August 4, 2002

Arizona Diamondbacks defeat New York Mets, 8-5, and 9-2, in doubleheader; photos (M)

Alimzhan Tokhtakhounov, alleged Russian mobster recently arrested on charges of fixing 2002 Winter Olympics pairs figure skating competition, has long been involved in international sports scandals; photo (M)

Article holds Viacom has become world's most valuable media empire; credits conservative strategy that prevented conglomerate from becoming unwieldy and conserved resources and use of Internet incursions to promote its own other products; photos; chart compares Viacom's statistics to its primary rivals' (M)

Complex intersection of Iraq and oil discussed with regard to US efforts to get support from Russia, burgeoning energy power on world market; neither Pres Bush nor Pres Vladimir Putin would be impolitic enough to admit drawing up insurance policy against oil-producing sheikdoms, notably Saudi Arabia, but oil analyst Daniel Yergin notes that first principle of energy security is diversification, and Russia's surging exports will add to pool of non-OPEC production over next decade; Yergin adds that, under Putin, Russia is firmly back on pragmatic reform path, merging with Western security interests in strategic realignment that is deflating its old fears of NATO expansion (M)

29 new two-family brick houses have been completed in Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, joint venture of New York City Department of Housing Presevation and Development and New York City Housing Partnership; houses sold for $199,963 each (S)

Merck & Co chief executive Raymond V Gilmartin steers clear of mergers and acquisitions rampant in pharmaceuticals industry, preferring to seek breakthrough drugs and continue to market approved medicines in Merck's stable; fears of patent expirations and industry consolidation lead investors to severely punish Merck's share price; photos; graph compares stock price and research spending of Merck and rival (M)

Since Sept 11, only one in three Broadway theatergoers buys tickets more than four weeks in advance; figure is sharp departure from typical 50 percent that producers have grown to expect over last decade; anxious producers say change promises to have long-term effects on how shows are booked, marketed and priced, and even on how much stars will be paid; with their advances rapidly dwindling in recent months, some long-running shows are posting closing notices; even some recently opened shows, including Pulitzer Prize winner Topdog/Underdog, are closing; Broadway producers are keeping close watch on advance sales, important indication of any production's health; many plays are facing difficult choices as their advances begin to shrink; theater owners, producers and other industry experts say drop-off in advance sales is directly connected to drop-off in tourism; photo of huge lines of people waiting for last-minute bargain tickets at TKTS booth (M)

Football players at this season's training camps take advantage of more safety precautions in wake of earlier incidents of heat exhaustion; photos (M)

Articleon Suzuki Aerio and Aerio SX; photos (M)

Article on buying co-op apartment in New York City focuses on 'board package' that prospective buyers submit when they want to buy apartment; says written material, sometimes several hundred pages thick, provides exquisitely detailed financial and personal portrait; drawing; photo (M)d

Article on 'secondary virginity,' whereby brides-to-be, particularly in South, decide to abstain from sex for as little as month or as much as year before marriage; photo (M)

Three of four top members of Congress have close relatives that work as lobbyists in Washington, illustrating how pervasive and accepted practice has become; they are House Speaker J Dennis Hastert's son Joshua Hastert, Senate Republican leader Trent Lott's son Chester T Lott Jr, and Senate majority leader Tom Daschle's wife Linda Daschle; for many years relatives of Congressional and administration officials have been employed in lobbying shops around Washington; some ethics watchdogs say such arrangements are potentially troublesome; others say lobbyists have every right to pursue their line of work as long as they observe ethics rules and keep their professional distance from their powerful relatives; no rules prohibit lobbying by relatives; any effort to regulate it raises free speech concerns, but it has always made ethics groups uneasy; lobbyists claim they never lobby relatives; photo (M)