February 3, 1997

New Jersey's first coyote hunting season opens and, in protest, chairman of committee of New Jersey Animal Rights Alliance, Stuart Chaifetz, began fasting (New Jersey Daily Briefing) (S)

National Governors Assn, under presure from Congressional Republicans, decides against seeking wholesale changes in new Federal welfare law; issues cautious appeal to Congress and Clinton Administration to work with it to meet needs of relatively small group of legal immigrants who will lose Federal benefits; California Gov Pete Wilson and New York Gov George E Pataki, who earlier urged Congress to restore benefits for legal immigrants, join other governors attending Washington, DC, conference in supporting compromise statement of policy, which expresses concern about effects of new law on legal immigrants residing in US who cannot become citizens because of age or disability; urges Congress to enact changes to law to meet their needs; photo (M)

Alveda Torrado, woman who had claimed falsely that she was raped by inmate at Union County jail, is sentenced to serve six months at jail for contempt and false swearing (New Jersey Daily Briefing) (S)

Accord Is Seen to Fuel Textile Trade With China China and the United States reached a broad agreement on textile trade, which American officials said was likely to increase Pacific region commerce that is already worth billions of dollars.

President to Stress 'Unfinished Business' The White House says that in his State of the Union Message tomorrow, the President will press for a balanced budget, jobs for welfare recipients, campaign finance reform and for people, towns, and states to deal with social ills. Page B7. Battle Looms on C.I.A. Job President Clinton's nominee to head the Central Intelligence Agency is heading toward a bruising confirmation fight that might reverberate in the years to come. Page A14.

Article profiles career of world figure skating champion Michelle Kwan; photo (M)

Time Inc has undergone transformation under leadership of Don Logan, president and chief executive, and Norman Pearlstine, editor in chief; Pearlstine and Logan's common interest in financial details has gone a long way toward alleviating historically distant relationship between editors and publishers throughout company; company's priority is profits, and publishers know they have to make their numbers; emphasis on performance is reinforced by Pearlstine, who is described as first editor in chief at Time Inc to take active interest in financial as well as editoral side of magazines; Logan's strategy has been to extend the brand and develop new products, while solidifying the base; result has been five years of 13 percent compound annual growth; photos (L)

Biologists working in shadow of vast project to decode human genes are rapidly deciphering genetic makeup of much smaller organisms, including microbes that cause disease; say result is that full DNA of many pathogens is likely to be decoded in next several years, offering new drug and vaccine strategies; say field of genetics will have impact far sooner than better known Human Genome Project, which began in late 1980's and will not be completed before 2000; aside from medical importance, biologists hope small genomes will enable tracing of evolutionary tree back to orgin of life, or at least to earliest branches; industrial chemists hope they may lead to discovery of new enzymes with special properties (M)

Pre-auction showing of art work owned by Port Authority of New York and New Jersey held (New Jersey Daily Briefing) (S)

Pakistanis will vote in general election for new Prime Minister to replace Benazir Bhutto, who dominated country's politics for past decade but is fighting for political survival following ouster in November on charges of corruption and misrule; polls suggest Bhutto's party will lose election to Nawaz Sharif, another former Prime Minister who has been main rival in four elections over last eight years; Bhutto's pre-eminence in country's turbulent politics over past decade, first as intrepid challenger to dictator who hanged father and twice as forceful and intemperate Prime Minster, discussed; Sharif's rise to power as protege of late Mohammed Zia ul-Haq, who siezed power in 1977 and governed until death in air crash in 1988, noted; map; photo (M)

Charlotte Hornets defeat New York Knickerbockers, 99-93; photo (M)

Trade negotiators from more than 100 countries may soon reach agreement on opening up government-protected telecommunication monopolies to competition; US threatens to block pact if it does not go as far as American officials would like; global deal would commit countries to move toward same kind of competition in telephone and cable television services that is being opened up in US and European Union; it would allow rivals to set up new networks, threatening sky-high prices charged by many foreign telephone monopolies; biggest obstacle for United States is Canada; World Trade Orgn officials say Canada refuses to agree to scale back tough restrictions on foreign ownership of telephone companies (M)