September 13, 2002

Shoppers in Italy stage nationwide strike against merchants, who many consumers say have exploited transition to common European currency by marking up price of everything; consumer groups in Greece call on shoppers there to refrain from buying fruit and vegetables next week; these are latest ripples in wave of anger that has swept across Continent since euro notes and coins became legal tender in 12 European countries in January; European Central Bank bank president Wim Duisenberg says effects of changeover are over and that inflation is not problem; photo (M)

Floyd Norris column on fraud indictment against former Tyco International executives, L Dennis Kozlowski and Mark H Swartz, questions whether company is worth its market value of $36 billion; cites Omega Advisors hedge fund manager Lee Cooperman's belief that new management is honest and stock is cheap based on forecasted earnings; also notes Tyco critic James Chanos of Kynikos Associates says, 'fact that these guys have looted the company on that scale does not mean they would have overstated earnings or cash flow or done anything else nefarious to the company's financial statements'; notes Swartz responded with fury to 1999 article in which he, Norris, said that company had used misleading--but legal--tactics to make performance of newly acquired companies look better than it really was; graph (M)

Jeniffer Dunning discusses dances developed in response to September 11 attacks; interviews choreographers Eric Underwood, Tai Jimenez, Arthur Mitchell and Michael Smuin; photos (M)

Article in series, Perspectives, explores Mexican Pres Vicente Fox's reflections on Sept 11 terrorist attacks and their effect on public life and policy; Mexico responded to attacks by taking up Pres Bush's call to make security foreign policy priority; now Fox wants United States to move ahead on foreign policy matters derailed by Sept 11 attacks, specifically America's relations with his country; his steadfast support for Bush has gained him little in Washington, where there has been little action on Mexico's proposals for immigration reforms; Mexico felt political and economic aftershocks from terrorist attacks on US; even harder hit was Fox's foreign policy agenda, which was based on new kind of relationship with US; Fox says he is frustrated that terrorist attacks have turned Bush's attention away from US-Mexican relations; photo; biographical data on Fox; excerpts from his interview (L)

3 Former Tyco Executives Charged in Corruption Case The former chief executive of Tyco International, L. Dennis Kozlowski, and the former chief financial officer were indicted on charges that they reaped $600 million through a racketeering scheme involving stock fraud, unauthorized bonuses and falsified expense accounts. The company's former general counsel was also indicted, on charges that he falsified company records to conceal $14 million in improper loans to himself. The state grand jury indictment contends that Mr. Kozlowski and Mark H. Swartz, the financial officer, created an elaborate system beginning in 1995 that allowed them to use millions of dollars in company money to pay for personal items. A federal regulator called the amounts in the case ''staggering.'' [Page A1.]