 Head of W.T.O. Expects China to Gain Entry in 2000  The head of the World Trade Organization, Mike Moore, said he was optimistic that China could be admitted to the group this year.     Mr. Moore, speaking at a news conference in Beijing, also made clear that China must enter the trade organization before Taiwan does. China, which considers Taiwan a renegade province, has warned that any efforts to secure Taiwan's earlier entry would cause a serious confrontation. [Page A4.]

BUSINESS DIGEST

Viagra is just the beginning. With dozens of new drugs for men and women in clinical trials, multitudes could soon be medicated and wired for high-performance romance. A report by Jack Hitt in The Times Magazine.  

THE SECOND REVOLUTION

Bronx High School of Science basketball team amasses one of city's best records this season and the school's best in 30 years; players say opponents underestimate them, thinking of them as a bunch of nerds; photo with Coach Ralph Bacote (M)

Basketball 'Nerds' Get Last Laugh; Boys at Bronx Science Find They're on a Winning Team

Colorado Avalanche defeats New York Rangers, 4-2, Madison Square Garden; photo (M)

Hat Trick Keys Avalanche's Victory Over the Rangers

Leading stock indexes plunge 3 percent, and technology issues finish much lower as investors focus on stark prospect of rising short-term interest rates; decline in stocks is across the board, with technology stocks joining sell-off; Dow Jones industrial average falls 295.05, or 2.8 percent, to 10,219.52; Standard & Poor's 500-stock index drops 42.17 points, or 3 percent, to 1,346.09; Nasdaq falls 137.18 points, or 3 percent, to 4,411.74; graphs (M)

Investor Fear of Rising Rates Sends Stock Market Plunging

Strategists for Gov George W Bush and Sen John McCain predict that turnout for South Carolina's Republican presidential primary will far exceed record of 276,000 who voted in 1996; McCain's forces believe that larger turnout, better for their side, because they expect big share of votes from Democrats and independents in open primary; photo (M)

Big Turnout Seen for South Carolina Primary

Indian group in Oregon, citing federal law intended to preserve and repatriate Indian artifacts, files claim for Williamette Meteorite, 15-ton chunk of space rock that fell to earth in Pacific Northwest 10,000 years ago and was long revered by indigenous people there; American Museum of Natural History, which acquired meteorite in 1906, has built its new $210 million planetarium, Rose Center for Earth and Space, which opens on Feb 19, around rock; photo (M)

Meteorite Dispute Greets Opening of Planetarium

Geoffrey Bodine's presence in Daytona Beach hospital--he is lucky to have only several broken bones--serves as latest and perhaps most compelling reason Daytona 500 plans to continue its restrictions on speed; day after Bodine fails to qualify for Sunday's Daytona 500, he somehow survives harrowing fireball crash at Daytona that injures 10 drivers and 9 spectators and sheers 50 yards of fencing from its foundation; it is worst multivehicle accident at Daytona since 1987, when Donnie Allison's horrific wreck prompted Daytona officials to back off the throttle; photo (M)

At Daytona, Crash Makes Case For Restricting Overall Speed

Jonathan Norris makes his rounds delivering heating oil in Westchester County, NY, during a winter in which heating a house has taken on trappings of a commodity transaction; photos; graph of heating oil prices since November (M)

On the Front Line When Heating a Home Becomes a High-Stakes Deal

Mariano M Faget, senior official in Miami field office of Immigration and Naturalization Service, is charged in federal court with spying for Cuban government; federal officials say he was caught in elaborate sting passing on what he thought was classified information about Cuban's plan to defect to US; say private individuals have been convicted of spying for Cuba, but they know of no prior instance of arrest of US government official; Faget photo (M)

Immigration Officer In Miami Accused Of Spying for Cuba

Oil prices are hovering at highest levels in nine years, but worldwide capital spending for exploration and production will rise no more than 10 to 15 percent from last year's depressed levels; oilpatch economies that rely on drilling and services, like parts of Louisiana, Texas and Oklahoma, are not getting lift they normally do when prices rise; many oil companies appear unconvinced that oil can stay close to current price for crude, $30 a barrel; they suspect OPEC cannot keep member nations from cheating on production limits for long when prices get this high; photos; graphs (M)

The Other Oil Economy; Barrel Costs $30 but the Benefits Aren't Trickling Down

William C Rhoden, in Sports of the Times, comments on questions that have arisen about who may have paid Erick Barkley's tuition at Maine prep school, and possible involvement of Ernie Lorch, who has been involved in Riverside Church's outreach basketball program for many years; photo of Riverside Church (M)

Sports of The Times; Benefits, Benefactor, Storm Clouds

Physicists at University of Rome say they may have detected type of particle that is long-sought 'dark matter' that astronomers believe makes up some 80 percent of mass in universe; findings, if confirmed, could lead to conceptual breakthrough in physics; though astronomers have been measuring gravitational pull of dark matter since 1930's, they have never succeeded in detecting it directly; Dr Pierluigi Belli will present findings in Marina del Rey, Calif, on Feb 25 at Fourth International Symposium on Sources and Detection of Dark Matter in Universe; diagram (M)

Evidence of Mystery Particles Stirring Excitement and Doubt

John Tierney column suggests that women are underrepresented as contestants in Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, ABC quiz show, because the screening given to would-be players puts a premium on step thinking and spatial skills, where men are stronger; says women are also not turned on by trivia the way men are (M)

The Big City; Sharp Women Left Holding The Remote

NCAA investigator speaks with officials at a Maine prep school about whether people associated with Riverside Church basketball program, or other benefactors, paid part of Erick Barkley's tuition when St John's guard attended school in 1997-98; Doug Cummings, headmaster of Maine Central Institute, says that school does not give out full scholarships and that every student is responsible for at least part of $23,500 tuition; Cummings does not reeal how much of his tuition Barkley was charged, or who paid it; Ernie Lorch, Manhattan lawyer who has helped build Riverside's basketball program, says that he has provided financial assistance to hundreds of players in his 40 years with program, but declines to say whether he paid part of Barkley's tuition at Maine Central (M)

N.C.A.A. Investigates Barkley's Prep School Tuition

Dr Ehud Arbit, head of neurosurgery at Staten Island University Hospital, agrees to stop practicing medicine while State Department of Health investigates death of one of his patients, Johnnie Ray Artis, on Feb 2 (M)

Doctor Agrees To Suspension During Inquiry

Shares of virtually all companies involved in gene therapy continue to climb sharply, even after death of patient in gene therapy experiment; Wall Street seems convinced that repercussions will be confined to research institution where patient was treated, and to particular technology used in his case; behind rise in gene therapy stocks is investor frenzy for all of biotechnology; hottest stocks have been those of companies involved in deciphering human genetic code (M)

Concerns on Human Testing Don't Seem to Faze Biotech Investors

Frank Bruni analysis notes that Gov George W Bush has portrayed forthcoming South Carolina primary as contest between Republicans who favor him and independents and Democrats who support Sen John McCain; holds that it is cunning method for turning out Republican vote, but it cast Republicans and Democrats as enemies and provides vivid reminder that McCain is Republican who is able to sow support in unlikely places; photo (M)

Twist in Campaign Trail

 Iran's Reformers See Gains  A big election turnout heartened reformers who hoped to ride into power on a wave of popular discontent with the right-wing clergy.   PAGE A3

INSIDE

The stock market plummeted a day after Alan Greenspan, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, warned that interest rates would continue to increase until economic growth slows and the stock market cools down.    Business Day, Page C1.  

In Greenspan Wake, Bad Day for Markets

Energy Sec Bill Richardson will arrive in Mexico on Feb 19 to discuss with his Mexican counterpart, Luis Tellez, high oil prices and Mexico's effort to lower them; Mexico for two years has worked with other oil-producing nations to lift prices, but in about-face, senior Mexican officials are trying to talk prices down; lofty oil prices conflict with Mexico's new economy, which is propelled by exports of cars and other manufactured goods (M)

After Pushing Oil Prices Up, Mexico Has Second Thoughts

Consumer Price Index, best-known inflation measure, edges up only 0.2 percent in January; this is fourth consecutive mild increase, and it undercuts numerous forecasts that booming economy is creating shortages that must inevitably show up in more rapidly rising prices; separately, Commerce Dept reports that nation's trade deficit narrowed to $25.55 billion in December from $27.1 billion in November, largely because imports jumped; graph (M)

Prices Show A Small Rise For January

Vice Pres Al Gore, day after reassuring union leaders that he would negotiate tougher trade deal with China if elected president, writes letter to National Association of Manufacturers reiterating his support for trade agreement that Pres Clinton is trying to push through Congress; letter underscores difficult position Gore finds himself in as he tries to mollify two groups he needs in election, business executives who have pressed for accord and union members who want to defeat it (M)

GORE BACK IN STEP WITH WHITE HOUSE OVER CHINA TRADE

Empresa Nacional de Electricidad SA, Chile's top power generator, says it will halt construction of $520 million hydroelectric plant, temporarily shelving plans for country's biggest dam ever; company claims it lacks concessions needed to move ahead (S)

CHILEAN DAM HALTED

Feb 17 article about presidential primary in Michigan misstated number of states holding Republican primaries on March 7; it is 12

Corrections

Friedrich Stowasser, better known by his pseudonym Friedensreich Regentag Dunkelbunt Hundertwasser, was an Austrian visual artist and architect who also worked in the field of environmental protection. He emigrated to the Far North of New Zealand in the 1970s, where he lived and worked for most of the rest of his life.

February 19, 2000

Headlines from February 19, 2000

BUSINESS DIGEST

THE SECOND REVOLUTION

Basketball 'Nerds' Get Last Laugh; Boys at Bronx Science Find They're on a Winning Team

Hat Trick Keys Avalanche's Victory Over the Rangers

Investor Fear of Rising Rates Sends Stock Market Plunging

Billboard 200

Voodoo

Supernatural

Dr. Dre -- 2001

All The Way...A Decade Of Song

Christina Aguilera

Notable Deaths

Historical Context for February 19, 2000