A federal judge in Idaho blocked a Clinton administration plan to restrict road building and logging in about a third of the nation's forests, saying that if the rules went into effect as scheduled tomorrow they could cause ''irreparable long-term harm'' to local communities.  

Judge Blocks Rules For Forest Protection

Thomson Corp posts first-quarter profit of $167 million (S)

World Business Briefing | Americas: Canada: Thomson Posts Profit

Tenants and landlords in New York City agree that rent regulation system needs to be fixed but cannot agree on how; recent action by Rent Guidelines Board shows that rent increases are often governed by politics, rather than cost of providing housing (M)

Everyone Wants to Fix Rent Regulations. No One Knows How.

Special report, Pushing the Limits, on International Olympic Committee's concerns that athletes will soon employ genetic engineering to perform better; officials will discuss potential benefits and risks of genetic engineering and whether genetic manipulation should be banned entirely in sport; agency hopes to gather three dozen athletes, sports scientists, genetics experts, ethicists and policy officials from Food and Drug Administration and National Institutes of Health; concerns range from pragmatic to philosophical; photos; diagrams (L)

PUSHING THE LIMITS -- A special report.; Someday Soon, Athletic Edge May Be From Altered Genes

Bank of Ireland Group says pretax profits increased 18 percent, to 1.1 billion euros, for year ended March 31 (S)

World Business Briefing | Europe: Ireland: Bank Meets Forecast

Trial of David Jamison, suspect in 1999 murder of Amy Watkins, begins in New York State Supreme Court in Brooklyn; Amy's father Lawrence Watkins testifies about identifying his daughter from medical examiner's photograph (M)

Student's Father Tells Jury of Identifying Her Body

Expressing disgust because the United States was removed from the United Nations human rights commission, the House voted to withhold $244 million in dues next year unless the seat is restored.  

House Votes to Bar U.N. Dues Payment

John Tierney The Big City column notes that Manhattan is not mother-friendly, with low number of children per adult women of child-bearing age; attributes to fertility being out of fashion in style-concious city where emaciated look is in (M)

The Big City; On This Isle, Maternal Is No Instinct

Ann Powers Critic's Notebook on Bob Dylan, whose 60th birthday this month is occasion for new swell of tributes, biographies and re-issues; discusses density of his enormously influential output, melodies that fuse fragments from every zone of American music and lyrics that mix history, fantasy, self-declaration and jokes; photos of Dylan and some of singers he has inspired; list of coming events marking birthday (M)

Dylan Keeps A-Changin'

Johanna Grussner, chorus teacher who formed Select Chorus of PS 86 in Bronx, will take students on field trip to her home town in Finland, where they will perform; photo; map (M)

Spreading the Bronx Gospel; Teacher Takes Chorus Students to Her Eager Finland Home

XFL Football, victim of dismal television ratings, subpar quality of play and inflated expectations, is disbanded; considered highly visible failure for World Wrestling Federation and NBC, which were planning to spend $100 million through 2002 season (M)

No More Springtimes for the XFL as League Folds

Wellpoint Health Networks, one of nation's largest health insurers, will tell advisory panel at Food and Drug Administration that three top-selling prescription allergy drugs should be sold over the counter; will claim Claritin, Allegra and Zyrtec are safer than many other allergy drugs already sold over counter; says drugs, which had combined sales in US of $4.7 billion last year, are putting growing financial burden on health care system; says it would save $45 million year if drugs are made available over counter and not covered by them; idea is opposed by Schering-Plough, Aventis and Pfizer, pharmaceutical companies that sell drugs and make hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue from them; companies say Wellpoint is trying to improve its bottom line by shifting responsibility for paying for drugs to patients from insurers; say proposal is not in best interest of patients; it is not clear that FDA has authority to force pharmaceutical companies to sell allergy drugs over counter; graph (M)

A Push to Sell Top Allergy Drugs Over the Counter

Budget close to what Pres Bush proposed wins final Congressional approval, clearing way for first big tax cut in 20 years; vote in Senate is 53 to 47, with five Democrats voting for it and two Republicans against it; it allows $1.35 trillion in tax cuts over next 11 years and calls for nearly $2 trillion in federal spending in fiscal year beginning Oct 1; measure adopted, called budget resolution, is nonbinding planning tool; lawmakers from both parties already agree that 4 percent spending increase in budget is certain to be exceeded, and Republicans want tax cuts beyond $1.35 trillion; wording of measure is intentionally vague in many places; photo (M)

CONGRESS ADOPTS BUDGET PROPOSAL WITH BIG TAX CUT

National Transportation Safety Board recommends that new trucks be required to have radar installed, possibly collision-warning system that warns when truck is closing fast on another vehicle; large trucks are involved in only nine percent of fatal crashes, but forty percent of fatal rear-end accidents; photo (S)

AUTOS ON FRIDAY/Safety; Collision Sensors for Big Trucks

Colorado Rockies defeat New York Mets, 8-2; photo (M)

Another Pounding Quickens Mets' Downward Spiral

Food and Drug Administration approves new kind of anti-cancer drug, Gleevec, after swift, two-and-a-half month review of clinical data; Tommy G Thompson, secretary of health and human services, says swiftness of decision on Gleevec reflects agency's hopes for it; quick approval rests on its immediate and striking results in treating patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia; in one trial of 54 patients, Gleevec caused their blood counts to revert to normal in more than 90 percent of cases and cancerous cells to disappear altogether in 13 percent, with generally few side effects; drug's maker, Novartis, says Gleevec will cost $2,000 to $2,400 a month but that it would supply drug for less to patients not covered by insurance and provide drug free for those earning less than $43,000 a year; drug has roused enthusiasm of cancer researchers because unlike many other forms of cancer therapy, which harm any dividing cell, healthy or not, Gleevec is designed to hit cancer cells more specifically; photo (M)

Swift Approval For a New Kind Of Cancer Drug

Minnesota Twins defeat New York Yankees, 5-4; photo (M)

Yankees Score Some Runs, but Give a Big One Away

European Central Bank unexpectedly shifts ground and reduces its benchmark interest rate by one-quarter of percentage point, to 4.5 percent; cut appears to reflect increasing concern that American economic slowdown might hurt European economy more than originally thought; move evokes criticism by economists, who accuse central bank of being contradictory and slow to respond; charts; photos (M)

To the Thinnest Of Applause, Europeans Cut Interest Rates

More than 100 banks and money-changing businesses in seven countries are considering whether to cut sharply fees they charge to exchange some European currencies, after European Commission offers them what amounts to amnesty from investigation into market-rigging; commission has accused institutions in Austria, Belgium, Finland, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands and Portugal of colluding to keep profit margins artificially high on exchanges among national currencies of 12 nations that have adopted euro (M)

Fees on Currency Exchanges Investigated in Europe

Bayerische Motoren Werke AG says net income rose to 409 million euros ($362 million) in first quarter; graph (S)

World Business Briefing | Europe: Germany: Automaker's Profit Is Up

FBI discovers thousands of pages of interview reports and other materials about Oklahoma City bombing that were not turned over to Timothy J McVeigh's lawyer before his trial; disclosure casts cloud of uncertainty over McVeigh's scheduled execution on May 16; McVeigh's lawyer, Nathan D Chambers, says decision about whether to seek delay, or seek to renew appeal of his death sentence, will be made by McVeigh; documents are found by bureau achivists in Oklahoma City as they canvas agency's 56 field offices in final search of records related to bombing; federal prosecutors say they had concluded that documents were not material to case, but they also acknowledge that they should have been turned over to McVeigh's lawyer; copies of materials are also sent to lawyers for Terry L Nichols, other person convicted in bombing (M)

U.S. ADMITS FAILURE TO SHARE EVIDENCE IN MCVEIGH'S TRIAL

California is establishing programs to educate consumers on ways to use electricity more efficiently, provide multitude of rebates on energy-efficient lighting and appliances, and support businesses wanting to cut electricity use; state has also strengthened requirements for new construction and pledges to use 20 percent less electricity in state offices when power supplies fall to level of Stage 2 emergency, which is short of forcing blackouts; states has plan intended to cut peak power use this summer by 5,200 megawatts, or almost 10 percent of projected peak use of about 55,000 megawatts; it hopes consumer outreach and incentives will save 2,000; some California businessmen comment on ways they are trying to save electricity; chart; photos (M)

A Conservation Countdown

GoldField's Ltd plans gradual shutdown of St Helena gold mine in South Africa after falling gold prices causes profit to decline 14 percent in third quarter (S)

World Business Briefing | Africa: South Africa: Gold Mine To Close

Swapalease Web site matches up people who want out of their vehicle leases with others looking for short-term affordable lease; deals stem from sharp rise in leasing prices as automakers and lenders become more conservative in estimating residual values; financial institutions lost estimated $11 billion last year by setting residuals that proved to be much higher than actual worth of vehicles returned by leaseholders (S)

Matching Old Leases With New Customers

Managers of PTJP Partners, New York hedge fund, have reportedly been testifying before federal grand jury in Manhattan about how Wall Street investment banks controlled market for new stocks in late 1990's; Anthony F Braun, fund manager, has reportedly testified that in exchange for allocations of IPO's, several of biggest investment banks demanded kickbacks of trading profits and commitments to buy more shares of new stocks after offerings (M)

Hedge Fund Managers Said to Talk to Grand Jury

Douglas Noel Adams was an English author, humorist, and screenwriter, best known as the creator of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Originally a 1978 BBC radio comedy, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy evolved into a "trilogy" of six books which sold more than 15 million copies in his life. It was made into a television series, several stage plays, comics, a video game, and a 2005 feature film. Adams's contribution to UK radio is commemorated in The Radio Academy's Hall of Fame.

May 11, 2001

Headlines from May 11, 2001

Judge Blocks Rules For Forest Protection

World Business Briefing | Americas: Canada: Thomson Posts Profit

Everyone Wants to Fix Rent Regulations. No One Knows How.

PUSHING THE LIMITS -- A special report.; Someday Soon, Athletic Edge May Be From Altered Genes

World Business Briefing | Europe: Ireland: Bank Meets Forecast

Billboard 200

All For You

Set This Circus Down

Now 6

Until The End Of Time

Open Letter

Notable Deaths

Historical Context for May 11, 2001