Expanding jumble of flashing signs in Times Square has become most mesmerizing display of public art in New York City; some winking paeans to old and glaringly new described (Critic's Notebook); photos (M)

That Flashing Crazy Quilt of Signs? It's Art

Census Department reports that New Jersey ranks 34th among nation's 50 states for its rate of population growth between July 1995 and July 1996 (New Jersey Daily Briefing) (S)

In Growth, State Ranks 34th

Clinton Administration says North Korea has agreed for first time to talk with South Korea and US about possibility of negotiating formal end to Korean War; says agreement, day after North Korea's expression of regret for sending submarine into South, represents breakthrough in efforts to ease tensions on Korean peninsula; grounding of North Korean submarine with commandos on South Korean Beach in September recalled (M)

U.S. REPORTS FOES IN KOREA WILLING TO DISCUSS PEACE

New Jersey State Supreme Court, in case of Kim Finklea, rules that courts have no obligation to give formal notice of new trial date to defendant who failed to show up when trial was originally scheduled (New Jersey Daily Briefing)(S)

Court Rules on Trial Dates

Research over last two or three years gives more support to theory that autoimmune diseases may have their root in 'molecular mimicry'; theory holds that common pathogens, mostly viruses and bacteria, touch off autoimmune diseases when a person's immune system confuses foreign proteins with the body's own proteins; research is identifying genetic variations that lead to a susceptibility for autoimmune diseases, but has yielded no clue as yet on why more women than men develop these diseases; may help scientists develop new therapies for autoimmune diseases; drawings (L)

Virus's Similarity to Body's Proteins May Explain Autoimmune Diseases

After eight and a half years leading one of the nation's largest philanthropic organizations, Peter C. Goldmark Jr. said yesterday that he planned to resign from the presidency of the Rockefeller Foundation to pursue as yet undetermined interests.  

Rockefeller Foundation Is Losing Its President

Chronology of Hispanic immigrants settling in and transforming Harding Park neighborhood in Bronx; photo; chart (M)

Hispanic Settlers Transform Harding Park in Bronx

HERE'S an idea sure to go nowhere fast: recognize that vast numbers of New Yorkers speak a distinct language that may be called ivonics. It is not named after the former Mrs. Trump. The word combines ivory and phonics, and applies to speech patterns of European origin that virtually define what many Americans think of as a New York accent.    'e says 'e's troo wit 'er.  

Straight Talk In the Debate Over Ebonics

Profile of Dr Mark A Cane, meteorologist and oceanographer at Columbia University's Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory and a pre-eminent expert on El Nino, the vast expanse of warm water that every few years, at irregular intervals, spreads eastward along the Equator from western Pacific to South America, setting off chain of climatic events; his computer models of El Nino have done much to advance efforts to predict droughts, floods and other disasters; photos (M)

Yes, You Can Do Something About the Weather

Figures compiled by National Assn of Realtors show that sales of existing homes rebounded in November after five-month decline, all but guaranteeing record four million home resales for all of 1996; unexpected 1.8 percent increase in November also suggests that housing might help propel economy to brisk expansion in early months of 1997; housing figures, which few analysts had predicted, are partly attributed to declining interest rates since late summer; regionally, Midwest showed 4.9 percent surge in sales in November, West was up 4.5 percent, and South was up 1 percent; in Northeast, they slumped 4.8 percent from October pace; Conference Board calculates that index of leading indicators edged up one-tenth of 1 percent in November, 10th month in row without decline; graph (M)

Home Resales Surged a Surprising 1.8% in November

Speaker Newt Gingrich plans to hold the election for his job on Jan. 7 as scheduled and run as planned, regardless of whether the House ethics committee has decided how to punish him for his admitted violations of the ethics code, his spokesman said yesterday.    House Republican leaders also sought to rally support for Mr. Gingrich among the lawmakers in their party with a 45-minute pep talk by coast-to-coast conference call.   

Gingrich to Conduct Election on Schedule

Four inexperienced cave explores are rescued more than 12 hours after they rappelled into 100-foot vertical mine shaft in Rockaway Township (New Jersey Daily Briefing) (S)

Cave Explorers Are Rescued

Equity mutual funds' intake in December is at slowest pace since July, as investors seek to avoid taxable payouts that many funds make near year-end; several large mutual fund companies report that buying picked up again toward end of month, making it likely that stock funds would record net inflows for month as whole; early December slowdown in fund sales, combined with rising stock prices, could mean that cash levels, already low, might have fallen even further this month; Investment Company Institute reports average cash reserves in funds that invest in American stocks fell to 5.6 percent of assets in November, from 6.3 percent in October, which itself was lowest level in nearly 20 years; increasing numbers of mutual fund companies have arranged emergency credit lines to meet unexpected redemptions (M)

Stock Funds' Intake Slows, Then Resumes

New Jersey environmental officials report that state industries have reduced their emissions of pollutants and production of hazardous waste by 12 percent each year since Pollution Prevention Act became state law in 1990 (New Jersey Daily Briefing) (S)

Industrial Pollution Declines

Thirty six occupants of loft in former factory that made mercury-vapor lamps continue to work and live in temporary apartments and studios paid for by Federal Environmental Protection Agency one year after building was closed (New Jersey Daily Briefing) (S)

Hoboken Loft Still Off-Limits

Dennis Ross, special US envoy to Middle East, meets with Israeli Prime Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat in effort to seal agreement on Israeli withdrawal from most of West Bank city of Hebron by end of '96; says agreement is close, but that work remains to be done; Israeli television reports agreement is near on virtually all remaining security issues, notably protection of 450 Jewish settlers who live in Hebron amid 160,000 Arabs (M)

U.S. Mediator Meets Netanyahu And Then Arafat in Hebron Push

Corporations and mid-sized companies are cutting their insurance costs by insuring themselves against smaller claims and banding together to pool their risk against mid-sized claims; number of cooperatives of businesses that insure themselves, so-called captives, has doubled in 10 years, to 3,600, with tens of thousands of member corporations; captives are regulated by same state agencies that oversee rest of industry; most companies that join captives also buy so-called excess insurance from their commercial insurers to cover losses above limits of their own policies; shift toward self-insurance has played role in keeping traditional premium prices relatively low, and been factor in insurance industry's consolidation, depressing earnings and making some insurers ripe for takeovers that have drained away thousands of insurance jobs in last few years; photo; charts; drawing (L)

Companies Assume Some Risk to Cut Their Insurance Costs

Retail sales in Northeast appear to be lagging behind those in rest of country in 1996; Tactical Retail Solutions, retail consulting firm, says sales in Pacific region gained 9.5 percent, and in South Atlantic region they rose 8.5 percent, while in mid-Atlantic region they rose mere 1 percent; for first 10 months of year, sales at malls in Northeast gained 3.3 percent, lower than 3.7 percent gains posted by malls nationwide, according to International Council of Shopping Centers; disappointing retail sales in Northeast underscore region's generally poor economic performance (M)

Retail Growth Proves Slowest In Northeast

 Big Dutch Insurer To Buy Providian Unit  In the biggest acquisition of an American life insurer, Aegon of the Netherlands said that it was buying the insurance business of Providian for $2.62 billion in stock. Life insurers have been rapidly consolidating, pressed by high costs and tough competition for consumers' savings from banks and mutual funds.    Aegon also said it would assume Providian debt worth $780 million and preferred stock worth $100 million. And Providian's banking subsidiary will be spun off. $(Page D2.$)    Tandy to Close Electronics Chain  Tandy said that it would close its Incredible Universe stores, which sell everything from computers to refrigerators to cassette tapes but have been losing money. The company will also close 19 of its Computer City stores and take a charge of $170 against earnings. $(D3.$)    NCR's Price: Too High, Even Now?  In one of the most disastrous corporate takeovers of recent years, AT&T acquired NCR for $7.48 billion in 1991. Today it is spinning off the computer maker for less than half that, based on the price of NCR's shares in ''when-issued'' trading. Still, some analysts think even that is too high a price. Market Place. $(D6.$)    Dow Falls 11.54 on Profit-Taking  A wave of late profit-taking snapped the market's eight-day advance. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 11.54 points, to 6,549.37, trimming its gain for the year to 28 percent, and the Nasdaq composite index dropped 3.63 points, closing at 1,287.75. The losers included some big technology stocks. $(D7.$)    Treasury prices were little changed in thin trading in the last full session of the year. The 30-year bond yield edged up to 6.54 percent from 6.53 percent on Friday. $(D13.$)    Humana to Cut Hundreds of Jobs  Humana, the operator of managed health care plans, said it would cut 700 to 900 jobs, or as much as 5 percent of its work force, next year as it reduces costs to stem a decline in earnings. $(D3.$)    Banc One to Grow in Oklahoma  Banc One said that it had agreed to buy the Liberty Bancorporation of Oklahoma City for $546 million in stock. Banc One operates in 12 states, and this acquisition would give it 29 branches and $2.9 billion in assets in Oklahoma, making it one of the top three banks in the state. $(D3.$)    Merger Could Squeeze Con Edison  The proposed merger of Brooklyn Union and Long Island Lighting would put new pressure on the New York area's largest electricity supplier, Con Edison, to lower rates and allow its customers to seek different energy options, analysts said. $(B1.$)    Executive Quits At HarperCollins  After less than a year as president and publisher of the HarperCollins trade publishing group, Jack McKeown has resigned, the company said. Mr. McKeown's responsibilities will be divided between David Steinberger, a management consultant at Booz, Allen & Hamilton, and Anthea Disney, the president and chief executive of HarperCollins Publishers. $(D4.$)    Chinese Growth and Inflation Slow  China's robust economy expanded at the slowest rate in five years during 1996. The gross domestic product rose 9.7 percent, down from 10.2 percent in 1995. The Government has been holding back growth in an attempt to curb inflation, which fell to a four-year low of 6 percent from 14.8 percent in 1995. $(D6.$)    Stake in Hong Kong Investor Sold  Executives of Citic Pacific, China's largest investment vehicle in Hong Kong, acquired 15.5 percent of the company from its state-owned parent, Citic Hong Kong, for $1.4 billion. Their goal is to increase its independence and growth prospects. The Chinese Government will still own 26.5 percent. $(D6.$)  

BUSINESS DIGEST

As Times Square prepares to toast the New Year, the police have vowed to confront anyone drinking alcohol or getting out of hand. Page B1.

Sobering New Year's Party

Conflicting theories on the mechanics of sonoluminescence, the mysterious light emitted by microscopic bubbles when liquids are bombarded by blasts of high-pitched sound, are presented at meeting of Acoustical Society of America in Hawaii; researcher also report on practical applications of the phenomenon, which has until now been only a laboratory curiosity; photos; drawings (L)

Mysterious Light From Tiny Bubbles Finds Practical Uses

Special report, Roots of Repression, on rise of stern Taliban Islamic fundamentalists to power in Afghanistan; rise owes much of success to support from Pakistan, whose leaders saw domestic political gains in backing movement, which draws most support from ethnic Pashtun who predominate along Pakistan-Afghan border, and hoped to advance old Pakistani dream of linking their country to economic and political alliance with Muslim states of Central Asia; was aided and abetted in part by US, which, at crucial moments during two years of Taliban's rise, did little to discourage support for Afghan mullahs from either Pakistan or major ally Saudi Arabia, which found its own reasons for supporting Taliban in their conservative brand of Islam; success of Taliban in pacifying much of country that had spent years spiraling into chaos is less question of military prowess than success of group of Islamic nationalists in seizing high tide of discontent against mujahedeen, which turned from fighting Russians to plundering, and just as often, killing their own people; map; photos (L)

How Afghans' Stern Rulers Took Hold

China, on eve of adopting legal changes to assure greater protection of individual rights, steps up prosecution and sentencing of political dissidents to long prison terms; several Chinese scholars and Western human rights activists say they do not expect changes in law to end abuse of police power anytime soon, even though reforms are widely regarded as beginning toward building of body of law providing greater protection of individual rights (M)

China Rushes Cases Against Dissidents Before Shifts in Law

 Merger's Impact on Con Ed      The planned merger between Brooklyn Union Gas and Lilco puts new pressure on Con Edison to get ready for a deregulated market. Page B1.     Peaceful End Seen in Peru         Peru's Prime Minister said he expected a peaceful end to the hostage standoff at the Japanese Ambassadors' residence in Lima. Page A3.     Train Bombed in India         A bomb ripped through a train packed with holiday travelers in eastern India, killing at least 26, local officials said. Page A5.  

INSIDE

One woman dies and several families are left homeless after fire spreads through three apartment buildings in Jersey City (New Jersey Daily Briefing) (S)

Apartment Fire Kills Woman

José Joaquín Arcega-Whiteside is a Spanish former professional gridiron football wide receiver. He played college football for the Stanford Cardinal and was selected by the Philadelphia Eagles in the second round of the 2019 NFL draft. He was also a member of the Seattle Seahawks, Atlanta Falcons, and Toronto Argonauts.

December 31, 1996

Headlines from December 31, 1996

That Flashing Crazy Quilt of Signs? It's Art

In Growth, State Ranks 34th

U.S. REPORTS FOES IN KOREA WILLING TO DISCUSS PEACE

Court Rules on Trial Dates

Virus's Similarity to Body's Proteins May Explain Autoimmune Diseases

Billboard 200

Tragic Kingdom

Falling Into You

The Preacher's Wife

Razorblade Suitcase

Space Jam

Notable Births

Notable Deaths

Historical Context for December 31, 1996