February 27, 2002

Pres Bush, thrusting himself into Mideast peace effort, calls Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah and praises his proposal for Israel to withdraw completely from West Bank and Gaza in return for full normalization of relations with all Arab countries; others in administration are less enthusiastic, undertain how Prime Min Ariel Sharon will view long-term plan at time of intensifying violence; Javier Solana of European Union reports Sharon says idea is interesting; also discusses concept with Yasir Arafat, who sends team to Tel Aviv to discuss curbing violence; some Israeli ministers are heartened by what seems to be first concrete peace signal in 17 months of unmitigated violence (M)

Rudolph Giuliani agrees to prompt distribution of $100 million remaining in Twin Towers Fund to families of 430 uniformed and civilian rescuers killed at World Trade Center; families criticized former mayor's efforts to privatize fund, hire staff of 12 and take months or years to disburse money; police widows' group threatened lawsuit; still unclear is whether state attorney general and courts will allow transfer of money to private charity controlled by Giuliani, who is now agreeing to distribute money within 60 days; police widows will not oppose his control of about $15 million he has raised since leaving office; individual families will get average of $232,000; deal emerges from tense meeting at which police relatives lash out at Giuliani; police and fire unions have not yet agreed to resolution (M)

Analysis of Enron Corp former chief executive Jeffrey K Skilling's testimony before Senate committee; says Skilling did not offer his opinion as to who perpetrators were and recurring theme in his testimony was that he is not an accountant; holds Skilling has not picked up much in way of humility since Enron Corp, blaming banks for Enron's collapse because they were not willing to keep lending billions; photo of Skilling with Enron president Jeffrey McMahon and Skilling's lawyer Bruce Hiler (M)

Profile of Michael Mallner, 15-year-old from Livingston, NJ, who was arrested year ago with another teen-ager, accused of carrying 'pipe bomb' to school; it turns out that 'bomb' was something less than that, and prosecutors acknowledge that boys were not out do hurt anyone; Mallner is confined to his home by court order as punishment for breaking into school; photos (M)

US considers sending 'sizable' number of Special Operations forces to former Soviet republic of Georgia to help train its military in counterterrorism tactics; aim is to prepare Georgian troops to combat foreign fighters who are operating in mountainous region and may have links to Osama bin Laden's network; new front in war against terrorism would build on operations in Afghanistan and involve 100-200 Special Operations forces who would not take part in direct combat but would defend themselves against attack (M)

Indictment of 18 former and current New York City tax assessors was years in making; while investigation that resulted in federal racketeering charges began five years ago, city and law enforcement officials have been concerned for at least full decade by suspicions of corruption in Finance Department, city agency that oversees process by which real estate taxes are assessed; as a result, investigaiton--effort to penetrate clannish insular world of group of lifelong bureaucrats bound together, prosecutors say, by millions of dollars in bribes (M)

BT Group will reduce price of high-speed connections to Internet, move seen by some analysts as signal new management is ready to attack some problems thathave long plagued company; price cuts will initially have little impact on BT's bottom line, but effects are expected to ripple through industry, providing boon to alternative carriers that must buy network capacity from company and to consumers, who are expected to benefit from lower prices (M)

Bear Stearns Japan Ltd and Credit Lyonnais Securities Europe are banned from trading on their own account for illegally selling Japanese stocks short; both companies traded stocks on behalf of clients without checking whether clients had shares in their possession; Credit Lyonnais is banned from trading on its own account and via affiliates for two weeks; Bear Stearns cannot act as agent for its affiliates for one week and cannot trade with them for four weeks (S)

Possible Access to Embassy Investigators demonstrated that terrorists might have been able to follow tunnels to the American Embassy in Rome and place a chemical bomb in the water pipes. PAGE A9 Error in Study on Drinking After releasing a study showing that under-age drinkers consumed a quarter of the nation's alcohol, the group that issued it acknowledged that if accepted statistical techniques had been used the number would have been smaller. PAGE A19

Regina Schrambling comments on black trumpet mushrooms; recipes; photos (L)

Seeking to narrow the pool of anthrax suspects, the Justice Department is sending subpoenas to microbiology laboratories across the country for samples of the Ames strain of Bacillus anthracis, the kind used in the letter attacks in the fall. Article, Page A10.

Commercial insurance costs in general have risen steeply after Sept 11 terrorist attacks, and terrorism coverage, still extremely limited, is particularly expensive; there is growing evidence that American businesses and their insurers are solving their problems without help from Federal government; terrorism coverage, which was unobtainable immediately after attacks, is becoming more widely available and in larger amounts; premiums are falling as more insurers enter market; General Accounting Office, in report requested by Rep Michael G Oxley, author of legislation providing for government assistance that has so far succeeded only in House, cites nine examples across nation of unidentified commercial property owners being unable to get full or partial terrorism coverage or being unwilling to pay what insurers were asking; Congressional hearing on terrorism coverage is scheduled for Feb 27; Congress's interest in issue has generally cooled (M)