Political Memo contends that while Michael R Bloomberg is attempting to model his candidacy on Mayor Rudolph Giuliani's 1993 campaign, city is very different politically, with more immigrants, smaller pool of old-line Democrats who supported Giuliani, and fewer partisan considerations; Democratic candidates base their campaigns on competence and experience, and Bloomberg focuses on his record as entrepreneur; with no compelling issues, voters may reject or ignore him (M)

Political Memo; Bloomberg's Challenge: Be a '93 Giuliani, but in '01

Article discusses difficulty of golf course at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Okla, site of upcoming US Open (M)

Challenging Course, Even For Woods

Ben Brantley reviews Tick, Tick...Boom!, musical by late Jonathan Larson, directed by Scott Schwartz at Jane Street Theater in Greenwich Village; photos (M)

Soul-Searching at the Milestone Age of 30

Los Angeles Lakers defeat Philadelphia 76ers, 100-86, to take 3-1 lead in NBA championship series (M)

O'Neal Powers Lakers to Verge of a Repeat

Russian intellectuals and democracy advocates fear relative freedom from state surveillance and restriction relished in last decade may be drawing to close; see resurgence in government obsession with internal security and threats from abroad that has set off limited but growing crackdown on supposed challenges to state; are unsettled by Pres Vladimir V Putin's failure to restrain or speak out against signs of crackdown; photo (M)

Some Russians Are Alarmed At Tighter Grip Under Putin

Wesfarmers Ltd, Australian conglomerate that owns Bunnings hardware and home center chain, offers $1.14 billion in cash and stock for Howard Smith Ltd, owner of rival BBC Hardware chain (S)

World Business Briefing | Australia: Australia: Bid For Hardware Retailer

Joyce Purnick Metro Matters column scores Michael Bloomberg, candidate for Republican nomination in New York City mayoral race, for criticizing other candidates for accepting public financing under city campaign finance system; says under previous rules there was limited disclosure of unlimited gifts from special interests; says his thinking limits campaigns to billionaires who can afford to finance campaigns (M)

Metro Matters; Bloomberg Pays His Way; Who Paved It?

British Telecommunications sells certain real estate assets to Telereal Holdings, owned by Land Securities Trillium and William Pears Group, for 2.3 billion pounds ($3.2 billion); names David Varney as chairman of its wireless division (S)

World Business Briefing | Europe: Britain: Real Estate Sale

Pres Bush, meeting with NATO leaders, Brussels, again signals he would set aside 1972 Antiballistic Missile treaty with Russia to proceed with missile defense plan; French Pres Jacques Chirac warns plan could spur arms proliferation; German Chancellor Gerhard Schroder indicates skepticism about plan; Bush administration officials hold others in Europe shows new willingness to at least consider idea; European officials say plan remains too value to re-evaluate and that Bush did not provide needed data; Bush projects awareness of European concerns and willingess to address them; photos (M)

France and Germany Caution Bush on Missile Defense Plan

At Home With column on interior design of Harlem town house of artist Fred Brathwaite; photos (M)

Hamptons Renters Can Be Choosers

Hynix Semiconductor, which has been trying to raise $1.25 billion to ease its debt burden, says it has dropped plans to raise part of it by selling $350 million in high-interest bonds; whole amount will come from stock sales instead (S)

World Business Briefing | Asia: South Korea: Bond Plan Scrapped

General Electric Co's chief executive John F Welch Jr meets twice with Mario Monti, European competition commissioner, in effort to win approval for GE's $45 billion acquisition of Honeywell International; GE has offered to divest itself of assets worth as much as $3 billion in annual revenue; has proposed selling its grounded proximity warning systems business, its auxiliary power systems unit and its satellite collision-avoidance systems; would also divest itself of Honeywell's regional jet engines, Honeywell's engine-starter businesses and aircraft maintenance business in Germany; deadline for GE to submit concessions expires at midnight June 14, but negotiating is expected to continue well beyond, with European Commission deadline of July 12; photo (M)

G.E. Chief Courts Europeans on Acquisition of Honeywell

Deutsche Lufthansa AG warns that its profit could fall 30 percent short of its earlier forecast of 1 billion euros ($853 million); graph (S)

World Business Briefing | Europe: Germany: Airline's Profit Warning

In attempt to win back advertisers, New York Daily News publishes four-page advertorial with flattering coverage of supermarket industry; this follows damning investigative series in which it contended city supermarkets were too dirty to meet state standards; supermarkets responded to series by pulling advertising (M)

Daily News Tries Flattery to Woo Back Grocery Ads

Lawyers and accountants expect windfall from repeal of Federal estate tax; those who paid to have will and estate plan drafted under old law need to pay to have it reviewed and in many cases rewritten; under new law, amount exempt from estate taxes and rate of tax on larger sums are slowly reduced beginning in 2002 until 2010, when estate tax is repealed for one year; law is then reinstated in 2011 (M)

Lawyers and Accountants Expect Windfall From Estate Tax Repeal

Korean Air settles two-day strike by 1,400 of its 1,800 pilots with promise to employ fewer non-Korean pilots; ground crews at Asiana remain on strike; coordinated walkouts at other companies continue, but number of workers on strike nationwide has dwindled (S)

World Business Briefing | Asia: South Korea: Airline Strike Ends

Serono International plans to announce new progress in detecting prions, rogue proteins that scientists have implicated in mad cow disease and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease; breakthrough has to do with replicating abnormal prions at rapid rate, mimicking progression of such diseases; company expects new procedure can eventually be applied to detecting prions in blood, important step toward goal of reliable early diagnosis and effective treatment (M)

Swiss Drug Maker Moves to the Brink of a Product Leap

Medical laboratory industry, which has consolidated, leaving two giants, Quest Diagnostics and Laboratory Corp of America Holdings, is awaiting era of gene testing; analysts say first medical payoffs from genomics will not be drugs but diagnostic tests; start-up companies like diaDexus and Exact Sciences, as well as established companies like Applied BioSystems, are developing molecular diagnostics, term for gene and protein testing; they hope that patent protection for genes will allow them to charge higher prices for their tests than in past; graph; photos (M)

A Positive Culture For Making Profits; Buoyed by Mergers, Medical Labs Await Era of Gene Testing

Bush administration plans to halt all military exercises and aerial bombing runs on Vieques, Puerto Rico, by May 2003, reversing Navy's stand that no other locale is suitable; makes decision at meeting that includes Bush political adviser Karl Rove, who has frequently warned mounting protests cost Bush key support among Hispanics, and Navy Sec Gordon England; plan seems aimed at short-circuiting Puerto Rican referendum on Navy's operations on island; some critics call for immediate end to Navy activities; Navy exercise involving inert bombs is set for next week (M)

U.S. SAID TO PLAN HALT TO EXERCISES ON VIEQUES ISLAND

Aer Lingus fires chief executive Michael Foley after investigation into charges of sexual harassment; Foley denies charges; chairman Bernie Cahill will serve as chief executive until replacement is found (S)

World Business Briefing | Europe: Ireland: Air Executive Fired

'Telematics,' emerging field of vehicle-based information systems, represents convergence of four familiar technologies: automobile, computing, wireless communications and Global Poisitioning System; these form basis of office-in-a-car; photos (M)

When the Cubicle Has a Crankshaft

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is expected to approve plan proposed by Congressional Republicans, reportedly in collaboration with Chmn Curt Hebert Jr, to expand its efforts to limit electricity prices in California and other Western states; plan calls for agency to monitor and potentially curb all wholesale electricity prices generating companies charge California and 10 nearby states; Democrats have been pressing agency for months to take even stronger action; Sen Joseph I Lieberman holds hearing on electricity markets; says he opposes price caps in general but supports controls in this case; photo (M)

Energy Agency Is Set to Monitor Prices in West

John D Negroponte's nomination as United Nations ambassador is stalled in Senate over his 1981-85 role as ambassador to Honduras: at issue is whether he ignored human rights abuses there while working to back contras' fight against leftist Sandinista government in neighboring Nicaragua; Senate committee has put off hearings awaiting classified documents on his activities; Democratic critics predict he will eventually win confirmation, after grilling by senators; photo (M)

Central America Fallout Stalls U.N. Pick

New York Mets defeat Baltimore Orioles, 7-6; photo (M)

When a Clutch Hit Is Needed, It's Shinjo Time

Personal Shopper column on sophisticated shops and businesses opening in Harlem--evidence of area's 'Second Coming;' photos (M)

June 14, 2001

Headlines from June 14, 2001

Political Memo; Bloomberg's Challenge: Be a '93 Giuliani, but in '01

Challenging Course, Even For Woods

Soul-Searching at the Milestone Age of 30

O'Neal Powers Lakers to Verge of a Repeat

Some Russians Are Alarmed At Tighter Grip Under Putin

Billboard 200

Break The Cycle

Survivor

Moulin Rouge

Lateralus

Now 6

Historical Context for June 14, 2001