July 4, 2002

Complicated provisions of new federal education requirements, signed into law in January, spur states and school districts to scramble to identify failing schools as defined by law; in Connecticut, education officials squabble with their federal counterparts over just which schools should be on that state's list; education officials in Trenton, NJ, begin by ranking state's roughly 2,300 schools using test results from past three years and producing list of 274 that did not show requisite annual improvement; all this is part of federal mandate that all schools must close chronic gaps in student achievement by 2014; as part of program, parents of children in failing schools will be able to send their children to another school (M)

Czech Republic's long-derided currency, koruna, has been among strongest in world this year, setting record of 29.07 to euro on July 1; koruna is worth 16 percent more in euro terms than it was year ago, and 27 percent more in dollar terms; economists say that in long term strong koruna could hasten fundamental shift in Czech economy; say that if that shift is not carefully managed, strong koruna could send unemployment rocketing; Czech National Bank says koruna has risen out of line with economic fundamentals and it has tried to stem tide by reducing benchmark interest rates full percentage point so far this year; graph (M)

More women are taking leadership positions at American colleges and universities; Princeton University, which began admitting women as undergraduates little more than three decades ago, now has women in more than half of its top academic jobs; three of eight presidents of Ivy League colleges are women, and about 22 percent of college presidents are women; these gains are due to growing number of women with administrative experience, concerted efforts by many universities to recruit more women at the top and fact that women now account for 56 percent of all college students; on down side, appointment of women as department heads and deans has been spotty, and proportion of women with full-time tenured positions is only 52 percent, compared with about 70 percent among men, nearly same as 20 years ago; photos (M)

Reserve Bank of Australia leaves overnight cash target interest rate at 4.75 percent; New Zealand's central bank raises its main interest rate quarter-point, to 5.75 percent; photo (S)

Swiss government relaxes its minimum-yield requirement on pensions, which insurers have been complaining is too high in current markets; will cut mandated level to 3 percent from 4 percent, effective Oct 1; shares of Swiss Life rally on news; graph (S)g

Article profiles Cuban crime novelist Daniel Chavarria, whose latest book, Adios Muchachos, won Edgar Award this year; interview; photos; 68-year-old classics professor was born in Uruguay and came to Cuba in 1969 (M)

KPNQwest, which has filed for bankruptcy protection, has started to close parts of its fiber optic network for fast Internet business access as it continues to look for buyers (S)

Footlights column; Boston Symphony opens at Tanglewood; new branch of Britain's Imperial War Museum opens in London; New York City Tap Festival draws tap aficionados from 38 countries; Second Annual New Uke, New York Ukulele Festival opens; photos (S)

Brazil's Pres Fernando Henrique Cardoso and Mexico's Pres Vicente Fox sign bilateral trade deal opening their markets to each other in 800 industrial and agricultural product categories, Brasilia; Brazil and Mexico trade little with each other--$2.6 billion worth of goods and services last year--and both could use boost from expansion of bilateral commerce that new agreement is meant to produce; photo (M)

Vicki Huddleston, head of US Interests Section in Cuba, will host annual Fourth of July party at home outside Havana, despite usual Cuban government objections; photos; she also gives out shortwave radios as party favors, continuing cat-and-mouse game that Huddleston says is encouraged by Bush administration as kind of political message; Huddleston, nominated as US ambassador to Mali, will leave Cuba in Sept (M)

WorldCom Inc's former chief financial officer Scott D Sullivan reportedly urged internal corporate auditor Cynthia Cooper to suspend her review of certain company accounts that ultimately turned up almost $4 billion in misallocated expenses; postponing internal audit might have enabled WorldCom to take write-off for expenses eventually, rather than disclose bookkeeping problems that led to current crisis; Federal Judge Jed S Rakoff, who is overseeing Securities and Exchange Commission's fraud suit against company, appoints former SEC chairman Richard C Breeden to review payments to company's officers and see that WorldCom does not destroy documents as case proceeds; shifting of expenses at heart of WorldCom accounting scandal was orchestrated by Sullivan, whose determination of how financial outlays would be expensed enabled WorldCom to report profits that company now says should have been recorded as losses; House Financial Services Committee withdraws its invitation for Cooper to testify, in response to request from Justice Department; committee also withdraws invitation to Max E Bobbitt, head of WorldCom board's audit committee, who also played central role in internal inquiry; photo (M)

Credit Suisse AnnA