November 30, 2000

Yahoo and other popular Internet companies face growing international pressure to exclude racist clubs and auction items that are proliferating online; Simon Wiesenthal Center says Internet now harbors over 2,000 groups promoting anti-Semitism or white supremacy, at least twice as many as center found in spring 1999; auction sites like eBay have been targets of protest for allowing sale of items like Nazi flags; some sites have been asked to reevaluate way their search engines retrieve results; many Web services bar hate-fostering speech, but refuse to monitor or actively seek out violators; photos (M)

Ed Lennon, president of New Jersey state troopers union, defends aggressive drug-interdiction stops of last decade even if race is one criteria; emphasizes that officers are taught not racial profiling but criminal profiling, which might well result in blacks being stopped; recalls glowing news coverage of anti-drug efforts on Interstate 95 ten years ago, and says race is never only reason for a stop; William Buckman, attorney who raised issue, agrees that officers were rewarded for making such stop

Metro Matters column warns that even New York City, with its long history of mass transit, makes too many decisions in deference to the automobile and could go the way of Los Angeles, which actually had a solid trolley system for first half of twentieth century (M)0

Lawyers for Vice Pres Al Gore appeal to Florida Supreme Court to begin immediately recount of disputed presidential ballots; say their only chance for victory in election will be shattered if forced to wait until December 2 to begin; ask court to take over Gore's contest lawsuit from deliberate-moving trial court, to count ballots itself and eventually declare Gore winner if he wins recount; lawyers for Gov George W Bush warn they will not allow any hand counting to begin without vigorous legal fight (M)

Marconi PLC says first-half operating profits rose 7 percent, to 320 million pounds ($448 million); is optimistic about growth outlook for rest of fiscal year ending Mar 30 (S)0