 'Smart' Guns Prove Elusive  Despite growing pressure for ''smart guns,'' whose use would be limited to its owner, it is becoming increasingly clear that such weapons may not be the simple fix advocated by proponents. PAGE A24

INSIDE

Jon Pareles reviews performances by New York Art Quartet and Sonic Youth in closing concert of Bell Atlantic Jazz Festival at South Street Seapoprt Atrium; photo (M)

Idealistic As Ever, Without the Shock Value

Theater owners around country say they will begin to phase in 'enhanced compliance' of existing policies to keep teen-agers under age 17 out of R-rated films; teen-agers, however, indicate that they have little trouble getting into theaters; enforcement will probably be easier in small towns tan in larger cities; photo (M)

Accompanied by Parent (or Ingenuity); Theaters Vow to Enforce Ratings; Teen-Agers Vow to Get In

George Vecsey, in Sports of The Times column, contends that he cannot come up with argument why New York Knicks absolutely cannot beat San Antonio Spurs in NBA finals; photo (M)

Sports of The Times; A Bizarre Springtime Keeps Going

Analysis of Qwest Communications International Inc's $55 billion bid for US West Inc and Frontier Corp; says move is part of Qwest chief executive Joseph P Nacchio's goal to make company a full-service communications provider; Nacchio comments; chart; photo (M)

At Qwest, A Chance To Become Really Big

Cincinnati Reds beat New York Mets, 8-4; photo (M)

Mets Fall With Bonilla In, Olerud and Piazza Out

State Commission on Correction says Suffolk County Correctional Facility, among penal centers with over 650 inmates, is most overcrowded in New York; notified county last year that it would sue unless it did something to ease overcrowding; county has responded by ordering $150,000 study of jail, which now holds nearly 1,800 inmates, or 144 percent of its capacity; Sheriff Patrick A Mahoney, county official in charge of jail, says conditions are deplorable; photos (M)

A Jail Waiting to Explode?; In Suffolk, Warnings From Guards and Guarded

Trevor Nunn, director of Royal National Theater, stages new production of Merchant of Venice at Cottesloe Theater in London; photo; Tanglewood Music Festival begins its season on June 18 with Baroque Weekend; Jewish life among Christians and Muslims in Bukhara, Samarkand, Tashkent, Georgia, Dagestan and Azerbaijan will be illuminated in exhibition that opens on June 20 at Jewish Museum; photo; life-size fiberglass cows are part of public art exhibition Cows on Parade in Chicago (M)

FOOTLIGHTS

Bernard Weinraub analysis of obstacles facing plan to require teen-age moviegoers to show photo identification at R-rated films; distribution executives note that teen-agers are resourceful in getting to see what they want and that multiplex theaters, which earn most of their profits from popcorn, soda and hot dogs--not movies--will naturally hire people to work at concessions, not to check on teen-agers at individual screens (M)

Practicality Is Biggest Foe Of ID Plan For R Movies

Scientists at Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Artificial Intelligence Laboratory develop radically different kind of experimental computer chip in which bits of information bounce around like billiard balls, carrying out calculations far more efficiently than an ordinary computer; chip, called Flattop, displays the reversibility found in the physical universe, allowing information to be conserved rather than shed as heat as in modern digital computer; idea of reversible computation has been developing since 1970's and holds out vision of bridging the divide between physics and computer science, between the natural and the artificial; drawing (M)

A Radical Computer Learns to Think in Reverse

 Wal-Mart Agrees to Buy British Supermarket Chain  In its first foray into Britain, Wal-Mart Stores agreed to pay $10.8 billion in cash for Asda Group, Britain's third-largest supermarket chain, thwarting a rival suitor at the last moment and threatening other British retailers with a potentially devastating price war.    The takeover agreement is part of Wal-Mart's aggressive buying spree in Europe, where tight zoning regulations make it almost impossible to build big, new stores, leaving entrants into the businesses of supermarkets and large convenience stores no option but to acquire existing chains. [Page C4.]

BUSINESS DIGEST

Market Place column on gold, once dependable haven for millions of worried investors, which has been losing value in world financial system dominated by inflation-fighting central bankers; says even Swiss bankers, doyens of gold, do not push it anymore as part of properly diversified portfolio because there are now many more efficient ways to hedge risk; holds gold last touched $500 an ounce in December 1987, and it has not reached $400 since April 1996; says its average price for 1998, $294 an ounce, was lowest in 20 years; holds 1999 is turning out to be especially harsh and is clearly trying patience of even most devoted gold investor; says many central banks are selling or planning to sell portions of their huge hoards of gold, looming presence that has driven down price by almost 30 percent since selling announcements by banks accelerated in 1997; says price of gold reached 20-year low of $258.60 last week; graph; photo (M)

THE MARKETS: Market Place; An Icon's Fading Glory

When Gov. George E. Pataki and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver had a rare meeting the other day, there was no shortage of unfinished business between the two foes. The discord they had bred in the Capitol had delayed the state budget and along with it decisions on many issues, from health care to drug policy to school violence.    Yet less than 15 cheerless minutes after the meeting began, it abruptly broke up with a familiar result: Each man was blaming the other for freezing the gears of state government.  

Albany Budget Stalls, but Discord Stays in High Gear

Kosovo Liberation Army rebels are coming out of mountains and forests to stake claim to power as Serbian troops withdraw under NATO tanks and guns; armed guerrillas man checkpoints around Prizren and other Kosovo towns, tolerated for now by NATO peacekeepers; rebels have set up headquarters in Pristina, seized large coal mine and taken control of customs office at Albanian border; their swift emergence as new power on ground, with popular support from ethnic Albanians, poses delicate problem for NATO; Albanians view NATO as allies of rebels, but peacekeepers stress that they are neutral force trying to protect Serbs and Albanians; NATO slowly expands its control over central Kosovo, sending troops by thousands into towns and villages; rebels say they are eager to cooperate with NATO; have promised not to carry out reprisals against Serbs; photos (M)

Kosovo Rebels Savor New Role as Serb Troops Leave

Anna Kisselgoff reports on opening of American Dance Festival's new season in Durham, NC; reviews Out Some Place, collaboration between choreographer Bill T Jones and jazz pianist Fred Hersch; photo (M)

Jazz and Movement Mingle At a Festive Cocktail Party

State Supreme Court jury orders Health and Hospitals Corp to pay $76.4 million to Gaelle Prindilus, 12-year-old girl who suffered brain damage and other permanent injuries during her birth in what her lawyer, Thomas A Moore, calls botched delivery at Harlem Hospital Center; it is one of largest malpractice verdicts ever recorded against corporation; Moore says Prindilus was born on Jan 16, 1987 with her umbilical cord wrapped around her neck and with no medical personnel in hospital room to attend her mother Yverose, who underwent 17 hours of labor; Gaelle Prindilus suffers from cerebral palsy, requires wheelchair and is unable to read or write (M)

Hospitals Unit Found Liable In Birth Injury

Italian forces arriving in Pec, Kosovo, once city of 70,000 residents, find city in ruin and nearly empty of people; Serbs are fleeing and ethnic Albanians have not yet returned from exile; few Albanians who remain in city, most of them old or ill, have been afraid to leave their houses; one Albanian describes murder of her son by Serb paramilitaries; photo (M)

In Ruined Village, a Mother Lives With Her Son's Blood

National Association of Securities Dealers is expected to announce that it will form electronic trading system similar to Nasdaq Stock Market to list and trade Japanese stocks; Japan's Softbank Corp, which specializes in Internet-related investments, is expected to be partner in NASD venture; trading is to begin sometime late next year (M)

N.A.S.D. Is Expected to Start a Trading System for Japanese Stocks

Article on Gregg Popovich, coach and general manager of San Antonio Spurs, in view of upcoming NBA finals against New York Knicks; photo (M)

No Vindication, Just Victories, for Popovich

Article on upcoming NBA finals between New York Knicks and San Antonio Spurs notes that Knicks are concerned about stopping David Robinson and Tim Duncan; photo (M)

How to Stop the Spurs? Knicks Ponder the Ways

Analysis of impact of Kosovo war on Europe; war has thrust Germany into leading military role, galvanized efforts to forge common European defense policy and altered Europe's relationship with United States; Europeans remain wary of any 'decoupling' from United States in light of Russia's instability and abrupt movement of Russian troops in Kosovo; war has made Europe's growing dependence on US for security and its failure to keep up with new military technologies subject of wide public discussion (M)

Europe's Aim: Arms Parity

When New York Gov. George E. Pataki and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver had a rare meeting the other day, there was no shortage of unfinished business between the two foes. The discord they had bred in the Capitol had delayed the state budget and along with it decisions on many issues from health care to drug policy to school violence. Yet less than 15 cheerless minutes after the meeting began, it abruptly broke up with a familiar result: Each man was blaming the other for freezing the gears of state government.  

No Budget in Albany But Discord Is Ample

US Government and key allies fear smallpox, whose elimination was one of triumps of modern medicine, could strike anew sometime in future, unleashed by war or terrorism; that worry is raising new alarms and questions, such as what makes virus so deadly, how well do vaccinations work, and how likely is a smallpox attack; troubles with quality control are such that no stored smallpox vaccine in US can now be used except in emergencies; stoppers on vials are deteriorating, and a vital ancillary medicine is unusable; there are calls for producing new vaccine for up to 100 million Americans, but some experts question reliance on vaccine as a germ warfare safeguard and urge development of new antiviral drugs; drawings llustrate smallpox virus, and how disease progresses; photos (L)

Smallpox: The Once and Future Scourge?

South Korean naval forces sink North Korean torpedo boat and heavily damage second in fierce gun battle in disputed waters of Yellow Sea; South Korea, which says its forces responded to North Korean fire, puts its entire armed forces on combat-level alert; United Nations Command opens talks with North Korea at Panmunjon to resolve crisis; map (M)

South Korea Sinks Vessel From North In Disputed Waters

Computer researchers report virulent computer program is spreading in previously undisclosed way, generating new reports of significant loss of data by major corporations and individual users; Computer Emergency Response Team, government-financed computer security organization based at Carnegie Mellon University, says program could spread not only by attachments to E-mail but also over local corporate networks; officials say companies will need to take more strenuous and potentially costly measures to guard against an attack, since computers can be infected even if their users refrain from opening suspicious E-mail attachments (M)

Resilient Computer Worm Is Continuing to Take a Heavy Toll

Omer Côté was a Canadian politician and a Member of the Legislative Assembly of Quebec.

June 15, 1999

Headlines from June 15, 1999

INSIDE

Idealistic As Ever, Without the Shock Value

Accompanied by Parent (or Ingenuity); Theaters Vow to Enforce Ratings; Teen-Agers Vow to Get In

Sports of The Times; A Bizarre Springtime Keeps Going

At Qwest, A Chance To Become Really Big

Billboard 200

Millennium

Ricky Martin

...Baby One More Time

The Amazing Jeckel Brothers

Fanmail

Notable Deaths

Historical Context for June 15, 1999