October 12, 1996

Israel Presses Hebron Talks Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel is eager to end talks over Hebron by next month. Page 3. Longing for the U.S. Despite tighter restrictions on immigrants, Dominicans are still drawn to the United States. Page 8. Racing Bids Investigated The State Attorney General is investigating contract bids at New York's thoroughbred race tracks. Page 31. Employees or Contractors? In a ruling expected to have a wide impact, Microsoft was ordered to pay employee benefits to workers who, a Federal court found, were employees and not contractors, as the company contended. Page 37.

William Vickery dies of apparent cardiac arrest at age 82, three days after being awarded Nobel Prize for economics; devoted much of his energy over 60 years at Columbia University to what he described as carrying economic theory to 'its ultimate logical conclusions,' fashioning unorthodox solution for such problems as traffic congestion, crowded subways and bewildering taxes; is credited with revolutionizing the way economists think about auctions and with having done seminal work in many areas of public economics; photo (M)

Senate races in New England will be key to which party controls Senate in next Congress; Dick Swett, Democrat, poses real challenge to Sen Robert C Smith, a conservative Republican, in New Hampshire; Sen John F Kerry of Massachusetts, Democratic seeking third term, is in close race with Gov William F Weld; Susan M Collins, a liberal Republican, may hold slight lead over Repr Joseph E Brennan in the Maine Senate race; Repr Jack Reed, Democrat, appears well ahead of State Treasurer Nancy Mayer in the Rhode Island race (M)

Passage of bill outlawing female genital cutting in US comes as states and health workers debate how to respond to a cultural practice that is highly valued rite of passage among some African immigrants but is abhorred by many Americans; law also directs Federal authorities to inform new immigrants from countries where it is commonly practiced that cutting can bring five years in prison for those who do the cutting and parents who arrange it; US representatives to World Bank and other international financial institutions are required to oppose loans to governments that have not carried out educational programs to prevent it (M)

Magnus Malan, South Africa's former Minister of Defense and 15- co-defendants are found not guilty of murder charges in the country's first attempt to hold senior apartheid-era officials accountable for atrocities against blacks; Pres Nelson Mandela moves to head off any anger at the ruling, saying that he fully accepts the judgment; Malan was accused of plotting to arm and train the assassination squad that attacked the home in Durban of a African National Congress supporter in 1987; 13 people were, mostly women and children, were killed in the attack; photo (M)