Kansas City Royals defeat New York Yankees, 3-0; photo (M)

Pettitte Keeps Sparkling, but Royals Shine Brighter

Jennifer Dunning reviews performance by Mikhail Baryshnikov and his White Oak Dance Project, including premiere of work by Karole Armitage; photos (M)

Quiet and Tumult in a Mystical Journey

Famous art is leaving Japan, and only handful of bankers and art dealers know for sure where it is going; paintings, including large numbers of van Goghs, Modiglianis, Renoirs and Picassos that left public view over decade ago, are being resold abroad as result of country's economic slump; official trade figures show that from 1987 to 1991 Japanese spent over $8.7 billion on art; many art dealers and scholars say actual value was triple that amount; photo (M)

Art Bought During Boom Leaves Japan After Bust

New York Mets defeat San Diego Padres, 9-1; photo (M)

Tag Team (Ventura and Piazza) Sends Mets Home in First

 Starr to Step Down Soon  Kenneth W. Starr plans to return to private practice, ending his five-year inquiry that led to President Clinton's impeachment.   PAGE A16

INSIDE

Veteran New York City Police Officer Douglas Grant fatally shoots homeless man Larry Cobb on Upper East Side when his service pistol went off during struggle with man, who was suspected of breaking into a car; it is fourth shooting by New York City police in last ten days, and third fatal one; photo (M)

Man Is Fatally Shot by an Officer During Arrest in a Car Break-In

Interview with Signature Theater Co founder and artistic director James Houghton and Peter Norton, major donor for whom theater building is being renamed; they discuss their collaboration, what it means for company and how it fits in with Norton's other philanthropies; photo (M)

A White Knight From the Computer Kingdom Makes His Mark in Theater

State of the Art column appraises new eOne computer from Emachines, which closely resembles Apple Computer's popular iMac; says only operating system and some minor details are different, but eOne costs $400 less than iMac; photo (M)

Windows In iMac Clothing

Over 1,000 relief workers from 19 countries join search for victims of earthquake in Turkey as survivors raise outcry over shoddy construction practices and lax government regulations; officials say at least 4,053 people have died and over 16,000 were seriously injured; rescue teams are unable to reach some areas because roads are impassable and communications disrupted; Public Works and Housing Min Koray Aydin tells Parliament that earthquake affected area where 45 percent of Turkish population lives; map; photos (M)

Recrimination and Rescue in Turkey; Toll Hits 4,000 -- Shoddy Housing Vulnerable

Residents of Izmit, industrial city near epicenter of Turkey's worst earthquake, spend day digging, sifting, grieving and increasingly despairing that those who have not escaped from rubble by now are probably dead; Izmit remains out of control; there is desperate shortage of equipment and rescue workers; Turkey's biggest oil refinery continues to burn uncontrollably; photo (M)

Recrimination and Rescue in Turkey; Toll Hits 4,000 -- For One Girl: 'I Cannot Die'

Dow Jones industrial average loses 125.70 points, or 1.13 percent, to close at 10,991.38; Nasdaq composite index is down 13.49 points, or five-tenths of 1 percent, to 2,657.73; Standard & Poor's 500-stock index falls 11.32 points, or eight-tenths of 1 percent, to 1,332.84; graph; chart (M)

Stocks Slump As Investors Take Profits

Beep has become ubiquitous annoyance, and many people feel it has outlived its usefulness; beep orginally served as an alert on high-tech machinery like satellites and computers; now everything beeps--pagers, answering machines, ATM's, elevators, telephones, even children's toys; sheer irritation caused by beep is one reason for its longevity; research shows humans are bothered by sounds that are sudden, high-pitched and short; getting rid of beep is not simply matter of eradicating it; beep has to be replaced with something else; specialists who work in 'human factors' labs are looking to create sounds that are less sharp and richer in timbre; current trend is for high-tech companies to have their own trademark sound; photo (M)

The Sound and the Fury: Beating Back the Beep

Metropolitan Life Insurance Co agrees to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to settle lawsuits that have accused it of cheating customers through deceptive sales practices; values settlement, which is intended to cover seven million current and former policyholders who bought insurance and annuities between 1982 and 1997, at $1.7 billion; it will cost company less because of way it is calculating settlement; settlement is intended to cover three Federal class-action lawsuits, which were consolidated four years ago, and dozens of related actions (M)

Metropolitan Life in Accord For Settlement of Fraud Suits

Central Asian republic of Kazakhstan, its options nearly exhausted in worsening economic crisis, has grudgingly agreed to sell nearly half of its share of Tengiz oilfield, among world's most prized reserves; Kazakhs have quietly organized London-based, invitation-only auction for what amounts to 10 percent of field; Government estimates stake as worth $1.2 billion to $1.6 billion, more enough to fill estimated $560 million budget gap this year; Chevron Corp owns largest share in field, a 45 percent stake, with Kazakhstan and Mobil Corp at 25 percent each, and Lukoil of Russia at 5 percent (M)

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS; Short of Funds, Kazakhstan to Sell Some of the Vast Tengiz Oilfield

City of Leipzig gives specially built piano on which Richard Wagner composed several operas to Wagner Museum, Bayreuth, Ger; Hispanic Heritage Awards Foundation awards in cultural fields will go to Placido Domingo, Tina Ramirez and Gary Soto at Sept 14 fete at Kennedy Center, Washington; Ron Taylor, hospitalized for stroke, is returning to cast of It Ain't Nothin' but the Blues; will join Los Angeles production of play when show's engagement ends at Vivian Beaumont Theater; Ken Page, who replaced Taylor, will return to New York production when it reopens at Ambassador Theater; over 4,000 flutists from around world are expected to attend National Flute Association convention, Atlanta; Christopher Walken to star in Playwrights Horizons's James Joyce's 'The Dead,' musical play adapted from Joyce story; photos (M)

FOOTLIGHTS

Chinese officials, in move aimed at reversing steady fall in prices, say they will ban new construction of factories that make broad range of ordinary consumer items; ban also covers construction of luxury hotels, apartment and office buildings and department stores; officials, by withholding approval for new production lines while allowing existing output to continue, hope they can shackle China's deflation, which has become serious new economic threat; prices of consumer goods in China have fallen for 22 months in row (M)

Fearing Deflation, Chinese Set Limits On New Factories

Political memo column contends that when New York City Mayor Rudolph W Giuliani appoints commission to study possibility of revising City Charter in June, he seemed to have one main goal: keeping Mark Green, Public Advocate, from automatically succeeding him if he is elected to Senate; notes that despite offering some 40 proposals for possible revision, focus remains on Mayoral succession; commission votes to hold special Mayoral election within 60 days if Giuliani decides to step down (M)

Political Memo; Charter Panel, as Expected, Refocuses on Vacancy Law

Young New Yorkers, many of whom work in design fields, have begun to buy weekend and even year-round houses in New York's Catskill Mountains; are lured by low prices; newcomers find they are tolerated by local residents; map; photos (M)

Now Playing in the Catskills: 'Have I Got a House for You!'

George Vecsey Sports of The Times column urges Presidential candidates to stay clear of world of sports; photo (M)

Sports of The Times; Presidents Should Just Stay Home

Article discusses outlook for world track and field championships in Seville, Spain; Merlene Ottey withdraws after being notified that she failed drug test; photo (M)

Once Again, Suspicion Settles Into the Blocks

Harvey Houtkin's All-Tech Investment Group day-training firm has come under intense regulatory scrutiny, especially since day trader Mark O Barton killed nine people, five of them at an All-Tech office, last month; family of one shooting victim has sued All-Tech, accusing it of negligence in failing to supervise and recognize Barton was volatile person not suited to high-pressure business of stock trading; regulators want to know if All-Tech encouraged its customers to go to friends and family to raise money to trade with, making traders subject to regulation as investment advisers; regulators are also likely to want to question Houtkin himself; close look at Houtkin's background shows a man driven by almost religious zeal to storm ramparts of elitist Wall Street and regulatory machinery that he says protects it at expense of little guy; Houtkin comments; graph; photo (Market Place column) (M)

THE MARKETS: Market Place -- Democrat or Demon?; In a Revolution on Wall Street, His Weapons Are Suspect

John Tierney The Big City column notes controversy over Henry F Ludder, former member of New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission and official historian for Queens, selling his Victorian home in Whitestone to developer who plans to demolish it (M)

For Historian, Preservation Meets Profit

New owners of Saks Inc say it is not integrating disparate parts of its swiftly acquired retail empire as smoothly as it had forecast at beginning of year; executives acknowledge significant difficulty in several crucial parts of business, including flagship Saks Fifth Avenue stores, where analysts say snooty merchandise mix has been generating disappointing returns; say problem appears to be that stores have cut out high-margin crowd pleasers in favor of costly do-not-touch items; chairman-chief executive Brad Martin comments; Proffitt's Inc acquired Saks last September and quickly adopted its stylish name (M)

New Owners of Saks Acknowledge Rough Spots

Third article in series Birth of an Opera, on making of opera based on Arthur Miller's play A View From the Bridge; focuses on role of director Frank Galati, whose renown is as director of plays and musicals; he, as is traditional in opera, has yielded casting duties to producing company, Lyric Opera of Chicago; he comments, interview; photos (M)

The Opera's Director, Yes, But Not a Dictator; Path Can Be Tricky When Others Pick the Cast

 Metropolitan Life Agrees To Settle Consumer Suits  Metropolitan Life Insurance agreed to settle class-action and other lawsuits accusing the company of cheating millions of customers through deceptive sales practices.  

BUSINESS DIGEST

Ethan Francis Cutkosky is an American actor and musician. He began his career as a child actor, making his film debut with an uncredited supporting role in Fred Claus (2007) before his first credited role in the supernatural horror film The Unborn (2009).

Ethan Cutkosky, American actor and musician

Ethan_Cutkosky

Thomas Flegler is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who plays as a prop and lock for the Dolphins in the National Rugby League (NRL). He also represents Australia at international level.

Thomas Flegler, Australian rugby league player

Thomas_Flegler

Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. The population of the Belgrade metropolitan area is 1,685,563 according to the 2022 census. It is one of the major cities of Southeast Europe and the third-most populous city on the river Danube.

In Belgrade, Yugoslavia, tens of thousands of Serbians rally to demand the resignation of Federal Republic of Yugoslavia President Slobodan Milošević.

August 19, 1999

Headlines from August 19, 1999

Pettitte Keeps Sparkling, but Royals Shine Brighter

Quiet and Tumult in a Mystical Journey

Art Bought During Boom Leaves Japan After Bust

Tag Team (Ventura and Piazza) Sends Mets Home in First

INSIDE

Billboard 200

Millennium

Significant Other

Ricky Martin

Runaway Bride

...Baby One More Time

Notable Births

Historical Events

Historical Context for August 19, 1999