New York Giants quarterback Kerry Collins hopes he can reduce number of fumbles this season, after setting NFL record last season with 23; photos (M)

Collins Much Prefers Not to Pick Up Where He Left Off

Anna Bahney article on trying sky diving, harnessed to instructor; tandem jumping is making recreational sport accessible way to celebrate life events; table of skydive companies; drawing; photos (M)

Taking the Plunge Into the Great Beyond

Puerto Ricans celebrate 50th anniversary of commonwealth status with big ceremony in San Juan attended by Mayor Michael Bloomberg and other New York City officials; New York's Puerto Ricans, by contrast, barely mark day; photo (M)

In Puerto Rico, a Milestone; in New York City, Not Much Celebrating

Congress reached a tentative pact on a bill to give the White House broader authority to negotiate new trade agreements and increase help for American workers. Page A6.

Deal on Trade Powers Bill

After losing 245 points in midday trading, the Dow Jones industrial average finished only slightly lower yesterday, down 0.06 percent. Business Day, Page C1.    Graph tracks Dow Jones industrial average minute by minute yesterday.    (Source: Reuters)

Late-Day Recovery

Legislative agreement approved by vote of 423 to 3 in US House and 99 to 0 in Senate sets up new and potentially far-reaching regulatory apparatus for accounting profession; leaves crucial details to discretion of Securities and Exchange Commission, which is about to undergo potentially stormy transition; one of most important provisions calls for creating regulatory body no longer captive to profession; new system gives SEC tighter control over board that is supposed to be more independent of profession; single most important issue confronting commission will be selection of chairman and other four members of new board (M)

New Rules on Accountants, but Also Questions

Mike Freeman Sports of The Times column argues that professional sports need to take harsher approach in dealing with athletes who abuse their spouses, contending that athletes get too many second chances; photo (M)

Sports of The Times; Fix Needed For Epidemic Of Violence

Major League Baseball chief labor lawyer Rob Manfred conveys that labor talks are resulting in positive progress, but players union suggests that results are far more mixed (M)

Baseball Sees Progress in Talks, but the Union Isn't So Sure

Sony Corp returned to profitability in first fiscal quarter, but rising value in yen is expected to hurt profits for rest of year; net profit was 57.2 billion yen ($490 million), up from loss of 30 billion yen year earlier; operating income rose fifteen fold, to 51.9 billion yen; chairman Nobuyuki Idei comments (M)

Sony Reports A Profit But Is Hurt By Yen's Rise

Shares of Hong Kong unit of Bank of China begin trading publicly; promptly fall 4.7 percent on heavy selling by Hong Kong residents; offering, which raised 19.5 billion Hong Kong dollars ($2.5 billion), is milestone for China, first international stock listing by mainland bank; photo (M)/

China Bank Shares Fall in Initial Offering

Nine miners are trapped 240 feet down in earth after wall bursts, inundating them with tons of water from nearby abandoned mine and forcing them to crouch desperately through night in air pocket in four-foot-high coal seam in Quecreek, Pa; last clear underground tapping signals from miners are picked up 14 hours after accident; rescue crews rush special 30-inch power drill into place in attempt to dig escape shaft to any survivors among men, who are hunched in pitch darkness in 55 degree water, their heads in air pocket; emergency pumps gush water up from flooded mine into creek, as rescue workers seek to keep men alive through emergency six-inch pipe through which compressed air is pumped down into air pocket; officials say air feed is miners' only hope of lifeline through night; photos; map (M)

Wall Bursts and Water Pours In, Trapping 9 Miners 240 Feet Down

Zacarias Moussaoui tries to plead guilty to charges he conspired in Sept 11 terror attacks, then withdraws guilty plea and insists again that he was not involved in hijackings; has admitted being member of Qaeda terrorist network and being loyal to Osama bin Laden; his turnaround on plea comes when Judge Leonie M Brinkema rules that guilty plea would require him to confess to detailed involvement in Sept 11 conspiracy; Moussaoui says such a confession would be untrue and would surely result in death sentence; says that he may have had some association with some of suicide hijackers, but he had nothing to do with events of Sept 11; suggests that his initial plan to plead guilty was tactical move intended to spare him from death penalty; Brinkema says she cannot accept plea on terms now outlined by Moussaoui; prosecutors say his actions mirrored those of 19 hijackers on Sept 11, but government has not offered evidence of direct link between him and hijackings (M)

Terror Suspect Changes Mind On Guilty Plea

 Congress Reaches a Deal To Rewrite Bankruptcy Law  Congressional negotiators have reached agreement on a bill that would rewrite the bankruptcy law, making it harder for people to escape their debts.    The agreement, a victory for the nation's credit card companies and other lenders, came after members of a conference committee reached a compromise on the wording of an abortion-rights provision. The bill, which has passed both houses of Congress, now appears destined for final approval in the House and Senate, and the White House has suggested that President Bush will sign it. [Page A1.]

BUSINESS DIGEST

Ifo Institute's monthly survey of 7,000 western German companies shows decline in its index to 89.9 from 91.3, largest monthly drop since September; erosion of confidence raises possibility that Germany could slip back into recession (S)

World Business Briefing | Europe: Germany: Big Drop In Confidence

White House threatens to veto version of bill creating Homeland Security Dept that was once embraced by both parties; White House spokesman Ari Fleischer says Democrats stripped administration of management flexibility necessary to run department; parties are at odds not on larger issues of huge government reorganization, but on smaller details of personnel management and spending authority, including how easily laggard employee could be fired or how closely Congress would control department's spending; Fleischer says administration must have flexibility it seeks to promote and fire department employees, or Pres Bush's advisers would recommend veto of entire department; Sen Joseph I Lieberman, principal architect of Senate bill, says he cannot believe Bush would really veto department over personnel issues (M)

BILL ON SECURITY BACKED IN SENATE; VETO THREATENED

Princeton and Yale universities confirm that Princeton's director of admission and possibly others in his office improperly and repeatedly entered Web site set up to let Yale applicants know if they had been accepted as students; Yale officials file complaint with FBI, and Princeton officials apologize for what they call 'serious lapse of judgment' by admission director Stephen E LeMenager; he is placed on administrative leave pending investigation of incident; acknowledges that he entered Yale site by using birth dates and Social Security numbers of Princeton applicants who also applied to Yale; Yale investigators find their computer site was improperly entered 18 times and that 11 applicants' records were called up without authorization; LeMenager's motive for entering site is not known, but some college officials around country see his action as disturbing sign of how frenzied college admissions process has become, particularly at elite institutions like Yale and Princeton, which receive more than 10 applicants for every place in first-year classes (M)

Princeton Pries Into Web Site for Yale Applicants

Senate Ethics Committee reportedly has evidence that Sen Robert G Torricelli of New Jersey got gifts he has denied getting from political contributer; evidence includes sales receipts, witness testimony and other corroboration of David Chang's gifts, including cash, to Torricelli; Torricelli appears before ethics panel, reportedly at his own initiative; says he should have used better judgment in his relationship with Chang, but that there were never inappropriate gifts and he hopes to be fully vindicated; new evidence includes Nov 1998 receipt for $1,877.90 television set as well as financial records proving that Chang gave Torricelli cash to pay for $3,816 antique clock; ethics panel also has handwritten notes of US diplomat indicating that Torricelli lobbied South Korean government on Chang's behalf, which Torricelli has denied doing; photos (M)

Panel Has Evidence of 2 Gifts To Torricelli, an Official Says

Driving article in series An American Summer interviews travelers at South of the Border, kitschy rest stop off interstate highway in South Carolina, just below North Carolina border; up to 40,000 vacationers stop at Mexican-themed attraction on summer weekend; photos (M)

Miles Roll On, But Señor Kitsch Is Steadfast

Keppel Corp, marine conglomerate controlled by government of Singapore, says net profit in first half of year rose 73 percent, to 182.4 million Singapore dollars ($104.64 million) (S)

World Business Briefing | Asia: Singapore: Profit For Conglomerate

John Henry and Claudia Williams, children of late baseball legend Ted Williams, file note signed by their father, which states his desire to be cryonically frozen after death, hoping to end legal battles over father's remains; photos (M)

Note Dated 2000 Says Williams Wanted His Remains Frozen

New Jersey faces enormous payment of close to $1 billion for shrinking pension fund next year; Treasurer John E McCormac warns of big new budget shortfall; blame is directly mostly at former Mayor Christine Whitman, who is charged with mortgaging state's future to finance tax cuts that propelled her to national prominence; fiscal specialist Judith C Cambria says Whitman 'used every trick in the book,' and explains longterm consequences of fiscal manipulation that relied on then-galloping stock market to invest assets and float bonds (M)

Pension Funds In New Jersey Face Shortfall

World Business Briefing | Europe: France: Renault's Profit Rises

Taiwan Semiconductor Co reports lower-than-expected second-quarter profit; says net income surged to $279 million from $9.3 million year earlier; sales rose two-thirds, to $1.3 billion; chairman Morris Chang says recovery in demand from industry's worst year on record is stalling, with sales set to fall in July from year earlier; photo (S)

World Business Briefing | Asia: Taiwan: Chip Maker's Profit Rises

The House voted to create an independent commission to investigate the performance of the nation's intelligence agencies before and after the Sept. 11 attacks. Page A18.

Intelligence Review Approved

Floyd Norris column on financial maneuvers used by J P Morgan Chase & Co and Citigroup Inc in its dealings with Enron Corp; holds one clever Chase deal let Enron show millions in debt as not being debt at all, but money due to part-owner of Enron subsidiary; says Chase vice president Marc J Shapiro said this week that year ago is was seen as good thing if debt was removed from balance sheet, but now it is seen as bad; adds Shapiro told analysts that Chase had no legal liability because it believed--and still believes--that Enron's accounting for transactions was proper; graph (M)

July 26, 2002

Headlines from July 26, 2002

Collins Much Prefers Not to Pick Up Where He Left Off

Taking the Plunge Into the Great Beyond

In Puerto Rico, a Milestone; in New York City, Not Much Celebrating

Deal on Trade Powers Bill

Late-Day Recovery

Billboard 200

Nellyville

By The Way

The Eminem Show

Let Go

Hard Candy

Historical Context for July 26, 2002