May 12, 1999

Police say that four men from different walks of life apparently died in New York City on May 10 and 11 from heroin overdoses; theirs deaths have sparked unease among drug users as well as police investigation that will seek to determine if four men bought tainted or unusually strong heroin from common source; dead men are Dr Peter Brown, dentist from New Jersey, Matthew Boyd, and Richard Spadafora; one man is unidentified; photo (M)

Molly O'Neill article on pleasures she takes in her perennial rosemary bush; recipes; photos (M)

James R Oestreich reviews Cleveland Orchestra concert at Carnegie Hall, conducted by Christoph von Dohnanyi; photo (M)

Special report, The Money Trail, on Clinton Administration's slow response to discovery that China's central bank was funneling $92 million into accounts controlled by California banker Nan Nan Xu, Chinese citizen, at Far East National Bank; American officials, prodded by Congressional investigators, have only recently started pulling together disparate leads uncovered over several years by different agencies; purpose of money remains mystery; Administration's critics hold handling of probe reflects pattern of sluggish Government responses to signs of Chinese military and espionage activity in United States; photos (M)

Regulators are racing to keep up as technological change produces boom in stock market trading volume, growth in on-line investing and host of new trading services, called electronic communication networks (ECN's), which match buyers and sellers by computer; upstarts like Island ECN, computerized stock-trading service, are luring trades away from Nasdaq and New York Stock Exchange by offering nanosecond service and low fees; those older markets are fighting back, proposing longer trading hours, new rules and changes in their ownership structure aimed at making them more competitive; Matthew Andresen of Island ECN, and Edward J Nicoll, chief operating officer of its parent, and Securities and Exchange Commission director Annette L Nazareth comment; graphs; charts; photos (M)