April 5, 1997

FTC, acting over objections from some staff members, rejects proposed $4 billion merger of two office supply discounters, Staples Inc and Office Depot Inc; votes 4 to 1 seek a Federal court injunction against merger, which would have created office superstore chain with more than 1,000 stores and $10 billion in annual sales; William J Baer, director of FTC antitrust division, contends proposed deal is undisguised and illegal attempt to eliminate competition between two chains and would inevitably lead to higher prices for consumers (M)

Rwandan Hutu refugees in Zaire find their desperate five-month flight from Tutsi pursuers coming to deadly end deep in Zairian rain forest, hundreds of miles from their homeland; near Biaro, Zaire, thousands of Rwandan refugees, driven there by war and now stranded by diplomatic impasse, have built shelters of bamboo, palm fronds, plastic sheeting; inside some of shelters, skeletal figures beckon for water and wait for death; sick and exhausted people are littered about the ground, sleeping on bundles of rags; United Nations officials estimate that 120 refugees are dying each day among 80,000 Hutus in camps along a slender dirt road running south through forest from Kisangani, regional capital, to Ubundu, 72 miles away; most of refugees are gathered in two groups in villages 15 miles and 26 miles south of city; they are succumbing to malaria, dysentery and other diseases; photos (M)

Knight-Ridder Buys 4 Papers Knight-Ridder, the country's second-largest newspaper company, will buy The Kansas City Star in Missouri, The Fort Worth Star-Telegram and two smaller papers from Disney for a record $1.65 billion. Page 35. Blame Rock-and-Roll Gov. John G. Rowland, the first baby boomer to hold Connecticut's highest office, has agreed to pay a $2,000 fine for accepting discounted tickets to six rock-and-roll concerts. Page 23. Insurance Plan Stalls Prospects dimmed this week that Gov. Christine Todd Whitman's plan for a major overhaul of automobile insurance in New Jersey will be approved by Election Day. Page 24. A Change in Sexual Behavior For adolescents coming of age now, their introductions to dating and sex have changed from the patterns that their parents had learned and had expected would continue. Page 8. Solving a Medical Puzzle The quest to find the source of an outbreak of hepatitis A in Michigan got a major boost from the good memory of a school secretary and childrens' sweet tooth. Page 8. A Reminder Daylight savings time resumes at 2 A.M. tomorrow. Clocks are set ahead one hour.

US unemployment rate edges down to 5.2 percent in March--matching its lowest level in eight years--as reinvigorated economy continues to produce bountiful labor market for legions of Americans; while Govt report that employers added slightly-less-than-expected 175,000 workers to payrolls in March, every other economic indicator points to strong growth that may well prompt Federal Reserve to raise interest rates against soon; hourly earnings limbed to point 4 percent above those of March 1996, briskest annual increase of long-running business expansion that reached its sixth anniversary lat month (M)

Superstition and witchcraft remain part of daily life for many Russians; one of Moscow's, and nation's, most popular television shows is straight, factual discussion of how sorcery and witchcraft can improve one's life; major national newspapers advertise services of clairvoyants, witches and warlocks every day; well-trained doctors at respected hospitals see nothing unusual in recommending that their patients take trip to a 'babka,' on old woman with power to heal; photo; map (L)