September 16, 2002

New York Giants defeat St Louis Rams, 26-21; photos (M)

Reputation of John F Welch Jr, former chief executive of General Electric whose management style, swagger and acumen were once analyzed and idolized in business schools, has lost a good deal of luster as result of questions about company's accounting, eerie consistency with which profits rose during his tenure, company's weak stock performance since his departure and disclosure of details of his retirement package; business press will even include Welch's name in same paragraph with such dubious figures as Kenneth L Lay of Enron, Bernard J Ebbers of WorldCom and Dennis Kozlowski of Tyco International; Welch goes on Wall Street Week to defend retirement package and deplore its release; photos (M)

Seventeen survivors of anthrax attacks that began year ago remain ill with symptoms doctors are unable to explain, such as fatigue, shortness of breath, chest pains and memory loss; say they communicate very little with one another, most fighting battles alone; hold they are often confused and at times frightened; are of great scientific interest, especially those with inhaled form of illness since in past nearly everyone with inhalation anthrax died, and doctors have almost no information about recovery; only now is government beginning to study their progress, but experts say valuable information may have been lost; new studies of survivors by Centers for Disease Control and National Institutes of Health discussed; photos (M)

Radio Sawa, new radio station that combines pop music with news snippets, is part of new United States State Department public relations campaign to convince skeptical young Arabs of America's good intentions; station currently broadcasts in five Arab nations, and is in addition to $25 million program set up to offer scholarships for university-age Arabs to study in US; efforts are being met with suspicion among Arabs who feel under assault by American policies on Israeli-Palestinian conflict and Iraq; State Dept spokesman says public relations efforts are essential to combat misperceptions of American policy; Tony Sabbagh, veteran market researcher who is director of Middle East Marketing and Research, says hostility of young Arabs is based on policies not image and that unless Washington modifies stand on Israeli-Palestinian problem, and backs off unilateral action against Iraq, administration faces uphill sell; says while US diplomacy may be influencing some moderate governments, people remain unconvinced (M)

OPEC Watches and Waits Ahead of Its Meeting With the United States pushing for action against Iraq and oil prices rising on fears of war in the Persian Gulf, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries is facing pressure to pump more oil. But as the cartel prepares to meet this week in Japan, members have indicated that OPEC will probably do nothing to rein in oil prices that hover around $30 a barrel. The cartel is grappling with the same uncertainty as the rest of the world and is taking a wait-and-see approach. [Section A.]

Joyce Purnick Metro Matters column comments on Zimbabwe Pres Robert Mugabe's visit to New York; deplores Councilman Charles Barron's warm welcome for Mugabe, who has been cited by Amnesty International and other organizations for human rights abuses; also deplores other Council members, including speaker Gifford Miller, for silently abiding visit (M)

Nassau County Executive Thomas Suozzi warns police unions will have to relent on contract givebacks or county will be forced to cut some popular programs; is scheduled to submit proposed 2003 budget and revision of four-year fiscal recovery plan to county legislature shortly; is demanding police accept three-year pay freeze; union, readying for battle with county, is charging unfair labor practices; photo (M)

Jane Clayson, remaining co-host from most recent revamping of CBS's The Early Show, accepts assignment as correspondent with network's evening newscast and will leave program at end of month; move confirms total failure of what has been CBS's most ambitious and costly effort to date to provide some kind of viable competition in morning for NBC's Today and ABC's Good Morning America (M)

US Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, which outlived its usefulness and was being mothballed by military, is becoming permanent penal colony for those arrested in campaign against terrorism; facility currently houses 598 prisoners from 43 countries, since first 20 arrived from Afghanistan in January; construction is under way on 204 more cells, which will bring total to 816 in October, or almost half way to planned 2,000; outlook for captives housed there remains unclear; they remain in legal limbo as Bush administration has denied then prisoner-of-war status on grounds that they are enemy combatants; incarceration without charge or access to lawyers could last until end of campaign against terrorism, or for years; photo (M)

Sweden Stays Liberal Prime Minister Goran Persson and his Social Democrats won four more years in Sweden. The victory against conservatives broke a pattern of defeats for center-left parties across Europe. PAGE A3

Iraqi Mission to United Nations on New York's Upper East Side enjoys same diplomatic status as any embassy and, with 24-hour police detail outside, brings added security to block; residents say Iraqis keep to themselves and are good neighbors, but no one seems to know what goes on behind closed doors; mission is located on block where Mayor Michael Bloomberg lives; public areas in mission described (M)

The dour narrative twists that whip through many of the films shown at this year's Toronto International Film Festival are undeniable. One of the most compelling of them is ''The Magdalene Sisters,'' from the actor turned writer and director Peter Mullan. A period drama, it is set in the 1960's in an Irish convent where young women who are thought to be irredeemable sinners -- they've engaged in premarital sex or even borne children out of wedlock -- are confined. The punishments inflicted by the sisters running the convent are so rococo this picture could be called ''The Shawshank Nunnery.'' Sister Bridget (Geraldine McEwan), the head nun and de facto warden, is a blandly smiling disciplinarian under a habit of steel who hoards the money the convent earns by taking in laundry. Mr. Mullan's direction isn't glib or overstated, and the reward is a brace of memorable performances by the girls, played by Anne-Marie Duff, Eileen Walsh, Mary Murray and Nora-Jane Noonem who has the vivid beauty of Gene Tierney and the charismatic pugnacity of Jimmy Cagney. Inspired work by actors new to the movies or debut performances by young people plucked out of crowds by directors were the strongest threads here. This festival was full of paeans to suffering -- you heard more startled chokes from the audiences than you would hear during a Heimlich maneuver demonstration -- but the simple strength in the youthful actors offered hope. Maybe the films themselves didn't suggest much of a future, but it was impossible to walk out of one and not be caught up in conversation over the prospects of the young stars.