Japan's NTT DoCoMo may raise its $3.6 billion investment in KPN Mobile, cellular unit of Royal KPN, to promote wireless Internet services in Europe; photo (S)

THE NETHERLANDS: NTT MAY RAISE STAKE

State Sec Colin L Powell scores Israel for using 'excessive and disproportionate' force in seizing part of Palestinian-ruled Gaza and urges its forces to withdraw; notes fighting was spurred by provocative Palestinian mortar attack on Israel, but his criticism of Israel is far stronger; urges Palestinians to renounce terrorism and bring their military forces under control; Israeli Army, reversing stand by generals that they would hold positions for time, says it has completed operation and is withdrawing; photo (M)

Powell Assails Israel for Gaza Incursion

Dave Anderson Sports of The Times column discusses success of women's golfer Annika Sorenstam on LPGA tour; photo (M)

Sports of The Times; Sorenstam's Streak Stirs Mixed Ideas

Women are moving in force into professions once dominated by men, including veterinary medicine, where number of women has increased 22-fold over last decade; graph (M)

Women Are Going to the Dogs (and Cats and Birds)

New Jersey Acting Gov Donald T DiFrancesco denies that he had repeatedly violated legal ethics rules and had been threatened with dismissal as lawyer for his hometown government of Scotch Plains in 1998; he accuses Demnocrats linked to James E McGreevey, party's likely gubernatorial candidate, of leaking material about those allegations to New York Times; Bret D Schundler, DiFrancesco's opponent in Republican primary, accuses DiFrancesco of profiting from his public positions and says he should quit race (M)

DiFrancesco Places Blame On Democrats

Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies, founded 20 years ago by conservative law students who felt isolated and disdained in dominant liberal intellectual environment of elite schools, counts among its 25,000 members some of most influential officials in Bush administration; many federal judges are ardent supporters; society reportedly has played big role in recommending judicial nominees to Bush; members range from staunch conservatives to libertarians; most are practicing lawyers; membership helps law students win clerkships with many conservative appeals court judges; photo (M)

A Conservative Legal Group Thrives in Bush's Washington

Toronto Blue Jays defeat New York Yankees, 6-5; photo (M)

No. 5 Is Sore Spot For the Yankees As Keisler Falters

Third article in series The Democratic Field discusses Bronx Borough Pres Fernando Ferrer's career and his campaign for Democratic mayoral nomination; photo (M)

Platform Built on a Divided City; Ferrer Courts Voters He Says Giuliani Left Behind

 Herbal Remedy Fails Tests  St. John's wort, the popular herbal remedy, proved useless in treating depression, a carefully designed study has found.   PAGE A20    South Africa Drug Suit Talks  Drug companies have begun negotiations to settle a lawsuit brought to prevent South Africa from importing cheaper anti-AIDS drugs.   PAGE A3

INSIDE

Crude oil prices rise after unexplained explosion and fire at Conoco refinery in Northeastern England raises concerns about gasoline prices for US, where inventories are 5 percent lower than last year and peak summer travel season is approaching (S)

BRITAIN: OIL PRICES RISE

Nina Berott and her husband, Greg Northrop, park their Mudtruck, a former Con Ed truck refitted to dispense capuccino and other coffees, near two Starbucks shops in East Village, hoping to piggyback on the chain's market research; photos (L)

Here's Mud in Your Eye, Starbucks

Intel Corp reports that sales dropped sharply from quarter one year earlier, but company slightly beats its lowered earnings forecasts; company executives say they are seeing signs that economic factors have begun to stabilize; company is engaging in aggressive price-cutting strategy, effort industry analysts say could degenerate into price war with Advanced Micro Devices; Intel reports earnings of $1.1 billion for its first fiscal quarter ended March 31; earnings per share represents decrease of 63 percent from first quarter last year, and of 58 percent from first quarter of 2000 (M)

Intel Reports Sharp Drop In Chip Sales

Royal Philips Electronics NV, citing US slowdown, says it will eliminate up to 7,000 jobs and wil probably lose money in second quarter; analysts and money managers had expected Philips, with its diversified business lines, to weather slowdown better than competitors; Philips derives more than half its sales from Europe, making it much less dependent on US than many rivals; Philips is suffering from generally slackening demand for mobile phones and for chips used in personal computers; company also experienced sharp decline in its consumer electronics division; says it earned 53 million euros ($7 million) in first quarter, sharp fall from 614 million euros ($542.1 million) year earlier; sales declined 1 percent, to 8.2 billion euros ($7.24 billion); graph (M)

Citing U.S. Slowdown, Philips Will Cut 7,000 Jobs

Miho Museum near Kyoto, Japan, acknowledges for first time that one of its masterpieces, a rare Buddhist statue from China, was stolen from Shandong Province, China, in 1994; will return ownership of carving to Chinese government without payment; China agrees to lend statue to museum without charge until 2007; photo (M)

Japanese Agree A Stolen Statue Will Be Sent Back to China

Canada's central bank lowers interest rates by one-quarter of percentage point, to 4.75 percent, third cut this year, in attempt to help country's economic slowdown (S)

CANADA: RATE LOWERED

Pres Bush's senior national security aides recommend he defer sale to Taiwan of advanced destroyers equipped with highly sophisticated Aegis radar system; favor sale of range of less advanced weapons; reportedly hold Taiwan lacks skill to handle Aegis; Bush faces pressure from conservative Republicans to provide Taiwan with all of arms it seeks; administration says standoff with China over American spy plane will not influence decision (M)

U.S. MAY WITHHOLD MAIN  RADAR  ITEM ON  TAIWAN'S  LIST

Clyde Haberman NYC column discusses New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani supporting proposal that would ban alcohol at street fairs throughout city but not supporting City Council bill that would ban smoking in restaurants (M)

Turning Fun City Into Grim City

New York Mets defeat Montreal Expos, 4-0; photo (M)

Mets' Pitching Carries Them One More Time

Bruce Weber reviews musical Blast!, at Broadway Theater, presented by nonprofit performing and educational group called Star of Indiana; photo (M)

Hey Gang, Let's Give It the Old College Try

Terry Semel, former Hollywood executive who ran Warner Brothers studio for 20 years, is named chairman and chief executive of Yahoo; Yahoo started looking for replacement for current chairman and chief executive Tim Koogle after announcing last month that its advertising revenue would be far less than it had previously expected; photo (M)

Yahoo Turns to Hollywood for a Chief

New Jersey Devils defeat Carolina Hurricanes, 4-0, in third game of NHL playoff series; lead series, 3-0; photo (M)

Devils Rise to Challenge And Shut Out Hurricanes

Bush administration, facing criticism that it cares more about promoting industry than protecting environment, announces at White House that it will go forward with rule proposed by Pres Bill Clinton to require thousands of businesses to make public details of their lead emissions; rule, opposed by small businesses, will require companies that handle as little as 100 pounds of lead a year, up from current 10,000 pounds, to report to Environmental Protection Agency how much is released into environment; will do nothing directly to curb emissions; EPA head Christie Whitman holds public scrutiny helps cut emissions, news conference; table; photo (M)

Bush Endorses Rule On Lead Emissions Proposed by Clinton

Federal probe of Sen Robert G Torricelli reportedly focuses on evidence to back David Chang's stand that he gave Torricelli tens of thousand of dollars in unreported gifts and cash in lengthy bid to win his help with several international business deals; Chang earlier pleaded guilty to giving Torricelli $53,700 in illegal campaign contributions; his credibility was previously challenged in court by prosecutors who now prepare him as witness; Torricelli's lawyer denies charges; several merchants confirm they sold Chang items he claims to have given Torricelli, interviews; photos (M)

Inquiry of Torricelli Examining Claim He Took Unreported Gifts

Some financially naive Microsoft Corp workers who incurred big tax bills by exercising stock options, turned options into stock and borrowed against shares to pay taxes face bankruptcy now that stock has plummeted; midlevel employee holds broker at Salomon Smith Barney, which runs option program for Microsoft, pushed him to take such risks and then sold his shares to pay margin loan as price dropped, leaving him with no stock and big tax debt; graphs of tax impact on employees and tax benefits to company of options (M)

Some Suffer Tax Hangovers From Microsoft Option Spree

Sharon Hills writes My Job column on her work as an accountant in New Jersey, doing tax returns, personal accounting and business accounting in client's home or office; photo (M)

I'm a Door-to-Door Accountant

Victoria Beverley Walker, known professionally as PinkPantheress, is a British singer, songwriter, and record producer. Her music is noted for its various samples and diaristic lyrics.

April 18, 2001

Headlines from April 18, 2001

THE NETHERLANDS: NTT MAY RAISE STAKE

Powell Assails Israel for Gaza Incursion

Sports of The Times; Sorenstam's Streak Stirs Mixed Ideas

Women Are Going to the Dogs (and Cats and Birds)

DiFrancesco Places Blame On Democrats

Billboard 200

Now 6

Until The End Of Time

The Life

Hotshot

Live In New York City

Notable Births

Historical Context for April 18, 2001