Saturday, October 12, 2002

Oil and Water: Why Prizes and Science Don't Mix. The Nobel Prizes for physics, chemistry and medicine have a pleasing inevitability to them. Science, unlike the arts, is conducted according to universally accepted standards. By George Johnson. 11:31:07 PM

Calpers Wears a Party, or Union, Label. The California Public Employees' Retirement System (Calpers) may be so eager to promote social change through investing that its effectiveness as a corporate watchdog may be in question. By Mary Williams Walsh. 10:31:21 PM

Calpers Wears a Party, or Union, Label. The California Public Employees' Retirement System (Calpers) may be so eager to promote social change through investing that its effectiveness as a corporate watchdog may be in question. By Mary Williams Walsh. 10:31:13 PM

Torricelli's Decision Shifts Race Toward Democrats. The New Jersey Senate race has become very competitive. Polls indicate that the candidates are even, or former Senator Frank R. Lautenberg is holding a slim lead. By David Kocieniewski. 10:31:12 PM

Bombing at Resort in Indonesia Kills 150 and Hurts Scores More. A car bomb that detonated in front of a nightclub on the Indonesian resort island of Bali killed at least 150 people and wounded scores of others. By Raymond Bonner. 10:31:07 PM

With Rebels on Attack, Ivory Coast Leader Fires Defense Minister. Rebels went on the attack in the west of the country on Saturday as President Laurent Gbagbo removed his defense minister. By Agence France-presse. 10:31:04 PM

Your Call. Everybody's Business.. It's becoming increasingly common to overhear phone conversations in public that were once considered private. So why stave off the inevitable? We need to tear down the last vestiges of decorum. By Matt Richtel. 8:32:34 PM

Nasdaq Considers a Lower Standard. With most Nasdaq stocks trading for less than $5 and several hundred worth less than $1 a share, managers of the Nasdaq stock market are considering lowering their standards. By Patrick Mcgeehan. 8:32:32 PM

Rumsfeld Orders War Plans Redone for Faster Action. The defense secretary ordered the military's regional commanders to rewrite their war plans to capitalize on precision weapons, better intelligence and speedier deployment. By Thom Shanker and Eric Schmitt. 8:32:28 PM

Pakistan's Elite Gravitate Toward Islamic Religious Parties. Pakistan's wealthy elite and urban middle class have turned against the United States to support the country's Islamic religious parties. By David Rohde. 8:32:24 PM

2nd Iraq Letter Stops Short of Reconfirming Pacts. Iraq sent a second, more conciliatory letter to the chief United Nations weapons inspectors on Saturday. By Julia Preston. 8:32:23 PM

With Few Jobs Being Created, Pain Is Felt Far and Wide. Almost a year after the economy began growing again, the nation continues to suffer through a broad jobs slump that has spread the pain more evenly than almost any downturn on record. By David Leonhardt and Daniel Altman. 8:32:21 PM

Calpers Wears a Party, or Union, Label. The California Public Employees' Retirement System may be so eager to promote social change through investing, that its effectiveness as a corporate watchdog may be in question. By Mary Williams Walsh. 8:32:19 PM

Debating the Numbers on Goals for Growth. How fast does the economy have to grow to reduce the unemployment rate? The experts can't seem to agree. By Daniel Altman. 8:32:17 PM

Marriott's Baroque Finances Draw Complaints. Like unwanted guests who persist in returning, awkward questions about the true strength of earnings at Marriott International keep popping up. By Lynnley Browning. 8:32:16 PM

Diamonds, Money and Madness in Brutal African Wars. In "Blood Diamonds", author Greg Campbell finds his apocalypse in the Sierra Leone town of Kailahun, a place so brutalized by civil war that the only impulse left is the desire to escape. By Alan Cowell. 8:32:15 PM

How to Tally the Costs of War?. Dean R. O'Hare, chief executive of the Chubb Group of Insurance Companies, talked about the business and economic implications of a war. By Joseph B. Treaster. 8:32:13 PM

A Time to Bail Out? Some Clues. While mutual funds are often viewed as investments for the long term, knowing when to sell a fund, and move into shares of other funds, can lead to better returns over all. By John Kimelman. 8:32:12 PM

Fuel Gauge Is Near 'E' for the Big Three. Stephen J. Girsky, an analyst at Morgan Stanley, has been bearish on the auto industry since the summer. Last week, he discussed his reasons. By Kenneth N. Gilpin. 8:32:10 PM

Waiting for a Big Rebound in Profits? Wait Longer. Corporate profits season goes into full swing this week, but results for the third quarter ÷ and the outlook for the fourth ÷ are not likely to be upbeat. By Jonathan Fuerbringer. 8:32:09 PM

FedEx Has Hit the Ground Running, but Will Its Legs Tire?. Analysts say that FedEx, which moves documents and packages by ground as well as by air, has at least partially insulated itself from the vagaries of the national economy. By Claudia H. Deutsch. 8:32:07 PM

Julie M. Van Cleave, Mason Street Growth Stock Fund. Picking stocks is a lot like competitive swimming, says Julie M. Van Cleave, who runs the $55 million Mason Street Growth Stock fund. By Carole Gould. 8:32:05 PM

Nasdaq Considers a Lower Standard. With most Nasdaq stocks trading for less than $5 and several hundred worth less than $1 a share, managers of the Nasdaq stock market are considering lowering their standards. By Patrick Mcgeehan. 8:32:03 PM

Collectors Shake, Rattle and Watch Those Bankrolls. While traditional investments continue to flounder, the market for rock 'n' roll memorabilia remains strong. By Alex Markels. 8:32:02 PM

Your Call. Everybody's Business.. It's becoming increasingly common to overhear phone conversations in public that were once considered private. So why stave off the inevitable? We need to tear down the last vestiges of decorum. By Matt Richtel. 8:32:00 PM

Adventures in the Rear-View Mirror. People think that driving a school bus is a sedentary job, but you have to be alert and physically fit. And expect to have some strange experiences along the way. By Howard Israel, Written with Ellen Rapp. 8:31:58 PM

His Job: Chasing Wall Street Deadbeats. Michael S. Colombo pursues stockbrokers and investors who owe money on loans or margin calls. And he does this through the art of firm persuasion. By Thom Weidlich. 8:31:56 PM

Forget the Uniform. The co-founder of the Enyce Clothing Company in Manhattan believes in being yourself, even if that means wearing shorts and a T-shirt in the boardroom. By Tony Shellman, Written with Abby Ellin. 8:31:54 PM

Village Is More Global, Language Is More Vital. Job seekers are leveraging every qualification they can think of to sway potential employers. And speaking a second language is a talent that matters in almost any field. By Marcin Skomial. 8:31:53 PM

Do Women Lack Drive? Or a Wife?. Writer Allison Pearson argues that women are talented and educated enough to run the world, but just aren't willing to give up all that is required to master the universe. By Lisa Belkin. 8:31:51 PM

Kick the Tires at Your Own Risk. DIARYKick the Tires At Your Own Risk. By Hubert B. Herring. 8:31:49 PM

Independent Directors, Whatever They Are. DIARY Independent Directors, Whatever They Are ÊPortfolio managers and analysts at financial institutions say a majority of a company's directors should be independent, but they don't agree on how to ensure that independence, a survey has found. By Jeff Sommer. 8:31:47 PM

Some Ways to Keep Cold Out and Cash In. DIARYSome Ways to Keep Cold Out and Cash In. By Vivian Marino. 8:31:46 PM

Lightning Rod on the Seaports. Joseph Minace's 15 minutes of fame began two Sundays ago when he decided to close 29 West Coast seaports and locking out 10,500 longshoremen. By Steven Greenhouse. 8:31:44 PM

Where the Really Wild Things Are. Disney has seen the future of children's fantasy, and it's the provocative horror writer Clive Barker. By Dwight Garner. 8:31:43 PM

The Myth of '18 to 34'. Advertisers' fetishizing of the 18-to-34 audience block has transformed our culture. But the business premise behind it is bunk. By Jonathan Dee. 8:31:42 PM

Common Talk. In Enron-ized America, why is populism such a dirty word? By James Traub. 8:31:40 PM

Rumsfeld Orders War Plans Redone for Faster Action. The defense secretary ordered the military's regional commanders to rewrite their war plans to capitalize on precision weapons, better intelligence and speedier deployment. By Thom Shanker and Eric Schmitt. 8:31:39 PM

Torricelli's Decision Shifts Race Toward Democrats. The New Jersey race for the Senate has become very competitive, and polls show the candidates even or former Senator Frank R. Lautenberg holding a slim lead. By David Kocieniewski. 8:31:36 PM

Addressing Gender Roils Governors' Debates. Male candidates angered supporters of two women gubernatorial candidates in Maryland and Michigan by addressing them as "ma'am" and "Jennifer." By Jim Yardley. 8:31:34 PM

Florida Might Edit Death Penalty Law. A measure on the November ballot in Florida seeks, among other things, to change one word of one phrase of the state constitution as it applies to the death penalty. By Dana Canedy. 8:31:32 PM

In 2nd Spacewalk, Astronauts Do the Plumbing. A pair of astronauts emerged from the space shuttle Atlantis on Saturday to connect and repair plumbing on the International Space Station and its latest 14-ton addition. By The New York Times. 8:31:31 PM

Addressing Gender Roils Governors' Debates. Male candidates angered supporters of two women gubernatorial candidates in Maryland and Michigan by addressing them as "ma'am" and "Jennifer." By Jim Yardley. 8:31:29 PM

Quest for a Natural Gas Bonanza in Alaska Colors the Race for Governor. Lt. Gov. Fran Ulmer has criticized her Republican opponent, Senator Frank H. Murkowski, for not winning support for a pipeline. By Timothy Egan. 8:31:27 PM

Health Food Fails Test at School in Berkeley. A program that offered fresh, nutritious, locally grown food at a high school in Berkeley, Calif., as an experiment failed, and officials are trying to figure out what went wrong. By Patricia Leigh Brown. 8:31:26 PM

Confronting `NOO-kyuh-luhr' Proliferation. Of the many language controversies that arouse passions, no other seems to bother people as much as the word "nuclear" pronounced "NOO-kyuh-luhr." By Jesse Sheidlower. 8:31:24 PM

The Smallpox Decision. President Bush faces a momentous public health decision: whether to make smallpox vaccine available to all who want it or limit its use to health personnel. 8:31:21 PM

A True Fish Story. It is encouraging to note a major success story regarding marine life: the striking if still incomplete recovery of North Atlantic swordfish. 8:31:19 PM

Lessons in Brutal Honesty at the Barbershop. A joke about Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s illicit sex life in a new movie offended Rev. Jesse Jackson, but he should know better. By Brent Staples. 8:31:18 PM

When a Democracy Weighs War. When a Democracy Weighs War To the Editor:. 8:31:17 PM

The Mentally Ill in Nursing Homes. The Mentally Ill In Nursing Homes To the Editor:. 8:31:16 PM

Breast Cancer Priorities. Breast Cancer Priorities To the Editor:. 8:31:16 PM

How Laura Bush Lets Literature Ring. How Laura Bush Lets Literature Ring To the Editor:. 8:31:14 PM

A Nixon Myth. A Nixon Myth To the Editor:. 8:31:13 PM

'Tenderness of Spirit'. `Tenderness of Spirit' To the Editor:. 8:31:12 PM

Chapel's Memorial Fence. Chapel's Memorial Fence To the Editor:. 8:31:11 PM

Deportation Secrecy. Deportation Secrecy To the Editor:. 8:31:09 PM

Hair Cut, Pride Cut. Hair Cut, Pride Cut To the Editor:. 8:31:08 PM

A New Penn Station. A New Penn Station To the Editor:. 8:31:07 PM

Texas on the Tigris. Washington has always been a place where people say the opposite of what they mean. Last week, the capital soared to ominous new Orwellian heights. By Maureen Dowd. 8:31:06 PM

Wars of Nerves. President Bush wants to rally the nation to impose gun control on Baghdad, but he won't lift a finger to impose gun control six miles from the White House. By Thomas L. Friedman. 8:31:04 PM

Foreseeing a Bloody Siege in Baghdad. Iraq's military strategy would be to inflict pain and buy time for frustration to mount, enabling Saddam Hussein to make one last bid to save his regime through compromise. By Barry R. Posen. 8:31:03 PM

The Forgotten Domestic Crisis. The nation's health care system is at the brink of collapse. War or no war, politicians will not be able to avoid it much longer. By Marcia Angell. 8:31:02 PM

Officials See Signs of a Revived Al Qaeda. U.S. officials say they fear that recent small-scale attacks and messages signal the beginning of a new wave of terrorist activity and possibly a large-scale attack. By Don Van Natta Jr. and David Johnston. 7:31:27 PM

Bombing at an Indonesian Resort Leaves at Least 58 People Dead. A powerful car bomb detonated in front of a nightclub on the Indonesian island of Bali killed at least 58 people and wounded more than a hundred. By Raymond Bonner. 7:31:26 PM

In 2nd Spacewalk, Astronauts Do the Plumbing. A pair of astronauts emerged from the space shuttle Atlantis on Saturday to connect and repair plumbing on the International Space Station and its latest 14-ton addition. By The New York Times. 7:31:12 PM

Linking Cruel to Unusual With an 'and.'. A measure on the November ballot in Florida seeks, among other things, to change one word of one phrase of the state constitution as it applies to the death penalty. By Dana Canedy. 5:31:52 PM

Slowdown on U.S. Visas Stalls Business, Science and Personal Travel Plans. A global slowdown in the issuing of American visas to foreigners is forcing some people to postpone medical treatment and weddings and stranding others away from their homelands. By Christopher Marquis. 5:31:52 PM

Clergy May Be Kept Off Juries, Court Rules. A Florida appeals court has ruled that clergy members may be excluded from juries because they tend to be too sympathetic to criminal defendants. By Adam Liptak. 5:31:51 PM

Lightning Rod on the Seaports. Joseph Minace's 15 minutes of fame began two Sundays ago when he decided to close 29 West Coast seaports and locking out 10,500 longshoremen. By Steven Greenhouse. 5:31:50 PM

G.O.P. Candidate's Antiwar Vote Proves Popular. Representative Jim Leach of Iowa was one of just six Republicans in the the House to vote against President Bush on Iraq. By Robin Toner. 5:31:49 PM

Polygamy Jolts Campaign for Governor. Dick Mahoney, an independent candidate in Arizona, has used the issue of polygamy to attack his opponents. By Michael Janofsky. 5:31:48 PM

White House Debate on Smallpox Slows Plan for Wide Vaccination. Critical decisions in the nation's program against germ terrorism have been delayed for months by confusion in the administration over how to move forward. By William J. Broad. 5:31:46 PM

U.S. Eases Way for West to Control Big Volumes of Water. The Bush administration has opened the way for Western states to gain control over enormous volumes of water previously claimed by the federal government. By Douglas Jehl. 5:31:45 PM

Addressing Gender Roils Governors' Debates. Male candidates angered supporters of two women by addressing them as "ma'am" and "Jennifer." By Jim Yardley. 5:31:43 PM

Wary, Defiant Suburbanites Carry on in Sniper's Shadow. Washington-area residents found themselves unwittingly hop-scotching through a string of mental calculations in going on about their weekend. By Lizette Alvarez and Sarah Kershaw. 5:31:43 PM

The Prime-Time Seductions of Serial Horror. Viewers are caught between the ghastly reality of a gun spree and the gaudy breathlessness of its presentation as news. By Francis X. Clines. 5:31:42 PM

Health Food Fails Test at School in Berkeley. A program that offered fresh, nutritious, locally grown food at Berkeley High School as an experiment failed, and officials are trying to figure out what went wrong. By Patricia Leigh Brown. 5:31:40 PM

National Forecast. Gusty winds from the northwest will drive cool air from the northern Plains into the upper Midwest behind a strong cold front. Snow showers will be common near the shores of the northern Great Lakes as the cold air gathers moisture over the milder lake waters. Meanwhile, cool air will also spill south across the southern Plains and lower Mississippi Valley. Low clouds and a few showers will occur in the cooler air from New Mexico across southern Texas. 5:31:39 PM

Officials See Signs of Revived Qaeda. U.S. officials say they fear that recent small-scale attacks and messages signal the beginning of a new wave of terrorist activity and possibly a large-scale attack. By Don Van Natta Jr. and David Johnston. 5:31:36 PM

Tour of Suspect Iraqi Plant Offers Only Partial Access. Journalists allowed to see a suspected weapons site on Saturday were left no time to visit all of the buildings and bunkers. By John F. Burns. 5:31:34 PM

In France, Glory Meets Fear. Last week, French viewers were mesmerized by the most expensive production in their nation's television history, a $40 million series about Napoleon. By Elaine Sciolino. 5:31:32 PM

Slowdown on U.S. Visas Stalls Business, Science and Personal Travel Plans. A global slowdown in the issuing of American visas to foreigners is forcing some people to postpone medical treatment and weddings and stranding others away from their homelands. By Christopher Marquis. 5:31:29 PM

Quest for a Natural Gas Bonanza in Alaska Colors the Race for Governor. Lt. Gov. Fran Ulmer has criticized her Republican opponent, Senator Frank H. Murkowski, for not winning support for a pipeline. By Timothy Egan. 5:31:20 PM

G.O.P. Candidate's Antiwar Vote Proves Popular. Representative Jim Leach of Iowa was one of just six Republicans in the the House to vote against President Bush on Iraq. By Robin Toner. 5:31:19 PM

Polygamy Jolts Campaign for Governor. Dick Mahoney, an independent candidate in Arizona, has used the issue of polygamy to attack his opponents. By Michael Janofsky. 5:31:18 PM

Congress Lets Slip The Dogs of War. WASHINGTON IN the Congressional debate over empowering President Bush to wage war against Iraq, much of the argument centered on which words to use. Would they give the president too much power or too little?. By Neil A. Lewis. 5:31:16 PM

Common Talk. In Enron-ized America, why is populism such a dirty word? By James Traub. 5:31:14 PM

Lightning Rod on the Seaports. Joseph Minace's 15 minutes of fame began two Sundays ago when he decided to close 29 West Coast seaports and locking out 10,500 longshoremen. By Steven Greenhouse. 5:31:13 PM

Calpers Wears a Party, or Union, Label. The California Public Employees' Retirement System may be so eager to promote social change through investing, that its effectiveness as a corporate watchdog may be in question. By Mary Williams Walsh. 5:31:13 PM

America's For-Profit Secret Army. Private military contractors are the new business face of war modern day mercenaries carrying out military exercises for the Pentagon, far from Washington's view. By Leslie Wayne. 5:31:12 PM

Slowdown on U.S. Visas Stalls Business, Science and Personal Travel Plans. A global slowdown in the issuing of American visas to foreigners is forcing some people to postpone medical treatment and weddings and stranding others away from their homelands. By Christopher Marquis. 5:31:11 PM

Confronting `NOO-kyuh-luhr' Proliferation. Of the many language controversies that arouse passions, no other seems to bother people as much as the word "nuclear" pronounced "NOO-kyuh-luhr." By Jesse Sheidlower. 5:31:09 PM

Addressing Gender Roils Governors' Debates. Male candidates angered supporters of two women by addressing them as "ma'am" and "Jennifer." By Jim Yardley. 5:31:08 PM

U.S. Eases Way for West to Control Big Volumes of Water. The Bush administration has opened the way for Western states to gain control over enormous volumes of water previously claimed by the federal government. By Douglas Jehl. 5:31:06 PM

Men Behaving Badly. Sexual-harassment law is well intentioned, but it's intellectually incoherent. Nothing illustrates this better than strange new cases involving men victimizing men. By Margaret Talbot. 5:31:05 PM

Oil and Water: Why Prizes and Science Don't Mix. Nobel fans have stopped being surprised when, come October, they learn who has won the prize for literature. By George Johnson. 5:31:03 PM

Officials See Signs of Revived Al Qaeda. U.S. officials say they fear that recent small-scale attacks and messages signal the beginning of a new wave of terrorist activity and possibly a large-scale attack. By Don Van Natta Jr. and David Johnston. 3:31:17 PM

Tour of Suspect Iraqi Plant Offers Only Partial Access. Journalists allowed to see a suspected weapons site today were left no time to visit all of the buildings and bunkers. By John F. Burns. 3:31:17 PM

Death Toll Rises in Bombing of Bali Nightclub. A bomb destroyed a nightclub on Bali today, killing 54 people and injuring 120 others, police said. A second bomb exploded near the island's U.S. consulate. By The Associated Press. 3:31:16 PM

Mexico Struggles for the Attentions of a Preoccupied U.S.. With the White House preoccupied, ties with Mexico are at an impasse. President Vicente Fox is likely to ask for more attention when President Bush visits in two weeks. By Ginger Thompson and Tim Weiner. 3:31:16 PM

Turning Away From U.S., Pakistan's Elite Gravitate Toward Islamic Religious Parties. Pakistan's wealthy elite and urban middle class have turned against the United States to support the country's Islamic religious parties. By David Rohde. 3:31:15 PM

Koizumi, Popular Again, Pushes Economic Change. Suddenly, Junichiro Koizumi, a prime minister whom Japanese were gradually writing off is being taken seriously again, both by his most powerful foes and by a public disaffected with politics. By Howard W. French. 3:31:14 PM

Serbia's Runoff Candidates Fight Voter Apathy. Voter apathy may prevent Vojislav Kostunica, the nationalist who in his job as president of Yugoslavia has criticized free market reforms, from becoming the Serbian president. By Daniel Simpson. 3:31:14 PM

Envoy Holds Talks With Rebels in Ivory Coast. The foreign minister of Senegal held talks on Saturday to mediate with rebels fighting the government of Ivory Coast, trying to avert an all-out civil war. By Agence France-presse. 3:31:13 PM

Cuba Can't Ignore a Dissident It Calls Insignificant. For someone the Cuban government disparages as insignificant, Oswaldo Pay[omega] has been attracting a great deal of international attention. By David Gonzalez. 3:31:13 PM

The French Spar Over Sex: There's a Limit, No?. France is struggling with issues like how much hard-core pornography to allow on television and whether to permit pedophiliac acts in its novels. By Elaine Sciolino. 3:31:13 PM

Kenya's Leader to Step Down but Not Out. President Daniel arap Moi, a shrewd tactician when it comes to running Kenya, is leaving office on his own terms. By Marc Lacey. 3:31:12 PM

Hungary to Exempt Nobel Prize From Tax. Hungary plans to modify its tax law to make the country's first winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, Imre Kertesz, exempt from paying taxes on his winnings. By Agence France-presse. 3:31:12 PM

Kuwaiti Dedicated Attack That Killed Marine to Qaeda. The Kuwaiti leader of an attack that killed an American marine here this week left a videotape indicating that he was a member of Al Qaeda. By Craig S. Smith. 3:31:11 PM

What Is a European. Despite the creation of the European Union, Europeans do not speak with one voice except when opposing U.S. foreign policy. By A. S. Byatt. 3:31:11 PM

Waiting. A young girl survived an earthquake that killed hundreds of thousands, but the worst was yet to come. By Xinran. 3:31:11 PM

In Afghanistan: What's Past and What's Still to Come. A snapshot of the war and recovery in Afghanistan to date. By Eric Schmitt. 3:31:10 PM

In France, Glory Meets Fear. PARIS LAST week, French viewers were mesmerized by the most expensive production in their nation's television history, a $40 million series about Napoleon. One Paris tabloid ran man-on-the-street interviews that posed the question, By Elaine Sciolino. 3:31:10 PM

Diamonds, Money and Madness in Brutal African Wars. In "Blood Diamonds", author Greg Campbell finds his apocalypse in the Sierra Leone town of Kailahun, a place so brutalized by civil war that the only impulse left is the desire to escape. By Alan Cowell. 3:31:09 PM

To Be Rich, Chinese and in Trouble: 3 Tales. As China prepares to formally welcome some private entrepreneurs to join the Communist Party next month, they are also insisting that at least some rich people start playing by the rules. By Joseph Kahn. 3:31:09 PM

America's For-Profit Secret Army. Private military contractors are the new business face of war modern day mercenaries carrying out military exercises for the Pentagon, far from Washington's view. By Leslie Wayne. 3:31:08 PM

How to Tally the Costs of War?. Dean R. O'Hare, chief executive of the Chubb Group of Insurance Companies, talked about the business and economic implications of a war. By Joseph B. Treaster. 3:31:08 PM

White House Debate on Smallpox Slows Plan for Wide Vaccination. Critical decisions in the nation's program against germ terrorism have been delayed for months by confusion in the administration over how to move forward. By William J. Broad. 3:31:07 PM

Anxiety Grows as 8th Killing Is Tied to Sniper. Stymied police were out in force across the Washington region as a weekend dawned with confirmation today that a sniper had killed his eighth victim. By Francis X. Clines. 3:31:02 PM

Weak Growth Means Few Jobs, and Pain Is Felt Far and Wide. Almost a year after the economy began growing again, a broad jobs slump has spread the pain more evenly than almost any downturn on record. By David Leonhardt and Daniel Altman. 2:31:09 PM

America's For-Profit Secret Army. Private military contractors are the new business face of war modern day mercenaries carrying out military exercises for the Pentagon, far from Washington's view. By Leslie Wayne. 2:31:08 PM

An Audit Could Tip the Scales on Tyco. Depending upon how Pricewaterhouse assesses Tyco's intangible assets on its balance sheet, the company could be in violation of a covenant on some recently negotiated bank debt. By Gretchen Morgenson. 2:31:08 PM

To Be Rich, Chinese and in Trouble: 3 Tales. As China prepares to formally welcome some private entrepreneurs to join the Communist Party next month, they are also insisting that at least some rich people start playing by the rules. By Joseph Kahn. 2:31:07 PM

Democrats Try to Refocus on a Domestic Agenda. At an economic forum on Capitol Hill and in news conferences, Democrats hammered away at President Bush's economic record. By Richard W. Stevenson. 1:31:14 PM

Lautenberg Shifts Stance and Backs Iraq Resolution. Frank R. Lautenberg now says that he stands behind the Senate resolution. This week he demurred on the issue. By Andrew Jacobs and Richard Lezin Jones. 1:31:13 PM

But It's Not the Economy, So Far. The Democrats seem not to have gained the traction on the issue they enjoyed in the past. By David E. Rosenbaum. 1:31:13 PM

Democrats Try to Refocus on a Domestic Agenda. At an economic forum on Capitol Hill and in news conferences, Democrats hammered away at President Bush's economic record. By Richard W. Stevenson. 1:31:11 PM

But It's Not the Economy, So Far. The Democrats seem not to have gained the traction on the issue they enjoyed in the past. By David E. Rosenbaum. 1:31:11 PM

Finnish Student Suspected in Deadly Blast, Police Say. Finnish police said on Saturday that the main suspect in a bomb blast at a Helsinki shopping mall was a teenage student who was among the seven killed in the explosion. By Reuters. 1:31:10 PM

Lautenberg Shifts Stance and Backs Iraq Resolution. Frank R. Lautenberg now says that he stands behind the Senate resolution. This week he demurred on the issue. By Andrew Jacobs and Richard Lezin Jones. 1:31:09 PM

Democrats Try to Refocus on a Domestic Agenda. At an economic forum on Capitol Hill and in news conferences, Democrats hammered away at President Bush's economic record. By Richard W. Stevenson. 1:31:06 PM

Blast in Finnish Shopping Mall Kills 7. A powerful blast that rocked a packed shopping center in a Helsinki suburb on Friday, killing seven and injuring dozens, was caused by a bomb, Finnish authorities said. By Reuters. 8:31:11 AM

Arafat to Announce New Cabinet. Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat will announce a new Cabinet in the next 10 days, his aide said today. By The Associated Press. 8:31:10 AM

World Business Briefing: Europe. ITALY: Fiat Weighs Options With G.M.; GERMANY: Porsche Profit Zooms; RUSSIA: Firm Buys Iraqi Oil; SWITZERLAND: Insurance Shares Rally; ITALY: Proposal To Replace Mediobanca Chairman;. 8:31:09 AM

World Business Briefing: Europe. ITALY: Fiat Weighs Options With G.M.; GERMANY: Porsche Profit Zooms; RUSSIA: Firm Buys Iraqi Oil; SWITZERLAND: Insurance Shares Rally; ITALY: Proposal To Replace Mediobanca Chairman;. 8:31:07 AM