July 24, 2001

Sonera, a Finnish phone company, recorded a second-quarter pretax loss, excluding capital gains and nonrecurring items, as spending was high on new products and expansion abroad. The company said it lost 28 million euros ($24 million), before taxes and special items, in contrast to an 85 million euro profit a year earlier. Revenue increased 11 percent, to 557 million euros. Suzanne Kapner (NYT)

President Bush, facing a decision whether to allow federal financing for research using human embryo cells, heard an appeal today from Pope John Paul II to ''reject practices that devalue and violate human life at any stage from conception until natural death.'' The pope made his statement after meeting Mr. Bush at the papal summer residence here outside Rome, declaring that this path was the obligation of ''a free and virtuous society, which America aspires to be.'' He specifically declared that the creation of human embryos for research purposes, which some American scientists have begun doing, was an evil akin to euthanasia and infanticide. [Excerpts, Page A8.]

It was an unlikely setting for a hurricane hunt. The sun blazed. A gentle breeze tickled Jamaica Bay, which lies between Kennedy International Airport and the ocean beaches of the Rockaways on western Long Island.

Blasting Off Music by Verdi, conducted by Rudolph W. Giuliani. The composition? What else but the Anvil Chorus from ''Il Trovatore''? And where might this unusual combination of notes and notable be found? In a ballpark, of course. Yes, the place is the home of the Staten Island Yankees, the House That Rudy Built, otherwise known as the Richmond County Bank Ballpark at St. George on Staten Island. Mayor Giuliani is to lead the Amor Artis Chorus and Orchestra, directed by Johannes Somary, in a performance that begins at 7:30 p.m. tomorrow. The centerpiece of the program is Handel's ''Royal Fireworks Music,'' with fireworks against the backdrop of Lower Manhattan.

Celera Genomics raced to determine the entire human genetic code. Now it is racing to winnow the information down. Celera will announce today the next phase of its genomics strategy, an effort to sequence selected parts of the genomes of 40 to 50 individuals. The goal is to develop a map of just the important genetic differences between people, which could be used to speed the search for genes that contribute to disease.