October 20, 1994

For Nachum Sasonkin, merely swallowing has for months been the most difficult of physical tasks. The disability has often left him exasperated and angry, as well as more than a bit hungry. But swallowing was probably never harder than it was shortly after 5 P.M. yesterday, as his father's car turned onto Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn. The 18-year-old Hasidic student, though, didn't mind the difficulty. It was joy, after all, that was choking him.

The United States' trade deficit with Japan jumped 2.4 percent in August, sending the dollar down briefly today near its lowest level since the end of World War II. By the end of the day, the dollar had recovered slightly, to 97.35 yen to the dollar, but it was clear that the revival of the American currency's strength that surrounded a new trade agreement with Japan late last month was a flicker, not a recovery.

President Clinton and a sprinkling of senior aides swept into New York City yesterday to join Gov. Mario M. Cuomo in a fight for their mutual political futures, helping to raise $2.5 million to keep the Governor's job -- and the state's electoral votes -- in Democratic hands for 1996. It was Mr. Clinton's fourth political appearance of the year with Mr. Cuomo, the third at a fund-raiser, and he has now helped the Governor raise nearly $4 million for his re-election, a total rivaled only by his help for Kathleen Brown, the Democratic gubernatorial nominee in the biggest state, California.

President Clinton plans to go ahead with a visit to Israel adn Jordan next week to witness their leaders' signing of a peace treaty despite the deadly terrorist bombing in Tel Aviv, the White House said. He denounced the attack as one that sought "to wreck the quest of the Arabs and Israelis for peace." Article, page A16

In a blow to Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani's plan to merge the housing police with the New York City Police Department, a State Supreme Court justice ruled yesterday that the Mayor would first need to win the approval of the City Council and the State Legislature to consolidate the forces. In her ruling, Justice Carol H. Arber agreed with the arguments of the Housing Police Benevolent Association that civil service law prohibited the transfer of New York City Housing Authority employees to another city agency, and would therefore need to be amended. She also said that under the consolidation, housing police officers "would be irreparably harmed" by a loss of workers' compensation, pension and retirement benefits.