September 4, 1999

Support for Gun Control As high-profile shootings roil the debate over gun ownership rights, advocates for gun control are winning some support from Republican governors, an unlikely source. PAGE A7 Unemployment at 4.2% The nation's jobless rate fell once again in August, to 4.2 percent, as employers added 124,000 workers to their payrolls. The stock markets rallied on the news. PAGE C1

Malaysia appears to have missed Asian economic crisis by imposing sweeping controls on its capital markets--suspending offshore trading in its currency and locking foreign capital in country for the year; Prime Min Mahathir Mohamad says moves protected Malaysia from predations of foreign currency traders; contends without controls traders would have caused wild swings in currency, which could have decimated economy and ignited social unrest; business people in Malaysia initially balked, but most now rally around Mahathir; Malaysia has relaxed its rule on repatration of capital; photos (M)

Swiss prosecutors investigating suspected money laundering by officials at high levels of Russian Government order Swiss banks to provide information on two dozen Russians who may have accounts in Switzerland; freeze at least 59 bank accounts; Russians under investigation include Pavel P Borodin, his wife, daughter and son-in-law, and Oleg Soskovets; Swiss investigation was opened in response to requests made in spring by Russia's chief prosecutor, Yuri I Skuratov, who was subsequently fired by Pres Boris Yeltsin but remains technically in office because Russian Parliament has twice rejected his dismissal; photo (M)

Colorado Rockies beat New York Mets, 5-2, in 10 innings; photo (M)9

Khallid Abdul Muhammad is finding it hard to get financial support from rap music industry for his Million Youth March in Harlem; rap artist Master P, who helped finance last year's march, refuses to support his year's event because of Muhammad's contemptuous remarks about whites in general and Jews in particular; Muhammad has faced increasing opposition from black politicians in Harlem, who last week called on people to boycott rally; photos (M)

Federal Judge Barrington D Parker Jr sentences John A Gotti to six years and five months in prison five months after Gotti pleads guilty to racketeering and extortion charges; also grants Gotti 45 more days of limited freedom, allowing him to continue living under house arrest at his home in Oyster Bay, LI, before his prison term begins; photo (M)

Letter to New Neighbors column welcomes Pres and Mrs Clinton to Chappaqua, NY, after Clintons sign contract to buy home from Dr and Mrs Jeffrey Weisberg for $1.7 million; photos (M)

Atty Gen Janet Reno says she will demand facts to determine whether FBI played any role in starting a deadly fire that broke out during 1993 assault on Branch Davidian compound near Waco, Tex; says she still believes that David Koresh, cult's leader, is to blame for fire; FBI releases second tape of conversations between an agents at scene and his superior and says it supports Government's account that military tear-gas canister bounced off a bunker near the compound but was not responsible for fire; Reno reported forcuses on former Sen John C Danforth to lead independent inquiry into events at Waco; photo (M)

New York Jets beat Minnesota Vikings, 38-17, in preseason game; Jets receiver Wayne Chrebet breaks his left foot and will miss six games; photo (M)

Martina Hingis beats Sandra Kloeseä

Dow Jones industrial average surges 235.24 points, or 2.17 percent, to 11,078.45; Standard & Poor's 500-stock index climbs 38.13 points, or 2.89 percent, to 1,357.24; Nasdaq composite index gains 108.87 points, or 3.98 percent, to 2,843.11; it is largest one-day point gain for Nasdaq ever; price of 30-year Treasury bond trades up 1 17/32, to 101 17/32; yield drops to 6.01 percent from 6.13 percent; graph on fluctuations in Dow Jones industrial average; charts on stocks with large price percentage gains and losses and US key interest rates; photo (M)

Many public students are struggling to mesh new dress codes that call for pupils to wear uniforms with their own sense of style; so far, 163 of city's 672 elementary schools have agreed to participate in uniform program; under Board of Education policy passed in March 1998, students at public elementary schools are required to wear uniforms unless their schools have chosen to opt out of policy; photos (M)