September 26, 1997

Many Canadians are bewildered by deteriorating state of relations between Canada and US; they are angry about tough new US restrictions for crossing border, trade disputes, failure of US to sign land mine treaty and deepening conflict over Pacific salmon; diplomats say certain measure of irritation is inevitable in longstanding international relationship between two countries; US Amb to Canada Gordon D Giffin has tried to soothe Canadian nerves about rash of international irritants (M)

New York Yankees defeat Cleveland Indians, 5-4, Jacobs Field, Cleveland; photo of Yankee pitcher David Cone (M)

YMCA of Greater New York says it will proceed with fiercely opposed and long-stalled plan for 41-story condominium over its branch on West 63d Street, creating one of talleest residential buildings to overlook Central Park; tower, first proposed in 1986, is to be built by two large real estate concerns, Vornado Realty Trust and New York development company owned by David Edelstein; YMCA execs say they signed contract to sell their development rights to two companies for $9.3 million in cash and improvements to their existing building valued at about $9 million; plan provokes immediate protests from community groups on Upper West Side; drawing (M)

Autos on Friday column describes extraordinary vintage cars on exhibit at Rockefeller Center for 1997 Louis Vuitton Classic; photos (M)

Three Manhattan teen-agers seized in the murder of Nelson G Gross acknowledge in videotaped confessions that they abducted him in robbery plot and promised to release him once they had their money; decision to kill him was made when it occurred to them that he might identify one conspirator who had worked in his New Jersey restaurant this summer; investigators disclose wealth of new details in case; all three suspects are being held without bail for Federal prosecutors in New Jersey; while case is to be prosecuted by Federal officails in New Jersey, it was local officials in New York who broke it, arrested youths and obtained videotaped confessions; investigators quote suspects as saying that only two of them--Christian Velez, 17, and Miguel Grullon, 17--participated in decision to slay Gross and in killing itself, while third, Anthony Estevez, 18, had no direct role in either; suspects are also quoted as saying that conspiracy began in July, when Velez began working as busboy in Gross's restaurant and began talking of robbing 'this rich guy'; three youths' lives appeared to revolve around girls and used cars, days spent mostly in streets of largely Dominican neighborhood in Washington Heights, poverty and frustration at home, poor performances in school and occasional trouble with the law; photos (L)