THE chase is on, around the screens and after the quick-triggered guards and in the vague direction of the Michael Jordan standard. So this is what stardom is all about? Pushing and pursuing until your spindly legs are begging for another line of work? Playing every night as if your reputation, not just a game, is on the line?    This, Richard Hamilton, is your new life. ''Doug Collins is my fourth coach in three years, and then there's Michael,'' Hamilton said. ''It's been tough, really tough.''  

Sports of The Times; Hamilton Following Jordan's Lead

New York State Appeals Court rules that city police and firefighter unions may ask state panel to help resolve contract disputes (M)

Police and Firefighters Win Court Victory in Seeking Raises

Jim Carrey plays an amnesiac in 1951 who has wandered into Lawson, a hamlet in Northern California where the local movie theater, the Majestic, has been abandoned. Our hero resembles Luke Trimble, a decorated veteran who has gone missing, and Luke's anguished dad, Harry (Martin Landau), clings to the idea that his lost son has come home. Our hero, who comes to believe he is Luke, decides to rebuild the deserted movie palace with the help of the townsfolk. This Naugahyde-bound phony will play like a charm on the American Movie Channel, the Jurassic Park of film. Frank Darabont wields metaphors like flashcards and brings to &quot;The Majestic&quot; the shopworn back-lot belief in the decency of man that made his &quot;Green Mile&quot; such a shabby enterprise. – Elvis Mitchell

Amnesiac Recalls His Best Lines

 Hamas Leader Defies Arafat  A leader of Hamas, Dr. Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi, said the group intended to continue sending suicidal attackers against Israel and defied Yasir Arafat's efforts to arrest him.   PAGE A3    Ruling Backs City Unions  The State Court of Appeals has ruled that the city's police and firefighter unions may ask a state panel to help resolve contract disputes, a change the unions had long sought.   PAGE D1

INSIDE

General Motors introduces Cadillac Escalade EXT, first pickup truck branded with Cadillac name; sales of light trucks -- including sport utility vehicles, minivans and pickup trucks -- will exceed sales of passenger cars in 2001 for first time ever; photo; graph (M)

Cadillac, Too, Shifting Focus To Trucks

Memphis Grizzlies defeat New York Knickerbockers, 90-88; photo (M)

Knicks Fail to Answer Their Late Wake-Up Call

World Health Organization proposes spending $101 billion annually in medical research and treatment to save 8 million lives in developing world and $186 billion in world income now lost to illness; international contributions by governments, including $10 billion a year from US, would finance implementation of proposals; plan will probably meet strong opposition in US Congress (M)

Diagnosis of World's Health Focuses on Economic Benefit

Autos on Friday report on renaissance of General Motors design previews several new models; photos of vehicles and designers Anne Asensio, Wayne Cherry, Rick Wagoner and Bryan Nesbitt (M)

Autos On Friday/Design; G.M. Turns the Corner And Rediscovers Style

*John Tierney The Big City column discusses pros and cons of commercialism at Christmas time (M)

The Big City; Christmas And the Spirit Of Commerce

Homicides increase sharply this year in many large cities, possibly signaling return to rising crime rates after large decline in 1990's; rise in homicides is greatest in Boston and Phoenix, with increases of more than 60 percent compared with same period last year; homicide rate is up 22 percent in St Louis, 17.5 percent in Houston, 15 percent in San Antonio, 11.6 percent in Atlanta, 9.2 percent in Los Angeles and 5.2 percent in Chicago; these rates are still well below 1991 rates; New York is exception to big cities with rising homicides, with actual drop of 5.2 percent in homicide rate this year; Charles H Ramsey, police chief of Washington, cites downturn in economy as factor in rising homicide rate (M)

KILLINGS INCREASE IN MANY BIG CITIES

Another View of Vendetta

Den Fujita will resign as president of McDonald's Corp Japanese subsidiary after 30 years in job; photo (S)

World Business Briefing | Asia: Japan: McDonald's President Steps Down

Former Pres Bill Clinton summons aides and advisers to devise ways to remind public of his accomplishments and defend his legacy against criticism on matters including his role in current recession and his failure to strike fatal blow against Osama bin Laden or his terrorist network after embassy bombings in East Africa in 1998; Clinton said to be frustrated that his image has been battered since he left office; his aides hope to build staff that will coordinate efforts to enlist former cabinet secretaries and other Clinton surrogates to appear on television talk shows and deliver speeches; they hope to raise Clinton's profile on lecture circuit; some who attend strategy meeting worry that Clinton will be portrayed as preoccupied with his reputation and not conducting himself appropriately for former president (M)

Clinton and Aides Lay Plans To Repair a Battered Image

Floyd Norris column questions wisdom of Bush administration's push for creation of international cartel in steel industry resulting from agreements with steel-producing nations to cut production and thus raise prices; graph (M)

Protecting Steel: An Economic War That All Could Lose

Philippe Lazare will resign as Eurotunnel chief executive; Richard Shirrefs will succeed him; graph (S)

World Business Briefing | Europe: Britain: Executive Shift At Eurotunnel

Japanese government introduces budget for coming fiscal year that calls for unprecedented cuts in spending to tame country's already immense public debt; plans to spend $370 billion and hold its borrowing to $233 billion, fulfilling promise made by Prime Min Junichiro Koizumi, who appears willing to let economy slide further into recession rather than risk pushing national debt higher; photo (M)

Japanese Budget Would Cut Spending, Even in Recession

Article discusses how leading figure skaters Michelle Kwan, Sarah Hughes and Irina Slutskaya are preparing for 2002 Winter Olympics; photo (M)

Big 3 of Skating Smile Through Pressure

Comcast's acquisition of AT&T Broadband to form nation's largest cable operator culminates fierce bidding war and months of negotiations on part of Brian Roberts, Comcast president; photo; charts; table of chronology (M)

How the Comcast Deal Came Together

Congress abandons effort to protect insurance industry from losses in any future terrorist attacks; Senate fails to bring measure to floor in final hours of session; Bush administration officials, industry executives and analysts predict that insurers and business leaders will increase their rates sharply and reduce or eliminate terrorism coverage; insurers hope Congress will act next year, but prospects for this remain highly uncertain; consensus emerged in weeks after Sept 11 attacks that insurance industry needs assistance, having lost $50 billion from attacks; measure stalled over regional politics, financing methods and proposed changes in nation's tort-law system (M)

Insurers Fail To Gain Help In Terror Costs

Commencement speaker at California State University in Sacramento is heckled and booed off stage when she raises questions about constitutionality of government's search for terrorists; speaker, Janis Besler Heaphy, is president and publisher of The Sacramento Bee; her call to citizens to safeguard their right to free speech and against unlawful detainment prompts angry reaction from audience; Donald R Gerth, president of university, says nothing in Heaphy's speech diverged from basic American civics lesson; Heaphy did not question war effort or buildup of domestic security, and she praised call to patriotism; but she repeatedly questioned whether American values are being lost in response by law enforcement; photo (M)

In Sacramento, a Publisher's Questions Draw the Wrath of the Crowd

Japanese Automobile Manufacturers Assn projects that sales of Japanese automobiles will probably decline for second consecutive year in 2002 as fallout from Sept 11 terrorist attacks on US continues to cripple global economy (S)

World Business Briefing | Asia: Japan: Auto Sales To Fall

Toyota Motor Corp and PSA Peugeot Citroen will build $1.4 billion automobile plant in Kolin, Czech Republic (S)

World Business Briefing | Europe: Czech Republic: Car Plant Planned

Charities struggle to stretch scarce resources for ever-growing number of applicants, as widespread layoffs and spiraling recession plus outpouring in donations for Sept 11 terrorist victims cause shortfall in usual Christmas donations; United Way and Salvation Army report donations are 'significantly down' in many of their divisions; recent survey finds one in four people saying their contributions to Sept 11 charities would hamper their holiday giving, and half saying economic downturn means cutting back on their charitable giving; photos (M)

Striving to Fill Stockings in Hard-Hit Town

In transforming the life of the brilliant mathematician John Forbes Nash Jr. into a muzzy, triumph-of-the-human-spirit Hollywood movie, Ron Howard and his collaborators have stripped it of anything that might present the audience with the slightest discomfort or reason to think about the documented facts concerning Mr. Nash. On its own terms, though, the movie succeeds in dramatizing Mr. Nash's mental illness and, to a lesser extent, his mathematical insights. Russell Crowe's performance is honest and focused, but the movie's conceptions of intellectual life and human character are ultimately so simplistic, so deeply mistrustful of the audience's intelligence that any chance for genuine insight is squandered. – A. O. Scott

From Math To Madness, And Back

Overview of events in war against terrorism: estimate by Sept 11 Victim Compensation Fund that $6 billion will be paid out to victims; failure of Congress to pass bill to assist insurance industry in aftermath of terrorist attack; Pres Bush's order to freeze assets of Pakistani-based terrorist group that he says is responsible for attack on Indian parliament; continuing search for Osama bin Laden (M)

December 21, 2001

Headlines from December 21, 2001

Sports of The Times; Hamilton Following Jordan's Lead

Police and Firefighters Win Court Victory in Seeking Raises

Amnesiac Recalls His Best Lines

INSIDE

Cadillac, Too, Shifting Focus To Trucks

Billboard 200

Weathered

Now 8

NOW That's What I Call Christmas!

Britney

Christmas Extraordinaire

Historical Context for December 21, 2001