July 9, 2002

News analysis of Pres Bush's defense of his business dealings at Harken Energy Corp in 1990; focuses on whether his actions undermine his call for improved corporate ethics and stiffer penalties for executives who defraud investors (M)

All-Star Game baseball players discuss issues hovering over game, including setting strike date and steroid use in Major Leagues; photo (M)

EBay announces plans to acquire PayPal, rapidly growing startup that lets people make payments via e-mail, for $1.5 billion; move will let eBay take bigger share of many sales made on its own site, and to expand its business to earn money on tens of thousands of transactions made elsewhere on the Internet (M)

Stark career profiles of victims of September 11 terrorist attack on World Trade Center being prepared by companies with biggest losses to help in determining compensation are arousing anxiety among fragile population of survivors; may not match expectations of those left behind, who may have mistaken idea of how loved ones ranked in jobs and what their prospects were; reports from Marsh & McLennan, Cantor Fitzgerald, Keefe Bryuette & Woods, Carr Futures and others discussed; photo (M)

New York Yankees second baseman Alfonso Soriano sees impressive first half of season and approaches status of upper-echelon players as All-Star Game approaches; photo (M)

Pres Bush defends himself against barrage of questions about his own corporate stock dealings even as he vows to take tougher line against corrupt corporate executives, speech, New York City; repeatedly dismisses as political attack assertions that he failed to properly disclose 1990 stock sale in Harken Energy Corp; later acknowledges at White House news conference that he does not know why sale was not disclosed promptly as required by law; is vague and dismissive about accounting procedures at Harken, where he was director; says central element of his proposal for greater corporate accountability is to strengthen Securities and Exchange Commission; Democrats, emboldened by recent scandals, move to upstage Bush and gain upper hand; seek to broaden significantly corporate reform legislation to be taken up by Senate on July 9; photo (M)

Bruce Crawford, new chairman of Lincoln Center, says $1.2 billion redevelopment plan may have to be altered to reflect economic realities of present time; his immediate focus will be on problems with New York State Theater and Avery Fisher Hall; photo (M)

Paul Griffiths reviews Aix Festival performances of Peter Eotvos opera based on Jean Genet's Le Balcon and of Tchaikovsky's opera Eugene Onegin; photo (S)

Restricting ability of executives to sell company stock quickly becomes central part of efforts to change rules under which corporate America does business; expanding array of big investors, policymakers and even few business leaders in step unthinkable in long economic boom of 1990's are arguing that top executives be required to keep much of company stock as long as they hold jobs; include Goldman Sach chief executive Henry M Paulson and Sen John McCain; officials at Securities and Exchange Commission say they have become more aggressive at penalizing executives who appear to have profited from incorrect financial statements; Business Roundtable and TechNet, lobbying groups representing leading businesses, drop opposition under mounting criticism to measure that would require companies to seek shareholder approval for new stock-option plans for top executives and their employees; efforts stem from widespread anger over what many critics consider most galling aspect of recent corporate scandals: contrast between fortunes made by some executives while stocks were riding high and ultimate fate of their companies; photos (M)

Flight recorder data from DHL cargo jet and Russian airliner, which collided over southern Germany killing all 71 people aboard both planes, show Swiss air traffic controllers put planes on collision course by ordering Russian pilot to descend at same time plane's own collision-avoidance system urged him to climb; show planes' automated systems communicated with each other exactly as designed to do and that accident may not have occurred if Russian pilot had ignored Swiss controller in Zurich; German investigators say German controllers saw danger nearly two minutes before crash and desperately tried to warn Swiss controllers, who had responsibility for both planes; German controllers say they received only busy signals each time they tried calling Zurich, even on special priority line; disclosures suggest Zurich's air traffic control center was understaffed, overwhelmed and befuddled with technical glitches before crash; European aviation experts say crash was result of increasingly acute shortage of qualified air traffic controllers; photo; diagrams (M)

World Busine

Federal prosecutor Jack Smith says in closing statement that 'massive' evidence shows former New York City police officer Charles Schwarz should be convicted again of helping in assault of Abner Louima in station house and then lying about it; defense lawyer Ronald P Fischetti reminds jurors of reasonable-doubt requirement, recalls Schwarz denial and, in bid to forestall compromise verdict, tells jurors to convict Schwarz of perjury if they find he participated in assault (M)