Harvey Araton Sports of The Times column discusses New York Yankees winning first two games of World Series against San Diego Padres; photo (M)

Sports of The Times; Sense of Inevitability Pervades This Series

Peace talks between Israeli Prime Min Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat continue past original October 18 deadline at Wye Conference Center in Maryland, despite more than 20 hours of personal engagement by Pres Clinton; overall mood is called serious; US officials remain optimistic; Israeli official reports progress on different issues, including security, but no complete agreement on any major issues, specifically Israel's withdrawal from more of West bank and commitment from Palestinians to change their charter, which calls for destruction of Israel; photo (M)

MIDEAST  MEETING WILL BE CONTINUED INTO ANOTHER DAY

Justice Department case against Microsoft Corp extends well beyond Netscape Communications and Internet browser software, embracing what Government describes as 'a broad pattern of anticompetitive conduct' by Microsoft; Government insists Netscape is still prime example of the pattern, but only one of several examples; chart lists major participants in case; photos (M)

Microsoft Goes to Court

 A Possible Kroger Merger Draws Traders' Interest  Wall Street is speculating that the Kroger Company, the nation's largest supermarket chain, will buy Fred Meyer, the owner of the Ralphs Grocery chain in Southern California, in a move that would create the first grocery chain spanning most of the nation.    Fred Meyer's shares soared $3.6875, or 8 percent, to $49 on the New York Stock Exchange on Friday. The stock has gained 27 percent since Oct. 8. Kroger's shares fell $1.1875, to $48.75. [Page C8.]

BUSINESS DIGEST

Interview with Martha Frick Symington Sanger, whose biography of her great-grandfather, Henry Clay Frick, discusses his building of famed art collection; photo (M)

Mourning Became Frick as an Art Collector

Liborio Salvatore Bellomo, who is serving ten years in prison after pleading guilty to Federal extortion charges in Manhattan, contends that his transfer from Federal Prison in Atlanta to Mercer County, NJ, Jail was unwarranted because New Jersey officials have mistaken him for his cousin, Liborio Thomas Bellomo, in their investigation of extortion plot; Federal and New Jersey officials comment (M)

Barney, Mob Suspect, Says He's the Wrong Barney

Ben Brantley reviews Tracy Letts's play Killer Joe; photos (M)

Dysfunctional, to Say the Least

The Microsoft Corporation and the Government are scheduled to go to trial today in an antitrust case that extends well beyond the original charges that Microsoft attempted to monopolize the market for so-called browser software used for navigating the Internet. Since the suit was filed in May, the case has come to embrace what the Justice Department described in a recent Federal court filing as ''a broad pattern of anticompetitive conduct'' by Microsoft to stifle competition across the computer industry.  

U.S.-Microsoft Trial Is Set to Open Today

Profile of Endeavor Agency, three-year-old Beverly Hills talent agency that has emerged as significant player in cutthroat and potentially vastly lucrative world of talent agencies; says Endeavor, whose success lies heavily on its clients in television, has endured some setbacks and is still struggling to forge significant movie division, but agency has, in relatively short time, turned into formidable and high-profile one; photo (M)

An Upstart Talent Agency Blossoms Quickly

Article discusses New York Yankees winning first two games of World Series against San Diego Padres; photo (M)

On Baseball; No Field, No Hit, No Pitch, No Hope

New York Yankees defeat San Diego Padres, 9-3, in second game of World Series at Yankee Stadium, taking 2-0 advantage in four-out-of-seven-game series; winning pitcher is Orlando Hernandez, Cuban defector, who allowed one run in seven innings--his only run in 14 innings of post-season play; third game will be played in San Diego on October 20; photos (M)

Yankees Crush Padres by 9-3 And Go West With 2-0 Lead

Massachusetts and Arizona, politically disparate states, are principal battlegrounds in struggle over changing campaign financing as push for cleaner funding, stymied at Federal level, moves to states; broad coalition of groups are using ballot initiatives to push dramatic version of state-level change calling for replacement of private campaign money with public funds, freeing candidates from potentially corrupting obligations to lobbyists and special interests; push appears to be gaining ground, with showdowns expected next in Missouri, Washington and Oregon; photo (M)

2 States Consider Boldly Revamping Campaign Finance

Gov George E Pataki to join New 42 Street Inc chairwoman Marian S Heiskell and president Cora Cahan to unveil design and mark start of construction of New 42d Street Studios, $22.9 building that will provide rehearsal and office space and 199-seat theater for rental to theater, dance and music companies, New York City; Washington Opera to open its Washington, DC, season with Umberto Giordano's Fedora, starring Mirella Freni and Placido Domingo; classical flutist Paula Robison to perform with Brazilian jazz musicians at Cooper Union; David Suchet to star in revival of Peter Shaffer's play Amadeus and Helen Mirren and Alan Rickman will appear in Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra, London; photos (M)

THIS WEEK

Interview with Patrick O'Brian, author of The Hundred Days, 19th in series of Aubrey-Maturin novels about British Navy during Napoleonic Wars; photos (M)

The Seas of Adventure Still Beckon a Storyteller; At 83, Patrick O'Brian Journeys Into History

Dave Anderson Sports of The Times column discusses performance of New York Yankees pitcher Orlando Hernandez in victory over San Diego Padres in second game of World Series; photo (M)

Sports of The Times; El Duque's Great Calm Eases the Adjustments

Margo Jefferson column on film Beloved; holds it effectively joins war drama to women's picture (M)

Slavery Echoes in the Prism of a Film

 Signs of Serb Pullback  Yugoslav forces have begun to leave Kosovo in what was described as a significant step toward complying with NATO's demands. Page A9.    Quandary for Patients  Tens of thousands of Medicare beneficiaries being dropped from health maintenance organizations lack information about options. Page A10.    $14 Billion Health-Care Deal  McKesson, the nation's largest drug distributor, agreed to merge with a giant health care data management company. Page A13.  

INSIDE

Justice Department's antitrust suit against Microsoft Corp began in November 1989, when a Federal Trade Commission antitrust lawyer, Norris Washington, notice that IBM and Microsoft were colluding to divide operating-system market--a potential violation of antitrust law; photo (M)

More Enduring Than Politics

Illegal African immigrants, drawn to South Africa's new democracy and economy that dwarfs all others on African continent, are pouring into South Africa in ever greater numbers but are hardly finding welcome mat; as economy has failed to grow as fast as predicted, and as majority rule has failed to produce adequate social services, South Africans have grown increasingly resentful of new arrivals, viewing them as thieves of scarce resources; surveys suggest anti-foreigner attitudes, particularly against blacks, are deep-seated and widespread among all races, and that violence against immigrants is growing; find about 80 percent of South Africans have little or no contact with foreigners, and that both black and white South Africans prefer white immigrants, viewing newcomers from Europe and North America more favorably than they do Africans; estimates of illegal alien population in South Africa varies between two million and eight million; country, which has been deporting more immigrants each year, deported nearly 200,000 in 1997; increasing incidents of violence against foreign immigrants noted; photos; map; charts (M)

New South Africa Shuts the Door on Its Neighbors

World's $80-billion-a-year book market is becoming more concentrated among mega-publishers and is increasingly a borderless territory as a result of such deals as Bertelsmann AG's purchase of Random House, its recent partnership in Barnes & Noble's electronic bookstore and moves by Hachette Livre of France to acquire majority stake in Britain's Orion Publishing Group; with global shifts has come new generation of issues for publishing industry--from protection of intellectual-property rights and balance of power between individual authors and behemoth publishers to concerns about whether consolidation will crowd out small houses and lead to homogenenous literature; list of top book sellers (M)

Book Publishers Seek Global Reach And Grand Scale

Balthasar Garzon, stubbornly independent and controversial Spanish magistrate who succeeded in getting Scotland Yard to arrest Chile's former dictator, Gen Augusto Pinochet, has suddenly moved closer to setting important legal precedent that could make retirement of former dictators uncomfortable; was ridiculed at start of efforts to pursue notorious right-wing generals in South America for human rights crimes committed in 1970's and 1980's, for which they had been granted amnesty at home; had earned high profile in Spain by investigating explosive issues; his involvement in South America began in 1996 with criminal investigation after several Spanish legal associations asked him to look into charges of torture, disappearance and killing of Spanish citizens in Argentina during country's military rule, from 1976 to 1983; photo (M)

Pinochet's Spanish Pursuer: Magistrate of Explosive Cases

The uninitiated might imagine that judges in New York City ascend to the bench by destiny, the only sound the swishing of their black robes. But the selection of judges may be one of the few areas of local politics where back-room deals are still the rule, and where the county political leaders exercise the greatest control.    Nowhere is this more evident than in the Bronx, where Assemblyman Roberto Ramirez, the Democratic county chairman, has wielded his power to steadily diversify a judiciary that was largely white and male when he took over four years ago but where nearly half the residents are Hispanic. Of the 21 State Supreme Court justices and Civil Court judges elected during Mr. Ramirez's tenure, 13 are women, 7 are Hispanic and 6 are black.  

Party Boss Has Firm Grip On Judgeships

Special report, The Technology Trade, finds Pres Clinton has presided over one of most sweeping relaxations of export restrictions in American history that has benefitted potential adversaries, especially China; looser regulations, coming amid scramble by defense industry for new markets after collapse of Communism and precipitous drop in defense budget, have allowed American companies to sell host of products to China without prior Government approval that were subject to restrictions during cold war; have allowed Chinese companies to obtain wide range of sophisticated technology, some of which have been diverted to military use; even though new regulations have fostered trade, they have had effect of making it much harder for intelligence agencies to track how American equipment is used overseas; exports of approximately $3 billion in technology to China over past five years--or about 5 percent of all American sales to mainland--noted; senior officials acknowledge Clinton changed rules without rigorous review by intelligence officials or other national security experts, and despite 1995 CIA report warning of military implications of technology transfers to China; critics, including Republicans in Congress and some former Administration officials, argue that high-technology exports have had serious side effect in strengthening potential adversaries; say Clinton has been blinded by enthusiasm for securing country's global edge and has been insufficiently attentive to policies' effect on American long-term national security; probe by House and Senate committees of whether China took advantage of looser rules to enhance military and obtain technology that it passed on to rouge states noted; photos (L)

THE TECHNOLOGY TRADE: A special report; Chinese Said to Reap Gains In U.S. Export Policy Shift

Political Memo column examines powers held by Bronx Democratic Party chairman Assemblyman Roberto Ramirez over selections of judges; of 21 State Supreme Court justices and Civil Court judges elected during his tenure, 13 are women, 7 are Hispanic and 6 are black; criticism over tactics used by Ramirez in selecting judges discussed; photo (M)

Jewish Vote Becomes Battleground in Tight Race for Senate

Elsie Lascurain, 84-year-old woman whose father was buried in Newark, NJ, City Cemetery in 1921 and who has been searching for his grave since she was a teenager, is instrumental in Newark beginning project to restore City Cemetery in what could become major urban archeological excavation that could cost Newark millions of dollars; Lascurain has filed two lawsuits that are forcing officials in Newark to admit that city violated state and local law laws by converting cemetery to other uses without first exhuming human remains and burying them elsewhere; photo (M)

October 19, 1998

Headlines from October 19, 1998

Sports of The Times; Sense of Inevitability Pervades This Series

MIDEAST MEETING WILL BE CONTINUED INTO ANOTHER DAY

Microsoft Goes to Court

BUSINESS DIGEST

Mourning Became Frick as an Art Collector

Billboard 200

Vol. 2... Hard Knock Life

Aquemini

The Love Movement

The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill

The Globe Sessions

Historical Context for October 19, 1998