April 5, 1999

Both sides in conflict in Kosovo, Serbia, are bound together in net of terror in which tangled web of history, friendships and enmities, war and routine business underlies explosion in brutality; there is confusion over what is really happening in province as tragedy unfolds and as minutiae of life and death are drowned out by clashing statements from Washington and Belgrade; killings and other atrocities in Suka Reka, among hundreds of small towns caught up in chaos and horror of conflict, described; photos (M)

Product research companies and advertising agencies have enlisted in recent years dozens of schools in special partnerships in which, for fee, students are used in market research during school day; partnerships have proliferated even though some critics think focus groups, conducted for years after school, are out of place during school day; companies, school officials, teachers, parents and children are happy with deals; many see them as way to supplement school budgets; involvement of school districts in Wachtung (NJ), Lansing (Mich) and Lynnfield (Mass) discussed; photos (M)

Article on New York Yankees preparing for season opener against Oakland Athletics (M)

Downloading music fron Internet is moving beyond college campuses and into offices and homes and rapid acceptance has caught recording companies, concerned with protecting copyrights, unprepared; method of digital compression known as MP3 is allowing music to be sent quickly and freely over Internet, with quality near that of CD's, from mostly unsigned bands eager for exposure; industry analysts predict that by Christmas 1999, accompanying stereo market will grow with consumers purchasing one million portable devices for playing MP3-format music; recording industry has begun counteroffensive against fans, profiteers, Internet search engines, manufacturers of MP3 players and even some of its own artists who have put music on-line; trade group, Recording Industry Assn of America, reports shutting down hundreds of sites each week; is racing to develop by Christmas system for downloading music that protects against unauthorized copying; photos (M)

The Politics of Acid Rain A bill to reduce the pollutants that cause acid rain has had little support in Congress, but its backers say a study that shows a growing threat will bolster their case Page B1. Germ Warfare Accident A Soviet defector says a serious accident at a Chinese biological weapons lab caused two major epidemics in the late 1980's Page A3.