February 18, 1997

All financial and commodities markets in the United States were closed yesterday in observance of Washington's Birthday. Most markets overseas were open. United States markets will reopen today.

Mac Software Developer Plans Motorola Alliance Be Inc., a start-up company that has been developing a new personal computer operating system, and Motorola are planning to announce that Be's system will be included in Motorola's Macintosh-compatible computers. Be has announced deals with other makers of Mac clones, and the company is close to a similar pact with I.B.M. $(Page D4.$) Compuserve Chief Resigns Compuserve, the computer on-line service, said that its chief executive, Robert J. Massey, had stepped down after a troubled year-and-a-half tenure. Compuserve said that Mr. Massey's job would fall temporarily to Frank L. Salizzoni, who is chairman of Compuserve and chief executive of H& R Block, which owns about 80 percent of Compuserve. The service has encountered fierce competition from America Online. $(D4.$)

Daily Mail, British tabloid, audaciously defies country's official secrecy and libel laws by publishing photographs of five white men, alleged white supremacists, who it identifies as murderers of Stephen Lawrence, 18-year-old black, in London in 1993; acts after defendants refused to testify before reconvened coronor's jury, which found them guilty of unlawful killing but refused to publicly identify them; case has provoked outcry over police competence and sensitivity in racial crimes, rights of defendants to be presumed innocent and responsibilities of press; number of judges have denounced newspaper's action, and Attorney General may press formal contempt charges; photos (M)

Kenneth W Starr will step down as Whitewater prosecutor in August to become dean of law and public policy schools of Pepperdine University; aides caution against reading too much into decision to step away from series of investigations involving Pres Clinton and closest allies, but announcement raises questions about whether he would decide to leave office if indictments of President and Hillary Rodham Clinton were forthcoming; Starr says investigation is ongoing; photo (M)

Real estate broker Dexter J Kamilewicz, whose legal fees far exceeded damage award he won in class-action suit involving mortgage escrow accounts, is challenging class-action legal system; is backed by growing number of state attorneys general as he seeks to establish right of plaintiffs to sue class-action lawyers whom he accuses of malpractice by structuring a settlement to enrich themselves, not protect their clients' interests; key issues is whether plaintiffs have right to sue class-action lawyers for malpractice even after judge approves settlement; Kamilewicz seeks to sue several lawyers, including Daniel E Edelman, and Bank of Boston; photos (M)