January 24, 1995

Companies Glaxo offered $14 billion for Wellcome. A deal between the two British drug giants would be the largest in a series of mergers among pharmaceutical companies, hospitals and other health care providers. [ Page D1. ]

The Tokyo stock market tried to recover today from a severe selloff brought on by last week's earthquake, as investors continued to fear that the disaster in Kobe would damage Japan's economy and businesses. On Monday, Japanese stocks suffered their worst one-day loss in nearly three and a half years. The decline in Tokyo pulled down other stock markets throughout Asia, especially in Hong Kong, as concern mounted that Japanese investors would pull their money out of these other markets to help pay for rebuilding at home.

WHETHER in the towering tragedies of Sophocles or the basement pulp of Hollywood, sex and death are intertwined: yin and yang, strophe and antistrophe, head and tail of the same mortal coin. So it is in nature, where the urge to reproduce is fraught with risk, and the cost of raising young drains a parent of resources that might otherwise be devoted to keeping oneself alive just a little bit longer. Scientists have now discovered yet another reason sex can kill, at least in the case of a favorite laboratory creature, the fruit fly. They have determined that a compound in the male's semen is toxic to the female, and that over the long run (which, by fly standards, means a few weeks), the ingredient significantly shortens her life. And the more partners a female fly consorts with, the sooner will her tiny wings and heart cease to beat.

Prodded by Republican lawmakers who want to eliminate Federal financing for public broadcasting, executives at the Bell Atlantic Corporation said today that they might be interested in acquiring a stake in the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, but cautioned that the idea had not progressed beyond casual responses to questions from members of Congress. "We haven't been lobbying at all on this," said Eric Rabe, a spokesman for Bell Atlantic, adding that the idea of investing in public television was just one of dozens of possibilities the company might consider for acquiring new programming.

The Japanese city of Kobe struggled to get back to work yesterday, a week after a devastating earthquake, but there were fears that the economy in some of the hardest-hit areas would be permanently scarred. The earthquake may leave political scars as well, with Japanese newspapers publishing accusations that poor preparation, indecision and bureaucratic rivalry may have added to the death toll. Some critics said the earthquake exposed a lack of flexibility that they said is the Government's greatest weakness.

WHITMAN PLEDGES TO COMPLETE TAX CUT Saying that she had kept her promise, Gov. Christine Todd Whitman of New Jersey announced that she would complete her 30 percent reduction in state income tax rates by next January, a year ahead of schedule. The reduction would be paid for by enacting a catalogue of across-the-board cuts in state government that will reduce the state work force by 3,350 employees, nearly 5 percent. A1. The Governor warned that there would be winners and losers in her budget, and they lined up almost as soon as she ended her speech. B5.

Ruling unanimously in a job discrimination case, the Supreme Court today rejected a defense that employers have used with increasing success to avoid liability for dismissing an employee for an illegal reason like race or age. The Court ruled that employees who lose their jobs because of discrimination are still entitled to back pay, even if the employer later discovers misconduct that would have justified dismissal had it been known at the time.

It had all the trademarks of a brutal Mafia hit. Frank DeCicco, then the second in command of the Gambino crime family, had just left a mob meeting in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, on a Sunday afternoon in 1986 and was opening his car door when a thunderous explosion killed him and injured another suspected mobster.

NEWTON L. BUTLER is a 41-year-old resident of the San Francisco Bay area who has been infected with H.I.V, the AIDS virus, for 10 years for sure, and possibly 15. Yet he is, by his own and his doctor's accounts, a picture of health. He works full time, hikes, exercises regularly and has never taken anti-H.I.V. medication. An occasional cold causes him to worry that he might be developing AIDS. But, he said in an interview, he has never had any of the myriad opportunistic infections that develop when the immune system falters from H.I.V. infection. In fact, frequent tests of Mr. Butler's immune function, particularly the count of CD-4 white blood cells, all have been well within the normal range.

One after another they were buried, an assembly line of misery and despair. Death is no stranger here, but rarely does it come calling as ferociously as it did on Sunday when 19 Israelis were killed in a Palestinian suicide bombing, all but one of them soldiers barely old enough to vote.

For much of his first three weeks in office, Gov. George E. Pataki has mounted a good-will blitzkrieg across the state, bringing a personal touch to every political relationship. He has opened the executive mansion to a near daily flow of guests, ranging from the State Legislature to the Albany press corps. He has spiced every speech with personal anecdotes, corny quips and references to members of his audience. He has met with most county executives, the mayors of the state's largest cities and a group of black ministers led by the Rev. Al Sharpton. Last week, he became the first sitting governor in memory to address the New York City Council.

New York City has the right to stop paying $320 million a year to support the transit police, a judge ruled yesterday, in a victory for Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani as he pressures transit officials to agree to merge the transit force with the city police. In a complicated 12-page decision, Justice Charles E. Ramos of State Supreme Court in Manhattan resoundingly rejected the Transit Authority's claim that the proposed cutoff of funds violated the city's contract with the authority and was subject to outside mediation. "The city's right to terminate is both unconditional and unilateral," he wrote.