June 21, 1995

The only person to face a court-martial in the accidental shooting of two Army helicopters over Iraq last year was acquitted on all counts today, a finding that further clouded rather than resolved the question of who was responsible for an incident that killed 26 people. The verdict, issued by a 10-officer Air Force tribunal here, left both the 29-year-old defendant, Capt. Jim Wang of the Air Force, and distraught relatives of the victims calling for an intensive Congressional investigation into the shooting.

A member of the Aum Shinrikyo religious sect hijacked an airplane with 365 people aboard today and demanded the release of the imprisoned sect leader, official reports said. Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama did not flatly reject the demand, but gave no indication that he would release Shoko Asahara, the sect leader who was arrested and jailed last month in connection with the subway gas attack here on March 20 that killed 12 people and injured 5,500 more.

NEW JERSEY FINANCIER GUILTY OF FRAUD A Federal judge ruled that Robert E. Brennan, the New Jersey sports entrepreneur and financier, had used illegal price gouging and abusive sales practices to enrich himself and his brokers at his customers' expense. [ Page A1. ] NEW YORK CITY

Reacting angrily to Washington's threat of sanctions on Japanese airlines, the Japanese Government has begun planning to retaliate by blocking some flights from the United States. Japan is contemplating prohibiting certain cargo flights of Federal Express and Northwest Airlines that originate in the United States from continuing beyond Japan to other Asian nations, Japanese officials and aviation industry executives said today.

AS some restaurants compete to pack in more bodies than Jones Beach, others offer the opposite experience -- the unusual intimacy of private dining rooms. You can dine with ghosts in the Landmark Tavern's 19th-century parlor, feast while tucked away in the hidden wine vault at "21" or luxuriate in Barbetta's wisteria-and-jasmine-scented garden. From new and glamorous to old and worn, a private room can go a long way to making an occasion memorable. And reserving one of these spaces can be the easiest and least expensive way to jazz up a dinner party or hold an event -- anything from a bar mitzvah to a conference or a celebration to forge (or break) the bonds of matrimony.