Harvey Araton Sports of The Times column discusses New York Jets preparing for game against Detroit Lions; if Jets win, they will be in playoffs; photo (M)

Sports of The Times; Parcells's Best Bet: Break Even

Reggae singer Bunny Wailer performs at Beacon Theater; photo; Jon Pareles review (M)

Dance Fever No Matter the Message

South Korea's battered won surges by more than 8 percent after Government scraps longstanding artificial limits on how much value of curency can change; move is seen as serious effort to reverse rapid economic decline that led nation to reluctantly agree to record $57 billion bailout by International Monetary Fund; graphs; photo (M)

South Korea Currency Soars As Trading Restrictions End

New Jersey Senate, after emotionally charged debate, votes, 27-13, to override Gov Christine Todd Whitman's veto of measure that bans partial birth abortion--controversial procedure used after first trimester in which skull of fetus is crushed to facilitate delivery; Whitman says administration will not defend new law in court, noting State Attorney General already concluded that such a ban would be unconstitutional because it is too broadly defined and does not include provision to protect health of mother; American Civil Liberties Union files constitutional challenge; imposition of ban in 17 other states, where courts have either blocked or limited enforcement, noted; photo (M)

New Jersey's Senate Overrides Whitman Veto of Abortion Curb

Clyde Haberman NYC column calls on Metropolitan Transportation Authority to drop high priced law firm of Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom, whom they hired to keep New York Magazine from plastering city buses with advertisements tweaking Mayor Rudolph Giuliani; photo (M)

First Thing We Do: Fire The Lawyers

Even though he was safely at home when the Oklahoma City Federal Building was blown up, Terry L. Nichols was an eager participant in its destruction, a Federal prosecutor said today in closing arguments in Mr. Nichols's trial.  

2 Sides Sum Up Cases In Terry Nichols Trial

Special panel appointed by Defense Sec William Cohen recommends that armed services significantly roll back integration of men and women in basic and advanced training; recommendations come at time when military has been buffeted by sex scandals, including highly publicized rape and sexual assault cases at Army's Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland; would, if accepted, reduce amount of time men and women spend together, separating much more of training for men and women than has been case in recent years; would bring Army, Navy and Air Force closer in line with Marine Corps, which has steadfastly maintained wall between sexes in basic training (M)

PENTAGON IS URGED TO SEPARATE SEXES

Ford Motor Co to invest $420 million (US) in global alliance with Daimler-Benz AG of Germany and Ballard Power Systems Inc of Canada to develop automotive engines and drive trains that produce power more efficiently and cleanly than today's cars; three companies will intensify existing research efforts on basic fuel-cell technology and electric engines that can be linked to cells; companies will also form venture to develop drive train systems for electric vehicles; companies hope to accelerate development of commercially viable system by linking research in three basic areas of alternative fuel vehicle--power source, power plant and drive train; remaining obstacles to widspread adoption of fuel cells are reducing cost of each cell and determining whether to use hydrogen, methanol, gasoline or some other fuel; target date of 2004 has been set for commercial fuel cell (M)

Ford Joins in a Global Alliance to Develop Fuel-Cell Auto Engines

San Francisco 49ers defeat Denver Broncos, 34-17; photo (M)

Rice Returns, Montana Muses and 49ers Keep Winning

Happy Rockefeller, widow of former Gov Nelson A Rockefeller, is lending Andy Warhol portrait of Nelson Rockefeller to State of New York; painting will join other art at Empire State Plaza in Albany, public collection founded by Gov Rockefeller; photo of Warhol; Oslo police intensify their investigation of 1993 shooting of William Nygaard, Norwegian publisher of Salman Rushdie's book, after uncovering new evidence; English architect David Chipperfield beats out Frank Gehry for contract to rebuild New Museum in Berlin; France begins circulating new 100-franc note bearing portrait of Paul Cezanne; photo (L)

Footlights

Pres Clinton names Bill Lann Lee Acting Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, calibrated act of defiance against Republican Senate leadership, which had blocked nomination; move bypasses Senate's role in confirming Administration nominees and is only marginally less provocative than President's earlier intention to name Lee, minus title of 'acting,' to Justice Department post under constitutional power to make appointments while Senate is in recess; represents partial concession to strongly held belief by Senate Republicans and some Democrats that recess appointment is assault on Senate's power to act on Presidential nominations; Clinton says he will re-submit Lee's name to Senate in 1998 in hopes of winning confirmation; Lee pledges to enforce civil rights laws without fear or favor on behalf of all Americans; he will have full legal authority of permanent appointee, but will lack political legitimacy of official confirmed by Senate; Senate threat to block judicial nominations and to freeze money for Federal programs if Clinton flouted its power and advice on Presidential appointments noted; photo (M)

Clinton, Softening Slap at Senate, Names 'Acting' Civil Rights Chief

Caryn James comments on crop of documentaries appearing on cable television this month, all timed to ride coattails of season's biggest fact-based movies; they include A&E's Midnight in Savannah, based on movie version of John Berendt's story Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, several Amistad and Titanic documentaries, and one on Dalai Lama (M)

Cable TV Cashes In On Current Film Crop

Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party agrees to use at least 10 trillion yen ($77 billion) in public money to strengthen country's shaky banking system, following collapse of four financial institutions last month; there is new evidence that banks' frailty and Asia's deepening financial crisis are further undermining confidence in Japan's economy; party panel proposal is for Government to supply 10 trillion yen in bonds to Deposit Insurance Corp; agency could then call on Government to purchase bonds back for cash as needed to help solve financial crisis engulfing banks, securities firms and insurers, many of whom are swamped in bad loans; some analysts say it will take more than 10 trillion yen to strengthen Japanese financial system, and panel has left open possibility of raising more money; in share trading in Tokyo on Dec 16, benchmark Nikkei index of 225 issues is down 104.89 points, or two-thirds of 1 percent, at 15,804.50 (M)

Key Japanese Panel Devises $77 Billion Bank Rescue Plan

Efforts to find and remove land mines are complicated not only by the large number of them strewn around the world but also by enormous variety of mines, the widely different conditions in which they are found, and the relatively few advances in mine-detection technology since World War II; techniques now being tested include ground-penetrating radars, infrared heat sensors, devices that detect vapors from explosives, gadgets that generate and analyze sound waves reflecting from objects and bombarding ground with radiation or radio waves to set off signals chacteristice of explosives; graph; map; drawings (L)

Better Weapons Emerge For War Against Mines

Terrified orangutans are fleeing jungle homes in Indonesia as never before, driven by vast forest fires and choking smoke that have swept across habitat in Borneo and Sumatra since summer 1997; are being killed by hundreds by frightened villagers and plantation workers protecting crops; females, especially, are being killed so babies can be sold to fuel illegal trade in young orangutans; more than 100 animals, some badly injured, have been rescued by conservationists from local traders and villagers in Tanjung Puting, who locked them in cages, for sale or to be kept as pets; map; photo (M)

Tanjung Puting Journal; In Vast Forest Fires of Asia, Scant Mercy for Orangutans

Article notes that number of households headed by women has been rising among New Yorkers, but especially among Dominicans, city's largest fastest-growing immigrant group; various reasons cited; photo; graph (M)

Dominicans, Scrabbling for Hope; As Poverty Rises, More Women Head the Households

NYS Supreme Court Justice S Barrett Hickman, presiding over Steven Pagones's defamation lawsuit against three former advisers to Tawana Brawley, reverses himself and rules that advisers could defend themselves by arguing that statements for which they are being sued were true; change is likely to open door for more witnesses and additional testimony (M)

Judge Allows Another Airing Of Rape Claim

Murray Perahia gives piano recital at Avery Fisher Hall; photo; Bernard Holland review (S)

A Pianist Who Lays Bare Strata Rarely Perceived

US Defense Department, increasingly fearful of threats posed by germ warfare, says it will vaccinate every member of armed services against anthrax, one of deadliest biological agents known; has raised alarms in recent years over over threats posed by biological and chemical weapons, warning that its forces are ill-prepared to combat such attacks by enemy nation or terrorist group; recently identified at least 10 countries that have ability to develop biological weapons; Defense Sec William Cohen says Pentagon owes it to American people to move ahead with immunization plan; program, which includes series of six shots over six months for each soldier and booster shots annually, will begin in summer 1998 with 100,000 troops in Persian Gulf and on Korean Peninsula who are considered most at risk from attack with biological weapons (M)

U.S. ARMED FORCES TO BE VACCINATED AGAINST ANTHRAX

State regulators, despite evidence of serious mismanagement at Connecticut nuclear power plants, recommend that customers continue to foot bill for two nuclear reactors that have been closed for almost two years; state also recommends that investors be held responsible for costs of third shut down reactor, smallest and oldest of Millstone operations (M)

Hartford Agency Says Customers Should Pay Most of Reactor Bills

Florida Marlins trade pitcher Kevin Brown to San Diego Padres for minor league players Derrek Lee, Rafael Medina and Steve Hoff (M)

Padres Get Brown at Marlins' Ongoing Fire Sale

New York City Building Commissioner Gaston Silva attributes rain of bricks from wall of Madison Avenue office tower more than week ago to shoddy workmanship; says Francis Kleban, late developer and landlord who built 39-story office tower in 1970, failed to install inexpensive pieces of metal intended to bind facade to building's internal frame, causing bricks to fall out of alignment over time and spill onto street below; says cracks in bricks and mortar in south wall had been covered up, and that construction problems were apparently aggravated earlier in year when new owner, Harry Macklowe, began carving 94 windows into what had been sheer face on south side; says origins of problem lie in either shoddy workmanship, criminal negligence or both during construction of tower; photo; diagram (M)

Shoddy Bricklaying Cited in Madison Ave. Hazard

New technique of medical decision-making called 'evidence-based medicine' trains doctors to search medical journals and databases for tests and treatments that have helped large groups of patients; doctors then apply information to their own patients, under statistical assurance that what holds true for groups is likely to be valid for individuals; strategy is sweeping medicine in United States, Canada and Britain, widely hailed as crucial long-sought link between research and practice (L)

New Way of Doctoring: By the Book

Article discusses success of New York Jets rookies this season; photo (M)

PRO FOOTBALL: The Baby Formula; Jets Are Getting a Lift From Their Rookies

 A crude bomb explodes on West 57th Street, but damage is minimal.   PAGE B3    New Jersey may raise its cigarette tax to help pay for health care.   PAGE B6

INSIDE

Lillian Marie Disney was an American ink artist at the Walt Disney Animation Studios and the wife of Walt Disney from 1925 until his death in 1966. Born in Spalding, Idaho, Disney graduated from high school in Lapwai before moving to Lewiston to attend college. She left Idaho in 1923 to move to southern California, where she met future husband Walt while working as a secretary for his company.

December 16, 1997

Headlines from December 16, 1997

Sports of The Times; Parcells's Best Bet: Break Even

Dance Fever No Matter the Message

South Korea Currency Soars As Trading Restrictions End

New Jersey's Senate Overrides Whitman Veto of Abortion Curb

First Thing We Do: Fire The Lawyers

Billboard 200

Sevens

R U Still Down? [Remember Me]

Let's Talk About Love

Higher Ground

ReLoad

Notable Deaths

Historical Context for December 16, 1997