December 19, 2001

Federal health officials will offer military's anthrax vaccine, as well as extra medicine, to thousands of Capitol Hill workers and postal employees who were exposed and remain at slight risk even after 60-day antibiotic treatment; shots will be made available as part of experimental study run by Centers for Disease Control, first time government has offered ordinary citizens vaccine against biological weapon; Sec Tommy Thompson explains 'abundance of caution'; few studies in monkeys have found that spores can linger in lungs 75 days after exposure, and that vaccine protected animals; potential side effects, mostly minor, noted (M)

Industrial production in 12-nation euro zone falls by estimated 1.4 percent in October compared with previous month (S)

Sales of consumer electronic products are selling well in what appears to be bleak holiday shopping season for retailers; Best Buy and Circuit City, which specialize in electronics, are doing better than expected; graphs; photo (M)

LTV, a Big Steel Maker, To Close Unless Aid Arrives LTV, one of the nation's biggest steel makers, will soon shut its doors, barring a government-supplied miracle. If a government-backed loan does not arrive by today, the company will ask a bankruptcy judge to end its labor contract. A shutdown would leave nearly 70,000 retirees and recent employees with no or reduced pensions and health care benefits and force the government to pick up at least some of the tab for what remains. [Page C2.]

Toshiba Corp abandons commodity memory chip business to concentrate on custom-designed chips, where profit margins are higher; will sell plant in US to Micro Technologies and scrap proposed alliance with Infineon Technologies; is considering whether to halt production of dynamic random access memory chip in Japan by June 2002; photo (M)

George Vecsey Sports of The Times column urges National Football League to increase security at games in wake of several incidents of unruly fan behavior; photo (M)

Broadway officials announce new group of shows, including some long-running hits, that will receive city aid through mass public purchase of tickets in January to help shows weather post-Sept 11 box office decline; some Off Broadway producers voice concerns that their theaters are missing out of city's largess; Giuliani administration has agreed to spend $2.5 million on 50,000 tickets at reduced price of $50 (M)

Thailand's environmental authorities approve construction of $500 million natural gas pipeline in southern part of country; Trans Thai-Malaysia pipeline is joint venture of Thai national oil company PTT and its Malaysian counterpart, Petronas (S)

Random House, largest publisher of general-interest books, begins round of layoffs as it cuts costs to address what its executives call prolonged downturn in book sales; company's publishing houses--Doubleday Broadway, Ballantine and Bantam Dell--have together laid off at least nine staff members, including several editors, over last two weeks; more layoffs are expected from Knopf, Random House Trade Group, Crown and children's book groups; Random House is part of Bertelsmann AG (M)

US trade legislation excluding some of Brazil's main exports from negotiations for Free Trade Areas of the Americas prompts warning from Foreign Min Celso Lafer that any attempt by Bush administration to narrow negotiating agenda will be met with 'symmetric' response from Brazil; trade bill requires Bush to seek Congressional approval before reducing tariffs on nearly 300 products, among them some of Brazil's most important exports, including sugar, soybeans and orange juice (M)

Regina Schrambling article on the joys of Montreal at Christmas time, especially its food shops and restaurants; recipes (M)

William Grimes reviews Alain Ducasse at the Essex House; photos (M)