June 15, 2001

Japanese luxury brands are still growing briskly, 15 years after first cars arrived from Acura; photos; graphs comparing sales with those of comparable European cars (M)

John Tierney The Big City column contends that since AIDS never became crisis in heterosexual community that was predicted, it should not receive more than its share of resources (M)

Metalclad Corp says Mexican government has agreed to pay $15.6 million as compensation for lost profits in out-of-court settlement after Canadian court rules in favor of company; Supreme Court of British Columbia last month upheld ruling by North American Free Trade Agreement panel that Mexico violated law protecting foreign investors by blocking Metalclad from construcing waste dump in northern Mexico (S)

Swissair, trying to stablize its serious financial conditions, may see its troubles worsen drastically by threatened bankruptcy filing by French airlines AOM and Air Liberte in which Swissair has major stake but not management control; such filing would most likely leave Swissair saddled with responsibility for severance pay and other shutdown costs; analysts' estimates of total cost run up to $560 million; Swissair declines to give or confirm specific figure; graph (M)

General Electric Co's planned acquisition of Honeywell International appears near collapse after GE says that its final concessions will probably not satisfy European regulators; GE chairman-chief executive John F Welch Jr says European regulators' demands exceed anything he or European advisers imagined, and differ sharply from antitrust counterparts in US and Canada; events lead to internal meetings at United Technologies about possibility of making bid for Honeywell; proposed Honeywell acquisition would be first big American deal to be blocked soley by European regulators; Europeans worry that combined company could control too much of market for aviation products and could direct far too much business to itself (M)

New York City hires janitors to help maintain clean and juror-friendly courthouses in keeping with nationwide movement to try to transform them into places where jurors, lawyers and other participants in justice system are comfortable and made to feel like welcome customers; small changes are considered most weighty, such as clean bathrooms with soap, and hot coffee for jurors; photo (M)

Chinese and Western energy experts say that China has already achieved dramatic slowing in its emissions of carbon dioxide in last decade; say that record of progress has pushed further into horizon the day that China will surpass United States as lead culprit in atmospheric pollution, and it is something that Pres Bush seems to have overlooked in his harsh appraisal of runaway Chinese emissions; specter of Cnina's runaway pollutants has been cited by Bush as a major reason for describing 1997 Kyoto agreement to protect environment as 'fatally flawed'; Chinese officials insist that their country will do its fair share to combat a serious global threat (M)

British Airways reaches agreement to sell Go, its discount airline subsidiary, for $153 million (US) to 3i, venture capital firm, and Go's senior managers; Go's chief executive Barbara Cassani will continue to run airline, along with existing management team; Go reports that it made profit of $3.9 million (US) in year ended March 31; revenue increased 59 percent, to $222 million (US) (M)

Bank of Ireland Group hires Michael Soden, general manager of global business and personal financial services at National Australia Bank, to become chief executive when Maurice Keane retires from post in February (S)

California's PG&E Corp has put its utility into bankruptcy, while Edison International is hoping to negotiate its way out of crisis; both utilities seem likely to end up back where they started, at mercy of state officials who may be as interested in politics as in restoring two utilities to financial health; photo (M)

General Electric's proposed $45 billion acquisition of Honeywell International appeared near collapse after G.E. said that its final concessions would probably not satisfy regulators in Europe. While people close to the talks said that an agreement was still possible before the July 12 deadline set by the European Commission, G.E.'s statement was unusually blunt.

Asthma Study Volunteer Dies A healthy volunteer died after inhaling a drug in a federally financed asthma study conducted by Johns Hopkins University. PAGE A16 No Trial in Ruby Ridge Case After a federal court ruled that an F.B.I. sharpshooter could stand trial, a county prosecutor said he would not pursue the case. PAGE A16