February 12, 2000

Paid attendance is low at New York Islanders games at Nassau Coliseum and actual attendance far lower; loyal fans who continue to attend games comment; photos (M)/

This year's new, racially inclusive census offers nod to nation's increasing diversity; no longer will Census Bureau instruct respondents to 'select one' race to describe themselves, instead, it will tell them to mark one or more of 14 boxes representing 6 races; demographers and census officials say many people who could claim more than one race are not expected to do so; Michael Gelobter, son of white Jewish father and African-Bermudan mother, contends that checking more than one race would undermine influence of blacks by reducing their numbers as distinct group; photos (M)

A former C.I.A. director recommended a top agency official for a job at the bank where he was a board member as she monitored an inquiry into whether he had mishandled classified information. Article, Page A10.

Friends of Thomas G Nelford Jr wonder what emotional turmoil could have led 23-year-old Columbia University dropout, artist and mellow Californian, to throw himself in front of subway train after apparently slashing throat of girlfriend, 19-year-old sophomore Kathleen A Roskot; Roskot's friends suggest she wanted to end relationship, but others say two were together happily night before murder; Nelford's long-estranged father says son's seeming calm his emotional fragility caused by parents' endless discord and divorce; photos (M)

Britain suspends power-sharing government of Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland because of Irish Republican Army's refusal to begin disarming; IRA, in promising late development, comes up with long-awaited plan for dismantling its arsenal; British move represents gravest threat to political stability that Ulster has experienced since signing of peace settlement in April 1998; officials try to dampen fears over consequences and play up importance of IRA offer (M)