March 2, 1999

Clyde Haberman NYC column on City Comptroller Alan G Hevesi proposal that City Charter be changed so that Public Advocate Mark J Green would not automatically become Mayor should Rudolph W Giuliani move on after 2000 election to US Senate; says Hevesi happens to have eye on City Hall himself and would rather not run against incumbent Mayor Green (M)

Astronomers researching extrasolar planets are puzzled by their findings; planets discovered to date are unlike planets in Sun's family of planets, the one planetary system scientists know and have based their theories on; at last count, astronomers in United States and Europe have observed 18 nearby Sunlike stars showing telltale motions from gravity of large, unseen planets orbiting them; they expect to see more, but they also suspect they have seen enough to begin rethinking how nature creates and destroys planets and choreographs their orbital movements; earliest questions involve new planets' large size, unusual orbits and closeness and speed of orbits around stars; diagrams; charts (M)

Americans who lack medical insurance are devising creative but tough strategies to obtain and pay for medical care; 75 percent of 43 million Americans without health insurance work at least part time but are not offered insurance through employer or cannot afford contribution; individual coverage can be prohibitively expensive or too meager to be worth cost, hence many avoid going to doctors when there is option not to, go without coverage for occasional medical emergencies, borrow medication from relatives or take over-the-counter antidotes; strategies often fail for those with complicated or chronic health problems; emergency rooms provide respite in extreme cases, but their use by uninsured imposes strain on system, which eventually writes off as bad debt costs such patients are unable to pay; photos (M)

Coca-Cola Co's sales volume has dropped in many countries, profit is flat or falling, and company is trying to manage its way through more simultaneous crises abroad than at any time since end of World War II; Coca-Cola's damage control has moved into high gear in light of recession in Brazil and possible economic downturn of other Latin American nations; Coke chairman M Douglas Ivester, in consumer-products conference presented by Merrill Lynch for dozens of portfolio managers who hold keys to billions of dollars in investment funds, is expected to try to reassure investors that long-term outlook for Coke remains positive; analysts say investors are looking for more short-term security than company's shares can provide; photo (Market Place column) (M)

Alcatel of France, one of world's biggest makers of telephone equipment, has agreed to acquire Xylan Corp, fast-growing maker of equipment linking computers in corporate and institutional networks, which has been making inroads into selling more complex gear to telephone companies; convergence of telephone and data technologies in recent years has spurred vigorous realignment among companies that make advanced communications equipment; purchase price is more than $1.7 bilion in cash (M)