May 8, 2002

Ira Berkow Sports of The Times column discusses controversial awarding of NBA's most valuable player honor to San Antonio Spurs player Tim Duncan over New Jersey Nets player Jason Kidd; photo (M)

Toyota Motor Corp dismisses reports it is near decision to build second plant in Mexico; construction of Toyota assembly plant in Tijuana to supply North American market is set to begin in June (S)

EPA is set to pay to clean up and then test apartments south of Canal Street in Lower Manhattan that were fouled by dust and ash from destruction of World Trade Center; decision reverses insistence that owners and residents are responsible for indoor spaces; OSHA guidelines would be followed, with at least eight federal, New York State and New York City agencies involved; about 20,000 people live within half mile of site; public health experts see little evidence that many apartments are contaminated, or that spaces have not been adequately cleaned up, but few indoor spaces have been tested (M)

Workers put up construction fence at site of 7 World Trade Center, where new skyscraper is to rise; Industrial Risk Insurers will not contest $861 million claim made by developer Larry A Silverstein, who owned building; plan calls for taller tower, situated differently on site to allow for restoration of Greenwich Street; project still requires approval by Port Authority, which owns land; map; photo (M)

Justice Department reverses decades of official policy on meaning of Second Amendment and tells Supreme Court that department's position is that Constitution 'broadly protects' right of individuals to own firearms; footnotes in Solicitor General Theodore Olson's briefs incorporate Atty Gen John Ashcroft's statement in letter to National Rifle Assn last year; photo; Court view since 1939 decision has been that Second Amendment protects only those rights with 'reasonable relationship' to preservation of 'well regulated militia'; Ashcroft letter to all federal prosecutors has endorsed federal appeals court ruling in New Orleans last October that found amendment 'does protect individual rights'; Olson briefs urge Court to reject appeals in two gun convictions but do not ask Court to take any action on constitutional issue (M)

Matthew Purdy Our Towns column notes it is 29th anniversary of signing of Rockefeller laws; date brings call for repeal of nation's harshest drug laws; profile of 73-year-old Martha Weatherspoon, who is serving 20 years to life for buying eight ounces of cocaine from undercover officer 13 years ago; even her prosecutor questions lengthy prison term (M)

R W Apple article on restaurant scene in Buenos Aires, where Argentina's economic troubles have forced people to cut back on consumption of beef; says that while some restaurants have been forced to close, devaluation of peso has help local restaurants in two ways: keeping prosperous Argentines from traveling abroad and attracting foreign visitors to Buenos Aires, which is no longer as expensive as it used to be; photos (L)

This glossy Americanized screen adaptation of Claude Chabrol's "Femme Infidele" has an indelible central performance by Diane Lane as a happily married suburban woman whose casual dalliance with a handsome French bookseller (Olivier Martinez) becomes a sensual obsession. Her performance makes you realize how long it's been since Hollywood dared to put disruptive grown-up sex on the screen. Richard Gere gives one of his subtlest performances as her loving control freak of a husband driven to commit a crime of passion. The movie could be called "Fatal Attraction 2," with the roles reversed. But this time, the director Adrian Lyne doesn't settle for a crowd-pleasing horror-movie finale. — Stephen Holden

Footlights column: Dallas Museum of Art opens major retrospective of works by photographer Thomas Struth; annual Jewish Heritage event, hosted by Eli Wallach, will take place at Hunter College; Nassau County Museum of Art in Roslyn Harbor will exhibit works from private Long Island collections; Night, monologue adapted and directed by Claude Vajda from Elie Weisel memoir, will be performed by Alain Mottet at Gould Hall; Dino Anagnost's Little Orchestra Society will open Vivaldi series at Alice Tully Hall; photos (M)

Bank of Nova Scotia is considering selling its Argentine subsidiary, Scotiabank Quilmes, and has hired Buenos Aires-based investment bank to advise it (S)

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing plans new semiconductor plant in China to serve growing mainland market; chairman Morris Chang tells shareholders he is scouting for site (S)

Lucas John Helder, 21-year-old college student, is arrested on highway in Nevada in connection with 18 pipe bombs planted in rural mailboxes in five states; map; Helder is pulled over eight hours after FBI bulletin; tosses gun out and surrenders to state troopers who had been following him; at least one other gun and explosive devices are reported found in car; Helder grew up in Pine Island, Minn, and is art student at University of Wisconsin-Stout in Menomonie; he apparently drove father's 1992 Honda some 3,000 miles across country in recent days; person on campus reported his disappearance; Cameron Helder urges son to surrender; Wisconsin student newspaper releases Helder message with ramblings on meanings of life and death and ruminations on environment and technology; suspect's identity confounds terrorism experts and acquaintances (M)