces.

The North Carolina man who shot and killed an NBC stagehand with an assault rifle on a crowded sidewalk in Rockefeller Center on Wednesday told investigators that he had come to New York to wreak vengeance on the major television networks for what he called decades of spying and persecution, from taps on his telephones to zappings by mysterious rays. As authorities traced the suspect's background and recent movements -- his ownership of yarn-and-dye and motorcycle sales firms, his minor police record, his purchase of the weapon and a car and his journey from the South -- investigators portrayed a man driven by paranoia to carry out a murderous plan with step-by-step deliberation.

At a health clinic for working-class women here, the gynecologist initially thought the question was a joke. How often do women make religious objections when birth control techniques are discussed? "Well, I do remember a case last year," finally answered Jose Antonio Aviles, a gynecologist who treats about 80 women a week. "I think she was a Jehovah's Witness."

The nation's leading retailers reported mixed results for August yesterday, as consumers continued to demonstrate a penchant for bargain-based shopping. Still, analysts said last month's retail sales supported the notion that consumers, who are responsible for about two-thirds of the economy, are spending enough to maintain growth at a moderate pace.