November 8, 1999

Pitney Bowes Inc is trying to convince investors that it can adapt its business, which was built on selling postage machines, to Internet-oriented world; hardware Pitney sells--copiers, fax machines, postage meters, envelope stuffers--has in recent years moved from stand-alone machines to digital devices plugged into computer networks; Pitney has introduced ISend, service that uses encryption, passwords and tracking features to guarantee privacy and delivery of e-mail; Pitney is about to introduce ClickStamp, which will let customers buy postage from Web; photos; graphs (M)

Study by Department of City Planning finds that New York City is ending century as it began, oxygenated by immigrants, with new arrivals coming from an increasingly diverse set of nations and settling over broader swath of city than ever before; increasing immigrant diversity is evident in city's many polyglot neighborhoods, where products of dozen different countries are sold on single block and city schools are accommodating children of 196 different nationalities; graph (M)

Angela Stern, owner of Ah Fun, Chinese takeout restaurant in Mount Kisco, NY, sues her landlord, Allen Resnick, arguing that he denied her a new lease because an increasing number of her customers are Hispanic migrant workers, whose food she has learned to prepare; her lawyers expect to add the former mayor of Mount Kisco, Mark F Farrell, as a defendant because he encouraged Resnick to rid downton of Ah Fun; that would make it the fourth suit in three years charging the city with discrimination against day laborers; photo (M)

Chief executive of Warner-Lambert Co, Lodewijk J R de Vink, describes his company's rationale for proceeding with proposed $72 billion merger with American Home Product Corp and spurning hostile, though more lucrative, overture by Pfizer Inc; de Vink says that he met with William C Steere, Pfizer's chairman and chief executive, but that Steere stopped short of making real offer, saying he was involved in another transaction; says he told Steere that Warner-Lambert is not interested, in part because size differential and fit is not in best interest of company or shareholders (M)

State Dept plans withdrawal of hundreds of government employees and family members from Russia and former Soviet republics of Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova before January 1 because of concerns over Year 2000 computer problem, even though officials at American Embassy in Moscow say there is virtually no risk to diplomats; decision, which could cost millions of dollars, reflects anxiety in Washington and among some government employees in Moscow, but is also being encouraged by department's bureaucratic procedures, which were devised more to deal with evacuation of diplomats due to civil wars than subtle computer issues facing Washington (M)