 CANDIDATES UNITED, TO AN EXTENT -- Looking to stand out in a blurred and crowded field, the four Democratic mayoral prospects used a campaign forum to pummel Mayor Giuliani -- but not each other. B3.    A RUSH ON MARRIAGES -- People are flooding municipal offices for marriage licenses, a situation possibly tied to pending changes to immigration law. B3.

INSIDE METRO

News analysis; death of Deng Xiaoping, China's paramount leader, has passed mandate to govern to collective of younger men, centered around Communist Party boss Jiang Zemin; whether they can inherit imperial authority needed to unite China as it deals with new, divisive challenges remains unclear; photo (M)

Successors in Search of a New Mandate

Vernon Bailey, chief of maintenance for Atlantic City Board of Education, and antiques dealer Gerald L Stevenson are charged with stealing two 750-pound brass torches from high school storage room (New Jersey Daily Briefing) (S)

Arrests in Theft of Torches

Analysis: Japan's struggling economy, frail stock market and cheap funds has made it place to borrow, not invest; Japan's rock-bottom interest rates are essentially offset by inflation, making money a free commodity; people are pumping money out of Japan in search of higher yields, fueling stock and bond markets in New York and elsewhere; investments from Japan in dollar assets more than tripled last year, to $43 billion; many economist and analysts say real figure is much higher, because much of it cannot be traced when funds are raised in yen in Europe; they say such borrowing could run as high as $40 billion to $60 billion a month; as result, yen could plummet to 160 against dollar or beyond (M)

Japan Rewards Borrowing, And the Yen Keeps Falling

Struggling United Hospital in Newark will close, putting some 900 health-care employees out of work (New Jersey Daily Briefing) (S)

United Hospital Closing

Law enforcement officials say telephone and Internet marketers are joining with telecommunications companies in emerging nations to bilk unsuspecting consumers around world; say in latest operation, three Long Island-based companies enticed on-line computer browsers with promise of free pornography and then subjected users to exorbitant telephone charges billed from number in Moldova; Federal District Judge Denis R Hurley shut down operation after Federal Trade Commission accused defendants of running 'one of the most insidious scams' it has seen; named in FTC complaint are Anna M Grella, William Gannon and David Zeng, who operated Audiotex Connection Inc, Promo Line Inc and Electronic Forms Management (M)

X-Rated Fraud Uses Internet To Bilk Users

 Consumer Prices Rise, But Earnings Fall Sharply  The Labor Department said that consumer prices rose only one-tenth of 1 percent in January, below the consensus forecast of three-tenths of 1 percent, as food prices fell and price increases for energy moderated. The department also said that Americans' weekly earnings, adjusted for inflation, fell 2 percent in January -- the largest decline since August 1973. $(Page D4.$)    G.M. May Sell Two Big Units  General Motors is considering selling up to 20 percent of its huge automotive electronics and auto parts units. G.M. is in the process of adding its Delco Electronics Corporation to its Delphi Automotive Systems unit to form the world's largest auto supplier, with revenue of approximately $32 billion. $(D2.$)

BUSINESS DIGEST

Suit challenging New Jersey's ban on granting domestic partnership benefits will be heard in Appellate Division of Superior Court; suit was filed in 1993 by Rutgers chapter of American Association of University Professors and several faculty members (New Jersey Daily Briefing) (S)

Suit on Partnership Benefits

Nostalgia-provoking, emotion-yanking objects are the specialty of Restoration Hardware, a chain of 22 stores based in Eureka, Calif, which recently opened its first store on the East Coast in Alexandria, Va; photos (L)

A Hardware Store With a Big Ego

Clinton Administration officials say death of Deng Xiaoping, China's paramount leader, will prompt few drastic changes, if any, in how US handles one of its more important and difficult diplomatic relationships; possibility of political uncertainty raises concerns about direction China will take, even as American policy enters new phase of potential confrontations; Pres Clinton praises Deng for opening China's economic system and its diplomacy to rest of world; Sec of State Madeleine Albright expresses hope for smooth transition of power; photo (M)

U.S. Sees Few Changes in Chinese Relations

Commerce Dept reports nation's trade deficit widened by 30 percent in December, bringing imbalance for full year to $114.2 billion, largest gap since 1988; lower exports and higher imports contributed equally to December expansion; analysts say this partly reflects sharp rise in international value of dollar; Goldman, Sachs projects 1.8 percent increase in economic growth for current quarter as result of swing in trade account; this compares with 4.7 percent in final three months of 1996; even as overall deficit widened, there was narrowing with China and Japan, sources of much of US's trade friction; gap with China shrank $400 million, to $2.6 billion in December, surging 16.9 percent for year, to $39.5 billion; gap with Japan was down $50 million, to $4.3 billion in December; for all 1996, deficit was $47.7 billion, or 19.4 percent below 1995 total; graph (M)

Trade Deficit Grew Sharply Last Year

Clinton Administration officials say Gen Jesus Gutierrez Rebollo, former head of Mexico's antinarcotics program who has been detained by Mexican Government for allegedly collaborating with drug traffickers, was given detailed briefings on what US knew about Mexico's cocaine cartels days prior to arrest; begin immediate damage assessment to determine whether secret information was compromised or if US drug informants have been placed in danger; say there was no early warning that Gutierrez Rebollo was under suspicion of doing business with the drug lord Amado Carrillo Fuentes, from whom he allegedly received gifts, payments and real estate and, in exchange, provided protection to cocaine shipments for as long as seven years; photos (M)

Mexico's Jailed Anti-Drug Chief Had Complete Briefings in U.S.

New Jersey Assembly on Feb 20 will vote on Assemblyman David C Russo bill to amend careless driving law to include penalties for drivers if snow or ice from their vehicle causes damage or injury (New Jersey Daily Briefing) (S)

Bill Would Penalize Drivers

Garden Notebook column on weird and wonderful plants from China, South Africa, Philippines and Japan that are featured in this year's catalogues; drawing; photos (L)

The Global Backyard: Weird Is In

Europe's rail freight industry is being modernized, with help from American railroad companies; currently there are seven electrical standards, jumble of signal systems and three track gauge widths, creating bottlenecks at borders; European planners and government leaders preparing for unification are breaking up old inefficient state rail monopolies into commercially viable pieces; they are even opening door to outside competition, including Wisconsin Central Transportation Corp, American specialist in turning around troubled freight companies, and CSX Corp, whose subsidiary is in joint ventures to introduce American-style freight shuttles; Americans are bringing new infusion of capital and also rich trove of expertise from painful shakeout that reshaped American freight industry in 1980's; maps, charts (L)

Revamping With Technology, Competition and U.S. Aid

Sen Frank Lautenberg and Rep Frank LoBiondo say study commissioned by the Federal Aviation Administration may recommend shutting down agency's William J Hughes Technical Center in Pomona and moving its operations and its 1,500 employees to Oklahoma City (New Jersey Daily Briefing) (S)

Possible Plan to Move Center

Ilyas Malayev, beloved poet and musician from Uzbekistan, immigrated to Queens three years ago; Malayev, Bukharan Jew, says he gave up his celebrity and livelihood to chase his dream of publishing his poetry in America; Malayev, who plays lute and sings folk songs, and his group will perform in Alice Tully Hall in concert on Feb 23 produced by Queens Council on Arts; photo (M)

Uzbeks' Classical Master Reclaims Role in Queens

Supreme Court, in 6-to-3 vote, upholds lower court decision keeping demonstrators at least 15 feet away from doorways and driveways of abortion clinics in upstate New York that were targets of blockades and boisterous protests in early 1990's; majority opinion by Chief Justice William Rehnquist rejects argument that order violates free speech rights of anti-abortion protestors; Court, in 8-to-1 vote, strikes down separate provision of New York injunction under which demonstrators are forbidden to come within 15-foot 'floating' zone of people entering or leaving clinics; photo (M)

High Court Upholds 15-Foot Buffer Zone At Abortion Clinics

Suffolk County Exec Robert J Gaffney transforms his State of County address into call for unity, responding to residents on eastern end of county who want to secede (M)

Should the East End Secede? The Suffolk County Executive Pleads for Unity

Bill Warner and his wife, Elissa Edelstein-Warner, restore and expand their 1929 Federal-style house in Cambridge, Mass, making it wheelchair accessible for Warner in the process; photos (L)

The 'Redo Spirit,' Running Rampant

Time Warner says it will sell its stake in American Lawyer Media, parent of American Lawyer trade paper, but will keep its interest in Court TV; Steven Brill will leave paper and cable channel he founded; Time Warner and Brill together own American Lawyer Media, which in turn has option to buy 20 percent of Court TV from Time Warner; Court TV is owned equally by Time Warner, NBC and Liberty Media; Brill sought to put together group, including NBC, to buy Time Warner's stake in Court TV and American Lawyer Media and combine two operations; that plan was reportedly thwarted by Ted Turner, who oversees Time Warner cable programming, and is said to be concerned about NBC's increased ownership of rival cable service to Time Warner's Cable Network News (M)

Time Warner Planning to Sell Stake in Legal Publisher

Evelyn Nieves Our Towns column on efforts of West Hartford, Conn, residents to get rid of thousands of crows that have invaded town (M)

Around West Hartford, Crows' Cry Is 'Evermore'

Deng Xiaoping, one of China's founding revolutionaries and architect of economic modernization that has transformed world's most populous country, dies at 92; reportedly succumbs to respiratory problems; wily pragmatist and unyielding authoritarian was last of generation of leaders who shared hardships of forging Chinese Revolution; Pres Jiang Zemin, general secretary of Communist Party, is named successor; photos; graphs (M)

DENG XIAOPING IS DEAD AT 92; ARCHITECT OF MODERN CHINA

 U.S.Trade Deficit Grows  The nation's trade deficit widened substantially in December, bringing the imbalance for the full year to $114.2 billion, the largest gap since 1988, new figures show. Page D1.

INSIDE

The man anointed to succeed Deng Xiaoping, Jiang Zemin, is a new kind of authority for China: a quiet intellectual who would be the first leader in the nation's history with a college degree. While not as imposing a figure as Mr. Deng, he appears to be a secure strongman.     In the eight years since his selection, he has tried to establish support in the military. But he has also tended to shift with the political winds, and has been more associated with caution than leadership.  

February 20, 1997

Headlines from February 20, 1997

INSIDE METRO

Successors in Search of a New Mandate

Arrests in Theft of Torches

Japan Rewards Borrowing, And the Yen Keeps Falling

United Hospital Closing

Billboard 200

Tragic Kingdom

Gridlock'd

Secrets

Evita

Falling Into You

Historical Context for February 20, 1997