April 8, 2001

Comment on monumental project of James Turrell to transform Roden Crater, black and red volcano overlooking Painted Desert, near Flagstaff, Arizona, into one of biggest works of art in world; Turrell became rancher in area to pay for the land, and regularly shuttles to crater museum directors, collectors, writers--anyone who might help him raise money; photos (M)

ON a chilly February afternoon, about 45 diamond merchants and manufacturers gathered in the nondescript cafe at the Diamond Dealers Club, on the 10th floor of a building at 47th Street and Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. Down the hall, at tables along the windows, dealers from around the world squinted into loupes and negotiated for stones. Wall clocks displayed the time in Mumbai, Tel Aviv, Antwerp, Johannesburg and Tokyo, all major diamond centers. The meeting had been called to discuss changes threatening the century-old structure of the diamond industry. The discussion, said Joseph Schlussel, a diamond dealer, always came back to the same questions: ''How will I fit in in this new order? Where will I stand? Will I be left out?''

LIKE would-be millionaires on television, drivers can use lifelines now and then. More than a million motorists now have them in the form of hands-free wireless links to central call centers, where operators are standing by to lend a helping hand. The systems, part of a nascent industry known as telematics, include General Motors' OnStar and others that are available from BMW, Clarion, Jaguar, Lexus and Mercedes-Benz. Safety and security are the systems' biggest selling points, but convenience features -- like automated phone dialing, mobile e-mail and traffic alerts -- are adding to the appeal.

ABOUT the only direct link between Manhattan and Johns Hopkins University Press is a humble deli serving New York-style corned beef on rye a few blocks from the publisher's offices in Baltimore. But Johns Hopkins, the nation's oldest university press, has ignored its Baltimore ZIP code and for the last three years has become an unlikely southern redoubt for books about New York. Its top seller is ''Invisible New York: The Hidden Infrastructure of the City,'' a lavish black-and-white photography book that features must-see landmarks like a Bronx missile silo and an abandoned Queens efflux, a chamber for the city's water supply.

China insists in strongly worded statement that United States has not done enough to end crisis over 24 Americans detained after their spy plane made emergency landing nearly week ago; negotiations to find way out of crisis continue; official propaganda in China both reflects popular anger and keeps it ratcheted high; China asserts that collision was 'entirely caused' by US side, and that US should apologize; photo; maps (L)