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a suicide_bomber detonated a car packed with explosives near an american convoy in mosul on tuesday , killing four iraqis and wounding at least seven , and iraqi officials announced the capture of a former baathist accused of helping to finance and direct the insurgency . the bomb went off on a busy road in the northeastern muthanna neighborhood of mosul about 1 p.m. , incinerating a car full of civilians that was passing near the military convoy and scattering blood and body parts in the road , witnesses said . several passing pedestrians were among the wounded , but no american_troops appeared to have been hurt , the witnesses said . the attack came as the iraqi government announced the capture of fadhil ibrahim mahmoud al mashadani , a former official in saddam_hussein 's government who is accused of playing a major role in coordinating and financing insurgent_attacks . mr . mashadani was captured tuesday on a farm northeast of baghdad , iraqi officials said in a statement . he had been a high ranking baath_party member and led the military bureau in baghdad under mr . hussein . mr . mashadani is suspected ''of being a crucial link between the senior baathist leaders hiding in syria and the terrorists within iraq , '' the statement said . he is not on any of the lists of most wanted iraqis compiled by the american government after the fall of baghdad two years ago . iraqi and american officials have long accused syria of turning a blind eye to former hussein supporters and other insurgents operating across the border with iraq . on sunday , iraqi officials announced the capture of ibrahim sabawi , the son of sabawi ibrahim al hassan al_tikriti , a half brother of mr . hussein who is also accused of financing and directing rebel attacks . mr . hassan was captured in february with the help of syrian officials . it is not clear whether syria 's government has assisted in the capture of mr . mashadani or other former baathists caught since that time . mr . mashadani 's capture came a day after a huge raid in which 65 suspected insurgents were captured . on tuesday , the defense ministry said that among those captured were three high level insurgents belonging to a network called the islamic secret army . the united_states military said american_troops battled arms smugglers and fighters near the iraqi town of qaim along the syrian border early tuesday , killing an unknown number of foreign insurgents , the associated press reported . a local hospital reported at least nine people killed in clashes in the area . violence continued to roil the capital on tuesday . a high ranking official in the interior_ministry narrowly_escaped an assassination attempt as gunmen fired on his car , killing one of his bodyguards and wounding three , the ministry officials said . late tuesday night , a roadside_bomb exploded in the zaiyouna neighborhood of baghdad , wounding 10 people , including a police_officer , witnesses said . in sadr_city , baghdad 's shiite_slum , masked_gunmen in three cars kidnapped maj . khadum abed salman , a high ranking police official , the police said . officials at the american embassy here said they had not heard anything from the kidnappers who abducted an american contractor in the baghdad area on monday . the hostage 's family has asked that his name not be released , the officials said . leaders of iraq 's new coalition_government continued negotiations on tuesday aimed at completing a list of names of officials to run the government 's 30 odd ministries . adel_abdul_mahdi , who was appointed one of two vice_presidents last week , told reporters in najaf on tuesday that all serious disagreements between the shiite and kurdish alliances had been resolved , and that a final list of names for the new government was likely to be released within days . poland will pull troops out of iraq international_herald_tribune berlin , april 12 ending months of uncertainty over the precise timing , poland announced tuesday that it would withdraw all its troops from iraq once the united_nations mandate for the multinational force expires in december . defense minister jerzy szmajdzinski said the cabinet had decided to bring home the 1 , 700 troops in iraq . he left open the possibility that the mission could be extended if the united_nations mandate was renewed , but said the government of prime_minister marek belka would not in the meantime be committing troops to any new missions . the popularity of his government has been plunging with the public , which initially backed the war in iraq but is unlikely to support any new or extended military missions . poland was the fourth largest contributor of troops to iraq and was a joint commander of the multinational force in south central iraq . the reach of war insurgents.

it was the most sensational scandal of margaret_thatcher 's prime_ministership , and it has resurfaced in damning new detail with the end of a gag order that stilled all mention of the behavior of the disgraced cabinet officer , his mistress and their child born 18 years ago . for more than a decade , sara keays , 53 , had been barred from talking about her 12 year affair with lady thatcher 's favorite minister and heir_apparent , cecil parkinson , and their daughter , flora . but the court order silencing her expired on new year 's eve , and on thursday night channel 4 broadcast a documentary interview with mother and child that laid_bare the british establishment 's effort to shelter mr . parkinson , 70 , now a member of the house of lords , and disparage ms . keays . it also portrayed the damage caused flora , who is learning disabled and says with pain and bewilderment on the program that she has never understood why her father will talk freely to people on television but has never once come to see her . lord parkinson , then the conservative_party chairman , was credited with masterminding lady thatcher 's 1983 landslide re election and had just been given a high profile cabinet post when word emerged that ms . keays was pregnant and intended to have her baby . the times of london broke the story at the time , and friday 's times recalled in dramatic detail how mrs . thatcher summoned the minister to her hotel room at 2 a.m . to tell him to consider his future and how six hours later he handed her his resignation and then slipped out a backdoor with his wife , ann . while his chances of becoming prime_minister were derailed , his political career was not . he returned to the cabinet in 1987 and gained other top conservative positions , including a return to the party chairmanship in 1997 . he became a lord in 1992 , the same year he published his autobiography , in which he said he had received 16 , 000 letters approving his action in 1983 and only 50 critical of him . ms . keays , who had been lord parkinson 's secretary in the house of commons , saw her life follow a different course , one she was only now able to disclose publicly . she had to leave work to care for flora , who , as a youngster , showed signs of epilepsy and had to have a brain_tumor removed at age 4 . the operation left her with learning difficulties , and she also suffered from asperger 's syndrome , described as a rare form of autism . lord parkinson held to his resolve to have nothing to do with the girl , first uttered when ms . keays turned down his request that she have an abortion . meanwhile , persistent rumors emerged from 10 downing_street and the conservative central office that ms . keays had repeatedly urged him to leave his wife and had entrapped him with her pregnancy . in fact , she said thursday , she had tried to end the affair on several occasions and even left britain only to have him follow her to the continent and persuade her to return . when the original money settlement with lord parkinson failed to cover medical costs , she sought an increase . in exchange for the new arrangement in 1993 , she agreed to a restrictive court order that had only been used once before , and that time to guard the privacy of a child killer from media intrusion . applied to the new case , the order had the effect of banning flora from appearing in class photographs , having her name listed in school sporting_events , publicly accepting awards , appearing in academic theatricals or even having her name posted on notice boards . ''they were little things that would have meant such a lot to her , little successes in her otherwise very bleak existence , '' ms . keays said . ''flora was made to feel separate , an outsider , a leper . '' the injunction obtained by lord parkinson was extraordinary even in britain , where laws governing the news_media tend to enshrine secrecy and protect the reputations of the powerful . ''it was an abomination , the sort of thing you could imagine happening in stalinist russia , '' ms . keays said . mark stephens , a london specialist in media law , said he doubted such an order would be issued by a british court today . ''i think it 's fair to say that judges have been through a learning process , that they now have an understanding that children have rights , '' he said . in its most affecting moment , thursday 's documentary showed flora watching film footage of her father from 1983 and having a conversation with her mother . ''i wish i 'd met my daddy , '' she says . ''i know darling , '' her mother answers . she reproaches her mother . ''you have n't made it possible . '' ''well no , i have n't prevented it . he did n't want to have anything to do with us . '' ''did my dad ever see me when i was born ? '' ''no darling . no , he 's never seen you . '' ''did you let him see me after i was born ? '' ''i did n't stop him . he chose not to . '' ''did he just see me once when i was born or never ? '' ''no , never . '' a spokeswoman for lord parkinson said he would have no comment .

under pressure from rising interest rates and the prospect of more deregulation , two of japan 's mid size banks , the kyowa bank and the saitama bank , said tonight that they would merge next year . the merger is the first since mitsui bank and taiyo_kobe_bank announced a combination last year that created the world 's second largest banking institution . today 's merger , while not as large , seems likely to spur further consolidation among the " city " banks that make up the core of japan 's commercial_banking business . the new bank will be japan 's eighth largest . at a news conference tonight , officials from both kyowa and saitama said they planned a 50 50 merger , probably by april 1 , 1991 . at the end of last march , kyowa bank ranked 10th in japan with 11 . 9 trillion_yen in deposits , or more than 93 . 7 billion . saitama bank ranked 11th , with 11 . 2 trillion_yen , or 88 . 18 billion , on deposit . both banks have seen their profits decline dramatically in recent months , largely because of lower returns in fund management . the kyowa bank has been particularly aggressive in shifting its emphasis away from large companies to small ones . it has also been trying to attract individual accounts , which are usually highly profitable in japan . company news.

the department of defense has identified 1 , 759 american service members who have died since the start of the iraq_war . it confirmed the deaths of the following americans this week cooper , travis s. , 24 , sgt . , army_national_guard macon , miss . second battalion , 114th field_artillery . hartley , jared d. , 22 , specialist , army newkirk , okla . first armored division . hines , timothy j . jr . , 21 , pfc . , army fairfield , ohio 64th military_police company , 720th military_police battalion , 89th_military_police_brigade . jameson , tricia l. , 34 , staff sgt . , army_national_guard omaha 313th medical company . mounce , clifton b. , 22 , cpl . , marines pontotoc , miss . second marine division . tiai , frank , 45 , staff sgt . , army_reserve pago pago , american samoa 100th battalion , 442nd infantry . winchester , christopher d. , 23 , cpl . , marines flomaton , ala . second marine division .

lead fuji_heavy_industries ltd . , the japanese maker of subaru automobiles , said today that it had formed a company to sell american made products in japan . fuji_heavy_industries ltd . , the japanese maker of subaru automobiles , said today that it had formed a company to sell american made products in japan . the subaru world trading company will operate at first through 70 subaru dealerships in japan . later , it will expand to 1 , 000 outlets , offering catalogues from at least 10 united_states mail_order firms , the company said . products available through the network will include gifts , novelties , sporting_goods and fitness equipment . the company aims for 140 million in first year sales . subaru world trading will also offer products made specifically in indiana because it is building an automobile plant there with a partner , isuzu motors ltd . the company was formed in response to the japanese government 's ''buy american'' campaign , designed to ease trade tensions between the united_states and japan . syd havely , a spokesman for subaru , said the company was also formed to enhance the image of subaru in its home market .

the supreme_court agreed today to decide whether mentally_retarded people are constitutionally entitled to the same protection against involuntary confinement in a state institution that the state gives to the mentally ill . the case , an appeal by the state of kentucky , also raises the question of what role the parents or legal guardians of retarded adults can play in involuntary_commitment proceedings . until the distinction was declared unconstitutional by two lower federal courts , kentucky gave the mentally ill more protection than the mentally_retarded in civil commitment proceedings . state law provides that people who are mentally ill can be admitted to state hospitals against their will only on proof " beyond a reasonable_doubt " the same standard used in criminal trials that they are a danger to themselves or others . but for the mentally_retarded , the state required only proof by a lower standard , " clear and convincing evidence " that commitment was necessary . appellate ruling cited last june the united_states court of appeals for the sixth circuit , in cincinnati , ruled that the distinction violated the constitutional guarantee of equal_protection of the law . " we do not believe that there are any differences between these two classes or the purposes for their commitment which are relevant to the due process which they are entitled to receive , " the appellate_court said in an opinion by judge damon j . keith . the sixth circuit rejected kentucky 's justifications for the distinction , including the state 's argument that the lower standard was suitable for the mentally_retarded because , unlike the mentally ill , retarded people have a permanent and " incurable " condition and do not receive the " intrusive " treatment that the mentally ill may encounter in an institution . instead , the appeals court said , " the mentally ill and mentally_retarded are identical insofar as they lose their personal liberty by involuntary institutionalization . " the decision was the sixth circuit 's second ruling in the 10 year old case . it was brought on behalf of all retarded people in kentucky who now or may in the future face involuntary_commitment to one of the state 's four institutions for the retarded . in its first decision four years ago , the appellate_court ruled that retarded adults are entitled to the protections of the constitution 's guarantee of due process against involuntary_commitment . it also said that an admission made by application of the parent of a retarded adult was by definition " involuntary . " previously , the state considered commitments made at a parent 's request to be voluntary . the supreme_court refused to hear the state 's appeal of that ruling . parental role challenged in its ruling this year , the appellate_court went further , ruling that because parents or legal guardians may not be acting in a retarded adult 's best interest when they seek admission to an institution , they should not have the status of parties to the proceeding . as a practical matter , that means parents no longer have the right to appeal a refusal of admission because they are not parties to the case . in its supreme_court appeal , heller v . doe , no . 92 351 , kentucky is challenging both aspects of the sixth circuit 's ruling . the question of the parental role may have a wider impact than the question of the standard of proof for involuntary_commitment . mental_health experts said today that kentucky may be the only state to use the rigorous " beyond a reasonable_doubt " standard for commitment of the mentally ill . most states use the lower " clear and convincing evidence " standard , which the supreme_court found constitutionally acceptable for civil commitments in a 1979 decision , addington v . texas . for the mentally_retarded , a growing number of states , including new york , now emphasize care in small scale programs close to home and no longer have involuntary_commitment . but for states that retain involuntary_commitment procedures , there is uncertainty both in law and policy on the question of the parents' role . broad parental discretion in a 1979 decision on the involuntary_commitment of mentally ill minor children , the court upheld broad parental discretion and ruled that formal hearings were not constitutionally required . " pitting the parents and child as adversaries often will be at odds with the presumption that parents act in the best interest of their child , " the court said in that case , parham v . j.r . since that decision , the court has not revisited the issue in the context of adult offspring , either mentally ill or retarded . in the current case , kentucky is arguing that mentally_retarded adults who cannot care for themselves or make decisions about their lives should be treated under the law as children , and that policies that remove parents from the process or view parents as adversaries result in harm to the family as a whole .

investigators have discovered that two samples of blood donated to a german company suspected of distributing h.i.v . tainted_blood were infected with the virus , a prosecutor announced today . he said nine other samples could not be positively certified as being free of the virus , which causes aids . the prosecutor , norbert weise , said that his investigators had checked 25 , 018 blood samples from the estimated 4 , 000 people who donated blood to the company , but that the results were not " absolutely reliable " because records were not fully in order . " these results suggest that the worst fears have not been confirmed , " mr . weise said . four employees of ub_plasma , including its director , have been arrested . the coblenz based company , which was shut by the police , is accused of having failed to perform tests required to insure that blood it sold was free of infection . since 1985 , the private companies that provide most blood products in germany have been required to test their products for h.i.v . were blood tests skipped ? thus far , however , none of the thousands of recipients of blood from ub_plasma who have been tested has been found to be infected . prosecutors say ub_plasma tested only about one fourth of its blood , evidently in an effort to save money . investigators said ub_plasma supplied at least 86 german hospitals and exported products to several european_countries . last week prosecutors moved against two other pharmaceutical companies suspected of having distributed contaminated_blood , shutting down one and banning another from producing or distributing plasma . mr . weise identified one of ub 's infected blood donors as a romanian and the other simply by a code number assigned by the company . the minister of health , horst seehofer , has urged germans to take the scandal seriously , although he says the odds of being infected with h.i.v . from a blood_transfusion in germany are about one in a million . his warnings drew criticism from several medical and pharmaceutical associations . karsten vilmer , the president of the country 's largest medical association , accused mr . seehofer of setting off a panic and launching an " h . i.v . show " in order to raise his political profile . in an interview published sunday in the berlin newspaper bz , mr . seehofer rejected the charges and demanded that mr . vilmer " apologize for his impudence . " " protection of patients' " the chief spokesman for doctors should put the protection of patients at the top of his list of concerns , " mr . seehofer said . " when the medical association accuses me of being excessively active , i can only point out that they themselves have done nothing at all . " an editorial in suddeutsche_zeitung today welcomed the " increasing sharpness of this conflict . " " the medical establishment is angry that seehofer , with his quick reaction , has violated the unwritten law that dangerous and scandalous developments should be resolved by bureaucrats and lobbyists behind closed doors , " the newspaper asserted . " conservative doctors , for whom vilmer is the chief spokesman , fear that seehofer has been politically strengthened by the h.i.v . scandal and will be able to push through decisive reforms . they are right to be afraid . "

on its face , the annual ritual of wage negotiations that took place this week is one more sign of the depths of japan 's economic distress . raises will be coming , but labor officials are all but certain that the average rate of increase in wages will fall below the 2.9 percent increase that workers received last year . this year 's rate of increase will be about 2.7 percent , giving rise to fears that workers are losing ground . ''the result is rather regrettable , '' takehiko tazaki , director of planning and public_relations at the confederation of japan automobile workers' unions , said of organized_labor 's efforts to obtain an increase equal to last year 's . but economists have found a silver lining in labor 's woes . they note that base pay will actually increase by more this year than it did last year , when inflation is taken into account . that development may spur consumer_spending , which has virtually stalled here . last year , the government raised sales_taxes and sharply reduced medical benefits , actions that pushed the inflation_rate to 2 percent and put the brakes on consumer_spending . the real rate of increase in wages was a scant nine tenths of a percent , according to richard_jerram , an economist at ing_barings securities ( japan ) ltd . this year , mr . jerram and other economists predict that there will be little , if any , inflation . if that is the case , base pay , in real terms , will actually rise more this year than it did last year . ''we can be confident there will be a rise in spending power due to the improvement in real wage growth , '' mr . jerram said . that may stimulate the moribund economy and encourage consumer_spending , which has virtually stalled here . that was the argument that the unions representing auto workers made to management . ''we want to do our part for the economy , so we took that macroeconomic view , '' mr . tazaki said . ''but the management side stuck to microeconomics , focusing on their ability to pay a higher wage increase . '' some including management , of course question whether higher wages will reverse weak domestic demand . ''i wonder how much wage raises activate individual consumption , '' labor minister bunmei ibuki said at a recent cabinet meeting . in japan , workers consider an annual wage increase at least equal to the previous year 's raise and bonuses paid twice a year as an essential part of compensation , and until the economy collapsed in a heap of bad debt and falling land prices in 1990 , they usually got what they expected . last winter , when mitsubishi electric paid part of year end bonuses in coupons good for its products in lieu of cash , it was regarded as a shocking blow to workers . in a pattern with very little variation , a typical japanese worker graduates from college and joins a company with thousands of others . together , they become a ''class , '' and everyone in the class gets the same increase in base pay every year , no matter what they do or who they are . ''because of that system , the rate of increase in your base pay is important for future income because it gets compounded going forward , '' said ron bevacqua , an economist at merrill_lynch company in tokyo . ''the fact that the increase is small now means a lot for what wages will look like 10 , 20 years from now . '' base pay is a small part of the overall packages japanese workers receive . it is supplemented by overtime pay , added wages for managers and fringe_benefits like transportation , housing and family allowances . but workers focus on base pay because it is used to calculate bonuses , which are critical to a worker 's ability to buy a new car and pay down a mortgage , and retirement packages . if increases in base pay become smaller , so do bonuses and nest eggs . the last time nominal wage_increases failed to keep pace with the previous year 's increases was 1995 , when the yen was hovering around 80 to the dollar and japanese exports were extremely expensive . in general , raises have declined in more years than they have risen since the bubble economy burst in 1990 . this time , weak domestic demand , a teetering financial system and government scandals are severely crimping corporate japan 's ability to do business . normally , the unions that represent workers at the car companies and electronics manufacturers set the pace for negotiations in other industries , and when news broke on wednesday that the toyota_motor_corporation , one of japan 's strongest companies financially , was offering a monthly wage increase 500 yen lower than last year 's , the writing was on the wall . toyota has offered its workers a 2 . 62 percent increase of 8 , 900 yen a month , or about 68 . 50 at current exchange_rates . ''the outlook for most companies is not as strong as it was last year , '' said keith truelove , a toyota spokesman . nissan motor and honda motor both pared their wage_increases by 500 yen , and electronics companies shaved their offers as well . the matsushita electric industrial company , for example , which makes the panasonic and national brands as well as a host of high technology products , offered a monthly increase of 8 , 000 yen , or about 61 . 50 , down 900 yen from last year . ''the decline is a reflection of our business situation , '' said yoshihiro kitadeya , a matsushita spokesman . international business.

citi field , the mets' new home for 2009 , is slowly but surely taking shape . a portion of the main concourse along the first base line , a pile of steel bars now , should be filled with concrete by opening day . by june , the entire first level concourse is expected to be finished , and some of the exterior of the building will be up , too . ''we 're on schedule , '' jeff wilpon , the mets' senior executive vice_president , said yesterday as he led a group of reporters who regularly cover the team around the construction site . ''we may even be ahead of schedule . '' the backside of the ballpark will come later , and installing the dirt , grass and field will be among the final steps . yesterday , home plate was indistinguishable from center_field . each was a pile of gravel . next week , the mets will install a camera on mets . com that will show daily updates of the construction . ben shpigel hughes a rotation candidate at 20 years old , phil hughes has an outside chance of making the yankees' starting rotation . ''i feel like i 'm ready to go to spring_training full speed , '' hughes said yesterday . ''i 'm not going to rule anything out . '' hughes spent the off season working out at the yankees' spring_training complex in tampa , fla . , and has been throwing off a mound the past three weeks . selected by the yankees in the first round of the 2004 amateur draft , hughes went 10 3 with a 2 . 25 earned_run_average in 21 starts with class_aa trenton after compiling a 1 . 80 e.r.a . in five outings at class a tampa last year . ''he 's a uniquely talented character , '' said mark newman , the yankees' senior vice_president . ''anybody that has seen him understands that , '' newman added . ''there 's a calmness to his demeanor that should be helpful . '' the yankees plan to go slowly with hughes , who appears likely to start the season at class_aaa scranton . hughes is projected to pitch about 180 innings this season , up from 146 last year . ( ap ) reds extend arroyo's contract the cincinnati_reds signed the right hander bronson arroyo to a two year extension yesterday that will pay him an additional 25 million and keep him under contract through at least 2010 . there is a team option for the following season . the agreement came two days after the team 's top starter , aaron harang , agreed to a four year , 36 . 5 million deal that also includes a club option for 2011 . ''i honestly did n't think they were going to even talk to me about a contract this off season , '' said arroyo , who had two years left on his current deal . ''but they were serious . '' the reds' owner , bob castellini , said , ''most baseball people agree that with bronson and aaron harang , the top of our rotation is as strong as any in baseball . '' harang , 28 , became only the eighth national_league pitcher since 1960 to lead the league in wins ( 16 ) and strikeouts ( 216 ) . he started 35 games , pitched 2341 3 innings and had a 3 . 76 e.r.a . arroyo , 29 , went 14 11 with a_league high 240 2 3 innings and had a 3 . 29 e.r.a . ( ap ) stewart and a's agree to deal outfielder shannon stewart and the oakland_athletics agreed yesterday to a one year , 1 million contract . stewart , 32 , can earn an additional 1 . 5 million in performance bonuses . stewart , bothered by foot injuries , played 44 games last season for the minnesota_twins . he batted . 293 with 2 home_runs and 21 runs batted in 174 at bats . he has a . 299 career average and has hit 102 homers in 12 seasons . ( ap ) rangers bolster pitching staff the right handers robinson tejeda , edinson volquez and josh rupe agreed to one year contracts yesterday with the texas_rangers . tejeda appears to have an inside track to the no . 4 spot in the rotation after going 2 1 with a 1 . 13 e.r.a . in september . he bounced between class_aaa oklahoma and texas , where he was 5 5 with a_4 . 28 e.r.a . volquez struggled for the second straight year trying to establish himself as a starter , going 1 6 with a_7 . 29 e.r.a . rupe was 0 1 with a 3 . 41 e.r.a . in 16 relief appearances for the rangers last year . ( ap ) pujols becomes u.s . citizen albert pujols of the st . louis_cardinals has won a national_league most valuable player award , a gold_glove and a world_series . he added a perfect 100 on his united_states citizenship test to his r sum this week . pujols , 27 , became a citizen wednesday during a ceremony in st . louis . chester moyer , the officer in charge of the u.s . citizen and immigration service office , said that pujols 's wife , diedre , served as her husband 's tutor . ( ap ) baseball.

amelia antonetti retired nine months ago after 31 years as a high_school teacher and now spends her days looking after her husband and three grown children . all the while , mrs . antonetti , 56 , collects 90 percent of her last salary and will do so for the rest of her life . the laws that let mrs . antonetti retire when many countries would still consider her to be of working age have helped make italy 's quality of life among the highest in the world . those same laws are stretching the country 's pension system to the limit as the government struggles to pay its obligations to a rapidly aging population . ''i 'm very happy i retired because i was tired , but now i 'm worried about my children , '' said mrs . antonetti , who taught italian literature in the northern italian town of parma . ''they are going to have to work until they are well past 60 , and then are there going to be any pensions for them when they get there ? i doubt it . '' mrs . antonetti is not far off the mark . analysts say that if italy which spends about 14 percent of its gross_domestic_product on pensions , compared with a european_union average of 10 percent is to stave off a financial collapse of the pension system , far reaching change s needed . to confront the pension problem , italy can raise the minimum retirement age or create more jobs and permit more immigration . none of these options are particularly appealing to the prime_minister , silvio_berlusconi . he has been unable to reduce unemployment significantly from the current 8.8 percent and must deal with political allies who are intent on blocking moves to raise the retirement age and increase immigration . in italy , workers with 35 years on the job can retire if they are at least 57 . before a series of changes introduced in 1995 , there was no age requirement , and some government workers were eligible to retire after as little as 15 years on the job . government employees , like mrs . antonetti , will not have to meet the minimum age requirement until next year . these early retirement laws are more lax than in the rest of europe , so it is not surprising that according to european_union statistics only 28 percent of italians aged 55 to 64 work , compared with 38 percent in germany and an average of 39 percent in the union . not only does italy have a growing number of early retirees , the country also has a stagnant birth_rate . at 1.3 babies per woman the rate is half that of 30 years ago and is among the lowest in the world . italy 's population has hovered around 58 million people for 20 years , and the government forecasts it will fall to 53 million by 2050 . that trend , which will shift the ratio of older to younger people , spells trouble for a system like italy 's , where today 's workers pay the pensions of older generations . italy 's problem is made more acute by the fact that only 55 percent of italians aged 15 to 64 work , compared with a european_union average of 64 percent . ''the reforms implemented so far are n't enough , and raising the minimum retirement age is one of the few tools available to the government to deal with the problem of more pensioners and fewer births , '' said agar brugiavini , an economics professor at the university of venice . the system is also strained by the special privileges enjoyed by some state workers , like employees of sicily 's regional government who can retire after 25 years on the job if they are male and after 20 years if they are female . ''for years , the italian pension system has favored some workers over others , '' ms . brugiavini added , ''but the most glaring example is today 's older generations being favored over young workers and those that still have to enter the labor market . '' while other european_countries are facing a similar plight , many , including germany and france , europe 's two biggest economies , have taken steps recently to overhaul their pension systems . private_sector employees in france must work for 40 years before they can retire . a law passed last month will push that to 42 in 2020 and will make government employees , who can now retire after 37 years of work , subject to the 40 year minimum beginning in 2008 . germany is considering a proposal that would raise the retirement age for some workers to 67 from 65 . while most advocates of pension change agree that the solution is getting workers to work longer , many workers are adamant about defending their particular pension rights . ''sure , i was young when i retired , but it 's not people like me who are running the system dry , '' said mrs . antonetti , who several years ago used an option to pay a small fee to have her four years of university study credited toward her pension . ''the problem is the people who retired when they were 40 after 15 years of work . ''

lead kotogawa rin brought his heavy_metal fantasy to the stage of the kitchen ( 512 west 19th street ) on wednesday as part of the series ''the hidden fortress new music from japan . '' wearing a gold lame sarong and red low heeled pumps , he worked the stage alone , backed by tapes he played and played with his guitar in a set of hard_rock songs , guitar noises and , between songs , a kind of go go dancing . kotogawa rin brought his heavy_metal fantasy to the stage of the kitchen ( 512 west 19th street ) on wednesday as part of the series ''the hidden fortress new music from japan . '' wearing a gold lame sarong and red low heeled pumps , he worked the stage alone , backed by tapes he played and played with his guitar in a set of hard_rock songs , guitar noises and , between songs , a kind of go go dancing . it was his first appearance outside japan , where he is part of a rock underground . mr . kotogawa 's songs were fast , choppy rock in the mold of van halen , topped now and then by his voice , a light tenor that he forced toward a shout . but the focus was on his guitar work , a frenzied assemblage of quick picking ( with distant echoes of koto music ) , blues rock chording and salvos of distortion and feedback . mr . kotogawa played guitar to his side and behind his back he used the microphone stand as a slide . to close the set , he threw the guitar over the edge of the stage and cranked up the resultant squawl with his wah wah pedal . ever since jimi hendrix played the monterey pop festival in 1967 , none of those tactics have been new heavy_metal bands have turned the noise guitar solo into a routine , and mr . kotogawa did n't turn this barrage into coherent music . perhaps he seems more outrageous in japan . poppo , a dancer based in new york , opened the concert with a piece called ''sex pistols love nijinsky , '' backed by live music from drums , guitar and keyboards . with the white face makeup of a butoh dancer and a fearful , unchanging , shell shocked expression , poppo 's tense , dramatic dance seemed to be a vision of post apocalyptic survival .

the big bronze statue of the javelin hurler identifies the building as a sports school , but half the javelin is snapped off and the marble base is crumbling . inside the building that was once the premier academy of the powerful east_german sports machine , glass trophy cases gape emptily , and a tax consultant , one of thousands of private businesses sprouting in eastern_germany 's dash to the market , has taken up rooms on the ground floor . " just one of those measures to help pay the upkeep , " sighed helmut kirchgassner , a former middleweight boxer and professor of the theory and practice of training who is the school 's new dean . officially dubbed the german college for physical_culture , the school produced the coaches , trainers and sports_medicine personnel who were responsible for east_germany 's remarkable success at the highest levels of international sports . that success was demonstrated at the 1980 games in moscow after western nations , led by the united_states , stayed away to protest the soviet_military intervention in afghanistan the east_germans won 47 gold , 37 silver and 42 bronze medals , second only to the soviet_union . struggling for upkeep the school is now in limbo , its status unsure , staff cuts looming , its coaches either discredited for doping practices or leaving for more lucrative jobs in the old west_germany and farther west , and its financing unreliable . in fact , these days , struggling to pay the upkeep is what takes up most of the time of athletes and sports officials on the eastern edge of a reunited germany . eighteen months ago , they were still the heroes of the nation , standing triumphantly above the world of international sport that made their communist_state , politically and economically a dwarf , an athletic giant . now they lie among the flotsam and jetsam of the discredited system , the athletes heckled for the privileges they enjoyed and their clubs threatened with closure . as an abundance of coaches and trainers struggle for the few jobs available , a dog eat dog atmosphere has set in , with charges flying fast and furiously that so and so either used drugs or helped athletes do so , or belonged to the now defunct communist_party , or worse , the secret_police , whose goons laced the sports establishment . harsh debate focuses on the so called child and youth sport schools , a network of 25 prep schools whose pupils were picked by intricate tests and measurements from among first grade youngsters . parents were required to sign contracts permitting the children to withdraw only after consultation with state authorities , and many top east_german athletes were graduates . debate focuses on demands by germans in the west that the schools be liberalized , a process some germans in the east say will destroy the schools' effectiveness as training centers . in a small apartment on the outskirts of leipzig , thomas munkelt , an olympic gold_medal winner in the 110 meter_hurdles in 1980 , recalled the days of gold and glory . munkelt , who attended a prep school for three years , described how sports had enabled him to climb out of a gritty home town near buna to the practice of dentistry in a state clinic . but by western standards , he admitted , the rewards were slim . as a student , he and his wife and daughter shared two small dormitory rooms , until a small apartment became available . every four years there was a new car , a stodgy soviet built lada in his case , and small things , like fresh_fruit , that few other east_germans saw much of , brightened an otherwise simple life . now , with communism collapsed , he and a fellow hurdler turned dentist are seeking loans for a private practice . he laments what he views as the gradual demise of the old sports machinery . " the basic problem is the training of young athletes , which in principle is being destroyed , " he said . " maybe in 5 , 10 years' time it 'll be back again . but for now , the money 's just not there . " according to our papers , we were always fulfilling our economic goals , " munkelt added bitterly . " but our stores were still always empty . we ran our sports by the performance principle , but not our economy . " the former hurdler has no excuses for east_germany 's doping record . " you cannot force anyone to take tablets , " he said , " but i do n't think it was good the way it was done , with central lists and central organization and all that . the most important thing is that , with better testing , the use of drugs is being pushed back further and further . " the exact extent of drug use in east_germany remains a murky matter . the german weekly der_spiegel has published details of east_germany 's centralized doping program , with two high powered research institutes , one at the college in leipzig and another in the hilltop village of kreischa , south of dresden , reporting to a doping headquarters at the sports_medicine service in berlin . a former swimming coach at a potsdam sports club , michael regner , described how club physicians had initiated him in the distribution of anabolics to team swimmers , who included kristin otto and silke horner , both gold medalists at the 1988 olympics in seoul , south_korea . regner , who fled east_germany in august 1988 , through hungary and now coaches in new zealand , described how a drug called oral turinabol , manufactured by an east_german company in jena , was given to 13 year old swimmers . the reports prompted the government of chancellor helmut_kohl to establish a seven member commission , which began work last month , to examine doping abuse in germany and make proposals for control . underscoring official concern , kohl told parliament recently , " we support the declared intention of the sports clubs to take decisive steps against doping practices . top level sports must respect human dignity . " the mud slinging has hardly hindered german sports groups in the western part of the country from snapping up former east_german experts . last fall , it was reported that hermann buhl , the deputy director of the medical department at the leipzig research center , was hired by the institute for sports_medicine , in paderborn . hartmut riedel , east_germany 's track and field team physician , is now professor of sports_medicine at bayreuth , in the former west_germany . much of the sports medical center at kreischa , though not its doping lab , a major focus of the commission 's attention , has been taken over by bavaria klinik , a western company . though the commission has yet to begin hearings , many top secret records are reportedly missing , evidently shredded or sold by former researchers . at leipzig university , joachim weiskopf , a dentistry professor who is also vice_president of the national_olympic_committee of united germany , said he had a " clear position regarding doping , and i think i have a clear conscience . " but he said charges and countercharges were fed by the terrible struggle for jobs in a collapsing economy . the bloated german gymnastics and sports union , the vast east_german sports bureaucracy , had 12 , 000 employees , of which only about 1 , 500 can be kept on , he said . east_germany had about 600 track and field coaches , but now there are jobs for only 72 coaches , and those jobs are all taken at the moment . " there 's a psychological component , " he said over sips of coffee , " the fact that so many were in the communist_party , were bearers of state secrets . so now people are saying , 'he did doping . ' there 's envy , and everyone 's taking potshots at everyone else . " last june , weiskopf , a 64 year old , a former olympic field_hockey player , replaced manfred ewald , a staunch communist , as head of the still existing east_german national_olympic_committee , a post he assumed with the sole goal of leading east_germany back into a united german olympic organization . weiskopf , never a communist , was known for his integrity . " our states , our cities are looking at all our unemployment and saying , 'let 's first rebuild the factories and then invest in sports let 's put our money first where it 's productive , ' " he said . " so we 're standing here with empty hands , so we can only go to the west germans and say , 'help us . ' while their reaction is , 'there they go asking for money again . ' " over at the college , the 1 , 000 or so students are already learning what this means . the government of saxony , where leipzig lies , has ordered the school disbanded , announcing plans to refound it as a physical_education department of leipzig university . two years ago the faculty and staff totaled 1 , 050 , kirchgassner said , and now 700 remain . he estimates that the school will eventually have a staff of about 270 , including 120 full time professors . moreover , while the college once focused only on olympic disciplines like swimming , diving , track and field , the syllabus was broadened to include gym teacher training , sports for rehabilitation and recreation , and even sports management . but demands that the federal_government in bonn finance the school 's continued independence are growing , fueled by students' desires that the college remain a center of competitive sports training in eastern_germany , to parallel a similar institute in cologne , in the west . now , the research institute with its high powered laboratories and testing equipment , is locked . but on a recent afternoon , desks in the bright library were filled with students while others worked out in the school 's training halls . but for kirchgassner , it was clear that despite the semblance of business as usual , an epoch was drawing to a close . " you have to be realistic , " he said , " competitive sports as they were exercised here , or in the g.d.r . generally , are not salvageable . we have to find new forms , and that will be tough , because the conditions , financial and otherwise , are lacking . "

the dollar fell slightly against most leading currencies yesterday , gaining little support from cuts in interest rates in the united_states and germany . during trading in asia yesterday , the dollar continued its recent rally against the german_mark and the japanese_yen . but it later fell as traders took profits on the back of a german rate cut . the federal_reserve announced in the afernoon that it was cutting two interest rates , prompting the dollar to gyrate against the mark and yen in late trading . the dollar settled slightly higher than the levels it reached just before the fed announcement . " there is no major reason to sell the dollar just because the fed eased , " said john rothfield , an international economist at the chicago office of nationsbanc crt . " i think there would have been more of a reaction if the fed had n't moved . " in late trading , the dollar bought 1 . 4891 marks , compared with 1 . 4893 tuesday . the dollar ended at 107 . 04 yen , down from 107 . 25 yen . now the markets' attention turns to the bundesbank , germany 's central_bank , which is expected to decide today whether it will cut two other important rates . european officials have been worried about their weakening economies , raising speculation that rates would be reduced to spur spending and lending . expectations of lower rates have helped to lift the dollar in recent days to highs not seen in two years . after the dollar continued higher during initial trading yesterday , traders collected profits in anticipation of the cuts and the dollar 's value sagged . then , as expected , the german central_bank allowed its two week securities_repurchase_rate to drop and belgium followed with a rate cut of its own . since rate reductions weaken a country 's assets and make its currency less attractive , traders sought other currencies , including the italian_lira , the spanish peseta , the french_franc and the swedish krona . the fed 's move later was to lower two rates by a quarter point its official discount_rate , to 5 percent , and its target for the federal funds rate , to 5 . 25 percent . the canadians followed with a quarter point cut in the overnight lending rate . mr . rothfield of nationsbanc crt said that since the markets anticipated the rate cuts , there was no significant reaction other than the jitters in late trading in the united_states . currency markets.

the bundesbank , germany 's central_bank , unexpectedly raised its main money_market rate yesterday , but economists said the rise the first in three years did not preclude the bundesbank from cutting interest rates at a meeting on thursday . the 14 day securities_repurchase_rate , known as the repo rate , is the interest rate charged for short term loans to commercial_banks . the increase in the repo rate yesterday of one basis_point , to 3 . 98 percent , ended years of gradual easing . economists attributed the increase to cautious bidding by banks hit by a liquidity_squeeze and not to bundesbank policy . reuters international briefs.

lead sixteen people , including the rev . al_sharpton and the lawyers william m . kunstler and c . vernon_mason , were arrested friday after a confrontation between demonstrators who refused to clear a brooklyn courtroom and court officers , the police said yesterday . sixteen people , including the rev . al_sharpton and the lawyers william m . kunstler and c . vernon_mason , were arrested friday after a confrontation between demonstrators who refused to clear a brooklyn courtroom and court officers , the police said yesterday . the police said the confrontation occurred during the arraignment of mr . sharpton and others on contempt charges from a sept . 29 demonstration , which they called a ' 'day of outrage'' and which tied up traffic on the manhattan bridge . a scuffle broke out when court officers tried to remove an estimated 70 supporters of mr . sharpton from the building , said a police spokesman , sgt . norris holloman . the demonstrators were engaging in a sit_in , he said . sixteen officers and two demonstrators received minor_injuries in the incident , sergeant holloman said . mr . sharpton juanita brawley , the aunt of tawana_brawley , and seven others were still in custody yesterday awaiting arraignment on misdemeanor charges ranging from unlawful assembly and disorderly_conduct to criminal trespass , said a spokesman for the brooklyn district_attorney 's office , glenn goldberg . judge refuses to dismiss charges mrs . brawley , who the police said had identified herself as gwendolyn powell , was also being charged with criminal impersonation , mr . goldberg said . mr . kunstler , mr . mason and five others were booked on an initial charge of incitement to riot and held overnight , but were released yesterday . they are not to be formally charged with any crime , mr . goldberg said , pending an investigation of the incident . court officials said the fracas occurred after judge s . michael nadel of criminal court rejected a motion friday morning from mr . sharpton 's lawyer , alton maddox jr . , to have the charges against his client in the day of outrage case dismissed .

lead japan 's trade surplus declined slightly in may , the 12th month in the last 13 during which the surplus narrowed from a year earlier , the finance ministry reported today . japan 's trade surplus declined slightly in may , the 12th month in the last 13 during which the surplus narrowed from a year earlier , the finance ministry reported today . the may surplus of 3 . 13 billion compared with 3 . 76 billion in may 1989 . exports fell nine tenths of 1 percent from a year earlier , to 21 . 52 billion , while imports grew by 2.4 percent , to 18 . 38 billion . economists said a slowing in the rate of declines in exports indicated that the yen 's recent weakness might cause a renewed buildup in the surplus . they added that slower growth in the domestic economy might be depressing imports . a cheaper yen makes japanese goods more competitive in price overseas . ''i 'm confident that possibly as early as july we could see a widening in japan 's trade surplus , '' said jesper_koll of s . g . warburg_securities . in trade with the united_states , japan 's surplus shrank to 2 . 44 billion in may from 2 . 76 billion a year earlier . japanese companies exported 6 . 82 billion worth of goods to the united_states in may , down 4.5 percent from a year earlier . imports from the united_states fell by two tenths of 1 percent , to 4 . 38 billion . japan 's surplus with the european_community shrank to 1 . 2 billion , from 1 . 63 billion in may 1989 .

in a new round of disclosures today of the extent of the discriminatory practices in the japanese stock_market , 13 brokerage_houses said they had improperly covered more than 300 million in losses for some of the country 's largest industrial groups and a politically powerful religious organization . on monday , japan 's four largest securities houses released a list of clients to whom they had paid nearly 1 billion in improper_compensation for market losses . those payments have created a scandal that has appeared to substantiate longstanding criticisms that the market here favors powerful interests and discriminates against individuals and foreigners . intended to quell outrage the disclosure of the two lists resulted from heavy pressure by the ruling liberal democratic_party , whose image has suffered because of the scandal . the releases have been intended to quell public outrage , but they have left numerous questions unanswered . the disclosures cover only those improper_payments made up to march 31 , 1990 . the stock_market 's crash lasted for most of the remainder of the year , thus there were presumably more payments . despite the resignations of the heads of two large brokerage_houses , none of the individuals involved have been identified or punished . the new list , like the first , included members of most of japan 's most powerful corporate groups , including mitsubishi , mitsui , sumitomo , matsushita , toshiba and hitachi . also receiving the improper_payments were the seibu department_store , nippon_steel and public pension_funds . in all , 380 companies and 6 individuals identified only by their initials or as corporate directors were on the list . altogether , those on the new list were paid a total of about 315 million at current exchange_rates . but there were key differences in the two lists . first , the new one included more large banks , including the daiwa_bank , the mitsui bank ( now mitsui taiyo_kobe_bank ) , and the saitama bank and the kyowa bank , which have merged . the most interesting addition was the soka gakkai , japan 's biggest buddhist organization . the list showed this powerful nonprofit group , which has been involved in several other scandals this year , received slightly more than 3 million from kokusai securities , which is affiliated with nomura_securities . soka gakkai is also affiliated with one of japan 's leading opposition_parties , the komeito , or clean government party . this is the first confirmation of widespread rumors that politicians benefited , even if indirectly , from the improper payoffs . most of the 13 securities_firms that made the payments are affiliated with larger brokerage_houses and banks . for instance , new japan securities is affiliated with the industrial_bank_of_japan .

unidentified attackers tried thursday to kill iraq 's most powerful spiritual leader , grand_ayatollah_ali_al_sistani , according to some accounts here , but the american military said it had no confirmation of any such attack . mowaffak_al_rubaie , an independent shiite member of the iraqi_governing_council who met ayatollah sistani on thursday afternoon , said there was a failed assassination attempt against the ayatollah in the southern city of najaf a few hours earlier , near the shrine of ali , a religious landmark . ''some people tried to kill sistani this morning , but he 's now in very good health , '' dr . rubaie 's spokesman , ali al shapoot , said . in a telephone interview , dr . rubaie said , ''what happened , happened this morning . '' dr . rubaie , a neurologist , said the ayatollah was uninjured and in a ' 'safe place . '' ''he is robust physically and psychologically , '' he said . ayatollah sistani , spiritual leader of iraq 's 15 million shiites , is a central figure in the postwar iraqi political scene , and his influence is considered crucial to help smooth the transition of power to the iraqi people . al_jazeera , the arab language television_station , reported that gunmen had fired at ayatollah sistani as he left his office to go home . he lives off an alleyway several blocks from the golden_domed_shrine of ali , which is usually thronged with shiite_pilgrims . the reuters news_agency quoted a member of his security detail as saying gunmen ''opened fire'' on the ayatollah at 10 a.m . as he greeted people in najaf . more than 12 hours later , no witnesses had emerged , and the associated press quoted a shopowner whose store is in the area as saying nothing had happened . a person who answered the phone at the ayatollah 's office in najaf on thursday night called the reports of an attack ''lies'' and hung up . the supreme council for the islamic_revolution in iraq , a political_party with ties to ayatollah sistani , said there had been no attack , as did the son of another ayatollah in najaf . ''the people of najaf are very worried about sayed sistani 's safety , '' said muhammad hussein al_hakim , the son of grand_ayatollah muhammad said al_hakim . ''there 's a lot of communication going from the iraqi people to sayed sistani 's office to check if that 's true , '' he said . in the 10 months since the fall of saddam_hussein 's government , ayatollah sistani has urged his followers to treat the americans with patience , thereby mollifying the country 's largest and potentially most restive group . in recent months , he has challenged the americans by insisting that the country hold direct_elections for a national_assembly rather than chose the members through caucuses , as the americans have proposed .. american leaders say holding elections before june 30 , the deadline they have set for turning over power to iraqis , is impractical . through it all , the ayatollah has kept his distance , refusing to meet with the american leaders but holding out the possibility of a compromise and dealing through intermediaries . ayatollah sistani 's death would eliminate not only an important channel to the country 's shiites , but also one of iraq 's main sources of stability . it was unclear whether the report of an attack on the ayatollah was related to the arrival of a united_nations team that is supposed to offer an advisory opinion on whether direct_elections would be possible before june 30 . ayatollah sistani has indicated that he would be willing to accept something less than direct_elections if the united_nations team convinced him that such elections were impossible . american officials believe that antigovernment guerrillas are terrified of the prospect of the sovereignty transfer , lest it undercut their support , and the americans have been preparing for the possibility of greater violence . ayatollah sistani , an enigmatic figure with a long gray beard and a black turban , rarely leaves his home and receives few visitors . as a follower of the ''quietist'' tradition of shiite islam , he believes in keeping the worlds of politics and religion separate , setting him apart from many of his colleagues in iraq and in his native iran . despite that precept , though , he has taken an active role in the negotiations over the transfer of sovereignty . last aug . 30 in najaf , a car_bomb killed another senior cleric , ayatollah_muhammad_bakr_al_hakim , and more than 80 others . like ayatollah sistani , ayatollah hakim was an important moderating influence among iraqi 's shiite majority . five days before ayatollah hakim was killed , he was wounded in a car_bomb attempt . ayatollah hakim 's killers have not been found . the violence continued in iraq thursday , as an american soldier was killed and another wounded in a mortar attack on a checkpoint outside the baghdad airport .

top american generals and their field commanders have begun to give sharply differing accounts of the war in iraq , sometimes creating an impression that two different wars are being fought . commanders on the ground report unexpectedly stiff_resistance from iraqi troops and baath_party irregulars and say it will take longer to remove the iraqi government than planned . ''there is an organized pattern of resistance , '' brig . gen . john f . kelly , assistant commander of the first marine division , said today of the attacks by iraqi forces . ''their determination is somewhat of a surprise to us all . '' he added ''what we were really hoping was to just go through and everyone would wave flags and stuff . '' field commanders complain of dire shortages of food , fuel and ammunition . they say they have had to adjust their battlefield tactics to handle rear guard attacks and are rethinking the strategy of bypassing cities in southern iraq in a headlong race to lay siege to baghdad . but the view from the top is very different . here at central_command headquarters , where gen . tommy r . franks is overseeing the conduct of the war , officials insist there have been no surprises , no adjustments , no supply problems . the war is going just as they envisioned . the disparity in views was brought into sharp focus today when word reached here that lt . gen . william s . wallace , commander of army forces in the persian_gulf , said that war planners had not anticipated what he called the ''bizarre'' behavior of iraqi forces . general wallace said on thursday that weather and continuing shortages of crucial mat_riel because of overextended supply lines would likely lead to a longer war than most strategists had predicted . asked to respond to the comments today , a senior central_command official said only , ''general franks believes the plan is on track and on the timeline . '' in washington , defense secretary donald h . rumsfeld said he had not read general wallace 's remarks . ''i saw the headline , '' mr . rumsfeld said . ''and i 've seen a lot of headlines that do n't fit articles . '' he then added , ''i suppose everyone can have their own view . '' general franks has not appeared in the high tech briefing room here since monday . instead , the duty has been assigned to brig . gen . vincent brooks , a telegenic young west_point graduate who was auditioned and rehearsed for the role by communications aides assigned to central_command by the white_house . on thursday , general brooks opened the briefing by saying , ''we remain on plan and we 're confident that we will accomplish our objectives . '' today he began with , ''the coalition is setting the conditions for future operations and we remain focused on the key objective of removing the regime and disarming iraq . '' he was asked about general wallace 's widely reported remarks and said , somewhat implausibly , that he had not seen them . but he suggested that a field officer even a three star corps commander does not have enough information to draw large conclusions about the overall shape of the war . general brooks drew a distinction between the grunt 's war the ''tactical level'' and the generals' war the ''operational level . '' he said things might occasionally go awry for the soldiers and force changes in the war fighting plan . ''but at the operational level , '' he said , ''with what we seek to achieve , it remains unchanged . '' he elaborated , ''and so that 's what we 're talking about at this level , at the centcom level . there 's a different view down on planet earth , if you will , as you described it . the closer you get to the line , the more precise the realities are . '' that reality was described today by col . joe dunford , commander of the fifth regimental_combat_team , which had led the marines drive northward . ''initially , in the south rumaila oil fields , we faced regular army soldiers with low morale who up pretty easily . since we have been up here , we have seen a much more irregular threat . they are much more determined , determined but not very well trained . '' the descriptions of the war from centcom are leading to grumbling here and in washington about a credibility gap between what reporters see and hear on the battlefield and what the top brass at headquarters are saying , or not saying . the central_command briefing operation here was presented as the place to get the big picture , the mosaic constructed from all the little pieces of information from commanders in the field and reporters assigned to military units . but instead of an overall strategic view of the war , the 600 reporters credentialed to the media center here have been given brief video snapshots of the effect of precision weapons and long discursions on why information is not available here . for example , no one here has yet offered an explanation for the explosion in a baghdad marketplace on wednesday in an area of the city where american bombs and missiles were dropped to hit suspected missile emplacements . frustration is building in the media center . many news organizations have sharply reduced their presence here after investing huge_sums of money to build up bureaus in the expectation that this would be the journalistic nerve center of the war . abc , for example , at one point had nearly 70 people here , including a ''nightline'' crew and george_stephanopoulos , host of the network 's sunday morning program , ''this week . '' today , abc has about a dozen people left to provide a feed on the chance news might be made here , network officials said . on thursday , michael wolff , the media critic at new york magazine , noted that the briefings are now being conducted by mid level officers and the pentagon or commanders in the field have already released most of the information dispensed here . ''so i guess my question is , why should we stay ? '' mr . wolff asked . ''what 's the value to us for what we learn at this million dollar press center ? '' the room erupted in applause . general brooks replied , ''first , i would say it 's your choice . '' he said there are a number of other places where information is available and that he is not in a position to answer detailed questions about operations , even those that have been completed . he repeated general franks 's assertion last saturday that the more information about the conduct of the war the press gets , the more information saddam_hussein gets . general franks 's attitude has suffused the entire press operation here , one senior military official said . he said that the general believes the system of assigning reporters to units in the field is working well , although he occasionally worries that reporters are giving away too much about current operations . but general franks sees no need to provide the iraqis with any more intelligence about american capabilities or plans than they already have , and thus the daily briefings have been markedly short on detail . a nation at war the media.

a report in the political briefing column on sunday about the coming special_election in the 42d congressional_district of california misstated the reason that one candidate , marta macias brown , was endorsed by emily 's list , a national organization that supports democratic women who favor abortion rights . it was because of mrs . brown 's stand on abortion , not her support of stricter controls on guns . emily 's list takes no position on any issue except abortion rights .

the department of defense has identified 1 , 193 american service members who have died since the start of the iraq_war . it confirmed the deaths of the following americans yesterday burger , dale a . jr . , 21 , cpl . , marines port deposit , md . first marine division . parker , bradley l. , 19 , lance_cpl . , marines marion , w . va . second marine division . perez , andres h. , 21 , cpl . , marines santa_cruz , calif . first marine division . the conflict in iraq.

i grew up in quebec and went to college in the late 60 's and early 70 's . i was a student demonstrator , and when i graduated , i wanted to do something entrepreneurial and different . i had a tremendous desire to see the world and decided to go to mexico and import handicrafts . after a few months there , i had to renew my visa , and guatemala was the closest place to go . it was like walking into paradise mountain ranges as high as 10 , 000 feet and an amazing culture that was seemingly unchanged for 500 or 600 years . i crossed into the highlands where the core of the mayan people are . they speak about 13 dialects , and they wear native dress specific to each village . it is just so visually exciting in terms of the people and the countryside and the fabrics and the handicrafts and ceramics . it was a treasure_trove of things no one had seen in canada that were only beginning to appear in the united_states . i decided to base my business there instead of mexico , and rented a little house in panajachel , in the country . a man named juan was the caretaker , and he helped translate for me and find the people who had the fabrics . he also helped me label , buy , ship and pack my wares . i basically owe a large part of my success to him . juan was married and had one child , and we all became very close . despite this amazing difference of who he was and who i was we developed a tremendous friendship . he and his family became like a second family to me . in 1979 the civil_war went into full force in guatemala , and i decided it was time to evacuate . in guatemala , it 's an experience every time you walk into a bank there 's someone with a machine_gun standing there . you become rather respectful of authority . you realize that as a foreigner you have little say in how things evolve . so i returned to canada , and juan and i basically lost touch over the years . i obtained an m.b.a. , moved to the states and married . but in 1987 , i went back to guatemala for vacation and to look for him . i went to the village and found him , and it was as though no time had gone by , except he now had four children . it was painfully obvious that without some kind of financial assistance they would grow up the way most guatemalan children grow up , selling tortillas and chiclets , ragged and barefoot on the streets . at 14 they would be married and at 15 they would have babies and then they would be on to the next generation . juan 's kids are beautiful and bright and intelligent and wonderful , and my husband and i realized that for a very little expense we could change their lives . initially , we just paid for them to go into the public_school system , but it is pretty appalling , so we graduated them to private schools , where they are learning english and computer skills . the oldest is in junior_college now and will go on to university . we 're also helping with juan 's grandchildren , who are 4 and 6 . our families have merged , too . every year , my husband and three children , who are 4 , 6 and 8 , spend two weeks in guatemala . my children are fascinated by all the local customs , and they have fallen in love with the culture . even though they are blond and blue eyed and everyone stares at them , they are somewhat oblivious to the fact that they are different . they love going to the markets , the parades they love the whole experience of a completely different way of life . they realize that new york is not the center of the world . the boss.

cathay_pacific , the dominant airline in hong_kong , said it would restore 170 flights a week to various destinations starting in july , in the expectation that passengers will return now that severe_acute_respiratory_syndrome is fading away . cathay will then be operating nearly 700 flights a week , or 71 percent of its schedule before sars . keith_bradsher ( nyt )

the department of defense has identified 2 , 105 american service members who have died since the start of the iraq_war . it confirmed the deaths of the following americans yesterday hasse , donald j. , 28 , sgt . , army wichita falls , tex . first battalion , 13th armor . mills , jerry w . jr . , 23 , sgt . , army arkansas city , kan . first battalion , 13th armor . snyder , joshua d. , 20 , cpl . , marines hampstead , md . second marine division . the struggle for iraq.

lead two new studies have provided the strongest evidence yet that many people become obese more because their bodies burn calories too slowly than because they eat too much . two new studies have provided the strongest evidence yet that many people become obese more because their bodies burn calories too slowly than because they eat too much . the findings suggest a physiological explanation of why obesity tends to run in families . they indicate that obesity prone people tend to inherit low rates of metabolism , the process by which the body transforms food into energy , and that this largely accounts for their unusual weight gains . the studies , which followed infants and adults over a year or more , found that those with the slowest metabolisms were far more likely to become overweight . food that the body did not transform into energy was stored as body_fat . results cause excitement the studies did not rule out the possibility that some people with normal metabolic rates gain weight simply because they eat too much . experts define obesity as a body weight that is at least 20 percent above what is considered the ideal body weight for a particular height . in the new studies , many of the subjects became even heavier than that . the researchers believe that their results may apply to moderately overweight people as well as those who are obese . this week , as word of the new results spread in the scientifc community , obesity researchers expressed growing excitement . for decades , experts have debated whether obesity is mainly a problem of overeating or low metabolism . but the data were too muddled for clear conclusions . papers called 'sophisticated' ''this is really very important , '' said dr . phillip gorden , director of the national institute of diabetes , digestive , and kidney diseases in bethesda , md . ''the whole area of obesity research was rather a morass with a lot of discussion and little information . i am very excited about this research . '' the new papers ''are sophisticated and well done , '' said dr . m . r . c . greenwood an obesity researcher at vassar college in poughkeepsie , n.y . ''there are not the technical criticisms of earlier papers , '' she added . ''obese people are born with a handicap , '' said dr . jules hirsch , a physician who studies obesity at rockefeller_university in new york city . just like people born with other handicaps , obesity prone people will have to learn to live with theirs and correct for it , he added . exercise and reduced consumption can help fight obesity , he said , but the battle is inevitably a constant and difficult one . different method from past the studies , published in today 's issue of the new england journal of medicine , are of indians living in the southwest and of infants in england . unlike most previous studies that compared fat people and those with normal weight at one particular time , these followed the same subjects before and after they gained weight . ''we have shown for the first time that slow metabolic rates are important in obesity , '' said dr . eric ravussin of the national_institutes_of_health office in phoenix and the director of the study in the southwest . ''people who become obese have low metabolic rates to begin with . '' ''we were surprised by our results , '' said dr . susan b . roberts of the dunn nutrition unit in cambridge , england and the massachusetts_institute_of_technology in cambridge , mass . dr . roberts , who directed the infant study , added , ''the general feeling that obese people eat too much pervades obesity research . '' most of tribe is obese dr . ravussin 's study focused on pima indians in arizona , who are extremely likely to gain weight . by their early 20 's , as much as 80 to 85 percent of the pima population is obese , dr . ravussin said . to study the relationship between calories burned and obesity , dr . ravussin and his colleagues measured how many calories 95 pima indian men and women , whose weights averaged 210 pounds , burned in 24 hour periods . since the indians stayed in a small room during the measuring periods , the calories they burned had little to do with conscious exercise and were more related to involuntary or unconscious movements . the researchers kept track of the subjects for two years . they found that those who later gained the most weight had , in the first test , burned only 80 calories fewer per day than was normal for their body sizes . the subjects burned from 1 , 930 calories to 2 , 625 in the period . dr . ravussin calculated that using 80 calories a day less than usual would lead to a weight gain of nine pounds a year . the scientists also measured 126 other subjects for the rates at which they burned calories while at rest . after keeping track of the subjects for four years , dr . ravussin and his colleagues again found that those with the lowest metabolic rates were most likely to gain weight . food intake not measured the researchers found similar 24 hour metabolic rates among family members , in agreement with previous studies showing that a tendency to become obese is inherited . dr . ravussin and his colleagues have no information on whether the indians who gained weight were also eating more . even so , dr . ravussin said , the metabolism data clearly account for a large share of their weight gains . in a separate study , dr . roberts and her colleagues studied 6 babies born to thin women and 12 born to overweight women . when the babies were 3 months old and living at their homes , the researchers measured how many calories they burned over a seven day period . about half the babies born to the obese mothers burned nearly 21 percent fewer calories than the other babies . the babies who burned the fewest calories were overweight by the time they were 1 year old , while those with higher metabolic rates were not . dr . roberts said the babies who became obese ate no more than those who did not . she suspects that the babies who became obese burned fewer calories because they moved less . ''we are left with the problem of explaining why , '' she said . metabolism changes noted dr . hirsch of rockefeller_university , who , with a colleague , dr . rudolph leibel , wrote an editorial accompanying the two articles in the new england journal of medicine , said he had found that obese people tend to have average rates of metabolism when they are fat . but once they lose weight , their metabolisms become unusually low , which makes it difficult to avoid regaining weight . scientists have debated whether such formerly obese people had low metabolism as a consequence of their dieting because their bodies had somehow adjusted to food deprivation or whether the dieting had nothing to do with the change . the new studies indicate that dieting was not what slowed such people 's metabolism , dr . hirsch said . dr . ravussin said the next step was for researchers to find the biochemical reason why some people have slow metabolisms . once the biochemistry is understood , he said , ''we can try to influence the biochemistry with drugs . '' health.

a critic 's notebook article yesterday about growing interest in photography at new york city museums misstated the closing date for an exhibition of the new photography collection of the whitney_museum_of_american_art . it runs through feb . 14 , not feb . 21 .

former vice_president al_gore waded back into presidential politics yesterday with a speech accusing the bush_administration of having promoted ''false impressions'' about the need to go to war in iraq and to cut taxes . mr . gore , speaking at new york_university before more than 500 people invited by a political advocacy_group and the campus chapter of the college democrats , said mr . bush had engaged in a pattern of distortion when it came to foreign , economic and environmental policy . ''the president 's mishandling of and selective use of the best evidence available on the threat posed by iraq is pretty much the same as the way he intentionally distorted the best available evidence on climate_change , and rejected the best available evidence on the threat posed to america 's economy by his tax and budget proposals , '' mr . gore said . the speech was mr . gore 's first major policy address since he announced in december that he would not run for president in 2004 . yesterday , he said again that he would not enter the campaign , but the timing of the speech as the campaign season heats up raised eyebrows in democratic circles . two weeks ago , mr . gore asked moveon . org , an internet based advocacy_group that protested the war , to organize the event as a way for him to address the direction of the country , his assistants and officials at moveon . org said . ''he did make clear he was not going to run , but his feeling was there was sentiment not being put in words in terms of patterns and practices of the bush_administration and he felt he was in position to make that case , '' said eli pariser , the international campaigns director of moveon . org . ''some of the candidates have to be more guarded . '' an adviser said mr . gore was not seeking to ''take oxygen'' from the candidates or to criticize them but ''to provide a road map and direction on some issues he feels are appropriate . '' mr . gore devoted two lines of praise for the candidates , none by name , toward the end of his 40 minute speech . ''i am not going to join them , '' mr . gore said . ''but later in the political cycle i will endorse one of them . '' for someone who is now a college lecturer and business consultant , the appearance created a fair amount of political buzz former gov . mario m . cuomo of new york said on a radio show on wednesday that mr . gore should get in the race and it had all the trappings of a campaign event . nearly 100 members of the national and international news_media registered to cover it . mr . gore seemed to relish the opportunity to step from the sidelines and assess the opponent who defeated him in the bitterly_contested 2000 election . and his language was generally harsher than that of the democratic contenders . ''too many of our soldiers are paying the highest price for the strategic miscalculations , serious misjudgments and historic mistakes that have put them and our nation in harm 's way , '' mr . gore said . he credited mr . bush for having removed saddam_hussein but lamented what he called the lack of ''honesty and integrity'' in the debate leading to the war . he noted that no nuclear_weapons had been found in iraq and no direct link between mr . hussein and al_qaeda established . he suggested that a hidden motivation for the war was securing access to oil . after musing aloud about whether mr . bush 's advisers had steered him wrong , mr . gore said , ''i 've just about concluded that the real problem may be the president himself and that next year we ought to fire him and get a new one . '' he called on mr . bush to ' 'rein in'' attorney_general john_ashcroft and the ''gross civil_rights abuses'' he said were taking place under the patriot act . he likened a proposed defense_department surveillance program to george orwell 's ''1984 . '' a white_house spokeswoman , addressing reporters near mr . bush 's ranch near crawford , tex . , dismissed mr . gore 's complaints . americans , said the spokeswoman , claire_buchan , know ''the president 's commitment to the security of the united_states and to winning the war on terror and to securing our economic security . '' christine iverson , a spokeswoman for the republican national committee , said mr . gore 's record on terrorism was less than perfect . ''it 's almost as if he were not vice_president when the terrorists attacked the u.s.s . cole , military barracks overseas and the world trade center for the first time , '' ms . iverson said , referring to the 1993 bombing . four democratic candidates former governor howard_dean of vermont , senator john_kerry of massachusetts , senator john_edwards of north_carolina and senator bob_graham of florida issued statements praising the speech .

" have you tried the cheese yet ? " asks the man in the little cap , strolling up to the table . " the cheese man here is the best . " " who 's that ? " we ask . " me , " he says , depositing a plate on the table . he points to a leaf wrapped number and launches into a lyrical description laced with words like violets , oak , black raspberry and leather . the flavors of the cabrales , a blue veined spanish cheese , bounce around in your mouth long after the cheese is gone , and you find yourself wondering if this really is the best cheese you 've ever tasted or if you have just seen some great salesmanship . salesmanship is strong at mad . 61 . the waiter mentions " my special soup , " describing the lobster enriched white bean with the proprietary air of a man who has spent hours over a hot stove . he waxes enthusiastic about the wine list " you 're sure you wo n't have just a little taste ? you know the list is sponsored by the wine spectator see , ordering is easy you can just look at the spectator 's rating and order by the numbers . " this entrepreneurial_spirit is visible in the market at the restaurant 's perimeter , too , where people crowd , jostling for the bread , the olive_oil , the charcuterie . no retailing opportunity has been wasted . other restaurants may go for the calm oasis effect , but during the daytime , mad . 61 tries hard to live up to its name . people pour through all three entrances , creating a constant bustle . well dressed shoppers flood down the stairs from barneys new york and more of them peer over the railing from the perfume counters upstairs . others stand at the espresso counter , staring frankly at your food , or sit at the bar lazily sipping wine . mad . 61 makes you feel you 've wandered into the town_square of a particularly chic city there 's even the obligatory fountain . you may be indoors , but it has all the excitement of an outdoor cafe . the food is as interesting as the atmosphere . in his latest venture , pino luongo ( le madri , coco pazzo , etc . ) set out to redefine department_store dining . and he enlisted a few of his friends . the chef , john schenk ( west_broadway , gotham bar and grill ) , is producing his trademark sky high food while the executive chef , marta pulini ( le madri ) , oversees the italian aspect of the menu . steve jenkins , who has been everywhere , is in charge of the cheese . meanwhile , tony fortuna ( his most recent credit is lutece ) , manages to keep everything spinning . it could be too many cooks it is not . somehow the whole thing comes together into one exhilarating experience . eating here is fun and the food is terrific . the best things on the menu , in my opinion , are the salads and the pizzas . the latter are thin crusted disks , and i 've liked them all . the margarita is simple and satisfying . the exotic double crusted white version , filled with melted robiola cheese , is so drenched in truffle oil that the perfume can be detected halfway across the room . the salads are filled with color and texture and the surprise of unexpected combinations . i particularly like the warm skate salad , flat buttery pieces of fish set next to crunchy nuggets of chickpeas , crowned by a frizz of fried carrots and surrounded with bright green dots of cilantro vinaigrette . all green and orange and yellow , the dish is as vivid as an abstract painting . tomato and feta salad is pretty , too , the red and white punctuated by black beans that dance across the plate through scattered bits of scallion and thyme . in the grilled shrimp salad , giant shrimp are heaped into a tower in the middle of the plate , surrounded by clumps of corn cut from the cob , bits of avocado and bright pink ruffles of seaweed . the salads are all so generous you find yourself wondering why anybody would order an entree . probably because they ca n't resist the braised rabbit with its soft polenta and its deliciously bitter broccoli rape , or the grilled steak with its crown of onion rings . or the comforting appeal of sauteed trout snuggled into a bed of collard greens with soft pillows of gnocchi all around . on the other hand , grilled smoked_salmon is totally resistible , as is roasted monkfish , which is very dry . i 've also been unimpressed with the pasta i 've tried spaghetti with roasted tomatoes was salty . strozzapretti ( when you see the shape of these large gnocchi you 'll understand why they are called " priest stranglers " ) were so doughy they overwhelmed the delicious pancetta and arugula with which they were tossed . " dessert ? " the waiter is selling again . " just a taste ? the angel food cake with berries is so light you 'll hardly notice that you 're eating it . " who could resist this pitch ? the cake is light , so light that you 're not sorry you ordered it , even when that waif like woman walks by wrapped in a dress that is barely there . at night the restaurant is a different place . when the hordes of happy shoppers go home , a cover is drawn across the ceiling and you suddenly notice the sleek sophistication of the room and the coziness of the seats . the sales pitch gives way to sweetly efficient service , and an aura of calm descends upon the restaurant . the menu barely changes the two notable additions are the braised lamb and the grilled veal chop but this newly quiet room offers the perfect opportunity to contemplate a bottle of wine and what the menu calls " cheese for meditation . " that 's when you 'll discover that even without steve jenkins there to brag about it , this really is just about the best cheese you 've ever eaten . mad . 61 10 east 61st_street ( there is also an entrance through barneys new york ) , manhattan , ( 212 ) 833 2200 . atmosphere urban sophistication . service smooth , friendly and professional . recommended dishes shrimp salad , skate salad , tomato and feta salad , grilled squid stuffed with couscous , grilled octopus salad , white pizza , braised rabbit , grilled steak with onion rings , sauteed trout , braised lamb , veal chop , cheese plates . wine broad , interesting , generally well priced list with wines available by the glass and by the taste . price range lunch appetizers 5 . 50 to 8 . 00 , pastas and pizza 10 . 50 to 13 . 50 , main courses 14 to 18 dinner appetizers 6 . 50 to 8 . 50 , pizza and pasta 12 . 50 to 18 , main courses 16 to 27 . credit_cards all major cards . hours lunch 11 30 a.m . to 3 30 p.m . daily dinner , 5 30 to 10 30 p.m . daily . wheelchair accessibility excellent . what the stars mean ( none ) poor to satisfactory good very good excellent extraordinary ratings reflect the reviewer 's reaction primarily to food , with ambiance and service taken into consideration . menu listings and prices are subject to change .

lead the michigan_state retirement system , which holds 8.8 million shares of stock in the general_motors_corporation , will vote against a proposal to increase the pensions of the company 's retiring chairman , roger b . smith , and 3 , 350 executives by 41 . 6 million , state officials said yesterday . the michigan_state retirement system , which holds 8.8 million shares of stock in the general_motors_corporation , will vote against a proposal to increase the pensions of the company 's retiring chairman , roger b . smith , and 3 , 350 executives by 41 . 6 million , state officials said yesterday . ''we 're not convinced that this is the best use of 42 million , '' said robert a . bowman , the state treasurer , who added that the company should consider using the money to raise salaried workers' pensions or to modernize its plants . the michigan pension_fund includes retirement plans for 500 , 000 state employees . officials at some financial_institutions that hold large blocs of g.m . shares , like fidelity_investments in boston , and the windsor fund , also said they had been disturbed by the proposal and might vote against it . the 18 billion michigan fund supported g.m . management in the past , but mr . bowman said he disagreed with the pension proposal . he added that he had not been under any political pressure to vote his shares against the company . approval unnecessary a spokesman for g.m . said , ''each individual shareholder has a right to vote as he sees appropriate . '' the pension proposal is being submitted for shareholder approval even though g.m . does not require it . even if a majority of shareholders votes it down , the company 's board of directors can approve the pension increase . the g.m . proposal would increase the annual pension payout of mr . smith , who is to retire in august , to about 1 . 25 million from the current 700 , 000 . a spokeswoman at fidelity_investments in boston , which owns 4.5 million shares , would not disclose how the mutual_fund organization planned to vote its shares . but an executive at the company said the firm would likely vote against the proposal , because it was similar to others opposed by edward c . johnson , fidelity 's chairman . john neff , portfolio_manager of the windsor fund , which owns 5.6 million shares of g.m . stock , said that he would likely vote against the company 's proposal , although he had not made a final decision . ''it strikes me as a master stroke of poor timing , '' he said , referring to the possibility of labor negotiations . in contrast , last week a consultant to institutional_investors recommended that his clients support the proposal . institutional shareholder services , a washington firm that specializes in shareholder issues , said the proposal was ''not unreasonable , '' said andrew smith , a senior analyst with the firm .

the nation 's senior auditor said today that the banking industry might be headed for a large taxpayer_bailout . some members of congress and analysts of the nation 's commercial and savings bank industry have made such warnings before . but the prediction by the comptroller_general , charles a . bowsher , is significant because he is widely considered the most credible impartial voice in government . his early assessments of the problems of savings and loan institutions and later of the huge costs in that bailout have proved prophetic . mr . bowsher , speaking to reporters after appearing before a congressional committee , did not suggest how large a bailout might be needed , but even the most pessimistic assessments have not seen the need for anything like the costly effort that is being made to salvage savings and loans . the administration estimates that the savings bailout will cost taxpayers 130 billion , but mr . bowsher has said the total could be as high as 500 billion over 40 years . replenishing the fund bailing out the banking industry would involve replenishing the government insurance fund that protects deposits and is used to cover the cost of bank failures . the fund has been battered by the growing number of large bank failures and is now at its lowest level since it was created in 1934 . mr . bowsher 's latest assessment , which follows increasingly gloomy predictions and dire numbers about the state of the banking industry and the insurance fund , did not come totally as a surprise because he had previously urged congress to provide some additional money for the fund . " the odds are strong that the taxpayers are going to end up having to pay money to shore up the insurance fund , " said representative charles schumer , democrat of brooklyn , a member of the house banking committee . " but most of congress would prefer to avoid the issue . " i think bowsher has been on target because he does n't have an ax to grind . " officials in the banking industry reacted differently to mr . bowsher 's assessment . edward yingling of the american bankers association , the largest trade group for the industry , said that if the recession ends soon , " this is a problem that can be handled by the industry , and it 's our intention to do it within the industry . " charlotte legates , a spokeswoman for the national council of savings institutions , a trade group of about 350 banks and savings associations , said " it 's not clear how bad the banking industry 's problems will be , but they will be very bad . it 's not at all clear that the banks will be able to pay back if extremely large sums of money are borrowed . " the treasury department said today , as it has before , that no taxpayer_bailout of the banking industry would be necessary if congress adopted its plan to reorganize the industry and eliminate barriers to bank expansion into new businesses and across state lines . mr . bowsher 's prediction was prompted in part by a report issued today by bank regulators that while 90 percent of the nation 's savings and commercial_banks posted profits for the first three months of this year , the total size of banks with troubled loans had increased significantly , to 418 billion , from 399 . 7 billion less than three months ago . on monday , l . william_seidman , chairman of the federal_deposit_insurance_corporation , once again raised his estimate of losses to the fund that protects bank deposits , to as much as 23 . 1 billion over the next 18 months , up from 14 billion . mr . seidman said today that most of the losses were more likely to occur in 1992 , but denied that regulators were postponing the closing of ailing banks because the fund was so low . the timing and political content of mr . bowsher 's remarks are noteworthy . in april he called on congress to impose cash assessments on the banking industry to shore up the insurance fund with 15 billion in cash . neither the bankers nor congress have rallied to this call , and it has also been denounced by the bush_administration and senior regulators . by raising the specter of a bank bailout , mr . bowsher was reminding congress and the white_house that he sounded similar warnings in the 1980 's on savings and loans . the bank fund has been depleted by a growing number of large bank failures , the latest of which was the bank of new england , whose failure in january could ultimately cost the fund 2 . 5 billion . worried about the imminent insolvency of the bank insurance fund , the bush_administration earlier this year asked congress to overhaul the banking system and permit regulators to borrow up to 70 billion to protect depositors and shut down bankrupt institutions . the package threatens to become bogged down in congress in the next few weeks , and today president_bush met with senior democrats and republicans from the house to push his legislation . treasury officials have said the prospective loans to the insurance fund will be repaid from industry contributions and the sale of assets from the failed banks . but mr . bowsher told reporters after appearing before a congressional committee that " it is far from certain " that the government would be repaid under the administration 's proposal . " some people have given the impression that treasury 's loans will all be repaid , " mr . bowsher said . " i do n't think that it is a foregone conclusion that they will be repaid . " in an interview this evening , mr . bowsher said he could not estimate how much a bank bailout would ultimately cost taxpayers . " i ca n't quantify how much it will cost because we ca n't quantify how much the insurance fund will actually be borrowing , " he said . " the regulators and treasury have not been forthcoming with what they expect to borrow . but i do n't think we should kid ourselves into thinking that the taxpayers will ultimately not be called upon . " mr . seidman had based his original estimates on a " short and shallow " recession and turnaround in the economy by summer . the consensus of government and private economists is that the economy is fulfilling this prediction and is in the process of pulling out of the recession . a real_estate recession asked at a news conference about the fact that he had revised his prediction about the banks despite the apparent recovery of the economy , mr . seidman said " what we 're finding out is that there are two recessions . one is the general recession and the other is the real_estate recession . we have not yet seen enough recovery in the real_estate recession and that has the most important effect on the banks . we simply have not seen a recovery yet that is affecting the banking industry . " for the first three months of this year , the nation 's 12 , 246 commercial_banks posted profits of about 5 . 7 billion , compared with 1 . 1 billion in the prior quarter and 6 . 2 billion in the first quarter of 1990 . the 463 federally_insured savings banks posted losses of 170 million for the first quarter , compared with a loss of 1 . 2 billion in the fourth_quarter of last year and a loss of 257 million for the first quarter of 1990 . assets at troubled institutions continued to grow over the first three months of this year more rapidly than the two cushions used to absorb losses the amount of capital banks have raised and the amount they have placed in reserve in anticipation of losses . the f.d.i.c . said that troubled loans grew by 7 . 2 billion at the same time that capital increased by only 4 . 4 billion and reserves shrank by almost 500 million . the actual value of the bank insurance fund is in dispute . mr . seidman has said the fund was worth about 8 . 4 billion at the end of last year . but mr . bowsher has said the fund is " virtually insolvent " because of the likely number of bank failures . mr . seidman said there was little sign that the commercial real_estate markets would turn around soon , and as a result , he expected 100 more bank failures from now to the end of 1992 over his earlier estimate of about 340 banks . greenspan more optimistic a slightly more optimistic outlook on the commercial real_estate outlook was suggested today by alan_greenspan , chairman of the federal_reserve_board . questioned at a hearing of the house banking committee , mr . greenspan said that one indication that the markets might be turning around was that regulators had been noticing " the beginnings of what we call bottom fishing " by investors purchasing commercial property . in his testimony before the senate banking committee , mr . bowsher suggested that congress consider separating into two posts the functions of chairman of the f.d.i.c . and chairman of the resolution_trust_corporation , which oversees the savings bailout . mr . seidman , who under the law setting up the rescue effort holds both positions , is expected to step down this fall , and mr . bowsher said that might be an opportune time for the change . the committee was given a report today by the general_accounting_office that detailed a host of problems at the trust corporation , which are expected to add billions of dollars to the overall costs of the bailout . on monday , resolution trust reported that it had lost 6 . 4 billion more than anticipated for 1990 , primarily because of a higher than estimated loss in fees to contractors and the sharp discounts offered for sales of assets including loans , real_estate and " junk_bonds . " the report prompted some lawmakers to suggest that congress completely overhaul resolution trust when it considers providing new funds for the agency in the next few months . but mr . bowsher cautioned against making too dramatic a change , saying that after two years , the trust corporation had made some progress in setting up a system for seizing insolvent savings associations and disposing of their assets .

an experimental program intended to help impoverished new york city public_school students get a private_school education by giving them vouchers is being extended into a second year , nearly doubling the number of children served , officials said yesterday . this fall , the program provided vouchers for 1 , 200 public_school students to go to private or religious schools , at a cost of about 6 million in private donations , largely from foundations and wall_street corporations . next year , the program will be enlarged by 1 , 000 students , who will be selected from the city 's 14 school_districts with the lowest reading scores , where the demand for vouchers has been the highest , the officials said . bruce kovner , chairman of the school_choice scholarships foundation , which runs the program , said the second year of vouchers was expected to cost 4 . 6 million , which has not yet been raised . mr . kovner said it was too early to tell whether the first class of voucher recipients was doing better in private_school than in public . but mayor rudolph w . giuliani said he believed that last year 's rise in reading scores in the city was in part a result of competition between public and private schools spurred by the vouchers . ''i believe that i can trace in part some of the turnaround in the performance of the public_school system to the cardinal 's announcement of wanting to do this , '' mayor giuliani said yesterday . ''i think the public_school system is being challenged to do better . that is exactly what we should do with it , not accept it the way it is . '' the voucher program originated when mayor giuliani took up a longstanding challenge by the roman_catholic archdiocese of new york , headed by john_cardinal_o'connor , which had offered to take in some of the worst public_school students , in part to show that catholic schools could give them a better education . schools_chancellor_rudy_crew has been cool to the effort , saying it is his job to champion public schools , not private . the vouchers provide 1 , 400 a year over three years for elementary_school students . some parochial schools cost as much as 2 , 000 to 2 , 500 , a big gap for poor families . school_choice scholarships foundation officials released a preliminary statistical profile yesterday of the children who are participating . they plan to do a long term study comparing children who received the vouchers with those rejected . the data show that over all , the vouchers were given to poor families with an average income of 9 , 634 . students who received vouchers came from families that were somewhat more affluent than the families of rejected students the families of accepted students were also somewhat less likely to receive food_stamps , welfare or medicaid , and the mothers had slightly more education . critics have suggested that the program would skim the best students from impoverished public schools . but foundation officials said it was just as likely that the poorest students could not afford even the vouchers because the 1 , 400 provided by the vouchers might fall short of the actual cost of tuition , uniforms or books . the vast majority of the winners are black ( 44 percent ) or hispanic ( 47 percent ) 5 percent were white . asked if they were satisfied with the level of parental_involvement in their children 's public schools , many more families who rejected scholarships said they were very satisfied ( 21 . 1 percent ) than those who accepted them ( 11 . 2 percent ) . applications for next year 's voucher program are available starting today , officials said .

after a rest day at the track and field trials , carl_lewis will make another attempt wednesday night to qualify for the olympic team in the long_jump , while michael johnson begins his quest for a historic double victory in the sprints . lewis , who finished last in the 100 meters last saturday after suffering leg cramps , will challenge mike powell , the world record holder at 29 feet 4 1 2 inches , and mike conley , the 1992 olympic triple_jump champion , in the long_jump final . lewis has won three gold medals in the olympic long_jump , but he jumped only 26 4 1 4 during monday 's qualifying_round , sixth best among the 12 jumpers advancing to the finals . " i think it 's important to jump well early and have that confidence , " said lewis , who believes that a 28 foot jump would qualify for a spot on the team . johnson is attempting to become the first man to win the 200 and 400 meter sprints at the olympics . he won both events at the 1995 world_championships . he appears invincible in wednesday 's 400 final , having won 52 consecutive races in the event since 1989 . also in the field are butch reynolds , the world record holder at 43 . 29 seconds , and quincy watts , the 1992 olympic champion . the 200 final is sunday . olympics.

to the editor re ''russian plutonium research raises nuclear questions'' ( jan . 25 ) as director of los_alamos_national_laboratory , i was disturbed by the comments of dr . matthew d . mckinzie about the los_alamos analysis of russian plutonium experiments . first , no evidence from the russian research or any other source suggests the american nuclear stockpile will age more rapidly than previously believed . the russian experiments on plutonium decomposition demonstrated reactions that take centuries to complete roughly 11 , 000 years at room temperatures . this is hardly evidence of ''rapid aging . '' dr . mckinzie argues that plutonium instability could cut the lifetimes of weapon cores significantly . in fact , the department of energy and its laboratories have never found any such decomposition over the past 30 years of rigorous studies . the united_states' stockpile surveillance program examines any changes , however minute , that may occur in aging components . in addition , enhanced surveillance programs focus on predicting the lifetimes of weapon components . we have thoroughly analyzed the russian work and continue to be confident in the stockpile 's reliability . the russian findings do not change our expectations for the lifetimes of weapons cores . the value of the russian research to our fundamental understanding of plutonium behavior is significant . we intend to continue our scientific studies to better understand the complex behavior of plutonium . but what is most significant is how this and similar international scientific collaborations can enhance global nuclear security . dr . john c . browne los_alamos , n.m .

lead the messages in dispute were secretly exchanged 17 years ago between henry a . kissinger , president_nixon 's national_security adviser , and kenneth rush , the united_states ambassador to west_germany . the messages in dispute were secretly exchanged 17 years ago between henry a . kissinger , president_nixon 's national_security adviser , and kenneth rush , the united_states ambassador to west_germany . they concerned talks that mr . rush held in 1971 with the soviet ambassadors in east_berlin and bonn about a nascent four power agreement on easing tensions in berlin . on white_house instructions , mr . rush sent the messages through a secretive ''back channel'' to keep the state_department in the dark about the highly sensitive , ultimately successful berlin talks , at which he was the chief american negotiator . eleven years later , when mr . rush retired as ambassador , he dutifully deposited the 59 documents , mostly his messages to mr . kissinger , at the state_department . then , two years ago , he began a quest to have the documents declassified for possible publication . after all , he noted , the material was known not only to the russians , but ''the full substance'' of the talks had been disclosed by mr . kissinger in his book ''white_house years . '' but the national_security_council and state_department refused to release the documents to mr . rush . so yesterday , mr . rush , who once taught law to richard_nixon at duke_university , resorted to his first profession and filed suit in the federal court in washington to have the cables declassified and given to him . washington talk briefing.

this 30 second radio advertisement by george w . bush 's presidential campaign is running in south_carolina , which has its primary on feb . 19 . the script south_carolina 's attorney_general , charlie condon , says ''the charleston union riot reminds us why south_carolina is a right to work state . unfortunately , big labor comes out a big winner in john_mccain 's campaign_finance plan . senator strom_thurmond says it would be disastrous for conservatives . almost every conservative senator opposes it . ''the mccain plan curtails free_speech rights of individuals and citizens groups , limiting what they can do in elections . but it does not prohibit union bosses from taking mandatory dues from working people and spending them to elect liberal_democrats . that 's not right . ''mccain proudly stood with bill bradley to tout his plan . it tells us something that bradley , clinton , gore , kennedy and the liberal media all support the mccain plan . the mccain plan would give union bosses and the liberal media more control over elections by restricting first amendment rights of individuals and citizens groups . those are not south_carolina values . '' accuracy the commercial paints with a broad_brush . it correctly notes that senator john_mccain 's proposed legislation for changing campaign financing does not include a ''paycheck protection'' provision that would prohibit labor_unions from taking the mandatory union dues of workers to spend millions on political activities and organizing that benefit democrats primarily . but mr . mccain 's plan would regulate the so called soft_money contributions to political_parties from labor_unions , just as it would regulate such donations from corporations and individuals . scorecard in the course of a legitimate critique of mr . mccain 's plan , the commercial deftly , and cynically , evokes as many conservative buzzwords and liberal bogeymen as will fit into half a minute . the clear goal , a glimpse into part of mr . bush 's strategy for winning south_carolina , is to rally the loyal republicans on the right , a significant slice of the state 's primary pie . mr . bush is clearly counting on them . frank bruni the 2000 campaign the ad campaign.

lead mcorp , the second largest banking company in texas , is following a dicey strategy in trying to outlast the ebbing turmoil in the southwest economy . but internal battles among regulators in washington , and judicial rulings needed to sort them out , will ultimately decide mcorp 's fate . major creditors of mcorp , the second largest banking company in texas , is following a dicey strategy in trying to outlast the ebbing turmoil in the southwest economy . but internal battles among regulators in washington , and judicial rulings needed to sort them out , will ultimately decide mcorp 's fate . major creditors of mcorp have said privately that they would file lawsuits against the banking company if it agrees to an anticipated demand from the federal_reserve to bolster the capital in the sick units among its 26 subsidiary banks . faced with this prospect , mcorp is ready to fight the fed , whose action is expected any day . courts have never upheld the fed 's power to force such an action . experts familiar with mcorp said the holding_company was prepared to seek court protection from creditors immediately through a voluntary bankruptcy proceeding if and when the federal_reserve order arrived . lawyers and bank analysts say that a court finding against the federal_reserve would raise serious questions about the purpose of bank holding_companies . it would also be a direct blow to the federal_reserve 's role in regulating national banks , they said . ''what is occurring in mcorp has never , never happened before , '' said jay h . lustig , a bond specialist at drake capital securities inc . in santa_monica , calif . ''the federal_reserve_board is faced with decisions it has never had to deal with before . '' last month , mcorp acknowledged that it needed federal aid , which analysts estimate would total about 1 billion , in order to recapitalize its ailing banks . under a planned recapitalization , mcorp said it would use 400 million it has retained in its reserves , the 1 billion in federal aid and another 400 million in private capital it said it could raise to restore its network to health . since oct . 21 , mcorp has halted payments of debt totaling 466 million to preserve its reserve funds . gene h . bishop , mcorp 's chairman , also offered to resign if that would secure the f.d.i.c . 's endorsement of the recapitalization plan , according to those familiar with the lengthy talks between mcorp executives and regulators . plan received cooly but the agency has been cool to the bishop plan . l . william_seidman the , chairman of the f.d.i.c. , insists that mcorp support its ailing banks with additional capital while the agency considers offers from other bidders to buy mcorp 's banks . the f.d.i.c . is required by law to seek the lowest cost solution to mcorp 's troubles . ''it 's a classic standoff , '' said a texas bank analyst who asked not to be identified . ''no one knows what the answer to it is . '' the most likely bidders for mcorp banks are major banking companies outside texas , like wells_fargo . mbank dallas and mbank houston , which hold 11 billion of mcorp 's 18 . 7 billion in assets , are considered to be its sickest units . many others are profitable . a bankruptcy filing by mcorp would force the courts to make new rulings related to the rights of creditors , stockholders and regulatory agencies and to settle major turf battles among the regulators . bank holding_companies usually enter bankruptcy with few resources available for transferring new capital to aid subsidiaries . most are corporate shells with huge debts and few assets , with subsidiary banks liquidated or under regulatory control . and in most cases , stockholders are wiped out and creditors recover little . mr . seidman , meanwhile , is unfazed by the prospect of mcorp 's bankruptcy . ''what is going on here is a very fundamental change of how we are looking at the banking system , '' he said in an interview today . ''one of the ways for the directors of mcorp , who are caught in the middle , to determine who 's right is to go into bankruptcy and let a court decide . '' people familiar with mcorp 's talks with regulators said officials at the federal_reserve were in a quandary about how their ' 'source of strength'' rule the concept that holds holding_companies must buttress sick banks with capital would fare in the courts . a spokesman at the federal_reserve declined to discuss the issue . congress gave the federal_reserve authority to govern bank holding_companies in 1957 . direct regulation of national banks is under the office of the comptroller of the currency . the f.d.i.c. , which insures_deposits up to 100 , 000 , is the rescuer , liquidator or broker of ailing banks . f.d.i.c . vs . the fed mr . seidman contends that holding_companies are unnecessary , and he has been at odds with the fed over the issue for months . recently , the federal_reserve blocked his attempt to broaden powers of the f.d.i.c . in cases when it provides aid to unhealthy banks , preventing him from taking such action against mcorp . the main consitutional issue that would be raised by mcorp 's defiance of a federal_reserve order is does the federal_reserve have authority to tell private corporations how to expend resources ? put another way , is an order to transfer capital to subsidiary banks an unlawful seizing of private_property ? bond traders and other speculators holding mcorp notes cheered last week when mr . bishop said publicly that there was a ''high probability'' that creditors would force mcorp into bankruptcy by nov . 21 . the speculators are primarily gambling that a bankruptcy trustee would order that mcorp senior notes now trading at 320 per face value of 1 , 000 be repaid in full . shearson_lehman_hutton inc . , the wall_street firm , underwrote the preferred_stock issue in 1985 . shearson now owns nearly all of the issue , or 117 . 5 million in face value . the investment firm had repurchased shares from investors after mcorp 's fortunes soured and has suffered huge losses from the transactions . last july , bondholders lost nearly all their holdings in the first republicbank corporation when regulators seized all of the company 's 41 subsidiary banks . they had been pledged by first republicbank 's directors as collateral earlier on a 1 billion loan from the f.d.i.c . creditors and stockholders are contesting the action by the first republicbank directors , a confrontation that mcorp directors have monitored closely . backing from shearson the f.d.i.c . has no claim on mcorp 's banks similar to the one it exercised at first republicbank . regulators also know that with shearson in mcorp 's corner they would be confronted by a well financed court battle to any course they take to seize any of the 400 million harbored by mcorp . shearson has publicly supported mcorp 's plan . some lawyers caution that speculators in mcorp debt have ignored many legal arguments that could be employed to wrestle away much of mcorp 's assets . for instance , mr . seidman could assert that much of the money protected by mcorp was created from ties with its subsidiary banks . it would follow , they said , that the regulators' claim on the 400 million at the holding_company would override those of mcorp 's creditors . ''this is an important case and no one can say how it will turn out , '' said one lawyer , who asked not to be identified . ''but there are many powers the f.d.i.c . can use . and people should remember that courts often give deference to regulators . ''

when a reporter happened upon patricia hearst shaw in the front row of an instyle magazine runway presentation on wednesday evening with her hand up the hem of a woman 's dress , mrs . hearst shaw , the former socialite , former symbionese liberation army member , former federal prisoner and sometime movie actress , gave a pert laugh . ''oh , it 's all right , '' said mrs . hearst shaw , who was straightening the dress lining . ''i 'm her mother . '' and so began another new york fashion week , the twice a year carnival , where hard core commerce meets heedless frivolity , the apparatus of hype swells to gargantuan proportions and the city seems overrun with it girls and between gigs actors and russian models bearing an uneasy resemblance to underage porn performers and with all the soldiers in that brisk modern army that toils so fearlessly in the trenches of marginal celebrity . ''do you know who 's sitting right in front of you ? '' the actor callie thorne whispered into her cellphone at the instyle party , which was called clothes we love and featured so many outfits that one was forced to conclude that the editors suffer from love addiction . ''dennis leary , '' ms . thorne hissed to a friend on her own phone across the room . moments earlier mr . leary had entered the lobby of the time warner center , transformed into a catwalk through the liberal use of mylar and fashion pixie dust . ''no alcohol or booze ? '' he asked . the booze , and plenty of it , came later at the party following the show . flutes or splits of champagne drunk through straws are never far from hand in fashion week , which officially starts today . ( and how have child_welfare authorities failed to notice the backstage guzzling by teenage models ? ) a reporter experiences the temptation to grab a tray of glasses from a passing waiter and drink until the senses are dulled to conversations in which the pressing issue is what flat boot is the right one to wear this fall . it has been said before and is worth repeating ''pr t porter , '' robert altman 's 1994 movie about the fashion business , was no parody . insiders found the depiction cartoonlike . it was . no one who has ever heard a designer describing what is generously termed inspiration can really claim that lines like the one richard e . grant uttered in the movie are that outrageous . ''it 's plastic , it 's rad , it 's pr t go go go go , '' said mr . grant 's character , who wore pancake makeup , eyeliner and a spit curl glued across his forehead . believe it or not , that person exists . and so , even when much of the nation 's attention is focused on the devastation of hurricane_katrina , there are those this week who will cling to their determination to put across the wonders of the maidenform dream bra . ( tagless , made of two way stretch foam , it has a sweetheart neckline and is available in sizes 32a to 40dd , just so you know . ) they will doggedly push the latest robb report findings on the highest end of the luxury market ( as divined by carol brodie , the publication 's chief luxury officer ) at a chelsea_piers event offering a select group ( the only kind , really ) a chance to smoke hand rolled zino cigars , to try on 1 million worth of jewelry and to ride in a grand craft mahogany runabout and a rolls royce phantom . and they will be pleased to explain to passers by who stop at the evian pop up spa on fifth avenue at 43rd_street how important indulgences like a hot stone massage using only rocks soaked in pure imported evian can be in the aftermath of tragedy . ''especially in troubled times , when people are suffering , and you are thinking of water , '' said marjan mehrkhast , an evian spa consultant , ''it 's crucial to think about your health . '' not everyone involved with fashion week is oblivious to outside events , of course . among the philanthropic tie ins for the instyle runway show was one for hurricane relief . and a number of manufacturers have quietly made donations of clothing to the hurricane 's victims . ''when these things happen , you 're forced to put fashion in perspective , '' said mary gehlhar , the fashion director of gen art , a nonprofit_organization that showcases new talent in fashion , film and the visual_arts . the gen art show , which takes place tonight , is the culmination of 10 months' work for the young designers . still , ''you realize that fashion is important to the creative life of the city , '' she added . ''it 's an important driver of the economy , it 's important to the young designers , but it 's not nearly as important as basic survival when you 've lost your home and everything you have . '' as marcia ammeen , the marketing director of neema clothing ltd . , the owner of halston and the maker of haspel men 's wear , which donated 1 , 400 pairs of trousers and 1 , 000 suits to hurricane victims , said , ''fashion to them is not anything right now , but we wanted to try and give them something decent besides jeans and t shirts to get their confidence back , go look for jobs and rebuild their lives . '' early this week diane sustendal , a style writer who now characterizes herself as formerly of new orleans , joined a group of volunteers at the tabasco company in new iberia , la . , cutting up chickens and cabbage for cole slaw to help feed hundreds of refugees camped in the local city park . ''there were ex debs next to pepper pickers , caterers next to convention planners , a university fund_raiser , a dentist and men who could drive long hauls working side by side creating what would be a hot meal to distract ourselves from our problems , '' ms . sustendal wrote by e mail . among her problems is where to live in the months until she can go back home . after they had finished cooking , ms . sustendal wrote , her small group took itself down to the local big box store to begin putting together new wardrobes to replace the clothes they had been wearing for days . what they came up with might not have been runway material . but in the mix of funky post storm prada , michael kors and the best of wal_mart 's sale rack , she and her friends experienced an unanticipated spike in optimism as they listened for news that might tell them whether their homes were ' 'safe or looted or gone . '' fashion diary.

lead in its first major acquisition greycom , the public_relations arm of grey_advertising , has bought 65 percent of sterling public_relations of london , whose annual fee income last year was more than 2 . 8 million . in its first major acquisition greycom , the public_relations arm of grey_advertising , has bought 65 percent of sterling public_relations of london , whose annual fee income last year was more than 2 . 8 million . the british shop will retain its name and management , but harriet mouchly weiss , president of the greycom international division and roger edwards , chairman of grey in britain , will join its board . john brill , chairman of sterling , will join grey 's operations group in britain . greycom 's only facility outside of new york is a los_angeles office opened a month ago . but it also has a minority position in a brussels firm . ms . mouchly weiss has let it be known she seeks to be an international public_relations power . advertising.

when the federal building at 290 broadway was completed in 1994 , one thing was missing the memorial the government promised to build marking the 18th_century african burial ground unearthed during the excavation for the building . today the federal general services administration plans to announce the five teams of architects , historians and other professionals who will compete to design and build a 2 , 000 square_foot interpretive center in the building explaining the historical and cultural significance of the lower_manhattan site . each team includes at least one prominent african_american , though that was not a requirement of the government 's request for proposals , which was issued in the fall of 1997 . the interpretive center , which is expected to cost about 1 . 7 million , will be accompanied by an exterior memorial at the site of the 415 colonial era graves , which has been designated a national historic landmark . the general services administration is conducting a competition on its design and is scheduled to announce the finalists in that contest in the fall . the center and the memorial are parts of a 15 million project that also includes scientific research at howard university on skeletal remains to determine the origins and ways of life of those buried at the site , as well as a public information and education program . once the studies at howard are concluded and the exterior memorial has been installed , the remains will be returned to the site and reinterred . before awarding the contract for the interpretive center next january , the general services administration plans to hold two forums to allow members of the public to comment on the proposals , details of which were not released . the forums are scheduled for april 8 , one at noon at the federal building , between reade and duane streets , the other at 6 p.m . at the mariner 's temple baptist church at 3 henry street . the government anticipates opening the interpretive center in the fall of 2001 . the teams with some of the principals for this project are design and production inc . , lorton , va . , whose team members include roberta washington , an architect james oliver horton , a historian at george_washington_university and director of the afro american communities project of the national museum of american history , and theresa singleton , an anthropology professor at syracuse_university . duckett and associates h . j . russell co . , atlanta , with lee baker , a professor of african american studies and anthropology at columbia_university craig vandevere , an architect , and warren barbour , an anthropologist at the state university of new york at buffalo . i.d.i . construction company , new york , with a . j . williams myers , a history professor at the state university of new york at new paltz jacqueline hamilton , an architect , and professor baker . promatech , new york , with william e . davis jr . , a former member of the new york city landmarks_preservation_commission john k . samuels 3d , an architect , and gayle t . tate , chairwoman of the african studies department at rutgers_university . studioworks u.a.i. , new york , with tony shitemi , an architect margaret washington , a history professor at cornell_university , and professor baker .

lead the supreme_court ruled today , 5 to 4 , that an indigent north_dakota child who lived 16 miles from the nearest school did not have a constitutional right to use a school_bus service without paying a state mandated fee . the supreme_court ruled today , 5 to 4 , that an indigent north_dakota child who lived 16 miles from the nearest school did not have a constitutional right to use a school_bus service without paying a state mandated fee . ''the constitution does not require that such service be provided at all , and it is difficult to imagine why choosing to offer the service should entail a constitutional obligation to offer it for free , '' justice sandra day o'connor wrote for the court . the decision reaffirmed the court 's 1973 ruling that the constitution 's guarantee of ''equal_protection of the laws'' does not give poor people any special constitutional protection against having to pay the same amounts for access to education and other basic services as do others . the 1973 decision upheld state systems of financing education through local property_taxes despite arguments that such systems discriminated against poor children because poor school_districts had less to spend for each student than wealthier districts . justices thurgood_marshall , in a dissent joined by justice william j . brennan jr . , said the decision ''continues the retreat from the promise of equal educational opportunity'' that they traced to the 1973 ruling , and ' 'demonstrates once again a callous indifference to the realities of life for the poor . '' justice john_paul_stevens filed a separate dissent , joined by justice harry a . blackmun . justice marshall said the decision was inconsistent with the court 's 1982 ruling that texas must give illegal alien children the same free public education it gives other residents . justice_o'connor wrote , ''we decline to extend the rationale of that decision to cover this case . '' justice anthony m . kennedy , the court 's newest member , joined justice_o'connor 's majority opinion today , as did chief_justice william h . rehqnuist and justices byron r . white and antonin_scalia . north_dakota law provides free school_bus transporation to children living in districts that have reorganized to broaden their tax base and improve education . only districts that have not reorganized are allowed to charge parents for the cost of busing their children to school . the law was intended in part to encourage school_districts to reorganize , or consolidate , into larger and more efficient districts by assuring people in reorganized districts they would not have to pay for bus transportation . the law was challenged by paula kadrmas of rural dickinson , n.d. , a district that had not reorganized , on the ground that the law deprived her daughter , sarita , of equal_protection of the laws because the family could not afford a 97 annual bus fee . instead of paying the fee , mrs . kadrmas drove sarita to school for a time . justice_o'connor said , ''we have no reason to doubt that genuine hardships were endured by the kadrmas family when sarita was denied access to the bus . '' but she said , ''we have previously rejected the suggestion that statutes having different effects on the wealthy and the poor should on that account alone be subjected to strict equal_protection scrutiny . '' other arguments rejected justice_o'connor also rejected arguments by the plaintiffs and by justices blackmun and scalia that even if there were no right to free school_bus transportation generally , north_dakota 's distinction between reorganized and non reorganized school_districts in determining whether school_bus fees may be charged was arbitrary . the case was kadrmas v . dickinson public schools , no . 86 7113 . other opinions today included the following social_security disability suits the court ruled , 6 to 3 , that state and federal officials may not be sued for money damages for violating the constitutional rights of people whose social_security disability benefits they cut off without due process of law . the court ruled that because congress had provided an array of remedies for people whose benefits are wrongly terminated means that federal courts may not create additional remedies . the three wrongly terminated recipients of disability benefits had received retroactive awards of benefits , but the congressional system of remedies did not provide any compensation for the hardships they endured in the periods when the benefits had been cut off , which ranged from 7 to 19 months . ''we agree that suffering months of delay in receiving the income on which one has depended for the very necessities of life cannot be fully remedied by the belated restoration of back benefits , '' justice_o'connor said . but she added that congress ''has addressed the problems created by state agencies' wrongful termination of disability benefits , '' and ''whether or not we believe that its response was the best response , congress is the body charged with making the inevitable compromises required in the design of a massive and complex welfare benefits program . '' justice brennan , in a dissent joined by justices marshall and blackmun , said the court was wrong in reading into this omission by congress an intent to prevent the courts from awarding ''full compensation for such trauma'' suffered by the victims of unconstitutional actions by federal officials . the lawsuit by the three plaintiffs' began after their benefits and those of hundreds of thousands of others had been cut off in the early 1980 's . the defendants were state and federal officials who made policy under the social_security act 's disability benefits program . the suit said the recipients' constitutionally protected due process rights had been violated . police questioning of defendants the court ruled , 5 to 4 , that law enforcement officials may interrogate defendants who have been formally charged without having a lawyer present to represent them , unless the defendants request a lawyer . the majority also held that officials need not provide any more elaborate warnings about the dangers of answering questions without counsel to formally charged defendants than are required by the court 's 1966 decision in miranda v . arizona for interrogations of arrested suspects who have not yet been charged . in the miranda decision , the court ruled that the fifth amendment privilege against self_incrimination requires the police to tell arrested suspects that they have a right to remain silent , that anything they say can be used against them , and that they have a right to have a lawyer present during any questioning . the issue the court resolved today was whether the sixth amendment right to counsel , which comes into play once a suspect has been formally charged with a crime , places any greater curbs on police interrogators or requires more elaborate warnings . justice byron r . white , holding for the majority that it did not , upheld a murder conviction based in part on incriminating statements by the defendant after he had been indicted . justice_stevens , in a dissent joined by justices brennan and marshall , argued that ''private interviews'' between law enforcement officials and defendants who have been formally charged should never be permitted . justice blackmun dissented separately on narrower grounds . ( patterson v . illinois , no . 86 7059 . ) government immunity in intentional injuries the court limited slightly the government 's immunity from liability for injuries intentionally inflicted by its employees in reinstating , 6 to 3 , a lawsuit by a couple who were fired upon by a drunk off duty navy medic near the bethesda navy hospital in maryland . justice_stevens , writing for the majority , said the government was liable because the injuries of one of the plaintiffs and damage to their car were attributable to the negligence of three naval corpsmen who found the medic in a drunken stupor brandishing a rifle but did nothing to disarm him and did not notify the authorities . justice_o'connor dissented , joined by chief_justice_rehnquist and justice_scalia . ( sheridan v . united_states , no . 87 626 . )

lead a hallmark of west_german labor negotiations in the 1980 's has been a drive by the nation 's powerful trade_unions to reduce the workweek to 35 hours , from the current average of 38 . 7 , without cutting pay . with many labor contracts in important industries expiring early next year , the debate has flared anew . a hallmark of west_german labor negotiations in the 1980 's has been a drive by the nation 's powerful trade_unions to reduce the workweek to 35 hours , from the current average of 38 . 7 , without cutting pay . with many labor contracts in important industries expiring early next year , the debate has flared anew . west_german industrial workers already put in the fewest hours and have the highest pay and second highest vacation time in the european_community . still , the workweek issue caused a seven week metalworkers' strike in 1984 that paralyzed the nation 's vital automotive sector and put a damper on what was then a fledgling economic_recovery under chancellor helmut_kohl 's center right coalition_government . that strike , germany 's longest since 1957 , was settled with a pact that included a breakthrough for labor the end of the 40 hour week . since that watershed compromise , the economy has flourished and the labor front has been relatively calm , but tensions have continued to build . the unions keep pressing their 35 hour goal , and employers' opposition has hardened . seen as jobless solution the unions see a shorter week as a cure for west_germany 's persistently high unemployment , saying it will force companies to hire more workers to recover the lost work hours . but some economists dispute this , pointing out that most companies respond to shorter weeks by adding extra shifts and overtime . and employers say a shorter week would put them at a competitive disadvantage after 1992 , when europe 's trade_barriers fall . in recent weeks the dispute has boiled over in a spate of public statements by union leaders , employers and government officials . the latest outburst was prompted by remarks of the minister for economics , helmut_haussmann , who recently suggested that politicians might have to intervene in wage talks . 'a high political task' he called preventing a further shortening of the workweek ''a high political task . '' on such questions , he said , ''the unions and the employers' associations should not be allowed to decide alone , '' and politicians must intervene . the comments by mr . haussmann , a national leader of the liberal free_democratic_party , caused considerable controversy , since putting his idea into practice would violate germany 's constitutional guarantee that contracts be independently negotiated by labor and management . mr . kohl 's government , in which the free democrats are the junior coalition partners , opposes the 35 hour week but has done so quietly . other cabinet members , notably the minister for labor and social affairs , norbert_blum , quickly distanced themselves from the idea . the economics ministry also backed away , saying that mr . haussmann ''will not mix himself in questions of wage negotiation autonomy'' but that he wished to warn of the serious consequences the agreements reached by labor and management could have for the economy . mr . haussmann , however , has continued to voice his opposition to the 35 hour week , and labor leaders and opposition politicians have responded with a flurry of attacks . debate in the bundestag in fact , mr . haussmann 's remarks were at the center of a two and a half hour debate on thursday in the bundestag , west_germany 's parliament . leaders of the opposition social_democratic_party and the environmentalist green_party denounced the idea of government intervention in labor talks and voiced their support for the 35 hour week . ''our view is that mr . haussmann has dared to trespass in an area where he has no right to be , '' said martin oertel , the deputy spokesman of the ig_metall metal workers union . ''he is trying to please his friends in industry and prepare the free democrats for the upcoming election campaign . '' with 2.6 million members , ig_metall is west_germany 's largest trade_union . it pioneered the drive for the 35 hour week . national elections will be held in the fall of 1990 . view of union spokesman hans jurgen arlt , chief spokesman for the umbrella_organization of german trade_unions , took an even dimmer view of the minister 's remarks . ''it 's not surprising that a free democrat economics minister would speak out against the 35 hour week they have done that repeatedly , '' mr . arlt said . he added ''the idea was conceived to redress mass unemployment . it first came up in negotiations in 1979 and 1980 , when the steel workers attempted to break the 40 hour_workweek and failed . '' in many industries the unions have succeeded in shortening the workweek , although 35 hours has remained an elusive goal . when new agreements already signed take effect next year , the average workweek for union members will drop to 38 . 2 hours . the iron and steel workers have the shortest week , at 36 . 5 hours , while metalworkers put in 37 hours . 7 . 5 unemployed still , unemployment , which has averaged over a million people since 1975 , has not fallen significantly . the most recent government figures show 1.7 million people unemployed , or about 7.5 percent of the work force . economists say the idea of the shorter week is largely without merit . ''i do n't think anything of the union 's argument , '' said klaus werner schatz , an economist at the institut fur weltwirtschaft in kiel . ''their arguments are simplistic , mathematically as well as economically . they ignore many aspects of the labor situation , such as the difference between hiring skilled and unskilled labor . there is a shortage of skilled labor today , even in the ruhr area . '' economic developments since 1984 have also not followed the unions' timetable , a point mr . arlt concedes , although he maintains that 300 , 000 to 400 , 000 jobs have been created and that more will follow if the 35 hour_workweek becomes the rule . the government agrees that jobs have been created , but credits its own policies and the nation 's robust economic_growth . ''employers would rather take the short term cost burden of paying more to current employees than adding full time workers , who are not easily laid off under german law when growth slows or a recession strikes , '' mr . schatz explained . employers also say further cuts in the workweek will force many industries to shift production to southern european_nations like portugal , spain or italy , where labor is cheaper and workweeks are longer . ''it is the greatest untruth that by shortening work time , jobs will be created , '' said hans peter stihl , president of the west_germany chamber of commerce . ''it 's a policy directed against the unemployed not for them . '' goal of european confederation union leaders counter that the european trade union confederation has already adopted the 35 hour week as a goal . german unions are also making it a top priority in coming contract negotiations . ''we have a three point package , '' said mr . oertel of ig_metall . ''first , we want the 35 hour_workweek in the contract , if not immediately then to be implemented sometime during the life of the contract . second , we want it in writing that there will be no work on saturdays . and the third goal is that we get a fair share of the huge profits industry has made over the last three years . '' both sides expect tough negotiations in the weeks ahead . franz steinkuhler , the combative ig_metall chairman , has already ordered his union to prepare for a strike when the current national contract expires on april 1 , 1990 . international report.

the israeli press reported today that the commander of the israeli air force has said in a magazine interview that the united_states had a secret contingency_plan in the persian_gulf_war that would have allowed the israelis to retaliate against iraq for its scud_missile attacks while american pilots kept out their way . the commander , maj . gen . avihu bin nun , is also quoted as saying that israeli pilots were ready to take off for an assault on iraq two or three times in the first week of the war that began last jan . 17 . " we were really on the verge of going , " general bin nun told the israel air force magazine in an interview that jolted military and civilian leaders today because in it the general also accuses the government of creating chaos for the armed_forces with foot_dragging and wrong decisions . it was a remarkably strong public attack by a senior officer on active_duty , and general bin nun , who is due to retire next week , quickly issued an apology after being upbraided by the israeli chief of staff , lieut . gen . ehud barak . general bin nun maintained that excerpts from the interview that appeared today in the israeli press had been taken out of context , but he did not retract them or say that the basic points were incorrect . in washington , a pentagon spokeswoman indicated that the defense_department was not aware of the contingency_plan general bin nun spoke about . " i just do n't have anything on that , " maj . janet reese , duty officer at the pentagon , said . on the question of plans for an israeli air strike against iraq , which fired 39 scud missiles at israel in the war , the air_force commander said , " we had the political echelon 's directive to be ready at a certain hour , but at the last moment we were told to cancel the mission . " the israeli government , in a gulf_war decision that still has many israelis agonizing over whether it was the right move , yielded to united_states pressure and set aside this country 's general policy of retaliating whenever attacked . to help keep the anti iraq coalition from breaking apart , it absorbed the missile attacks without any response . u.s . would clear air space it has since been said by some military experts that even if israel wanted to move against iraq , it was shackled by a lack of access to united_states_air_force codes , meaning that any raid against iraq was risky because it would have invited unintended fire from united_states planes . but general bin nun said in the interview that the americans were ready to clear iraqi air space if israel felt that reprisals were necessary . " only lately have we learned of this american contingency_plan , " he was quoted as saying . dore gold , a defense expert at the jaffee center for strategic studies at tel aviv university , said that while he had not seen the full text of the interview , it apparently " shows that the policy of restraint was very much one of israel 's choosing and did not happen just because the united_states stopped israel from retaliating . " general bin nun is not the first senior officer to make such criticism of politicians stewardship over defense policies . but the attacks almost always have come after retirement , and therefore this interview with a serving commander was considered explosive . as it turns out , the general had believed that it would not be published until after he was out of uniform , but someone leaked its contents tuesday night to israeli television and the press . " decision making processes in israel , in the area i am familiar with , are unclear and unorganized , " he was quoted as saying . " too many decisions are made late , and some are not made at all . " the israeli army does n't receive policy directives from the defense viewpoint , " he said at another point . " without them , chaos is created . we know the scenario a year after starting a big project , they come and say we have n't the budget for it . " as an example , he cited the decision in 1987 to scrap an israeli made combat plane , the lavi , after an investment of seven years and 1 . 5 billion , most of it united_states money .

lead rolls_royce p.l.c. , the aircraft engine maker , said it would eliminate up to 800 jobs at its bristol , england , plant . the cuts will be over the next two years , a company spokesman said . the plant , which employs about 8 , 000 people , makes military aircraft engines . the spokesman said the cuts were required because of the british_government 's recent cancellation of an order for 33 tornado aircraft . rolls_royce p.l.c. , the aircraft engine maker , said it would eliminate up to 800 jobs at its bristol , england , plant . the cuts will be over the next two years , a company spokesman said . the plant , which employs about 8 , 000 people , makes military aircraft engines . the spokesman said the cuts were required because of the british_government 's recent cancellation of an order for 33 tornado aircraft . company news.

a crucial communist_party meeting that is to choose the next generation of china 's leaders will convene on nov . 8 , the party announced today . such conclaves have normally been held in september or october , and the apparent delay of this 16th party congress , though only by a few weeks , has stoked the already rampant speculation about jockeying for top positions . one indisputable result is that jiang_zemin , the communist_party leader as well as the country 's president , will attend an oct . 25 summit meeting with president_bush while still wearing all his stripes . smoothing relations with the united_states has been a priority and point of pride for mr . jiang , and he clearly wants to use the october meeting to cement his status as a statesman . but it seems unlikely , some officials said here today , that the meeting with mr . bush , to take place at the american president 's ranch in texas , would be reason enough to delay the all important party congress . after all , those officials said , mr . jiang would in any case be traveling to crawford wearing his second top hat , as president , and there are no signs of serious policy differences among the current and upcoming leaders . mr . jiang , 76 , is scheduled to retire from his party position , the basis of his power , at the congress this fall . he is expected to retire from the presidency , having served the legal two terms , at the meeting of parliament next march . opinion differs as to whether he will give up his third major title , as head of the military , in march as well . some party officials theorized that the delay in the party congress became necessary because of intense haggling over future positions , especially over who will occupy the seven man standing committee of the communist_party 's politburo , which in effect rules the country . each retiring leader is said to be promoting his own prot g s a way to prolong influence as well as protect career prospects down the line within far flung personal networks . ''something has caused a delay , '' said a party official who spoke on condition of anonymity . saying he had been told early this year that the 16th congress would be held in mid october , he added , ''i think the reason has to be wrangling over personnel arrangements , especially the standing committee . '' other unresolved debates , political experts here said , might include to what extent the congress will endorse mr . jiang 's record since he took over in 1989 and what ideological status to grant his much touted theory for bringing communism in tune with modern life . if his theory is enshrined in the party constitution , mr . jiang 's influence and reputation may be secured , at least for a while . this fall 's congress has drawn special scrutiny because several top leaders are past the age of 70 and are expected to step down from their party posts . in addition to mr . jiang , who holds the top post of general secretary , they include li_peng , no . 2 in the hierarchy and head of parliament , prime_minister zhu_rongji and some other members of standing committee . the report of the date for the congress , by the new china news_agency , gave no explanation . it added , ''all preparatory work for the congress is progressing smoothly . '' vice_president hu_jintao , 59 , has long been groomed to take over the top slots . but it now appears , many diplomats say , that mr . jiang may cling to his title as chairman of the military commission . some rumors even have him angling to stay on as chief of the communist_party as well . lake waters recede by the new york times changsha , china , aug . 25 waters in swollen dongting lake in central china began a slow decline today , and hundreds of thousands of villagers who live in low lying areas , behind protective dikes , remained safe . but with rains forecast for upstream regions , officials feared that the water in the lake and the adjoining yangtze_river could remain dangerously high for days or weeks to come , and they called for continued vigilance .

prime_minister iyad_allawi said wednesday that his government would adhere to the interim_constitution agreed to in march until elections are held next year , in an effort to defuse , at least temporarily , a looming crisis with the kurdish leadership . in a statement issued by his office late in the evening , dr . allawi 's spokesman , george hada , declared the new government 's ''full commitment'' to the interim_constitution until democratic elections are held later this year or in january 2005 . the statement from dr . allawi 's office followed a threat this week by kurdish leaders to pull back from the iraqi state and possibly secede . the leaders were alarmed after officials in new york failed to include the interim_constitution in the united_nations_security_council resolution , approved tuesday , on the return of sovereignty to the iraqis . the kurds are worried that without the protections in the interim_constitution , they might lose the broad autonomy they have garnered since 1991 under american military protection . the interim_constitution recognizes the autonomy of the kurdish region and grants the kurds extraordinary powers to protect it . but the commitment made by dr . allawi will likely only postpone a solution . his statement binds the new iraqi government to the constitution only during ''the provisional period , '' until elections are held . many shiite leaders say it is at that point , when the shiites will likely hold a majority of the seats in the national_assembly , that they would remove the language that grants the kurds effective veto_power over the permanent constitution . that language was a central component in the compromise that persuaded the kurds last march to agree to the interim_constitution and to affirm a commitment to the iraqi state . the statement issued by dr . allawi 's office followed a flurry of activity involving shiite political leaders and the country 's most powerful shiite religious leader , grand_ayatollah_ali_al_sistani . iraqi officials say ayatollah sistani , who earlier this week warned the security_council against including the interim_constitution in the sovereignty resolution , tried to reassure kurdish leaders . kurdish leaders reacted_cautiously to dr . allawi 's statement . the top kurdish leaders spent much of the day discussing the future , which they have increasingly suggested may include secession . ''we are happy to see the prime_minister reaffirm his commitment , '' to the interim_constitution , said barem saleh , a senior leader of the patriotic union for kurdistan . but mr . saleh said he and other kurds were disheartened by what they regarded as a casual commitment made by many shiite leaders , who endorsed the interim_constitution last march only to announce their opposition to parts of it immediately after the signing . mr . saleh said the kurdish public , which often clamors for independence from baghdad , has also been angered by the episode . ''if a community in iraq wants to hijack the constitutional process in the name of majority_rule , this wo n't work , '' he said . ''it really smacks of a lack of interest in a viable future . '' the impasse over the interim_constitution represents the collision of the shiites' dream of majority_rule , which has been repressed for centuries , and the kurdish desire for minority_rights , often trampled in the past . the key language that worries the shiites and is so crucial to the kurds relates to the ratification of the permanent constitution . the interim_constitution says that the permanent charter will be drawn up after democratic elections , and will be put to a vote of the iraqi people . under the rules , the permanent constitution will pass on a majority_vote , unless two thirds of the voters in three of the 18 provinces reject it , in which case it will fail . three provinces have kurdish majorities . mowaffak_al_rubaie , iraq 's national security advisor and a shiite who is close to ayatollah sistani , said the dispute was deeper than just one clause . the shiite leadership , he says , believes it is wrong that an interim_constitution that was drawn up by an unelected body the iraqi_governing_council should bind the freely elected national_assembly . he suggested that the assembly would likely disregard all or parts of the document . ''you cannot control the will of the people , '' he said . ''whatever they will do , they will do . '' but dr . rubaie said he was sympathetic to kurdish fears and said shiite leaders would try over the next several months to reassure the kurds that they would not lose their autonomous status . ''i do n't believe a majority of iraqis would deny the kurds their rights of full federalism , '' he said . for his part , mr . saleh said he did not have much patience for the shiite views . the interim_constitution was unanimously_approved by the governing_council 's shiite leadership , he noted . ''when we sign something , we should mean it , '' he said . the reach of war politics.

lead treasury_financings this week will be limited to today 's auctions of new three month and six month treasury_bills . treasury_financings this week will be limited to today 's auctions of new three month and six month treasury_bills . but the lull in longer_term financings will not last long , as government securities dealers expect the treasury on wednesday to announce plans to auction two year and five year notes . those sales are expected on aug . 26 and aug . 27 , respectively . late friday , outstanding treasury_bills due in three months were trading at about 5 . 96 percent , while the six month issue was about 6 . 03 percent . the following new debt issues are scheduled for sale this week taxable monday magna group inc . , 20 million of convertible subordinated capital notes due in 1999 . edward d . jones co . tuesday longview , texas , 2 . 8 million taxable risk_management certificates of obligations due in 1988 1997 . competitive . pine island , minn . , 100 , 000 taxable tax increment unlimited tax bonds due in 1990 2002 . competitive . wednesday georgia power co . , 250 million of first mortgage bonds due in 2017 . bbb baa 1 bbb . competitive . georgia power co . , two million shares of 25 preferred_stock . bb baa 1 bbb . competitive . one day during the week csx corp . , about 190 million of secured bonds divided into 17 . 19 million due in 1993 , 18 . 909 million due in 1997 and 153 . 945 million due in 2011 . nr a 2 a . salomon_brothers inc . detroit edison co . , 400 million of general and refunding mortgage bonds divided into 200 million due in 1992 , and 200 million due in 1996 . bbb baa 2 bbb morgan_stanley co . imo delaval inc . , 150 million of senior subordinated_debentures due in 1997 . rated ba 3 by moody 's . morgan_stanley co . johnston coca_cola bottling group , 100 million of subordinated notes due in 1997 . nr b 1 bb . salomon_brothers inc . landmarks for living , 50 million of subordinated_debentures due in 1997 . nr b_2 b . smith_barney , harris_upham co . mccaw cellular communications . 400 million of senior subordinated_debentures due in 1999 . drexel burnham lambert inc . queen city broadcasting of new york inc . , 55 million of subordinated_debentures due in 1999 . nr b 3 b . goldman , sachs co . shearson_lehman cmo inc . , 200 million remic . rated aaa by standard_poor 's corp . shearson_lehman_brothers inc . source mccarthy , crisanti maffei inc . ratings mcm moody 's standard_poor 's . tax exempt tuesday gainesville , fla . , ( utility system ) , 70 million of revenue bonds . goldman , sachs co . prince_george 's county , md . , 52 . 45 million of general obligation bonds . competitive . thursday state of illinois ( build illinois sales_tax ) , 70 million of revenue bonds . competitive .

bbdo canada in toronto won the most awards at the 75th annual art directors awards_ceremony , sponsored by the art directors club in new york . at the event last week in new york , bbdo canada , a unit of the omnicom_group , won four golds for the costa_rica tourism magazine campaign and the chrysler corporation , and one silver award for the polaroid canada television campaign . goodby silverstein partners in san_francisco , also owned by omnicom , won two gold and one silver awards for isuzu motors . the best of show in advertising went to paul marciano advertising in london for the guess television campaign , and the best of show in graphic_design went to r ga digital studios in los_angeles for the title credits for the film " seven . " the media business advertising addenda.

a woman walked up to the gate of a new army and police recruitment center in tal_afar , a northern city , on wednesday and blew herself up , killing 8 people in addition to herself and wounding 57 , hospital and security officials said . the bomber , who the associated press reported was dressed in men 's clothing , struck at 10 45 a.m . outside the gate of a building that houses the new recruitment center and an american military office that processes compensation forms for iraqis , the officials said . she detonated her belt of explosives , spraying metal balls into a crowd that had gathered , awaiting a security check , they said . al_qaeda in mesopotamia , the terrorist group led by the jordanian militant , abu_musab_al_zarqawi , claimed responsibility for the attack in a posting on a web_site . the posting said the attack had been aimed at the recruitment center , which opened just five days earlier . the attack occurred as the military finished several weeks of sweeps in tal_afar , whose successes had been frequently trumpeted by iraqi officials . the suicide_bombing was the deadliest of several strikes on wednesday , which left at least 19 people dead throughout iraq . in washington , president_bush predicted more violence in iraq before the national vote on oct . 15 on a constitution , but he said the terrorists would not succeed . ''they ca n't stand elections , '' mr . bush said in the white house rose garden , where he was flanked by his top military command . ''the thought of people voting is an anathema to them . '' tal_afar , which is close to the syrian border , has long been a problem spot for the military , which says it is a gateway into the country for foreign_fighters . suicide bombers in iraq are rarely women , though there has been at least one other . during the american invasion in 2003 , a woman driving an explosive packed vehicle blew herself up near an american checkpoint in anbar_province in western iraq . in tal_afar , the bomber , in a familiar pattern , struck at the most vulnerable iraqis . saleh al qadu , the head doctor at tal_afar 's main hospital , said soldiers brought nine bodies in plastic bags to the hospital . one bag held the bomber 's head , he said . the american military said that the blast had killed 5 people and wounded 30 , and that the targets had been civilians outside its military claims office . dr . qadu said the building housed the recruitment center and the claims department . in other attacks , an explosion on wednesday in najaf in the south tore through the house of a guard for the rebellious cleric_moktada_al_sadr , killing one of the guard 's brothers and another relative , and wounding eight others . a police official said the blast occurred in the house , but sahib al amiri , an aide to mr . sadr , said a grenade had been thrown at the house from a passing car . violence against american_forces surged , with the military announcing that four soldiers had been killed in three days in attacks in falluja , west of baghdad , and safwan , near the kuwait border . in baquba , north of baghdad , a car_bomb exploded at a military checkpoint at 3 45 p.m. , killing a civilian and wounding 13 , including 8 police officers , an interior_ministry official said . scattered violence left four people dead in baghdad . at 8 a.m . a roadside_bomb that apparently was meant for a police commando unit killed a civilian . gunmen began shooting at american_forces near the ghazilia bridge in western baghdad , killing an iraqi police_officer . in sadr_city , the shiite_slum in eastern baghdad , another police_officer was killed .

anthony sylvester pitched monsignor mcclancy of queens to its first city title with a 3 2 victory yesterday over xaverian of brooklyn in the catholic high_schools athletic association championship game at yankee_stadium . the junior right hander held the defending c.h.s.a.a . champions to two singles while striking out three and walking four . sylvester retired the last 11 batters and allowed no hits over the last four innings , finishing 9 1 for the season . mcclancy finished with a 22 8 record while xaverian went 27 6 . baseball.

a picture caption on april 23 with an article about a resurgence of patriotism among chinese students misstated the location of the war_memorial shown . it is at the nanjing museum , not on the campus of nanjing university .

treasury_securities traded mostly higher in an abbreviated session yesterday , as a decline in stocks led nervous investors to seek safety in bonds . the price of the 30 year bond rose 8 32 , to 103 8 32 . the bond 's yield , which moves in the opposite direction from the price , dropped to 5 . 28 percent , from 5 . 30 percent on thursday . the treasury market closed early yesterday , two hours before the 4 p.m . closing bell of the new york stock_exchange , which might have prompted some investors to be cautious going into a long holiday weekend . markets will be closed on monday in observance of labor day . for the week , the benchmark long bond yield was down 5 basis_points , or hundredths of a percentage point . the august employment report had little impact on the market . the report showed that the return of workers following two strikes against general_motors helped swell payrolls by 365 , 000 jobs and kept the unemployment rate at 4.5 percent . anthony_chan , managing director and chief economist at the banc one investment advisors corporation in columbus , ohio , said that although the credit markets were focusing more heavily on world developments than on domestic economic data , the employment report was fairly market friendly . mr . chan said that the average nonfarm_payroll jobs gain for the months of july and august raced ahead of the first quarter average but came in well below that of the second quarter average . ''such evidence suggests that we should not expect too much further firming on the wage front in the months ahead , '' he said . he also noted that many traders were looking ahead to a speech last night by alan_greenspan , the chairman of the federal_reserve , at the university of california at berkeley . a number of traders , mr . chan said , ' 'refused to rule out the possibility that a more friendly fed posture would be revealed by the chairman . '' ''if so , his comments would certainly go a long way in coloring the path of trading'' during the next couple of trading sessions , he said . bonds were also bolstered by a strong dollar in currency trading . the markets bonds.

already , it is a landmark that soaring arch of white steel , rising above granite walls of classical beaux_arts grandeur . depicted in architect 's renderings with sunlight streaming through its sparkling glass skin , the arch brings out the primal emotions aroused by the sight of a rainbow after a storm . it may be years before this vision materializes . the 315 million needed to build it is not yet in hand . but amtrak 's proposal to resurrect pennsylvania_station from a pit beneath madison_square_garden and enshrine it within the landmark general post office building across the street has aroused more anticipation than any civic project in years . no wonder , for this project pushes some of the hottest buttons in architecture and urbanism today . public space . infrastructure . mass transit . regional_planning . but the hottest button of all is one that touches off a painful memory the destruction of the original pennsylvania_station station 30 years ago . the razing of this station , mckim , mead white 's 1910 masterpiece of beaux_arts design , was one of the greatest traumas new york city ever suffered . public reaction was profound , and in some ways beneficial . historical preservation was transformed from a genteel pastime to a nationwide movement with political clout . architects began to admit that the modern movement was turning out to be less than a boon for cities . above all , new yorkers began to assert a proprietary interest in the city as their collective cultural_heritage . still , new york has never completely recovered from the station 's loss . how could it ? each day , more than 500 , 000 commuters 38 percent of amtrak 's total national ridership descend to the abyss penn_station fell into . even those with no memory of the old station can recognize the present one as a symbol of urban decline . though the loss of the old penn_station shocked the city to its senses , the idea persists that the shock may have come too late to save it . with amtrak 's proposal , then , we 're not dealing solely with the pragmatic world of glass and granite , tracks and timetables . we enter the realm of symbols and memories and the emotions they evoke . do cities get a second chance ? that is the fearsome question this project raises , and , of course , no building can turn back the clock . a new penn_station wo n't bring the normandie back to the harbor or the lunts back to broadway . it wo n't roll back the car and the highway , the forces chiefly responsible for undermining the old station and the old new york . but it could bring some important reconstructive forces into sharper focus . designed by the architectural firm hellmuth , obata kassabaum , the proposed station is a tribute to the fact that grass roots movements can triumph . the preservation movement did not flicker and die . it has become integral to the way cities do business . that is why the james a . farley building ( as the soon to be vacated post_office is called ) is still around today , and why it could one day have a public use worthy of its scale . designed in 1918 by william kendell of mckim , mead white , the farley building would not only receive amtrak 's passengers in style . it would also send the immensely cheering message that civic will can be exerted to effect , and not always in the wrong direction . the steel parabolic vault in the station 's great_hall ( at 120 feet , it matches the height of the concourse at grand_central_terminal ) also sounds a note of victory . it is an arch raised to commemorate the triumph of mass transit over those who seem to think there 's something un american about it . the modernity of the arch is apt . while the mckim , mead white building harks back to the past , the real promise of the proposed station is that it looks ahead toward the use of the mass transit as a tool for reshaping the metropolitan region . amtrak 's inter city riders are only a small fraction of the travelers who use penn_station . the great majority are local commuters on new jersey transit and the long_island_rail_road . many of them also regularly use the station 's connecting subway lines . the opportunity now exists to make penn_station a true regional hub , functionally and architecturally . the goal is not just to create a more comfortable environment but to attract more riders to mass transit and thereby increase public support for it . the plan only partly realizes this opportunity . the regional_plan_association , which strongly endorses the new station , is calling for a more ambitious program that would join the region 's seven rail systems in a network . coupled with other regional strategies to make commuting more attractive like skidmore , owings_merrill 's community development guidelines for areas served by new jersey transit the new penn_station could become a means of redefining the relationship between the city center and the metropolitan region . but those who hope that the new station will help new york regain its civic soul must reckon with a crucial difference between this project and the original station the amount of space , and the degree of visibility , that the plan dedicates to retail shopping . in the post_office building , roughly equal space would be set aside for retail and for circulation and waiting areas . the great_hall itself would be ringed with two tiers of restaurants and shops , and the steel vault would be hung with giant electronic advertising panels facing into the waiting area . this picture contrasts sharply with the vintage photographs of the original penn_station and with the idea the station embodied . when people use words like majestic and civic splendor to describe the old station , they 're not just talking about high ceilings and classical columns . they 're evoking an ideal of public amenity the idea that even in the citadel of private enterprise , some places will not be governed by the bottom line . the original penn_station was a monument to that ideal . to build it , charles mckim talked the railroad out of its plan to build an enormous hotel in the air space over the station . as lewis mumford later observed , the lack of advertising in the station was " a point the european traveler often remarked on with surprise , as a pleasing contradiction in the land of the almighty dollar . " penn_station 's glory , in other words , was n't just what was there . it was what was n't there . but the glory had dimmed some years before the station was razed . in the mid 1950 's , a modernization program equipped the station with shops , booths , television monitors , even cars on revolving drums . mumford , predictably horrified , described the results as " a vast electronic jukebox , " adding , " a west 42d street garishness and tawdriness characterize the whole reconstruction . " what would mumford make of the proposed station 's advertising panels ? the tiers of shops ? " one entered the city like a god , " the architectural historian vincent scully famously wrote of the original station . " one scuttles in now like a rat . " is the idea now that one should come browsing in like a shopper ? but before we mount mumford 's high horse and go charging along 33d street to denounce commercial defilement , it 's worth recalling that the proposed station began as a shopping expedition . three years ago , amtrak asked a group of private developers to submit proposals to upgrade penn_station 's retail operations . the plan to expand the station into the post_office building across eighth_avenue grew out of discussions with penn_station associates , the winning developer , which saw the chance to create something of urban as well as commercial value . the realistic choice , in other words , was not between a new penn_station with retail shopping or one without it . the choice was between shopping with or without a new penn_station . in a sense , the developers and architects guided amtrak toward mckim 's ideal . if the result differs , that is largely because the railroad 's fortunes have changed . in mckim 's day , trains made a profit . today , they are operated by the government , with shaky political support . until the government is prepared to back all the nice talk about rebuilding the nation 's infrastructure , amtrak must turn to the private_sector for support . to grant this , however , is not to say that retail uses should have unlimited license . indeed , the issue is not primarily how many stores there ought to be in train stations . it is how the partnership between the public and private sectors should be configured in the creation of public works . at a time when public works are once again on the table , this issue is paramount . indeed , it is just as important today as architectural preservation was 30 years ago . as with all public private developments , the question with amtrak 's proposal is , where do you draw the line ? the station 's planners compare their project to other recently renovated monumental stations union station in washington and 30th_street station in philadelphia . but they are radically different models . in philadelphia , the station has been beautifully restored without an increase in retail uses it is still a station . union station , by contrast , is now a spectacularly beautiful shopping_mall where travelers are apt to feel like second class citizens . while the station 's architecture has been preserved , its character has been lost . the planned penn_station would fall somewhere between these two models . the architects have conceived the steel vault as a visual screen that would partly veil the shops around the perimeter of the hall and put the visual focus on transportation . that is one reason they have brought the base of the arch straight down to the floor . this conspicuous display of engineering is designed to be the visual equivalent of " all aboard ! " in the same spirit , the developers pledge to limit retail to what they call " noncommitted " shopping purchases of less than 100 . these provisions are important , not only because they draw a line that is reasonable , given how the plan originated , but also because they reflect the recognition that there is such a line to draw . it 's that recognition that has been so appallingly absent in recent years . supporters of projects like union station often cite increased numbers of visitors as evidence of their success , but that measure does not take into account the qualities of place that have been obliterated in the process . how do you measure the submersion of a place like south_street_seaport beneath waves of merchandise ? more to the point , how do you retrieve the idea of a station from waves of disbelief in the future of trains ? how can a building restore to civic dignity the sensations of arriving in a great city or decompressing from its tensions ? it 's easy to accommodate shoppers . but how can architecture honor those who share what walter benjamin called " the passion for waiting " ? shops and signs can enhance these sensations . but there is a difference between citizens and consumers , and one of the major functions of public space is to keep that distinction clear . market forces helped to destroy the old penn_station , and now they have created the opportunity to build a new one . it is up to the public_sector to keep those pressures in check . if the line can be held here , the result will be more than a stunning new terminal . it will be a signal that public works are headed down the right track . architecture view.

kazuo ohno packed the japan society theater on thursday night with an audience that ranged from solemn gray_haired matrons to magenta crested teenagers . his performances there sold out so quickly that a matinee has been added tomorrow afternoon at the society ( 333 east 47th_street , manhattan ) . none of that is surprising . mr . ohno is a leading practitioner of butoh , the stylized dance form created in postwar japan that evokes the dark primal cataclysms at the heart of life . at 93 kazuo ohno is also probably the world 's oldest performing dancer . he is a solo performer of great concentration and purity , all evident in ''requiem for the 20th_century , '' the retrospective he presented with his son , the butoh artist yoshito ohno . what draws one closest to kazuo ohno , however , is his underlying gaiety and innocence . it is that gift , perhaps , that enables him at every moment to be both funny and tragic , to seem both intensely in that moment as he encompasses all history and to be a ravishing and ravished decrepit old beauty . wearing white body makeup , a slightly tatty wig and extravagantly odd pale colored clothes , flowers and feathers designed by etsuko ohno , mr . ohno seemed simply to stand still and take a few crabbed steps about the stage , his arms jutting out and back and his long fingers furled . but he blooms onstage . the flamelike intensity of his movement and presence , so hobbled and yet so serenely certain , made wondrous magic of the five solos he presented , particularly in his reworked 1949 ''dance of jellyfish there is a universe in a single flower'' and excerpts from the 1977 ''admiring la argentina'' and ''the dead sea , '' a work created with tatsumi hijikata , the founder of butoh . another excerpt from ''the dead sea , '' in which a tattered kabuki style doppelganger played by the elder mr . ohno attaches itself to a white painted butoh figure played by the younger mr . ohno , delicately and amusingly suggested generational differences on several levels . the program ended with several standing_ovations for kazuo ohno . many audience members , including the dancer eiko and the presenter beate gordon , pushed to the stage with flowers . when he waved goodbye , a throng of hands rose to wave back in a salute of extraordinarily loving admiration to a great artist . dance review.

trading in the rapidly devaluing ruble came to a screeching halt yesterday , renewing concerns about russia 's ability to manage 40 billion in ruble denominated debt , roughly 25 percent of which is held by foreign investors . but western investors and banks could face greater losses from the complex financial_instruments known as derivatives . indeed , the amount of russian derivatives at risk for foreign investors may be sharply higher than that of bonds and loans . while the lack of public disclosure make estimates difficult , some currency traders and emerging_market specialists have set the value of derivatives at risk in russia as high as 100 billion . many analysts , however , think the figure is probably much lower than that . derivatives , among the most innovative and volatile products born of a new era in computer generated financial alchemy , have been a boon to companies trying to limit risks and have also proved seductive to speculators trying to make a fast buck . the value of derivatives is pegged to that of underlying assets , like stocks , bonds and currencies . they are typically used by savvy financial players to lessen the pain of unforeseen economic shifts , such as the swift ruble devaluation that has stung so many investors in russia . most buyers of ruble_denominated bonds entered into a variety of derivatives contracts requiring rubles to be exchanged for dollars or german marks at set rates in the future to cushion tumbles in the ruble 's value , in much the same way as homeowners purchase insurance to protect themselves in case their houses burn down . and the ruble 's drastic drop has already burned a broad range of investors in russia . credit_suisse_first_boston said yesterday that its profits for the first six months of the year would be reduced to 500 million , from 254 million , largely because of heavy losses in russia . funds managed by george_soros , the globe_trotting investor and currency speculator , lost about 2 billion in russia in the last year , according to an announcement his group of funds made yesterday . many western investors described the debt_restructuring announced by the russian government on tuesday as punitive , but some were also willing to acknowledge that the losses they suffered had as much to do with the risky nature of the markets they were playing . ''frankly , all of us made a bet on the ability of the government to get its fiscal house in order , '' said andrew ipkendanz , head of global emerging_markets for credit_suisse_first_boston in moscow . ''they did n't we lost money , and so you move on . '' it is still unclear what kind of damage american banks may suffer in russia . large american banks have relatively little exposure in russia given their size about 7 . 68 billion , according to brown brothers harriman company . derivatives make up part of that amount , but other undisclosed positions could add to the banks' derivatives worries . fears about mounting losses in emerging_markets in eastern_europe , asia and latin_america sent the stocks of most major american banks principal players in the derivatives market sharply lower yesterday . bankers_trust 's shares plunged 4.9 percent , to 92 . 125 j . p . morgan 's shares sank 2 . 43 percent , to 117 . 9375 bankamerica 's shares fell 1.9 percent , to 77 . 625 , and citicorp 's stock dropped 1 . 65 percent , to 133 . 875 . chase_manhattan , however , edged up two tenths of 1 percent , to 64 . 25 . still , trying to determine the total value of currency derivatives in russia , and who may wind up on the winning and losing sides of the deals , is a guessing game . although the global derivatives market is huge and lucrative , the contracts are privately negotiated and the value of the deals are not disclosed on public exchanges like the stock_market . relatively little disclosure about derivatives is required of american banks , although accounting rules were recently changed to remedy that situation . ''it 's incredibly difficult to quantify because the disclosure just is n't there , '' said elisabeth jackson moore , manager of moody 's investors service 's office in nicosia , cyprus , who analyzes russian banks . ''we 're certainly concerned that there could be a chain reaction because western investors may have hedged their position with russian banks , and russian banks may have hedged their positions with other banks , and so forth . '' capital markets risk advisers , a new york consulting_firm specializing in derivatives , estimates the russian foreign exchange contracts and currency derivatives of one form or another currently total about 65 billion . mr . ipkendanz of credit_suisse_first_boston said that russian central bankers told creditors this week that 10 billion in currency contracts with russian banks were maturing by the end of the year , a figure that does not include contracts with offshore hedge_funds . how well these contracts are honored , mr . ipkendanz added , will be the ''next chapter'' of russia 's financial saga . when two parties agree to take opposite sides in a derivatives deal , the prospects that the loser will pay the winner is only as good as the paper on which their contract is written and the integrity of the participants . j . p . morgan was forced to designate 587 million in currency swaps in asia as nonperforming earlier this year , largely because of disputes with asian counterparties about the deals . russian banks are currently operating under the protection of a 90 day debt moratorium . it is unclear what their financial health will be when the moratorium ends . ''technically , it 's only a 90 day moratorium , '' said charles peabody , an analyst with mitchell securities inc . in new york . ''but if the banks are bankrupt at the end of the period they wo n't make good on any of the currency swaps . '' if that proves to be the case , western investors can expect to swallow further losses in russia .

declaring that the bush_administration ' 'shamed america'' with its policy on iraq , former vice_president al_gore yesterday called for the resignations of six high ranking officials , including the secretary of defense , donald h . rumsfeld the director_of_central_intelligence , george j . tenet and the national_security adviser , condoleezza_rice . in an hourlong speech to 900 people at new york_university that was interrupted by applause more than a dozen times , mr . gore also accused president_bush of ''utter incompetence'' on iraq , adding that the president had ' 'made the world a far more dangerous place and dramatically increased the threat of terrorism against the united_states . '' mr . gore 's appearance , which was sponsored by new york_university college democrats , a student organization , and moveon . org pac , an offshoot of an online organization that has run advertisements criticizing the president and his administration , amounted to a broad gauge attack on the man who defeated mr . gore in 2000 . ''the president convinced a majority of the country that saddam_hussein was responsible for attacking us on sept . 11 , when in truth he had nothing whatsoever to do with it , '' mr . gore said . ''the president convinced the country with a mixture of documents that turned out to be forged and blatantly false assertions that saddam was in league with al_qaeda . '' mr . gore said that the three cabinet level officials and three of mr . rumsfeld 's top civilian deputies the deputy defense secretary , paul d . wolfowitz douglas j . feith , the under secretary for policy and stephen a . cambone , the under secretary for intelligence should step aside because of ''the catastrophe we are facing in iraq . '' ''we desperately need a national_security team with at least minimal competence , '' mr . gore said , ''because the current team is making things worse with each passing day . '' he accused the officials he singled out of ''endangering the lives of our soldiers and sharply increasing the danger faced by american citizens everywhere in the world , including here at home . '' he faulted mr . rumsfeld for poor planning before the war , and failing to prevent lawlessness in iraq since it began . ''the nation is at risk every single day that rumsfeld remains as secretary of defense , '' mr . gore said . ''we need someone with good judgment and common_sense . '' mr . gore said it was ''especially painful'' to suggest the resignation of mr . tenet , who served in the clinton_administration and whom mr . gore described as a personal friend . still , he said , ''i have regretfully concluded that it is important , extremely important , that our country have new leadership in the intelligence_community . '' at the central_intelligence_agency , a spokeswoman said the agency declined to comment . at the pentagon , a spokesman for mr . rumsfeld said , ''the secretary serves at the pleasure of the president , and i would encourage you to look at what the president has said about the secretary 's performance over time . '' a spokesman for mr . feith , maj . paul swiergosz , said , ''all of those individuals serve at the pleasure of the president , and they will dutifully execute their duties until such time as their services are no longer required . '' a spokeswoman for dr . cambone said that major swiergosz 's comment applied to dr . cambone . ms . rice 's spokesman did not return a call seeking comment . a spokesman for the republican national committee issued a statement that noted that mr . gore was vice_president at the time of the first bombing of the world trade center and the attacks on united_states embassies in africa and on the navy destroyer cole in yemen . the spokesman , jim dyke , added , ''al_gore 's attacks on the president today demonstrate that he either does not understand the threat of global terror , or he has amnesia . '' in the speech , mr . gore said that soldiers sent to iraq ''were clearly forced to wade into a moral cesspool designed by the bush white_house . '' he also said that the scandal over abuse of iraqi prisoners at the abu_ghraib_prison was not the result of ''a few twisted minds at the lowest ranks of our military enlisted_personnel'' but of what he described as the bush_administration 's systematic disregard for the requirements of the geneva_conventions . ''what happened at that prison , it is now clear , is not the result of random acts of a few bad apples , '' he said . ''it was the natural consequence of the bush_administration policy . the abuse of the prisoners at abu_ghraib flowed directly from the abuse of the truth that characterized the administration 's march to war and the abuse of the trust that had been placed in president_bush by the american people in the aftermath of sept . 11th . '' the 2004 campaign the former vice_president.

eric_lindros made a big impression in team canada 's first official canada_cup workout , on monday in toronto . the 6 foot 5 inch , 228 pound lindros , who starred with the ontario hockey league 's oshawa generals before being selected first over all in the national_hockey_league draft by the quebec_nordiques , displayed the rare combination of size , speed and skill that has made him the game 's hottest new commodity . lindros is 18 years old and the only player in camp without professional experience . " you 're only as good as you think you are , " lindros said monday . " if you think you can do it , you can . " wayne_gretzky , who practiced on the red team with lindros , was impressed by the youngster 's poise . " he did n't look out of place at all , " gretzky said . " he 's going to be fine . " ( ap ) sports people hockey.

though very different from each other yet equally despised and feared by iraqis , uday and qusay_hussein saddam 's two eldest sons personified the terror of their father 's rule . their deaths , therefore , are the clearest indication to date that mr . hussein 's era is over and power has passed to the americans and their iraqi and foreign allies . individually and together , uday , 39 , and qusay , 37 , represented the future of the hussein government . as a result , they were intensively hunted by american military forces in iraq , appearing respectively as no . 3 and no . 2 on the allies' list of most wanted people from the former government . on july 3 , the united_states military put a reward of 15 million each on their heads , and offered 25 million for their father . ''they were the classic 'sons of , ' '' said danielle pletka , of the american_enterprise_institute , in washington . ''whereas their father shot and clawed his way to the top , they knew nothing except the vicious dictatorship he had created , which meant they were even more ruthless than their father . '' qusay_hussein , who was believed to be his father 's chosen successor , headed iraq 's intelligence and security services , including the republican guard and its elite units that were responsible for protecting the leadership . former united_nations weapons inspectors said he was also responsible for overseeing iraq 's unconventional_weapons . stephen black , a former inspector and chemical_weapons expert , said that by virtue of his control of the security services , qusay would have known , for instance , ''whether they had chemical_weapons , how many they had , and where they were deployed . '' he said qusay would also have known whether , as several defectors and other sources have alleged , iraq had abandoned an active nuclear program to focus on chemical and biological_weapons . finally , he said , qusay would have known not the exact hiding places but the ''broad brushes of the concealment policy and practices whether saddam had destroyed or hidden weapons or the capability for just in time production , and what the goals of this concealment were . '' characterized by iraqi defectors as quiet and sly , but very brutal , qusay_hussein stayed out of the public eye , in sharp contrast to his older brother , whose greed and violent rampages were the stuff of many legends often based in fact circulating through saddam_hussein 's baghdad . human_rights_watch , the new york based group , and other experts have said that qusay implemented the revenge_killings and terror after the uprising that followed the persian_gulf_war in 1991 . the same sources say he also engineered the draining of the southern marshes after the 1991 attack on iraq , to eliminate the reeds in which insurgents had taken refuge . the draining of the marshes ended a centuries old way of life for marsh_arabs . the rights group also accused him of supervising the ''cleansing'' of overcrowded prisons by killing several thousand prisoners by shooting or torture . in 2000 , saddam_hussein gave qusay effective control of the army , and just before the american invasion this year , charged him with defending baghdad . the brothers were intense rivals , said kenneth m . pollack , the author of a book about iraq , ''the threatening storm , '' and the director of research at the saban center at the brookings institution , in washington . uday 's resentment of his younger brother grew as his own power waned following an assassination attempt in 1996 that left him with a bullet in his spine and partly crippled . iraqi exiles agreed that uday_hussein , the eldest of five children , personified the government 's random brutality . human_rights groups and iraqi exiles accused him of routinely kidnapping women off the streets , raping and sometimes torturing them , and personally supervising the torture and humiliation of hundreds of prisoners . such conduct earned him the title ''abu sarhan , '' the arabic term for ''father of the wolf . '' in october 1988 , at a party given in honor of the wife of president hosni_mubarak of egypt , uday bludgeoned to death kamal hana gegeo , a valet to his father . mr . mubarak subsequently called the young man a ''psychopath . '' soon after that , uday 's violent , erratic behavior led his father to banish him to switzerland for a time , but uday returned and gradually reclaimed some power . for a time , he owned babel , iraq 's most widely circulated daily newspaper , and youth tv . but he was most infamous for his stewardship of his country 's national_olympic_committee . since mr . hussein 's government collapsed in april , former iraqi sportsmen have come forward to tell journalists of uday 's cruelty , and his routine torturing and jailing of athletes , particularly those who lost important matches , or games that he attended . a new york times reporter who visited the national_olympic_committee building after the hussein government fell saw torture contraptions that included a sarcophagus , with long nails pointing inward from every surface , including the lid , so victims could be punctured and suffocated . uday was also known for his collection of luxury cars at his mini palace in baghdad , where american_troops were also said to have found a personal preserve of rare animals and a veritable trove of cigars and alcohol . uday gradually won a vote of confidence from his father by creating the fedayeen , paramilitary units that attacked american and coalition_forces fighting their way north toward baghdad . after the war the quarry.

a surprising piece of social data emerged yesterday from the otherwise mundane task of selecting a jury for the trial of rocco graziosa , the yonkers man accused of assaulting yankees pitcher david_wells during a fight at an upper east side diner two months ago . after 20 randomly_selected potential_jurors were seated in the tiny courtroom and confirmed that they were indeed manhattanites , graziosa 's lawyer , henry mazurek , stated what he thought was the obvious ''this is a city that 's rabid about baseball teams . '' he continued , ''i want to know by a show of hands how many of you are new york yankee_fans . '' and here , as all potential_jurors were under oath , was the moment of truth not a single hand rose from the benches . there was silence , disbelief . could it be , 20 new yorkers and no yankee_fans ? then , after an awkward moment , two hands sheepishly went up in what can only be called a mediocre show of support for the team . the judge , robert m . stolz of state supreme_court in manhattan , told the court reporter , ''i think the record should reflect that there were two fans . '' mazurek asked one of the fans if her passion for the yankees would inhibit her from being an impartial juror in the case , as graziosa is charged with knocking out two of wells 's teeth and threatening him with a butter knife . the woman deadpanned , ''i 'm a fan , not a passionate fan . '' and so it went yesterday in room 455 of supreme_court in manhattan , where lawyers are expected to give opening arguments this morning . the throngs of yankee_fans who were expected to rally around wells were no shows , as was wells , who is expected to testify today . graziosa , 27 , has pleaded not guilty to seven misdemeanor assault charges and could face up to a year in prison if he is found guilty of provoking the fight on sept . 7 at gracie 's corner restaurant . graziosa maintains that he acted in self_defense and that wells was the aggressor . last month , mazurek tried to subpoena wells 's personnel records from the yankees in what appeared to be an effort to discover past infractions . but mel a . sachs , a lawyer representing wells and the yankees , argued yesterday that the records were not relevant to the case , and stolz denied the subpoena . ''they were going on a fishing expedition'' to find disciplinary problems , sachs said . ''they are not entitled to it . '' on the other hand , prosecutors will be able to use the statement graziosa gave to the police , stolz ruled . at a pretrial hearing , mazurek said graziosa had not voluntarily given the statement , but stolz ruled that the police had followed proper protocol . mazurek asked for a speedy trial he said graziosa began receiving death threats from overzealous yankee_fans soon after the arrest . graziosa 's mother , yolanda , who sat through the proceedings yesterday with several other family members , said the atmosphere was still hostile . one of the oddities of the case , mazurek said , is that graziosa has been a lifelong yankee_fan , a huge fan . given the lack of cheer from the potential_jurors in the case , graziosa , the defendant , might have been the biggest yankee_fan in the room . baseball.

over the last few decades , soho has changed from a district for light manufacturing to a haven for artists to a home for the poshest of galleries . now it is steadily marching into the realm of the uncharacterizable , an area where furniture stores and art galleries and funky fashion shops and lately , even a soupcon of mainstream stores like armani a x and lechters housewares coexist . " what was once just an art gallery place has become an international marketplace for style and design , a place that foreigners routinely include on their new york itinerary , " said louis e . sagar , owner of zona , a store at 97 greene street that sells expensive , handcrafted items . stephen werther , the owner of both portico home and portico bed bath , both of which sell high end linens and other home accessories , put it more simply . " this feels like the world 's greatest shopping_mall , " he said . not every denizen of soho , which is bounded by houston and canal streets to the north and south , and lafayette_street and west_broadway on the east and west , greets the influx with delight . many long time residents are , through organizations like the soho alliance , striving to keep the neighborhood 's once insular nature from fraying even more . they are fighting to prevent local restaurants from opening sidewalk cafes and to keep existing rules that make it difficult for anyone but working artists to rent apartments . retailers , meanwhile , are often shellshocked by the scads of peddlers that still throng soho streets on sunny days . landlords still must go through a ponderous permit process before they can convert ground floor space into stores . and some soho watchers worry that soho is growing so fast that it will fall prey to the columbus avenue phenomenon trendy retailers , with their willingness to pay high rents , driving out local shops only to go out of business themselves when sales do not sustain those rents . last november , the replay country store , which sells new and used jeans , took space on greene and prince streets for about 85 a square_foot a year . a few months later a tee shirt store agreed to pay 175 a square_foot across the street . " there 's no way the new store will ever do the volume to sustain that rent , " predicted one retail expert who insisted on anonymity . still , neither the hassles nor the fears nor the rules have kept soho from turning into an international marketplace cum tourist_attraction that is luring more and more stores and office tenants each day . " the demand for retail space in soho is outstripping the supply , " said caroline p . banker , senior vice_president of new spectrum realty , a retail brokerage . " they 're getting 100 a square_foot on prince street for space they could n't have gotten 55 for two years ago . " local building owners are equally ebullient . not only are their street level spaces going fast , but they also are filling the upstairs offices that were vacated in droves when the recession wrought havoc with the art galleries that once occupied them . jonathan p . switzer , a managing director of winoker realty who is leasing agent for 568 and 578 broadway , says he has been renting space not only to out of town galleries looking for short term leases but also to such non artsy tenants as pediatricians . jeffrey gural , who owns 560 and 594 broadway , says his buildings are full . " sure , lots of the galleries that catered to the yuppie crowd are gone , but we 're filling up with small ad lagencies , architects , people who realize it is a lot more fun to work here than to join the suspenders crowd up north , " mr . gural said . " this is the strongest market we 've ever faced . " still , the most visible sign of soho 's resurgence is on the ground floor . for now , most of the classier shops are congregated around prince and spring streets , with many of the better restaurants on west_broadway and the furniture stores clustered on wooster street . and , of course , the art scene still exists and thrives , with galleries sprinkled throughout those streets . " all the traffic has turned west_broadway into an internationally known restaurant row , " said robert s . bookman , an attorney for the west_broadway association , a group of restaurant owners that wants to be allowed to operate unenclosed sidewalk cafes . lately , the demand for space is revitalizing even lower broadway , a street that until a few years ago was characterized primarily by the type of low end retailing usually associated with west 14th_street . last year there was a blimpie 's on the corner of spring and broadway today there is a coffee bar . and the corner of prince street and broadway has turned positively upscale armani a x is on the northeast corner dean deluca , a specialty food store , is on the southeast the nature company , which sells products to promote nature and conservation , is on the southwest and the guggenheim_museum soho commands the northwest . " this corner has become the epicenter of soho , " said benjamin fox , a new spectrum partner . that is probably an exaggeration , in that soho 's eastern end still does not attract much strolling traffic . that 's one reason that terra verde , a self described ecological department_store , recently moved from lafayette_street to 120 wooster street , right off prince street . " in the old location we had regular customers , but here we get weekend people who trip over us as they walk the street , " said katherine tiddens , the store 's owner . but broadway has its pluses . the rents remain cheaper , although they are creeping up . there are huge spaces available . and retailers who have established a loyal following elsewhere can sometimes bring those customers along with them . dean deluca , for one , started out in a tiny shop on prince street . six years ago , when it wanted to expand into the bustling zabar 's type place it is today , it moved to broadway , keeping the former shop as a coffeehouse . " the rents were good , and this was close enough to my home base so that i could take my old customers with me , " said giorgio g . deluca , the store 's owner . mr . deluca 's retail neighbors are aggressively luring new customers . the nature company recently took out ads in several newspapers announcing that jane goodall , the zoologist , would be available to sign copies of her new book , " the great apes between two worlds . " the ad noted that while the book was available at all nature company stores , ms . goodall would only be in soho . last february , miriam novalle opened the t salon below the guggenheim_museum shop . she 's not only selling teas and teamaking paraphernalia , but also offering what the store bills as a " proper english tea " from 3 30 to 6 p.m. , and a " new york tea " same menu , different time from 6 to 8 p.m . perhaps most important for the neighborhood , the salon stays open until midnight . " today , only destination stores with deep pockets can be successful pioneers on broadway , " said mr . werther , who never considered a broadway location for portico . " but you 'll see , five years from now , broadway will be the logical extension of the soho we already know . " all this activity is an unexpected twist for a neighborhood that the city tried for years to maintain as a last bastion of manufacturing . in 1980 the city government ruled that no ground level space of more than 3 , 600 square_feet in soho that was not already used for retailing could be converted to that use unless the owners proved they had made " good faith " efforts to rent to a manufacturer . no residential use was allowed at all . " everyone felt the area could work as an incubator , a place where small manufacturers could get their start , " recalled norman marcus , a zoning lawyer with the manhattan law_firm bachner , tally , polevoy misher . he was a lawyer for the department of city planning when the zoning rule was passed . as manufacturers moved out in the 70 's despite the city 's ardent wishes , many artists started to move into the upstairs lofts the manufacturers vacated . " landlords maintained the fiction that these were studios , where people manufactured art , " mr . marcus recalled . ultimately , the city changed the zoning to permit the lofts to be used as joint living working quarters for artists . but it left the retail rules intact . the rules did n't much affect the tiny street level galleries or coffee shops serving residents or art browsers , but it put the kibosh on any plans to woo major retailers . some developers tried to get around the rules , building bizarre structures that , technically , did not have any ground level space at all . at 430 west_broadway , between prince and spring streets , for example , there is a four story building , without elevators , that was built in the 80 's as a potential retail mall . the " ground " floor is a flight of stairs down the " second floor " is 10 feet above street level . legally , it was rentable for retail the problem was , no one wanted it . the building has but one tenant , a small oriental gallery . a similar building stands empty nearby . but as the spendthrift 80 's turned into the thrifty 90 's , other buildings thrived . furniture manufacturers along wooster street knoll international is a good example that once sold exclusively to the trade started selling retail , to capitalize on the number of people who were dispensing with expensive decorators and doing their own rehab . as more furniture shoppers showed up , new stores like portico bed bath opened in soho to serve them . some were in buildings whose landlords had gained exceptions to the zoning rules others turned a blind eye to legality . one reason they could do that and risk being shut down should the city crack down on zoning violations is that soho stores often cost little to set up . many of the old factories have great natural architecture high ceilings , ornate columns , hardwood floors , big basements perfect for storing inventory . and the stores have been able to move in with a minimum of buildout work , using the existing structure as decor . at portico bed and bath , which is in a building where blackboards were once manufactured , the original tin ceiling , floors and columns blend nicely with the fancy linens and furniture arrayed for sale . terra verde sports huge windows and a striking skylight in the back , a holdover from the building 's industrial use . kate 's papery , a high end stationer , moved into the landmarked singer sewing_machine building at 561 broadway , off prince street , about 18 months ago . the owners hung paper on the ceiling , through which the original duct work shows an artistic look that was quite inexpensive to create . and brokers say the space is costing no more than 35 a square_foot a year . the zoning problem may become moot soon anyway . two years ago city officials issued a report acknowledging that ground floor use in soho had changed enough to warrant re examination of the rules . joseph b . rose , the city planning commissioner and director of the city planning department , says he is doing just that . " some of the measures that were adopted to maintain soho 's special character may be anachronistic , " he said . " soho has become a thriving retail environment in spite of all the regulations , and it 's probably time to simplify the process for opening a shop . " soho 's explosive growth has already simplified the expansion process for some of its retailers . portico bed bath has developed enough of a reputation to open stores in westport and greenwich , conn . , and in short_hills , n.j . zona has traveled even farther afield , with stores in italy and japan , and one scheduled to open soon in london . " the travelers who got to know us here made it easier for us to succeed over there , " said mr . sagar , zona 's owner . " if we were in , say , chelsea instead of soho , we could never have gone international . " noho picks up the soho pace until a decade or so ago , houston_street was not just a physical slash through broadway , but a cultural one as well . to the south was soho , with its artistic patina . to the north was noho , with its insurance_companies and smattering of inconsequential stores . soho came alive at night noho died . but now noho 's broadway , particularly through eighth street and astor_place , is seeing a commercial upheaval all its own , albeit one with roots far different from those of its sister neighborhood to the south . for soho , the changes followed the economy . for noho , they followed one store tower records , which opened its behemoth emporium on the corner of broadway and east fourth street in 1983 . with its midnight closing and huge music selection , tower quickly became a place for local new york_university and cooper_union students to hang out . soon after that , teen_agers from around the city and new jersey started hanging out , too . the area even made it into tourist books geared for european students traveling through . " tower records put this area on the map as a place for transient kids , " said benjamin fox , a partner in new spectrum realty . " now , just as soho is becoming more established and richer , noho is becoming younger and less affluent . " that switch has not gone unnoticed by national chains . benetton , the body_shop , software etc . , and other stores that cater to a young crowd have sprung up a few blocks north of tower , paying more than 100 a square_foot a year for their space . barnes_noble plans to take over the store at 2 10 astor_place that the bankrupt conran 's has closed . in fact , noho and soho are starting to swap stores , as their newfound identities stabilize . several antiques stores and galleries have moved to lafayette_street in noho , driven off by soho 's rising rents . and pottery barn , which has a store on broadway and west fourth street , is looking at a bigger storefront on houston and broadway , just across the line into soho . " houston_street remains a psychological barrier , " said jonathan p . switzer , a managing director at winoker realty who is leasing agent for a couple of soho buildings . " you have n.y.u . supporting noho , but you have a universe supporting soho . " claudia h . deutsch.

a house panel approved legislation yesterday that would impose a variety of changes on futures market trading and strengthen the regulatory powers of the commodity futures trading commission . but the agriculture committee rejected a last minute request from treasury_secretary nicholas f . brady to include in the bill the administration 's plan to shift regulation of stock_index futures from the commission to the securities_and_exchange_commission . the bill would restrict brokers from simultaneously trading for themselves and their customers in high volume markets . it would also tighten record keeping of trades and increase market surveillance .

president_bush 's job approval rating has sharply increased in the past week , reaching the highest level measured for an american president in the last 30 years , according to the latest new york times_cbs_news_poll . eighty six percent of 544 adults interviewed thursday evening one day after the war against iraq began and primarily after it was reported that iraq had attacked israel said they approved of the way mr . bush was handling his job as president , while 10 percent disapproved and 4 percent had no opinion . the approval rating was 20 percentage_points higher than in a times_cbs_news_poll taken jan . 11 13 , before the hostilities . in the past such striking shifts have occurred at the outset of other international conflicts , as americans rallied in support of flag and country , their armed_forces overseas and their commander_in_chief . mr . bush 's rating was the highest recorded for any president since john f . kennedy received 83 percent approval in a gallup_poll in may 1961 after another military operation , the unsuccessful attempt to liberate cuba in the bay of pigs invasion . the new nationwide telephone poll had a margin of sampling_error of plus or minus four percentage_points , and polls completed in just one day can be subject to additional error . over the past week , an even greater movement occurred in public opinion about the desirability of starting military action against iraq . in the latest poll , 79 percent of the respondents said the united_states " did the right thing in starting military actions against iraq , " while last weekend , before the war , only 47 percent said the united_states " should start military actions against iraq " if it did not withdraw its troops from kuwait by jan . 15 . only 16 percent now say the united_states should " have waited longer to see if the trade_embargo and other economic_sanctions worked , " whereas last weekend , before the war , 46 percent expressed a preference for giving sanctions more time to produce results .

an influential german trade group has predicted that the nation 's trade surplus , one of the main engines of the economic_growth of the 1980 's , would be cut in half in 1991 . the german federation of chambers of commerce also said this week that germany 's current_account balance of payments would be roughly in balance after swinging into a deficit at the start of the year . the group 's managing director , franz schoser , said exports would rise by 2 to 3 percent this year . imports , bolstered by good economic_growth in western germany and strong consumer demand in the east , would jump by 10 percent , he added . germany 's trade account moved into a deficit for the first time in 10 years in april . the trade surplus in the first four months of 1991 fell to 5.4 billion_marks , or 3 billion , from 44 . 5 billion_marks , or 24 . 6 billion , for west_germany in the similar period last year .

china 's central_bank announced a cut in interest rates , effective june 10 . bank lending rates will fall by an average three quarter point , making the benchmark rate on one year loans 5 . 85 percent , the bank said . it is the seventh time interest rates have been cut in china since may 1996 , and is aimed at promoting consumption in an economy that is slowing slightly . inflation in china is low negative 3.1 percent in the first four months of the year while the growth rate is expected to fall to 7 percent this year , compared with 7.8 percent in 1998 . seth faison world business briefing asia.

a 67 year old public_housing tenant forced the hong_kong_government and three of the world 's largest financial_institutions on sunday to postpone indefinitely a 2 . 73 billion real_estate offering . after five days of nearly constant meetings , hong_kong officials announced late sunday_night that they would withdraw the offering for the giant real_estate_investment_trust because of a lawsuit filed by lo siu lan , the tenant , who lives on 427 a month in government welfare assistance and says she never learned to write . hsbc , ubs and goldman_sachs were the underwriters for the deal , which had been planned for monday . it would have been the world 's largest initial_public_offering for a property trust . the offering attracted bids from 503 , 000 of this city 's 6.8 million people . michael suen , the secretary of housing , planning and lands , said that the offering for the sale of shops and parking_lots at public_housing projects would be redone ''as soon as possible . '' but that will probably require a conclusion to ms . lo 's litigation , as well as a new offering circular . she lost two court decisions in the last week against her lawsuit , which contends that the sale is not in the interest of public_housing tenants , but she has nearly four weeks in which to file an appeal to the territory 's highest court , should she so choose . the offering circular distributed to investors two weeks ago did not mention the lawsuit a shortcoming that doomed the offering because the suit was filed after the papers were circulated . at a news conference on friday , ms . lo said that she had not made up her mind whether to file a final appeal . ''i 've bought a chicken and do n't know when the eggs will be laid , '' she said , in one of the folksy pronouncements that have turned her into a media sensation here . ms . lo and her lawyers have been cagey about her personal details , and have revealed little about how the skillful legal effort was planned and financed . andrew to , a neighborhood politician who has become her spokeswoman , said that she would seek legal_aid from the government . the housing authority here had wanted to sell 79 , 000 parking_lots and 151 shops at public_housing projects scattered across hong_kong , which has been a special administrative region of china ever since britain returned it seven years ago . over the last several decades , the government has been slow to raise the rents of the butchers , fruit vendors and other long time lessees of the retail space in the housing_projects . ms . lo contended that private management would mean higher rents and an influx of more costly retailers that would leave her with nowhere to buy the fish and vegetables on which she subsists . government lawyers concluded over the weekend that the possibility of a further legal challenge made it impossible to proceed with the current offering . originally scheduled for last thursday , the offering had been pushed back to monday by ms . lo 's unresolved litigation . bankers and fund managers have warned repeatedly in recent days that a failure to conclude the transaction could hurt plans to sell the airport and other government assets as part of an effort to narrow persistently large budget_deficits . many public_housing projects were erected here in the 1960 's and 1970 's for mainland_chinese refugees then living in squatter settlements . some projects were built in areas that used to be on the fringes of the urban core , but that have grown extremely valuable as the population has increased and hong_kong real_estate has become some of the priciest in the world .

the biggest shake up in the 36 year history of british commercial television occurred today , when a government appointed commission announced that four leading companies had lost their licenses in the country 's first auction of television franchises . three american companies disney , nbc and home box office were members of some of the 40 groups bidding for what is called here the national breakfast franchise and 15 regional franchises , whose advertising revenues last year totaled 1 . 67 billion , or about 3 . 22 billion . the breakfast slot is one of the most coveted franchises , presenting morning news and interviews . the auction was a result of legislation passed last year that was aimed at exposing the overmanned , clubby world of commercial television to the rigors of the marketplace . the winning bids for the 16 independent television franchises totaled 231 . 9 million at anticipated 1993 prices . that is about 396 . 8 million at current exchange_rates . the licenses , which begin in 1993 , are for 10 years but are expected to be rolled over when they expire . but starting in 1994 , hostile_takeovers of television companies will be permitted . the winning bids ranged from a low of 1 , 000 , or about 1 , 712 , for the small channel island franchise , to a high of 43 . 2 million , or about 73 . 9 million , for london weekday television . the latter went to a group led by carlton_communications p.l.c. , one of britain 's leading independent television producers and a big provider of services to the film_industry . the losers included some of the biggest names in british television tvs entertainment , owner of the american production_company mtm , which had the franchise for south and southeast england thames television , a subsidiary of thorn emi , which is one of britain 's largest program producers and which had the london weekday franchise , and tv am p.l.c. , whose light breakfast news and interview show is watched by about 70 percent of morning viewers . along with the national breakfast slot , the franchises for weekday london and south and southeastern england are among the most coveted franchises in the industry . the fourth loser was tsw television southwest , the holder of the southwestern england franchise . the walt disney company was a member of the group that won a three way battle for the national breakfast broadcast , while nbc was part of a losing group . home box office , a time warner inc . unit , was in the losing tvs group . advertisers had been among those lobbying the conservative government for changes in the television_industry . they had been upset by what they saw as excessive increases in charges for commercial time , which had risen in the 1980 's at an average annual rate that was 2.5 times faster than inflation , said paul styles , head of media consulting at kpmg peat marwick mclintock , the accounting firm . upheaval in the industry the industry has already gone through upheaval . companies have dismissed thousands of employees as they frantically tried to slash costs so they might have the financial strength to prevail in the auction . many of the winners now plan to rely heavily on programs bought from independent producers . besides saving money , there is another reason that independent producers can expect more business the new broadcasting law also requires the commercial television stations and the british_broadcasting_corporation to buy at least 25 percent of their programming from independent producers . the growth of satellite and cable_television is also expected to put pressure on the commercial television stations , predicted john perriss , chairman of zenith media worldwide , a media buying company owned by saatchi_saatchi p.l.c. , the advertising giant . british_sky_broadcasting , the service whose main owner is rupert_murdoch 's news_corporation , " is now in about 12 percent of britain 's 22 million homes , and i believe in five years it could easily be in a third , " he said . " it will take revenue from the commercial franchises . " four free channels britons now can choose from four free channels . channels 1 and 2 belong to the government supported bbc and carry no advertising . channel 3 consists of the 16 commercial franchises , which carry advertising . so does channel 4 , whose charter , like channel 2 's , is to carry programs that might not appeal to a mass audience . channel 3 has about a 45 percent share of the television audience , compared with 38 percent for the bbc 's channel 1 . there are also plans to create a fifth commercial channel that will be able to reach most of britain . it is expected to be sold in a similar auction . today 's auction will have a significant impact on what programs britons watch or at least where they watch them . there was speculation today that thames would sell some of its popular series programs now shown on the independent_television_network like " the bill , " a police drama to the bbc or british_sky_broadcasting . and many bidders had promised to increase the time devoted to regional public service issues and local news . insuring that programming quality did not suffer was a reason the government commission did not award eight of the franchises to the highest bidders . for instance , tvs bid 59 . 8 million , or about 102 . 3 million , but the commission chose a group that bid 36 . 5 million , or about 62 . 5 million , maintaining that tvs would not have been able to maintain its proposed service . besides the size of the bid , the law also required the commission to take into account the quality of each bidder 's proposed programming and the viability of its business_plan . the commission used both criteria to reject contestants . several losers said they would mount court challenges . " clearly , the concern about sustaining high quality programming is very much at mind in the commission , " said david w . byles , media director in the london office of j . walter_thompson , the ad agency . the auction comes at a time when the commercial television_industry is reeling from britain 's recession . advertising revenues were flat last year and are expected to fall by 5 percent or more in 1991 . plenty of complaints as could be expected , there were plenty of complaints today about the auction system . executives of losers like thames , which has been broadcasting for 23 years , and tv am complained that the system did not take into account their records as broadcasters . some consultants and advertising executives complained that the auction did not shake up the system enough . and the evening_standard , a london newspaper , called the outcome " the great tv auction farce " in its front page headline . the media business.

japanese who want to drive large motorcycles must pass an excruciatingly difficult test administered by the police . those content with a smaller motorcycle can pass an easy test given by a driving school . the united_states has complained that these rules impede sales in japan of american motorcycles , which tend to be large . but the large motorcycle test will be eliminated in two years as part of deregulatory plan announced by the japanese government today intended to sweep aside dozens of arcane regulations that have irked trading partners and sometimes domestic consumers , as well . today 's plan follows up on a preliminary one announced late in march in an attempt to break japan 's trade deadlock with the united_states . but the new package lacks crucial economic stimulus measures that tokyo had promised . one missing element is a substantial increase in public works spending above 430 trillion_yen now about 4 . 3 trillion that is budgeted for this decade . another is an extension of this year 's income_tax cut to future years to stimulate consumer_spending . there is general agreement on the need for an income_tax cut , but a bitter dispute as to whether the sales_tax should be increased to compensate for it . group of 7 meeting shortly japan had hoped to present the measures to the other leading industrial nations at a meeting of group of seven leaders next week in naples . but the resignation of prime_minister tsutomu_hata last saturday prevents the government from formulating such policies , which will be left for the next administration . even so , the deregulatory steps announced today are likely to be welcomed by washington , if with some reservations . " we 've seen laundry lists of this sort in japan before , " an american official said . the crucial matter , he added , is how and whether the steps are carried out . the plan include measures that could help american and other foreign companies sell more in japan . for instance , the japanese will allow more foreign data to be used in obtaining approval for the sale in this country of food , pharmaceuticals , medical_devices , building material and automobiles , rather than requiring separate tests to be performed in japan . however , many of the 279 deregulatory items in today 's plan only set a direction , leaving the details to be worked out later by japanese ministries , which can sometimes thwart politicians' intentions . in other cases , new legislation is required to effect some change in regulations . " the devil is in the details , " said william farrell , executive director of the american chamber of commerce in japan . " i do n't think any of us are putting on our party costumes . " in fact , the package , drawn up by a government committee , still must be approved by the cabinet in order to become official policy . but in the turmoil brought about by mr . hata 's resignation , that will not happen until the next administration . foreign ministry is positive a spokesman for the foreign ministry said that the new plan was " much more concrete and substantial " than two previous deregulatory packages announced by the government in the last half year . " the basic line was set and that is very important , " the spokesman said , adding that the bureaucrats " cannot escape from this framework . " the plan calls for 193 of the 279 items to be acted upon by the end of the fiscal year next march , he said . with japan in a three year economic slump , many business leaders and politicians have been calling for deregulation , not so much to appease the united_states as to reinvigorate the japanese economy by spurring the formation of new businesses . deregulation is also seen as helping japanese consumers by giving them a greater choice of goods and services at lower prices . but there is still resistance , particularly from industries that are now bloated and heavily protected , like agriculture and retailing . and bureaucrats are reluctant to eliminate regulations because that reduces their power . japan has more than 10 , 000 regulations , so today 's 279 item plan is only a beginning . the package calls for the government to develop a five year plan for further deregulation by the end of this year . the new measures are concentrated in four areas housing and land use , telecommunications and information , financial_services and the promotion of imports .

back in eighth_grade , kelly regan , aqeelah mateen and johanna perez fox spent new year 's eve at johanna 's house , swing dancing until they fell down laughing , banging pots and pans , watching the midnight fireworks beyond the trees in the park at the center of town . they had been a tight threesome all through maplewood middle_school kelly , a tall , coltish irish catholic girl aqeelah , a small , earnest african_american muslim girl , and johanna , a light coffee colored girl who is half jewish and half puerto_rican and famous for knowing just about everyone . it had been a great night , they agreed , a whole lot simpler than johanna 's birthday party three nights before . johanna had invited all their friends , white and black . but the mixing did not go as she had wished . ''the black_kids stayed down in the basement and danced , and the white kids went outside on the stoop and talked , '' johanna said . ''i went out and said , 'why do n't you guys come downstairs ? ' and they said they did n't want to , that they just wanted to talk out there . it was just split up , like two parties . '' the same thing happened at kelly 's back to school party a few months earlier . ''it was so stressful , '' kelly said . ''there i was , the hostess , and i could n't get everybody together . '' ''oh , man , i was , like , trying to help her , '' aqeelah said . ''i went up and down and up and down . but it was boring outside , so finally i just gave up and went down and danced . '' this year the girls started high_school , and what with the difficulty of mixing their black and white friends , none took on the challenge of a birthday party . it happens everywhere , in the confusions of adolescence and the yearning for identity , when the most important thing in life is choosing a group and fitting in black children and white children come apart . they move into separate worlds . friendships ebb and end . it happens everywhere , but what is striking is that it happens even here . in a nation of increasingly segregated schools , the south orange maplewood district is extraordinarily mixed . not only is the student body about half black and half white , but in the last census , blacks had an economic edge . this is the kind of place where people black and white talk a lot about the virtues of diversity and worry about white_flight , where hundreds will turn out to discuss the book ''why are all the black_kids sitting together in the cafeteria ? '' people here care about race . but even here , as if pulled by internal magnets , black and white children begin to separate at sixth_grade . these are children who walked to school together , learned to read together , slept over at each other 's houses . but despite all the personal history , all the community good will , race divides them as they grow up . as racial consciousness develops and the practice of grouping students by perceived ability sends them on diverging academic paths race becomes as much a fault line in their world as in the one their parents hoped to move beyond . as they began high_school , kelly , johanna and aqeelah had so far managed to be exceptions . while the world around them had increasingly divided along racial lines , they had stuck together . but where their friendship would go was hard to say . and like a greek chorus , the voices of other young people warned of tricky currents ahead . different but inseparable on her first day at columbia high_school , kelly regan took a seat in homeroom and introduced herself to the black boy at the next desk . ''i was trying to be friendly , '' she explained . ''but he answered in like one word , and looked away . i think he just thought i was a normal white person , and that 's all he saw . '' she certainly looks like a normal white person , with her pale skin and straight brown hair . but in middle_school , she trooped with aqeelah and johanna to martin_luther_king association meetings there were only a handful of white girls , but kelly says she never felt out of place . ''some people say i 'm ghetto , '' she said , shrugging . ''i do n't care . '' she had always had a mixed group of friends , and since the middle of eighth_grade had been dating a mixed_race classmate , jared watts . even so , she expected that it would be harder to make black friends in the ninth_grade . ''it 's not because of the person i am , '' she said , ''it 's just how it is . '' kelly 's mother , kathy , is fascinated by her daughter 's multiracial world . ''it 's so different from how i grew up , '' said ms . regan , a nurse who met kelly 's father , from whom she is divorced , at a virtually all white catholic_school . ''sometimes , in front of the high_school , i feel a little intimidated when i see all the black_kids . but then so many of them know me , from my oldest daughter or now from kelly , and they say such a nice , 'hi , mrs . regan , ' that the feeling goes away . '' johanna perez fox is intensely sociable her mane of long black curls can often be sighted at the center of a rushed gossip session in the last seconds before class . as she sees it , her mixed background gives her a choice of racial identity and access to everybody . ''i like that i can go both ways , '' said johanna , whose mother is a special_education teacher and whose father owns a car service . johanna has a certain otherness among her black friends . ''if they say something about white people , they 'll always say , 'oh , sorry , johanna , ' '' she said . ''i think it 's good . it makes them more aware of their stereotypes . '' still , she was put off when a new black friend asked what race she was . ''people are always asking , 'what are you ? ' and i do n't really like it , '' she said . ''i told him i 'm half white and half puerto_rican , and he said , 'but you act black . ' i told him you ca n't act like a race . i hate that idea . he defended it , though . he said i would have a point if he 'd said african_american , because that 's a race , but black is a way of acting . i 've thought about it , and i think he 's right . '' aqeelah mateen 's parents are divorced , and she lives in a mostly black section of maplewood with her mother , who works for at t . she also sees a lot of her father , a skycap at newark airport , and often goes with him to the newark mosque where he is an imam . aqeelah is a girl of multiple enthusiasms , and in middle_school , her gutsy good cheer kept her close to black and white friends alike . but in high_school , the issue of ''acting black'' was starting to become a persistent irritant . after school one day , aqeelah and two other black girls were running down the hall when one of them accidentally knocked a corkboard off the wall . aqeelah told her to pick it up , but the girl kept going . ''what 's the matter with you ? '' aqeelah asked . ''you knocked it over , you pick it up . '' why do you have to be like a white person ? her friend retorted . just leave it there . but aqeelah picked it up . ''there 's stuff like that all the time , and it gets on my nerves , '' she said later . ''like at track , in the locker_room , there 's people telling a caucasian girl she has a big butt for a white person , and i 'm like , 'who cares , shut up . ' '' on an even playground johanna and aqeelah met in kindergarten and have been friends from day 1 kelly joined the group in fifth grade . ''nobody cared about race when we were little , '' johanna said . ''no one thought about it . '' on a winter afternoon at south mountain elementary_school , that still seemed to be the case . there were white and black pockets , but mostly the playground was a picture postcard of racial_harmony , white girls and black girls playing clapping games , black boys and white boys shooting space aliens . and when they were asked about race and friendships , there was no self consciousness . they just said what they had to say . ''making friends , it just depends on what you like to do , and who likes to do those things , '' said carolyn goldstein , a white third grader . ''i 've known carolyn g . since kindergarten , '' said a black girl named carolyn morton . ''she lives on my block . she 's in my class . we even have the same name . we have so many things the same ! '' as for how they might be different , carolyn goldstein groped for an answer ''well , she has a mom at home and my mom works , and she has a sister , and i do n't . '' they know race matters in the world , they said , but not here . ''some people in some places still feel prejudiced , so i guess it 's still a kind of an issue , because martin_luther_king was trying to save the world from slaves and bad people and there still are bad people in jail , '' carolyn morton said , finishing up grandly . ''i hope by the year 3000 , the world will have peace , and the guys who watch the prisoners can finally go home and spend some time with their families . '' a shifting sandbox all through middle_school , johanna , kelly and aqeelah ate_lunch together in a corner of the cafeteria where they could see everyone . the main axis of their friendship was changeable in seventh_grade , johanna and kelly were the closest . in eighth_grade , as kelly spent more time with jared , johanna and aqeelah were the tightest . but at the end of middle_school , the three were nominated as class ''best friends . '' and while they saw their classmates dividing along racial lines , they tried to ignore it . ''in middle_school , i did n't want to be aware of the separation , '' kelly said . ''i did n't see why it had to happen . '' most young people here seem to accept the racial split as inevitable . it 's just how it is , they say . or , it just happens . or , it 's just easier to be with your own kind . when sierre monk , who is black , graduated from south mountain , she had friends of all races . but since then , she has moved away from the whites and closer to the blacks . now , in eighth_grade , she referred to the shift , sometimes , as ' 'my drift , '' as in , ''after my drift , i began to notice more how the black_kids talk differently from the white kids . '' sierre said her drift began after a sixth_grade argument . ''they said , 'you do n't even act like you 're black , ' '' she remembered . ''i had n't thought much about it until then , because i was too young . and i guess it was mean what they said , but it helped me . i found i wanted to behave differently after that . '' sierre ( pronounced see air ah ) had come from a mostly white private_school in brooklyn . she is the granddaughter of thelonius monk , the great jazz pianist , and more than most families , her parents thelonius , a drummer , and gale , who manages her husband 's career and father in law 's estate have an integrated social life . for gale monk , it has come as something of a surprise to hear sierre talk about her new distance from her white friends . what about the bat mitzvah this weekend ? ms . monk asked . well , that 's just because we used to be friends , sierre said . ''what do you mean ? she 's in and out of this house all the time . i ca n't remember how many times she 's slept over or been in my kitchen . '' ''that was last year , mom . this year 's different . things have changed . '' and sierre 's mother allows that some separation may be healthy . ''i do n't have any problem with the black_kids hanging together , '' she said . ''i think you need to know your own group to feel proud of yourself . '' there is a consensus that the split is mostly , though hardly exclusively , a matter of blacks' pulling away . marian flaxman , a white girl in sierre 's homeroom , puts it this way ''you know , you come to a new school and you 're all little and scared , and everybody 's looking for a way to fit in , for people to like them . at that point , i think we were just white kids , blah , and they were just black_kids , blah , and we were all just kids . and then a few black_kids began thinking , 'hey , we 're black_kids . ' i think the black_kids feel like they 're black and the white kids feel like they 're white because the black_kids feel like they 're black . '' and sierre does not really disagree ''everybody gets along , but i think the white kids are more friendly toward black or interracial kids , and the black_kids are n't as interested back , just because of stupid stereotypical stuff like music and style . '' what they cannot quite articulate , though , is how much the divide owes to their growing awareness of the larger society , to negative messages about race and about things like violence and academic success . they may not connect the dots , but that sensitivity makes them intensely alert to slights from friends of another race , likely to pull away at even a hint of rejection . sometimes it is simply a misread cue , as when a black girl , sitting with other black girls , holds up a hand to greet a white friend , and the white girl thinks her greeting means , ''i see you , but do n't join us . '' sometimes it is an obvious , if oblivious , offense a black boy drops a white friend after discovering that the friend has told another white boy that the black family 's food is weird . and occasionally , the breach is startlingly painful a white seventh_grader considers changing schools after her best friend tells her she can no longer afford white friends . months later , the white girl talked uncomfortably about how unreachable her former friend seemed . ''i 'm not going to go sit with her at the 'homey' table , '' she said , then flushed in intense embarrassment ''i 'm not sure i 'm supposed to say 'homey . ' i 'm not sure that 's what they call themselves maybe it sounds racist . '' and indeed , the black girl believed that some of the things her former friend had said did fall between insensitive and racist . for their part , both mothers , in identical tones , expressed anger and hurt about how badly their daughters had been treated . each , again in identical tones , said her daughter had been blameless . but the mothers had never been friends , and like their daughters , never talked about what happened , never heard the other side . marian flaxman went to a mostly black preschool , and several black friends from those days remain classmates . but , she said , it has been years since she visited a black friend 's home . ''sometimes i feel like i 'm the only one who remembers that we used to be friends , '' she said . ''now we do n't say hello in the halls , and the most we 'd say in class is something like , 'can i borrow your eraser ? ' '' asked if she knew of any close and lasting cross race friendships , she was stumped , paging through her yearbook and offering up a few tight friendships between white and mixed_race classmates . diane hughes , a new york_university psychology professor who lives in south_orange , has studied the changing friendships of children here . in the first year of middle_school , she found , black children were only half as likely as they had been two years before to name a white child as a best friend . whites had fewer black friends to start with , but their friendships changed less . but blacks and whites , on reaching middle_school , were only half as likely as third graders to say they had invited a friend of a different race home recently . by the end of middle_school , the separation is profound . at 10 p.m . on a friday in october , 153 revved up 13 year olds squealed and hugged their way into the south orange middle_school cafeteria for the eighth_grade sleep over . at 11 they were grouped by birthday month , each group to write what they loved about school . they loved skittles at lunch . . . the eighth_grade sleepover . . . ms . wright , the health teacher basketball coach martin_luther_king club adviser . and at the march table , a white boy wrote ''interracial friendships . '' but the moment the organized activities ended , the black and white eighth_graders separated . and at 2 a.m. , when the girls' sleeping_bags covered the library floor and the boys' the gym , they formed a map of racial boundaries . the borders were peaceful , but there was little commerce across territorial lines . after lights out , some black girls stood and started a clapping chant . ''i ca n't , '' one girl called . ''why not ? '' the group called back . ''i ca n't . '' ''why not ? '' ''my back 's hurting and my bra 's too tight . '' it grew_louder as other black girls threaded their way through the darkness to join in . ''i ca n't . '' ''why not ? '' ''i shake my booty from left to right . '' marian , in her green parrot slippers , was in a group of white girls up front , enjoying , listening , but quiet . ''it 's cool , when they start stuff like that , or in the lunchroom when they start rumbling on the table and we all pick it up , '' she said . ''it 's just louder . one time in class this year , someone was acting up , and when the teacher said sit down , the boy said , 'it 's because i 'm black , is n't it ? ' i thought , no , it 's not because you 're black that 's stupid . it 's because you 're being really noisy and obnoxious . and it made me feel really white . and then i began thinking , well , maybe it is because he 's black , because being noisy may be part of that culture , and then i did n't know what to think . '' jostling for position aqeelah , kelly and johanna refuse to characterize behavior as black or white they just hate it , they insist , when anyone categorizes them in racial terms . ''i think what makes kelly and johanna and me different is that we 're what people do n't expect , '' aqeelah said . ''i 'm the only muslim most people know , and one of two african_americans on my softball team . there 's kelly , a white girl playing basketball , and johanna , when people ask if she 's white or puerto_rican , saying , 'both . ' '' most students are acutely_aware of the signposts of columbia high 's coexisting cultures . the popular wisdom has it that the black_kids dominate football and basketball , the white kids soccer , softball and lacrosse . black_kids throw big dancing parties in rented spaces white parties are more often in people 's homes , with a lot of drinking . everyone wears jeans , but the white kids are more preppy , the black_kids more hip_hop . black_kids listen to hot 97 , a hip_hop station , or wbls , which plays rhythm and blues white kids favor rock stations like z100 or k rock . ''i know a lot of caucasians listen to hot 97 , too , '' aqeelah said , ''but even if i had a list of 200 caucasians who listen to it , everyone still thinks it 's an african_american thing . '' even though the two cultures are in constant , casual contact and a few students cross back and forth easily in the end , they are quite separate . jason coleman , a black graduate who just finished his freshman year at howard university , remembers how the cultures diverged , separating him from the white boy with whom he once walked to school . ''the summer before high_school , we just went different ways , '' he said . ''we listened to different music , we played different sports , we got interested in different girls . and we did n't have much to say to each other anymore . that 's the time you begin to develop your own style , and mine was a different style than his . '' jason 's style included heavy gold chains , a diamond ear stud , baggy pants and hair in short twists . asked to define that style , he hesitated , then said , ''i guess what bothers me least is if you say that i follow hip hop fashion . '' at the start of high_school , much of jason 's energy went toward straddling the divide between hip_hop kid and honors student . he was in frequent physical fights , though never with white students that does n't seem to happen . although blacks are now a slight majority at the school , he , like many of the black students , felt an underlying jostling about who really owns the school . and he felt dismissed , intellectually and socially , by some teachers and classmates . ''african_americans may be the majority , but i do n't think they feel like the majority because they do n't feel they get treated fairly , '' he said . ''you see who gets suspended , and it 's the african_american kids . i had one friend suspended for eating a bagel in homeroom because his teacher said he had an attitude . that just would n't happen to a caucasian boy . it does n't have to be a big thing to make you feel like it 's not really your school . we can all hold hands and talk about how united we are , but if the next day you run into a girl from your classes at the mall with her mother and she does n't say hello , what 's that ? '' to avoid these issues , jason chose a predominantly black college , howard , and he seemed relaxed there this year . the gold chains and diamond were gone , and he was studying hard to go to medical_school , as his father and brother had . white students at columbia high have their own issues . many feel intimidated by the awareness that they are becoming a minority at the school , that they tend not to share academic classes , or culturally much else , with a lot of the black students . it is striking that while there are usually a few black or multiracial children in the school 's white groups , whites rarely enter the black groups . many white students are reluctant to be quoted about the racial climate , lest they seem racist . but some recent graduates are more forthcoming . ''a lot of the black_kids , it was like they had a really big chip on their shoulder , and they were mad at the world and mad at whites for running the world , '' said jenn caviness , a white graduate who attends columbia_university . ''one time , in 10th_grade , in the hall , this black kid shoved me and said , 'get out of the way , white crack bitch . ' i moved , because he was big , but i was thinking how if i said something racial back , i would have been attacked . it was very polarized sometimes . '' she and others , however , say the cultural jockeying has an upside a freedom from the rigid social hierarchy that plagues many affluent suburban high_schools . ''if you 're different here , it does n't matter , because there 's so many kinds of differences already , '' johanna explained when asked to identify the cool kids , the in crowd . ''there 's no one best way to be . '' in johanna 's commercial art class one day , there was a table of black boys , a table of white girls and a mixed table , where two black girls were humming as they worked . a white girl asked what the song was . they told her , and she said , ''it 's really wack . '' yeah , one answered , ''you do n't know music like we know music . '' ''yeah , and you do n't know music like i know music . '' ''i know , '' the black girl said , smiling . ''it 's like two completely different tastes . '' acting black , acting white aqeelah , kelly and johanna did not have many classes together this year , but they had grown up in a shared academic world . while they are not superstars , they do their work and are mostly in honors classes . but if that common ground has so far helped keep them together , the system of academic tracking more often helps pull black and white children apart . whenever people talk about race and school , the elephant in the room rarely mentioned , impossible to ignore is the racial imbalance that appears when so called ability_grouping begins . almost all american school_districts begin tracking sometime before high_school . and when they do , white students are far more likely than blacks to be placed in higher level classes , based on test scores and teacher recommendations . nationwide , by any measure of academic performance , be it grades , tests or graduation rates , whites on average do better than blacks . to some extent , it is a matter of differences in parents' income and education . but the gap remains even when such things are factored out , even in places like this . experts have no simple explanation , citing a tangle of parents' attitudes , low expectations of mostly white teaching staffs and some white classmates , and negative pressure from black students who believe that doing well is n't cool , that smart is white and street is black . it can be a vicious_circle and a powerful influence on friendships . inevitably , as students notice that honors classes are mostly white and lower level ones mostly black , they develop a corrosive sense that behaving like honors students is ''acting white , '' while ''acting black'' demands they emulate lower level students . little wonder that sixth_grade , when ability_grouping starts here , is also when many interracial friendships begin to come apart . ''it sometimes bothers me to see how many of my african_american friends are n't in the higher level classes , and how they try to be cool around their friends by acting up and trying to be silly and getting in fights , '' said sierre , who this year moved up to honors in everything but math . ''a lot of them just are n't trying . they 're my friends , but i look at them and think , 'why ca n't you just be cool and do your work ? ' '' the district does not release racial breakdowns of its classes . but at columbia high , which is 45 percent white , ninth_grade honors classes usually seem to be about two thirds white , middle level classes more than two thirds black , and the lowest level ''basic skills'' almost entirely black . the imbalance is at least as great at marian and sierre 's middle_school . honors is where students mix most . ''you really see the difference when you 're not in honors , '' said kelly , who was in middle level english this year . ''in middle level , there are n't so many white kids , and whenever you break into groups , people stick with their own race . '' the contrasts are stark . in aqeelah 's mostly white honors history class , the students argued passionately about the nature of man as they compared hobbes , locke , voltaire and rousseau . but the next period , when the all black basic skills class arrived , the students headed to the library to learn how to look up facts for a report on a foreign country . ''i 'm still taken aback , shocked , each time i walk into a class and see the complexion , '' said luella peniston , a black guidance_counselor at the school . ''it should be more balanced . '' the issue has become especially delicate as the district has become progressively blacker , as more students have moved in from poorer neighboring towns with troubled schools , and as the ranking on state tests has slipped . five years ago , a quarter of the district 's children were black now , with blacks a slight majority , many people worry that the district could tip too far . ( of course , black and white parents tend to have different ideas about how far is too far . ) the schools are still impressive . columbia high always sends dozens of graduates , black and white , to top colleges . it produced carla peterman , a black rhodes_scholar , and lauryn hill , the hip_hop star , who still lives in town . this year columbia had more national achievement scholarship semifinalists an honor for top scoring black seniors in the national merit scholarship program than any school in the state . and last year it had an 88 percent passing rate on the state high_school proficiency test , three points above average . still , in a society that often associates racial minorities with stereotypes of poverty , the district has an image problem . many parents whites , but also some blacks talk nervously about ''those kids with the boomboxes out in front of school , '' and wonder if they should start checking out private schools or another district . the district 's administrators have been grappling with questions of racial balance and ability_grouping for years . in middle_school , for example , students can temporarily move up a_level , to try more challenging work . but the program is used mostly by white families to push a child or remove him or her from a mostly black classroom so it has only increased the skew . many white parents , ms . peniston says , are adamant about not letting their children be anywhere below honors . ''they either push very hard to get their children into the level where they want them , or they leave , '' she said . it is not an issue only for whites . many black parents worry that the schools somehow associate darker skinned children with lower level classes . when kelly 's boyfriend , jared watts , transferred from south orange middle_school to maplewood middle , he was placed in lower level classes , something his parents discovered only on parents' night . ''there were all these african_american families , asking all these basic questions , '' said jared 's mother , debby watts . ''i looked around and realized they 'd put him in the wrong group . i was so upset i made my husband do the calling the next day . they moved him up right away . but you ca n't help but wonder if it would have happened if he 'd been white . '' sierre monk 's parents are watching her grades , and thinking that unless she is put in honors classes in high_school next year , they will move her to private_school . sierre says she is comfortable with her white honors classmates , even if her best friends now are black . ''i feel friendly to a lot of the white kids , and still e mail some of them , '' she said . as she sees it , she can be a good student without compromising her african_american credentials . not everyone , she observes , has been so culturally dextrous . ''a lot of people think of the black_kids in the top classes , the ones who do n't hang out with a lot of african_americans , as the 'white' black_kids , '' she said . ''i 'd never say it to them , but in my head i call them the white black_kids , too . '' still , she said , she was happiest in her middle level math class , where every student but one was black . ''it 's my favorite , because i can do well there without struggling , '' she said . ''and i feel closest to that class , because i have so many friends there . once i was waiting outside , alone , when i heard a group of white kids talking about , 'oh , those kids in level 3 , they must be stupid . ' i do n't want to associate with people who think like that . '' fissures , chasms , islands it was hard for aqeelah , kelly and johanna to get together this year . they had different lunch periods , different study halls . only johanna and kelly had any classes together . johanna was on the varsity swim team , kelly was on the ninth_grade basketball_team and aqeelah ran indoor track . the three could go weeks without getting together . but they were still close . in the fall , when johanna had big news to share about a boy she liked , she was on two phone lines simultaneously , telling kelly and aqeelah the latest . when they finally met for dinner at arturo 's pizza in november , their pleasure in being together was visible . aqeelah was a little late , so kelly chose an orange soda for her . when she arrived , they were their usual frisky selves , waving to everyone who walked by and talking about the old friends they did n't see anymore and the new people they felt friendly with but would not yet ask to the movies . they were still in giggle mode when aqeelah said , ''i get made fun of by everybody , '' and johanna broke in , ''why , because you 're short ? '' and they collapsed into laughter . but a second later , aqeelah was not laughing . she had her head down and her eyes covered , and when she looked up , a tear was leaking down her cheek . ''no , it 's really confusing this year , '' she said . ''i 'm too white to be black , and i 'm too black to be white . if i 'm talking to a white boy , a black kid walks by and says , 'oh , there 's aqeelah , she likes white boys . ' and in class , these caucasian boys i 've been friends with for years say hi , and then the next thing they say is , 'yo , aqeelah , what up ? ' as if i wo n't understand them unless they use that kind of slang . or they 'll tell me they really like 'back that thing up' by juvenile . i do n't care if they like a rapper , but it seems like they think that 's the only connection they have with me . ''last year this stuff did n't bother me , but now it does bother me , because some of the african_american kids , joking around , say i 'm an oreo . '' johanna and kelly were surprised by her pain they had not heard this before . but they did sense her increasing distance from them . ''it 's like she got lost or something , '' kelly said . ''i never see her . '' aqeelah had always been the strongest student of the three , the only one in a special math class , one rung above honors . but by winter , she was getting disappointing grades , especially in history , and beginning to worry about being moved down a_level . math was not going so well either , and so she dropped track to focus on homework . she was hoping to make the softball team , and disappointed that neither of her friends was trying out . ''i 'll never see you , '' she complained . all three , of course , have always had other friends , and they still did . much of kelly 's social life was with her racially_mixed lunch group . she felt herself moving further from some of her white friends , the ones who hang out only with whites . ''it seems like they have their whole clique , '' she said , and she was not terribly interested in them . against the grain , she was still working to make friends with blacks , particularly with a basketball teammate . johanna found herself hanging out more with blacks , much as her older sister had though not her brother , a college freshman whose high_school friends were mostly white . ''in middle_school , there were black and white tables in the cafeteria and everything , but people talked together in the hallways , '' johanna said . ''now there 's so many people , you do n't even say hi to everybody , and sometimes it seems like the black and white people live in such different worlds that they would n't know how to have fun together anymore . '' the three girls celebrated separately this new year 's eve kelly with jared , johanna at a party with her family , aqeelah at her father 's mosque for ramadan . kelly still tried to bring them together . one friday night , she called johanna and aqeelah on the spur of the moment , and they came over in their pajamas . and at kelly 's last basketball game , in late february , johanna and aqeelah sat and joked with jared , kelly 's mother , her grandmother and little brother . the next day kelly and jared broke up . kelly said she was sad and working hard to keep up her friendship with jared , but that 's about all she was saying . and as spring arrived , kelly , johanna and aqeelah acknowledged that , at least for now , their threesome had pretty much become a twosome . johanna and kelly were still very tight , and did something together almost every weekend . but these days aqeelah talked most to a black girl , a longtime family friend . it was partly logistics aqeelah would run into her daily at sixth period and after school , at her locker . ''i do n't know why i do n't call johanna or kelly , '' she said . ''they 'll always have the place in my heart , but not so much physically in my life these days . it seems like i have no real friends this year . you know how you can have a lot of friends , but you have no one ? everyone seems to be settled in their cliques and i 'm just searching . and the more i get to know some people , the more i want to withdraw . i 'm spending a lot more time with my family this year . '' it 's not that aqeelah was falling apart . she was still her solid self , with all her enthusiasms for ''dawson 's creek , '' movies , and the friday noon service at the mosque . but increasingly , the gibes about being too white were getting to her . one day , walking to class with a black boy who is an old friend , she blew up when he told her she had ''white people 's hair . '' ''i just began screaming , 'what 's wrong with these people in this school ? ' and everyone stared at me like i was crazy , '' she said . ''everyone , every single person , gets on my nerves . '' lessons and legacies the story of aqeelah , kelly and johanna is still unfolding . but those who have gone before know something about where they may be headed . aqeelah 's struggle is deeply familiar to malika oglesby , who arrived from a mostly white school in virginia in fifth grade and quickly found white friends . several black boys began to follow her around , taunting her . lowering her eyes , she recited the chant that plagued her middle_school years ''cotton candy , sweet as gold , malika is an oreo . '' ''i do n't think i knew what it meant the first time , but i figured it out pretty fast , '' she said . jenn caviness , one of her white friends from that time , clearly remembers malika 's pain . ''malika was in tears every other day , they just tormented her , '' she said . ''we all felt very protective , but we did n't know how to stop it . '' malika felt powerless , too . ''i did n't tell my parents about it , i did n't tell my sister , but it was a hard time , '' she said . ''if you 'd asked me about it at the time , i would have said that there was absolutely no issue at all about my having chosen all those white friends . but that 's not true . by the end of seventh_grade , i was starting to be uncomfortable . everybody was having little crushes on everybody among my friends , but of course nobody was having a crush on me . i began to feel like i was falling behind , i was just the standby . '' the summer before high_school , she eased into a black social group . ''i found a black boyfriend , and i kind of lost contact with everyone else , '' said malika , who now attends howard . and yet , when malika finished talking about her oreo problem , when jason recalled his fighting days , when others finished describing difficult racial experiences , a strange thing happened . they looked up , unprompted , and said how much they loved the racial mix here and the window it opened onto a different culture . ''columbia high_school was so important and useful to me , '' said jenn , immediately after recounting how she had been pushed in the hall by a black boy . ''it shaped a lot of parts of my personality . '' she and the others remembered a newfound ease as high_school was ending , when the racial divide began to fade . ''senior year was wonderful , when the black_kids and the white kids got to be friends again , and the graduation parties where everyone mixed , '' said malika . ''it was so much better . '' many parents say that is a common pattern . ''it is an ebb and flow , '' said carol barry austin , the biracial mother of three african_american children . ''middle_school kids need time to separate and feel comfortable in their racial identity , and then they can come back together . i remember when i wanted to give my oldest daughter a sweet 16 party , she said no , because she could n't mix her black and white friends . but by the time she got to a graduation party , she could . '' this year , among the seniors , there was a striking friendship between jordan baram , the white student council president , and ari onugha , the black homecoming king . they met in ninth_grade when jordan was running for class president and knew he needed the black vote . ari , he had heard , was the coolest kid in school , and he went to him in such a low key and humorous way that ari was happy to help out . from that unlikely start , a genuine friendship began when both were in advanced_placement physics the next year . this year they had several advanced_placement classes together , and they talked on the phone most nights , jordan said , ''about everything'' homework , girls , college . ari was admitted to the university of pennsylvania 's wharton_school and jordan to harvard . ''no one looking at me would ever think i 'm in advanced_placement , '' said ari , who wears baggy gibaud pants , a pyramid ring and a big metal watch . ''most of the black_kids in the honors classes identify with white culture . i 'm more comfortable in black culture , with kids who dress like me and talk like me and listen to the same music i do . '' ari and jordan have a real friendship , but one with limits . on weekends , ari mostly hangs out with black friends from lower level classes , jordan with a mostly white group of top students . when ari and his friends performed a wildly successful hip hop dance routine at the martin_luther_king association fashion show , jordan , like most white students , did not go . and when jordan and his friends put together a fund_raising dance for a classmate with multiple_sclerosis , ari did not show up . ''we 've tried to get him to white parties , everyone wants him there , but he either does n't come or does n't stay long , '' jordan said . jordan thinks a lot about race and has been active in school groups to promote better racial understanding something he has tried unsuccessfully to draw ari into . and while ari often visits jordan 's home , jordan has only rarely , and briefly , been to ari 's . ari laughed . ''hey , dude , you could come . '' about the series two generations after the end of legal discrimination , the wider public discussion of race relations seems muted . race relations are being defined less by political action than by daily experience , in schools , in sports arenas , in pop_culture and at worship , and especially in the workplace . these encounters race relations in the most literal , everyday sense make up this series of reports , the outcome of a yearlong examination by times reporters . how race is lived in america june 4 integration saved a church . then the hard work began . june 5 two best friends from cuba are divided by race in america . june 7 in a ''colorblind'' army , two sergeants see race standing in the way of their ambitions . june 11 a white writer , a black director and tension on the set of a television_series . june 14 a successful black white internet team puts its white face forward . june 16 at a slaughterhouse , who kills , who cuts and who bosses can depend on race . june 20 an asian_american politician told his story and won . for blacks , it is a riskier strategy . june 22 two women struggle to control the legacy of a louisiana plantation . today three new jersey high_school girls resist the pressure to split into separate racial groups . thursday notes of discord at a newspaper that had championed racial_harmony .

the california department of water resources priced 180 million in tax exempt water system revenue bonds yesterday through competitive_bidding won by a group of underwriters led by dillon , read company . underwriters said the issue offered investors a maximum yield of 6 . 841 percent for a bond due 2019 . for shorter_maturities , serial_bonds are priced to yield from 4.5 percent in 1992 to 5.6 percent in 1996 , 6 . 15 percent in 2001 , 6.6 percent in 2006 and 6.8 percent in 2011 . the bonds are rated double a by both moody 's investors service and standard_poor 's . finance new issues.

canada 's unemployment rate dipped to a 24 year low of 6.6 percent in may , down two tenths of a percentage point from april . the strong economy added more than 42 , 000 jobs last month and almost all were full time jobs in the private_sector . given the strong job market and other signs of a brisk economy , economists expect the bank of canada to continue to match any interest rate increases by the federal_reserve in the united_states . timothy_pritchard ( nyt ) world business briefing americas.

lead the dollar rose modestly against most major currencies yesterday in thin trading in new york after declining in europe , as many banks balanced their foreign exchange positions to close out the month . the dollar rose modestly against most major currencies yesterday in thin trading in new york after declining in europe , as many banks balanced their foreign exchange positions to close out the month . gold prices declined . the republic national bank of new york quoted gold at 450 . 25 an ounce at 4 p.m. , down 3 from friday 's late bid . activity was dampened substantially by the closure of the london and hong_kong markets for holidays , and participants said the dollar 's advance was exaggerated by the thinness of trading . ''today was a whitewash , really , '' said fred barth , chief currency dealer for prudential_bache_securities inc . ''there was no movement , no rhyme or reason for anything today . '' analysts attributed the dollar 's rise mainly to routine factors , including the end of the month squaring of positions and covering of previous short dollar positions . in a short dollar sale , a trader borrows dollars , hoping to replace them later at a lower price . if the dollar rises against other currencies , or threatens to rise , the trader may cover that position by buying new dollars . in tokyo , where the global trading day begins , the dollar rose to 142 . 35 yen from friday 's three month low of 141 . 50 yen . later , in european trading , it was quoted at 141 . 90 yen . in new york , the dollar was quoted at 142 . 40 yen , up from 141 . 88 yen late friday . in europe , the pound gained to 1 . 6340 , from 1 . 6300 in london late friday . by the end of new york trading , the pound stood at 1 . 6300 , down slightly from the 1 . 6324 posted late friday . other late dollar rates in new york , compared with late friday 's , included 1 . 8165 west_german marks , up from 1 . 8116 1 . 4965 swiss_francs , up from 1 . 4935 6 . 0660 french francs , up from 6 . 0530 1 , 317 . 00 italian lire , up from 1 , 312 . 00 , and 1 . 3198 canadian dollars , up from 1 . 3181 . other late dollar rates in europe , compared with late friday 's , included 1 . 8110 west_german marks , down from 1 . 8145 1 . 4925 swiss_francs , down from 1 . 4955 6 . 0535 french francs , down from 6 . 0575 2 . 0395 dutch guilders , down from 2 . 0445 1 , 311 . 25 italian lire , down from 1 , 313 . 25 , and 1 . 3189 canadian dollars , down from 1 . 3194 . gold for september delivery closed at 450 . 60 an ounce on the new york commodity exchange , down from 453 . 10 late friday . in zurich , gold gained to a late bid price of 456 an ounce , from 453 . 50 bid late friday . currency markets.

demographics alone make it impossible , if not downright foolish , to ignore the education of minority students in the united_states . soon after the year 2000 , black , hispanic , asian and american indian youngsters will constitute a third of the nation 's students , on their way to being a powerful presence in the american work force . leaders in government , education and business agree that the schooling of these students has become a matter of national_security . parents and students acknowledge that schooling has become a grave matter of personal concern . improving the education of minority students , however , is a delicate issue as entire communities struggle to find methods and approaches that work . straight rows of desks all facing front give schools some sense of order , but they belie the real diversity of students . demographic changes have forced schools to respond to that diversity . recently , however , a small number of education experts have raised a stir by urging teachers and schools to recognize that students of various races and ethnic groups have such profound cultural differences that as a whole they learn in distinct , often incompatible ways . the researchers go beyond habits of study to the very essence of how students learn . for instance , they say , white children take to symbols and abstractions , asian children absorb data without context and black children relate better to people than to numbers . such theories played a part in the recent decision in milwaukee to create two public schools , an elementary and a middle_school , specifically for young black males . earlier experiments in other states showed that academic achievement can be raised by tailoring classrooms to reflect the culture and environment from which students come . proponents say they are motivated by a desire to improve the academic standing of minority students . but their learning style theories have led to charges of racial stereotyping and raised more questions about the proper role of schools should traditional public schools , steeped in european american culture and practices , be restructured to serve the growing numbers of minority students and their individual needs ? or does such cultural catering amount to de facto segregation , with all its divisive implications ? " these are fundamental questions that we 're all trying to come to terms with , " said warren e . crichlow , an assistant professor at the graduate_school_of_education and human development at the university of rochester , in new york . one of the most public controversies concerning these styles of learning came in 1987 when the new york state board of regents published a pamphlet onthe high dropout_rate of minority students . the state said schools had failed many black students because they had not taken into account african_american students' learning styles , which stressed " inferential reasoning , rather than deductive or inductive reasoning " and a " tendency to approximate space , number and time , instead of aiming for complete accuracy . " the passages were based in part on research by janice hale benson , an associate professor of education at cleveland state university in ohio . 'when black children differ . . . ' " white children have patterns of abilities , strengths , use of language , social_skills and demeanor that teachers take to , " dr . hale benson said in a telephone interview . " when black children differ from these patterns they are penalized . " a controversy quickly arose over the pamphlet . state education officials appointed a panel of experts to examine the theory of learning styles and promised to revise the pamphlet . so far , it has not been reissued . dr . hale benson said she often must defend her work , but that most people eventually understand that she is attempting to help schools reach black students . she said the ability of black men and women to participate fully in the education and economic mainstream will be determined by the ability of schools to recognize a dis tinct african american culture . " take michael_jackson , michael_jordan , bill cosby and eddie mur phy , " dr . hale benson said . " they have made distinct contributions to american culture , but they would be a kindergarten teacher 's worst nightmare . she would wind up tell ing michael_jackson to sit still , mi chael jordan to sit down and bill cosby and eddie murphy to shut up . " dr . hale benson has established in warrensville heights , a cleve land suburb , one of the few pre schools in the united_states tailored to what she perceives as the unique learning style of african amer icans . in this school , called visions for children , 33 youngsters are placed in groups named for zulu , ashanti and other african tribes . instead of a traditional american school setting in which a class spends the entire day with a single teacher , they are taught in what dr . hale benson called the extended family tradition typical of africa , in which the children spend time dur ing the day not only with their par ents but also with other relatives . in this system they are taught by a series of four teachers one class with one teacher , another with a second , and so on . because some research shows , she said , that black children are more restless than white children , the students are not kept sitting for long periods and they have time for active play in both the morning and afternoon . the cultural instruction extends to the calendar as well . halloween is out , replaced by africa day . independence day was dropped for the emancipation proclamation . thanksgiving became family day . " we do n't dress black children up in pilgrim hats and tell them those were their ancestors , " dr . hale benson said . " three year olds who are confused about whether pilgrims were their ancestors will be confusd when they are 18 year old voters . " cultural_identity is at the heart of the milwaukee schools experiment . when they open in september 1991 , the new elementary and middle schools for boys who are black will emphasize black heritage and attempt to relate education to the experience of black youths . there have been other such experiments over the years . in 1972 , for example , the kamahamena early education project in hawaii examined classroom changes that would help bring up the below average performance of native hawaiian children on standardized_tests . one of the most effective adaptations was in the way readings were discussed . instead of the usual practice of waiting until called upon to answer individually , the students were allowed to talk spontaneously and to assist one another in the tradition of the hawaiian polynesian style of conversation . the students also could respond in their native language , although the teachers asked questions in english . scores on achievement tests rose dramatically . still , many educational psychologists reject the idea of learning styles . " race and ethnicity are only a small part of the learning picture , " said ira k . blake , an adjunct assistant professor of developmental and educational psychology at columbia_university 's teachers college . " all children learn in the same manner , but they individually bring patterns to the learning process that are continually influenced by different factors in their environment . " another prominent researcher , whose work in the mid 1970 's influenced learning style theories , said the important factor is how teachers interpret the cultural behavior of students . the researcher , asa g . hilliard 3d , who is the fuller callaway professor of urban education at georgia state university , explained that , " we need to make sure that teachers do n't misread the culture to provide false assessments of what the kids can do . " black cultural characteristics professor hilliard said black children generally shared certain cultural characteristics that whites did not , including high levels of energy , impulsive interrupting and loud talking . teachers who are not aware that these characteristics seem natural , and not disruptive , to black children sometimes allow this behavior to negatively influence their judgment of a black student 's academic ability , professor hilliard said . he said that once a teacher decides that a student is a poor achiever several things happen conversation is cut short , eye_contact is diminished and the student 's participation in further exercises is limited . professor hilliard is currently holding workshops to show teachers how to differentiate between cultural style and true misbehavior . while not going as far in accommodating culture as dr . hale benson 's visions school , the 200 independent black schools around the nation have gained a_level of academic achievement and cultural emphasis that far exceeds public_school norms . one of the largest such institutions is the chad school in newark , n.j. , with just under 500 black students from prekindergarten through the eighth_grade . tuition is 1 , 630 a year . in the 21 years of its existence , chad has sent graduates to exclusive high_schools and competitive colleges , and consistently outscored all public schools in newark . but the school 's director , leon moore , described as " hogwash " theories that black children , because of their culture , have a different style of learning than other children . what matters , mr . moore said , is using culture to give students a sense of identity . at chad , children each morning recite " a pledge to african people , " a poem of self affirmation composed in the 1970 's that is used in other schools across the nation . pictures of black heroes hang on classroom walls . but the most significant aspect of the school 's success comes from hard work and basics , he said . daily homework must be signed by a parent , all students older than 7 take tests every week , school days extend to 3 20 and teachers know their students personally . " i do n't think children , be they black or white , learn differently , " mr . moore said . " our philosophy here is that every child might not be capable of achieving the same academic level but we as educators are supposed to get the highest level of achievement out of every one of them . '

the unemployment rate in germany fell to 10 . 5 percent in september , reaching the lowest level since february after smaller declines in the two previous months . in seasonally_adjusted terms , the number of jobless dropped by 14 , 000 , to 4 . 39 million , the federal labor office said . the unexpected decline , combined with recent increases in business and consumer confidence and manufacturing orders , raised hopes for germany 's economic_recovery . petra kappl ( nyt )

responding to the rising numbers of business travelers who need to be away from home for a week or longer , extended stay hotel chains have targeted westchester as ''under roomed'' and have proposed the construction of three new hotels in the county . and several more may follow if appropriate sites can be found . ''there has been a tremendous boom in demand for extended stay hotels in the last five years , '' said brian hammes , franchise director for residence_inn by marriott , an extended stay company that already has one hotel in white_plains . ''an enormous amount of people need accommodations for five nights or more , '' he said , ''and it 's become recognized in the market that regular hotels do n't meet the needs of these guests and new products need to be built . '' homestead village , a chain based in atlanta , wants to build a 140 suite , 63 , 000 square_foot hotel in the talleyrand office park in tarrytown . robert weinberg and martin berger , founders of the robert_martin company , which built talleyrand , are representing homestead village in its effort to get local government approvals . the hotel would be built on an 18 acre site now approved for office use only , mr . weinberg said , adding that it would need to be rezoned to allow for a hotel . mr . weinberg maintains that a hotel is now the most appropriate use for the property with the decline of the westchester office market . ''the office market has been quiescent for eight or nine years now , '' he said . ''at the same time , the number of new hotels has been gradually increasing . '' ''the need for the extended stay hotel is particularly ripe , '' mr . weinberg added , a situation he attributes to the advent of the communications revolution . ''the use of computer and faxes has spawned a business traveler who can be away from the office and still conduct business . there are now more training sessions and long term projects than ever before . '' a midwest operator , summerfield hotel corporation , based in wichita , kan . , has targeted the eastern corridor of the county near the westchester county airport for a 160 suite hotel on anderson hill road near king street in rye_brook . it will be built on land owned by pepsico , whose headquarters on anderson hill road is less than a mile away . ''the site is highly desirable due to its convenience to corporate offices and the airport , '' said frank mccullough jr . , attorney for summerfield . and east ridge properties , owner of several office parks in white_plains , has announced plans to replace one of its office buildings , 101 corporate park drive , with an extended stay hotel , although no operator has yet been named . extended stay hotels typically offer guests a more home like environment than regular hotels . they are more like transient apartment houses with one and two bedroom suites and full kitchens . last year , residence_inn converted la reserve hotel in downtown white_plains into an extended stay lodging called the westchester residence_inn by marriott . the 2 . 5 million renovation involved redoing all the kitchens , installing full size refrigerators , dishwashers and microwaves . some rooms also have full ovens . ''we cater to long term guests and try to make them feel at home as much as possible , '' said jim mccabe , the general_manager . since its opening , the white_plains residence_inn has experienced a 90 percent occupancy , compared with ''not quite 80 percent at la reserve , '' said mr . mccabe . the hotel 's biggest problem is that ''we 're 50 to 60 rooms shy , '' mr . mccabe said . ''a lot of our customers call and we have to tell them there 's no availability . '' the average length of stay at the residence_inn is 30 to 40 nights , mr . mccabe said , explaining that rates are based on length of stay . the highest rates are from one to 10 nights and the lowest for 30 nights or longer . for the last year , the average daily rate at residence_inn was 126 a night , which is ''a little better than we anticipated , '' mr . mccabe said . ''the rate at la reserve was between 70 and 75 . '' the success of the residence_inn is encouraging , mr . weinberg said . ''but there 's plenty of room for more kinds of hotels in the county , at different price ranges , '' he added . ''the residence_inn is a very special facility , but it 's for the upper tier of the market . '' homestead village , he said , will appeal to a more budget conscious guest , with rates ranging from 400 to 500 a week . the five year old chain now owns and operates 44 extended stay hotels nationwide . it just began building in the northeast with a hotel now under construction in hanover , n.j. , and it plans to build 40 to 50 new hotels a year through the year 2000 . summerfield hotel corporation , formed in 1988 , now has 29 hotels in operation and 8 under construction . ''basically , we serve four types of travelers , '' said dennis meikleham , vice_president of real_estate and development for summerfield . ''people who are relocating is a big part of our business . then there are participants in training sessions , people on temporary work assignments , like auditors who need to be somewhere for a length of time , and the transient worker who works in a different place all the time . this kind of guest wants a place to spread out and work . ''two separate guests can share a 700 square_foot suite . they each have a separate phone with separate billing , but share expenses by sharing a common space . '' moreover , whole families can be accommodated , which is often necessary in the case of relocations . ''our two bedroom suite can easily house a family of four , but only for a short period of time , '' mr . meikleham said . extended stay hotels also differ from regular hotels in the extent of their services . for instance , residence inns offer grocery shopping for guests . ''guests leave a list in the morning and the groceries are packed away in their room by the time they get back , '' said mr . mccabe . ''we only charge them for what the groceries cost us . '' another special service typical in extended stay hotels is a complimentary hospitality hour offered on most weekday nights . ''it can be an ice_cream social or a buffet dinner , '' mr . mccabe said . ''all these people are in the same boat , they 're all away from home and it helps to create a sense of community . '' homestead village , while working on its proposal for tarrytown , is also looking for other sites in westchester , according to mr . weinberg . ''the market for this product is very deep , '' he said . ''this is not just a short term solution for using land that would otherwise be used for office buildings . i predict that within two years , we 'll see a need for more office space , but these hotels will still be needed . ''

they did not look like a mob of republicans hellbent on revolution . there was not a cromwell or robespierre in sight . rather they seemed a cross section of the british public sweet faced elderly women with rosy complexions , harumphing men in tweed jackets , long haired intellectuals hiding behind thick lensed glasses , straggly hair and oxbridge accents . but everyone agreed that the debate that brought them together would have been political heresy not all that long ago . " it would have been unthinkable for the editor of the times to chair such an event , " noted peter stothard , the editor in question , as he opened discussion on the future of the british monarchy . " i would have immediately been dismissed as a republican or something worse . " the debate was sponsored by the times of london , owned by the australian born press magnate rupert_murdoch , and charter 88 , a group set up five years ago to press for constitutional changes in britain . it did not go unremarked by some speakers that other publications put out mr . murdoch , who is not british , have often led the way in publicizing the royal family 's difficulties . the royal family 's future for more than eight hours on a sunny saturday , some 500 people paid 27 to 67 apiece to listen to writers , scholars , politicians and other members of the " chattering classes " talk about questions that have arisen with increasing urgency in the last year . should the royal family continue as it is , a symbol of britain 's glorious past and its present exceptionality ? should it be stripped of much of its pomp and revenue and reduced to the status of a " bicycle monarchy , " as in the netherlands and scandinavia ? or should it be abolished altogether ? the fact that these questions are being asked , not just in the queen_elizabeth_ii conference center where the debate was held , but on the streets and in pubs indicates that the recent scandals involving members of the royal family have more than just marred its reputation . for almost the first time since the abdication of edward_viii in 1936 , the scandals have opened a serious discussion of constitutional issues centering on the rights and prerogatives of the monarch . disillusionment on the rise there is little doubt that as a result of ferocious some would say invasive press coverage , disillusionment with the royal family is on the rise . as sue townsend , the author of a satirical novel on the royal family called " the queen and i , " put it " when i was a child in school , i used to sit at my desk learning my nine 's tables and the queen 's portrait looked down on me and i believed in her . she was an icon . i also believed in fairies and santa_claus and god . and one by one , i 've stopped . " the royal family , she said , was " the apex of our terrible class system which strangles people . " if people want pageantry , she suggested , " we can keep the uniforms . " charles moore , the editor of the sunday_telegraph , engaged in an articulate defense . the monarchy , he argued , is inseparably bound up with britain . " it exists , " he said . " it is there . it 's visible on postage stamps , letter boxes and in toasts at formal dinners . " it was deserving of deference , he said , " because it has so much to do with the peace and freedom that we enjoy . " the plenary discussions and 13 panels picked apart and analyzed the monarchy 's various functions , as defender of the faith and upholder of the church of england , as a constitutional instrument that convenes parliament and still nominally has the " royal prerogative " to bypass it , and as a figurehead and role model for family life . it was this latter function that has been so badly_damaged by voracious press reporting of the marital difficulties of prince_charles and prince edward . more recent , criticism of the royal family has moved onto an economic plane the question of value received . is it really worth it to the british taxpayers , the cost said to be double that of the monarchies of the netherlands , sweden , spain , belgium , denmark and norway combined ? in addition to the civil list , an amount granted for official duties that came to about 12 million last year , the costs of maintaining six palaces , the royal yacht , the royal train and the royal plane have been estimated at over 75 million a year . a poll taken at the end of last year by market and opinion research international indicated that the number who thought britain would be worse off without a monarchy had dropped to 37 percent and the number who thought it would actually be better off had risen to 17 percent . the palace counterattacks to counteract the negative image , buckingham_palace has gone on the defensive . the queen will pay some taxes , the palace will be thrown open to tourists for a few years to help offset the cost of repairs at the fire struck windsor_castle , and prince_charles has given up league polo and stepped up his state visits and environmental and business activities . while some speakers invoked these steps as a sign of the monarchy moving with the times , others attacked them as insufficient . all sides seemed to agree , however , that the royal family 's ability to sell newspapers was still second to no one else 's . in fact , the front pages of most british papers today carried articles about the one who is probably the most popular of all , the 92 year old queen elizabeth the queen_mother . she was in the hospital , said to be resting comfortably after a minor operation to remove a piece of food from her throat . correction june 6 , 1993 , sunday because of an editing error , an article on may 23 about the british royal family referred incorrectly in some copies to the son of queen elizabeth , besides prince_charles , who has had marital troubles . he is prince andrew , not prince edward .

trying to infuse the troubled relationship between the united_states and china with a new sense of direction , secretary of state madeleine k . albright spoke sternly today to the authorities here about human_rights but also encouraged them to move forward on joining the organization that governs world trade . ms . albright told president jiang_zemin and other senior officials that the united_states was disturbed by beijing 's crackdown on opposition groups and called on them to release a number of political_prisoners . ms . albright said at a news conference this morning that ''in the last two days we 've seen what a candid dialogue looks like'' on human_rights . one administration officials said rights issues were ''prominent but not dominant'' during the visit . ms . albright 's visit came on the heels of the annual report by the united_states_government that identifies countries with human_rights problems , which was far more critical of china than last year 's report . at the same time , ms . albright made clear that the administration was sticking to the approach it had developed , separating human_rights from trade issues . ''we determined some time ago that it was not a good idea to link human_rights and trade , '' she said during the first day of her visit on monday , ''and that we actually make better progress in both when they are not linked . '' she emphasized the possibility of membership for china in the world_trade_organization , aides said . relations between washington and beijing strained by the roundup of dissidents , charges that china is trying to hone the accuracy of its missiles with american technology , and a growing trade_deficit . today ms . albright described relations as ''neither the best of times nor the worst of times . '' still , the administration has been eager to sound positive about china 's chances of entering the trade organization . her comments about separating membership in the organization from china 's human_rights record marked the latest in a series of signals that washington is sending in an effort to prompt the chinese to make serious offers to open its markets . but there are huge obstacles to an agreement . the administration would have to win the backing of american business , which is split on the issue of exactly what markets china must open , and how fast . moreover , china wants assurances that congress will drop the annual review of its ' 'most favored nation'' trade status which despite its name means the rights afforded to most american trading partners . the review has brought an annual congressional debate over the nature of the economic relationship between the two countries . dropping it would require congressional action . and even if the administration separates china 's entry into the trade group from human_rights issues , it is highly unlikely that congress will keep them separate . china views membership in the world_trade_organization as a matter of national prestige , and the united_states has a virtual veto over who can join the geneva based organization , the rule maker and arbiter in world trade matters . in return for membership , washington has insisted that china provide a detailed schedule for opening its markets to foreign goods . but chinese officials , facing a severe economic slowdown , are loath to allow international competitors to vie with outmoded state owned enterprises that are laying off millions of workers . ms . albright 's visit is not likely to stop china 's communist government from taking further action against dissidents . late last week it detained one dissident and handed down an 18 month sentence in a labor_camp to another without a trial . a human_rights group based in hong_kong said on monday that another dissident planned to form an independent political_party . a recent effort to form such a party brought several arrests . but the visit also came as other vexing problems with china surfaced , including the arrest last week of a chinese citizen in california whom federal agents charged with trying to obtain a component vital to missile_guidance systems . publicly , at least , chinese officials did not emphasize that or other security matters . instead , they limited their public criticisms of the united_states to its human_rights stand . foreign_minister tang jiaxuan , with whom ms . albright spent most of her time , obliquely warned the united_states not to submit a resolution criticizing china 's human_rights record at the annual meeting in geneva this month of the united_nations human_rights commission . he said such ''confrontation'' would not solve the problem . the administration is in the midst of a heated internal debate about whether to go ahead with such a resolution , which is bound to antagonize the chinese government . the state_department has characterized ms . albright 's trip as a ''business visit , '' intended to develop a system of regular meetings between the two countries . it was the highest level of a constellation of visits to beijing in recent and coming days by american officials . deputy treasury_secretary lawrence h . summers was here last week , discussing china 's beleaguered economy and its possible route to membership in the trade organization . the united_states is seeking chinese membership because it would force beijing to agree to a schedule of reductions in tariffs and trade_barriers and would subject china to the rulings of the organization 's court , which enforces trade rules . while reluctant to lower those barriers , the chinese want to insure that other countries including the united_states cannot discriminate against chinese made goods . the clinton_administration sees china 's desire for membership as an opportunity for a tangible accomplishment that could move the relationship between the two countries forward . the united_states is eager to close a deal in time for a scheduled visit by prime_minister zhu_rongji to washington in early april . an administration official familiar with washington 's efforts to get china into the organization said it appeared that mr . zhu was serious about the talks and understood the benefits of membership . the administration has been contemplating some ''imaginative transition'' periods for china 's entry so that the uncertain economy here , particularly some sectors including agriculture , would not be overwhelmed by the immediate lowering of tariffs , the official said . in addition to human_rights , the main complaint from china during ms . albright 's talks was an american proposal for a missile_defense system in asia , administration officials said . the chinese have said that if such a system embraces taiwan , its deployment will set off a new arms_race and deeply harm chinese_american relations . a pentagon study released last week portrayed a growing threat to taiwan from a buildup of missiles along the chinese coast facing taiwan . ms . albright countered , according to her spokesman , james p . rubin , that the system , which is in the design stage , was intended to protect american_troops in the region from threats posed by ballistic_missiles . she told the chinese that if they improved relations with taiwan and stopped their missile buildup near the island , the enthusiasm in washington for the theater missile_defense system would probably wane . the chinese also brought up the clinton_administration 's cancellation last week of a satellite sale to china on the ground that the purchasing company had ties to the chinese military . an administration official said the chinese had expressed puzzlement , arguing that if the united_states was interested in reversing its huge trade_deficit with china , it should allow the chinese to buy high technology goods . the deficit , which reached an all time high of 57 billion last year , is second only to the american trade_deficit with japan . on a subject that increasingly concerns the administration , ms . albright urged the chinese to be more helpful in preventing north_korea , with whom china has diplomatic and military relations , from becoming a nuclear_power . an administration official called the talks on that subject constructive , but another official said the chinese were fairly coy about how much influence they could or would use with the north koreans .

the seclusion room on ward 9 at the bronx psychiatric center is intentionally spare naked pale peach walls a worn mattress on the terrazzo floor , and a heavy door with a wire mesh window . it is here that patients have frequently been brought sometimes kicking and yelling , other times walking calmly after growing violent and endangering other patients or staff members . if patients are determined to hurt themselves through scratching , say the seclusion room has been passed over for the straitjacket , or camisole , as the state delicately calls it a cream colored canvas jacket with sleeves that wrap behind the back , immobilizing the arms . for decades , the seclusion room and straitjacket have been part of the arsenal that mental hospitals have drawn on to control violence among patients . but prompted by the deaths of 18 patients in restraint or seclusion in new york state psychiatric hospitals between 1988 and 1992 , along with pressure from former patients , state mental_health officials began moving last week to end the use of straitjackets and to cut back on the use of other physical restraints and seclusion . for hospitals like the bronx psychiatric center , the directive poses several challenges . administrators need to find other ways to deal with violence , so that methods like seclusion and physical restraint are viewed not only as a last resort but also as a treatment failure . to that end , the hospital has eased overcrowding , is training staff members in ways to curtail agitation before it turns to violence , has begun to reward patients for good behavior , and has started a daily review of any use of seclusion and restraint . " the message is that we 're going to examine this issue every day at the highest level of management , " said barbara donaldson , acting director of the bronx center , which has 583 patients . " you ca n't have a knee jerk reaction and just put someone in seclusion , because it 's going to be reviewed . " most of the action on ward 9 occurs in the day room where the majority of the 30 patients hang out under the cold fluorescent light , playing table_tennis or watching a television_set that is a little too loud . a few sit_in the gray haze of the smoking lounge or lie on their beds in the dormitory style rooms . they are young and old , male and female , but the illnesses of their minds mostly schizophrenia have taken an almost uniform toll on their bodies , giving them demeanors that are haunted , withdrawn , agitatedor simply lonely . it is a sad place , this locked ward , where people stay for months or years . and for the staff , it is a difficult one . in the last decade , the patient population has changed from an older , more docile group to a younger one that is more violent and less able to perform basic tasks . as deinstitutionalization continues , the ones who remain behind in psychiatric hospitals tend to be the sickest and the most psychotic . addictions elevate problems more than two thirds of the patients arrive addicted to drugs or alcohol , and just over half have been arrested , hospital officials say . crack use , in particular , has made their symptoms worse . " crack tends to agitate patients , making them paranoid and violent and much more difficult to manage , " said dr . merrill rotter , the clinical director . even before a state report on a two year investigation last week called for changes in the use of restraint and seclusion , bronx psychiatric , set on a compact campus in the morris park section , had begun to focus on its use of seclusion . two years ago , when the state started posting rates of seclusion and restraint among its 22 adult hospitals on a computer network , bronx psychiatric was near the top of the list . restraints were always used sparingly , but the seclusion rate was the highest in the city and one of the highest in the state . then , in october 1992 , a 23 year old patient who was trying to gouge out his eye died , according to state officials , while being placed in a four point restraint . the restraint , in which the ankles and wrists are fastened to a bed , is no longer used by bronx psychiatric but will still be allowed under the proposed guidelines . " it was a wake up call , " ms . donaldson said . restraint use declines since then , officials at the hospital have tackled the problem of violence on several fronts and , in the last six months , have reduced the use of seclusion . in january , there were 212 cases of seclusion last month , there were 113 . the use of restraints fell to none last month from seven in january . administrators attribute the decline to a few changes . the number of patients was reducedto 583 today from 640 last fall . the result , ms . donaldson said , was " less people pressure " and " more individual attention . " new medications , as well as older drugs traditionally used for seizures and heart_disease , have proved helpful in alleviating psychosis and violent tendencies in some patients , without leaving them too sedated , doctors say . clozapine , the wonder drug of recent years for schizophrenia , has made a big difference . one woman was secluded , on average , 18 times every three months . in the most recent quarter , when she began using clozapine , she was secluded only twice . " clozapine has been tremendously effective in terms of managing aggression , " dr . rotter said . the staff is also being trained in techniques to avert outbreaks that result in seclusion or restraint . a " behavioral treatment unit " is being designed to teach the most volatile patients how they can deal with stress , frustration and anger in nonviolent ways . and patients are starting to receive modest rewards for behaving appropriately . on ward 9 , for instance , a woman became violent early last month , requiring seclusion a few times . the patient was upset that her therapist would soon be leaving and angry at the ward 's staff for keeping away a hospital employee who she imagined was her lover . " she needed a holdover object , " to help her through a time of stress , said dr . joseph battaglia , the psychiatrist for ward 9 . " she loves to eat , but it 's uncontrolled . i told her that if she could stay out of the seclusion room , she could have some chocolate spread i bought her . " every afternoon she gets two teaspoons of nutella . she has not been secluded since . the chocolate fix is admittedly short term . dr . battaglia is allowing this indulgence for three weeks , to stop her cycle of threatening behavior . after that , he plans to entice her with walks on the hospital grounds . when seclusion and restraints are used , they now get immediate scrutiny . after each incident , a senior nurse meets with staff members to find out what happened and how it could have been prevented . there is also a daily review . " it makes staff sensitive to somebody who begins to pace or yell at 2 o'clock in the afternoon , " dr . rotter said . " it encourages them to do something then rather than waiting till they 're running around with their fists clenched three hours later . " for patients who try to hurt themselves , there will always be a need for restraints , hospital psychiatrists say , and bronx psychiatric was pleased that the task_force , while proposing to ban straitjackets , recommended three new restraints used by other states . ( only a quarter of the states still use straitjackets . ) one new restraint is a " wrist belt " mechanism in which a person 's wrists are tied to a belt around the waist . doctors say it avoids the risk of hyperthermia , or overheating , that a straitjacket carries , and allows them access to the upper body for monitoring vital_signs . though perhaps less dehumanizing than physical restraint , seclusion is still considered an invasion by mental_health officials , since patients are confined to a small room against their will , occasionally for hours . it is also more difficult for aides to guard against patients' hurting themselves there . four of the 18 deaths cited in the state report occurred in seclusion , including two suicides and a fatal burning while a patient tried to attract the attention of a staff member with a lighter . the cause of death of the fourth patient was not available , the task_force report said . new use for room under the state proposals , all patients would be searched for dangerous objects before being placed in seclusion and would be watched constantly by a staff member . but increasingly , the seclusion room is being used by patients at bronx psychiatric as a " quiet room " or " time out room . " with the door open , it is a place where they can escape the noise and visual stimuli of the rest of the ward . one patient , who had to be dragged into seclusion in the past , is a 28 year old brooklyn native suffering from a personality disorder , psychotic depression and drug addiction . he is a hulking man of 283 pounds , with a baby face . hospitalized for two and a half years , he is beginning to get better . " if i feel anxious and nervous about something , and i want to just relax and think , i go into the quiet room , " he said , drawing out each word the way people on anti psychotic medication sometimes do . " i 'm calming down . "

the way to baghdad is through the republican guard . the united_states_army and the marine_corps are now moving up supplies and getting their forces into place to take the fight to saddam_hussein 's most loyal units . according to the allied war plan , by the time the onslaught begins in earnest , the iraqi troops will have been thoroughly pummeled from the air . there is little doubt that the united_states military has the skills , training and weapons to take the capital and dislodge the hussein government . the questions are how long it will take , and what the cost will be in terms of casualties , both allied and iraqi . the iraqis are trying to counter the allied strategy by carrying out guerrilla style raids to disrupt the movement of troops and supplies and divert allied attention to threats in the rear . the advance on the iraqi capital may also bring allied forces closer to the threat of chemical_weapons , according to american officials . they are concerned that the iraqis have drawn a red line around the approaches to the capital and that crossing it could prompt mr . hussein 's forces to fire artillery and missiles tipped with chemical or germ warheads . baghdad is what the united_states military calls the center of gravity . it is the stronghold from which mr . hussein controls his forces , a bulls eye for the american air war commanders and the final objective for american ground forces that have drawn up plans to fight their way to the gates of the capital , then conduct thrusts at power centers inside the city . from the start , the campaign to take baghdad was envisioned as a multifaceted effort . it began with a cruise_missile attack that was intended to kill mr . hussein . government command centers and bunkers have been blasted with bombs and cruise_missiles , attacks that can be expected to continue periodically . for all the talk about waging a punishing air campaign , the united_states has been holding back some punch . the pentagon removed hundreds of strikes from its attack plan in an effort to limit civilian casualties and damage to civilian structures . the calculation is that this approach will make it easier for american officials to receive public support and rebuild iraq after mr . hussein is toppled . in contrast to the persian_gulf_war in 1991 , iraqi television is still on the air . should american air power destroy mr . hussein 's government a prospect that seems increasingly unlikely american ground forces would be rushed to baghdad to fill the power_vacuum . otherwise , the role of air power is to weaken the government 's command and control and knock out iraqi air_defenses , then provide united_states ground commanders with air cover if american ground forces have to venture into the still defended capital . airstrikes will also be directed against republican guard forces protecting the approaches to the city , including their command and control , artillery and tanks . the goal is to weaken the units and freeze the republican guard in place so they cannot drop back and prepare for urban_warfare . the land attack on baghdad is still in its initial phases . the first step took place sunday_night when the 11th attack_helicopter regiment began to strike a brigade of the medina . to set the stage for the assault , the united_states military hammered iraqi radar and tried to suppress surface_to_air_missiles . but the iraqis had a low tech solution they deployed a large number of irregular fighters who were equipped with machine_guns and small_arms . as the helicopters took off , they flew low off the ground to make themselves less inviting targets for surface_to_air_missiles . but that made them vulnerable to the small_arms fire . thirty of 32 apache helicopters were struck by small_arms fire . one helicopter went down , and its two man crew was captured . the army was so concerned that the iraqis would get their hands on the technology that they fired two atacms missiles today to destroy the helicopter . because of bad_weather after the action , the military had no report on whether they succeeded . the apaches destroyed only 10 to 15 iraqi armored_vehicles . american military commanders say they are rethinking their helicopter tactics as a result of the events of the past 24 hours . the weather has also become at least a temporary ally of the iraqis . american military officials are forecasting several days of cloudy weather with 10 , 000 foot_ceilings and 30 knot winds that will create sandstorms . the bad_weather will preclude helicopter attacks and make it more difficult for allied warplanes to attack the three republican guard divisions around baghdad . but the bad_weather will not last forever , and american_forces are using the time to get their forces into position and move up large amounts of fuel and supplies . the marines , for example , are laying a long fuel pipeline in iraqi territory . american_forces are also trying to improve the security of their convoys by deploying more armed escorts on the ground and by helicopter in response to a wave of attacks by iraqi fedayeen and other irregular forces . during the stretch of bad_weather , the army hopes to keep the pressure on by firing atacms surface to surface missiles . the weather will make it difficult for allied pilots to hit mobile targets , but the air war commanders could try to keep the heat on by dropping gravity bombs or cluster_bombs . when the moment comes to battle the republican guards full tilt , it will be through a combined_arms attack involving artillery , close_air_support and tanks . army and marine forces will be involved . after reaching the outskirts of the capital , american commanders envision a deliberate fight and say they are determined not to rush into the city . rather , their plan calls for patient reconnaissance to try to pinpoint the location of mr . hussein , his top deputies and the main defenders of his rule , including internal security organizations and elements of the special republican guard . they are hoping that residents will provide the necessary intelligence . the goal is to avoid house to house fighting that could result in large american and civilian casualties . instead , allied commanders envision thrusts at crucial power centers . army combat engineers might be at the front of a formation to destroy barricades and other obstacles . tanks could follow , protected by light_infantry to guard against attacks , rocket propelled grenades and antitank weapons . the formations would also be protected by air power , including spotters that would call in airstrikes and apache helicopters , which could fire hellfire_missiles . ''if there is to be a fight in and around baghdad , we 're going to have to be very patient to establish the right conditions for us to engage in that fight , '' gen . william s . wallace , the commander of the v corps , said in a recent interview . ''i think that means forming joint combined_arms teams that include air_force , army aviation , light_infantry , armored forces , engineer forces that together can go after a specific target , for a specific purpose . '' a nation at war military analysis.

american officials announced tuesday that they would establish a special compensation fund for iraqis who were imprisoned or executed for political reasons under saddam_hussein . the fund , to be administered by a commission controlled by iraqis and financed by a ' 'substantial'' contribution from the united_states , would also look at compensating iraqis who lost their jobs because they opposed mr . hussein , the officials said . the officials also announced that mr . hussein had been visited at a ' 'secret location'' on tuesday by delegates from the international committee of the red_cross .

another mayor might have picked a sillier slogan for new york , perhaps a self mocking slogan , or even a nutty boast about urban coyotes . but not rudolph w . giuliani , who last night on the " late show with david_letterman " could not resist burnishing his reputation for creative political pugilism . making his third nationally_televised appearance on the cbs program , the mayor was offered a chance by mr . letterman to select his choice of five new slogans to increase tourism in new york city , each written by the show 's staff . mr . giuliani sat gamely next to the host as each slogan was recited by actors 1 ) home of the 6 cup of coffee . 2 ) the bus fumes are free . 3 ) we got coyotes . 4 ) it 's rudy riffic . but there was a fifth choice , one that brought down the house , and the mayor hesitated before picking it . " i 'd like to pick the fourth , " mr . giuliani said to mr . letterman , " but i think the fifth really represents the spirit of the city . i 'll probably get into deep trouble by picking that one . " but as mr . letterman turned the camera on mr . giuliani there was clear enthusiasm in the mayor 's voice as he uttered the words of the fifth choice , which were at that moment flashed live on the sony jumbotron in times_square " we can kick your city 's ass . "

the pound soars . the british_pound jumped almost 1 percent against the dollar after the bank of england unexpectedly increased its benchmark interest rate . in new york , the pound settled at 1 . 6192 , up from 1 . 6049 .

four years ago , george w . bush won some of his biggest and most decisive margins among rural and small town voters . but democrats say that economic troubles and the war in iraq have taken a disproportionate toll on rural communities . they vow that the struggle for these voters will be must be far more competitive this time around . so senator john_kerry will come on friday to cloquet , not far from duluth , and kick off a three day , independence weekend bus tour across minnesota , wisconsin and iowa , trying to connect with small town america . the republicans are hardly ceding this political ground . the bush campaign fired off a rough bon voyage to mr . kerry on thursday , with a news release headlined , ''top 10 reasons why john_kerry is wrong for rural america . '' ( no . 1 was his opposition to mr . bush 's tax cuts , while no . 4 was his ''f'' rating from the national rifle association . ) and vice_president dick_cheney will embark this weekend on his own bus tour , beginning in parma , ohio , passing through west_virginia 's northern panhandle , ending up in western_pennsylvania , at a baseball game in altoona . it will be a battle of heartland imagery as mr . kerry tries to show a different side from the urban , liberal northeasterner so often caricatured by his republican opponents to show rural voters that ''he looks like them , talks like them , and cares about them , '' as john norris , his national field director ( who hails from iowa ) , puts it . mr . kerry will listen to the concerns of farmers in bloomer , wis . eat barbecue with voters in independence , iowa , and watch the fireworks on the mississippi_river near dubuque . he might even do some shooting , as he did during the iowa_caucus campaign last year . he will also meet with veterans and military families along the way , in a region where many have a personal connection to a soldier in iraq . past elections show just how important this effort is for the democrats . bill clinton held his own among rural voters in both his presidential campaigns , losing that bloc by only a few points to president george_bush in 1992 and senator bob_dole in 1996 , according to surveys of voters leaving polling_places . but the rural vote , which amounted to 23 percent of the electorate in 2000 , broke decisively , 59 percent to 37 percent , for mr . bush four years ago , according to those surveys , while vice_president al_gore carried the cities and the two men split the suburbs . republicans say they are confident that rural voters will in the end make the same judgment about mr . bush that they made four years ago that he understands them , shares their cultural values on issues like abortion restrictions and the rights of gun_owners and is , essentially , one of them . matthew dowd , the pollster for the bush campaign , said that , if anything , mr . kerry , given his background and voting record as a massachusetts democrat , would have an even harder time making inroads with these voters than did mr . gore , who had represented tennessee in the senate . the republican trend among rural voters has been building for a decade , mr . dowd said , in large part because ''they finally decided on a variety of social and cultural issues that the democrats do n't stand for the same things that they stand for . '' that was clearly reflected in the views of jon and fay haataja , a police_officer and a stay at home mother of three from nearby esko , heading to breakfast this morning at the family tradition restaurant . mrs . haataja said ' 'moral issues'' were uppermost for her , and added , ''we 're going to vote for the president . '' bill mcinturff , another republican pollster , said that ''the notion that there 's some consensus in rural america shifting in this race seems to me to be substantially overblown . '' mr . bush may have slipped some among rural women because of iraq and the economy , he added , but republicans can make up that ground by election time . but democrats say that times have changed . the loss of manufacturing jobs , the ''outsourcing'' of jobs overseas and the continued troubles in the farm economy have put the economic agenda front and center in these communities , they say . dealing with rising health_insurance costs , a main part of mr . kerry 's program , is even more important in towns with many struggling small businesses . and with the disproportionate number of retirees in many of these communities , preserving traditional medicare and social_security looms large , democrats say . at the same time , mr . kerry 's aides say , the campaign is not giving ground on some of the key cultural issues . ''we will do things to make sure people understand that guns should not be an issue because john_kerry is a sportsman , a hunter , '' said mr . norris , who helped mr . kerry win the iowa_caucuses earlier this year . while mr . kerry has supported some ''gun safety'' issues like the ban on assault_weapons , the kerry campaign says , the candidate is firmly committed to protecting the second amendment . his latest biography advertisement , in fact , declares , ''he 's a husband and father , a pilot , a hunter , a hockey player , '' and shows an image of mr . kerry hunting . moreover , aides say they will simply fight harder for rural votes this time . they are sending organizers to many rural communities , they said . ''and we are going to talk to them more directly than any democratic presidential_candidate has talked to them in years , '' mr . norris said . anna greenberg , a democratic pollster who says mr . bush has already suffered erosion with these voters , added , ''i think bush is still going to win rural areas , but he needs to win them at the margins he won in the past . '' the most recent new york times cbs_news showed some decline in mr . bush 's approval rating among rural voters , reflecting the national trend , but he was still , on balance , given a positive rating . mr . kerry is beginning his small town tour in an area of democratic strength , in minnesota 's eighth congressional_district . representative james l . oberstar , the democrat who has represented this area since 1974 , described his voters as interested in ''progressive economics'' ''people who belong to strong unions , want a strong wage , strong social_security , a strong medicare drug benefit'' but ''cautious on social values'' and ' 'very , very strong for gun rights . '' the war is felt heavily here , mr . oberstar added . ''it 's the uncertainty of people being ripped out of their homes and their families , '' he said . ''this iraq incursion has created a great deal of disruption among the guards and reserves . '' a small group of kerry supporters who met in a tavern here wednesday night reflected that . mike sundin , chairman of the carlton county democratic farmer labor_party , said that his son had just returned from iraq the day before . state senator becky lourey said her son had just returned from fallujah . and , she added , ''i 've been to three funerals of really wonderful kids . '' the 2004 campaign the voters.

adam granas , a doctor in family_practice at the open door family medical center in ossining , speaks little spanish . many of his patients speak little english . together they cobble together simple phrases . ''pain . ear . cough . '' ''i 'm learning spanish as i go , '' said dr . granas , who joined the practice in september . ''if there 's a real problem , i ask someone to come in and translate . '' there are no shortage of interpreters at the clinic . they are as important on staff as the doctors , nurses , social workers and midwives . the open door family medical center has provided medical care to the poor and uninsured in its main_street storefront in ossining since the 1970 's . but in recent years , the organization has been quietly expanding its reach and consolidating its presence throughout the county , even in the face of opposition from local communities . these days , open door serves 25 , 000 to 30 , 000 people a year in four offices in westchester in sleepy_hollow , rye_brook and mount kisco , besides ossining . the mount_kisco site , a 6 , 000 square_foot office , opened in november . next month the organization plans to open a two story family health complex in downtown port_chester within walking distance of the poorest neighborhoods in the village . the centers provide services ranging from prenatal_care to pediatric visits and internal_medicine , with specialties like dental and eye care . they also track patients with chronic_illnesses like diabetes and asthma . two thirds of the clinic 's patients are hispanic , many of them recent immigrants . ''there is an absolute need for the group they are serving , '' said j . michael cindrich , mount_kisco 's mayor , referring to immigrants . ''but there is also a need for middle america . there 's a need for the 25 year old who is in his first job and no longer on his parents' insurance . it 's not exclusive to the immigrant or hispanic population . there is a health_care crisis in this country . '' open door executives say they have been working for years to get this far . ''we tried to get into mount_kisco in 1994 , '' said lindsay c . farrell , the organization 's president and chief executive . ''we could n't get the zoning variances so we walked away from mount kisco and turned our efforts to port_chester . then it took us 10 years to get into port_chester . wherever we go , we have to spend a lot of time educating the community about what services we provide , showing them that we provide first_rate medical care to anyone who needs it . '' about 20 percent of open door 's budget comes from federal and state grants , the rest from private donations and fees collected from patients and insurers . the centers try to enroll qualified patients in federal or state insurance plans like medicaid or hudson health plus . but about 45 percent of the patients remain uninsured , some because they are undocumented_immigrants . in these cases , open door charges on a sliding scale that starts at about 25 a visit . in 1985 , open door made its first move toward expansion when it opened a satellite office on beekman avenue in sleepy_hollow . there was little resistance from the locals . but when it tried to follow suit in port_chester in 1995 , it met with fierce opposition . some people were concerned that port_chester , 30 percent hispanic by the 1990 census figures , would become a magnet for illegal_immigrants . open door ultimately had to settle for renting space in an office park in neighboring rye_brook , ms . farrell said . the mayor of port_chester , gerald logan , who was elected in 2001 , said he made helping open door find a building in the village his first order of business . ''the need for the services was in port_chester , not rye_brook , '' said mr . logan , a republican . ''you 'd go to the rye_brook facility and you would see a line of cabs outside . any money they were saving on health_care , they were spending on cab fare . it did n't seem right . '' the agency found a 25 , 000 square_foot building in the downtown redevelopment district , which it bought , renovated and equipped for about 6 . 6 million , in part with federal grants . the centers are awaiting approval from the state health department and hoping to open in february . when it does , the smaller rye_brook office will be closed , ms . farrell said . last year , open door also opened health clinics in two port_chester elementary schools john f . kennedy and thomas a . edison where the majority of children are hispanic , many of them children of recent immigrants . according to the 2000 census , port_chester is 46 percent hispanic , but the mayor said he thought the percentage was most likely higher , because of undocumented_immigrants . ''if you have parents who are working at jobs where they do n't get vacation and they do n't get sick time , it is hard to get them to bring their children to the doctor , '' ms . farrell said . parents sign medical waivers and the school clinic treats their children for everything from immunizations and well care visits to ear infections and dental_care . a parent need not be present for treatment . in the spring , an open door clinic is scheduled to open at port_chester high_school . in mount_kisco , open door first came in 2002 at the request of northern westchester hospital , which found itself overwhelmed with treating uninsured immigrant patients in its family health center , said joel seligman , president and chief_operating_officer of northern westchester hospital . under federal law , open door is able to recoup some costs for treating the uninsured from the government , while the hospital could not , he said . ''their talent is primary_care , '' mr . seligman said . ''as a hospital , we do other things a patient needs . '' but the growing immigrant community 's needs for general medical care quickly outgrew the hospital 's space , so open door looked to move into its own offices in town . getting approval took a couple of years as town leaders publicly considered the parking and traffic implications of medical offices that are expected to serve 3 , 000 people a year , said mayor cindrich of mount_kisco . according to the 2000 census , mount_kisco is 18 percent hispanic , but the mayor thinks a more realistic number is about 28 percent . ms . farrell said open door is not planning any further expansions . ''we 're going to hold tight for right now , '' she said . ''with the war in iraq and hurricane_katrina , the federal money just is n't as available . '' westchester.

this year 's winners and losers in the pacific stock fund group split along a clean line funds that own japanese equities and funds that do n't . japanese stocks roared through the 1980 's and collapsed in 1991 , finally reviving in the first quarter of this year . stocks traded on the southeast_asian markets sizzled in 1993 because of the red hot performance of the hong_kong market , only to begin a dizzying downward_spiral in 1994 . so rankings depend mostly on where the funds invest japan 's more mature market or the nearby emerging_markets and on what time frame is used . investors in the pacific region must decide whether to buy funds that own solely japanese stocks , only southeast_asian stocks or some of both ( more than 80 percent of the vanguard and nomura funds invest in japan ) . going forward , the emerging_markets should be profitable , but expect more short term volatility , said jeffrey r . kelley , a morningstar analyst . and japan should benefit from the region 's growth because it is a major trading partner , especially with china . funds watch.

there is also a gender gap the kind that mrs . carnahan would love to see in the race next year in north_carolina to replace senator jesse_helms , the veteran hard right republican who has decided to retire . a new poll by the elon university polling organization puts elizabeth_dole 50 points or so ahead of every other hopeful in the contest , male and female , democrat and republican . mrs . dole , a former republican candidate for president and wife of former senator bob_dole of kansas , holds a lead of at least 60 points over each of four challengers whom she will face in the republican primary . among the democratic hopefuls is erskine b . bowles , a former white_house_chief_of_staff , who narrowly leads a field of five in a theoretical primary . but 60 percent of the poll respondents were undecided . in a general_election match up with mrs . dole , mr . bowles trails by 47 points , with 22 percent of respondents undecided . the poll director , sharon spray , said of the findings ''no one poses a serious threat to elizabeth_dole 's bid to win the republican primary . the democratic primary will likely be far more interesting . bowles still has weak name recognition . ''

american_troops in iraq are battling insurgents to keep open vital military supply lines in and out of baghdad . the attacks on the supply lines are posing new hazards to civilian contractors who operate many of the convoys and siphoning short handed combat forces away from the main fight against militants , senior commanders said monday . over the weekend , american_forces fought pitched battles to clear the north south and east west routes to and from baghdad , and also near falluja , for trucks to haul food , fuel , water and ammunition to soldiers and marines , top officers said . many convoys have been delayed others have been suspended , officials said . the attacks on convoys , along with sabotage to roads and bridges , have opened yet another front in the week old surge in violence in iraq . two american_soldiers and seven employees of the american contractor kellogg brown root were missing and feared abducted after an attack on friday on a fuel convoy near abu_ghraib , west of baghdad . the growing concerns over securing supply lines came as gen . john p . abizaid , the american commander in the middle_east , told reporters he had requested from the pentagon the equivalent of two more combat_brigades as many as 15 , 000 to 20 , 000 troops to keep american_forces in iraq at about 130 , 000 for the foreseeable future . levels had been scheduled to decline to about 110 , 000 during the present troop_rotation . defense secretary donald h . rumsfeld , who had signaled last week that such a step was in the offing , is considering options to honor the request , from extending the tour of thousands of first armored division soldiers now in iraq to drawing on marines or soldiers elsewhere . mr . rumsfeld could decide as early as tuesday , defense officials said . ''we 've had to take extraordinary steps to get stuff to them , fighting to open up some of the routes , '' brig . gen . mark_kimmitt , the deputy director of military operations , said in a telephone interview from baghdad about clearing the supply routes . general kimmitt told reporters that none of the routes in iraq were now classified by the military as ''black'' or ' 'red , '' meaning too dangerous to use . but he said most were ''amber , '' a classification that means convoy operators assume ''a certain measure of risk . '' he added , ''it is certainly not green yet . '' the risks to civilian contractors and military convoys moving supplies from kuwait and around baghdad have become menacingly clear . after the attack on the kellogg brown root convoy , military officials said monday that they feared that the nine people had been taken hostage by militants . on monday , a convoy of flatbed trucks carrying m 113 armored_personnel_carriers was attacked and burned on a road in latifiya , 20 miles south of baghdad , according to the associated press . witnesses said three people had been killed . a supply truck was also ambushed and set ablaze on monday on the road from baghdad 's airport . looters moved in to carry away goods from the truck as iraqi policemen looked on without intervening , the a.p . reported . commanders and contractors have said american_forces are in no immediate danger of running low on essential supplies . most units are said to keep at least a week 's supply of fuel , food and water at their bases . kellogg brown root vowed monday ''to stay the course and move forward with the logistical support to troops , '' but with unspecified changes in delivery and security procedures , a spokeswoman said . ''we are all concerned about the recent incidents in iraq , and when hostilities intensify we revise and step up our precautions in support of our security efforts , '' said wendy hall , the spokeswoman for kellogg brown root , which has more than 700 trucks in kuwait and iraq . but john c . mccarthy , the director of projects for t.t.s . group , a british company whose kuwaiti affiliate ships cargo into iraq , said his company would not operate north of basra , in the relatively secure south . the american led military operation is responsible for providing overall security through iraq , but specific protection depends on the cargo , area and threat level , officers said . fuel and ammunition convoys routinely have armed escorts , army officials said . food and water shipments might have military escorts , depending on how risky the route . but as in the case of the four american security contractors killed in falluja this month on a convoy to pick up kitchen equipment , companies hire their own private security guards for some trips . army and marine helicopter gunships frequently patrol the most traveled routes , but that has not deterred some of the latest attacks . in a teleconference from baghdad with reporters at the pentagon , general abizaid also said some iraqi_security_forces performed very poorly during the recent violence and underscored the need to improve their training and leadership . ''in the south , a number of units , both in the police force and also in the i.c.d.c. , did not stand up to the intimidators of the forces of sadr 's militia , and that was a great disappointment to us , '' general abizaid said , referring to the iraqi civil_defense corps . ''in other places , such as in and around falluja , we 've had good , strong performances by several units . '' general abizaid , who expressed concern that some new iraqi_police officers defected to the rebel militia loyal to the shiite_cleric_moktada_al_sadr , said the american trainers , including army special_forces , would have to improve the training , vetting and leadership of police , iraqi militia and iraqi_army units . general abizaid also signaled that american officials would now seek greater involvement from former senior iraqi military officials , who up to now had been largely excluded from aiding the new security forces because of their ties to saddam_hussein 's government . ''we 've got to get more senior iraqis involved former military types involved in the security forces , '' general abizaid said . the struggle for iraq new missions.

yen gains . the yen ended higher for the first time in a week after a widely followed quarterly business survey in japan suggested its economy was not as weak as believed . in new york , the dollar fell to 141 . 69 yen from 142 . 44 .

american warplanes patrolling the no flight zone over southern iraq were met with antiaircraft fire on three separate occasions this week but did not return fire , the pentagon said today . a pentagon spokesman said the iraqi shells all exploded well below the navy and air_force fighter planes , and the pilots did not regard them as a threat . although some of the antiaircraft fire was guided by spotlights , he said it was unclear whether it was aimed at the american planes . " i do n't want to make anything out of this incident particularly or these incidents but i just wanted to let you know , " robert b . hall , a spokesman , said at a pentagon briefing . under the rules of engagement for the american patrols , it is up to the pilots to decide whether to respond to hostile fire , pentagon officials said . the fact that the incidents passed without a military response suggested new restraint on the part of american_forces in the region . incidents in the north the last time a navy plane patrolling in the zone encountered iraqi fire , on jan . 23 , it responded by dropping a 1 , 000 pound laser guided bomb on the antiaircraft_battery . more recent incidents involving american planes and iraqi antiaircraft forces have all taken place in northern iraq , where the united_states is enforcing another flight exclusion_zone . twice last month , the american warplanes fired missiles or dropped bombs when fired on by iraqi missiles or antiaircraft_batteries . on april 26 , however , a navy ea 6b plane patrolling in the north did not respond even to an iraqi surface_to_air_missile that fell short of the aircraft . today , military officials said one of two air_force f_15e 's flying over southern iraq at 12 20 a.m . wednesday had banked away and dropped chaff when their pilots spotted antiaircraft rounds being fired along a spotlit path , but that they did not believe they had been threatened . the other two most recent incidents occurred monday_night , when two navy f_14 's first reported at 8 13 p.m . seeing search lights at four separate locations from which tracer_rounds were being fired . seven minutes later , the aircraft , based on the carrier nimitz , sighted reddish orange tracer_rounds followed by white bursts , the pentagon said . defense_department officials said it was unlikely that the spotlight guided antiaircraft shells could have been intended for anything other than the american planes . but they said the rounds could have been iraqi artillery fire directed at rebel forces in the shiite dominated region . other administration officials said they knew of no change of orders to american pilots flying over iraq . but one official said that as the administration reviews growing evidence that the iraqi government sought last month to assassinate former president george_bush , " no one wants to pick a fight right now . " correction may 24 , 1993 , monday an article on friday about iraqi antiaircraft fire against american warplanes described the origin and location of an earlier incident incorrectly . american officials said that on april 26 a navy pilot reported ground tracer fire and a possible missile launching , not a confirmed launching , in one of the no flight zones . the zone was in southern iraq , not northern iraq .

an internal health and hospitals corporation memorandum shows that top officials of the agency were told a year ago of the widespread problems with the reconstruction of kings_county hospital , including allegations of misconduct and strife over whether officials were being told the hospital 's true costs . the 26 page chronology of the project by inspector general barbara dixon and frank j . cirillo , the corporate director internal audits , was ordered by dr . billy e . jones , then the president of the health and hospitals corporation , in january 1993 and was dated march 12 , 1993 . the document shows that a copy was also sent to dr . james r . dumpson , then the chairman and still a health and hospitals corporation board member . the tone of the chronology is nonjudgmental and simply lays out each moment across the 10 year history of the hospital project when key decisions were made , contractors multiplied , questions raised and cost estimates grew . dr . bruce siegel , the new president of the corporation who was appointed by mayor rudolph w . giuliani , said , " i think that document , that chronology should have elicited some response from somebody and i think that barbara dixon and other people were hoping that it would . it does not seem to have elicited a response . " dr . dumpson , who was an appointee of former mayor david n . dinkins , said he did not recall the details of the memorandum but said that it was sent by health and hospitals corporation officials to the brooklyn district_attorney because of its allegations about the project superintendent . he said that both he and dr . jones had been aware that the kings_county project was a problem , and that they had discussed whether one of the state 's construction authorities should take over the building project . " the staff strongly recommended against that because of the amount of money h.h.c . had already invested , " he said . dr . jones could not be reached for comment . but the chronology shows that in january 1993 , nine months after he assumed his post , he directed ms . dixon and mr . cirillo to review the history and expenses of the kings_county hospital project . the document details how the cost of rebuilding the brooklyn hospital grew from an initial estimate of 500 million in the mid 1980 's . when mr . giuliani ordered a moratorium on the project last month its estimated cost had reached 1 billion . expanding prime contracts it also shows the kinds of pressures the hospital was under both in brooklyn and from lawmakers to hire minority contractors and provide jobs to the surrounding community . in june 1990 , it says that several work stoppages occurred when minority coalitions groups demanding work for minority laborers came to the site . in one instance , it said , such a group caused 17 , 000 to 20 , 000 of damage to a support building . the report notes that a year later , in july 1991 , the state black and puerto_rican caucus expressed an interest in the hospital , although is not specific about what kind of contacts occurred . that same month officials of the health and hospitals corporation told the construction manager turner santa_fe joint_venture to expand from 10 prime contracts for the hospital rebuilding to " as many small prime contracts as possible . " in august a meeting was held between the hospitals agency officials and " nyc members " of the caucus to discuss the project and programs for businesses owned by minorities and women . the work was split into 40 contracts , the memorandum says . eventually the number grew to more than 100 . assemblyman albert vann , the brooklyn democrat who was the president of the caucus at the time , said yesterday that in july 1991 he had sent a letter to dr . j . emilio carillo , then president of the hospitals agency , because he and other black elected officials in central brooklyn had received numerous complaints from local contractors and constituents that they were not receiving enough work from the agency . the report also documents a running problem with one particular excavation and demolition subcontractor , sanford sukram of sukram construction . the chronology says that mr . sukram was paid for work he did not perform " with the knowledge and approval " of the turner santa_fe site superintendent , gerard rizzi . in return , mr . sukram " allegedly delivered approximately 11 , 500 worth of stone " to mr . rizzi 's private_property without charge , the report says . questioned by investigators in october 1992 , mr . rizzi admitted he received 10 , 000 in cash from mr . sukram and " a few hundred " from another contractor , according to the report . and it noted that he admitted paying mr . sukram for work he had not done . neither mr . sukram nor mr . rizzi could be reached for comment yesterday . beverly a . benn , a spokeswoman for turner construction company , said that the company itself investigated mr . rizzi , and that he was dismissed in october 1992 . she said mr . sukram had bid for his job on the site and had been on a health and hospitals corporation list of approved subcontractors . patrick clark , a spokesman for district_attorney charles j . hynes of brooklyn declined to comment on the case . a law enforcement official , who spoke on condition of anonymity , said the district_attorney had been unable to obtain enough evidence to prosecute mr . rizzi . correction march 12 , 1994 , saturday an article yesterday about the kings_county hospital reconstruction referred incorrectly to a remark by an investigator for the health and hospitals corporation regarding the performance of turner santa_fe , the project manager . although the investigator , joseph quinones , accused several unidentified contractors pf contributing to the project 's delay , he did not specifically name turner santa_fe .

dollar up . the dollar hit a five month high against the yen as data lifted confidence that growth will continue despite the threat of higher interest rates . the yen settled at 111 . 14 a dollar , compared with 110 . 59 on thursday .

lead at the start of a town_meeting on a community residence home for the mentally ill , hempstead officials always read the same statement ''the disabled are welcomed members of the town community . and we . . . believe strongly that persons with mental_disabilities should be offered every opportunity to lead productive lives . at the start of a town_meeting on a community residence home for the mentally ill , hempstead officials always read the same statement ''the disabled are welcomed members of the town community . and we . . . believe strongly that persons with mental_disabilities should be offered every opportunity to lead productive lives . '' and then the town gets busy opposing the home . in five years , three mental_health residences single family homes for 10 people each have been proposed for this town of 738 , 000 , and all three have been opposed by the town in court , on the ground the area is oversaturated with such homes . the town keeps losing there has never been a single family mental_health residence defeated on long_island through the courts . but leaders in prosperous nassau_county do not seem to mind . they just keep opposing and delaying these things . ''nassau is the most difficult area in the state to establish a residence , '' said anne mccabe , a state mental_health official . in nassau , six of seven proposed residences have been opposed by town leaders in administrative hearings , and five of those were appealed in the next step , to the courts . in the rest of the state , legal challenges are far rarer . in new york city , two of 29 residences faced administrative challenges . one went to court . in westchester , one of five was challenged in erie_county , one of seven monroe county , one of 10 , and albany county , none of eight . challenges cause delays , and nassau ( pop . 1.3 million ) now has fewer mental_health residence beds 55 than smaller areas . albany county ( pop . 285 , 000 ) has 95 beds , and monroe ( pop . 700 , 000 ) has 123 . in neighboring suffolk_county , which is the same size as nassau , there are 126 beds . residences for the retarded have similar problems . in nassau , according to rob davies , an official with the state agency that works on retardation , ''almost every site we 've proposed has been rejected . '' long_island opponents have shown lots of creativity . a hewlett picket carried a sign , ''no more mental motels . '' opponents in bethpage conducted a candlelight_vigil . two residences have been burned down in huntington . in russell gardens , when neighbors learned a home for the retarded was planned , they pitched in and bought the house , so the retarded could be kept out . last month , a state supreme_court justice ruled they could not do this , but residents have filed a notice of appeal . asked why nassau residents were so resistant , john passala , an aide to the county_executive , said , ''citizens of nassau_county are middle and upper_middle_class , well educated . when there 's any kind of community matter , they 're involved . '' advocates for the handicapped would like to see nassau 's elected officials stand up once in a while and tell angry residents there is a desperate need for these homes . ''they 'll write letters to a newspaper for the disabled saying how great the special_olympics are , '' mr . davies said . ''then when we come in , they disapprove a house . '' the head of the local mental_health association , sadie hofstein , said , ''we need the political leadership to be proactive , not reactive . '' a request to interview the hempstead supervisor , joseph mondello , about a residence he is opposing in the hewlett section , was rejected . ''he 's too busy , '' a press aide said . however , his counsel , jeff stadler , said mr . mondello ''feels it 's necessary to take into account the community wishes . '' ''we 're town officials supported by taxpayers , '' mr . stadler said . ''under the law , we feel it 's our duty to fight oversaturation . '' the oversaturation point was rejected at a recent state hearing . the hearing officer found that , if approved , the home at 1465 peninsula boulevard would make a total of 30 residence beds in woodmere hewlett ( pop . 23 , 000 ) , which ' 'does not indicate an overconcentration . '' the town has appealed , contending there are three community residences within a half mile of the proposed site . however , a drive through the area showed the residences were actually . 8 , 1.2 and 1.3 miles away . all were separated by major roads and business districts . asked about the mileage figures , mr . stadler conceded the town had used an ''inaccurate map . '' he added , ''we intend to notify the court . '' however , he said , mr . mondello still thought the area was oversaturated . once the homes are opened , elected officials sound more supportive . as former hempstead supervisor , thomas gulotta had opposed two such homes . now , as county_executive , he said . ''i know of no instance when they 're not well accepted . '' he said he had opposed the two homes ''because it would be wrong to cut off the community input without giving them a voice . '' he said because he fought the two homes in court , residents in his town , hempstead , did not go out and do more extreme things , such as buying up a home meant for the handicapped or burning one down .

stroll down the yellow brick road on the one block stretch on stockholm street between onderdonk and woodward avenues , and you will see rows of identical two story houses with round bay_windows and white porches made with the same yellow bricks used for the street . no , you have not stumbled into a quaint early 20th_century german town . you are in 21st_century queens . the residents of the block will continue to enjoy that old world feel . the city 's landmarks_preservation_commission has declared this block a landmark , shielding it from major architectural changes . ''this particular block looks almost exactly like it did 90 years ago , when it was first built , '' said terri rosen deutsch , the commission 's chief of staff . ''we recognized the rarity of that by giving it landmark_status . '' the brick paved streets and the houses were constructed between 1907 and 1910 by german immigrants . the golden hued bricks came from b . kreischer sons , a famous brick manufacturer in the city . the houses are among the few intact buildings made from such bricks . no one is happier about the landmarking , which took place on nov . 28 , than pauline leblond , a 23 year resident of the block who has been advocating the designation for the past decade . ''as soon as you enter this block , you know you 've found something unique , '' said ms . leblond , who is in her 80 's and serves as president of the stockholm street block association . ''the first time i walked down this street , i thought i was walking into a fairy_tale . '' during the late 1980 's , heavy traffic crushed some of the original brick pavement . the city tried to replace it with asphalt , but ms . leblond and other residents urged officials to use matching yellow bricks instead . ''history is in these brick houses , '' ms . leblond said . ''early immigrants built these houses , and they all lived inside them . we 're just maintaining a part of what america used to be . '' eun lee koh neighborhood report ridgewood.

lead china said today that it planned a review of thousands of state companies as part of a campaign against corruption . one trading group said it was the subject of a financial overhaul . china said today that it planned a review of thousands of state companies as part of a campaign against corruption . one trading group said it was the subject of a financial overhaul . it also barred communist_party and government officials from managing companies , banned government departments from setting up companies with their operating funds and ordered those already operating to be disbanded . the new china news_agency said that administrative departments were ''engaging in business , have party and government functionaries working as their leaders and resort to profiteering . '' ''it is now a must to screen these companies , '' the agency said . the agency was quoting a government order issued internally 10 days ago . it said the review would focus on companies set up since late 1986 , but others might be included . the trading group , the kanghua development company was set up last year and associated with deng pufang , the son of the senior leader deng_xiaoping . deng pufang has denied any wrongdoing , but the company will lose certain tax and other benefits .

on a gritty street at the edge of town , a joint united_states iraqi military_patrol fell into a firefight with two dozen heavily armed_guards of an ambitious and militant shiite_cleric near midnight on thursday , leaving at least 10 people dead , including 3 american servicemen and 2 iraqi security officers . seven more americans were reported wounded in the gun battle . with the death of a fourth american , a military policeman killed by a roadside_bomb in the baghdad area on friday , the 24 hour period was the deadliest for american_forces here in a month , pushing the number of american combat deaths since president_bush declared an end to major hostilities to 101 . the american task here appears to be growing ever more complicated . until recently , the american_forces had been battling sunni muslims , saddam_hussein loyalists and perhaps other islamic fundamentalists who have slipped across the border from neighboring countries . but in the past week , americans have begun facing pockets of resistance from elements of the shiite_muslim community , which constitutes more than 60 percent of iraq 's population and had until now accepted or at least tolerated the american presence . the guards involved in the gun battle work for mahmoud al_hassani , a cleric allied with moktada_al_sadr . americans blame mr . sadr for several recent disturbances and attacks , and last week he proclaimed his own government for iraq . the firefight appeared to signal a hardening resolve on the part of the united_states to face down such militant shiite_clerics . american and iraqi forces returned to the scene here on friday morning , searching for sheik hassani , witnesses said . another brief gun battle ensued , though no one was hurt , they added . but the cleric had fled and remains in hiding , said one of his guards , ibrahim moussef , standing in front of his headquarters , where the gunfights occurred . mr . moussef said he and 23 other men armed with ak_47 assault_rifles had fought the american and iraqi officers for half an hour the night before , and that six of his own men had been killed . another of the cleric 's guards put the number at eight . to crowds of the sheik 's followers on the street on friday afternoon , mr . moussef shouted , ''this was an honor . we are ready to die for the sheik . '' before thursday night , karbala had not been the scene of any significant attacks on american_forces since major combat ended . many people interviewed here in recent months , and even today , seemed pleased by the american presence in iraq . but followers of sheik hassani hold a different view . a poster on the wall adjacent to the scene of the shootout calls iraqis who cooperate with the americans ''traitors . '' american officials in iraq hold sheik hassani 's reputed ally , mr . sadr , accountable for several recent disturbances , including an ambush last week in which two american_soldiers were killed in sadr_city , the taking over of the district council office there and a gunfight in karbala earlier this week in which at least three iraqis were killed and several followers of a rival sheik were taken hostage . this week , a spokesman for the military said the united_states intended to hold mr . sadr and others like him ''accountable for their actions . '' in an unusually terse and serious statement on friday afternoon , lt . col . george_krivo , a military spokesman , said that the firefight in karbala ''was caused by noncompliant forces , '' adding that it ''occurred after someone came and reported that a number of men were congregating on the road in front of the mosque after curfew . '' both the iraqi_police and american military_police officers went to the scene , he said . the cleric 's guards opened fire first , using rifles and rocket propelled grenades , colonel krivo said . mr . moussef said the americans had fired first . colonel krivo said american_forces did not know whether sheik hassani ''was personally involved or not , '' but that he had made anti american statements before . mr . moussef said the americans had tried to take away the guards' weapons . the united_states has said the many irregular militias and guard forces in the south must disarm , but until friday they had made no particular effort to enforce the order . ''we told them we are your friends , but we are here to protect the cleric , '' mr . moussef said . the americans then returned to their humvee vehicles and opened fire , he said . mr . moussef said he was among the guards firing on the military_police . asked if he had killed anyone , he shook his head . there was no military presence apparent anywhere inside karbala this afternoon the sheik 's surviving guards mingled in front of their headquarters without interference . but american and other foreign forces ringed the city , checking vehicles as they came and went . the sheik 's headquarters are on the edge of town , about half a mile from imam abbas mosque at the city 's center . in nearby streets , iraqis offered a variety of opinions about the events overnight and the american presence . ''americans should not come in here it is a holy_city , '' said hiday ibrahim , a baker . ''we are happy to see saddam_hussein gone , '' he added , ''but all the promises bush and the americans made until now have not been fulfilled . '' safa abu ziad , who owns a stand that sells sweet tea 100 yards from sheik hassani 's office , chastised the sheik 's men for loitering in the street , armed , when the american iraqi patrol came by . ''to tell you the truth , we owe the americans a lot , '' he said . ''we lived 31 years without democracy . the americans brought us these things . '' the struggle for iraq casualties.

the missing american soldier who has been the subject of an intensive manhunt here in the capital since he was kidnapped by gunmen outside the heavily protected green_zone last week was secretly married to an iraqi woman and had been visiting her at the time of the abduction , several people who identified themselves as his in laws said sunday . these people , who provided the first vivid account of the abduction , said the kidnappers were members of the mahdi army , the shiite_militia , who dragged the soldier into a car at gunpoint . his whereabouts and condition remain unknown . the soldier 's marriage , if confirmed , would not only be highly unusual but also a violation of american military rules , and would put the mystery of the missing soldier in an entirely new light . the american military command has been circumspect in the details of the missing soldier , saying he was an iraqi american interpreter who had left the green_zone without permission to visit unidentified relatives in baghdad . search squads have shown local residents the missing soldier 's picture , but the military has not even released his name . the new details of his family connections were disclosed as a spate of attacks reported elsewhere in iraq left at least 33 people dead . these included an ambush on a police academy bus in southern iraq that killed 17 . the people who said they were the missing soldier 's in laws identified him as ahmed qusai al taei , 41 . they showed visitors to their baghdad apartment an enlarged wedding photo of him and the bride , whom they identified as israa abdul_satar , 26 , a college student . they also showed the visitors glossy snapshots of the smiling couple in egypt for their honeymoon . the couple had married three months ago , they said . the precise dates of the wedding and honeymoon , and whether the soldier had been on active_duty at the time , were not clear . the people also described how members of the mahdi army , led by a local commander known as abu rami , came to the wife 's home in the central baghdad neighborhood of karada last monday , on the muslim holiday id al fitr , and took mr . taei . ''they were saying , 'he 's an american journalist , ' '' said a woman who identified herself as his mother in law and asked that she be identified only by her nickname , um omar , because of fear of reprisals . ''we were saying , 'no , he 's an iraqi . ' '' um omar and the others in the home said they had not learned until after the man 's kidnapping that he was an american soldier . military officials would not comment when asked sunday about these new details , and it was impossible to independently corroborate the account given by the people who said they were mr . taei 's in laws . the military 's fraternization policies prohibit active_duty personnel from marrying local civilians , said lt . col . josslyn_aberle , a military spokeswoman . but she said privacy rules barred her from providing any details about the missing soldier . in 2003 , a pair of florida national guardsmen married iraqi doctors they met in baghdad soon after the fall of saddam_hussein 's government in a joint ceremony . one of the soldiers' marriages dissolved soon afterward , but the one whose marriage lasted was confined to his base and eventually discharged from the military . the people who said they were the missing soldier 's in laws said he and his immediate family , sunnis from the capital 's adhamiya neighborhood , had fled to the united_states before the fall of saddam_hussein . they explained how he came to marry ms . abdul_satar , also a sunni . mr . taei had friends in karada , a mostly upscale commercial district that sits outside the green_zone , um omar said . as she described it , he spotted her daughter one day as she was en_route to classes at mutsamsirya university in central baghdad , where she is enrolled in the science college . through friends , he arranged to speak with her parents , um omar said , and after some discussion , ms . abdul_satar agreed to marry mr . taei , whom her mother described as a ''gentleman . '' after the couple married , um omar said , ms . abdul_satar moved out of her mother 's cramped apartment , on the third floor of a dreary complex on a side street in karada near the national theater , and settled into a cousin 's one story home down the block . mr . taei came to visit every few days , said a neighbor who lives across the street from the cousin 's home , where the kidnapping took place . ''we thought he was a businessman , '' said the neighbor , who asked to be identified only by his last name , nadhir . last monday , mr . taei came about 4 p.m . on a motorcycle . soon after , a car full of gunmen came and demanded that mr . taei go with them , mr . nadhir said . he said he witnessed the entire episode from across the street but was helpless to stop it . abu rami , said to be the lead kidnapper , had been living in the abandoned ministry of defense building just up the street that is now inhabited by squatters , residents said . members of the mahdi army , a force that answers to the radical_shiite_cleric_moktada_al_sadr , are known to patrol that building as well as a squalid former air_force base across the street that has also become a large encampment for the homeless . just a few days before the kidnapping , abu rami and his men had beaten several teenage_boys in the neighborhood with cables for wearing shorts , residents said . but when the men tried to drag mr . taei into their car at gunpoint , he and members of ms . abdul_satar 's family resisted , mr . nadhir said . three additional cars full of gunmen soon arrived to help . one of um omar 's nephews came running to her apartment to tell her what was happening , she said . she rushed over with other family members . ''i saw one of the kidnappers putting a gun to his head , '' she said . the women in the house were screaming and crying , begging and arguing with the gunmen to stop , said ahmed abdul_satar , one of ms . abdul_satar 's brothers , who said he tried to send them inside while the men sorted out the matter . his sister , in hysterics , fainted , he said . eventually , the gunmen wrestled mr . taei into the car , but another of ms . abdul_satar 's brothers , omar , who knew abu rami from the neighborhood , insisted on going with them , other relatives said . they were on their way to the vast shiite_slum of sadr_city , the stronghold of the mahdi army , relatives said , when abu rami ordered mr . abdul_satar out of the car and left him at the side of the road . if he did not get out , he was told , they would kidnap him as well . ms . abdul_satar and her brother are now staying in the green_zone for their safety and to answer additional questions from the military , their mother said . she has heard from her daughter a few times , but there has been no news of mr . taei . american_troops , along with their iraqi counterparts , have cordoned off much of eastern baghdad , including sadr_city , in their search for the missing soldier . on friday , they rolled in force into the district , searching a mosque and a school but did not find him . just two days before that , iraqi and american_troops had clashed over several hours with militiamen after they entered sadr_city at dawn . they raided the home of a notorious shiite guerrilla leader in search of suspects in the kidnapping , the military said . in total , 10 militiamen were killed in the fighting . on sunday , thousands of residents , along with politicians from mr . sadr 's political bloc , gathered in sadr_city to protest peacefully against the security cordon around the neighborhood . the most serious of the attacks elsewhere across iraq on sunday was an ambush of a police academy minibus in the southern city of basra . fifteen officers and two interpreters were killed , said gen . abdul khidir al taher of the iraqi_police . in addition , the police found at least 31 bodies across the capital on sunday , many of them shot at close range and bearing signs of torture , an interior_ministry official said . for um omar , the last week has been filled with waiting and worrying . if she had known that mr . taei had been in the united_states_army , she said , she would have forbidden him to visit . ''i 'm praying , '' she said . ''i 'm calling on allah for his safety . '' the reach of war correction_october 31 , 2006 , tuesday an article yesterday about a kidnapped american soldier who apparently had married an iraqi woman and was visiting her at the time of the abduction in baghdad on oct . 23 misspelled the name of the university that the woman has been attending . it is mustansiriya , not mutsamsirya .

ebenezer scrooge would not be happy this christmas . at pubs , restaurants and office parties in the city , london 's wall_street , all the talk has been on the bonuses that are being lavished on bankers and traders . london is at the center of an expansion in european deals , helped by inflows of cash from private_equity shops , the middle_east and russia , and a rush of foreign listings on the london exchange . as a result , many bankers here are hoping that this is the year when their year end bonuses , which have traditionally lagged those of their counterparts across the atlantic , rise to a comparable level . ''london and new york have been coming closer and closer together over the last few years , '' said carl sjostrom , a partner in kpmg 's executive_compensation practice . ''new york is a bigger market , but there have been some fantastically lucrative areas in europe as of late . '' at goldman_sachs , for example , fees from european mergers alone are up 102 . 4 percent from a year earlier , to 656 . 7 million , versus an 18 percent increase in merger fees in the united_states , to 994 . 6 million , according to data compiled by thomson_financial . at merrill_lynch , they are up 151 . 7 percent in europe , to 377 . 3 million , versus a 53 . 7 percent increase in the united_states , to 510 . 8 million . ( banks based in new york almost always have smaller investment_banking staffs in europe in some cases as little as half the size . ) the numbers do not take into account russian or middle_eastern deals , which are often done by london bankers , debt sales or new equity offerings on the london_stock_exchange . disparity in pay between new york banks and their foreign outposts has been a longstanding source of friction . in london , banking and trading markets were once notorious for clubby relationships and liquid lunches , but they are being transformed into springboards for growth markets like eastern_europe and the middle_east . ''i think there is still a perception that people work harder in new york , which is probably justified , but the gap is narrowing , '' said mounzer nasr , the head of european corporate investment for the private_equity_firm arcapita , and a former deal maker for bankers_trust in new york and merrill_lynch in london . ''depending on who you 're talking about , the top m. a . bankers in london work just as hard as their new york counterparts . '' investment_bank managers in london say they are often looking for skills that are generally found outside new york . in particular demand are bankers with experience in the middle_east or china . ''there is a premium for people who are bi and tricultural , '' said john j . studzinski , the chief executive of hsbc 's corporate and investment_banking division . klaus diederichs , head of european investment_banking at j . p . morgan_chase , is also looking for specialized skills . ''our bankers are flying as much to kazakhstan and istanbul as they are to frankfurt , '' he said . ''deals in countries such as south_africa and kazakhstan have grown in size considerably . '' ''the european markets now require bankers to be complete athletes , '' he said , ''as competent in mergers and acquisitions as they are in structured financing , capital raising and derivative transactions . '' in london , expectations were high this bonus season . nearly 60 percent of city employees expected their bonuses to be larger than last year , and one in five expected it to be at least twice as large , according to morgan mckinley , a financial recruiting firm . in the united_states , 44 percent of bankers expected their bonuses to be larger than last year 's , according to a similar survey by vault , an employment research firm . as in new york , estimating how many millions bankers and traders will receive holds a particular fascination . the london afternoon newspaper the evening_standard started the bonus speculation early this year , with a headline on its front page in september ''3 , 000 new city millionaires biggest bonuses for five years as good times return . '' the paper attached numbers to the names of various bankers , estimating , for example , that a head of british banking at goldman_sachs would be awarded 5 million ( about 8 . 7 million ) . while no banker or trader would comment on the record about bonuses , year end pay is all the chatter . and there are signs that bankers , traders and others in the city have been out celebrating more often this year . anthony fuller , the chairman of the pub chain fuller smith turner , last month cited a 6.6 increase in sales in the financial district for the six months ended oct . 1 . ''it was particularly pleasing to see continued buoyant trading in the city which , up to a year ago , had been suffering the effects of a sluggish economy , '' he said . sales did not necessarily increase because city pub visitors are drinking more expensive beer or wine , tony johnson , a spokesman for fuller , noted . some of the increase has come from ' 'more people coming to the pub , '' he said . ''when things are good , people are more comfortable being seen out having a good time than when they are bad . ''

after more than a month of rising defiance , the iraqi government postponed a vote today in which its parliament had appeared ready to take further steps along a collision course with its western foes . instead , parliament issued only a mild statement critical of the american led air_strikes against iraq last month . those attacks prompted calls from some legislators for measures that would have been a direct challenge to the united_nations . no reason was given for the postponement , which came at the end of a special two day session . but the legislative body is an instrument of president saddam_hussein 's government , and it appears that baghdad decided skirt a further confrontation . only hours before today 's vote , a majority of the 250 member parliament appeared ready to formally reject several of the united_nations resolutions that were imposed on iraq after it invaded_kuwait in 1990 . instead , parliament adopted a resolution calling only for kuwait and saudi_arabia , which have served as bases for western military operations against iraq , to pay reparations for the damage caused by the air_strikes last month . still , members of parliament said consideration of tougher measures , including the possible repudiation of iraq 's border with kuwait , could resume by the end of the month . and the legislators did reinforce the government 's rejection of western imposed no flight zones over large parts of the country . until today the iraqi reaction to the american and british air_strikes followed an increasingly confrontational path . since the attacks ended on dec . 19 , the iraqi government has zeroed in its air_defenses on american warplanes and called on arabs to rise up against governments in the region aligned with the united_states . such steps have prompted renewed warnings from the west , including a statement this weekend by prime_minister tony_blair of britain , on an official visit to kuwait , that warned of further military action if iraq once again appeared to be threatening its neighbors . by setting aside a more confrontational message , iraq may have been trying to limit hostility from the arab_world . since the air_strikes ended last month , iraqi frustration over a lack of arab backing has been mounting . while arab governments remain opposed to the air_strikes , they have more than at any time since the persian_gulf_war of 1991 expressed outright hostility toward mr . hussein , whom they distinguish from the iraqi people . a meeting of arab foreign ministers has been scheduled for jan . 24 , and the tensions over iraq are expected to be high on the agenda . despite their recent criticism of mr . hussein , even some countries critical of iraq have hinted that they might use the session to push for an easing of the economic_sanctions that the united_nations has imposed on iraq since its invasion of kuwait . reports in several saudi owned newspapers said today that saudi_arabia was ready to press for such a move as long as military pressure against baghdad continued . foreign_minister mohammed said al sahaf of iraq sought at a news conference this evening in baghdad to make the most of such sentiment . he called on saudi_arabia to end its cooperation with the american and british enforcement of the no flight zone over southern iraq , and on arab countries to lift economic_sanctions unilaterally at the coming meeting .

crippled by accusations about sex clubs and losing support from his own party , jack ryan , the republican senate candidate in illinois , pulled out of the race on friday , leaving republicans searching for a new face to defend a critical senate seat . ''it 's clear to me that a vigorous debate on the issues most likely could not take place if i remain in the race , '' mr . ryan said in a statement to reporters at his campaign headquarters . ''what would take place , rather , is a brutal , scorched_earth campaign the kind of campaign that has turned off so many voters , the kind of politics i refuse to play . '' the candidacy of mr . ryan , 44 , an investment banker turned teacher in the inner city , imploded when a judge unsealed custody papers that included statements by his former wife , the actress jeri ryan , saying he had taken her to sex clubs and asked her to have public sex . her accusations left republicans reeling in a race that represents one of the democrats' top chances to pick up a seat now held by a republican , peter g . fitzgerald , who is not seeking a second term . the republican state committee is charged with finding a replacement for mr . ryan , who had won a primary against seven contenders . its task is complicated by the fact that the democratic candidate , state senator barack_obama , has a comfortable lead in the polls and is widely regarded as a rising democratic star . democrats seized the moment to give mr . obama a coveted national platform , tapping him to deliver their weekly national radio address on saturday . the chairwoman of the illinois republican party , judy baar topinka , said at a news conference after mr . ryan withdrew that republicans would probably take several weeks to settle on a new candidate . ''obviously , this is a bad week for our party and our state , '' ms . topinka said . she called mr . ryan ''a good candidate with a lot of great ideas , but they probably would have been overshadowed by all that 's going on . '' ''with the right kind of campaign , '' she said , ''illinois is a winnable state . we are running against an opponent in barack_obama who i do n't think represents the mainstream of illinois or the common_sense of illinoisans . '' mr . obama voiced sympathy for mr . ryan . ''i feel for him actually , '' mr . obama told a radio interviewer . ''what he 's gone through over the last three days , i think , is something you would n't wish on anybody . '' perhaps the only two republicans who would immediately be considered formidable challengers would be former govs . james r . thompson and jim_edgar . mr . thompson has a lucrative law practice , and no political experts suggest that he would consider leaving it for the senate race . mr . edgar , recently named to head president_bush 's re election campaign here , has discouraged speculation that he might run . the candidate who finished second to mr . ryan in the primary , jim oberweis , has the private fortune to finance a statewide campaign but alienated some voters with his anti immigration stance . state senator steven j . rauschenberger of elgin , who finished third in the primary , is more widely admired by professionals , but was unable to raise considerable sums of money . a more likely candidate may be ronald j . gidwitz , a businessman and philanthropist who is a former chairman of the state board of education . mr . gidwitz is reportedly interested in running for governor in 2006 . if he could run a strong campaign for senate this year , he might strengthen his position for that race . some republicans have floated the name of united_states_attorney patrick j . fitzgerald , who is crusading against corruption in illinois and is heading the washington investigation into the leak of the name of an undercover operative in the central_intelligence_agency , valerie_plame . mr . fitzgerald has not indicated that he is considering electoral politics . ''to be nominated by a major party to run for the u . s . senate is always , always , even under these circumstances , an honor , '' chris robling , a former executive director of the cook_county republican_party , said . ''it 's easy to say that no one has a chance at this point . but you just do n't know that . so you put your best foot forward . the prospects range from getting a big name with a real chance of winning despite barack_obama 's huge head_start down to someone who can get our points across and not be an embarrassment . '' as recently as thursday evening , spokesmen for mr . ryan 's campaign were insisting that he would stay in the race . mr . ryan had said '''there 's no breaking of any laws . there 's no breaking of any marriage laws . there 's no breaking of the ten commandments anywhere . '' the lurid nature of his wife 's statements , however , were already fodder not just for gossip , but also for cartoonists and television comedians . mrs . ryan made the statements in a court battle four years ago over the custody of their son , who is now 9 . a judge ordered them unsealed in response to a suit by the chicago_tribune and a chicago television_station .

even on a dreary afternoon , when a rainstorm brewed and the temperature was nippy , the rink in piazza solferino was crammed with skaters , circling the ice nearly elbow to elbow . on this rink built for these olympics , some italian teenagers raced each other , emulating italy 's new hero enrico fabris , a two time speedskating gold medalist at the turin games . others tried graceful spins like italy 's carolina kostner , who , despite great expectations , fell several times and finished ninth . spurred by the olympic spirit , the number of recreational skaters at the rink more than tripled in the last week . ''i 've been here from 10 in the morning until 12 at night for the last week , '' said alberto daghero , a gangly 14 year old from turin . ''when i am free and not doing my homework , i am here on the ice . '' there was a buzz among daghero and his friends , who said they had fallen in love with fabris and kostner , and their city 's winter_games , finally . it took a while , but the olympics have been embraced in this city and this nation , and concerns that this former industrial capital was not up to the challenge have more or less been snuffed out . after sagging at first , ticket sales have exceeded expectations , with about 90 percent of tickets , or 900 , 000 , sold . ( empty seats at many events were due more to no shows than unsold tickets . ) fears of logistical nightmares on the winding mountain roads of sestriere and sauze d'oulx proved to be for naught , except for one especially snowy day . the turinese defied their reputed apathy by turning out in hordes for the medal ceremonies , lining up at 7 a.m . for tickets . millions of italians even tuned in to television daily to watch , of all things , curling . ''you would never have supposed that sports that are considered minor could pull in these kinds of numbers , '' read a front page editorial in il_messaggero , the rome newspaper . ''not to mention all the medals that were won by italy . a nation of skaters , skiers , lugers and bobsledders ? who knows . '' the local star of the olympics was supposed to be the humble alpine skier giorgio rocca , who was hyped to be , perhaps , the next alberto_tomba . ''the moment has been awaited for years it 's unrepeatable , '' il_messaggero wrote . ''more than 10 , 000 spectators live and who knows how many millions glued to the television . more than 14 , 000 spectators showed up at the slalom race , waving_flags and banners . some read , ''rocca gives us the gold ! '' rocca was hoping to win italy 's first alpine gold since 1992 , but his run lasted only 34 seconds . he hit a gate , crossing his skis , and took a tumble . he lay prone for several seconds before getting up , looking embarrassed that he had let down his countrymen . he frowned , as a chunk of snow clung to the bottom of his nose . the crowd below hushed . ''i 'm sorry it 's a pity , '' rocca said . ''i made a mistake . i did n't even have time to realize what had happened because i already had my face in the snow . '' after rocca 's fall , the biggest icon of italian olympic mania is fabris , who rose from obscurity to the man of the moment . until this week , as fabris admitted , he had been far better known in the netherlands where speedskating is big than in his native italy . ''this has all happened so fast , seeing my face in all the newspapers and my cellphone always ringing , '' fabris said . ''i did n't even know this world existed . '' he won his second gold his first individual gold by beating chad hedrick in the 1 , 500 meter race tuesday . it was then that italy 's awakening to the winter_games was in full swing . at the beginning of the olympics , some of the event sites were half full , including those for the women 's moguls and the men 's figure_skating short_program . but when ice_dancing was held , an event that included the now famous stare between the fiery italian couple barbara fusar poli and maurizio margaglio , the buzz for the olympics grew_louder . fabris 's performance in the 1 , 500 meters took it over the edge . he said that he wanted to enjoy the moment , but remained skeptical about the potential for the sport to crack into the top tier of italian sports . ''it is difficult for one person to have that effect , '' he said . ''i hope that our sport can bring some more popularity , but we need more skating rinks . '' and with the games nearing an end , that is exactly what turin is starting to grapple with bracing for a post olympics depression . a city commission has been established to find the best utility for the structures used during the games . the palavela , the site of figure_skating and short_track racing , will become a temporary exposition center . torino esposizione , a hockey site , will become a library for the gallery of modern art , and palasport olimpico , another hockey arena , is being envisioned as a concert hall and event center . the palaghiaccio , the curling site , will remain a home for ice sports . ''i feel the responsibility to avoid the down effect for the city , '' turin 's mayor , sergio chiamparino , said this week . ''i will do it by confirming the work that has already gone on but focusing on the smaller things , like keeping the streets as clean . '' exiting the ice_dancing exhibition , cristopher codrino , a retired local doctor , and his wife , maryves , predicted that turin 's olympic turnaround will remain long after the last athlete has left . ''turin is a cold and rigid city , and it has been dealing with a crisis of faith , '' he said . ''but now it has changed . '' 2006 olympic winter_games.

the dollar eased against the german_mark yesterday as many investors fled battered american markets for the momentary safety of german securities . washington 's seemingly_endless talks on balancing the federal budget bruised stocks , bonds and the dollar , particularly after the house speaker , newt_gingrich , said that for the first time in a year he had become pessimistic about reaching an agreement and suggested it might have to wait for the next election . it does n't seem they 're going to come out with a deal any time soon , " said mark gargano , managing director of foreign exchange at first union national bank . the dollar slipped to 1 . 4368 marks late yesterday from 1 . 4395 marks late tuesday . but the currency climbed against the yen , since japanese markets are still viewed with caution given the nation 's political uncertainty and low interest rates . the dollar climbed to 104 . 86 yen from 104 . 65 yen . the united_states currency failed to top its overnight highs in new york , where it peaked shortly after noon . a drop of nearly 100 points in the dow_jones_industrial_average and a decline of nearly a full point by the 30 year treasury bond fueled selling of dollars for marks , currency traders said . " the stock_market is due for a bit more of a correction and that 's going to keep bringing the dollar down , " said james blackwelder , vice_president for corporate foreign exchange at natwest new jersey . yet the fact that the dollar held up well against the yen and lost only modest ground to the mark shows that some investors still find higher american yields tempting while the economies of germany and japan remain weak , traders said . " if we had gotten the news that hit the markets in the last few weeks last year , the dollar would have dropped 4 or 5 pfennigs , " one new york analyst said . " but it 's occurring against a backdrop of weakness in germany and japan . " each day without a credible balanced_budget deal puts greater pressure on the dollar , but traders are expecting only a modest decline in its value . still , the enthusiasm that caused the dollar to spike higher last week has clearly waned . " the politicians are not providing the overwhelming support they did last week , " mr . blackwelder said . in other trading , the dollar slid to 1 . 1610 swiss_francs , from 1 . 1623 francs late tuesday . the british_pound fell to 1 . 5465 from 1 . 5487 . currency markets.

the integration of land , sea and air power carried the military to victory in iraq , according to a new pentagon report , but the military ''fell short of expectations'' in preventing ''friendly fire'' deaths of allied forces . the ''lessons learned'' report on wartime operations focuses on operations at the level below pentagon strategists and policymakers , during the period of major combat . the report is classified and is still being written , but its summaries were described at a public hearing of a house panel on thursday . the conclusions are expected to have significant implications for how america prepares for and goes to war not least in moving the armed_forces further from the powell doctrine that required ''overwhelming force'' for going to war . future combat instead will be based upon bringing to the battlefield ''overmatching power , '' according to the study . it defined that as a power measured not solely in numbers of troops and weapons , but in the ability to join all of the military 's capabilities for quick , decisive victory with leaner , more agile forces . the classified report , whose 400 page final version will be completed late this year , was produced by the military 's joint_forces_command . it is under the command of adm . edmund p . giambastiani jr . , who described the findings for the house armed services committee and in a subsequent interview . ''we took this mission on with a clear understanding that its success required a ruthless objectivity , '' admiral giambastiani said of the study , which divided military activities in iraq into ''winners , '' those that need improvement and those that fell unacceptably short of expectations or needs . the first category included the broad emphasis on attacks that combined the efforts of the army , navy , air_force and marines , and even united special_operations and conventional troops in some missions . the integrated activities of all the armed services increased their effectiveness in killing enemy troops over previous wars , when the separate services fought in their own lanes and had different roles to play . ''a remarkable shift has occurred in the way the joint forces operate today , '' admiral giambastiani said . ''this shift is what i call a new joint way of war , and leverages on four key dimensions of the modern battle space knowledge , speed , precision and lethality . '' giving an example , he said precision munitions increased as a percentage of the total , compared with the first persian_gulf conflict in 1991 , yet the actual number of bombs that were dropped decreased . in the war this year , the number of air launched munitions used were only a seventh of those used in 1991 , he said , and that resulted in fewer unintended casualties and less damage to civilian buildings and roads . the trend toward measuring combat effectiveness not solely in raw numbers is a noticeable shift from a central element of the military thinking set down in past years by caspar w . weinberger , president_ronald_reagan 's defense secretary , and by colin l . powell , chairman of the joint_chiefs_of_staff for the first president_bush and secretary of state for the second . in november 1984 , mr . weinberger said the military should be sent into combat only when several conditions were met when a vital national interest was at stake , when support from congress and the public was reasonably assured , and when decisive force was brought to bear . the doctrine was restated by mr . powell as chairman of the joint chiefs , who stipulated that when the conditions were met , overwhelming military force was required . the new study identifies ''capabilities that demonstrated considerable effectiveness but need enhancement . '' they included urban_warfare and psychological_operations and the broad category of intelligence , surveillance and reconnaissance . in the category of problem areas needing to be redressed , most worrisome was the inability to prevent what the military calls fratricide , when troops are killed by their own or allied forces , especially considering that the military had more than a decade to work on solutions since the first gulf_war . ''even one death due to fratricide is too many , '' admiral giambastiani said . the military also fell short in its ability rapidly to assess damage to enemy forces on the battlefield , a failing that reduced its ability to gauge the remaining strength of iraqis and their infrastructure . the study also highlights deficiencies in mobilizing national_guard and reserve forces , and in deploying the troops . at a pentagon news briefing , brig . gen . robert w . cone , director of the joint center for lessons learned , said , ''the demands for flexibility and adaptation exceeded our capabilities of the mobilization and deployment process . '' general cone , who took a team of more than 30 military officers to headquarters in the region and into iraq , to watch the conflict unfold and interview commanders , recalled that the american_forces were encumbered when some allies denied access to their military bases and airspace . admiral giambastiani agreed that flexibility was needed for future wars that unfold in fresh ways . that is why it is important , he said , to remember the military axiom , ''it 's not the plan it 's the planning . '' the struggle for iraq military.