October 24, 1999

Lawsuit involving owner of New York's Flatiron Building and Internet company illustrates how owners of unique structures are asserting trademark rights; case is settled with Flatiron Partners agreeing to license image from Newmark real estate firm; photo; Federal court has dismissed New York Stock Exchange suit over depiction of its facade by New York-New York Hotel and Casino of Las Vegas (S)

Agreement to deregulate Wall Street is struck only after middle-of-the-night meeting between Democrats on Senate Banking Committee and committee's Republican chairman, Sen Phil Gramm; discussions nearly fall apart before emotional confrontation leads to decision on both sides to split some differences in order to finally, after many decades, repeal Glass-Steagall Act of 1933; behind-the-scenes account of final talks; photo (L)

WHEN ''A Palestinian Girl'' opened at the Haifa Theater in 1985, protests arose over the very title. On that basis alone, some season ticket holders canceled their subscriptions. Others packed the premiere and, as the curtain fell, exploded into spontaneous debate over whether the subject matter itself was subversive. Several years later, another play by the same writer, Yehoshua Sobol, engendered an even stronger reaction. ''The Jerusalem Syndrome'' was not meant as allegory. But it dealt with the revolt of the Jews against the Romans at the time of the Second Temple, and it opened at the start of the intifada, the Palestinian uprising against Israel. Extreme right-wing groups stormed the theater, threw stun grenades and provoked fistfights with audience members.

Lucky Mazibuko is first black person in South Africa to be hired by major newspaper to shatter culture of shame and silence surrounding HIV; his weekly column in The Sowetan, South Africa's biggest daily newspaper, strives to show that black man can live with virus and still hold his head high; in Soweto, where he lives, at least one of every four people carries virus that causes AIDS; people still call it white man's disease, gay man's disease, foreigner's disease; even discussing sickness is so shameful that advocate for people with AIDS in another township was killed by her neighbors in December for disclosing that she was HIV positive; Mazibuko has begun to open discussion of AIDS with his column, Just Call Me Lucky; he encourages his audience to use condoms; he chronicles dying man's struggle to deal with deadly illness that has invaded his body and community; photos; map (M)

Alex Witchel report on whirlwind tour of 19 up-to-the-minute fashion boutiques in Manhattan south of 14th Street; photos (M)