September 19, 1996

Federal audit finds that Camden, NJ, officials misspent or mismanaged about $2.2 million in Federal grants and housing funds, using some of money to pay for Halloween pumpkins and Christmas parade floats (New Jersey Daily Briefing) (S)

Pilot and lone passenger of single-engine plane escape serious injury when aircraft skids off runway while trying to land at Bader Field Airport and plunges into Atlantic Ocean (New Jersey Daily Briefing) (S)

Teachers, principals and school safety aides in New York City say that they will continue to search students aggressively for guns and other weapons, despite state appeals court ruling that 15-year-old student caught with loaded gun should not have been suspended because he was searched illegally (M)

RU-486, or mifepristone, abortion-inducing drug, has cleared last major obstacle to marketing in US by receiving conditional approval from Food and Drug Administration; Population Council, drug's sponsor, says it hopes to have pill, long available abroad, on American market by mid-1997; FDA asks for additional information about drug's labeling and manufacturing process; council's announcement comes on eve of hotly contested abortion vote in House, and adds to newly developing furor over issue (M)

Interviews with young people in first apartments show they are looking for furnishings that are inexpensive, easily transportable to next apartment, would make home stylish without feeling permanent and provide storage space; furnishings available at New York area retailers that meet these requirements described; photos (L)

Laidlaw Waste Units To Be Sold for $1.34 Billion Allied Waste Industries said it had agreed to buy the solid waste management operations of Laidlaw for $1.34 billion, as the consolidation in that business continues. The acquisition will transform Allied Waste into the fourth-largest waste collection company in the nation, with revenues of roughly $1 billion. $(Page D2.$) Tracking Electronic Money Treasury Secretary Robert E. Rubin plans to announce initiatives intended to grapple with the development of electronic money, which has raised fears about new types of money laundering, counterfeiting and runs on banks. An international group of regulators will examine a similar issue, studying the cooperation needed as currency moves through the borderless Internet. $(D5.$) I.M.F. Likely to Sell Gold The International Monetary Fund is likely to sell some gold to finance two new initiatives to help the world's poorest countries, officials said. Agreement was reached to finance a joint debt-relief plan with the World Bank and a special credit service for poor nations. $(D2.$) Swiss Bank Plans Big Cuts Swiss Bank said it would cut 1,700 jobs, close a quarter of its Swiss branches and take a $2.65 billion charge in an attempt to raise earnings at its domestic operation. $(D15.$) Olivetti Chief Out After 2 Weeks The chief executive of Olivetti resigned, only two weeks after he won a battle with the longtime chairman, Carlo de Benedetti, for leadership of the troubled Italian computer and telecommunications company. $(D19.$) Mobile-Home Company Rejects Bids Chateau Properties, an operator of mobile-home parks in an intense takeover fight, rejected two bids and said that it had altered the merger agreement it already had. $(D4.$) Ruling Sought on Insider Trading An appeals court is being asked to decide whether it is legal to buy the stock of a takeover target with inside knowledge of a secret takeover offer, as long as that information did not come from the target itself. Floyd Norris: Market Place. $(D8.$) F.T.C. Seeks to Speed Up Rulings The Federal Trade Commission has approved new procedures designed to speed up decisions in challenges to corporate mergers, in antitrust complaints and in consumer protection disputes. $(D4.$) Memo Talked of Burying Study A Philip Morris researcher wrote in a 1977 memo that if a study showed that nicotine produced the same withdrawal symptoms as drugs like morphine, ''we will want to bury it,'' papers filed in a Minnesota lawsuit say. $(A21.$) A Golden Arch, Or Gold-Plated? In an unusual move, McDonald's has sent a memo to franchisees defending the Arch Deluxe, a new hamburger it is marketing to older customers. The memo was intended to counter criticism of the introduction of the Arch Deluxe, and the company tried to marshal market-research data in defense of the sandwich. $(D4.$) Times Books Publisher to Depart Peter Osnos, the head of Times Books and the publisher of presidents from Clinton to Yeltsin, resigned to help create a new publishing line with the Twentieth Century Fund. $(D7.$)

Frederic Brenner, French photographer whose life's project is photographing faces of Jewish diaspora, publishes Jews/America/A Representation, volume of photographs dealing with jews in America; he invites several prominent Jewish Americans to photo session on Ellis Island; photo (M)

Thousands of South Korean troops search mountainous area for last survivors of group of North Korean commandos who apparently sneaked into South Korea from submarine on Sept 18; troops shoot three of infiltrators to death after arresting one; they find bodies of 11 others who apparently preferred to die rather than risk capture; about five more North Koreans are still believed to be on loose, and South Korean Government fears they are planning sabotage; photo (M)

Eddie Brown, who escaped from chain gang in Florida swamp in 1952 while serving robbery sentence, is freed in New York City from threat of being returned to Florida; photo (M)

Defense Dept announces that over 5,000 US troops may have been exposed to deadly chemical weapons when battalion of US soldiers blew up Iraqi ammunition depot days after end of Persian Gulf war; announcement raises sharply number of troops who may have been exposed to sarin, deadly nerve agent, as result of demolition of Kamisiyah ammunition depot in March 1991; previously, Pentagon had suggested that only about 300 to 400 troops may have been exposed to toxic chemicals (M)

With one of the largest turnouts at Yankee Stadium this year on hand for what turned out to be a rainout Tuesday night, a section of the stadium's roof was leaking so badly that water cascaded like a waterfall, tumbling over the edge of the upper deck onto a concrete walkway and on down upon a back row of premium seats near the field. A spokesman for the team said that the leakage was not uncommon in outdoor stadiums but that the team's operations staff would look into the problem.

New type of Internet sabotage recently reported by small New York-based service provider is spreading and has now occurred at dozen or more other World Wide Web sites around nation; attacks tie up network computers by bombarding server with more requests than can be handled, so other users cannot have access to them; federally financed Computer Emergency Response Team at Carnegie-Mellon University believes incidents are work of unsophisticated vandals, but they concede there is no easy defense against the attacks; team officials draft advisory detailing nature of attack and its impact on Internet community; attacks were first reported on Sept 12 by operators of Public Access Networks (M)