November 12, 1998

Broadway Initiative, a group founded to stimulate creativity in Broadway theater and enlarge its audience, scales back program because the revenues it was counting on--a percentage of the proceeds from transfer of air rights to 25 Broadway theaters--has not yet materialized; is scrambling to replace a one-time $250,000 grant due to run out by end of year; its bid for contributions from theatrical unions has had mixed response; program's ultimate impact is now in doubt; map (M)

Reina Palacios, applicant for political asylum living in Newark, NJ, would like to go back to El Salvador and search for three teen-aged daughters she has been unable to reach since Hurricane Mitch devasted Central America; she is unable to without putting her quest for asylum at risk; hundreds of thousands of other Central American immigrants are in same situation; many came to US illegally, and if they leave they fear they may not be able to return; Central Americans say their plight has never been more anguishing, when every night they watch wreckage caused by storm that swept up villages and flooded cities, killing over 11,000 people; storm cut almost all communication between countries it affected most, Nicaragua, Honduras and El Salvador; photo of Palacios and her husband (M)

In an important breakthrough, Argentina signaled that it would become the first developing country to adopt binding targets for controlling emissions of industrial waste gases that are believed to cause global warming. Until now, developing countries had presented a united front in resisting specific limits on their emissions of such gases, which are produced by the burning of coal, oil, wood and natural gas. Developed countries had agreed last December in Kyoto, Japan, to reduce emissions by an average of about 5 percent below 1990 levels in the period 2008 to 2012. However, poorer nations have refused to follow suit until industrial countries actually show results. Article, page A7.

Anna Kisselgoff reviews Garth Fagan Dance as it opens two-week season at Joyce Theater with premieres of two Garth Fagan dances, Two Pieces of One: Green and Nkanyit; photo (M)

Quality of technical support offered over the telephone to owners of computer products is going down as prices of computers and software drop and companies look for ways to stretch their money; companies are increasingly charging money for help, something that used to be free; drawings; photo (L)