William McDonald Coping column, noting that homelessness and begging has not changed in New York City, despite changing economic conditions, offers his reaction to woman begging for money; drawing (M)

Cry From the Past As Times Get Harder

Article on pleasures of cleaning out one's clothes closet; Eleanor Estes, fashion stylist, offers wardrobe advice along with her closet-cleaning services; photo (M)

Bliss Can Be As Simple As an Empty Clothes Closet

BMW joins trend toward all-wheel-drive in sports sedans by releasing its model 325xi, capable of handling snow-covered roads; photo (M)

More Sport (and Less Utility) Than the Basic S.U.V.; New Attraction For BMW's 325: Winter Traction

Gretchen Morgenson Market Watch column commends Committee for Corporate Governance of New York Society of Security Analysts for demanding accurate financial information from Amazon.com (M)

In the War on Gibberish, a New Investor Ally

Developer Louis Cappelli announces intention to build 320-foot tall glass tower in New Rochelle, NY, which would be Westchester County's tallest building; building, New Roc Tower, will house offices, hotel and condominiums, along with spa and fitness center (S)

POSTINGS: Proposed New Roc Tower in New Rochelle; Tallest Building In Westchester

Beatrice Lassus and Ira Schnitzler, both of whom have disabilities, fell in love, married and bought a co-op on the Lower East Side.  By Trish Hall.   6

Habitats/Manhattan; Motivated To Succeed

Eighth article in series A Year at Speed discusses racing circuit for youngsters, ages 5-13, who drive small fiberglass racers equipped with 2.4-4 hp engines that can reach speeds of almost 40 mph; says it is training ground for Nascar; follows 9-year-old Matt Martin, son of racer Mike Martin, who has been racing for two years; comments from family; photos (M)

Good Instincts Give Rise To the 'Little Intimidator'

Matt Steinglass article on Fespaco, Pan-African Festival of Cinema and Television, which every year transforms Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, into an offbeat third-world Cannes; photos (L)

Open Windows On Distant Worlds; In Burkina Faso, An African Cannes

Sleek new Audi Allroad quattro straddles gap between European station wagons and truck-like sport utility vehicles; photos (M)

More Sport (and Less Utility) Than the Basic S.U.V.; A Sleek Audi Wagon With More Ups than Downs

Article in series following classroom experiences of Donna Moffett, first-year teacher with only month of training, who is teaching first-grade students at Public School 92 in Brooklyn; Moffett, 46, abandoned her longtime job as legal secretary to teach in Flatbush, largely Caribbean neighborhood; increasingly, she is haunted by questions about how far teachers should go to solve complex riddles of their students' lives--and whether it is realistic or even appropriate to try; photos (L)

20 Minds to Shape, 20 Mysteries to Plumb

 A Letdown for Industry  President Bush has made several surprising first moves on the environment. Now environmentalists unexpectedly find themselves offering guarded praise, while some of the president's allies in industry feel they are early losers.   PAGE 24    Swift Moves on Judgeships  The Bush administration is moving with extraordinary swiftness to put its stamp on the federal courts, working into the night to interview dozens of candidates. One hundred judgeships are vacant, including 29 on the crucial appellate courts.   PAGE 34

INSIDE

Elaine Sciolino article on Iranian cinema, which she says is one of most vibrant and prolific in world and most creative expression of Iran's imagination; says Iranian films provide most direct glimpse into Iran's complicated culture and offer counter to America's prevailing image of Iranians as intolerant and fanatical; says cinema is also place where ideological guerrilla warfare is being waged between those who want to ease repression of Islamic system and those who want to adhere to strict Islamic interpretation that has prevailed for generation; photos (L)

Open Windows On Distant Worlds; In Iran, Expressions Of a Country's Soul

Political scientists and immigration experts debate whether Latinos are minority group in meaning typically applied to blacks, that is, an oppressed group with common historic grievances against white society, or whether they are simply another immigrant group, with their own characteristics, who will eventually lose their cohesion in pursuit of place in American society; photo (M)

The World: What's in a Name?; Redefining Minority

Profile of Shaheba Gabriel, 18-year-old New York City high school senior and competitor in Miss Five Borough beauty contest, which will be held at National Black Theater in Harlem; photos (L)

There She Is

Wave of so-called boutique hotels emerges in Manhattan, both recently-opened and currently under construction; during past year, they have added about 1,000 rooms to borough's base of approximately 70,000; new rooms are coming to m arket at time that seemingly relentless upward surge in occupancy rates seems to be coming to halt and rate of increase in nightly room rates has been slowing; photos; list of new hotels (M)

To Boutique Hoteliers, Small Is Beautiful

Environmental, consumer, labor and other groups opposed to North American Free Trade Agreement say their worst fears about anonymous government have been realized in small group of international tribunals that are charged with protecting rights of foreign investors under treaty; assail sweeping powers and broad impact of these panels, along with their very nature--ad hoc panels drawn from lists of academics and international lawyers almost unknown outside their highly specialized fields; panels have become powerful shields for investors against governments of country where they have made their investments; photos (L)

Nafta's Powerful Little Secret; Obscure Tribunals Settle Disputes, but Go Too Far, Critics Say

Boys 13 years old and under are participating in pressure-cooker world of travel baseball, all-star squads that tour country, often by airplane, and cram as many as 100 games into summer; photos (M)

The Boys Of Summer Get Younger All the Time

Hofstra defeats Delaware, 68-54, to win America East Conference college basketball tournament title; photo (M)

Hofstra Defends America East Title to Earn N.C.A.A. Bid

Boston College defeats Pittsburgh, 79-57, to win Big East Conference college basketball tournament; photo (M)

The Eagles Complete Their Turnaround

Some former members of Rangers, elite infantry group, protest decision by Army chief of staff, Gen Eric K Shinseki, to issue black beret to every US Army soldier ; beret was once distinction of special units; Pres Bush asks Defense Department to look into matter; photo (M)

Some Ex-G.I.'s Say Berets Are Not for General Issue

Palestinians delicately begin internal debate about violent nature of their intifada, for first time since late last September; some Palestinians are speaking out only against militants' use of residential neighborhoods as a base, especially after wave of bystander deaths in Al Bireh, outside Ramallah, during last few weeks; but broader question of intifada's direction is being broached, too; some Palestinians are gingerly asking if their leaders have a strategy that justifies devastating loss of life, property, mobility and income--gingerly out of concern that their questioning be mistaken for disloyalty to nationalist cause and for some out of fear of gunmen themselves; photos; map (L)

Palestinians Delicately Begin Debate on Circle of Violence

Profile of Yahoo, Internet's most likely 'blue chip' company, in view of plunging ad revenues that portend 2001 sales below 2000 and no profits; company is looking to replace chief executive, Timothy A Koogle, who says he will give up that position but remain chairman; Yahoo must find ways to sell both traditional 'banner' advertising and creative new formats to skeptical big companies; prospects for online media business will be greatly diminished if Yahoo, with its huge audience and all its otehr advantages, cannot find way to thrive; photos; graphs (L)

Red Face For the Internet's Blue Chip

Genetic testing is now making determination of paternity simple, even routine; American Assn of Blood Banks repts that 280,000 paternity tests were conducted in 1999, three times as many as decade earlier; in 28 percent of tests, man tested was found not to be the father; in most states, law has not caught up with science; in cases around country, divorced men--as well as single men who have previously acknowledged paternity--are having their genetic evidence of nonpaternity rejected by courts; they are also being ordered to continue supporting children they did not father (M)

In Genetic Testing for Paternity, Law Often Lags Behind Science

George W Bush, in seven short weeks of his presidency, has transformed how White House and elements of sprawling government operate in ways that contrast sharply with those of Bill Clinton and other past presidents; some veterans of past administrations say not since Dwight D Eisenhower has a president so reorganized a government to function with crisp efficiency of blue-chip corporation; fundamental ways in which Bush differs from Clinton and many other presidents include time he devotes to his job (far less than Clinton), authority given to vice president (Dick Cheney acts as chief operating officer), interplay among staff members (they must follow a dress code and rules on cordiality) and use of pollsters (they have been kept out of Oval Office); Andrew H Card Jr, Bush's chief of staff, comments; his photo with Bush (L)

BUSH IS PROVIDING CORPORATE MODEL FOR WHITE HOUSE

Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of condemned people in China have their organs 'harvested' minutes after their death by gunshot to back of head; China executes more people each year than rest of world combined, although exact number is tightly guarded state secret; Amnesty International counted 18,194 executions reported in state-run press in 1990's, with 1,263 in 1999; some scholars and human rights advocates contend real total is much higher because many executions are never reported; many of the executed become organ donors; practice is permitted under 1994 rules, but only with written consent of prisoner or his or her relatives; whether most condemned prisoners donate their organs willingly is matter of debate; Buddhist and Confucian beliefs dictate that body be kept whole after death, meaning that voluntary donations are rare; China is again in throes of campaign against tax evasion that has already led to death sentences for many people; one man discusses inequities in case of his brother, who was executed for tax evasion and had his organs removed (L)

March 11, 2001

Headlines from March 11, 2001

Cry From the Past As Times Get Harder

Bliss Can Be As Simple As an Empty Clothes Closet

More Sport (and Less Utility) Than the Basic S.U.V.; New Attraction For BMW's 325: Winter Traction

In the War on Gibberish, a New Investor Ally

POSTINGS: Proposed New Roc Tower in New Rochelle; Tallest Building In Westchester

Billboard 200

Hotshot

World Wrestling Federation: WWF The Music Volume 5

1

No Angel

Save The Last Dance

Historical Context for March 11, 2001