June 12, 1998

Asian economies, which started into tailspin with Thai devaluation last year, may be heading into even worse decline; Hong Kong, Malaysia and Indonesia confirm that economies shrank in first quarter of 1998 and will likely continue to do so this year; Japan, South Korea and Thailand are also in retreat and even economies that have managed to keep growing, in Taiwan, Philippines, Singapore and China, are slowing dramatically as Asian financial crisis turns into most serious region-wide recession since World War II; country-by-country table charts decline; culprit in latest bout of contraction and gloom is Japanese yen, which has plummeted against US dollar and put enormous pressure on other Asian currencies; yen falls again, to eight-year low; Bangkok stock market closes at ten-year low; plunge has so far been mildly positive for US, keeping import prices and interest rates down, but troubling symptoms are emerging; Asian-related US companies report anemic earnings, and US exports declined at $9 billion annual rate in first quarter (M)

New York Yankees center fielder Bernie Williams is expected to be out at least rest of month after sustaining what team believes is sprained right knee during recent game; photo (M)

Magazine editor and cargo pilot stranded. Island looks great.

Financial Accounting Standards Board gives preliminary approval to proposal that could make it harder for companies to sell discounted stock to rank-and-file; under the plan, companies that give employees more than 15 percent discount on stock would be required to treat discount as an expense, an amount that would come straight off company's bottom line; to avoid new expense, many companies would likely limit discount to 15 percent; proposal is drawing controversy because board, under pressure from corporate executives, backed away from similar proposal in 1994 that would have most likely forced companies to ration number of stock options they hand out, mostly to executives and managers (M)

Children of Balkan immigrants are one of fastest-growing groups at PS 290, Manhattan New School on Upper East Side; children are generation removed from fighting in Bosnia, and that is way their parents want to keep it; at home, emphasis is on living normal American childhood; at school, tales of war-torn land flow casually in context of classroom routine; photos (M)