William C Rhoden, in Sports of The Times, comments on problems besetting New York Mets' manager Bobby Valentine, as wobbling Mets face New York Yankees in subway series; photo (M)

Sports of The Times; Struggling To Move Beyond O.K.

Pres Clinton says he is 'anxious to end the bombing' in Yugoslavia; seeks to assure American public that nation has pursued 'goal that has been worth fighting for'--stability in Europe and return of over 800,000 ethnic Albanians to their homes in Kosovo; Pentagon says 10-week-old air war could end if Serbia begins troop withdrawal from Kosovo; NATO and Yugoslav officials will meet on June 5 to discuss pullout; map; photo (M)

Bombing of Serbs Could End This Weekend, U.S. Says

 Hastert Changes Strategy  To gain passage of stalled spending bills, Speaker J. Dennis Hastert wants to shift money for the military to ease cuts in social program, key aides said.  PAGE A11

INSIDE

Allied Signal Inc, diversified manufacturer, and Honeywell Inc, maker of electronic controls, are reported to be in merger discussions; combination of two would create company with revenue of more than $24 billion; photo of Lawrence A Bossidy, Allied Signal chief exec (M)

Allied Signal and Honeywell Said to Be in Talks

Vodka distillers in Russia, country where large quantities of liquor are consumed, are trying to carve out a niche for upscale vodka; in Moscow, for instance, Russian distiller Smirnov is fighting to protect its image as a brand to be savored rather than guzzled; Kristall distillery, one of Russia's largest vodka companies and make of its most renowned export brand, Stolichnaya, begins producing upscale vodkas for domestic consumption; these businesses are banking on growing worldiness of Russian middle class, which has begun to appreciate nuances of various liquors; photos; chart shows Russian alcoholic beverage consumption; table compares alcoholic beverage consumption in Russia, US and China (M)

Vodka Sheds Proletarian Chains; Russian Distillers Courting a Higher Class of Drinker

NATO envisions disbanding Kosovo Liberation Army and transforming its fighters into civilians, many as police officers, once Yugoslavia withdraws its forces from Kosovo; Western officials are already scouring refugee camps in Albania and Macedonia for recruits; rebels, emboldened by NATO's wearing down of Yugoslavia's Army and police forces, may not share NATO's vision of return to civilian life; NATO officials expect rebels to abide by broad terms of agreement reached with Yugoslav Pres Slobodan Milosevic; photo (M)

Albanian Rebels Complicate NATO Planning on Kosovo

Federal Judge Owen M Panner of US District Court in Portland, Ore, rules that a local government could force AT&T Corp to share its cable lines with competing Internet service providers; decision could have far-reaching implications for consumers and telecommunications industry; case has represented one front in battle that pits AT&T against coalition of Internet service providers and consumer groups that assert that an emerging source of high-speed Internet access, cable modems, faces monopoly control; Panner's decision, which involves Portland and county of which it is a part, may not have any practical effect because AT&T does not offer cable modem service in Portland and ruling does not bind AT&T or other cable operators elsewhere (M)

Judge Says Local Officials Can Force AT&T to Share Cable Lines

New York Yankees defeat New York Mets, 4-3, Yankee Stadium; photos (M)/

Yankees Show the Mets How to Win in New York

Preview of 131st Belmont Stakes; D Wayne Lucas says his horse Charismatic is fully prepared to make bid for Triple Crown; photo (M)ï

Charismatic Is Fully Prepared in His Bid for the Triple Crown

Legal experts say that 25 years after Congress gave citizens broad powers to enforce environmental laws through private lawsuits, judges across country are cutting back on those suits so deeply that environmental groups have lost much of theit power in court; say rulings by Supreme Court and lower Federal courts have limited circumstances under which citizens and their environmental organizations can sue to punish violators of pollution laws; say trend is one of most profound setbacks for environmental movement in decades (M)

Novel Antipollution Tool Is Being Upset by Courts

Hillary Rodham Clinton said yesterday that in July she would take the first formal step toward running for Senate, registering an exploratory committee with the Federal Election Commission. Her aides said that would almost certainly lead to her becoming the first First Lady to run for Federal office.    For all the tumult that has surrounded Mrs. Clinton's political future these past five months, the First Lady confirmed her intentions -- which were by now something short of a surprise -- in a quiet, almost matter-of-fact voice in the midst of the ABC ''Good Morning America'' program, which was broadcast from the White House. Mrs. Clinton answered the question posed by Diane Sawyer during a commercial break; ABC played a tape of the exchange as soon as the program resumed.  

Hillary Clinton Confirms a First Senate Step

Captain Vincent Fowler, veteran New York City fire officer, who for years worked to insure that firefighters got support they needed when colleague was killed in line of duty, dies himself after collapsing in burning basement of Queens home; Fowler, 47, dies at Jamaica Hospital in Queens almost 14 hours after he leads firefighters into burning home in South Ozone Park; at fire stations across city, dozens of men whose lives he had touched during his 21 years with department remember Fowler as a leader, teacher and protector--especially when death took one of their own; photos (M)

Captain Killed in Blaze Helped Firefighters Cope With Death

Labor Dept reports that US unemployment rate dropped to 4.2 percent in May; that matches 29-year low reached in March and is just latest sign that nation's labor market remains remarkably robust; but there is also strong hint in report that jobs boom may be moderating; while employers actually added 841,000 workers to payrolls in May, increase is rather paltry given it is usually peak time of year for seasonal hiring; graphs; charts (M)

Unemployment Falls Again, But Job Growth Is Moderating

Allied commanders say that after 10 long weeks of bombing, NATO finally broke will of Pres Slobodan Milosevic by finding new ways to destroy Yugoslav military in field while escalating attacks on strategic targets with virtual impunity; say campaign's start was hampered by political constraints and bad weather, but in recent days NATO was able to take advantage of rebel Albanian offensive to draw Serbian forces out of their hiding places near Kosovo-Albania border; say that enabled NATO fighter-bombers to hit them hard and inflict first major damage to Serbian forces in field; say NATO held down its own losses to surprisingly low toll of two combat planes over 33,000 missions; photo (M)

Shift in Targets Let NATO Jets Tip the Balance

Exploration and the quest for knowledge have been special legacies of this millennium, but where does today's explorer go to find uncharted ground? In a special issue of The Times Magazine, the third of six to reflect on the last 1,000 years, writers and photographers embark on a series of expeditions, some following in the footsteps of earlier adventurers, some scouting the territory for a glimpse into the remaining great unknowns -- the ocean floor, the urban wilderness, the human mind.  

COMING ON SUNDAY: INTO THE UNKNOWN

Hillary Rodham Clinton says that in July she will take first formal step toward running for US Senate, registering an exploratory committee with Federal Election Commission; her aides say that would almost certainly lead to her becoming first First Lady to run for Federal office (M)

First Lady Takes Big Step For Campaign

Refugees at Stankovec I camp in Macedonia must choose whether to return to ravaged Kosovo or to seek new life in another country; 15-member Shala family decides that it cannot trust latest talk of peace and boards plane evacuating refugees to Denmark, only 24 hours after Yugoslav Pres Slobodan Milosevic agrees to full withdrawal of his forces from Kosovo; nine-member Llalloshi family chooses to stay and see if it can go home to Kosovo; photo (M)

Refugees Face Hard Choice: Go Home, or Find New One?

 Stocks Rally as Investors Expect a Fed Rate Increase  Stock prices rallied and bond prices moved slightly lower as investors signaled that many expected a rate increase when Federal Reserve policy makers meet at the end of this month. The selloffs in stocks since May 18, when the Fed first indicated it was leaning toward a rate increase, have been enough to compensate for higher interest rates, in the view of many investors. Sectors that had been hit particularly hard, including drugs, banks and technology stocks, helped lead the rally yesterday.   

BUSINESS DIGEST

Preview of Game 3 of Eastern Conference finals between New York Knicks and Indiana Pacers at Madison Square Garden (M)

Dudley Urged to Look Tough, but Don't Touch

Allergy sufferers in New York metropolitan region are even more miserable this year than last, when grass pollen and tree pollen waged nastiest attack in years; pollen detectors show increase in grass pollen; for more than month now, allergy clinics and doctors' offices across city, suburbs and beyond have been swamped with same complaints: people say they are itching in places that cannot be scratched; photo; chart show increase in pollen counts (M)

A Plethora of Pollen; Allergy Sufferers Don't Need a Machine to Tell Them -- Achoo!

Mayor Rudolph W Giuliani and City Council leaders, after two weeks of negotiations, agree on $35.3 billion budget that takes advantage of record high tax revenues and contains only smattering of tax cuts; Giuliani and Council Speaker Peter F Vallone say their only hurdle had been Legislature's repeal of city's tax on New York commuters, which could result in loss of $360 million to city; say sudden loss of revenue forced them to jettison many of their own tax cut proposals; graph (M)

Mayor and City Council Leaders Reach Budget and Tax Agreement

Mail carriers in Brooklyn are anxious about dog bites; there are about 350,000 dogs in Brooklyn, and only 2,200 mail carriers, ratio that helps explain why United States Postal Service this week ranked Brooklyn fifth on its annual list of Top 10 Dog Bite Cities (M)

About New York; Through Rain, Sleet and Bites From Dogs

Skies may soon become smoother for two Asian airlines buffeted by labor disputes and financial problems; Philippine Airlines says that it raised $200 million in fresh capital to resuscitate its debt-ridden operations; Cathay Pacific Airlines prepares for talks with its pilots to resolve dispute that has grounded between third and half of its daily flights since May 28 (M)

2 Asia Airlines See Progress In Labor and Money Crises

There were no meetings of state legislators or their top aides yesterday.

Awaiting Albany; Budget '99: 66 DAYS DELINQUENT

June 4 article about Judge John R Mather's order to jail two Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporters, for refusal to reveal who told them that Richard A Jewell was leading suspect in bombing at 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta, misstated jurisdiction of judge; Mather sits in state court in Fulton County, Ga

Corrections

Melvin Howard Tormé, nicknamed "the Velvet Fog", was an American musician, singer, composer, arranger, drummer, actor, and author. He composed the music for "The Christmas Song" and co-wrote the lyrics with Bob Wells. Tormé won two Grammy Awards and was nominated a total of 14 times.

June 5, 1999

Headlines from June 5, 1999

Sports of The Times; Struggling To Move Beyond O.K.

Bombing of Serbs Could End This Weekend, U.S. Says

INSIDE

Allied Signal and Honeywell Said to Be in Talks

Vodka Sheds Proletarian Chains; Russian Distillers Courting a Higher Class of Drinker

Billboard 200

Millennium

Ricky Martin

...Baby One More Time

Fanmail

Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (Soundtrack)

Notable Deaths

Historical Context for June 5, 1999