May 30, 1995

On the Trade Scoreboard, U.S. and Japan Gain Points The United States and Japan seemed far from resolving their trade dispute, but Japan picked up support in the World Trade Organization for its contention that Washington's automobile sanctions violated the rules of the organization. But diplomats said there was support for the American position that Japanese regulations and automobile sales practices had made it difficult for foreign manufacturers to compete on equal terms. [ Page D4. ] Primark to Acquire Disclosure VNU of the Netherlands said it would leave the American financial-data business by selling Disclosure, a financial-information company, to Primark for $200 million. [ D2. ] Smith Barney Replaces Executive Smith Barney named Steven M. Bowman and William Heinzerling co-heads of bond sales and trading, after ousting John F. Lyness because the businesses had not met the brokerage firm's profit expectations. [ D10. ] Possible Fallout At the Top of MCA Lew Wasserman, left, the chairman of MCA, has told Edgar Bronfman Jr., the chairman of Seagram, that he will leave the entertainment giant if Michael Ovitz is put in charge of the company, several people close to the discussions said. Mr. Ovitz, the chairman of the Creative Artists Agency, reportedly continued negotiations over the weekend about taking MCA's top job. [ D10. ] International Paper Raises Bid International Paper raised its hostile offer for Holvis Holzstoff, a Swiss fiber and paper company, by 26 percent. But Holvis said it was sticking with an offer by BBA Group. [ D2. ] Cost Pressure on Medical Research Biomedical research could become a silent casualty of the changes in health care economics, caught between a search for cheaper care and budget-cutting fervor. [ A1. ] Second Look at Drug Prices The Labor Department overstated inflation rates in some prescription-drug areas by 23 to 36 percent from 1984 to 1991, a General Accounting Office report says. [ D9. ] A Beeline to the Trading Desk Shares of Michaels Stores, a chain of craft and home-decorating stores, fell $5 in about a half-hour of its disclosure last week in a conference call that it would not meet a profit target. Floyd Norris: Market Place. [ D10 ] . Machine-Tool Orders Down Orders for American-built machine tools fell 42 percent in April from a record showing in March, but year-to-date demand remained strong, a trade group said. [ D11. ] Public TV Debates Commercials Should public television start accepting commercials? While many station managers are opposed, some see a possibility for a viable new stream of revenue. [ C13. ] Of Dan and Connie, and Others Did the copywriters creating promotions for "The CBS Evening News With Dan Rather and Connie Chung" realize how prophetic their commercials would become? This and 19 other questions about the state of advertising. Stuart Elliott: Advertising. [ D6. ] New Economic Life at Subic Bay When the Navy left its Subic Bay station in the Philippines, the mayor of a neighboring town was determined to use the resources left to create an economic-development zone. He has apparently succeeded. [ D4. ]

ONE of the enduring cliches about scientists is that while they may be a bit large for the average seesaw, and indeed may even have graying beards, they remain forever young at heart: full of childlike wonder and curiosity about the natural world, their eyes as round as pies, their energy infinite, their speech a variant on the worshipful "Wow!" Martha K. McClintock, a professor of biopsychology at the University of Chicago, is no child, and her sense of curiosity is too richly alloyed by years of research, skepticism, point and counterpoint to fit into any child's brain. Yet one thing about Dr. McClintock, 47, is distinctly kidlike: she loves to make a mess.

It was a few hours after the NATO air strike last Friday that the French United Nations peacekeepers commanded by Lieut. Col. Jean-Paul Michel came under fire from the Bosnian Serbs. The 21 soldiers, members of the Fifth Infantry Battalion, were stationed just south of Sarajevo, the Bosnian capital, at the Serbian-held Lukavica barracks, where their mission was to guard Serbian heavy weapons that are banned in an area around the city.

Less than two weeks after Jacques Chirac took office as President of France, the markets in Europe are sending an unmistakable message to Elysee Palace -- they are nervous about his new economic plans for stimulating growth to reduce the country's 12.2 percent unemployment. Last Tuesday, after Mr. Chirac's Prime Minister, Alain Juppe, offered an economic plan that included tax breaks for businesses that hire idle workers, a big increase in the minimum wage and a higher value-added tax, the French franc plunged and interest rates soared, in a sobering one-day move.

MEDICAL RESEARCH A CASUALTY OF BUDGETS Biomedical research, long a cornerstone of American medicine, threatens to become a silent casualty of the reorganization of the country's health care system, caught between the nation's relentless search for cheaper medical care and budget-cutting fervor among politicians. American research has produced myriad discoveries -- from new treatments for strokes to drugs for premature babies. Today, nobody seems able or willing to pay. [ Page A1. ] SEEING NO EVIL: WITNESSES IN AGE OF FEAR Coaxing people to testify at trials has always been a problem for prosecutors in New York City. But in recent years, the intimidation of witnesses has so escalated that even those in mundane cases are reluctant to cooperate. Prosecutors say that they are forced to dismiss an increasing number of cases because anxious witnesses will not cooperate, and more criminals are therefore going free. [ A1. ] NEW YORK CITY SLAIN CASHIER SUPPORTED EIGHT Three men, apparently intent on robbery, burst into a convenience store in Brooklyn, killing the cashier, the sole support for eight people. In her apartment in Bushwick, Argentina Garcia, 33, clutched a family portrait and sobbed for a shattered family dream and her husband, Ygnacio, who was shot to death. [ B3. ] WHERE HEAD START BEGINS AT HOME Children normally attend Head Start at community centers. But in the program in Washington Heights, run by the Columbia School of Public Health and Presbyterian Hospital, Head Start takes place in the home. [ B3. ] REGION PROTESTING A SHOOTING About 100 people marched more than a mile to Police Headquarters in Paterson, N.J., to demand justice for Jiovani Ruiz, a 19-year-old factory worker who was shot in the head by a police officer. [ B4. ] A CASE OF HIKER VERSUS BIKER Donald Meserlian, a hiker, despises mountain bikes and their fat, knobby tires, especially on the unpaved trails in the South Mountain Reservation near Millburn, N.J. Besides chewing up the paths, he says, they ruin the tranquillity of the woodlands and drive out hikers, bird watchers and strollers. Patrick Driscoll, mountain biker and owner of a bicycle shop, scoffs at that sort of talk. Mr. Meserlian and Mr. Driscoll and their allies are waging a feverish hiker versus biker duel. [ B4. ] DON'T SELL NEWARK SHORT, SELLERS SAY "Ugly day for the beach," Keith Williams said cheerfully. He scanned the clouds rolling over Broad Street in Newark and chuckled in a "Ha-ha, suckers!" way. He was selling folding umbrellas for $5 on an afternoon they were created for. Business was great. "I guess all those people who spent hours on the highway wasted their time," he went on. If it's Memorial Day, then Keith Williams is on Newark's main drag, selling something. Likewise on the Fourth of July and Labor Day. At 33, he can't remember the last time he walked on sand. And he knows that in a city where many residents can't afford to escape, there are plenty of people like him. Our Towns by Evelyn Nieves. [ B4. ] ENGINEERING STUDENTS STUDY AND INVENT Professor Enoch J. Durbin has long been nagged by the belief that engineering schools, particularly at Princeton, where he teaches, have lost sight of their own students. And so he began a program that lets some undergraduates pursue inventions of their own making while they are being schooled in licensing, marketing and other such subjects. [ B5. ]