In Rock's Canon, Anyone and Everyone

Importance to humans of systems for measuring time discussed in light of fuss being made over millennium; our awareness of time has undergone extreme contractions and enormous expansions in 20th century as instruments for measuring time have become ever more precise and as knowledge of earth's history continues to be extended; photo (M)

Ideas & Trends: Time and Again; Counting the Years To Make Sense Out of Life

Ten of most famous and infamous parties given by New Yorkers in last 100 years recalled; photos (M)

10 Parties That Shook The Century

BEHIND THE WHEEL/Volvo S40; Will Young Americans Adopt a Baby Volvo?

Article on New York Giants upcoming game against Minnesota Vikings; photo (M)9

Giants See Opportunity For Reversal

Wall Street bears, who have been predicting str

Down and Out on Wall Street

Immigrants are transforming New York City, where a third of the residents are now foreign-born and where nearly half of the foreign-born arrived only in last 15 years; no other city has absorbed so many different nationalities--more than 100--since immigration laws were changed in 1965 to open doors to people from Latin America, Asia, Middle East and Africa; transformation is exemplified in Woodside, Queens, which was a tight Irish-American enclave for much of this century and is now a clashing, colorful, polyglot, multiethnic collection of microcommunities whose members sometimes come together on neutral ground and sometimes lead parallel lives; photos; maps; graphs (L)

From a Babel of Tongues, a Neighborhood

Democrats and Republicans are reaching across party lines to pass legislation favorable to high-tech companies, new wellspring of jobs, wealth and ultimately votes and campaign contributions; high-tech industry, which once disdained lobbying and campaign contributions, is stepping up its presence in Washington, realizing in wake of Microsoft antitrust case that federal government can do as much harm as good to industry; graph of campaign contributions by industry (M)

High-Tech Industry, Long Shy of Politics, Is Now Belle of Ball

Marist College, Poughkeepsie, NY, is set to open new $19.6 million library and technology center, its first library building ever; photo (M)

POSTINGS: Marist's $19.6 Million High-Tech Complex; At 70, College Gets First Library

Pres George Bush's failed re-election in 1992 remains one of most difficult episodes in life of his son, Gov George W Bush of Texas, and the lessons it taught the son are the controllable and uncontrollable ways a campaign can go wrong; among those lessons are reliance on longtime advisers in Austin rather than those in Washington and a refusal to make unnecessarily emphatic pledges like his father's promise of 'no new taxes'; some observers go so far as to say Gov Bush's current quest for presidency is in part an effort to avenge his father's defeat; photos (M)

Senior Bush's Loss Set Course for Son's Candidacy

Demands that New York City places on its schools chancellor have made it almost impossible for city to retain one for long; even those who believe the system's huge size is manageable say the political structure is daunting; frequent turnover of chancellors means frequent changes in strategy for improving skills in reading and math, and increasing difficulty in achieving goals (M)

Now Seeking A Superhero

Roof replacements and repairs are under way at fire-damaged Central Synagogue, other New York City houses of worship; photos (M)

A Firm Foundation, Starting at the Roof

Anemona Hartocollis Coping column on young Mexican-American woman's struggles with life in South Bronx; drawing (M)

Rosa in the Promised Land, Going It Alone

High stock prices are giving some companies market valuations that exceed gross domestic product of some nations; map showing GDP of selected nations and companies whose market capitalizations are about same (S)

A Company Worth More Than Spain?

Traditional three-hour siesta is dropping from Spanish workday as Spain comes under pressure to conform to ways of other countries in European Union and as longer commutes and rise of women in the work force make it harder to pop home for a meal and nap; change is a radical one for Spain, where feeling for the siesta can run deep; some Spaniards resist change, either openly or by becoming closet nappers; photo (M)

Spain Rudely Awakened to Workaday World

out there: london: knocking the stuffy out of private clu

OUT THERE/London; Knocking the Stuffy Out of Private Clubs

Russian forces advance into Grozny, capital of Chechnya; immediate goal is to establish control over key junctions in city and to prevent militants from moving freely within city; longer-term objective is to use Russia's overwhelming advantage in firepower and take the city back neighborhood by neighborhood; escape appears over for the 50,000 people still in city; only 8,000 people used exit corridors opened by Russian forces; photo (M)

RUSSIA ARMY OPENS FIGHT TO CONTROL CHECHEN CAPITAL

new york when they were young**Sasha Abramsky article on New Yorkers born in 1890's who are about to enter their second century as millennium draws to a close; brief biographical sketches and recollections of Lillian Juliano (age 101), Alfred Levitt (105), Jack Fishman (100), Belle Demby (105), Prof Abraham Goldstein (101), and Tessie Reed (102); photos (L)

New York, When They Were Young

George Vecsey article on outstanding sports achievements of 1999; photos (M)e

Scandal and Greed Make Room for the Richness of Victory

 Tension in Ivory Coast  France said that it was sending troops to Ivory Coast, but the new ruler there was reported to be refusing entry to the soldiers.   PAGE 6    Demands From Hijackers  Hijackers of an Indian jet with 161 aboard demanded that India release a Pakistani religious leader and several Kashmiri fighters.   PAGE 8

INSIDE

Indiana Pacers beat New York Knicks, 101-90; photo (M)

Thomas Loses Cool And Knicks Lose Game

The Incredible Disappearing Unloved Luxury-Car Tax

Unprecedented period of wealth creation of last decade has given rise to new display-and-play ethos as newly minted millionaries and billionaries spend heavily on luxury goods; photo; drawings (M)

Ideas & Trends: High Society; When You Got It, Flaunt It

Japanese investors continue retreat from Southeast Asia, even as region claws its way back to economic health; Japan has been displaced by Britian, which has also cut its interests in region, as largest foreign investor; area's bureaucrats and industrialists are slowly abandoning Japanese model in which state steers economy and channels savings to powerful banks and conglomerates and are struggling to shift to British-American vision of free and transparent markets; graphs; photos (L)d

Japan's Light Dims in Southeast Asia

New York City Housing Preservation and Development Comr Richard T Roberts announces sale by city of 2 land parcels in Manhattan's Clinton Hill section for construction of mixed-income rental buildings; Gotham Organization plans to build 222 apartments in two buildings, reserving 20 percent of them for low-income residents (M)

POSTINGS: City Sells 2 Clinton Hill Parcels; Mixed-Income Rentals Planned

Curtis Lee Mayfield was an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. Dubbed the "Gentle Genius", he is considered one of the most influential musicians of soul and socially conscious African-American music. Mayfield first achieved success and recognition with the vocal group the Impressions during the civil rights movement of the late 1950s and the 1960s, and later worked as a solo artist.

Curtis Mayfield, American singer-songwriter and producer (born 1942)

Curtis_Mayfield

Shankar Dayal Sharma was an Indian lawyer and politician who served as the President of India from 1992 to 1997.

Shankar Dayal Sharma, Indian academic and politician, 9th President of India (born 1918)

Shankar_Dayal_Sharma

Cyclone Lothar is regarded as the worst European windstorm recorded during the 20th century. Crossing France, Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany between 25 December and 27 December 1999, Cyclone Lothar's average winds reached up to 115 km/h inland (Orly), but with gusts exceeding 150 km/h, almost equivalent to a Category 2 hurricane, resulting in 110 deaths and more than €15 billion in damage, becoming the costliest European windstorm ever recorded.

The storm Lothar sweeps across Central Europe, killing 137 and causing US$1.3 billion in damage.

December 26, 1999

Headlines from December 26, 1999

In Rock's Canon, Anyone and Everyone

Ideas & Trends: Time and Again; Counting the Years To Make Sense Out of Life

10 Parties That Shook The Century

BEHIND THE WHEEL/Volvo S40; Will Young Americans Adopt a Baby Volvo?

Giants See Opportunity For Reversal

Billboard 200

Born Again

All The Way...A Decade Of Song

Millennium

...Baby One More Time

Supernatural

Notable Deaths

Historical Events

Historical Context for December 26, 1999