September 19, 2002

Cable and Wireless again warns revenue will fall short of previous forecasts; stock falls on news; stock price graph (S)

Money earmarked for research for spinal cord injuries in July 1998, measure promoted by Christopher Reeve and other well-known paralyzed people, went unspent and state raided program's trust fund at behest of New York State Gov George Pataki, putting most of money into state's General Fund; raid occurred as progress in spinal cord injury treatment has been very much in news; Pataki administration spokesman John Signor says in e-mail message that governor intends to retore money, though that is not binding commitment; adds New York takes back seat to no one in its support for outstanding spinal cord injury research; H Carl McCall, who is running against Pataki, says program is another sad example of Pataki's rhetoric not matching his real record; says Pataki has raided more than five times as much from Spinal Cord Injury Research Trust Fund than he has spent on research to help people; Reeve says Pataki and Health Comr Antonia C Novello assured him that progam will be fully financed in future but did not promise to replace money that was taken out; Signor says state will invest $15 million over next five years to create center for spinal cord injury research and treatment (M)

Many pigeons used during Jersey City's 9/11 ceremony plunged into Hudson River, smacked into plate-glass windows on office buildings and wound up in crowd; animal rights advocates and others have been trying to rescue birds; organizers of ceremony say they tried to hire company to conduct professional bird release, in which trained doves or homing pigeons would soar high in sky and return to their owner's roost, but professionals were already booked; birds used were soup birds; photo (M)

Australian government, responding to company failures and accounting shocks both at home and abroad, sets stringent audit and corporate disclosure rules; overhaul, to be backed by legislative amendments early in 2003, stresses closer scrutiny of accounting practices and more transparent financial reporting framework (S)

New York Jets coach Herman Edwards, usually mild mannered, delivers hot-tempered speech to team to express anger over 44-7 loss to New England Patriots, in preparation for next game against Miami Dolphins; photos (M)

Defense Sec Donald H Rumsfeld tells Congress that several countries have privately pledged direct military support for any offensive against Iraq; makes claim hours after Congressional leaders say vote will be held before Nov election on whether to authorize Pres Bush to take whatever military action he deems necessary; White House says it will send to Congress as early as Sept 19 wording of proposed resolution authorizing action; Bush is said to be worried that Saddam Hussein's new offer of weapons inspections could delay effort to force both rapid disarmament of Iraq and fall of its government; Rumsfeld, in testimony in Congress, argues that inspections in Iraq would be unlikely to lead to elimination of its weapons of mass destruction; Democrats appear to be swayed by Rumsfeld's argument that, unlike what happened before Sept 11 terrorist attacks, administration is 'connecting the dots' on Iraq before it can use weapons of mass destruction or put them in hands of terrorists; photos (M)

Translated text of Maya hieroglyphs is expected to cast light on clashes of arms at zenith of classic Maya culture, which embraced much of central America and southern Mexico, and perhaps causes of its eventual collapse two centuries later; hurricane that ripped through jungle of northern Guatemala year ago uprooted tree at base of temple ruins at Dos Pilas, exposing stones bearing one of longest texts of Maya hieroglyphs ever found; translations have just been completed by Federico Fahsen, Guatemalan specialist in Maya writing, and announced by underwriters of research, Vanderbilt Univ and National Geographic Society; discovery will be described in Oct issue of National Geographic; photo; map (M)

Japan's Fair Trade Commission searches offices of Bridgestone, Yokohama Rubber, Kawaguchi Metal Industries and others that allegedly conspired to fix prices for rubber shock absorbers used on bridges and other large structures (S)

Vivendi Universal says Philippe Germond is leaving as head of its telecommunications unit to become Alcatel chief operating officer (S)

Interview with architect Frederic Schwartz, whose drawings and sketches, based on his eyewitness glimpses of World Trade Center disaster, including airliner flying over his SoHo loft, are providing conceptual seeds of master plan for downtown redevelopment; photos (M)

Uptown squatters in New York City-owned buildings in East Harlem and South Bronx are anxious about their fate, as they learn of deal city has made with downtown squatters; on Aug 11, city began process to transfer 11 buildings on lower East Side to their squatters as low-cost co-ops; photos (L)

Museum of Sex to open in New York City that is reputed to have once been brothel; organizers claim project is first in US to offer serious study of sexual subcultures; executive director Daniel Gluck believes multi-million dollar project could earn profits within six months; photo (M)