Dow Jones industrial average plunges 86.58 points, or 1.3 percent, to 6,746.90; Nasdaq composite index drops 25.31 points, or 1.8 percent, to 1,348.44; Pacific Stock Exchange technology index falls 2.7 percent; graph (L)

Stocks Plunge; Nasdaq Index Is Down 25.31

Mayor James Whelan of Atlantic City scores victory over Police Department when City Council approves his plan to eliminate position of Police Chief (New Jersey Daily Briefing) (S)

Eliminating a Police Chief

Vice Pres Al Gore says Clinton Administration will try to impose new public interest programming requirements on broadcasters as a condition of awarding them extra channels for use in digital television; Federal Communications Commission is expected to award new digital licenses to existing broadcasters by April; those licenses would enable television stations to begin using digital signals as early as next year to deliver crystal-clear pictures and CD-quality sound; Gore says broadcasters should agree to carry some form of public interest programming on new channels in return for the licenses (L)

U.S. Wants Public Interest Rules For New Digital TV Channels

Richard Collier, lawyer appointed by NJ Superior Court to represent fetus in highly unusual proceeding after fetus's mother who is charged with heroin dealing was permitted to leave jail to have abortion, says Sonya Jackson has decided not to have abortion (New Jersey Daily Briefing) (S)

Woman Rejects an Abortion

Market Place column on Morgan Stanley-Dean Witter merger says deal reaffirms strength of individual investors--clients who were once sneered at by professionals; says access to such investors is now viewed as key to success; holds middle class has fallen in love with the stock market; says in 1996, Americans poured $235 billion into mutual funds, by far the most popular household investment vehicle (L)

A Deal Reaffirms the Strength of the Individual Investor

Pamela Harriman, US Ambassador to France and leading figure in Democratic Party, dies in Paris from complications of cerebral hemorrhage; she was 76; Pres Clinton calls her 'extraordinary US ambassador' and source of inspiration to him; photos of Harriman with her three husbands, Randolph Churchill, Leland Hayward and W Averell Harriman (M)

Pamela Harriman Is Dead at 76; An Ardent Political Personality

Chris Hedges analysis contends that although opposition appears to have won tremendous victory in its confrontation with Pres Slobodan Milosevic, crisis that has rocked Serbia is far from over; maintains that opposition coalition that will take control of Serbia's 14 largest cities--and aspires to wrest power from Milosevic--has yet to come up with vision for country, which is mired in economic collapse and political turmoil; brief biographical sketches of opposition leaders Zoran Djindjic, Vuk Draskovic and Vesna Pesic; photos (M)

Serbia Crisis: Not Over Yet

Switzerland's three largest banks, Credit Suisse, Swiss Bank Corp and Union Bank of Switzerland, announce that they will set up 'humanitarian fund for the victims of the Holocaust' with initial worth of around $70 million; gesture, coming after months of pressure from American Jewish groups, is apparently intended to head off threats from them and from New York institutions of sanctions against Swiss banks; banking officials say it represents first time since World War II that Swiss commercial banks have offered their own money in connection with long-running effort by Jewish groups to seek compensation related to Switzerland's close financial relationship with Nazi Germany (M)

3 Swiss Banks Plan To Establish Fund For Nazis' Victims

Kunstkabinett Gallery in Manhattan features exhibit of furniture designs of Hugo Gnam, Swiss-born, Manhattan-based designer who flourished briefly in Art Deco era and died in January; show was pieced together by Monroe Warshaw, who discovered works of Gnam during furniture-buying spree in 1996 in upstate New York; photos (M)

A Deco Original Bursts Forth

Evelyn Nieves Our Towns column discusses East Newark, NJ, Police Department, as crime deterrent measure, installing 16 surveillance cameras with rotating eyes to monitor every street in borough 24 hours a day (M)

Welcoming 'Big Brother' Watchfully

 A JURY'S SENSITIVITIES -- The Crown Heights jury asked whether a black or Jewish juror should lead the panel in the racially charged case. B3.    ULTIMATE DECISION -- A promoter of an ultimate fighting match has agreed to postpone it. B7.    UNIFORMLY CHIC -- A company that makes uniforms for the police and other professions now finds its product the height of fashion. Metro Business, B4.  

INSIDE METRO

New York City Police Captain Timothy Galvin, leading weapons raid, is shot in face after discovering small arsenal of guns and explosives in transit worker's Bronx apartment; Galvin is in critical but stable condition; transit worker Khabir Ahmad is charged with weapons possession; photo (M)

Captain Leading Weapons Raid Is Shot After Finding Arsenal

 Apple Chief Presses Plans But Offers No New Details  Gilbert F. Amelio gave the best speech of his one-year tenure as chief executive of Apple Computer, persuading frustrated shareholders to give him more time to turn around the troubled company.    But he offered no new initiatives to reverse Apple's decline and instead criticized its corporate culture, drawing big applause at the shareholders' meeting when he said that in the past Apple's marketing efforts had been too soft and that in the future the company would ''attack'' the competition. $(Page D4.$)    Fed Leaves Rates Unchanged  The Federal Reserve's policy committee voted to leave interest rates unchanged, betting that a surge in economic growth would moderate and leave inflation under control. The decision continues a yearlong pattern in which the Fed has kept monetary policy steady. $(D2.$)

BUSINESS DIGEST

Morgan Stanley Group and Dean Witter, Discover & Co agree to merge into world's biggest securities company in transaction valued at $10.2 billion; merger will knock Merrill Lynch & Co from No 1 spot in both assets under management and market value; new company will be named Morgan Stanley, Dean Witter, Discover & Co; announcement of merger brings immediate speculation about other possible links in securities and banking industry; graph; photo (M)

MORGAN STANLEY AND DEAN WITTER AGREE TO MERGE

Across nation, reactions to verdict against O J Simpson in civil wrongful death lawsuit are far milder and more muted than when he was acquitted of murder charges in 1995; case that transfixed country for 31 months seems finally to have numbed public a bit as well; divisions are predictable, whites generally agree that 'justice prevailed'; blacks overwhelmingly maintain that Simpson was victim of police and prosecutorial errors, but many confess to feeling 'that he did something and that he should have to pay for it'; photos (M)

Simpson Verdict Confronts A Public Seemingly Numbed

Even as directors of Morgan Stanley Group met to approve $10.2 billion merger with Dean Witter, Discover & Co that would shake Wall Street, investment bankers were bombarded with telephone calls asking about their rumored takeover of Paine Webber; Paine Webber Group, like Lehman Brothers and Salomon Brothers, is the kind of second-tier competitor that Wall Street now believes must find a partner if it wants to stay in the game with full-service giants that are coming to dominate a swiftly changing financial services industry; Paine Webber heads most analysts' lists as next most likely target of a takeover, followed by Equitable Companies's Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette unit; prospects of investment banks or commercial banks assuming brokerage firms discussed; diagram (L)

Wall Street's Search for the Perfect Blend

New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, in what is described as largest penalty ever imposed on solid-waste haulers in New Jersey for illegal dumping, orders owners of two jointly operated companies in Hillsdale to pay $7.2 million; Commissioner Robert C Shinn Jr identifies companies as Sal Car Transfer Systems and Northeastern Recycling Company (New Jersey Daily Briefing) (S)

Dumping Fine is $7.2 Million

Two groups in New Brunswick, home to Rutgers University, sue in Federal court to overturn new ordinance requiring permit for party of 50 or more people where admission is charged or contributions are solicited; measure is unconstitutionally intrusive and restrictive says Jeffrey Vogel, lawyer for New Jersey Freedom Organization and New Brunswick Coalition Against Police Brutality (New Jersey Daily Briefing) (S)

Objecting to Party Permits

In his first State of the Union Message, President Clinton was full of ideas and plans. This year he was full of ideas and plans, but they were much less sweeping. Page B8.

Four Years of Change

Rites of Ramadan, Islam's holiest period, have quietly seeped into culture of New York City's schools as new immigrants and converts swell numbers of Muslims in city; since Jan 10, when Ramadan began, thousands of teen-agers, like Muslim youths across country, have been fasting from dawn to dusk, inserting into their daily school routines their annual ritual of self-restraint; nurses at schools across city report increase in number of students treated for dizziness and stomachaches, and teachers say they notice some students acting up and others who seem calmer and more reflective; photo (M)

Ramadan Enters New York City School Life

Republicans spurn wide array of proposals in Pres Clinton's State of Union Message despite his embrace of such centrist causes as balanced budget and citizen volunteerism; reaction makes clear that no matter how much Clinton has moved toward Republicans since his first years in office, bitter debates of last two years remain far from resolved; Senate Republican leaders bring balanced-budget amendment to floor for debate day after Clinton condemned it; Republican National Committee Chmn Jim Nicholson, commenting on Clinton's call for overhaul of campaign finance laws by July 4, says Democrats should concentrate more on abiding by existing law; Republicans renew calls for various education ideas that Clinton opposes, like ending teacher tenure or giving vouchers to parents so they can choose to send their children to public or private schools (M)

PRESIDENT'S MOVE TO CENTER LEAVES G.O.P. UNCONVINCED

 Russia-India Nuclear Deal  Russia's cash-starved nuclear establishment is planning to sell two nuclear reactors to India, prompting protests from Washington. Page A3.    A Warning for Immigrants  The Clinton Administration is sending letters to a million legal immigrants, telling them they could soon lose welfare benefits. Page A16.

INSIDE

City University of New York, in face of plans to cut government benefits for legal immigrants, will try to help thousands of its immigrant students become citizens; like many other universities, CUNY has long offered classes intended to help immigrants in their citizenship applications, like English as second language and basic American history, but for first time system is reaching out to students directly to help them win citizenship; photo (M)

CUNY's New Offering: Quick Guide to Citizenship

Victor A Cardarelli, suspect in slaying of his wife Carol in Plymouth, Mass, is arrested at Resorts Casino Hotel in Atlantic City, NJ (New Jersey Daily Briefing) (S)

Suspect Caught at a Casino

Bottle Village, 13-structure shrine made of 1.5 million discarded bottles in Simi Valley, Calif, is one of only nine folk environments listed on National Register of Historic Places; it has become focus of dispute over allocation of $436,000 in Federal disaster relief to repair damages it sustained three years ago in Northridge earthquake; folk artist Tressa Prisbrey spent 26 years collecting bottles at local garbage dump, and then creating the village; she died in 1988; photos (M)

February 6, 1997

Headlines from February 6, 1997

Stocks Plunge; Nasdaq Index Is Down 25.31

Eliminating a Police Chief

U.S. Wants Public Interest Rules For New Digital TV Channels

Woman Rejects an Abortion

A Deal Reaffirms the Strength of the Individual Investor

Billboard 200

Tragic Kingdom

Evita

Romeo + Juliet

Falling Into You

Space Jam

Historical Context for February 6, 1997