October 23, 1995

The number of deaths on the region's highways continued to decline in 1994. Yearly traffic fatalities in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut have decreased 37 percent since 1980. Experts point to the increased use of seat belts, higher safety standards for vehicles and roads and the decline in drunk driving as reasons for the drop. Strict - and well-funded - anti-D.W.I. programs and laws are largeley creditied for giving the three states some of the lowest fatality rates in the nation. Last month the House joined the Senate in voting to repeal the Federal speed limit of 55 miles per hour for all vehicles, turning over to the states the question of how fast motorists should be able to drive. Critics say the move will lead to more highway deaths.

The arrivals were grand ones, befitting an unprecedented confluence of world leaders. Sedan after sedan glided up to a white-tented entrance at the United Nations, delivering presidents and prime ministers, who stepped inside and strode down a royal red carpet, past an honor guard of white-gloved officers, to receive a firm handshake or prim kiss from Secretary General Boutrous Boutros-Ghali.

Even as popular speculation mounts that Gen. Colin L. Powell will decide to run for President, speculators on the Internet's Colin Powell "futures market" are betting against it. Set up by the University of Iowa's business school on the World Wide Web, the Colin Powell nomination market allows people anywhere in the world to buy and sell bets about the General's decision with their computers. Since June, the price of a bet that he will run has dropped from its initial offering of $1, to about 49 cents today, indicating a growing sense that he will not run.

America's financial markets have changed radically since the Depression -- from ticker tape to computers, from simple stocks and bonds to exotic investments like derivatives. But the rules of the game have remained almost intact for 60 years. Until now. Today, those rules are being reshaped by so many forces that even reform-minded regulators are growing concerned. They fear that the rush to deregulate the securities industry has become a party at which each guest quietly spikes the punch bowl: each intends to add just enough booze to enliven the gathering, but the cumulative effect can be a drunken brawl.

After a restrained day of diplomacy, clad in a dark business suit, President Fidel Castro of Cuba changed back into fatigues last night to spend the evening before an adulatory audience at the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem. Standing at a podium before 1,300 admirers, Mr. Castro held forth as if he were on a balcony overlooking a plaza in Havana, drinking in the cheers and applause that greeted his nearly every remark.