May 11, 1999

Abner Louima, Haitian immigrant, undergoes grueling cross-examination in Federal District Court, Brooklyn, by defense attorneys for four white New York City police officers, charged with beating and torturing him in precinct house in 1997 following altercation; attorneys hammer away at lies he admits telling and conflicts in his various accounts of incident; demand to know why testimony before grand jury differs from more recent statements describing alleged attack; accuse him of committing perjury; Marvyn Kornberg, attorney for Officer Justin A Volpe, cites several discrepancies in Louima's statements about encounter with police, especially whether second officer restrained him in restroom while another attacked him with stick, or whether Volpe or another officer put him in cell; says Louima's injuries were not result of Volpe's shoving stick into rectum, as prosecution charges, but from consensual sex with another man prior to encounter with police; Louima attributes conflicting statements to memory clouded by medication in days following injuries; admits it was his choice to follow supporter's advice regarding false testimony before grand jury; Volpe and Officers Thomas Wiese, Thomas Bruder and Charles Schwarz are accused of violating Louima's civil rights; Sgt Michael Bellomo is charged with trying to cover up alleged incident (M)

Republican-controlled New Jersey State Senate narrowly approves Attorney General Peter Verniero for State Supreme Court; vote is seen as major victory for Governor Christine Todd Whitman, who has now appointed three of court's seven justices; photo (M)

Senate Judiciary Committee's oversight subcommittee begins hearings on investigation into TWA Flight 800 airline crash; some Government experts who worked on investigation testify that FBI ignored them, mishandled evidence and suppressed their conclusion; James K Kallstrom, FBI agent who was in charge of probe, denounces Congressional proceeding as 'a kangaroo court'; photo (M)

William C Rhoden Sports of The Times column discusses Miami Heat's victory over New York Knickerbockers in second game of NBA playoff series; photo (M)

When a classic convergence of tornado-producing forces shaped up in southern Oklahoma on May 3, funnel-chasing scientists from the university town of Norman scrambled like jet pilots, heading for flatbed trucks carrying advanced radar that, they hope, will eventually help find the key to a tantalizing, frustrating mystery: How is a tornado born? The answer lies in the last few minutes of a complex chain of events that begins when large-scale air masses clash and ends when a twister rakes the ground.