August 7, 1995

Two and a half years after an enormous car bomb tore open the World Trade Center and exposed America's vulnerability to terrorists, the case seems solved but not fathomed. Like an intricately tangled Conan Doyle mystery, it continues to yield its intriguing secrets, but its deepest corners remain obscure. The arrest last week of a new suspect has provided fresh details about the plot's final days and hours, but little new insight. The suspect, Eyad Ismail, is accused of driving a van with 1,200 pounds of explosives into the trade center in Lower Manhattan on Feb. 26, 1993.

G. V. Montgomery is worried that the Walt Disney Company could bring sex and violence to the South. Mr. Montgomery is a Democratic Representative from Mississippi, and during a House debate on the communications bill last week, he cited Disney as a reason not to lift Government restrictions on the ownership of media properties. In Mr. Montgomery's home district, the local ABC affiliates routinely pre-empt programming, like the racy "N.Y.P.D. Blue," that might offend their viewers. Now that Disney is acquiring ABC, Mr. Montgomery fears that the company could snap up ABC stations like WLOV in Columbus, Miss., which is owned by an independent businessman.

I.B.M. is expected today to name James A. Firestone, head of the home services unit of the Ameritech Corporation, to lead a worldwide consumer division that would greatly expand the company's offerings in on-line services, people familiar with I.B.M.'s plans said. Before joining Ameritech, Mr. Firestone, 40, was an executive at American Express, where he worked under Louis V. Gerstner Jr., who is now I.B.M.'s chairman and chief executive. But unlike other outsiders Mr. Gerstner has brought to I.B.M., Mr. Firestone has strong ties to the company: his father was a 30-year I.B.M. veteran who served as a marketing executive in Japan.

After viewing themselves as victors against Muslims and Croats for the past four years, tens of thousands of Serbs found themselves refugees today, a humiliating role reversal for a people proud of their skills as warriors. Riding tractors, hunched in trailers and astride horses, they poured from Croatia into Bosnia in one of the biggest exoduses of refugees in the fighting since Yugoslavia broke up in 1991. Today, many of them were steadily moving on into Yugoslavia, and some were already showing up in Belgrade, the capital.

The women's marathon turned out to be a lap short at the world track and field championships, starting a wild chain of events today that left Carl Lewis headed for home instead of the victory podium, left the Americans with more runners in the 800-meter final than the Kenyans and left Jackie Joyner-Kersee with a husband but perhaps no longer a coach. When this poignant day was over, the United States had failed to win a medal in the 100-meter sprints for the first time at a major championship since 1976. Canada had begun to remove the stain of Ben Johnson. Two Olympic champions -- Linford Christie of Britain at 100 meters and Heike Drechsler of Germany in the long jump -- had shown rare ordinariness. And Gail Devers of the United States had restored some slight normalcy among the favorites by repeating as champion in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 12.68 seconds.

Barbara Joslyn -- romance writer, convicted burglar and neophyte fugitive -- remained stylish even on the lam. She could be found at the Waldorf-Astoria yesterday, her lipstick red and fresh, her black high heels sinking deep into the thick rose carpet of the Art Deco lobby. A new chapter of her own Manhattan melodrama was about to unfold. She hugged herself tightly as she headed for the hotel doors, clutching only a little white square of a purse for luggage. Her tangled mane of burgundy-brown hair lashed her face in the wet wind.

Unlike some of the 13 people injured on the Coney Island thrill ride that malfunctioned last month, most of the approximately 7,000 people who are injured on amusement rides in the United States each year suffer minor injurie. Fewer than 1 percent of the victims require hospitalization, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, which says the number of injuries has remained steady for years.

Global Media Powers Stir Some Local Fears The globalization of the entertainment business is seen by many people as a threat to independent television stations, which can tailor programming to local tastes. That worry helped move 60 Republicans to join 168 Democrats last week in voting to retain stricter limits on media ownership. The vote scaled back a House bill that clears away regulations in every other corner of the communications industry. For their part, media executives say they have little choice but to consolidate into giant companies that produce and distribute programming. [ Page A1. ] ABC Leader Sees Strengths Known in the television industry as a deft handler of business relationships, Robert A. Iger, the president of Capital Cities/ABC, faces a new challenge in his new, mercurial boss, Michael D. Eisner, the chairman of Disney. But Mr. Iger seems to be focusing on areas in which the combined companies can do better than they could have as separate entities, like international expansion and joint programming. Mr. Iger also hopes that ABC can tap Disney's expertise in areas like theme parks, stores and toys. As an example, he might seek to build ESPN network virtual-reality theaters to give audiences the sense that they are on the field. [ D6. ] Disney Purchase Inspires Fear Disney's purchase of ABC has major movie studios and other producers of prime-time television programs shaking. Will access to ABC -- a vital route to the lucrative syndication of a show -- be sharply cut for non-Disney productions? Will studios be forced to focus on distribution as much as content? Disney has moved to quell some fears, but skeptics abound. [ D6. ] CBS Deal's Unusual Terms CBS could accept another bidder without having to pay Westinghouse a $150 million breakup fee, according to terms of the deal disclosed on Friday. And under certain circumstances, Westinghouse would have to pay CBS if the deal falls apart. [ D6. ] A New Budget Plan Emerges The White House is considering a strategy that would try to rally a coalition of Democrats and moderate Republicans around an alternative to the Republican plan to produce a balanced budget in several years. [ A1. ] Virtual Reality's Starter Home The first store in the United States devoted to sales of virtual-reality equipment is in Indianapolis, wedged between a pizza parlor and Laundromat. The technology, which combines headsets, gloves and other equipment with computer programs, allows users to feel as if they are inside a computer-generated landscape. So far, nearly all the store's sales have been of low-price accessories like magazines and T-shirts. But some analysts calculate that the virtual-reality market -- now estimated at less than $90 million a year in consumer sales -- will explode into a $6 billion business by the end of the century. And chain stores like Incredible Universe and Comp USA are stocking virtual-reality games and accessories in preparation. [ D5. ] Powerful 'Soul Train' Just as it did when Afro hair styles and platform shoes ruled in the 1970's, "Soul Train" continues to pull its weight. The last remaining dance show on broadcast television is about to enter its 25th season, making it the longest-lasting program now in first-run syndication. And it remains under the direction of its creator, Don Cornelius. [ D7. ] Microsoft's Other System Windows 95 is getting all the attention, but the big winner at Microsoft could be Windows NT, which is used on corporate computer networks. The company is hoping that Windows 95 will lure customers and software developers to its corporate system, a market in which Microsoft has been trailing. [ D5. ]

A Cali Drug Leader Is Held In a blow to one of the world's largest drug-trafficking organizations, a leader of the Cali drug cartel was arrested in Colombia. Page A3. Out of the Fog of Terrorism There are still unanswered questions in the World Trade Center bombing, but some of puzzle pieces have fallen into place. Page B1. Deal in Bombing Case Timothy J. McVeigh's lawyer said he expected his client's Army buddy to be indicted charges and to testify for the prosecution. Page A9. Pulp Nonfiction Barbara Joslyn -- romance writer, convicted burglar and neophyte fugitive -- surfaced in a chapter of her own melodrama. Page B1.

A Republican from Utica has become a standard-bearer for the moderates within Newt Gingrich's conservative majority. Page B5.

Looking ahead to a bruising confrontation with Congress after the summer recess, the White House is hoping to use a budget strategy that would rely on rallying a coalition of Democrats and moderate Republicans around an alternative to the Republican plan to produce a balanced budget in seven years. While the Republicans have generally displayed a remarkable degree of unity on fiscal matters this year, the White House chief of staff, Leon E. Panetta, pointed in a recent interview to fault lines between moderate and conservative Republicans. Those fault lines, he said, had briefly come into view in past weeks as the House approved spending bills for programs on the environment, education, health and labor.

After months of diplomacy that raised Cuban hopes for a thaw in relations with the United States, the Government of President Fidel Castro appears to have abandoned hopes for a significant improvement before the American presidential election next year. In recent speeches and interviews, Mr. Castro and his senior aides have criticized the Clinton Administration as sharply as ever, attacking its support for the American economic embargo against Cuba and describing its proposal to increase contact between the countries as sabotage in disguise.