June 27, 2000

Philip Morris Companies and Carl C Icahn are early winners in Philip Morris's $14.9 billion acquisition of Nabisco Group Holdings; Philip Morris shareholders see price of their stock rise nearly $4; Icahn, who bought stake in Nabisco earlier in year, sees his investment grow to $980 million, netting him and his investors about $600 million; Nabisco will be sold to Philip Morris for $14.9 billion, or $55 a share; once deal is complete, R J Reynolds will buy Nabisco Group Holdings, whose only asset is 80.6 percent of Nabisco Holdings, for $30 a share, or about $9.8 billion; holding company will retain $1.5 billion in cash; Philip Morris chairman-chief executive Geoffrey C Bible says he will not spin off all of Kraft Foods, which will be giant among food makers once acquisition of Nabisco is complete; photo (M)

Veteran NYC Police Officer Donna Gaudino is suspended for failing to assist teenager who told her he had been sexually abused in Greenwich Village after annual Gay and Lesbian Pride March; suspension comes as Police Department's Internal Affairs Bureau is completing its probe into reports that officers had failed to help women who said they were attacked in Central Park (M)

Pres Clinton raises projection of federal budget surplus by nearly $1.3 trillion for next decade; says how surpluses are used in current period of prosperity will determine America's future for decades to come; new estimate puts up for political grabs amount two and a half times greater than projected by White House less than five months ago; is latest result of strong economy that is rewriting budget outlook on almost continuous basis by recasting projections for years to come; brings total surplus projection to slightly less than $4.2 trillion for 2001 through 2010; Clinton proposes deal to divide part of windfall with Republican majority in Congress; says he will agree with Republican proposal to cut taxes for married couples by roughly $250 billion over 10 years if Republicans go along with $253 billion plan to add prescription drug coverage to Medicare; stresses he will put government on path to eliminate $3.5 trillion national debt by 2012, year ahead of previous schedule, and to use part of non-Social Security surplus to help extend solvency of Medicare; photos; charts (M)

Putting the genome to work. Some information has already paid research dividends. Two research methods, two results. From Mendel to helix to genome. More articles, charts and photos of the genome effort. Section F.

Microsoft Corp was taken aback this month by reports that linked Investigative Group International, firm Microsoft used to help it track down pirates and counterfeiters of company's software, to mysterious efforts to obtain trash of pro-Microsoft trade association in Washington, presumbably looking for documents that would embarrass company as it fought antitrust case; Microsoft officials say they had had no idea that firm was effectively playing both sides of the street in working for and against Microsoft; Microsoft spokesman Vivek Varma says it is bizarre and inappropriate that Investigative Group would accept Microsoft anti-piracy assignment while getting paid to attack company with cash-for-trash tactics; Investigative Group chairman Terry Lenzer says he cannot remember whether Microsoft was a client; Microsoft says its involvement with Lenzer's company begain in March, when Microsoft's law firm, Preston Gates & Ellis, retained company's Los Angeles olffice to help hunt down pirates and counterfeiters (M)

Michiko Kakutani Critic's Notebook article on computer slang that is seeping into everyday language; notes phrases generated by computer age tend to be sardonic and pejorative; holds geek-speak conjures up chilly, utiliarian world in which people are equated with machines and social Darwinism rules; cites heavy pop culture influence; photo (M)

Supreme Court, in 7-2 ruling, reaffirms 1966 Miranda decision; majority opinion by Chief Justice William H Rehnquist says original decision by court established constitutional rule and that 1998 statute enacted by Congress to overrule it is therefore unconstitutional; says there is no justification for overturning Miranda since admonition to criminal suspects by police of right to remain silent has been embedded in routine police practice without causing any measurable difficulty for prosecutors; stinging dissent by Justices Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia accuses majority of playing intellectually dishonest 'word games' to justify going beyond beyond court's authority to apply Constitution's demands and of flagrantly offending fundamental principles of separation of powers (M)

Con Edison, because of heavy use and problems with 3 feeder cables, turns off power to six buildings on Upper East Side of Manhattan for several hours; buildings were chosen because cables supplying them with power were particularly stressed (M)

Museum of Television and Radio plans screening series in New York and Los Angeles from work of pioneer television animator Jay Ward, creator of Rocky and Bullwinkle; Robert Mann to conduct New York Chamber Symphony in opening concert of series at Central Park; Whitney Museum of American Art to display monumental new work by Robert Rauschenberg that consists of 52 silk-screen paintings on metal meant to be composed and recomposed each time it goes on view; performers and others who will compose panels noted; New York Grand Opera Co to open season with free, fully staged performance of Verdi's Un Ballo in Maschera, Central Park; photos (M)

Geneticists at National Human Genome Research Institute and Celera Genomics Group jointly report deciphering human genome, achievement that represents pinnacle of human self-knowledge; Pres Clinton hails their success in White House ceremony attended by Drs J Craig Venter and Francis S Collins, leaders of research teams, Dr James D Watson, who co-discovered DNA's structure in 1953, and Prime Min Tony Blair via satellite from London; understanding genome is expected to revolutionize practice of medicine; biologists expect to develop array of diagnostics and treatments based on it and tailored to individual patients, some of which will exploit body's own mechainsms of self-repair; diagrams; photos (M)

Ben Ratliff reviews performance by singer Ray Charles at Avery Fisher Hall, part of JVC Jazz Festival; photo (M)

New Jersey Nets reportedly will name Byron Scott coach (M)