February 14, 2002

Foreign exchange traders say John M Rusnak, currency trader who lost $750 million at Allfirst Financial, subsidiary of Allied Irish Banks, was so successful in counterfeiting proof of bogus trades that his bank was frantically trying to verify six-month-old trades day before suspected fraud was made public; Rusnak also had agreements with Bank of America and Citibank that essentially allowed him to use their names when making trades; agreements may have helped Rusnak conceal his activities; these and other practices begin to give some idea of how hard he may have worked to conceal what he was doing from his bank and other traders in currency market; Rusnak is under investigation by FBI; photo (M)

Efforts of pop singer Wi

Joyce Purnick column on bewildered reaction around New York City Hall to Mayor Michael R Bloomberg's budget candor; notes he avoids tricks traditionally used to disguise cuts (M)

American officials say Abu Zubaydah, elusive Palestinian who travels world using false passports and multiple aliases, is new chief of operations of Al Qaeda and is now believed to be organizing remnants of terrorist network to carry out new attacks against US and its allies; he has been linked directly to planning of Sept 11 strikes in US, and also to plans for wave of terror attacks in Europe last year that were thwarted by arrest of several other plotters; American investigators say he is trying to activate so-called sleeper cells of Al Qaeda for new strikes; say they are eager to apprehend him because he knows identities of thousands of terrorist recruits who passed through Al Qaeda's training camps in Afghanistan, and are now in their home countries, or elsewhere, waiting for instructions; photo (M)

An Effort to Tighten Rules In Wake of Enron's Collapse Regulators, legislators and the chief accounting rule maker proposed changes in the way companies do business and report their finances, including closing the loophole that Enron used to hide hundreds of millions of dollars of debt and inflate its profits. The board that sets accounting rules and the Securities and Exchange Commission indicated that they intended to move far more rapidly than they have in the past. [Page A1.]

Leonard Riggio, founder, chairman and chief executive of Barnes & Noble, is stepping down from his role as chief executive and naming his younger brother, Stephen, to succeed him; Leonard Ruggio says he will remain active chairman and oversee strategic matters like any mergers and financings; corporate governance experts say appointing chairman's brother as chief executive raises potential conflicts of interest; photos (M)

Article on symposium at University of Kansas of more than 500 scholars and other enthusiasts to celebrate 100th anniversary of poet Langston Hughes's birth; scholars note Hughes was first successful African-American writer and first to have literary society devoted to studying his life and work; photos (M)

David Pogue State of the Art column on how consumer can benefit from fierce competition among wireless carriers; says many are offering beyond-the-basics features to lure new customers; appraises various features; drawing (M)

Investment bankers at some big Wall Street firms helped create and find investors for complex partnerships that Enron Corp used to mask its true financial condition; then they started helping other companies in same way; bankers at Citigroup, Credit Suisse First Boston and Deutsche Banc Alex Brown found ways for Enron to remove lagging assets from its balance sheet by selling bonds backed by Enron's stock; Credit Suisse First Boston managed similar transactions for few other clients in energy and utility sectors; among companies that have created partnerships with structures similar to some used by Enron are El Paso Corp, Williams Companies and TXU Corp; in document created at Citigroup as part of presentation of stock-backed partnership structure, one benefit is described as removing 'certain items from plain view, thus enhancing appearance of balance sheet'; among accounting benefits presentation document listed was 'minimal footnote disclosure'; Citigroup official says bank chose not to market that structure to its clients; bankers worked with Enron to arragne partnerships, which made company appear more profitable than it was; chart (M)

House is set to pass comprehensive overhaul of campaign finance law after advocates of limiting money in politics defeat series of challenges mounted by Republican opponents; bill would make most comprehensive changes in campaign law in generation, banning large unlimited donations to political parties known as soft money; its sponsors, Reps Christopher Shays and Martin T Meehan, hold together bloc of supporters to thwart moves to scuttle bill; White House weighs in unexpectedly after months of public neutrality, with Pres Bush's press secretary Ari Fleischer calling late change in bill 'unfair, unwise and unwarranted'; Bush told lawmakers long ago not to count on him to veto measure; photos (M)

SPECTACULAR SILVER -- After falling and placing 15th in the downhill, Bode Miller came back for a dramatic second-place finish in the Alpine combined. PAGE D1 SALT LAKE SKID ROW -- The hobos who flocked to the Olympics in a fruitless search for work are stranded. PAGE D1

ABB, Swiss-Swedish power and technology group plunged into red ink by huge charges for restructuring costs and asbestos liability exposure, wants former chief executives Goran Lindahl and Percy Barnevik to give back some of their combined $138 million in severance and pension benefits; company puts net loss for 2001 at $691 million, its first annual loss ever, and says it will not pay dividend for year (M)