May 20, 1999

Twelve new members are inducted into American Academy of Arts and Letters; include Gore Vidal, Robert Brustein, Annie Dillard, Hnery Louis Gates Jr, Diane Johnson, J D McClatchy, Robert Pinsky, Richard Poirier, Tom Wolfe, George Walker, Yehudi Wyner, Rackstraw Downes, Umberto Eco, Frank Kermode, Wislawa Syzymborska, Harold Bloom, Robert Rauschenberg, Mario Cuomo, Harvey Lichtenstein; photo; National Gallery of Art in Washington will present free open-air concert on May 22 to celebrate its new Sculpture Garden and centennial of Duke Ellington's birth; Queen's Gallery in Buckingham Palace will stage exhibit, beginning on May 21, entitled Raphael and His Circle that will provide overview of principles of composition, types of figure drawings and systems of workshop collaboration that have influenced art; New York premiere of Marvin Hamilsch play, Zin! Zin! Zin! A Violin will be presented at Alice Tully Hall on May 23 by Metropolitan Youth Orchestra of New York, led by Scott Stickley; work sets to music book of same name by radio host Lloyd Moss (M)

Small number of laptop computer models, called 'ruggedized' laptops, are incredibly hardy, able to withstand drenching water, high humidity and such tests as being run through washing machine; such laptops are rarely available to public; they are generally marketed to corporations, and some models are $8,000 and up; now Panasonic hopes to interest business executives in their scaled-down line of rugged laptops, which are little less tough than most expensive laptops, but retain some of macho features; they will sell for less than $2,000; photos (M)

Chancellor Gerhard Schroder says Germany will block NATO from fighting land war in Kosovo; opposes Britain's position that allies should consider ground attack if NATO bombing pounds Yugoslav forces to point where they can offer only scattered resistance; challenges official US explanation for bombing of Chinese Embassy in Belgrade and renews his demand for formal NATO inquiry into bombing; Italian Parliament passes resolution committing Government to seek halt in bombing; Schroder photo (M)

Tabitha Walrond is convicted by Bronx jury of criminally negligent homicide for fatal starvation of her infant son, but acquitted of more serious charge of second-degree manslaughter; case reviewed; photo (M)

Manufacturers are offering variety of options on their portable computers; IBM, Dell and Compaq offer computers that fit into work stations; Sony, which is primarily consumer electronics company, makes products people use to have fun; its Vaio Picturebook Computer appraised; drawing (State of the Art column) (M)

Interview with Tony Hiss, writer whose forthcoming memoir, The View From Alger's Window, details the almost four years that his father, Alger Hiss, spent in prison for perjury; book does not argue whether or not Alger Hiss was a Soviet spy, but it includes letters that cast him in a new light; it also focuses on the Greenwich Village apartment that was the Hisses' home and that Tony Hiss now shares with his wife, Lois Metzger, and son, Jacob; photos (M)

Paul G Breckenridge Jr, referee presiding over Jeffrey Katzenberg's lawsuit against Walt Disney Co, rules that Disney breached its contract with him and that he had not forfeited his bonus by leaving Disney before his contract expired; Breckenridge does not rule on how much money Disney owes Katzenberg; ruling means Katzenberg will be entitled to interest payments on whatever that amount is; since Katzenberg is seeking at least $250 million, interest alone could reach tens of millions of dollars; other parts of ruling go Disney's way; in particular, Breckenridge finds that there was no fraud on Disney's part (M)

Choreographer Bill T Jones and soprano Jessye Norman are collaborators in performance called How! Do! We! Do!--mosaic of song, dance, poetry and spoken word--that will premiere at City Center as part of Lincoln Center's New Visions series; photo (M)

Hillary Rodham Clinton has told friends in recent days that she is likely to form an exploratory committee that would allow her to raise money and pay bills associated with a campaign for a New York seat in the Senate, several associates of the First Lady said yesterday. The suggestion by Mrs. Clinton is that she is, in the words of one adviser, ''inching very close'' toward a critical step in her decision-making process. An exploratory committee would let her raise money to pay for visits that even her own supporters say have taken a decidedly political cast, as more and more Democrats seem certain she will run.

Pop, a hot new Manhattan restaurant, has a startling mod design by the architect Ali Tayar; represents convergence of two restaurant trends, one reacting against the French bistro look of Balthazar and the other placing equal emphasis on food and design; photos (M)

Russian Premier Approved The new Prime Minister of Russia, Sergei V. Stepashin, won an easy confirmation vote in the lower house of Parliament, bringing the country's brief political crisis to an eerily peaceful end. PAGE A3

Increasing number of people are using computers in their offices to visit Web sites that provide stock prices or handle trades; Internet is making lot of information available to small investors that was once accessible only to professionals; ease with which office workers and others can research, monitor and trade stocks is growing concern for employers; about 25 percent of all corporate Internet traffic, much of it surreptitious, is considered unrelated to work (M)