Vineyards near Mendoza in hills of western Argentina are yielding grapes that are making country one of world's largest producers, with more and more first-class wines appearing with each vintage; industry is in rapid ascendancy, largely because of innovations of Dr Nicolas Catena, whose family established local reputation for red wine beginning in 1902; map; photos (M)

New Heights for Andean Wine

IMF will provide up to $8 billion in emergency aid to Argentina to stabilize its economy; agreement follows protracted talks between Argentina and Bush administration, which had sought show skepticism about bailouts like those approved by Clinton administration; package provides incentives for Argentina to reach agreement with creditors on restructuring $128 billion foreign debt; plan could pressure US banks and other lenders to take losses; Sec Paul O'Neill has used case to show administration will support bailouts only when nation takes painful actions before seeking help; photo (M)

Argentina Gets $8 Billion Aid From the I.M.F.

George Vecsey Sports of The Times column discusses expert investigation into death of Dale Earnhardt during Daytona 500; photo (M)

Sports of The Times; What They Didn't Say: Speed Kills

Jon Pareles reviews pop concert by Janet Jackson, at Madison Square Garden; photos (M)

Channel Surfing With a Diva, From BET to Playboy

Article on retailers' various marketing strategies to get consumers to spend Federal tax rebate checks; photo (M)

Retailers Split Over Setting Sights on Tax Rebates

Sonera, Finnish telephone company, says it will sell all its 72 million shares in Deutsche Telekom by end of year; news comes two weeks after another big shareholder, believed to be Hutchison Whampoa of Hong, put another huge block of 44 million shares up for sale; company's shares have dropped from 107 euros per share ($97.83 at current conversion rates) in March 2000 to 17.10 euros ($15.63); graph (M)

Big Holders Heading for Exits at Deutsche Telekom

Texas Rangers defeat New York Yankees, 13-3; photo (M)

Welcome Back For Hernández? Only in Theory

John Tierney The Big City column discusses debate among candidates in New York City Democratic mayoral primary; says debate was useful mainly to figure out which candidate you could bear watching on television for next four years (M)

The Big City; O Optimism, Fragile Being, Tease Us Not

NATO ministers gave the go-ahead to send a full task force of 3,500 soldiers into Macedonia to help disarm Albanian rebels if none of the 19 member nations object.    Article, Page A3.

NATO Clears Mission

Samsung Electronics will issue three-year bonds worth 500 million won, or about $390 million, to cover maturing bonds (S)

World Business Briefing | Asia: South Korea: Samsung Plans Bonds

 Fed Cuts Interest Rates For Seventh Time This Year  Citing a persistently weak business environment at home and slowing economic growth abroad, the Federal Reserve cut its benchmark interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point and signaled that its campaign to avert a recession is probably not yet over.    The rate cut was the seventh this year and brought the federal funds target rate on overnight loans among banks to 3.5 percent. It has been one of the most concentrated periods of monetary policy easing on record. [Page A1.]

BUSINESS DIGEST

Oxford Properties, commercial real estate group in Toronto, agrees to be acquired for 1.5 billion Canadian dollars ($971 million) in cash by Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System, one of Canada's biggest pension funds; fund will take over 2.3 billion Canadian dollars ($1.5 billion) in Oxford debt (S)

World Business Briefing | The Americas: Canada: Property Company Sold

After weeks of violence, faint hopes for peace arose after announcements that the Palestinian leader, Yasir Arafat, and the Israeli foreign minister, Shimon Peres, had agreed to a meeting arranged by the German foreign minister, Joschka Fischer. But no one on either side was suggesting that it was a major breakthrough.    Article, Page A10.

Mideast Peace Move By German Official

Westchester Medical Center report finds that poorly trained staff, technical malfunctions and lapses in communication among workers contributed to July 27 death of Michael Colombini, 6-year-old boy who was struck by an oxygen canister drawn into magnetic resonance imaging machine at hospital; recommends number of procedural changes in administering MRI's at hospital, including allowing only nonmagnetic aluminum oxygen tanks in or near testing room, developing written policy for administering oxygen during tests and training staff members about machines' hazards (M)

Hospital Details Failures Leading to M.R.I. Fatality

Bayer AG's recall of its cholesterol drug Baycol startles regulators in Europe and exposes considerable confusion there over who is responsible for dealing with such issues; as recently as June, regulators from countries in European Union decided that problems with drug could be handled through new warnings to doctors and patients; Bayer is German company, but its drug is licensed in Europe by British authorities, with neighboring countries adopting its decision; Britain's Medicines Control Agency does not have main responsibility for monitoring drug's safety after it has been approved; that is supposed to be shared by each government in European Union (M)

Drug's Removal Exposes Holes In Europe's Net

Canada's inflation rate, measured by consumer price index, slowed to 2.6 percent for year to July, down from 3.3 percent in June; core rate rose 2.4 percent in July (S)

World Business Briefing | The Americas: Canada: Inflation Slows

JC Flowers & Co plans to bid for Bankgesellschaft Berlin; wants to buy at least 75 percent of bank (S)

World Business Briefing | Europe: Germany: Bid For Bank

 European Focus on Cloning  France and Germany are seeking a United Nations measure for a treaty to ban human cloning, and they hope for American support.   PAGE A4    McDonald's Game Fraud  Eight people were charged with defrauding McDonald's of more than $13 million by rigging its promotional contests.   PAGE A12

INSIDE

Some General Nutrition Companies store owners complain in lawsuits against company that their business has been hurt as GNC has aggressively opened its own stores near theirs; company-owned stores benefit from lower wholesale prices on many products; GNC has settled with some franchisees, but settlement stops short of addressing all franchsees' concerns; company executives say that they have no desire to ruin their franchisees and that dissatisfaction among relative handful of franchisees comes from their own shortcomings; photos (M)

Franchisees On Edge; Some Angry Ones Sue As GNC Competes

Pres Bush ardently defends his tax cut as affordable and essential to revitalizing economy, in unusually long and impassioned speech that reflects rising battle with Democrats over who is to blame for rapidly shrinking federal surplus; casts himself as vigilant guardian against Congressional spending that he insists is gravest danger to surplus; tells audience in Independence, Mo, that OMB report will show 'nation's priorities' are 'fully funded,' with enough money to protect Social Security and Medicare and reduce federal debt; says this is possible despite sluggish economy because he 'took exactly the right action' in pushing 'largest tax cut in a generation'; also warns he will oppose spending beyond budget resolution; his photo; OMB will reportedly show $160 billion surplus for fiscal year ending Sept 30, down from $281 billion projected by Congressional Budget Office; almost all will come from Social Security, which politicians say is off-limits for general spending or tax cuts; Democrats begin running ads accusing Bush of gross irresponsibility (M)

Bush Defends Size of Surplus And Tax Cuts

Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that gap between between number of jobs available in US and number of people to fill them will grow to six million in 2008 as baby boomers retire and that labor shortage will peak from 2015 to 2025, when bulk of workers born between 1946 and 1964, as many as 60 million, reach retirement age; occupations with large numbers of older workers like construction inspection and teaching in secondary schools are expected to suffer, as will fields creating jobs at fast pace, like computer engineering; experts say imbalance will mean opportunities for workers in fields like engineering or health care where shortages will be most acute; companies can be expected to move more jobs overseas and turn to immigrants to do work Americans cannot or will not do; photo (M)

Countdown to the Great Labor Shortage

Computer-literate workers laid off by telecommunications and computer companies are finding jobs in old economy, where their skills are very much in demand and business, while not robust, has not fallen off nearly as much as at companies whose business was geared to Internet; graphs (S)

Jilted by the New Economy, Tech Refugees Find Solace in the Old One

United Overseas Bank raises 1.3 billion Singapore dollars, or about $739 million, in Singapore's largest corporate bond sale to date (S)

World Business Briefing | Asia: Singapore: Bank Raises $739 Million

Wall Street is too busy mourning demise of technology bubble and pounding on Federal Reserve to notice signs of economic bottom, including falling unemployment claims, rising housing starts, declining inventories and end to slide in industrial production; most economists believe Fed is not acting fast enough with interest rate cuts to turn around economy; Wall Street's biggest concern is corporate profits, which are weak across board and dismal at technology companies; operating profits for Standard & Poor's 500 plunged more than 17 percent in second quarter and are expected to fall more than 8 percent for year; investors are concerned that companies outside technology sector could begin widespread layoffs if profits remain weak (Market Place column) (M)

THE MARKETS: Market Place; Distracted, Wall St. Ignores Signs of an Economic Bottom

Investigators say that Dale Earnhardt most likely died of a fracture at base of his skull at this year's Daytona 500 when the unprotected part of his head hit either steering wheel or bucket seat inside his auto; photo (M)

Panel Releases Report on Earnhardt's Death

LaMelo LaFrance Ball is an American professional basketball player for the Charlotte Hornets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was selected by the Hornets with the third overall pick of the 2020 NBA draft. Ball was voted the NBA Rookie of the Year in 2021 and named an NBA All-Star the following season in 2022.

August 22, 2001

Headlines from August 22, 2001

New Heights for Andean Wine

Argentina Gets $8 Billion Aid From the I.M.F.

Sports of The Times; What They Didn't Say: Speed Kills

Channel Surfing With a Diva, From BET to Playboy

Retailers Split Over Setting Sights on Tax Rebates

Billboard 200

Now 7

Celebrity

Eternal

8701

Kiss Tha Game Goodbye

Notable Births

Historical Context for August 22, 2001