Jon Pareles reviews concert by Manu Chao at Summerstage, Central Park; photo (M)

Embracing the World With a Perky Beat

Milan's famed Teatro alla Scala, which will close Dec 31 for $50 million, three-year renovation, has been quietly preparing for move since city, which owns opera house and will pay for renovation, approved plan in 1996; will transfer La Scala's activities during work to new theater being built on city's outskirts; massive renovation includes little change to horseshoe auditorium; photos (M)

Closing La Scala To Open It Up

Article discusses potential matchup between New York Yankees pitcher Roger Clemens and New York Mets catcher Mike Piazza at All-Star Game; photo (M)

Clemens and Piazza: Prime-Time Special And Awaited Sequel

Growing tide of migrants from African countries is desperatly trying to enter Europe by way of Spain across treacherous Strait of Gibraltar, route once used almost exclusively by Moroccans; 15,000 illegal immigrants were detained along Spanish coast in 2000, more than four times as year before, and 20 percent were from sub-Saharan Africa; Spanish government is taking strong measures to seal southern coast, including installation of $120 million radar system to form electronic wall across strait; illegal immigration and its dangers have become troubling issues for Europe after year of calamitously failed attempts at immigrant smuggling; maps; photos (M)

African Migrants Risk All on Passage to Spain

Japan's core machinery orders fell 2.1 percent in May from month earlier (S)

World Business Briefing | Asia: Japan: Machinery Orders Fall

Moth, nonprofit group formed by novelist George Green and Joey Xanders, offers storytelling events for adults around New York City and occasionally in other cities; participants in recent story night at Greenwich Village bar comment; photos (M)

Story Hours for Grown-Ups; Introducing Urbanites to the Lure of a Well-Told Tale

Analysts say AT&T cable subscribers will probably see more efficient operation if Comcast acquires AT&T's cable operation; those efficiencies might not translate into lower prices or enhanced programming; combination would create nation's largest cable-television outfit, reaching about 22 million subscribers; companies have little geographic overlap; Comcast is considered to be at technological forefront of cable industry and is expected to bring other service in line if deal is done; Comcast president Brian Roberts, in interview, emphasizes his company's operating margins and its long history in cable business (M)

If Comcast Buys AT&T Cable, Efficiency Is Likely to Improve

Gil Scott-Heron, onetime musical prodigy, writer, spoken-word poet and activist whose politically pointed lyrics in 1970's helped give rise to rap, pleads guilty to felony possession of cocaine; will enter lengthy drug rehabilitation program, instead of going to jail; friends, relatives, fans and professional associates say he has been cocaine addict for years, even though he has denied having drug habit and continues to do so adamantly; photo (M)

A Ravaged Musical Prodigy At a Crossroads With Drugs

Chilean appeals court rules Gen Augusto Pinochet, former dictator, is too ill to stand trial on charges of covering up killings of political opponents by death squad shortly before he seized power in 1973; concludes health problems have contributed to dementia so severe that he could not defend himself in court; human rights lawyers plan appeal; ruling confirms growing sense among legal scholars that prosecution was losing momentum because of appeals and quiet political pressures from civilian and military officials in last several months; many say Pinochet will almost certainly be spared trial on other suspected human rights violations if ruling stands; photos (M)

CHILE COURT BARS TRIAL OF PINOCHET

Shares of EPS rise 87 percent as it becomes first manager of clinical drug trials in Japan to go public (S)

World Business Briefing | Asia: Japan: Big Gain For Drug Tester

 Uncertainty for Consumers  AT&T cable subscribers would probably have a more efficient operation if Comcast acquired AT&T's cable unit for $44.5 billion, but prices might not be lower.   BUSINESS DAY, PAGE C1

INSIDE

Brazil, Argentina and China, in race to move soybeans to global marketplace, are gaining and US, longtime market leader, is faltering; American farmers say Mississippi River that once helped make US agriculture low-price leader is costing them about $100 million per year in delays; farmers are clamoring for taxpayers to pay at least part of bill of more than $1 billion to lengthen and upgrade river's locks; contentious question of Mississippi River improvements cuts to heart of larger issue: how do third- or fourth-generation American farmers compete against more agile entrepreneurial rivals like those in Brazil, where land is plentiful and cheap, and government regulators are distant? map; graphs; photos (M)

U.S. Farmers Look Back...; ...and See Soy Growers In Brazil Shadowing Them

Stanley Fischer, senior official for International Monetary Fund, warns that structural reforms demanded by Japan's Prime Min Junichiro Koizumi could undermine long-term regional efforts to recover from economic crisis of 1997 and 1998; says Koizumi's proposal for cutting public works and shutting down financially weak banks and companies might deal with problems in short run but they risk adding to problems of region already hurting from economic problems in West as well as Japan; photo (M)

I.M.F. Official Warns Asia About Barriers to Recovery

Sponsors of broad bill to rewrite campaign finance laws are uncertain of holding together fragile coalition to pass total ban on unregulated and unlimited soft-money donations in final hours before decisive debate; Sen John McCain, Republican who led successful drive to pass legislation in Senate, says he will press efforts regardless of what happens; Sen Russell D Feingold, Democratic co-sponsor of bill, says House supporters are overseeing debate that will be defining moment for American democracy; bill's prospects in House have become less certain as former supporters of legislation, including black, Hispanic and liberal lawmakers have expressed doubts about ending fund-raising technique they have come to rely on; photo (M)

House Passage Of Finance Bill Seems in Doubt

A federal mediator ended two weeks of negotiations about California's demands for electricity refunds, seemingly with the state and power suppliers no closer to a settlement than when the talks began. The burden of resolving the dispute now shifts to federal energy regulators.    Article, Page A14.

Energy Talks Fail

Anthony Tommasini reviews concert premieres of works by six young composers at Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, Norfolk, Conn; performers include contemporary-music ensemble Eighth Blackbird; photo (M)

Young Writers And Players Trade Energy And Ideas

World premiere of The Seven Deadly Sins, collaborative work by seven choreographer, is set for Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, Becket, Mass; exhibition of graphic work by Red Grooms is set for National Academy of Design; Washington Square Music Festival to begin with all-Handel program; Free Concerts in Brooklyn Parks series to begin with performance by singer-songwriter Jerry Butler, Fort Greene Park; two exhibitions opening at Getty Museum, Los Angeles, celebrate photographer Walker Evans; photos (M)

Footlights

British producer prices rose 0.1 percent in June after revised 0.4 percent gain in May; growth from June 2000 slowed to 0.4 percent from revised 0.7 percent (S)

World Business Briefing | Europe: Britain: Producer Prices Flat

Article discusses renewed interest in Underground Railroad, clandestine network of safe houses and trails that helped slaves flee South before Civil War; after more than decade of quiet progress by dozens of historians and researchers in identifying and verifying sites on Underground Railroad, efforts are under way to save dozens of sites; in Cincinnati, National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, $102 million museum, is scheduled to open in 2004; photo (M)

Decaying Depots On the Tracks to Freedom; New Interest in the Underground Railroad Inspires an Effort to Preserve Its Landmarks

Labor dispute in Hong Kong abruptly escalates as Cathay Pacific Airways dismisses 49 pilots one week after pilots' union began work slowdown against carrier; airline raises salaries and benefits of its remaining pilots, hoping to end confrontation that forces it to cancel 39 of its 122 flights; airline's moves draw furious response from union leaders, who urge their members to rebuff new pay package; they vow to continue job action, though they stop short of calling strike; photo (M)

Cathay Pacific Fires 49 Pilots in a Union Dispute

Walter Isaacson, editorial director of Time Inc. and one-time managing editor of Time magazine, is named chairman and chief executive of Cable News Network; appointment comes less than two weeks after sudden resignation of Tom Johnson; photo (M)

AOL Selects Time Executive To Take Over As CNN Chief

Harvey Araton Sports of The Times column on Goran Ivanisevic winning Wimbledon men's singles championship with victory over Patrick Rafter; photo (M)

Sports of The Times; Extra Day Turns Into Special Day

The Japanese government announced that it would order no further revisions of school textbooks that many critics say whitewash the country's record of imperial-era atrocities in Asia.    The Japanese decision, undertaken after a second review of the new middle-school history textbook at the demand of South Korea and China, immediately set off a wave of condemnations in those countries.  

Japan Rejects Calls To Revise Textbooks

Carl-Adam Wachtmeister, in article in journal Animal Behavior, reports that researchers studing mating practices pay too little attention to many ritualized behaviors animals engage in after choosing mate; describes some of spectacular and often vigorous performances broad array of birds, mammals, fish and insects engage in long after securing partner; birds are especially prone to such exhibitions because most breed in socially monogamous pairs; drawings (M)

Mating Dances Go On and On

Webvan, ambitious online grocer that epitomized buoyant optimism that Internet could revolutionize even most entrenched industries, closes and will seek bankruptcy protection; spent almost all of $1.2 billion put up by investors; acts after search for buyer or additional source of cash proved fruitless and after sales started downward spiral in wake of cutback in marketing; dismisses remaining 2,000 employees without notice and leaves customer orders unfulfilled; photo (M)

An Ambitious Internet Grocer Is Out of Both Cash and Ideas

Isabela Yolanda Moner, known professionally as Isabela Merced since 2019, is an American actress. She played the lead role in the Nickelodeon television series 100 Things to Do Before High School (2014–2016), and went on to feature in the films Transformers: The Last Knight (2017), Instant Family (2018), and Sicario: Day of the Soldado (2018). She starred as the titular character in the adventure film Dora and the Lost City of Gold (2019) and played main roles in the films Turtles All the Way Down and Alien: Romulus .
In 2025, she has a starring role in the second season of the HBO series The Last of Us.

July 10, 2001

Headlines from July 10, 2001

Embracing the World With a Perky Beat

Closing La Scala To Open It Up

Clemens and Piazza: Prime-Time Special And Awaited Sequel

African Migrants Risk All on Passage to Spain

World Business Briefing | Asia: Japan: Machinery Orders Fall

Billboard 200

Devil's Night

Break The Cycle

Take Off Your Pants And Jacket

Survivor

Moulin Rouge

Notable Births

Historical Context for July 10, 2001