March 13, 2002

Matt Lee and Ted Lee article on resurgence of fine Madeira wines; once relegated to kitchen duty, Madeira finds new fans among wine lovers; photo (M)

Telecommunications industry's long-simmering financial problems and accounting turmoil have boiled over, reaching WorldCom, nation's second-largest long-distance company and world's leading carrier of Internet traffic; Securities and Exchange Commission appears to be looking into many of business practices that helped WorldCom emerge from obscurity in last 15 years by acquiring dozens of companies, most notably MCI Communications; company used its highflying stock to complete many of those deals, with shares trading as high as $62 in 1999; stock has dropped in recent months, plummeting 12 percent on March 12, to $7.93, on word of SEC inquiry; SEC is looking into whether WorldCom improperly manipulated its financial reports to make its operations appear stronger than they were; it is also looking into hundreds of millions of dollars of loans company made and arranged for chief executive Bernard J Ebbers; some analysts believe SEC might be interested in WorldCom's dealings with Electronic Data Systems; in February 1999, WorldCom entered into complex transaction with EDC that has recently come under analysts' scrutiny; question for analysts is how each company booked nearly equal amounts of revenue from complex deal; graph; chart; photo (M)

Article in occasional series that focuses on memories of food and drink; profile of John Sineno, retired firefighter and author of two cookbooks; recipe; photo (M)

UN Sec Gen Kofi Annan tells Israel to end 'illegal occupation' of Palestinian lands, as Israeli forces carry out fiercest assault since areas were captured in 1967 war; 31 Palestinians are killed as troops pursue armed Palestinians and round up young men in hunt for terrorists; photos; map; six Israelis are killed when gunmen disguised as Israeli soldiers open fire on bus and cars near Lebanon border; violence comes as Vice Pres Cheney begins tour of 11 nations to rally Arab support against Iraq, and further undermines prospects for Gen Anthony C Zinni's cease-fire mission; Israeli tanks enter Ramallah amid boom of Palestinian grenades and clatter of Israeli machine guns; Annan statement condemns Palestinian terrorist attacks on innocent civilians as 'morally repugnant'; says Israel has right to live in peace within secure recognized borders, but must end occupation, bombings, unnecessary lethal force and daily humiliations of ordinary Palestinians; tells Palestinians they have right to state but must stop terrorism that makes Israelis believe their very existence, not occupation, is target; Israeli official likens Israeli raids to US attack in Afghanistan, which Annan supported as self-defense (M)

Lufthansa lost about $517 million last year; results are worse than many analysts expected, and investors push company's shares down more than 6 percent; airline says it will not pay dividend for 2001; graph (S)