March 13, 1998

Top-ranked North Carolina was an easy winner and highly seeded South Carolina was a surprise loser. Xavier was also an upset victim, and for Temple it was hardly a day at the beach. But for Princeton, with a 27-1 record this season, it was just another day at the office in a 69-57 victory in the first round of the N.C.A.A. basketball tournament. SportsFriday, page C1.

Possible Wall St. Winners Stockbrokers, not their customers, have the most to gain from a merger of the American Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq. Page D1. No Deal on Patient Rights A Presidential panel declined to support passage of legislation defining the rights of patients and setting penalties for violations. Page A17.

Profile of and interview with Dr Brian Geoffrey Marsden, director of Central Bureau for Astromical Telegrams; he says that, based on additional calculations, chances of asteroid hitting earth are smaller than he had thought; photo (Man in News column) (M)

Interview at Yankee Stadium with Billy Crystal, actor and ultimate Yankees fan; photos; map; Crystal, who turns 50 this week, recalls going to his first game with his father at age 8, growing up in Long Beach, learning filmmaking with Martin Scorsese at New York University and making the rounds of comedy clubs; he reminisces about Mickey Mantle, his lifelong idol; Crystal gave tribute at Mantle's funeral and to this day has Yankees games beamed to his Los Angeles home by satellite; actor also discusses challenge of hosting Academy Awards for sixth time (L)

Federal officials announce that for first time since 1930's, number of new cancer cases is declining; announce sharp reversal in incidence of diseases that kill more than 1,500 Americans each day; deaths from cancer are also dropping, continuing trend that was first reported in Nov 1996; experts attribute decline in new cases to changes in behavior, most notably a drop in smoking, and decline in deaths to increased screening and better therapies; study finds that from 1990 to 1995, cancer rates for men and women of every race dropped, with one notable exception: black men; they have highest cancer rates of any group in nation, mainly because of sharp rise in new cases of prostate cancer; Dr James S Marks of Centers for Disease Control comments; table shows average annual percent change for 10 cancers; charts show rates of diagnosis per 100,000 people among various groups for cancers of prostate, breast, lung and colon/rectum (L)

George Vecsey Aports of The Times column discusses Princeton's victory over University of Nevada-Las Vegas in opening round of NCAA basketball tournament; photo (M)

Market Place column on future direction of J P Morgan; says although Morgan has made strides, shifting from stodgy commercial bank to investment bank competing with Wall Street's titans, that transformation has yet to pay off; Morgan's stock price has sorely underperformed those of its peers in commercial and investment banking; Morgan's chief executive Douglas A Warner is unavailable for comment; photo (M)

Autos on Friday column on car-related collectibles, which range from scaled-down cars to old license plates, gas pumps and movie posters; photo (M)

South Korea Pres Kim Dae Jung approves most sweeping amnesty in history of his country, clearing the police and personnel records of 5.5 million people and freeing scores of political prisoners; announcement is unexpected and daring move by Kim, himself a former political prisoner; his Govt says it will help foster new period of unity in South Korea as country braces for severe financial downturn (M)

Opening round of East Regional of NCAA basketball tournament; Princeton defeats University of Nevada-Las Vegas, 69-57; Michigan State defeats Eastern Michigan, 83-71; photo (M)

Emotion-laden words that Jews have thought of as special to them are slipping from their grasp; latest example is 'concentration camps,' which is being used in forthcoming exhibition on Ellis Island to describe how US Government rounded up innocent Japanese-Americans during World War II and herded them into barbed-wire compounds; many Jews fear they are losing their singular lexicon of anguish: words like ghetto, genocide and Holocaust; Nobel Peace Prize-winning author Elie Wiesel says those of us who respect language should remember what concentration camp really was in Germany; photo (M)

Pentagon and Justice Department raises serious concerns about Lockheed Martin Corp's plan to buy Northrop Grumman Corp because deal would all but eliminate competition in manufacturing of certain radar and electronic warfare systems (L)