February 7, 2002

Four New York design firms suggest new directions for interior design after 40-year reign of midcentury modern; they are Diana Vinoly, Benjamin Noriega-Ortiz, Girth Design team of Christian Bunce and Blake Moore and Piero Manara nad Diane Burgio of Beautiful Modern World; photos (L)

State University of New York moves to Division I of National Collegiate Athletic Assn, marking milestone by state in its attempt to achieve parity with powerhouse public universities; schools in top tier generally offer more athletic scholarships, sponsor more sports and have tougher game schedule; history of SUNY's sports programs noted; photo (M)

Pres Bush flies into New York and declares he will stand by his pledge to provide city with at least $20 billion to help rebuild from Sept 11 terrorist attacks; seeks to dispel doubts raised by Democrats about depth of White House's commitment to help city recover; says he supports proposal to create $5 billion in tax credits in downtown Manhattan to stop businesses from fleeing area; Bush's day mixes homage to police officers and firefighters involved in World Trade Center rescue efforts with politics of New York's race for governor; his remarks about aid to city come amid mounting signs that dispute over aid will be issue in Pataki's re-election campaign; two prominent New York Democrats--party chairman Herman D Farrell and Andrew M Cuomo, Democratic candidate for governor--question propriety of Bush's appearing at two political fund-raisers that raise more than $1.5 million to finance Pataki's campaign; Cuomo suggests Pataki should use his influence and time with Bush to obtain money for recovery effort, rather than for financing his re-election campaign; photos (M)

Letters and documents just made public seemingly refute Werner Heisenberg's portrayal of himself as scientific resistance hero who sabotaged Nazi efforts to build nuclear weapon during World War II; Danish physicist Niels Bohr, Heisenberg's onetime friend and mentor, says in documents that under Heisenberg, 'everything was being done' to develop atomic weapons in Germany; in particular, documents describe meeting Heisenberg initiated with Bohr in occupied Denmark in Sept 1941; Heisenberg later said he met with Bohr to express moral qualms about building atomic weapon in wartime; papers just released by Bohr family tell different story; historians and scientists agree that Bohr broke off meeting in shock; they have debated for decades what actually happened that day: did Heisenberg hope to save world from horrors of bomb, or was he trying to pry loose information on parallel effort by Allies, which Bohr later joined; that mystery is center of Michael Frayn's award-winning play, Copenhagen; photos; excepts from released papers (L)

Injectable drug known as Botox, in use since 1991, is on verge of achieving approval by Food and Drug Administration for cosmetic use; it has already become most popular cosmetic medical procedure in country, despite fact that it involves injecting neurotoxin that causes botulism directly into muscles in face, paralyzing them and thus erasing wrinkles; FDA approval for its use as cosmetic would allow manufacturer, Allergan Inc, to promote Botox with multimillion-dollar blitz of television commercials and print advertising; analysts predict Botox use could grow from 1.1 million Amerians in 2000 by 30 percent or orven 50 percent in next year; Botox has already worked its numbing magic on many faces in Hollywood; photos (M)

Coalition of Nassau County (NY) civic groups pushes for county income tax as way to lower onerous property taxes, and debate heats up as county struggles to close staggering budget gap; County Executive Thomas Suozzi does not rule out idea and agrees to meet with advocates and hear their reasoning (M)

Emirates Airlines is planning rapid growth; in November, airline ordered $15 billion in new jetliners from Airbus Industrie and Boeing; orders will nearly triple Emirates Air's fleet in next decade, to 100 aircraft from 36 today; in 2003, Emirates Air plans to begin flights between North America and its base in Dubai, beginning with daily service from Kennedy Airport and adding Chicago and Los Angeles flights later; top executive Maurice Flanagan comments; photo (M)

Interview with Candice Olson, co-founder and former chief executive of iVillage.com, women's Web site, on her book, Chapters: Create a Life of Exhilaration and Accomplishment in the Face of Change, which instructs the newly unemployed in fine art of serial reinvention (M)

3 Israeli Settlers Killed Three Israelis were shot dead and four were wounded in a Palestinian attack on an isolated Jewish settlement in the West Bank. PAGE A11

News analysis contends city and state auditors were remiss in not picking up warning signs that Harlem's Hale House was using shoddy accounting procedures marked by malfeasance and personal greed; organization was fund-raising powerhouse that funneled half of its donations back into fund-raising; as private charity its finances and work with children were not subject to same government oversight it received in 1980's when it was under contract with New York City; review of fraudulent practices that have come to light in state inquiry; photo (M)

American forces in Afghanistan release to Afghan authorities 27 prisoners captured in raid north of Kandahar last month, saying they are not Taliban or Ql Qaeda fighters as Pentagon originally said; release of detainees, days after Defense Sec Donald H Rumsfeld concedes that American commandos might have mistakenly killed at least 15 friendly Afghans, raises questions about American-led operations in Afghanistan; senior Pentagon officials refuse to describe raid as mistake pending inquiry by Central Command; American forces are continuing to go after what they believe are groups of Al Qaeda or Taliban leaders; photo (M)

Interview with Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus, former nannies on Manhattan's Upper East Side and authors of The Nanny Diaries, acidly funny novel; photo (M)