July 12, 1999

Three-day Woodstock '99 rock concert will be held at former Griffiss Air Force Base in Rome, NY, beginning on July 23; Michael Lang, creator of Woodstock, says it is ironic that first thing music fans will see when they arrive at concert site is B-52 bomber on display; says promoters have sold 150,000 of $150 tickets to festival and hope to sell twice that amount by show time; 500,000 people attended original Woodstock in Bethel, NY, 30 years ago; photos (M)

Money for candidates at all levels of 2000 elections is rushing in faster than ever; strong economy has made it easier to get contributions, enabling candidates to mobilize fund-raising efforts earlier than previous election cycles to fortify war chests; fund-raising by Republican front-runner Gov George W Bush Jr, Kansas Democratic Repr Dennis Moore and Calif Republican Repr James E Rogan discussed; photo (M)

New York Yankees beat New York Mets, 6-3, in interleague game; photo (M)

India and Pakistan say rival forces battling for past two months over Indian state of Kashmir, will begin phased withdrawal, heralding an end to latest confrontation between two countries; move toward peace comes week after Pakistan's Prime Min Nawaz Sharif visited with Pres Clinton in Washington and promised to take concrete steps to end crisis; both nations have fought two wars over Kashmir since winning independence from Britain in 1947; map; photo (M)

J K Rowling has written two wildly successful British children's novels featuring Harry Potter, an orphan wizard; first novel, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, has 826,000 copies in print; second, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, published only month ago, already has 915,000 copies in print; Potter books have been published in 115 countries in 25 languages, and indications are they are bringing boys back to reading; photos (M)