Bodies of 64 ethnic Albanians, slain by Serbs in village of Bela Crkva hours after NATO bombing began on March 25, are reburied following exhumation from mass graves for collection of evidence by war crimes investigators from Scotland Yard; emotional scene described; Scotland Yard's chief investigator John T Bunn says 60 victims were shot in individual groups, in deliberate fashion, along riverbank; photos (M)

After Scotland Yard Inquiry, A Village in Kosovo Buries 64

Juliette Greco, grande dame of chanson francaise, discusses her return to stage in Paris at age 72, and popularity of her singing style among new generation; photos (M)

50 Years Later, Her Chansons Find New Audiences

Wal-Mart Stores' hiring of Fingerhut Cos to process orders and handle distribution on Internet has help boost stock of rival Federated Department Stores, which acquired Fingerhut in Mar; providing services to burgeoning E-commerce ventures promises to be big business in near future, but Fingerhut is not expected to contribute substantially to Federated's bottom line soon (M)

Fingerhut Gives Federated Edge in E-Commerce

Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing Corp is having trouble shaking analysts' view that it is dull, low-technology company; image problems, failure to reach earnings estimates over last two hears and flat revenues have depressed stock price of former Wall Street darling; chairman Livio D DeSimone, target of critics, holds he is cutting costs, tightening procedures and getting products to market faster; graphs of stock performance and net income; photo (M)

The Handwriting On the Post-It Note; Image and Returns Suffer at 3M

Lincoln Center Festival director Nigel Redden discusses 20-hour Chinese opera The Peony Pavilion and other events this year; photos (M)

This Year, His Banquet Has a Centerpiece; With 'Peony' in Place, 34 Productions Don't Faze Lincoln Center Festival Director

Total Fina SA seeks to acquire Elf Acquitaine SA, French oil refiner and chemicals conglomerate, in hostile bid worth nearly $43 billion; Elf scores offer and lines up investment banks to plot defense; analysts expect extended battle that could lead to counteroffer from Elf or to rival bids from other oil companies; Elf shares surge 21.5 percent; graphs of oil company rankings; photo (M)

A $43 Billion Hostile Bid In French Oil

Noise caused by boring machine drilling Third Water Tunnel breaks quiet in recording studio at Master Sound in Kaufman Astoria Studios in Queens and forces studio to close; photos; map (M)

Dissonance Underground; As Tunnel Work Hums, a Recording Studio Closes

 A Nest of Hornets In Pakistani's Promise  Prime Minister Sharif is likely to find it hard to deliver on a pledge that he would seek to withdraw Pakistani-backed forces from the Indian side of the cease-fire line in Kashmir. Opposition parties sharply criticized him, and the Islamic militant fighters vowed that they would not withdraw. NEWS ANALYSIS, PAGE A3

INSIDE

Neil Strauss Critic's Notebook on small-scale concert at site of famous Woodstock Festival; headliner is Britney Spears; photo; Alan Gerry, who bought Max Yasgur's upstate New York farm in 1996, plans annual concert series (S)

A Woodstock Where Teeny Is Everything

Increasing number of Americans who work mostly at small, creative and nonprofit institutions are taking dogs to work, where they say they help to relieve stress, provide measure of security for those who keep late hours and make life seem less compartmentalized; most dog-friendly companies require that dogs be well mannered, housebroken and free of fleas; while many employees who do not have dogs seem to genuinely enjoy presence of colleague's or boss's dog, others say they merely tolerate animals and find trend loathsome; recent national observance of Take Your Dog to Work Day, sponsored by Pet Sitters International, noted; photos (M)

In More Office Cubicles, the Dog Has Its Day

 Japan's Executives Say Business Mood Improves  The Japanese central bank's quarterly assessment of business sentiment showed that the perception of business conditions among more than 9,000 executives who responded in June was still negative, but improving. But the survey's so-called diffusion index remained solidly negative, meaning that pessimistic executives still widely outnumbered optimists.    The benchmark Nikkei index of 225 Japanese stocks rose 1.13 percent, to 18,135.06 -- its highest close in 21 months. [Page C4.]

BUSINESS DIGEST

Eastern seaboard, from Carolinas to New England, has second day of 100-degree temperatures; temperature records for July 5 fall in Washington (DC), registering at 102 degrees, and in Portland (Me), which records 94 degrees; New York City and Atlantic City set records of 101 degrees; Bridgeport, Conn, hits 100 for first time on July 5 and Philadelphia ties record at 100 degrees; vacationers flee beaches for shopping malls and movie theaters; New York City Emergency Medical Service reports increasing number of heat-related calls; usual traffic nightmare for vacationers leaving Hamptons is worsened after part of highway melts in heat; photos (M)

Stifling Heat Retains Grip on East Coast

NATO and Russian military commanders resolve differences over Russia's role in peacekeeping operations in Kosovo, Serbia, clearing way for arrival of about more 3,600 more Russian troops after weeks of wrangling; NATO spokesman says all issues were clarified within context of June 18 Helsinki agreement on integration of Russian troops; says there are currently no military obstacles for deployment of Russians, who have agreed reluctantly to serve under nominal control of allied commanders of each sector where they will operate--but will reserve right to refuse to carry out orders; Russian commanders failed to obtain permission to send troops into Italian sector, which would have altered boundaries previously negotiated in painstaking detail; Clinton Administration official says part of difficulty stemmed from fact that following Helsinki agreement each side, for unknown reasons, had different maps showing different areas of operations for Russia's troops; map (M)

ACCORD WITH NATO LETS MOSCOW ADD TROOPS IN KOSOVO

New York Mets defeat Montreal Expos, 2-1, Shea Stadium; photo (M)

Benitez Is Mets' Saving Grace

Harvey Araton, in Sports of The Times column, comments on what he sees as stereotypes still surrounding women tennis players; photo of Steffi Graf (M)

Sports of The Times; Addressing An Attitude Problem

Special report, Private Spies, on increasingly larger role being played by private investigators in public arena--digging up dirt on everyone, from regulators to elected national and small-town officials; new breed includes former police officers, former FBI agents, ex-CIA employees, former prosecutors and ex-journalists who can tap old news contacts to get negative information published; operating with little regulation or accountability, they spy on opponents by posing as reporters or by sending in operatives who work as volunteers in campaigns; many routinely obtain protected information, like telephone records and medical histories; track down ex-spouses and former associates and employees, often concealing intent; rummage through trash from offices, campaign headquarters and homes; while personal attacks have been part of political campaigns since nation's inception, unwritten rules kept 'opposition research' within bounds for most of century; typical investigator was campaign worker or occasionally moonlighting police officer, and inquiries focused on public information like voting records and court cases; rules vanished after accusations of marital infidelity drove former Sen Gary Hart out of 1988 Presidential campaign; Federal Govt has started probe of investigators' techniques in obtaining confidential information; recent landmark Federal Trade Commission suit against Colorado investigator over use of deceptions, known as pretexts, to obtain information about private bank accounts and his indictment by state for racketeering discussed; action being weighed by Congress to outlaw pretexts noted; photos (L)

Plenty of Dirty Jobs in Politics And a New Breed of Diggers

People who knew Benjamin N Smith, who killed himself rather than be captured by police after shooting rampage against members of minority groups in Illinois and Indiana, say he had become increasingly bold in expressing racist views; police say places where shootings occurred in Illinois and Indiana, in which black and Asian man were fatally shot and other blacks, Asians and Jews shot at may not have been random; note shootings occurred in northern suburbs of Chicago where he grew up and near University of Illinois, where he quit in February 1998 before being expelled over domestic violence charges, possessing drugs and posting racist literature; photo; map (M)

Midwest Gunman Had Engaged In Racist Acts at 2 Universities

Profile of and interview with Tony DiCicco, coach of women's national soccer team; photos (L)

The Reception of DiCicco Is Loud and Clear

Lilith Fair begins 34-city tour in Vancouver; New Jersey Symphony Orchestra to open fifth annual Amadeus Festival, featuring young violinist Hilary Hahn in all-Mozart program; Museum of Modern Art to open exhibit on relationship between photography and fame; photos; Bronx Museum exhibits work by new talent (Footlights column) (S)

FOOTLIGHTS

Crumbling Wilburn Wire Co plant along Franklin D Roosevelt Drive in East Harlem is on verge of being demolished, and plans are moving forward to replace it with $150 million shopping center, one of largest commercial developments in Manhattan in recent years; if successful, 450,000-square-foot project, known as East River Plaza, will be anchored by two large national chain stores, Home Depot and Costco, that are making their first forays into Manhattan; photo; map (M)

$150 Million Shopping Center in Harlem Moving Forward

Martin R Frankel's ability to swindle several hundred million dollars from string of Southern insurance companies in fraud that continued for almost eight years despite regulators' misgivings embarrasses many state insurance regulators and is rallying point for people who favor at least some Federal regulation of insurers; Tennessee records show its regulators made note of irregularities in Frankel's Franklin American Corp's investments in nearly every quarterly financial review since 1993 but declined to act on own examiners' calls for probe and did not communicate concerns to other states (M)

Insurance Fraud Shows Gaping Holes in the States' Regulatory Net

Disorder called sleep paralysis, result of disconnect between brain and body as person is on fringe of sleep, is now believed to affect nearly half of all people at least once, and it may help explain some bizarre claims of witch attacks or alien abduction; Japanese psychologist Kazuhiko Fukuda notes concept is well known there as kanashibari, but not familiar to North Americans; Canadian psychologist Al Cheyne explains that people draw on most plausible account in their repertoire, whether trolls or witches in earlier times, or space aliens today; photo; drawing (M)

Alien Abduction? Science Calls It Sleep Paralysis

Dr David J Stevenson proposes theory that several Earth-like planets, created billions of years ago and ejected from our solar system by gravitational forces, may be 'wandering' in deep space, harboring conditions that could sustain some form of life; speculates that rogue planets may have retained atmospheres rich in molecular hydrogen, which could trap enough volcanic heat to sustain water oceans and some simple life forms (M)

Sunless, Airless, And Full Of Life?

Strategists for Minnesota Gov Jesse Ventura are trying to entice Lowell P Weicker Jr, former independent Governor of Connecticut, to offer himself as Reform Party nominee for President; Weicker is one of nation's best-known political mavericks, who tormented Republican Party from within as United States Senator; photo (M)

Minnesota's Ventura Tries to Lure Weicker Into the Presidential Race

Adam Nagourney comments on Hillary Rodham Clinton's advisers' concerns about what they see as her most serious vulnerability if she runs for US Senate from New York--that she is seeking to represent a state where she has never lived (M)

Political Memo; For First Lady, Taking Detour On Geography

Joaquín Rodrigo Vidre, 1st Marquess of the Gardens of Aranjuez, was a Spanish composer and a virtuoso pianist. He is best known for composing the Concierto de Aranjuez, a cornerstone of the classical guitar repertoire.

July 6, 1999

Headlines from July 6, 1999

After Scotland Yard Inquiry, A Village in Kosovo Buries 64

50 Years Later, Her Chansons Find New Audiences

Fingerhut Gives Federated Edge in E-Commerce

The Handwriting On the Post-It Note; Image and Returns Suffer at 3M

This Year, His Banquet Has a Centerpiece; With 'Peony' in Place, 34 Productions Don't Faze Lincoln Center Festival Director

Billboard 200

Millennium

Ricky Martin

Mirrorball

Wild Wild West

Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me

Notable Deaths

Historical Context for July 6, 1999