US investigators have uncovered what they believe are links between Algerians who have been charged with plotting terrorist attack in US and Osama bin Laden, exiled Saudi accused of bombing two US Embassies in East Africa; authorities in Senegal recently arrested Mohambedou Ould Slahi; US investigators believe that he directed Algerian group in Canada in its efforts to enter US and carry out bomb plot late last year; say Slahi is brother-in-law of one of bin Laden's key lieutenants, but they refuse to identify him; bomb plot was foiled when border agents in Port Angeles, Wash, on Dec 14 arrested Ahmed Ressam, Algerian who was driving car loaded with explosives (M)

EVIDENCE IS SEEN LINKING BIN LADEN TO ALGERIAN GROUP

Joyce Purnick Metro Matters column discusses contention by Senate candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton that some people do not like her positions on some of issues because she is woman taking those positions (M)

Metro Matters; Old Hurdles In the Sprint For the Senate

Lindsay Davenport defeats Jennifer Capriati and Martina Hingis defeats Conchita Martinez to advance to women's final of Australian Open tennis tournament; photo (M)

Davenport Puts an End To Capriati's Title Bid

On Pro Football column discusses outlook for Super Bowl between St Louis Rams and Tennessee Titans; photo (M)

Lasting First Impressions

While Syria and Israel have been discussing an end to their 52-year state of war, many Syrian businessmen fear they would not reap any economic dividends of peace, despite its promise of access to Western markets and investment.     Instead, these restless executives, fully equipped with luxury cars, marble-floored offices, satellite dishes, tailored suits and high-end computers, say that the question of whether they will do business with Israelis after a peace treaty is irrelevant.  

Syrians Not Counting On Peace Dividends

Democratic presidential candidates Al Gore and Bill Bradley hold their seventh and most combative debate six days before New Hampshire primary; Bradley, facing questions about vigor of his campaign and under frequent attack from Gore, attacks Gore for his positions on abortion, welfare reform, health care and for working with special interests; Gore accuses Bradley of voting with Pres Ronald Reagan against children and of offering health plan that does not do what it promises; each candidate accuses other of conducting negative campaign, and Bradley even raises specter of Pres Richard M Nixon; photo of Gore before debate in Manchester, NH (M)

Two Democrats Fire Broadsides In Testy Debate

Dell Computer Corp, which has grown rapidly to become biggest personal computer maker in US, warns that its sales and profits will fall well below expectations for quarter that ends Jan 31; company says it is being hurt by shortages of some components and because sales to big corporations are not rebounding this month after having slowed at year-end as corporations became distracted with repairing Year 2000 problems; chief financial officer Thomas Meredith says he expects both problems to clear up in coming months (M)

Dell Reduces Its Quarterly Profit Estimate

BCE Inc's announcement that it would distribute almost all of its 39.2 percent interest in Nortel Networks Corp to BCE's nearly 500,000 investors is tantamount to windfall; BCE, which holds intests in communications and media companies across Canada, contends that its current valuation does not reflect combined worth of its many units by at least $20 billion; BCE chief executive Jean C Monty says distribution of Nortel Networks shares will begin to unlock significant and sustainable value for BCE shareholders (Market Place column) (M)

THE MARKETS: Market Place; Dizzying Day For Investors In Canadian Phone Giant

Placido Domingo will make recital debut at Carnegie Hall on January 30, appearing with pianist Daniel Barenboim in works by Verdi, Liszt, Tosti, Albeniz, Falla and Torroba; soprano Barbara Bonney will conduct workshop on legacy of Swedish singer Jenny Lind, at Alice Tully Hall on February 9; photo; Ned Rorem, Pulitzer Prize-winning composer, is elected president of American Academy of Arts and Letters, becoming only fifth composer to head organization in its 102 years; Museum of Art in Fort Lauderdale, Fla, will stage exhibit of paintings by Impressionist Camille Pissarro and his descendants; photo (M)

FOOTLIGHTS

Many companies make it possible for e-commerce sites to pipe live customer service representatives to shoppers over Internet; new company, icontact.com, is pushing idea much further; its technology lets human helpers hover unseen in background, able to get in contact with Web shoppers before they even click their Help button; if this technology becomes more widespread, online consumers may soon experience unprecedented level of service, and also unprecedented level of intrusion; photos (M)

It's Not Big Brother, It's Customer Service

Article discusses resurgence of New York Rangers as they prepare to play Toronto Maple Leafs; photo (M)

A New Year, New Lines and New Rangers

Raquel Rodriguez and Mariela Quintana, grandmothers of Elian Gonzalez, meet with him for first time in two months since he was rescued from Atlantic Ocean; seek custody of 6-year-old boy for his father Juan Miguel Gonzalez in Cuba, while Cuban-American relatives want him to stay in US; grandmothers return to Washington, DC, after meeting, which is held at Miami, Fla, home of Sister Jeanne O'Laughlin; photos (M)

Grandmothers See Cuban Boy In Private Talk

Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan goes before Senate Banking Committee seeking panel's recommendation for fourth term as chairman; members of both parties praise Greenspan and predict that his nomination will sail through committee and be promptly confirmed by full Senate; Greenspan, in his prepared testimony, provides no insights into his thinking about strength of economy as Fed prepares for monetary policy meeting next week at which it is expected to raise interest rates; Greenspan says he remains concerned about possibility of speculative bubble in stock market; says he is troubled by surge in investors' purchases of stock on margin and that Federal Reserve is studying how best to respond, especially after sharp upturn in margin buying late last year; photo (M)

Greenspan Holds Forth Before a Friendly Panel

Personalized palatial homes built by Indian immigrants who have settled in Iselin, heart of Indian community in New Jersey, reflect Indian traditions and culture; photos (L)

Raj Style Takes the Silk Road to the Suburbs

Anne Raver's Human Nature column on Select Seeds, flower-seed company in Union, Conn, operated by Marilyn Barlow; photos (M)

Nurturing a Garden Business As if It Were a Seed

State of the Art column by Peter H Lewis describes Apple Computer's new Internet-based services, called iTools; iTools and companion services, iCards and iReview, include free e-mail accounts, electronic greeting card service, human-based system for reviewing other Web sites and personal data backup and storage service; services like these already exist everywhere on Internet; key is that Apple, because it controls software at both ends of Internet connection, can do things other software and Internet companies cannot do, like forge seamless links and bridges between Macs that may be on adjoining desks or on separate continents; Apple services are free to users with access to relatively current Macintosh with Power PC processor (M)

Apple Stakes Web Claim

Manhattan's tight housing market, with most expensive rents in country and skyrocketing co-op prices, is forcing increasing number of couples to live together long after their relationship dies; photos (M)

When Ex-Lovebirds Can't Fly the Co-op

Ravelstein, first novel by Saul Bellow in more than decade, is based on his friendship with Allan Bloom, conservative thinker and political philosophy professor who died of AIDS in 1992; tells of Bloom's illness and death, which was officially reported as being caused by bleeding ulcer and liver failure; says Bloom had asked him to write memoir that was 'without softeners or sweeteners'; photo (M)

A Bellow Novel Eulogizes a Friendship

Article discusses how Dr Allan Zarkin was able to find employment at abortion clinic after being dismissed from Beth Israel Medical Center for carving his initials into stomach of patient on whom he had just performed Caesarean section; patient, Dr Liana Gedz, is suing hospital, Dr Zarkin and his former medical practice for $5.5 million; photo (M)

How Doctor Got Work After Carving Into Patient

Coca-Cola Co will cut 6,000 jobs, or 20 percent of its global work force of 30,000, in biggest reductions ever by company; says about 2,500 employees, or nearly half of people at its Atlanta, Ga, headquarters will be let go; last time Coca-Cola laid off workers was in 1988, when 200 people lost their jobs; company will take $800 million charge against its earnings this year to cover severance packages and other costs related to cuts; announces $813 million charge for fourth quarter of last year to cover costs of its poorly performing plants in Russia and Eastern Europe; Coca-Cola chmn Douglas N Daft comments; graph (M)

Coca-Cola to Cut 20% of Its Staff After Woes at Home and Abroad

Ben Brantley column on meta-biographical dramas--such as Hysteria, Orson's Shadow, Dirty Blonde, Copenhagen and Travesties--in which playwrights deliberately blur line between fact and fiction in pursuit of truths and to establish greater emotional empathy with subjects (Critic's Notebook); photos (M)

Extracting the Essence of Real Lives Onstage

Four of roughly two dozen guards who oversee women's quarters in Westchester County jail are arrested on sex-abuse charges, including raping and sodomizing prisoners and forcing them to strip in exchange for medication; County Executive Andrew J Spano says that sexual mistreatment by four male guards is such an abuse of power that he will change jail's work rules by requiring that only women be allowed to guard female prisoners' housing block; guards are identified as Robert Escalera, Carlos Aldarondo, Michael Downey and Javier Corona; photo (M)

4 Guards Held In Sexual Abuse Of Women In County Jail

Vice Pres Al Gore ran for president for first time in 1988, when he was 40 years old and senator from Tennessee, but he dropped out of race after poor showing in New York primary; Gore is very different candidate as he prepares to return to New York for second primary on March 7; in 1988, he ran with barely any organized political support and then proceeded to give up control of his campaign to then Mayor Edward I Koch and political consultant David Garth; this time, Gore has systematically recruited Democratic leaders across state to campaign, and has made clear that he intends to cede control of New York effort to no one; photos (M)

For Gore, a Bitter Lesson From the Campaign Trail

Internet is on its way to becoming dominant mode of information exchange, but there is wide gap between Internet haves and have-nots; Commerce Dept study finds urban households with incomes above $75,000 are more than 20 times as likely to have home Internet access than rural households at lowest income levels; Pres Clinton's budget for next year is expected to include $50 million in competitive grants to communities and organizations involved in efforts to help low-income families go online; one initiative organized by Silicon Valley executives, called ClickStart, focuses on providing computers for home use in low-income neighborhoods; for copayment of $5 a month, each recipient will get $10 monthly federal subsidy in form of voucher to buy hardware and Internet access from any vendor participating in program; photo (M)

We're Not All Connected, Yet

 Coke to Cut 6,000 Jobs; Takes $800 Million Charge  Coca-Cola said it would eliminate 6,000 jobs, or a fifth of its work force, in the biggest reductions ever by the beverage company.    The cuts will be most keenly felt around company headquarters in Atlanta, where Coke is long identified with success both personal and collective. About 2,500 people, or nearly half the employees at Coke's downtown complex, will be let go. To cover severance and other costs related to the job reduction, the company will take an $800 million charge against earnings this year.   [Page A1.]    Eaton to Retire From Chrysler Robert J. Eaton announced his retirement as co-chairman of DaimlerChrysler, the merged global automaker he helped to form, effective March 31. He said he was leaving earlier than had been expected because all his corporate goals had been reached. In doing so, Mr. Eaton leaves DaimlerChrysler's top management to the company's German executives. Jurgen Schrempp, who is now Mr. Eaton's co-chairman, will become Daimler's sole chairman after Mr. Eaton's departure.   [C2.]

BUSINESS DIGEST

Friedrich Gulda was an Austrian pianist and composer who worked in both the classical and jazz fields.

January 27, 2000

Headlines from January 27, 2000

EVIDENCE IS SEEN LINKING BIN LADEN TO ALGERIAN GROUP

Metro Matters; Old Hurdles In the Sprint For the Senate

Davenport Puts an End To Capriati's Title Bid

Lasting First Impressions

Syrians Not Counting On Peace Dividends

Billboard 200

Supernatural

All The Way...A Decade Of Song

...And Then There Was X

Now 3

Christina Aguilera

Notable Deaths

Historical Context for January 27, 2000