July 1, 2002

Komag Inc, last United States-based independent computer disk-drive maker, is set to emerge from bankruptcy; industry has been hurt by racing to raise disk-storage capacity 100 percent annually, while storage demand has grown by only 50 percent a year; Komag has moved all manufacturing operations to Asia and cut cost structure in half in last two years; graph of hard-disk platter shipments; photo (M)

Disappearance of four-year-old Rilya Wilson more than year ago while under care of Florida's Department of Children and Families shows that reform of state's child welfare system has been less impressive than Gov Jeb Bush or agency have acknowledged; situation has embarrassed Bush at onset of re-election campaign and energized opponents; even though Bush has moved swiftly to control damage by appointing committee to investigate agency and taking pains to praise its progress since taking office, analysis of state records show system remains severely overburned; photos (M)

Former chief executives and corporate governance experts express surprise at recent efforts by some chief executives to cover up misdeeds, including alleged evidence tampering by former Tyco International chairman L Dennis Kozlowski and insider trading probe involving Martha Stewart's sale of ImClone stock; hold most executives continue to run their companies in honest way; photo (M)

Charges that Dr Samuel D Waksal, former chief executive of ImClone Systems, engaged in insider trading and investigation into stock trading of Martha Stewart draw attention to grapevine of well-heeled people in Manhattan among whom exchange of corporate information is burgeoning social custom, not necessarily crime; such friendships often coincide with business relationships where power, access and social advantage intersect; information that most Americans would think of as exceedingly privileged is passed among them at cocktail parties as casually as canapes; photos (M)

Brazil defeats Germany, 2-0, to win fifth World Cup title; Brazil's Ronaldo is named Cup's most valuable player; photos (M)

Bush administration designates 33 toxic waste sites in 18 states for cuts in financing under Superfund cleanup program; cuts, imposed because fund is hundred of millions of dollars short of amount needed to keep program on schedule, may halt work on some of most seriously polluted sites in country, confronting surrounding communities with new uncertainty over when work will resume, how quickly it will proceed and who will pay for it; report makes clear that under administration's approach, costs of cleaning up sites will eventually shift to all taxpayers and that in meantime entire program will be slowed down; some sites that will be affected by cuts noted; map; photo (M)

Environmental Protection Agency will begin mammoth task of within next few weeks of cleaning and testing thousands of apartments in Lower Manhattan affected by ash and dust from collapse of World Trade Center towers following terrorist attacks on September 11; for residents of 310 Greenwich Street, four block north of ground zero, emotional residue from disaster swirls as much as dust; some think cleanup is too little, too late; others fear inviting government in could dredge up old anxieties they have tried hard to put to rest; others struggle with personal problems that make it hard to focus on issues of health and pollution that can feel speculative and intangible; their decisions on EPA plan are tied to strange emotional journey that began for them and thousands of other downtown residents nearly 10 months ago; living in shadow of catastrophe, many have felt ground shift beneath them as their beliefs and what they want from their lives changed; photos (M)

Several major record labels, increasingly desperate to woo customers away from Internet music piracy, are moving to make more music legally available for less money online, even at risk of cutting lucrative CD sales; are belatedly coming to terms with idea that Internet file-sharing is reshaping their business; Universal Music Group is set to license its catalog to Listen.com, making service first to give customers access to catalogs of all five major labels over Internet for under $10 a month; other services are making individual songs cheaper to get and easier to burn on CD's legally; table of online music distribution services; photos (M)

Luis Echeverria, Mexico's president from 1970 to 1976, may be called to testify under oath before special commission about role in country's never-acknowledged 'dirty war' from late 1960's and early 1980's in which hundreds of leftists were tortured and killed; his denial of wrongdoing will be tested as special prosecutor begins formal investigation of thousands of newly opened files from country's disbanded secret police; government's own human rights commission says at least 275 people, or perhaps twice that number, died during illegal detention; privately examined secret police files and interviewed hundreds of witnesses and former officials before turning over sealed list containing names of 74 former government officials it holds responsible to Pres Vicente Fox; photos (M)

CNN, with its huge global reach, is focal point for both Israelis and Palestinians pressuring Western media to portray conflict from their point of view; Israelis charge CNN is biased against Israel, while Palestinians demand network pay more attention to civilians killed in Israeli military campaigns; their passions are heightened by belief conflict may be decided by world opinion, which can be effectively swayed by television; Israelis, while angrier about BBC coverage, have focused more on CNN; CNN apparently seeks to appease critics in Israel and United States in wake of uproar stirred by founder Ted Turner's remark that both sides are involved in terrorism; efforts upset some inside CNN; CNN executives deny appeasement effort (M)

Leonard Gregg, 29-year-old part-time firefighter, is charged with deliberately setting Rodeo wildfire, which combined with another blaze to become largest in Arizona history; prosecutors say he started fire hoping to make money fighting it; he faces up to 10 years in jail and $500,000 in fines; photos (M)

The world was a rosier place this time last year, when no one could have ever imagined the events of Sept. 11 or the scandals at WorldCom, ImClone Systems, Tyco International and Xerox. Yet despite last week's stock market jitters and a general nervousness about the economy, the important annual auctions of Impressionist, modern and contemporary art here proved that the rich feel more confident putting their money in Picassos, Monets or Légers than they do in financial markets. ''There are a lot of people who have made money and simply want to enjoy themselves,'' said Melanie Clore, deputy chairman of Sotheby's in Europe and co-chairwoman of its Impressionist and modern art department. ''Everyone these days wants an escape.''