 Coke Settles Bias Case  Coca-Cola said it had tentatively reached a settlement with black employees who contended they were victims of discrimination.   PAGE C1    Lakers Take 3-1 Edge  Los Angeles moved within a game of the N.B.A. title, beating Indiana 120-118 in overtime. Next game: tomorrow.   SPORTSTHURSDAY, PAGE D1

INSIDE

Former Pres George Bush has outwardly maintained a cautious distance from Gov George W Bush's presidential campaign, seldom making joint appearances with his son and rarely commenting on election, but behind the scenes he is anything but remote; former president is in regular contact with Gov Bush's senior campaign staff, including chief strategist Karl Rove; Mr Bush says, in written response to an interview request, that he and his son talk often and that he gives advice when asked for it; in recent interviews with nearly a dozen of the two men's associates, no one comes even close to suggesting that the elder Bush is trying to mold his son's candidacy; Gov Bush is currently on weeklong visit to family compound in Kennebunkport, Me, that includes celebration of Barbara Bush's 75th birthday; photos (M)

The Silent Senior Partner in Bush's Campaign

New York Mets defeat Chicago Cubs, 10-8; photo (M)

In a Quagmire at Wrigley, the Mets Win

New Jersey Devils hold Stanley Cup championship celebration in parking lot of Continental Airlines Arena; scene described; photo (M)

Devils Say the Place to Party Is With the Cup

Dave Anderson Sports of The Times column discusses outlook for US Open golf tournament; photo (M)

Sports of The Times; Who Will Fill Gap At Open?

Hillary Rodham Clinton, signaling new, aggressive approach to her Senate campaign, accuses her opponent Representative Rick A Lazio of voting in Congress against interests of women, children and families; invokes his positions on gun control, abortion and education financing to assert that Lazio is not moderate figure he claims to be (M)

Mrs. Clinton Steps Up Jabs Against Lazio

Article on art collection at Howard Rachofsky's Richard Meier house in Dallas, Tex, including artist Robert Irwin's Tilted Planes on lawn of Meier house; some other works at house noted; photos (M)

Mixed Media for an Artist: Lawn, Light and House

Administration lawyers advise Pres Clinton that he could begin building first phase of national missile defense system without violating 1972 arms control treaty with Russia; lawyers' interpretations, which were drafted at request of White House, are likely to be rejected by Russia, and Clinton has not made a decision on them, but they offer Clinton a way to announce that United States will go ahead with missile defenses while letting next administration decide whether to break Antiballistic Missilie Treaty; prospect of withdrawing from treaty has already threatened to undermine relations with Russia, as well as with European allies, who view treaty as a foundation of nuclear arms control (M)

CLINTON LAWYERS GIVE A GO-AHEAD TO MISSILE SHIELD

Legislature approves bill making New York first state to impose fire-safety standards on cigarettes, striking deal with Gov George E Pataki three weeks after he vetoed similar measure; Senate and Assembly also pass bill strengthening criminal penalties for cigarette bootlegging and restricting cigarette sales on Internet, a measure Pataki demanded in return for pledging to sign fire-safety bill; state officials are concerned that bootleggging and Internet are increasingly being used to avoid paying state's cigarette tax of $1.11 a pack, highest in country; fire-safety bill requires that all cigarettes sold in state meet flammability standards by mid-2003; goal is to have cigarettes go out after a short time if they are not being puffed; cigarettes are the leading cause of fatal fires in New York; measure represents first time cigarettes have been regulated for content, as opposed to sales, anywhere in United States (M)

Deal Reached On Fire Safety For Cigarettes

Commercial theater and nonprofit theater have been collaborating more and more, but two camps remain uneasy allies; some Broadway producers resent New York's large nonprofits for reaping benefits of producing shows on Broadway without risk that comes with raising money from people who expect a return; nonprofit Lincoln Center Theater has been criticized for being eligible for coveted Tony Awards--like this year's best-musical prize for Contact--without having burden of repaying investors; some nonprofit executives resent commercial producers for taking their work while cutting them out of process and sometimes out of financial rewards; two camps are coming together at Harvard University for weekendlong conference called Act Two, the Second American Congress of Theater; conference was organized by League of American Theaters and Producers, which represents commercial theater, and Theater Communications Group, which has 360 nonprofit members; photos (M)

Theater for Fun or Profit; Producers' Two Camps Remain Uneasy Allies

Cosmo Corigliano, Anne Pember and Casper Sabatino, former executives with CUC International, formerly Comp-U-Card International, appear in United States District Court, Newark, NJ, to plead guilty to federal charges in what authorities call largest and longest accounting fraud in history, covering at least 12 years and costing investors $19 billion; three executives say that for most of entire history of CUC, its top executives directed conspiracy to inflate profits in order to meet Wall Street forecasts and keep stock price high; Corigliano says he worked 'in culture that had been developed over many years'; says conspiracy was directed by his superiors, though he does not identify them; Henry R Silverman, founder of HFS and now chairman and chief executive of Cendant, attends hearing; says he will not be satisfied until all people responsible have been brought to justice; people fimiliar with Cendant's legal plans say company will take action against E Kirk Shelton, president and chief operating officer, and Stuart L Bell, former chief financial officer of CUC; Attorney General Janet Reno says case 'involves grave betrayal of public trust'; CUC grew through mergers into giant Cendant Corp; photo (L)

3 Admit Guilt In Falsifying CUC's Books

Article on commercial Web ventures that are putting texts of hundreds of thousands books, old and new, on line, for direct access to students and scholars; Ebrary.com and Questia Media will use digital scanning so that texts can be mined for morsels of insight that can enhance research paper or help prove an argument; Kenneth Frazier of University of Wisconsin and Kate Douglas Torrey of University of North Carolina Press, which is working with Questia Media, comments; photos; net.Library's access through libraries also explained; list of education Web sites that already offer such access, and are ideal for finding classic texts not restricted by copyright (M)

The Library As the Latest Web Venture

Advice on developing digital photographs at home, using inkjet printers (S)

Home-Printed Snapshots Can Be Pristine, if Pricey

Metro Matters column discusses original police response to rampage in Central Park in which at least 27 women were groped, sexually assaulted and robbed; notes that police officials responded dismissively to reports that police officers acted passively by ignoring cries for help (M)

Metro Matters; Candor Is a Casualty Of Park Attack

New York Yankees defeat Boston Red Sox, 2-1; photo (M)

Mendoza Helps Yanks Dodge a Sweep

Cendant Corp chief executive Henry R Silverman over last two years has taken personal as well as professional interest in clearing his name in connection with charges of financial irregularities brought against company; effort has pitted Silverman's credibility against that of Walter A Forbes, who once headed CUC International, which became Cendant though merger; guilty plea by three former senior managers to criminal charges of fraud and as well as Securities and Exchange Commission charges, goes long way in providing measure of vindication for Silverman; regulators contend that senior managers at CUC were responsible for falsifying earnings over more than decade; graph on Cendant's stock price (M)

The Road to Reviving a Reputation; Cendant Chief Tries to Recover From a Deal Gone Very Bad

Anthony Tommasini reviews Metropolitan Opera's concert performance of Verdi's Rigoletto on Great Lawn in Central Park, first offering of 34th summer season of Met in the Parks series; photo (M)

Right on Cue, Chilly Winds For Verdi's Lost Souls

Mayor Rudolph W Giuliani announces health initiative aimed at aggressively enrolling nearly one million uninsured New York City children and adults in Medicaid and other government health care programs; Giuliani says his ambitions for plan came about partly because of his change in attitude toward illness after learning he had prostate cancer; plan, called Health Stat, would divide city into eight regions, each run by a manager; within each region, schools, hospitals, food stamp offices, job centers, police precincts and others would either help enroll or give information to the more than 900,000 people eligible for state and federal health insurance who are not now covered because they are unaware of their eligibility or are intimidated by the forms; program is Giuliani's first major policy initiative since he ended his Senate candidacy and said he wanted to use his remaining 18 months in office to try to embrace those New Yorkers he had alienated in past; photo (M)

Citing Own Cancer, Giuliani Offers Plan On Health Coverage

Four rival garden tours will take place in Hamptons this weekend; two with glamorous social connections, Landscape Pleasures and Art World Gardens in the Hamptons will be joined this year by popular but less flashy Garden Conservancy and Southampton Rose Society tours; photos (M)

Voyeurs in the Garden, Thorns in the Side

Bruce Weber's Critic's Notebook column on recent Southern California theatrical musical productions, including South Coast Repertory Theater's production of The Education of Randy Newman in Costa Mesa, San Diego Repertory Theater's production of Celebration of the Lizard and Old Globe Theater's presentation of The Full Monty in San Diego; photos (M)

Out West, Giving the Musical Some Pop

Rothko Chapel in Houston will reopen on June 17 after 18-month, $1.8 million renovation, with artist's paintings newly restored; photo (M)

Restoring Rothko's Chapel and His Vision

Article on increasing popularity of television-VCR-video game units which are installed in back seats of vehicles for entertainment of young passengers and mental health of their parents; photos (M)

Where the TV Room Meets the Road

Prosecutors have charged dozens of people with using stock manipulation, fraud and violence to steal from thousands of investors nationwide in a scheme that federal authorities are calling one of organized crime's most aggressive forays into the stock market.    Prosecutors said their investigation swept up one high-ranking member and several lower-level members of New York's organized-crime families, as well as brokers, stock promoters and a retired police officer who served as treasurer of the union that represents New York City detectives.  

U.S. Says Mobsters Joined Stock Fraud

Zimbabwe's upcoming elections are depicted on television mostly as contest between Pres Robert Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai but real battle is being fought far from the cameras, in rural hamlets where little-known opposition candidates are struggling to spread their message in campaign characterized by intimidation and political violence; since March, at least 26 people have been killed and about 150 injured, most of them supporters of Tsvangirai's new party, Movement for Democratic Change; Amnesty International has accused government of either instigating or condoning attacks, echoing some Western observers who have warned that climate of fear is making free and fair elections unlikely; for first time in nation's history, opposition candidates are contesting all 120 parliamentary seats that are up for election, and fiercest battles are being fought in countryside; situation in Mutasa, where mob recently torched houses of dozens of opposition party members, described; photo of Mutasa opposition candidate Evelyn Masaiti; map (M)

Violence Dogs Rural Candidates In Crucial Election in Zimbabwe

Clinton administration officials, trying to build on progress of Korean summit meeting, say they will announce within week the lifting of broad set of economic sanctions that have been in place against North Korea since it invaded the South 50 years ago this month; end of sanctions would allow United States companies to invest in North Korea, and allow North Korea, which is economically desperate, to export raw materials and goods to US; but ban on sale of goods to North Korea that could be used for military purposes will remain in place as long as North Korea is still classified as a terrorist state by State Department (M)

U.S. Says It Will Soon Drop Its Sanctions on North Korea

Jules Roy was a French writer. "Prolific and polemical" Roy, born an Algerian pied noir and sent to a Roman Catholic seminary, used his experiences in the French colony and during his service in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War as inspiration for a number of his works. He began writing in 1946, while still serving in the military, and continued to publish fiction and historical works after his resignation in 1953 in protest of the First Indochina War. He was an outspoken critic of French colonialism and the Algerian War of Independence and later civil war, as well as a strongly religious man.

June 15, 2000

Headlines from June 15, 2000

INSIDE

The Silent Senior Partner in Bush's Campaign

In a Quagmire at Wrigley, the Mets Win

Devils Say the Place to Party Is With the Cup

Sports of The Times; Who Will Fill Gap At Open?

Billboard 200

The Marshall Mathers LP

The History Of Rock

Oops!...I Did It Again

Mad Season

No Strings Attached

Notable Deaths

Historical Context for June 15, 2000