November 19, 1999

Four nations in Caspian Sea region take giant step toward embracing one of Pres Clinton's cherished foreign policy projects, a pipeline that would assure Western control over potentially vast oil and natural gas reserves; at ceremony in Istanbul, presidents of Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkey agree to support building of pipeline that would carry Caspian oil to ports in West on route that does not pass through Russia or Iran; construction of this pipeline, estimated at $2.4 billion, would give United States and other western countries access to important new source of energy; but main significance is that it would draw new nations near Caspian, which were part of Soviet Union only decade ago, away from Russia and give United States greater influence in region; photo of Clinton, Norway Prime Min Kjell Magne Bondevik, Azerbaijan Pres Heydar Aliyev, Tajikistan Pres Imamali Rahmanov, Turkish Pres Suleyman Demirel, Georgia Pres Eduard Shevardnadze, and US Energy Sec Bill Richardson; map (L)

Republicans and Democrats in House, united by desire to proclaim victory and leave town, join to pass final budget bill, seven weeks after fiscal year began; Congress then passes resolution that will continue government operations for two weeks while Senate finishes its work; House votes 296 to 135 for package of five spending bills containing $385 billion, sending measure to Senate; Pres Clinton terms compromise 'a hard-won victory for the American people'; photo (M)

Boston Bruins defeat New York Rangers, 5-3; photo (M)

Special report, Dangerous Deals, on penny stock fraud; in crooked alleys of Lower Manhattan flourishes another Wall Street, a world of low-priced stocks and high-priced dreams, of grimy offices and sham companies, of swindlers and touts who prey on average people trying to grab brass ring in greatest bull market in American history; like world of organized crime, with which it increasingly overlaps, it is a violent place full of colorful characters and arcane lingo; it was in this world that Albert Alain Chalem and Maier Lehmann lived, and died; men, who were promoting stocks over the Internet together, were both shot in head on Oct 25 and left to die in $1.1 million home in Colts Neck, NJ, where Chalem lived; securities regulators say denizens of penny stock underworld bilk Americans out of roughly $2 billion a year; drawings illustrate sequence of how a penny stock fraud is perpetrated (L)

The House passed a hard-fought measure that would give satellite television companies the right to broadcast local channels. The legislation was part of the huge spending package now before the Senate. Business Day, Page C1.