October 13, 1997

Rancorous and largely hidden debate over what NATO expansion begins to surface after Sen Jesse Helms, chairman of Foreign Relations Committee, warns that Senate approval of expansion may hinge on what share of cost Europe is willing to pay; evidence suggests that numbers are being adjusted to find balance between Senate conservatives, like Helms, who want to insure that NATO remains credible defensive alliance and European allies who need to cut budget deficits to qualify for single European currency and to pay for expansion of European Union (M)

Placido Domingo will star in world premiere of Anton Garcia Abril's opera Divina Palabras at newly restored Teatro Real, Madrid; photo; Hamptons International Film Festival is set to open; number of noted cabaret performers are set to appear at Manhattan Cabaret Convention at Town Hall, produced by Mabel Mercer Foundation; photo; major exhibition of works from Victoria and Albert Museum, London, opens at Baltimore Museum of Art (M)

Health Services System is criticized for the way it evaluates whether New Yorkers on welfare are healthy enough to work for their benefits; private, for-profit clinic receives $6 million a year from city to conduct evaluations; process can be a humiliating for recipients; medical oversight of clinic is minimal, and when a city determination of fitness for work is appealed to state, city's decisions are overturned or withdrawn in 40 percent to 50 percent of cases; Giuliani administration says it is pleased with clinic's performance and says use of single, city-financed operation is necessary to discourage fraud and inconsistency in evaluating recipients; many officials and advocates for poor voice misgivings; photo (M)

Pres Laurent Kabila has yet to gain military control over Congo's rebellious eastern province or to bring peace to Central Africa as regional leaders who sponsored his rebellion had hoped; ethnic warfare still rages across region, springing from age-old animosity between Tutsis and Hutus, as well as between Tutsi and other Bantu groups in Congo who resent what they regard as recent Tutsi hegemony; continuing warfare has been disappointment to Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi, which supported Kabila's rebellion, mainly because predecessor, Mobutu Sese Seko, harbored rebel groups intent on overthrowing their governments; since Kabila's victory in May, Congolese Tutsi have become increasingly dominant in local administration and army, causing resentment among other ethnic groups who regard them as invaders from Rwanda; map (M)

Anna Kisselgoff reviews Ballet Hispanico performance at Hostos Center; photo (M)