October 3, 1996

It took six years for American trade negotiators to persuade Japan, South Korea and nearly every European nation to halt billions of dollars in subsidies for shipbuilders; agreement has unraveled in Washington nearly two years after it was struck; Democrats and Republicans in Congress realize that US will also have to cut off its subsidies to American shipbuilders; with no agreement in force, European nations have decided to continue subsidizing their industry, to tune of over $1 billion annually, 20 times what US spends guaranteeing loans for sale of American ships (M)

Race for Senate from New Jersey takes unusual turn as Democratic candidate, Representative Robert G Torricelli, is forced to explain role he played in helping daughter of fugitive businessman Harvard Jee; Jee, immigrant from South Korea who built multi-million dollar business empire of karate studios and real estate, fled country after he was charged with stealing $34 million from three banks; Torricelli obtained his signature on documents that gave him right to act as guardian of Jee's daughter (M)

Alan J Levine resigns as president of Sony Pictures Entertainment, post he held for two years, amid speculation that he would be replaced by John Calley, president of United Artists unit of Metro-Goldwyn Mayer Inc; Levine's departure had been expected, and it comes month after dismissal of Mark Canton as chairman of Sony's Columbia Tristar unit; left unclear is what role, if any, Jeffrey Sagansky is to play at the studio; he is New York-based executive vice president of Sony Corp of America; he and Levine reportedly stopped speaking to each other in recent months, sign of corporate chaos that has engulfed Sony (M)

New Jersey Gov Whitman administration, after months of protests from environmental organizations, says that it will withdraw proposed changes to state's water-pollution standards (New Jersey Daily Briefing) (S)

Serge Schmemann analysis contends that what little emergency Middle East summit meeting produced was best summed up in Pres Clinton's anxious plea to Israelis and Palestinians to 'please give us a chance to let this thing work in the days ahead'; maintains that it is far from certain that peacemakers will be given this chance; holds that giving formidable differences and tensions in which summit meeting began, it was hardly negligible achievement bringing Israeli Prime Min Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat face to face and drawing from them commitment to immediate and intensive negotiations on Israeli withdrawal from Hebron (M)