October 5, 2000

Alex Witchel's At Home With column on Fisher family of Manhattan, in which both parents and seven siblings are doctors; photos (M)

METRO MATTERS: Rethinking Police Dept. Recruitment**Joyce Purnick Metro Matters column discusses NYC Police Commissioner Bernard B Kerik, faced with crisis in attracting police recruits, especially among blacks and Latinos, relaxing some standards; criticism of move discussed (M)

Energy Department sells 30 million barrels of crude oil from country's Strategic Petroleum Reserve to 11 companies, defying predictions that refiners might boycott the sale and buoying Clinton administration campaign to replenish low stocks of heating fuel in Northeast; news of sale drives price of crude oil for November delivery down 64 cents, to $31.43 a barrel, just as announcement of plans to tap reserve sent prices tumbling earlier; Energy Sec Bill Richardson says we are on the road to averting home heating oil disruption on the East Coast; Gov George W Bush, who has criticized administration's plan as political opportunism, has no comment after successful sale; some analysts warn that uncertainties remain as to whether sale will bring more heating oil to consumers soon because refineries are already at capacity; graph (M)

Former Sotheby's president Diana D Brooks reportedly will plead guilty to conspiring with rival auction firm Christie's to violate antitrust laws; hard-fought deal with Justice Department turns Brooks into witness against A Alfred Taubman, Sotheby's former chairman; Sotheby's is set to plead guilty to violating antitrust law and pay $45 million fine; photos (M)

Federal Communications Commission, challenging broadcasters to open airwaves to more robust political debate, suspends for 60 days long-established rules that require radio and television stations to provide free reply time for opponents of political candidates endorsed by stations and for candidates and others whose integrity is attacked; chairman William E Kennard says FCC tests impact of suspending rules in response to latest court challenge to rules, which have been opposed for years by broadcasters and Republican regulators and lawmakers, interview (M)

Article in series Medicine Merchants focuses on drug industry's broad and sometimes unseen reach into debate about prescription drug prices; cites success thus far of Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America in staving off government-run prescription drug plan for elderly, which it fears could lead to price controls; notes it has worked hard over last 15 years to cultivate alliances with advocacy and public policy groups; cites Senate testimony on drug policy by Elizabeth Helms, who appeared as consumer advocate but failed to disclose her ties to industry; graphs of industry's spending to promote its views; table of groups industry funds; photos (L)

Israeli Prime Min Ehud Barak, Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat and State Sec Madeleine K Albright fail to agree on plan to end continuing Israeli-Palestinian clashes in talks, Paris; Barak heads home, declining invitation from Pres Hosni Mubarak to host further talks in Egypt; Albright plans to meet with Mubarak and Arafat; Paris talks also involved French Pres Jacques Chirac and United Nations Sec Gen Kofi Annan; major sticking point reportedly was how probe should be conducted into fighting, with Barak resisting Arafat's demand for international probe; violence spreads to Cairo, where some 1,500 students protesting Palestinian deaths stone supermarket run by reportedly Jewish-owned British company; Syrian students stone United States Embassy, Damascus; Jordanian police use tear gas to disperse some 800 people who try to march on Israeli Embassy, Amman (M)

Viola Elementary School in Suffern, NY, is loaded with computers and illustrates the variety of ways in which schools can use technology; photos (M)

Shanghai Film Studio, which released film Life-and-Death Choice as part of Communist Party's anticorruption drive, says pirated copies are being shown in state-run cinemas in many provinces; persistent piracy of anticorruption films shows how hard it is for even Communist Party to protect its interests in country where law enforcement is marked by periodic high-profile campaigns followed by gradual relaxation to status quo; if China cannot enforce rules that are clearly understood by everyone, there may be little hope that government can quickly carry out some of more complex trade regulations demanded by World Trade Organization; photos (M)

New York Yankees defeat Oakland Athletics, 4-0, in second game of American League division series; series is tied, 1-1; photo (M)

Loophole in American tax law that allows insurance companies to stop paying income taxes by opening small office in Bermuda is causing deep concern in Congress amid signs that number of companies are preparing to exploit it; loophole could cost US Treasury as much as $4 billion a year, equal to about 2 percent of all corporate tax payments, if every American property and casualty insurer exploits it; if individual taxpayers have to make up loss it would cost them each about $32 annually; state governments would also lose money; White Mountain Insurance Group, formerly known as Firemen's Fund, one of six companies that have moved to Bermuda, is now considering acquisition of a larger insurer, Safeco; House Ways and Means Committee chairman, Bill Archer, tells his staff to find way to close loophole quickly (M)

Britain's Billiton PLC wins battle for Canadian mining concern Rio Algom Ltd, after Noranda Inc, rival Canadian concern that owns 5.4 million shares of Rio Algon, abandons competing offer; deal values Rio Algom at about $1.13 billion; Billiton joins Anglo American PLC and Glencore International AG in consortium that bought Colombian government's 50 percent stake in Cerrejon Zona Norte coal mine for $384 million; consortium will form joint venture with Intercore, subsidiary of Exxon Mobil Corp, to manage the mine (S)