October 16, 1999

Russia's top securities regulator resigned in frustration today, in the latest in a series of troubling signs that the country is ill equipped to defend the interests of shareholders and foreign investors. Dmitri V. Vasiliev, chairman of the Federal Securities Commission, said that Russia was failing to protect investors from abuse and expropriation, and that other Government agencies had obstructed his efforts to uphold shareholder rights.

A fine start by Al Leiter, above, was wasted as the Mets lost to Atlanta, 1-0, on a first-inning throwing error. The Braves took a 3-0 lead in the championship series; Game 4 is at Shea Stadium tonight. SportsSaturday, page D1.

FOR much of the last three weeks, the Mets' frantic fortunes were framed by looking at the small picture. One game at a time, one pitch at a time. There was always a cushion, always a tomorrow, always some next time. Last night the Mets' clubhouse was defined by the small picture of an opportunity lost and the big picture of a dream season finally coming to a close. There was a sense that something final had taken place; the will of a team that lived on will for the last three weeks had been severely bent and was on the verge of breaking.

What urges someone like Nobotoshi Uski, a 41-year-old dentist whose grandparents emigrated to Brazil in an exodus that formed the largest community of Japanese descendants outside Japan, to reverse that trajectory and move to the homeland of his ancestors? ''A lot of yen,'' said Mr. Uski as he waited in a winding line in front of the Japan Airlines counter at Sao Paulo's international airport, where he planned to board a midnight flight to Tokyo. Mr. Uski said he hoped to earn the equivalent of $2,500 a month at a job awaiting him at a Japanese auto parts factory, or about double what he earned as a dentist in his hometown about 200 miles west of Sao Paulo.

Tom DeLay, the House majority whip, has never been called shy about displaying his power. On a recent afternoon, Mr. DeLay, a 52-year-old Texan, mischievously showed that he really does know how to use the whips that he keeps coiled in his office as symbols of his job as the House's chief head-counter and vote wrangler.