January 25, 1999

Actress Claire Bloom and flutist Eugenia Zukerman will appear together in evening of music and recitation at 92d Street Y; photo; National Gallery in London to mount what is billed as first exhibition outside France to assemble painted and drawn portraits of Jean-August-Dominique Ingres; Houston Grand Opera will open new production of A Little Night Music featuring Evelyn Lear and Frederica von Stade; Eos Orchestra led by Jonathan Sheffer will perform music y composed by Leonard Bernstein while a student at Harvard in 1930's (M)

Article on Denver Broncos quarterback John Elway preparing for Super Bowl against Atlanta Falcons; speculation that Elway will retire following game discussed; photo (M)

prosecutors query lewinsky, saying she'd be good witness** Reps Asa Hutchinson, Bill McCollum and Ed Bryant, House managers of Pres Clinton's impeachment, interview Monica S Lewinsky over protests of Senate Democrats; say she would be impressive witness who would help Senate 'determine the truth;' reportedly question her about her decision to return gifts from Clinton to his secretary, Betty Currie, and help she got from Vernon E Jordan Jr in job search; do not ask for details of her sexual relationship with Clinton; her lawyer Plato Cacheris says she provided no new information; urges House managers not to call her before Senate; photos (M)

Anna Kisselgoff reviews New York City Ballet performance of new work by Perter Martins, Walton Cello Concerto; photo (M)

Tom Brokaw and Peter Jennings, anchormen on NBC's and ABC's nightly news programs, are broadcasting segments from books they have written on their nightly news programs; this is part of intensifying trend in publishing industry, which by necessity is searching for new ways to grow by reaching readers through unconventional outlets or through publicity they could not afford without alliances; one of oddest corporate matches is Coca-Cola Co's campaign to give away book excerpts for six novels in 45 million packages of diet soda; Thomas B Rosenstiel, media critic, does not think ethical questions are raised about news shows being used by networks or news anchors to promote their books; photos (M)

Pres Clinton to include in budget $1.3 billion, five-year program to close remaining gaps in medical and food stamp benefits for legal immigrants opened by 1996 welfare system overhaul; plan reflects growing political sensitivity toward Hispanic, Asian and other ethnic voters (M)

Massacre in Racak has become symbol of Serb aggression, further hardening ethnic Albanian resistance to Serb control and galvanizing divided West toward serious effort to solve Kosovo problem; Christopher Hill, American ambassador to Macedonia, and European Union represenative Wolfgang Petritsch, who have been shuttling vainly between divided Albanian factions and Serbs, are expected to arrive in Pristina, Kosovo, with new mandate to seek unified Albanian stance; map; photos (M)

Anita Gates Critic's Notebook on advertisers' efforts to woo young male television viewers; brief description of some of programs on Nielsen Media Research's list of 25 most popular shows among 18-to-34-year-old males; photo (M)

Major shifts under way in Roman Catholic Church in United States discussed in light of Pope John Paul II's planned visit; sociologists say young Catholics are increasingly individualistic in their religious views and often divided from their elders on premarital sex and role of women; church is becoming more ethnically diverse, with Catholic immigrants from Asia and Latin America bringing own traditions and attitudes about church issues; photo (M)

Duke defeats St John's, 92-88, in overtime; photo (M)

AT&T's $192.5 million agreement to acquire most of Smartalk Teleservices Inc, announced on same day that Smartalk filed for bankrutpcy protection, illuminates world of mergers, power of AT&T and crushing difficulty of being small communications company richer in concepts than in capital; court documents and executives close to transaction indicate it was merger negotiations with AT&T that prompted Smartalk to file for bankruptcy, thereby allowing AT&T to acquire Smartalk's assets while avoiding its liabilities; Smartalk was one of first companies to mine market for prepaid calling cards, but company later crippled itself with too many acquisitions and other management mistakes, capped with need last August to restate its earnings; photo (M)

New York Gov George E Pataki reaches consensus with legislative leaders on using some of money from tobacco suit settlement to help provide health coverage for working poor; he and Joseph L Bruno, Senate majority leader, are backing plan often discussed by Democrats; Bruno says 25 to 35 percent of settlement should go toward health care, with large chunk reserved for dealing with uninsured, many of whom suffer from smoking-related illnesses, phone interview (M)