September 1, 2000

FreeCar Media and Autowraps offer free cars or monthly payments to car owers willing to have vehicles emblazoned with advertising; photo (S)

European Central Bank raises interest rates for sixth time in less than a year; euro nears all-time low amid widespread fear that it will sink even lower; many financial analysts view central bank as weak and off balance in response to changes in region's economic climate; if weak euro should fuel inflation, currency's credibility and value in world markets can be expected to slip further; if central bankers slow economic growth in effort to prevent inflation, euro could lose value as investors and corporations tilt more heavily away from Europe and toward US; graph; chart (M)

FBI arrests Mark S Jakob on charges that he issued fake e-mail press release warning that Emulex Corp's chief executive had resigned and that it earnings had been overstated; Securities and Exchange Commission files civil complaint against Jakob, seeking to freeze his assets and recoup what it calls $240,000 in illegal profits; photo (M)

IN a world buried under a blizzard of polls, rankings, financial statistics and endless official data, we are increasingly pressured to trust in the absolute authority of numbers. Paradoxically, in a world where centuries-old religions tremble before the onslaught of American pop culture, it is tempting to throw up one's hands and clutch at the fantasy that individual lives can still be (in the sudsy language of television) ''touched by an angel.'' The tensions between traditional faith, modern rationality and a belief in magic are the crux of ''The Decalogue,'' the Polish filmmaker Krzysztof Kieslowski's 10-part, 10-hour masterwork filmed for Polish television in 1988. ''The Decalogue,'' which had its first New York theatrical release this summer, was an art-house hit at the Lincoln Plaza in Manhattan, where it earned $247,711 during its eight-week run.

Independent monitor that examined accident at Indian Point 2 nuclear plant in February finds that Nuclear Regulatory Commission conducted inadequate plant inspections as far back as 1997 and relied on flawed analyses, inexperienced staff members and company it was supposed to regulate; monitor, Office of the Inspector General, also criticizes Consolidated Edison, owner of plant; claims accident may have been prevented had Con Edison not 'missed the vast majority' of defects in generators during 1997 inspection; report comes three weeks after Con Edison announced it would replace generators before reopening plant; even so, report raises larger questions about whether commission's laxity at Indian Point 2 was isolated case or part of something more widespread (M)