May 23, 1998

Federal Judge Norma Holloway Johnson rules that Secret Service agents may be compelled to testify about Pres Clinton's relationship with former intern Monica Lewinsky; rejects Administration's claim of 'protective function privilege' for those who protect the President; decision is procedural victory for independent counsel Kenneth Starr, who wants testimony from Secret Service counsel John J Kelleher and two uniformed officers, Gary Byrne and Brian Henderson, as to whether they discussed Lewinsky; Justice Department weighs appeal; photo (M)

Technology Issues Extend Selloff, Weakening Market The stock market fell yesterday for the fourth time this week, hurt by drops in Dell and other technology shares on further worries about the impact of Asian economic problems. Losses among drug stocks also led the market down.

General Motors Corp marketing chief, Ronald L Zarrella, wins praise for helping to slow erosion of GM's competitive position; favors new sales strategy called brand management, which is used at consumer products company; graphs of GM market share and net income; photos (M)

Air Traffic System Criticized Unions representing the technicians who will maintain a new billion-dollar air traffic control system said the absence of sufficient alarms in it will jeopardize air safety. Page A8.

Indonesian army retakes Parliament in overnight raid by soldiers who prod and cajole more than 2,000 students to leave complex they occupied for five days; no casualties reported as new Government moves rapidly to assert control; photo of soldiers in impromptu dance; student movement, united against former Pres Suharto, splinters as some support successor B J Habibie, while others say new Cabinet does not go far enough to sweep out Suharto remnants (S)

Boston Red Sox defeat New York Yankees, 5-4, Fenway Park, Boston; photo (M)

About New York column on Moe Stein, salesman at his family's store, Frank's Sporting Goods, on Tremont Avenue in Bronx, and his unpleasant encounter with police officer who was writing ticket on car parked near his store; says that when he suggested to officer to look around to see if car's owner might be nearby, officer handcuffed him, took him to precinct house and put him in cell; Stein was released with summons to appear in court on charge of disorderly conduct; Stein maintains that all citizens have the right to talk about what's going on around them (M)

Bitter fight over Mayor Giuliani's plans to impose stiff new rules on taxi industry moves into courts as Federal District Judge Robert P Patterson hears arguments that taxi drivers should be allowed to recreate demonstration that was largely quashed by police on Thursday, May 21; Federal court hearing, at which cabdrivers are represented by American Civil Liberties Union, comes on day in which Giuliani seems to open door, if only slightly, to compromise over one of his proposals: sharply increased fines for traffic infractions and other violations by taxi drivers (M)

Congress overwhelmingly approves $200-billion public works measure, largest in US history, that will spend Federal money on roads, bridges, buses, subways, ferries and even parking garages in virtually every Congressional district; measure increases Federal transportation spending 44 percent over next six years; vote is 297-86 in House and 88-5 in Senate; incumbents are voracious for projects in election year that finds Federal budget in balance; every state but Massachusetts gets more transportation spending; $9.3 billion allocated for 1,400 projects; spending graphs; New York to get $353 million for East River tunnel that will allow Long Island Rail Road trains to stop at Grand Central Terminal; state also gets money for Staten Island ferry, Battery Park, conversion of part of General Post Office into new Pennsylvania Station, and $1 billion a year in mass transit funding; employers will be allowed to give workers up to $65 per month in tax-free mass transit benefits; New Jersey gets $26 million to link Turnpike with Hudson County waterfront; Connecticut gets road and rail aid; bill calls for $165 billion for highways and bridges, $36 billion for mass transit and $2 billion for safety programs; Congress may not use funds for budget-balancing as in past; $6 million is given to study moving elevated West Side Highway in Manhattan, which Donald Trump says obscures views from his Riverside South development; Repr Jerrold Nadler, representing district, objects to allocation (M)

Comment on variety of small benefits going to consumers in New York as result of deals and tax-breaks pushed through by Mayor Giuliani and Gov Pataki; both Giuliani and Pataki, when they ran for office, promised to change New York's status as symbol of big government and high taxes; they have reduced size of government and overall tax burden; but going beyond conventional, one-shot tax cuts, they appear to be leading nation with stream of small but steady benefits, like free transfers between subway and bus; government is now targeting constituents with tax credits, abatements and price discounts; among benefits to consumers are sales tax cuts on clothing, free rides on Staten Island Ferry, reduced express-bus fares, bonus Metrocard rides on city transit, E-Z pass discounts for bridge, tunnel and New York Thruway tolls, and lower energy bills for Lilco customers (L)

Police say that 11-year-old boy who admitted killing 37-year-old William Koonce while trying to defend his mother from drunken beating by Koonce has not been charged in case; say that it is unlikely that he ever will be, given circumstances of killing, in which fifth-grade boy plunged knife into Koonce; neighbors in Sutter Houses complex in Brooklyn where Desiree Hoyle lives with her son and his 3-year-old sister say that they had urged Hoyle to break up with her abusive boyfriend, and that when they heard commotion in Hoyle's apartment they at first thought she had finally fought back (M)

People of Northern Ireland and Irish Republic cast ballots in overwhelming numbers in referendum aimed at ending decades of sectarian strife; exit polls indicate agreement is backed by 73 percent of voters in north and 96 percent in republic; accord calls for both sides to move beyond violence and create new institutions that would give greater voice to Catholic minority in north, while responding to Protestant wish to remain British; approval was expected, but margin is considered key to accord's success; photo; map; review of main elements of proposal (M)