May 26, 1998

Tawana Brawley defamation trial, which was supposed to last about one month, is in its seventh month with no end in sight; trial has become known for endless cross-examinations, exceptional bickering and occasional visits by one of defendants, Rev Al Sharpton; Judge S Barrett Hickman has been criticized for losing control of trial; defense will begin its case on May 26, and defendant Alton H Maddox Jr has promised 'long hot summer' in courtroom (M)

Court testimony by member of Japan's Aum Shinrikyo religious cult shows it carried out repeated germ attacks in early 1990's to kill millions of people throughout Tokyo and at nearby American bases where thousands of service people and their families live; group sprayed pestilential microbes and germ toxins from rooftops and convoys of trucks, hoping to ignite apocalyptic war; its targets included Japanese Diet, Imperial Palace, surrounding city and American base at Yokohama, which is headquarters of Seventh Fleet; at least nine attacks failed, largely because group never possessed germs of sufficient virulence, despite great effort; cult sought lethal bacteria from local sources and traveled on microbe-hunting trips to a northern Japanese isle as well as to Africa, apparently eager to obtain deaded Ebola virus; burst into headlines in 1995 when it released nerve gas into Tokyo subways, killing dozen people; its biological work, meant to be thousand times more devastating, was mentioned only in passing, in scattered reports; photos; map (L)

Congress is considering financial plan to stop deterioration of Ellis Island's south side; until island stopped receiving immigrants in 1954, south side was hospital complex of 29 buildings that took care of foreigners who were too sick to be let into US; National Park Service proposes using $6.6 million in franchise fees that Government already collects from operators of ferryboats and concession stands at Ellis Island and Statue of Liberty to stop south side's deterioration from getting any worse (M)

Despite dire predictions of the death of the printed word, makers of textbooks and instructional materials are having banner years. Last year, purchases of elementary school books increased by 13 percent, to $3 billion, and college texts rose by 7.4 percent, to $2.7 billion. ''It's a good time for all of us -- all tides are rising,'' said Roby Harrington, the director of the college department for W. W. Norton & Company, who noted that this year 79 of the 123 titles in the Norton Critical Editions series showed higher sales.

Archeologists use sensitive portable magnetometers, device that detects minute variations in earth's magnetic fields, as tool to aid in discerning objects beneath earth's surface; Dr Sheldon Breiner, a pioneer in use of magnetometers in archeology and other fields, has located during past three decades two of 17 so-called 'colossal' Olmec heads found so far; photo (M)