July 13, 2001

William C Rhoden Sports of The Times column discusses weight of history Boston Red Sox must overcome to win world championship; reviews 'curse' of trading Babe Ruth to New York Yankees as well as current list of players on disabled list; photo (M)

Abner Louima, victim of torture while under police custody in Brooklyn station house four years ago, agrees to settle his civil lawsuit against New York City and its main police union; settlement calls for city to pay him $7.125 million and union, Patrolmen's Benevolent Assn, to pay him $1.625 million; this is most money city has ever paid to settle police brutality case and is believed to be first time police union anywhere in country has paid claim to settle brutality case; 19-page agreement makes no mention of changes in police procedures, but Louima says he is convinced city and union have started to alter how Police Dept trains, monitors and disciplines its officers; in one change, city as decided to phase out so-called 48-hour rule, which has allowed officers suspected of wrongdoing to wait two days before answering questions from superiors; Louima case recalled; photos (M)

Deutsche Bank cancels plans to sell its Morgan Grenfell Private Equity unit to management group after disagreement over terms; Morgan Grenfell chief executive Graham Hutton resigned when negotiations ended; Sir Robert Smith will succeed Hutton (S)

United Airlines reluctantly agrees to move forward with its proposed $4.3 billion bid to buy US Airways at insistence of US Airways and under implied threat of litigation; decision forces hand of Bush administration's Justice Department, which must take formal action if it wants to block deal; executives at rival airlines have said that more mergers will follow if transaction is allowed, prospect that many consumer advocates believe will curtail airline competition, leading to higher fares and diminished service; two airlines say they have given 21 days' notice to Justice Department and to about 12 states' attorneys general, according to previous agreement, that they will close their deal; that gives regulators until early August to try to block deal in court if they choose to do so; photo (M)

Reporter's Notebook article on unusual role played by Sen John McCain in House debate over campaign finance reform measure; supporters of bill to outlaw soft money decide unanimously, reportedly at McCain's urging, to vote against procedural debate rule put forward by House Republican leaders; students of Congress can recall only one other time when senator was so instrumental in House debate; other notable event is that Speaker of House, J Dennis Hastert, lost on procedural vote, with 19 fellow Republicans voting against him; photos (M)

Floyd Norris comment on financial problems at Corning Inc that led to elimination of its dividend, closing of manufacturing plant that opened last year, another that was under construction and layoffs of people hired last year; says Corning will survive; holds even as it was making ill-considered bets on fiber optics industry, it was protecting itself financially; says rather than repurchase its own stock with borrowed money it issued stock to finance its acquisitions; says Corning has $1 billion in cash and ample bank lines; graph (M)

Political leaders and investors in Argentina disapprove of new round of austerity measures offered by government, sending local financial markets plummeting and chill through some markets abroad; country has been struggling to contain economic and banking crisis for several months; Economy Min Domingo Cavallo, who engineered country out of economic morass decade ago, announces major cuts in public salaries and pensions and increase in taxes intended to eliminate projected $1.5 billion budget deficit in second half of year; new moves, instead of firming weakening values of Argentine bonds and stocks, only give economists and investors more evidence that government is careering without clear direction month to month from one divergent economic aproach to another; fears grow internationally that country is heading toward bankruptcy and devaluation of its currency; photo; graph (M)

Swissair Group says it will sell more than $1.7 billion of assets, including stakes in Galileo reservation service and Equant data network, as well as aircraft, as it tries to reduce debt load; chief executive Mario Corti says company has enough cash to stay in business, but financial position remains tight; hundreds of Belgian trade unionists stage demonstration to protest Swissair's desire to rid itself of Sabena Airlines; Corti says aviation group will hold onto Sabena stake for now; declines to say how Swissair might resolve its deadlock with Belgium, other Sabena shareholder; Belgium sued Swissair last week to recoup money it said Swissair had promised to invest in Sabena; photo (M)

Australia's Mayne Nickless Ltd acquires drug distributor F H Faulding & Co, after raising its bid by almost 25 percent; cash or stock alternatives value Faulding at up to $1.27 billion (US); graph (S)

Delegation of European diplomats is quizzed in Israel about European financial support for Palestinian Authority, which was supposed to be delayed until Palestinians adopted strict new spending guidelines and put stop to off-the-books business deal; Miguel Moratinos, European Union's envoy to Middle East, says budget is under control and International Monetary Fund has given its approval; Salaam Fayyad, research economist for IMF, has held Palestinian Authority to strict accounting standards, and in doing so has helped reassure foreign aid donors; photo (M)

China begins tentative preparations for national celebration as it awaits International Olympic Committee's decision on whether Beijing will host 2008 Summer Games; photo (M)

Philippines' San Miguel Corp is in talks to buy Cosmos Bottling Corp from RFM Corp, move that would give it near monopoly in soft drinks (S)