August 16, 1997

Stock market plummets, with Dow Jones industrial average suffering its worst one-day selloff in nearly six years; Dow plunges 247.37 points, or 3.1 percent, to 7,694.66; collapse leaves stock market wobbly and investors uncertain, capping nasty weeklong decline in prices that began just after Dow reached its most recent peak; even with recent decline, Dow is up 19.3 percent for year; many analysts insist that stocks were due for pause after rally that took Dow up 29 percent since spring; graph; photo (M)

Teamsters are using tactics of political battlefield in strike against United Parcel Service; union leaders are displaying discipline of political candidates in adopting and staying on single message, that strike is about downtrodden part-timers; union, as well as UPS, have dispatched armies of representatives to make their cases on television talk shows, just as campaign strategists do in election years; both sides have built sophisticated campaigns aimed at turning opinion in Washington; UPS is asking customers to write White House on their behalf, and teamsters' strike web page has link allowing members to E-mail their representatives about issues at hand; labor expertise on display largely reflects fact that Ron Carey survived two hard-fought elections for president of teamsters; photo (M)

Second New York City police officer is charged with brutal attack on Haitian immigrant inside Brooklyn station house; information said to have come from one of his colleagues at 70th Precinct; indictment against Officer Charles Schwarz reportedly accuses him of restraining victim, Abner Louima, while Officer Justin A Volpe shoved toilet plunger's handle up Louima's rectum, then into his mouth, causing critical injury; Police Comr Howard Safir says Schwarz, a six-year veteran, received 15-day suspension in 1992 for 'striking someone in the face'; Schwarz surrenders to authorities; his lawyer says he is innocent of all charges; Comr Safir and Mayor Rudolph W Giuliani praise courage of unnamed officer who provided information against Schwarz; they say his cooperation disproves 'myth of the blue wall of silence'; community leaders say current case reflects broader problem in how police under Giuliani administration treat minority-group residents; photo; diagram of layout of station house were attack reportedly occurred (M)

Exotic mutant Pacific seaweed, Caulerpa taxifolia, appears toxic to many Mediterranean ceatures and has been suffocating everything in its path; it was developed in tropical aquarium of German zoo 20 years ago, and given as gift to other institutions; it is thought to have gotten into Mediterranean 15 years ago, when aquarium in Monaco emptied its tanks; it has proliferated wildly, showing up as far away as Croatia; divers have tried to destroy it, but it bounces back and spreads more quickly; it has smothered beds of native sea grass that serve as nurseries for many species of the Mediterranean; photo; map (M)

The Sullen Zone, special report on Gaza, where most residents have seen no improvement in their lives, three years after nominal peace with Israel made possible the rule of Yasir Arafat; refugee camps remain mired in squalor, work is scarce, detention by Palestinian security agencies can come swiftly, and courts do little to prevent beatings or extended jail time without charges; only people flourishing are members of Palestinian elite, those who are rich and close to Arafat; their garish living habits are galling to majority of Gazans, who continue to live in poverty; Gazans who were ecstatic to get Israeli troops off their streets now must deal with Palestinian troops that throw people into jail for even perceived slights against Palestinian Authority; as result, new mood in Gaza damns Israel and Arafat in almost equal measure; photos; map (L)