April 19, 2001

Mayor Vincent A Cianci Jr of Providence, RI, charged with running city government as criminal enterprise, ridicules federal investigation that resulted in his indictment; indictment charges Cianci and several other city officials with racketeering, conspiracy, extortion and mail fraud; Cianci is also charged with witness tampering; Cianci, who has been mayor for last 26 years--except for six-year break following assault conviction--responds by appearing on radio show to do comedic riff on case, and to portray federal law enforcement officials as bunglers of ill intent; in fact, one prosecutor admits inviting friends to view surveillance tape on Cianci, and businessman who first alerted federal agents to corruption in City Hall has been jailed for repeated domestic violence; Cianci, political independent, operates with total control; there is no Republican Party to speak of and many city Democrats hold their tongues to keep their City Hall jobs; photo (M)

GKN, large British engineering firm, has agreed to merge its industrial services division with Australia's Brambles Industries; merger will produce company with market value of about $10 billion; Brambles shareholders will own 57 percent of new group, which will keep Brambles name; GKN's chief executive Sir C K Chow will head combined firm, which will be based in Sydney; Brambles chief executive John Fletcher will resign (M)

Banco Santander Central Hispano, Spanish bank that acquired formerly state-owned Banco do Estado de Sao Paulo in 2000, offers buyouts to more than four-fifths of Banespa's 22,300 employees in cost-cutting drive (M)

Avis Europe, rental car business, says sales growth will slow in 2001, as pace of economic growth falters and foot-and-mouth epidemic in Britain hampers tourism in region (S)

Australia aviation authority's policies are being called into question less than one week after Australian officials grounded Ansett Airlines' fleet of 767's for safety reasons; internal report by authority says that procedures for monitoring Ansett are flawed and that authority is not measuring industrywide compliance with safety laws (S)