June 17, 1995

The first tangible effect of the Senate's sweeping overhaul of telecommunications law, experts say, will be chaos: mind-numbing new marketing deals, outrageous prices, bankruptcies, hostile takeovers and schemes to make a quick killing amid the confusion. But in the end, most experts say, the results should be lower prices all around and a headlong rush to offer advanced communication services over fiber optic networks and satellites.

Russian troops opened an assault early this morning with tanks and heavy machine guns on the hospital in this southern Russian city where some 200 Chechen fighters have been holding up to 2,000 hostages since Wednesday. At 9 A.M. (1 A.M. Eastern time), nearly four hours after the battle began, fighting continued floor to floor in the hospital, according to Russian officials and soldiers near the scene. About 9:15 A.M. there was a lull, and Moscow radio said Chechen fighters had agreed to release woman and children and to continue negotiations, but there was no official reaction from the Russian side.

Fighting to break or ease the long Serbian encirclement of Sarajevo, Bosnian Government forces pushed forward on several fronts today and threatened a number of roads crucial to separatist Serbian forces. The attack, which began in the early morning with a thundering wave of artillery and heavy machine-gun fire, involved thrusts outward from the city to the north and south. At the same time, Government forces in Pazaric to the southwest and Visoko to the northwest pushed toward Sarajevo, whose encirclement by Serbian forces has lasted 38 months.

Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani insisted yesterday that he had the right of approval over the selection of a successor to Schools Chancellor Ramon C. Cortines, who announced his resignation on Thursday. But Carol A. Gresser, president of the Board of Education, quickly dismissed that idea.

China Shows Anger at U.S. China summoned its Ambassador back to Beijing for consultations, asserting that Washington changed its policy toward China when it allowed the President of Taiwan to make a private visit to the U.S. Page 5. Dow Closes Above 4,500 The stock market, lifted in part by the Senate's approval of a telecommunications overhaul, surged. The Dow rose 14.52 points to close above 4,500 for the first time. Page D1. The Price of a Pair of Gloves O. J. Simpson's efforts to pull on the famous bloody gloves may have severely undermined the prosecution's most vital evidence, some legal observers say. Page 7.