Ben Brantley reviews Neil Simon play The Dinner Party, directed by John Rando; photo (M)

A Fine Meal: Please Pass The Vitriol

Stocks rose sharply on a rebound in technology shares, with the Nasdaq posting its third-biggest one-day gain ever, at 7.79 percent. The S.& P. 500 increased 3.5 percent, and the Dow was up 1.7 percent.    Business Day, Page C1.  

Nasdaq in a Big Rally

 Mideast Truce Tested  A gunbattle in the West Bank left an Israeli and a Palestinian dead, and strained hopes for the two-day-old cease-fire agreement.   PAGE A12    Early Terrorism Warning  Officials said they received reports in May that a group linked to Osama bin Laden was preparing an attack on American targets.   PAGE A14

INSIDE

Panel of scientific experts recommends that common ingredient in decongestants and appetite suppressants be removed from over-the-counter products, citing new evidence that phenylpropanolamine may increase risk of stroke in young women; consumers are warned to carefully read labels of popular cold and flu medications and diet pills; listing of products containing drug; photo (M)

F.D.A. BAN SOUGHT ON CHEMICAL USED FOR COLD REMEDIES

Whitbread PLC will sell its 3,000 pubs; company's stock rises 8.7 percent; graph (S)

WHITBREAD SELLING PUBS

Gov. George W. Bush struck back hard at Democratic commercials attacking his Social Security plan, accusing Vice President Al Gore of being irresponsible and divisive on the sensitive subject.    In one of his harshest broadsides so far, Mr. Bush said Mr. Gore was pitting ''grandparents against grandchildren'' for political gain instead of fixing the federal retirement system for the ''rising generation.''  

Bush and Gore Clash Over Social Security

Ira Berkow, in Sports of The Times, recalls Don Zimmer's role in 1955 World Series when he was second-baseman for Brooklyn Dodgers, who played New York Yankees in Series; photo (M)

Sports of The Times; Unlikely Hero Of '55 Series. Well, Sort Of.

Schools Chancellor Harold O. Levy has proposed a far-reaching plan to change the way most students are assigned to New York City high schools, with an emphasis on creating more appealing choices for students in their own neighborhoods.    The plan, whose initial details were given to the Board of Education on Wednesday, would also designate neighborhood high schools that would be run by the city's 32 community school districts; create at least one kindergarten-through-12th-grade school in each borough; and overhaul vocational high schools.  

A Plan to Offer High Schoolers Better Choices

Jon Pareles Critic's Notebook on CMJ Music Marathon, annual rock convention and showcase in dozens of clubs around New York City; photos; list of venues (M)

Weaving Tassels On Rock's Fringe

QCT Resources Ltd recommends that shareholders accept $465 million takebover bid by Broken Hill Proprietary Co and Mitsubishi Development after they secure almost half of QCT's shares; QCT says latest offer still undervalues company, but with major shareholders, like Santos Ltd, accepting offer, bidders are likely to gain control; Australia is biggest coal exporter (S)

BID FOR COAL PRODUCER

Federal authorities and police, with arrests in three states, announce racketeering indictment that they say will devastate DeCavalcante crime family and break its grip on businesses and labor unions in New York and New Jersey; New Jersey-based DeCavalcante mob, while smaller than five New York crime families, helped introduce some of mob's earliest stock schemes; Federal authorities call DeCavalcante family one of mob's most ruthless and paranoid crime groups, citing 'extreme and hair-trigger violence'; indictment lists murder, loan sharking, securities fraud and labor racketeering, charging a dozen men as crime figuers, including family's reputed boss, Giovanni Riggi; Riggi, whose 22-year reign makes him recent history's longest serving mob chieftain, already is in prison; list of those arrested; photo of Joseph P Dunne, first deputy police comr, announcing indictments, with Barry W Mawn, head of New York FBI office, US Atty Mary Jo White, and Bob Cordier of FBI (L)

Crime Family Dealt a Blow, Police Say

Warren E. Buffett, a board member, personally asks for--and receives--resignation of Gillette Co's chief executive, Michael C Hawley, on the day that company announces yet another disappointing quarter of earnings; Gillette's stock, which has fallen more than 50 percent in last two year, rises 15 percent; company's president, Edward F DeGraan, is named acting chief executive; company says it earned $350 million on $2.32 billion in sales in third quarter, drop of 1 percent in sales and profits; photos (M)

Buffett Shows Gillette's Chief the Door

Al Leiter, who has not won postseason game in nine career starts, to start New York Mets' first game against New York Yankees; photo (M)

Mets and Yanks Warming Up to the Task

Autos on Friday article on devices that check tire pressure automatically, using transmitters on wheel and display units inside car; photos (M)

AUTOS ON FRIDAY/Safety; Checking Tire Pressure From the Driver's Seat

Nasdaq composite index gains 247.04 points, or 7.79 percent, to close at 3,418.60 and narrowing its loss this year to 16 percent; Standard & Poor's 500-stock index advances 46.63 points, or 3.5 percent, to 1,388.76; Dow Jones industrial average gains 167.96 points, or 1.7 percent, to close at 10,142.98; graph; charts (M)

Nasdaq Climbs As Technology Stocks Surge

Unocal Corp will invest $500 million in Thailand next year, up from $400 million this year; company struck oil in waters off Thailand and hopes to begin pumping up to 15,000 barrels of crude oil a day from offshore field next year (S)

UNOCAL STEPS UP INVESTMENT

Comment on baseball fans who frequent Ridgewood Diner in Queens, diner that sits on border of Ridgewood, which straddles Queens and Brooklyn, and Bushwick, in Brooklyn; they are two ethnically different neighborhoods, and the two neighborhoods form as good a laboratory as any in which to observe World Series games as they brush up against regular New Yorkers and their regular lives; photo; map (L)

Where Boroughs Meet, Fans Split

 United Technologies Seen In Deal to Buy Honeywell  United Technologies, which makes everything from jet engines to elevators, is expected to acquire Honeywell International, the diversified manufacturer that merged with Allied Signal last year, for $40.3 billion in stock, executives close to the negotiations said.  

BUSINESS DIGEST

Brazilian unit of Italian carmaker Fiat plans to recall about 400,000 of its Palio 1.0 cars to reinforce seat belts (S)

ANOTHER SEAT BELT RECALL IN BRAZIL

Japan's Economic Planning Agency says gross domestic product will rise 1.5 percent in current fiscal year, which ends March 31; it had previously anticipated growth of 1 percent; government cuts estimates for nominal growth, or growth that takes into account inflation or deflation; it expects nominal growth of 0.4 percent, compared with its previous projection for 0.8 percent, suggesting there are strong deflationary forces in economy, which threatens to choke business spending (M)

Japanese Government Raises Forecast of Growth to 1.5%

Software maker SAP AG says net income rose to 88 million euros ($74 million) in third quarter from 45 million euros in year-earlier quarter; sales increased 27 percent, to 1.42 billion euros; graph (S)

PROFIT DOUBLES AT SOFTWARE MAKER

United Technologies Corp, one of the last old-style conglomerates, is expected to buy Honeywell International Inc for about $40.3 billion in stock; acquisition would create industrial behemoth, bringing together United Technologies' Otis Elevators, Pratt & Whitney aircraft engines, Sikorsky helicopters and Carrier air-conditioners with Honeywell's aerospace systems, power and transportation products, specialty chemicals and home security systems; George David, chief executive of United Technologies, is expected to head combined company; his photo; charts profile two companies (M)

2 MANUFACTURERS ARE SET TO MERGE IN $40 BILLION DEAL

Comment on Joe Torre's closed team meeting with New York Yankees; photo (M)

For Clemens, No Start at Shea Is No Secret

Volkswagen AG, which owns Rolls-Royce and Bentley Motor Cars of Britain, and BMW plan to vie for sales to wealthy in Britain; Volkswagen is working on prototype of so-called mid-range Bentley that will reach market just when Volkswagen and BMW divide Britain's most prestigious car brands between them at end of 2002; it will be first divorce of Rolls-Royce and Bentley since they fused in 1931; BMW is set to build Rolls-Royces at new plant in southern England, competing with full-size Bentley model built by Volkswagen for attention of superrich who are able to pay up to $360,000; smaller Bentley model will challenge DaimlerChrysler's top-of-the-range Mercedes S500 and S600 sedans just as Mercedes introduces premium luxury car, the Maybach; Volkswagen plans to revive Italian Bugatti brand with car that would retail at rumored $700,000 to $800,000; photo (M)

WORLD BUSINESS: German Giants to Clash in Britain; Volkswagen and BMW to Vie for Sales to the Very Wealthy

Annual Alfred E Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner is held at Waldorf-Astoria; political luminaries attending include Vice Pres Al Gore and Gov George W Bush, presidential contenders, and Hillary Rodham Clinton and Repr Rick Lazio, who are seeking US Senate seat; photos (L)

Bush and Gore Mix Jokes And Barbs at Smith Dinner

Kenneth Walker III is an American professional football running back for the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Wake Forest Demon Deacons and Michigan State Spartans. He won the Walter Camp and Doak Walker Awards in 2021.

October 20, 2000

Headlines from October 20, 2000

A Fine Meal: Please Pass The Vitriol

Nasdaq in a Big Rally

INSIDE

F.D.A. BAN SOUGHT ON CHEMICAL USED FOR COLD REMEDIES

WHITBREAD SELLING PUBS

Billboard 200

Kid A

Let's Get Ready

Country Grammar

Warning:

Revelation

Notable Births

Historical Context for October 20, 2000