November 25, 1996

Florene May Schoenborn, modern art collector who died in Aug 1995 at age 92, bequeathed 32 works by masters like Picasso, Brancusi, Bonnard and Braque to Metropolitan Museum of Art and Museum of Modern Art; works are valued at over $150 million; she also left smaller gifts to Art Institute of Chicago and St Louis Art Museum; photos (M)

European Currency System To Readmit the Italian Lira Finance ministers and central bank governors from European Union nations, meeting in a special session, agreed to readmit the Italian lira to the European exchange rate mechanism. Officials said the ministers agreed to let the lira return to the currency grid at 990 lira to the German mark. The lira had been dropped from the system in 1992 during a currency crisis in Italy, and re-entry was seen as crucial for Italy's hopes of being in the first wave of nations to adopt a single European currency in 1999. $(Page D2.$) U.S. and China Agree on Visits President Clinton and President Jiang Zemin of China agreed to exchange state visits in the next two years, the first such meetings since the 1989 massacre at Tiananmen Square. White House officials also said that Mr. Jiang had signaled a willingness to move ahead on opening markets to pave the way for China to join the World Trade Organization. $(A1.$) Settlement Reached in TLC Case The singing trio TLC, their recording label and managers settled a yearlong battle over how the fruits of the group's success should be divided. The trio had filed for bankruptcy at least in part to void their contracts; the case was important to the industry, because the royalty restrictions that TLC could have shed are common in the business. $(D2.$) Endless, Unattainable Love Shiori Fujisaki is a 17-year-old high school junior, Shingo Hagiwara a 21-year-old college sophomore who idolizes her. One problem: Ms. Fujisaki, left, is only a character in a video game, the goal of which is to get her or a friend to date you and fall in love. ''Love simulation'' games have become a hot category in Japan's home video game industry, and Mr. Hagiwara, who is quite real, is one of a legion of young Japanese men who have lost their hearts to a virtual girl. $(D5.$) Tighter Clean-Air Provisions Sought The E.P.A. is recommending tighter national standards for emissions of the chemicals and particles that form smog and soot. Business groups are lobbying hard against the proposal to redefine how clean the air must be, saying it would cost billions of dollars to meet standards they contend offer no important benefit. $(A1.$) Departing Editors Are Sued When the publisher and 2 editors quit Orchard Books to start an imprint at another publisher, it seemed just one more industry realignment. But in Orchard's case, nothing has happened in the usual way since. $(D7.$) Big Shift in Health Care Billing After signing large numbers of New York doctors, the nation's health maintenance organizations are radically changing the way they pay physicians there and have begun to reduce reimbursements. $(A1.$) Paper Guides to Internet Sites At least 10 ink-and-paper publications are fighting to become, in effect, the TV Guide of the World Wide Web. And, as bigger and better-financed magazines jump in, the competition is turning into a demolition derby. $(D10.$) Chat as a Marketing Opportunity Advertisers for the most part have either ignored on-line ''chat'' or poked fun at the phenomenon. But a study suggests marketers ought to take those cybercommunities seriously. Stuart Elliott: Advertising. $(D6.$) Michael Jackson's Global Reach Though Michael Jackson's two-year-old album ''HIStory'' has failed to meet expectations in the United States, it remains a hit in dozens of other nations, selling 11 million copies worldwide. Sony Music ships as many as 100,000 overseas each week. Entertainment. $(D7.$)

Ocean City, NJ, police to charge two students with theft and disorderly conduct for replacing high school's American Flag with Confederate flag; incident is being treated as bias crime (New Jersey Daily Briefing) (S)

New Jersey Transit board of directors to vote on proposal to run passenger trains between Trenton and Camden for first time since 1960's (New Jersey Daily Briefing) (S)

National Transportation Safety Board aides say Amtrak train may have derailed on swing bridge over Hackensack River, Secaucus, NJ, because rupture of two small plates left two connecting rails piggybacked, news conference; plan to inspect over 100 swing bridges nationwide; map; diagrams; photo (M)