March 19, 2000

Profile of Fruit of ther Loom, which three years ago was trading at $44 a share under leadership of its chief executive, William F Farley; currently, firm's shares are trading at $1.31 and company is wallowing under Chapter 11 bankruptycy protection; growing band of critics point to Farely, ousted by board of directors last August, as having sterred company toward disaster for years; Farley defends his tenure and insists his conduct was beyond reproach, interview; his photo; chart profiling company (L)

Jeff MacGregor article on television movie The Audrey Hepburn Story deplores Hollywood's role in its own diminishment; compares studio system that gradually built movie stars like Hepburn with new stress on bulk manufacture of celebrities; photos (M)

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals kicks off multimillion dollar campaign against leather, picking Gap store near Rockefeller Center as its first picketing site; signs deplore chain's use of leather from Indian cows; campaign comes at time of growing popularity of leather; leather, once seen as winter fabric, is now being made into thin pastel suedes for summer; photos (M)

Appraisal of 2001 Oldsmobile Aurora; photo; chart (Behind the Wheel column) (M)

Illiteracy, sickness and hunger still prevail in India's rural villages like Sheri Ram Reddy Guda, less than 50 miles from software technology park being created in Hyderabad; chasm between India's educated elite and its impoverished multitudes worries economists, politicians and some software entrepreneurs; optimists believe the Internet will eventually help India address problems like illiteracy, but others fear that the boom may be distracting India from its chronic problems and leaving the poor further behind; photos; map (M)