March 24, 1999

NATO authorizes air strikes against Serbia as Pres Clinton declares that force is necessary to halt aggression by Serbs against ethnic Albanians in Kosovo; air campaign, using primarily US aircraft and cruise missiles, is poised to begin over southern Serbia and targets in Kosovo on March 24; Clinton says that if Yugoslav Pres Slobodan Milosevic is not willing to make peace, US and NATO are willing to limit his ability to make war; says not acting against Milosevic would 'discredit' NATO; Senate votes 58 to 41 in support of resolution authorizing Clinton to carry out bombing and missile attacks; photo (M)

Russian Prime Min Yevgeny M Primakov, en route to Washington, DC, for talks with Pres Clinton and other officials, orders his pilot to return to Moscow after Primakov receives satellite telephone call from Vice Pres Al Gore informing him that NATO has authorized air strikes against Serbia; Primakov's decision to cancel his visit to US is mark of significant souring in US-Russian relationship; US officials say split over Kosovo could poison discussions on variety of matters; Primakov photo (M)

Magic Johnson, former Los Angeles Lakers star whose post-basketball ventures include developing movie theaters, reaches agreement with New York City to refurbish historic Loews Kings Theater on Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn; $30 million project will trandorm movie house, which closed in 1977, from dormant relic of 1920's to state-of-theart, 12-screen multiplex; photo (M)

Article on Mamo Wolde, winnner of gold medal in marathon in 1968 in Mexico City, standing trial in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on charges of genocide and illegal detention of prisoners during 17 year struggle for political power following Ethiopian revolution in 1974; photo (M)

Susan H McDougal, whose refusal to answer prosecutors' questions about Pres Clinton put her in jail for 18 months, answers those very same questions in Federal court, testifying that she had no knowledge of any wrongdoing by Clinton; takes witness stand in her own defense at trial in which independent counsel Kenneth W Starr's prosecutors have charged her with criminal contempt and obstruction of justice; prosecutors contend that McDougal's refusal to answer questions before grand jury on two occasions was calculated to obstruct their investigation in complicated financial dealings of Clinton and his wife Hillary in Arkansas in 1980's; her answers do little to illuminate one of most puzzling aspects of Whitewater investigation: why she would endure lengthy prison term if she had nothing to hide; photo (M)