December 26, 1998

From Greenwich, England, where the world sets its watch, to the international date line and all points in between, New Year's Eve 1999 is becoming El Nino of celebrations: a phenomenon that will alter the worldwide party climate. But will a computer flaw be the ultimate wet blanket? And who will be ready for the storm of travelers looking for a place to greet the year 2000? A special issue of Travel. Also, in the magazine: What's Sean Penn angry about now? Plus: Russians living without money.

Minnie Hirschhorn and other people killed or injured in Dec 24 bus crash on Garden State Parkway were seeking a little bit of excitement in Atlantic City casinos; passengers, most of whom lived in a crescent of southern Brooklyn stretching from Canarsie to Bay Ridge, were mostly strangers to one another, although the had much in common; most were Jewish; many were elderly, and some were recent Russian immigrants; photo (M)

New York State Education Department and Board of Regents, having enacted new standards intended to improve learning in public schools, are increasing their resolve to have private and religious schools follow suit; but what state sees as encouragement, critics see as attempt to infringe on independence of private schools that allows them to develop nontraditional approaches that they maintain are at heart of their success (M)

Pres Boris Yeltsin of Russia and Pres Aleksandr G Lukashenko of Belarus say they intend to begin unifying their currencies and much of their economies in 1999, an action that would stop just short of a political merger that would again extend Russian territory to the border of Poland; announcement is victory for Lukashenko, who says he hopes that two countries will enter millennium as one; Russian officials are cooler to idea; American officials have quietly opposed attempts at greater unity for fear that i will destabilize young democracies in eastern Europe (M)

Insurance companies and employers find ways to get around Mental Health Parity Act of 1996, which requires them to offer health care coverage for mental illness that is comparable to that for physical illness; law outlaws dollar limits on coverage, but many group plans have simply replaced them with numerical limits on outpatient visits, treatment sessions or days in the hospitals; numerical limits are more restrictive than dollar limits in some cases; some plans also set higher co-payments and deductibles for mental health care than for other medical services, a disparity allowed under the law; supporters of law say they will fight to broaden and strengthen it in 1999 (M)