July 29, 1997

Two people are killed and five others are injured when explosion demolishes Keltie's Bum Steer steakhouse in Brewster, NY; authorities say blast may have involved propane tank or could have been caused by buildup of methane in cavity under restaurant; map; photo (M)

Outlook for Donna Karan International Inc discussed in light of Donna Karan's decision to focus on her role as chief designer and name John Idol to replace her as chief executive; photo (M)

IMC Global to Acquire Freeport-McMoran Inc. IMC Global, fortifying its position as the world's dominant producer of phosphate fertilizers, agreed to buy Freeport-McMoran Inc. for about $750 million. The deal undoes a snarl or two in the still-tangled corporate realm of James R. Moffett, chairman of Freeport-McMoran Inc. and of the separate and larger Freeport-McMoran Copper and Gold, and would give investors in the battered shares of Freeport-McMoran Inc. a premium. $(Page D2.$)

Debate over workfare in New York is further delaying agreement on state budget; one side of debate, led by Mayor Rudolph W Giuliani and Gov George E Pataki, wants to keep workfare costs down; other side, led by Assembly Democrats, wants workfare participants to be eligible for union membership and to have hours they work more accurately reflect jobs they do; clash over workfare rules is only major obstacle in talks on latest state budget in New York's history, now 119 days late; another issue that has complicated negotiations is resolved when Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver drops his insistence that budget agreement close loophole in state's new laws on rent control (M)

Deep Blue's recent trouncing of chess champion Garry Kasparov has prompted efforts to find computer that can beat human player of ancient Asian game called Go; Deep Blue defeated Kasparov by leveraging moderate amount of chess knowledge with huge amount of blind, high-speed searching power; but no computer has come close to mastering Go, a uniquely human game; to play decent game of Go, computer must be endowed with ability to recognize subtle, complex patterns and to draw on kind of intuitive knowledge that is hallmark of human intelligence; when or if computer does defeat human Go champion, it will be sign that artificial intelligence is truly beginning to become as good as real thing; photos (M)

Donald Eckhard, owner of Chicletts Cafe in Edgewater, reaches settlement with Warner-Lambert Co, manufacturer of Chiclets chewing gum, under which he will accept $1,000 from company and rename his restaurant (New Jersey Daily Briefing) (S)

Brigantine officials set traps on beach to curb infestation of salt marsh greenhead flies, which attack like mosquitoes and swarm like locusts (New Jersey Daily Briefing) (S)

Assemblyman Alfred E Steele asks Gov Christine Todd Whitman to reopen branch office of state Division of Motor Vehicles in Paterson (New Jersey Daily Briefing) (S)

U.S. Role Grows in Bosnia On a small scale, American NATO peacekeepers are helping refugees from brutal ''ethnic cleansing'' in Bosnia to return home. Page A3. Blast Kills 2 at Restaurant Two people were killed and five others were injured when an explosion demolished a popular steakhouse near Brewster, N.Y. Page B1. Finally Forsaking Tokens Three years after its humble beginnings, the Metrocard accounts for 4 in 10 rides each day. Page B3. Legendary Ranger Leaves Mark Messier signed a three-year contract with Vancouver for a reported $20 million. Page B7.

Currency crisis, centered in Thailand, is shaking fast-growing nations of South and Southeast Asia; Thailand, underscoring severity of troubles and its inability to contain them, asks International Monetary Fund aid; Philippines has sought IMF aid and Malaysian and Indonesian currencies have fallen in three weeks since Thailand effectively devalued baht, making life more expensive and creating welter of economic and political problems for governments; concern is spreading over whether supercharged growth of past is ending; Bank of Thailand governor, Rerngchai Marakanond, who has been orchestrating defense of baht, resigns; graphs (M)

Many companies have stubbornly and successfully stuck with their conglomerate structures; most diversified companies, following General Electric Co model, stress only businesses where they can be top players, selling off other units; try to keep balance sheets clean, avoid purchases that dilute earnings and buy back stock with excess cash when they lack attractive acquisition targets; tables; photos (L)

Congressional Republicans and Clinton Administration reach agreement on ways to balance budget for first time in nearly three decades and on ways to cut taxes significantly for first time since 1981; Congress is likely to approve plan, which includes $500-per-child tax credit, reduction of maximum capital gains tax to 18 percent, lower inheritance taxes, 15 percent per pack increase in cigarette tax and a compromise on how much discretion states will have in deciding how to provide children's health insurance; photo (M)