June 23, 2001

Gov John G Rowland vetoes bill that would have forced Connecticut's six oldest and least efficient power plants to cut emissions of smog-forming sulfur dioxide and end plants' ability buy federal emission credits from other, cleaner plants in Northeast; says bill, which he earlier said he would sign, would worsen state's air quality on smoggiest days and leave state open to California-style power shortages this summer; Democrats and environmentalists say veto show Rowland cares more about power-industry profits than clean air (M)

Government is taking bids on Israel's first large desalination project, to be build on Mediterranean south of Tel Aviv; plants promise to ease Israel's chronic water shortage and avert clashes with Arab neighbors over region's dwindling ground water supplies; will use energy-efficient filtration devices Israel has helped to perfect; continuing technological innovation has pushed price for desalted seawater down to affordable level; map; photos (M)

Interviews with dozens of Republr

Atlanta Braves defeat New York Mets, 10-1; photos (M)

china's once undisputed business

Three-judge federal appeals court panel throws into chaos plans to upgrade cell phone service across nation, unanimously finding Federal Communications Commission illegally confiscated bankrupt NextWave Personal Communications's wireless spectrum licenses; rules confiscated licenses, which were re-auctioned in Jan and won mostly by well-known companies like Verizon Wireless and business partners of AT& T Wireless and Cingular, belong to NextWave; winners face either further litigation or potentially costly negotiated settlements, while government may never get all of some $16 billion bid for licenses; auction had been hailed by winners as key to their plans to expand territories and supplement existing service (M)

Dime Bancorp is in talks to be acquired by Washington Mutual Inc, nation's largest savings and loan; deal would be victory for chief executive Lawrence J Toal, who fought lower offer from North Fork Bancorp last year; Dime's share price has more than doubled in year under chairman Anthony P Terracciano, who was brought in to help sell bank on more favorable terms (M)

Merck & Co warns profits for second quarter and year will be lower than expected, citing sluggish sales of arthritis painkiller Vioxx; Merck stock punges on warning (M)

Brooklynites look forward to opening of minor league baseball stadium in Coney Island and debut of Cyclones, even if many members of Brooklyn Dodger generation harbor mixed feelings about second coming of professional baseball in borough; photo (M)

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld will seek a Pentagon budget for next year of $329 billion, $18.4 billion above what President Bush proposed in February and $33 billion over President Clinton's last defense budget. Republicans in Congress called the request insufficient and Democrats called it unreasonable. Mr. Rumsfeld had originally asked the White House for substantially more money and the final figure, which officials said would be presented to Congress next week, was certain to disappoint senior military officers who had thought President Bush would approve an even larger increase.

Emergency all-party talks among Northern Ireland's fractious politicians fail amid growing view that Irish Republican Army must take some action on disarmament to salvage power-sharing government; breakdown follows two nights of rioting between Protestants and Catholics; Sinn Fein, IRA's political wing, reiterates its defiance despite remarkable calls for disarmament from ranking Catholic leaders and Irish newspapers that have never before singled out IRA or Sinn Fein for blame; photo (M)6

Dime Savings in Talks The parent of Dime Savings Bank is negotiating a sale to the largest savings and loan, Washington Mutual, for about $5 billion. PAGE C1 Ultimatum on Cathedral Art A minister at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine ordered that a work in the baptistry be altered or removed. ARTS & IDEAS, PAGE B7