December 20, 1994

Russian jets struck the center of this separatist Chechen capital tonight after helicopter gunships and artillery units hit the villages that ring it. The first bombing began late on Sunday as soon as it became clear that negotiations between the Russian Government and the leader of Chechnya, Dzhokhar M. Dudayev, would not continue.

When Nicolas Rule went looking for his first studio a decade ago, the ramshackle building at 233 West 42d Street seemed a godsend for an unknown painter with no money but lofty dreams. The street was filled with peep shows, seedy theaters and sex shops, a precarious place where street-corner preachers vied with drug pushers and prostitutes for the souls of passers-by. But the studio spaces were cheap, and the landlord understood the unpredictable income of artists.

It is midnight at Federal Express's main terminal here and about 1.4 million packages and letters are whizzing around -- some traveling on conveyors at up to 700 feet a minute. Among the boxes of medical equipment, envelopes of financial documents and computer components that are the company's bread-and-butter cargo are cartons of merchandise from L. L. Bean, Neiman Marcus and Williams-Sonoma. There goes a box of Durango cowboy boots, followed by two green plastic pouches that could only be goods from Bean. Then comes a box of barbecued ribs from one of Memphis's fabled eateries.

SCHOOL BOARD REBUFFS GIULIANI The Board of Education brushed aside Mayor Giuliani's demand that Schools Chancellor Ramon C. Cortines, if he stays on, be limited to a one-year term and meet specific performance goals. Carol A. Gresser, the board president, said the Mayor, who had withdrawn his opposition to renewing Mr. Cortines's contract, was in no position to dictate conditions. A1.

The New York City Board of Education yesterday brushed aside Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani's demand that Schools Chancellor Ramon C. Cortines, if he stays on, be limited to a one-year term and meet specific performance goals. The board president, Carol A. Gresser, said the Mayor, who had backed down from his opposition to a contract renewal for Mr. Cortines, was in no position to dictate conditions. She said she would urge the board, which has sole legal authority to hire and fire chancellors, to offer a two-year contract, at least. And although Mr. Giuliani outlined "worthy suggestions" for budget and administrative reforms, she said, the board and Mr. Cortines had developed similar initiatives on their own.