September 10, 1999

Justice Department says three Japanese pharmaceutical companies, Takeda Chemical Industries, Eisai Co and Daiichi Pharmaceutical Co, have agreed to plead guilty to United States antitrust violations and to pay more than $137 million to settle charges that they took part in a worldwide conspiracy to fix prices in vitamin market; case does not involve sale of any vitamin tablets, but the ingredients that go into eveything from vitamins to orange juice; in breaking the cartel, the United States Government has now recovered more than $850 million and exposed loose confederacy of vitamin makers that met secretly for years to plot how to divide up world markets (M)

Two extremely rare, extremely small Egyptian tortoises are reported stolen from Bronx Zoo; leading theory behind theft is that reptiles, as members of endangered species are no longer allowed to be sold on open market, were taken by collectors who covet them as pets or by rogue traders who supply growing black market in forbidden wildlife; photo (M)

Todd Martin defeats Slava Dosedel and Cedric Pioline defeats Gustavo Kuerten to advance to semifinals of US Open tennis championships; photo (M)

New York City vastly expands its week-old air raid on mosquitoes with pesticide spraying scheduled over next three days for all of Brooklyn and Queens and much of Bronx, as number of suspected cases of potentially deadly St Louis encephalitis grows to 60, including, for first time, 3 residents of Manhattan; Mayor Rudolph W Giuliani notes ground spraying of malathion, which kills mosquitoes, is planned for most of Manhattan in coming days, and that aerial assault will continue until first frost; asks public not to create any undue alarm or panic; photo; map shows schedule of areas to be sprayed (M)

N Chandrababu Naidu, cyber-savvy Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh and India's most dynamic economic reformer, wages his campaign for Parliament not by talking about economic growth, but by speaking traditional language of social programs: marriage halls for Muslims, irrigation canals for farmers, free hand tools for artisans, matching grants to poor women who save money; politicians across India are watching to see whether Naidu's aggressive blend of old-style politicking and new-wave economics gives his party a victory when votes for parliamentary elections are counted on Oct 6; as India's states become more increasingly important in drive for economic growth that is needed to pull hundreds of millions of Indians out of poverty, state leaders like Naidu are at vanguard of efforts to modernize local economies and integrate them into global marketplace; photo; map (L)