Pres Clinton's videotaped testimony before grand jury is filled with trademark touches; he starts shakily but soon warms to task, unspooling threads of wounded dignity, controlled anger and confident elaboration; photos (M)

Staring Straight Into Camera, President Reveals Many Sides

New wave of discoveries is fomenting what some physicists are excitedly hailing as third revolution in search of universe's deepest secrets, leading toward day when all laws of creation may fit into single, elegant frame; subject of latest enthusiasm is M theory, joining wiggling superstrings of earlier theory with even more abstract entities, membranes, or 'branes,' which come in as many as nine dimensions; recent speculation is that all of creation may be concocted from these barely imaginable objects; if this is correct, physics may be closer than ever to writing down elusive theory of quantum gravity and explain all forces of nature in same terms; Dr Juan Maldacena, young Argentine theorist, has developed membrane theory that is source of latest excitement; photos; charts (L)

Almost in Awe, Physicists Ponder 'Ultimate' Theory

Hurricane Georges roared into Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands, causing extensive damage after leaving destruction in smaller Caribbean islands. Half of Puerto Rico was without water, and there were reports of five deaths there and one on St. Kitts.      Article, page A22.  

Puerto Rico Struck By Strong Hurricane

Transcript of President Clinton's grand jury testimony in investigation conducted by independent counsel Kenneth W Starr on Aug 17; photo (M)

The President's Testimony: Part One of Eight

New York Film Festival will return for its 35th year, beginning on Sept 25; it will offer 28 films from 15 countries; high-profile offerings include Woody Allen's film, Celebrity, Emir Justurica's Black Cat, White Cat, and Todd Solondz's Happiness; photo (M)

Film Festival Prizes Its Paradoxical Niche

Broad-based banking compromise measure that Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi had hailed as foundation for Japan's economic recovery begins to fray, just as Obuchi prepares to meet with Pres Clinton in US; banking deal was intended to help stabilize Japan's shaky financial system and to be basis for legislation to restore international confidence in nation's economy; stocks fall sharply in Japan; major bond-rating agency, Fitch IBCA of London, lowers Japan's long-term foreign currency debt; says with nation's deteriorating banking system, increasing Government debt and slow response by policy makers, risks of lending to Japan by overseas investors can no longer be ignored (M)

Japanese Bank Compromise Frays Already

Many British retailers have tried establishing stores in US and failed, like Conran's Habitat, housewares chain that is now defunct, and Next, a trendy clothing store; others struggling are Laura Ashley Holdings PLC, which has been through management turmoil in last two years, and Body Shop International, which was recently forced to form joint venture with Bellamy Retail Group LLC to stay in business in US after bleeding cash for years; one exception to trend is Virgin Group; reasons for lack of success have been many, ranging from Americans' desire for a bargain to real estate mistakes by British retail companies; graph; photos (M)

The British Are Coming, and Going; Many Retailers Come Up Short in the Trans-Atlantic Leap

Colorful piece of New York will disappear when Rialto Theater at 42d Street and Broadway is demolished as part of redevelopment of Times Square; it will be replaced by 30-story corporate building to be known as Reuters Building; photo (M)

Where Raunch Met Excess; Demise of Art Deco Temple of Less-Than-High Art

Jazz at Lincoln Center has become flagship jazz organization in United States in last 10 years; it is led by Wynton Marsalis, most celebrated jazz musician of his time; growth of Jazz at Lincoln Center, whose new season is in full swing, is reminder of program's ambitious agenda and its contentious place in jazz world; redevelopment plans for Columbus Circle will include 1,100-seat concert hall and complex of offices and rehearsal rooms for program; concert hall is first to be acoustically designed for jazz; photos (L)

HIGH NOTES AND LOW: A special report.; A Jazz Success Story With a Tinge of the Blues: At Lincoln Center, Defining the Canon Draws Fire

Pres Clinton's videotaped grand jury testimony is broadcast to nation as centerpiece in possible impeachment trial; Clinton is alternately argumentative and contrite, furious and crestfallen as he duels with criminal prosecutors over accusations of perjury in scandal; repeatedly rebuffs prosecutors' attempts to have him discuss in detail his sexual misbeavior with Monica S Lewinsky and seven months of denials that followed; admits to inappropriate and initimate contact with Lewinsky, but adamantly resists efforts to prove he misused office, suborned perjury or lied in earlier Paula Jones civil lawsuit deposition in which he denied sexual relations with Lewinsky; insists that encounters with Lewinsky did not consist of sexual intercourse; denies instances of oral sex described to grand jury by Lewinsky are evidence of perjury, arguing that there is common understanding among Americans that sexual relations must include intercourse; refuses to answer direct and specific questions, even at request of grand jurors; says he was unsurprised that Lewinsky told other people about relationship; says he tried to find her job out of friendship, not because of antiprosecutorial intrigue at White House; is apologetic for personal behavior, but firmly defensive about his national stewardship; House Judiciary Committee releases thousands of pages of additional evidence, notably full grand jury testimony of Lewinsky; photos (M)

Tape Shows Nation a Clinton Irate and Sad

 Japan's Prime Minister Cites Others' Costly Errors  Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi of Japan, blamed his predecessor, the nation's powerful Finance Ministry and the heads of the country's huge financial institutions for wasting years before the country began to deal with its crippling banking crisis and a deep recession that is worsening the world's economic turmoil.    Mr. Obuchi's comments, in an interview as he prepared to address the United Nations, was the first acknowledgment by a Japanese leader that his country's leadership, both in government and in the private sector, had made huge errors that have now ricocheted around the world. [Page A13.]

BUSINESS DIGEST

Police say 19-year-old Rishi Maharaj, who was severely beaten on Sept 20 in South Ozone Park, Queens, was singled out by residents who wanted to beat up an Indian; Luis Amorim, Peter DeMarco and Nuno Martins are charged with assault (M)

Racial Motive Is Seen in Beating of Indian-American Man in Queens

After fears that babies born to crack addicts in the mid-1980's were irreversibly damaged failed to materialize, a new conclusion was reached in the early 1990's: that cocaine causes no lingering effects on children born to drug-addicted mothers. Now many pediatricians and child development specialists believe that the complex truth lies in between.     Article, page D4.

Specialists See Hope For Crack Babies

Death of Jose Ubano in Rikers Island clinic on Aug 31 raises concern over quality of health care in New York City jails since advent of managed care in January 1998; city's Board of Corrections examines whether medical errors caused or hastened Ubano's death from liver failure, as well as deaths of at least three other prison inmates; city officials deny any negligence and insist quality of care remains high, but critics say pressures to cut costs and large turnover of doctors have plunged sprawling jail health system into worst crisis in decade; note that since St Barnabas Hospital in Bronx won $342 million contract to provide health care for city's jails on Jan 1, the number of trips by inmates to city hospitals has dropped by 57 percent, to 1,496 through August, from 3,456 in same period in 1997; graph (M)

Questions on Health Care In Jails Raised After Death

Americans are transfixed by Pres Clinton's videotaped grand jury testimony about affair with Monica S Lewinsky; many watch wearily, often with shame but with distinct dollop of sympathy over his painful humiliation; most common reaction in New York City is sympathy and even support, amid sense that his humiliation is out of all proportion to his sexual misdeeds; photos (M)

Weighing Shame and Sympathy, A Weary People Watch Clinton

Market Place column on consolidation among nation's medical-device makers; says in two long-anticipated deals, Guidant Corp says it will buy pacemaker division of Switzerland's Sulzer Medica Ltd for as much as $850 million, and General Electric's medical systems' unit will acquire Marquette Medical Systems Inc, maker of heart monitoring machines, for about $808 million in stock; says with several of nation's small medical-device makers struggling, industry's larger players are making what analysts call prime acquisitions--deals to get sophisticated products at affordable prices; says aside from merging to gain girth for price battles with health maintenance organizations, medical-device companies need size for research dollars and technology (M)

THE MARKETS: Market Place; Consolidation Among Medical-Device Makers

Metropolitan News begins on page D1 today, and SportsTuesday on page D9. Fashion news is on page A28.  

Today's Sections

Martin Tyrell, who has been building and repairing typewriters for 70 years, says they have still not succumbed to computers (M)

Where Y2K Is Nothing But 3 Keys

Caryn James reviews two new television programs: Encore! Encore! on NBC, starring Nathan Lane, and The Hughleys on ABC; photos (M)

One Family's Regal Airs, Another's Upward Mobility

Stocks weather sharp selloff on European markets and finish modestly higher; Dow Jones industrial average closes up 37.59 points, or five-tenths of 1 percent, at 7,933.25; Standard & Poor's 500-stock index rises 3.80, or four-tenths of 1 percent, to 1,023.89; Nasdaq composite index is up 16.66, or 1 percent, to 1,680.43; graphs; charts; photo (M)

Selloff Abroad Is Deflected By Wall St.

NASA is seeking to spend over $660 million over five years to bail out Russian partner in building international space station; argues that Russian and American programs are so intimately linked that Russian effort must be preserved lest American space program suffer greatly; key members of Congress immediately fault new proposal as too expensive; orbital construction on station, which is expected to cost $40 billion, will begin in two months, but even if new bailout goes through and keeps Russians afloat, project faces new round of construction delays in 1999 because of Russia's problems in building crucial part; lag in work will also have costly repercussions for fleet of space shuttles, which are to carry station elements into orbit (M)

NASA Wants Money to Save Russia Partner

Kenneth F Ginter, acting chief of meter collections for New York City's Department of Transportation, is arrested on charges of pocketing thousands of quarters from city's parking meters for himself; investigators say that $3,600 in quarters were stolen (M)

Meter Official Is Accused Of Coin Theft

 Down Payment on Security  The Clinton Administration will ask Congress this week for $1.8 billion for emergency improvements at embassies and consulates. Page A6.

INSIDE

Christian Slater will assume role of Clifford, the son, in Warren Leight's play Side Man when it reopens on Oct 20 at Golden Theater; photo; two hooded gunmen steal two Impressionist paintings from Fine Arts Museum of Nice, France, after forcing curator, Jean Fournis, to let them in; paintings, by Claude Monet and Alfred Sisley, are said to be so widely known that they would be impossible to sell; Russia'a Deputy Prosecutor General, Aleksandr Zviyaguintsev, says Rudolf Nureyev has been posthumously rehabilitated under law regarding victims of political reprisals; he had been sentenced in absentia to seven years in prison after defecting to West; photo; Paris Autumn Festival announces that Chinese authorities have forbidden Shanghai Kunqu Opera Company's production of Peony Pavilion to leave for performances in France in November and December (M)

FOOTLIGHTS

Following is a transcript of President Clinton's grand jury testimony in the investigation conducted by the independent counsel, Kenneth W. Starr. The testimony took place at the White House on Aug. 17. It was transcribed for the House Judiciary Committee by Deposition Services, a private transcription firm.    BY MR. BITTMAN:    Q: Mr. President, is it unusual for a federal judge to preside over a civil deposition?   

September 22, 1998

Headlines from September 22, 1998

Staring Straight Into Camera, President Reveals Many Sides

Almost in Awe, Physicists Ponder 'Ultimate' Theory

Puerto Rico Struck By Strong Hurricane

The President's Testimony: Part One of Eight

Film Festival Prizes Its Paradoxical Niche

Billboard 200

The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill

Back To Titanic

'N Sync

High Mileage

Hello Nasty

Historical Context for September 22, 1998