March 15, 1999

New York Knickerbockers defeat Charlotte Hornets, 94-86; photo (M)

Warren Buffett Attacks Manipulation of Earnings In his annual report to shareholders, the investor Warren E. Buffett makes an extraordinary attack on many of his fellow chief executives, who he says have worked purposefully ''at manipulating numbers and deceiving investors'' through accounting gimmicks and misrepresentations. ''Many major corporations still play things straight, but a significant and growing number of otherwise high-grade managers -- C.E.O.'s you would be happy to have as spouses for your children or as trustees under your will -- have come to the view that it's O.K. to manipulate earnings to satisfy what they believe are Wall Street's desires,'' Mr. Buffett wrote in Berkshire Hathaway's 1998 report. [Page C2.]

Murder of young white woman was treated far differently than murder in same Brooklyn police precinct of young black immigrant man; Amy Watkins's death got wide attention, while Marvin Watson's did not; Robert McCire of John Jay College says Watkins murder grabbed attention because it evoked image of woman brutally attacked on dark street, and made many people feel more vulnerable; says death of Watson, poor black immigrant living in projects, did not appeal to public sympathy; there was wide media coverage of Watkins murder, while Watson's murder did not make newspapers; Mayor Rudolph W Giuliani reassured public after Watkins murder, and more than two dozen investigators are assigned to case, which remains unsolved; there were witnesses to Watson's murder, and police handled case as ordinary homicide and made arrest month later; photos (M)

American Booksellers Association, trade association for independent booksellers, is creating national on-line store, Book Sense, to stave off fierce competition from Amazon.com and Barnesandnoble.com; store will feature all the standard functions of popular on-line sites, including a search engine, a stock of 1.5 million titles, credit card fulfillment, gift wrapping, distribution services and a best-seller list, but it will also allow individual stores to tailor Web pages to reflect their individuality with store reviews and features; independents' share of popular consumer book market has shrunk to about 17 percent today from 32 percent in 1991 (M)

Miami of Ohio defeats Utah, 66-58, and Kentucky defeats Kansas, 92-88, in overtime to advance to semifinals of Midwest Regional of NCAA basketball tournament; photo (M)