June 30, 1999

Relatives of Edwin Daniel Sabillon, 13-year-old boy who captivated city with his tale of traveling solo from Honduras to New York in search of his father, say he manufactured much of what he told police and people who helped him; police say Sabillon has admitted that his story--that his mother was killed by Hurricane Mitch, and that his only living relative is father he has never seen--is not true; relatives say Sabillon's mother is alive and living in Honduras, as is grandmother who reared him; say it is boy's father, Grevis Sabillon, who is dead; say boy apparently ran away from his grandmother's home in Honduras and went to live with his aunt in Hialeah, Fla, for about two months; say he disappeared from his aunt's home on June 24; photo (M)

Phone Merger Approved, Subject to Unusual Rules Federal officials tentatively approved the $72 billion acquisition of Ameritech by SBC Communications provided that the new company not only open its market to competition but also offer local telephone service in 30 cities outside its existing region. Officials said the unusual regulatory approach for approving the acquisition was intended to drive down phone bills by encouraging competition in markets that have been dominated by one phone company. SBC and Ameritech executives said that regulators would impose stiff financial penalties if the new company failed to offer residential and business telephone service. [Page A1.]

Outbreak of sickness associated with Coca-Cola in Europe has raised questions about quality control and company's ability to respond quickly to crisis; when outbreak began, Coke took several days to make matter high priority; apology to consumers took more than a week after first public reports that people had fallen sick; it was not until June 18--10 days after first schoolboy in Belgium became dizzy and nauseated after drinking Coke--that top officials arrived in Belgium; and when Coke did begin to respond, it tried to minimize reports of illness; map; photos (M)

Jim Yardley, in About New York column, notes that Fasanos of Staten Island, who are white, and Rogerses of Teaneck, NJ, who are black, seemed to have settled custody dispute in May that approaches science fiction; says five months earlier, Donna Fasano had given birth to two boys, one white and one black; says fertility doctor treating both Mrs Fasano and Deborah Perry-Rogers had mistakenly implanted fertilized eggs from both women into Fasano during in vitro procedure; contends that custody settlement between Fasanos and Rogerses has soured over unresolved question of who is mother; maintains that two couples are pushing courts into relatively uncharted territory at time when law and medical ethicists have struggled to keep up with scientific advances in fertility treatment (M)

Article on upcoming National Basketball Association draft; photo (M)