May 16, 2001

Bush administration debates reasons for rapidly rising gasoline prices and what to do about them; one camp urges pressure on OPEC to raise production; another camp contends that rise in gas prices is due not to crude market but to limited refining capacity in US; third camp urges resort to Strategic Petroleum Reserve; photo; graph (M)

Sony Corp will sell Japan's first tracking stock to raise funds for its Internet unit, Sony Communication Network Corp (S)

UBS AG reports 29 percent decline in first-quarter profit, to 1.58 billion Swiss francs, or $915 million (M)

Cablevision officially announces resignation of Dave Checketts as president of Madison Square Garden; says that for short term James L Dolan, president of Cablevision, will take control of New York Knickerbockers and New York Rangers (M)

Rift on board Australia's NRMA Insurance Group erupts in April with resignation of Nicholas Whitlam as chairman and subsequent dismissal of Eric Dodd as chief executive by Whitlam's interim successor, Rowan Ross; lawsuit over that Dodd's dismissal now looks likely; rift in board has its origin in unsuccessful attempt to convert from mutual ownership and go public in mid-1990's (M)

Brazil's gross domestic product grew 3.77 percent from year earlier, down from 4.11 percent growth in fourth quarter (S)

AOL Time Warner is in process of switching all employees to America Online as their primary corporate e-mail program, and some employees are unhappy, believing that rival products are better; other technology companies also expect employees to use their products; such demands and employees' reaction prompt questions about whether corporate loyalty should be allowed to trump productivity and whether employees are simply resistant to change; photo (M)

Curtis L Wagner Jr, chief administrative law judge at Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, says internal documents submitted as evidence that El Paso Corp artificially inflated natural gas prices in California suggest that company did intend to manipulate prices; William S Scherman, lawyer for El Paso, says Wagner has not yet heard company's argument on why documents do not suggest manipulation (M)

British Telecommunications delays by three months introduction of faster, Internet-linked mobile phones on Isle of Man (S)

Little is known about how Bush administration's Energy Development Task Force operated, which arguments it embraced and how it reached its decisions; task force has met eight times in last 90 days and its small staff has met with over 400 people from over 150 groups; Democrats and environmentalists say process was tilted heavily toward energy industries; environmental group heads say Vice Pres Dick Cheney refused to meet with them, instead having task force staff leaders Andrew Lundquist and Karen Knutson meet with groups' mid-level staff members (M)

Vodafone Australia will lay off 12 percent of its work force, about 365 people (S)

Homeless man Walter Eakman dies from burns suffered when he was torched by three youths in Chelsea section of Manhattan; Louis Medina, Jairo Gil and Robert Velasquez are arrested; photo (M)