July 11, 2002

Europe's telecommunications giants have lost half trillion dollars in market value since early 2000; European investors are realizing too late that big, seemingly solid telecommunications companies--household names like British Telecommunications, France Telecom and Deutsche Telekom--were actually high-risk bets; losses suffered by investors in European companies seem to be fostering special resentment because companies whose businesses had seemed so conservative turned out to be almost recklessly aggressive; staggering debt at most of companies, especially Deutsche Telekom, detailed; graphs; photo (M)

Interview with convicted software pirate John Sankus Jr, 29, gives unusual glimpse into world of Internet piracy; United States Customs Service investigators and prosecutors say Sankus was ringleader of international gang of software pirates that deprived companies of millions of dollars through illegal distribution of copyrighted software, games and movies on Internet; piracy group, known as DrinkorDie, was among chief targets of more than 100 coordinated raids in United States and abroad last December; drawing (M)

Murray Chass analysis contends that All-Star Game is now mere entertainment vehicle, and holds that premature ending to 73rd All-Star Game is example of baseball's current state of corruption that includes labor disputes and talk of steroid use; photos (M)

Mood and agenda on Capitol Hill about corporate responsibility have changed in recent days as Congressional elections near; lawmakers are feverishly advancing proposals that would have been considered too radical about half year ago; Repr Dick Armey, who three weeks ago aggressively defended corporations that move their headquarters offshore to avoid taxes, is standing up against dishonest corporate executives; new political dynamic might lead to compromise and to laws being passed; Pres Bush is on defensive because of his administration's close ties to corporate America, and Republicans do not want to get on wrong side of volatile issue in election year; Republicans, fearful about plunging stock market, say they have to act fast and decisively to restore investor confidence before elections; Sen Charles E Schumer says in matter of weeks, perspective of lawmakers on issue has been turned on its head; Schumer spells out four ideas, including one to make publicly traded corporations give Securities and Exchange Commission their tax returns for public viewing; Corporate and Criminal Accountability Act is passed by Senate unanimously hours after Democratic majority leader Tom Daschle proposed bill; House Appropriations Committee on July 9, unexpectedly and by wide margin, added to bill financing Treasury Department and Postal Service ban on government contracts to companies that situate their corporate headquarters overseas to avoid taxes; House Ways and Means Committee agrees to similar restriction by Customs Service; Democrats plan to broaden restrictions in committee; Sen Trent Lott says he hopes that era of heavy-handed regulation is not returning; Sen John McCain plans to introduce bill that would require executives to hold stock from options as long as they work at company; photos (M)

Deutsche Post may cut 10,000 jobs, or 3 percent of its work force, as order from regulators to lower postage rates erodes profits; lower rates will cut earnings by 1.5 billion euros ($1.5 billion) through 2007; company says most of job cuts will be among mial delivery workers; postal workers union says it will fight cuts (S)

Britain Easing Up on Pot Law Britain, which has a sharply rising rate in marijuana use, announced it would stop arresting people for private use of the drug. PAGE A3 Safety vs. Drug Eradication The American-backed aerial spraying of drug crops in Colombia could be disrupted by a new law on safety and health standards. PAGE A10

Analysis of Pres Bush's speech on corporate responsibility holds Bush spent less than 30 seconds tackling issue that many believe is central: issuance of huge amounts of stock options to top executives; holds until this problem is addressed, true change will be slow to come to boardrooms; says stock options are crucial to both misrepresentation and enrichment that have caused crisis of confidence in business and financial markets (M)

BMW's vehicle sales for first half of year rose 18 percent; sales rose to 543,742 vehicles from 459,835 in year-earlier period; graph (S)

Friends of baseball legend Ted Williams insist that he wanted to be cremated upon his death, arguing that son John Henry Williams's decision to cryonically freeze Ted Williams's body is motivated by greed, not respect for father's wishes (M)

GTC Transcontinental Group agrees to pay $167 million to CanWest Global Communications Corp for all its smaller newspapers in Atlantic Canada and Saskatchewan (S)

Sony introduces bookshelf stereo system called CMT-L7HD, which brings convenience of digital music files to everyday bookshelf system--without requiring computer; photo (M)

Bush Used Insider Benefits That He Now Wants to Ban President Bush has called for an end to some of the very insider transactions that he used as a director of Harken Energy in the late 1980's. Mr. Bush received two low-interest loans and then benefited from the company's relaxation of the terms of one loan. On Tuesday, he challenged directors to ''put an end to all company loans to corporate officers.'' Dan Bartlett, the White House communications director, discounted suggestions that Mr. Bush was being hypocritical in calling for an end to loans of a kind he once received. Mr. Bartlett said that while such loans had been properly used in the past, they had recently been abused. [Page A1.]