March 27, 2000

News analysis of victory by Vladimir V Putin in Russia's presidential election; likely impact on US-Russian relations assessed; photo (M)

Barbara Kingsolver article in the Writers on Writing series discusses her decision to write about sex explicitly in her novel in progress, something she has resisted until now; photo (M)

Article on the Oscars, Page E1.

Pres Clinton meets with Syrian Pres Hafez al-Assad in Geneva and fails to persuade him to moderate differences with Israel; White House says it is impossible to predict when talks between Israel and Syria will resume; quick end to meeting with Assad dashes Clinton's hopes of presiding over comprehensive peace deal that would incorporate Syria, Palestinians and Israel before he leaves office; failure is met with despair by diplomats on both sides; photo; map (M)

Florida defeats Oklahoma State, 77-65, to win East Regional championship and berth in Final Four of NCAA basketball tournament; photo (M)

OPEC is reportedly on verge of agreement to increase oil production limits by about 1.7 million barrels per day; increase would be less than 2.5 million barrels sought by Clinton administration, but could reduce cost of oil by several dollars per barrel; organization official says increase would just about reverse production cuts agreed on by cartel year ago, which sent prices soaring (M)

Joyce Purnick Metro Matters column discusses Rev Floyd Flake, who had been Mayor Rudolph Giuliani's strongest black supporter, criticizing Giuliani for his handling of police shooting of Patrick M Dorismond; Flake's apparent swith to Hillary Clinton in US Senate campaign once again underscores how isolated Giuliani has become as he continues to pursue hard line in Dorismond shooting in defense of police (M)

Study by General Accounting Office finds landmark 1990 Clean Air Act, enacted to reduce acid rain, has failed to slow acidification of lakes and streams in Adirnondacks, many of which are losing ability to sustain life; raises sharp questions about effectiveness of amendments to law, which set tough restrictions on smokestack emissions of sulfur and nitrogen, two components of acid rain; findings discussed; chart (M)

Cultural events set for the coming week include exhibition of American art from Smithsonian Institution collection at Bruce Museum of Arts and Sciences in Greenwich, Conn, exhibition on White House at National Building Museum in Washington, series of three verse dramas at 92d Street Y Unterberg Poetry Center and a series of films at Walter Reade Theater about the great 20th-century interpreters of the music of Johann Sebastian Bach; photos (M)

Merrill Lynch, PaineWebber and other brokerage companies are putting their securities analysts directly in contact with investors through their own Web sites; analysts have long been interviewed on financial television broacasts, and the new Wall Street Webcasts will further blur line between financial service companies and the traditional media; companies see no conflict, even though they, as the news providers, will have a financial interest in the transaction being presented to the public (M)

Liberty Media Plans to Take $130 Million Stake in IDT Maintaining its drive into the telecommunications industry, John C. Malone's Liberty Media Group has agreed to invest $130 million for a stake of almost 10 percent in IDT, the communications carrier based in Hackensack, N.J. Until AT&T's acquisition of Tele-Communications last year, Liberty was TCI's television programming unit. But over the last year, the company has shown interest in telecommunications. IDT regularly takes a leading role in creating communications niches. [Page C8.]

Appearance of Pets.com sock puppet on Good Morning America and Nightline points up the difficulty of monitoring possible conflicts of interest in television news at a time when networks, or their owners, are rushing to build substantial portfolios of Internet companies by swapping equity in such start-ups for advertising time; ABC News, which produces both programs, is owned by Walt Disney Co, which has bought a roughly 5 percent stake in Pets.com, which sells pets supplies over Internet; news staffers may be aware of deals the news division makes, but they may not know of the deals made by other arms of the organization; photo (M)