January 11, 2002

Dallas Mavericks defeat New York Knickerbockers, 111-89; photo (M)

New York City girds for radicalism of every stripe from people coming to demonstrate at World Economic Forum, which will be held at Waldorf-Astoria from Jan 31 to Feb 4; demonstations will test new Bloomberg administration's ability to keep order even if they are less chaotic than those accompanied earlier meetings (M)

Vodafone Group's shares fall nearly 4 percent, adding to 12 percent slide this week, as analysts express concerns about disappointing growth of subscribers in US and uncertain introduction of new wireless services in Europe; Vodafone shares have given back nearly all gains accrued in rally that began last fall; Spain's Banco Santander Central Hispano, which owns 1.1 billion Vodafone shares, is looking to sell stock to raise money to cover losses related to devaluation of Argentine peso; bank expects to lose nearly $3 billion almost immediately from devaluation (M)

Twenty heavily guarded Taliban and Al Qaeda prisoners leave Marine Corps base in southern Afghanistan en route to United States naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, first wave of hundreds of detainees who will be held there; prisoners have hands and feet shackled and heads covered by hoods; at Guantanamo Bay, prisoners will be taken to makeshift detention center to await intensive interrogation and, possibly, trial before military tribunals; 20 minutes after plane lifts off with prisoners, marines come under small-arms fire near runway at Kandahar Airport; no one is injured and identity of snipers remains unknown; Amnesty International says sedating prisoners or shackling them for entire flight would violate international standards prohibiting 'cruel, inhuman or degrading' treatment; Defense Sec Donald H Rumsfeld defends use of strong measures, recalling violent uprisings by Taliban and Al Qaeda prisoners in Mazar-i-Sharif and in Pakistan; photos (M)

Marc Shapiro, J P Morgan Chase vice chairman, who oversees finance and risk management, has repeatedly had to explain how bank came to have so much at stake in Enron, to which J P Morgan has provided $2.6 billion in loans; relationship went beyond traditional loans to variety of complicated financings, including futures contracts involving offshore companies and debt backed by Enron's receivables; disclosures about extent of that exposure have left J P Morgan's investors wondering if top management was fully aware of its Enron position before company's demise; photo (M)

Dutch chemical group Akzo Nobel will expand previously announced restructuring program; graph (S)

Bertelsmann AG refuses to raise its buyout offer of 44 euros per share to minority shareholders who own 11 percent of braodcaster RTL Group; Bertelsmann raised its interest in RTL to 89 percent in December when it bought 22 percent stake from Pearson PLC, also at 44 euros per share (S)

Analysis of reaction of White House and Congressional Democrats to rapidly exploding inquiry into collapse of Enron Corp; White House seeks to distance Pres Bush from torrent of bad news about Enron; no one suggests Bush has done anything wrong, but connections between his presidency and Enron are uncomfortably close; White House insists Bush knew nothing of company's troublesome finances, but Democrats on Capitol Hill are asking what Bush did know, and when he knew it; latest disclosures reawaken Washington's scandal machinery; capital may face months, if not years, of yet another investigation of White House featuring volatile mix of money, influence, access and politics; photos (M)

Floyd Norris column on report that Enron Corp's auditors, Arthur Andersen, began destroying Enron documents and purging computer files in September and continued to do so while Enron collapsed and perhaps even after SEC issued Andersen a subpoena; notes that many of Enron's financial officials, including Richard A Causey, chief accounting officer, came to Enron after working on Enron audits for Andersen; suggests that some deleted files could indicate that Enron's accounting had become controversial within Andersen and had started an internal fight (M)

Birmingham, Ala, billionaire Donald Watkins wants to buy Minnesota Twins and build new stadium, which would save team from contraction; Major League Baseball is apparently ready to allow sale; photo; if deal goes through, Watkins would be first black to be majority owner of major league team (M)

Goldman Sachs Retail Index shows sales in stores open at least one year rose 2.3 percent in December; retailers say they are changing their earnings guidance upward for fourth quarter; sales figures for specific chains and stores noted; graph; chart (M)

John Tierney column gives text of play, Waiting for Osama, parody of Waiting for Godot, calling Samuel Beckett's work closest dramatic analogy to New York in wake of Sept 11 terrorist attacks (M)