April 29, 1999

Federal regulators plan to further scrutinize trading practices of investment banks and closely examine books of private investment funds; Clinton Administration, while not calling for regulators to have direct control over investment pools for wealthy known as hedge funds, plans to introduce legislation that would give Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodities Futures Trading Commission enhanced powers to examine dealings of Wall Street trading firms that lend to funds; Administration will also seek Congressional backing for rules that require hedge funds, which are traditionally unregulated, to disclose more information about borrowing and trading practices; recommendations are found in Government report, product of investigation into Wall Street practices that began after Government-brokered rescue of Long-Term Capital Management, large hedge fund, in Sept (M)

Edgar Rivera is pushed in front of oncoming subway train in midtown Manhattan station and has both his legs severed; witnesses say he appeared to have been randomly shoved in front of train in 51st Street station; group of passengers seize man accused in attack, Julio Perez, homeless man who police say may be mentally ill; he has been charged with attempted murder; doctors at Bellevue Hospital try to reattach Rivera's legs; he is listed in critical condition; photos (M)

Infidelity assumes a higher public profile even though there is no reliable evidence that Americans are cheating more now on their spouses than they ever did; several books have recently been published in the subject, and infidelity is focus of growing field of research, all of it arising from the relatively new consensus that infidelity matters; infidelity therapy explores new approaches, the most radical being forgiveness; photos (M)

The shootings at a Colorado high school have put Sheriff John P. Stone and his modest-sized department under close and at times embarrassing scrutiny. There have been misstatements by the sheriff, criticism that complaints about one of the gunmen, Eric Harris, were ignored, and that a SWAT team was slow to enter the school after the attack. Also, a Defense Department official said yesterday that Mr. Harris was rejected by the Marine Corps because he had been taking an antidepressant often used to treat obsessive-compulsive disorder. Articles, page A24.

Clinton Administration announces that it has decided to ease its sanctions policy to permit sale of food and medical supplies to Iran, Libya, Sudan and other nations accused of supporting terrorists; new policy has been sought by farm-state lawmakers and lobbyists for several large corporations; shift would not directly affect trade sanctions against Cuba, Iraq and North Korea, in part because American companies are already permitted to carry out some trade in food, medicine and other supplies with those countries; Undersec of State Stuart E Eizenstat says Pres Clinton approved policy after two-year review concluded that sale of food and medicine does not encourage nation's military ability to support terrorism (M)