October 11, 2002

Ballistics experts confirm sniper's seventh killing in eight days in Washington, DC, area; latest victim Dean H Meyers is shot in head while pumping gas in Manassas, Va; Prince William County, Va, Police Chief Charlie Deane says there are witnesses, but offers no other details; says earlier report of white panel minivan seen leaving scene 'may be explained away' with no suspect in the offing; police are acting in coordinated federal, state and local manhunt; region is struck with fear; photos (M)

Bank of England leaves its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 4 percent for 11th consecutive month (S)

Havens article on pitfalls of being one's own contractor in home remodeling projects; Jody Siegler and others who have been through process comment; photos (M)

Mike Wise Sports of The Times column discusses stature of New York Rangers veteran Mark Messier, who has become important part of New York City sports scene; photo (M)

Vivendi Universal plans to cut 152 jobs at its Paris headquarters to help save $138 million a year (S)

Japan's chief financial regulator Heizo Takenaka says government and Bank of Japan will join forces to deal with 52 trillion yen ($430 million) in bad loans that are plaguing economy; such cooperation would represent break in decade-long deadlock among policy groups that oversee banks (M)

Trinity Church leaders, de fato caretakers of tattered collection of items that have become Sept 11 memorial on fence surrounding church, are struggling with what to do with what started as outpouring of grief and support; items on chapel's fence, like birdhouse, flag and Mardi Gras beads, did not seem to offend anyone--until number of items increased and remained on fence for long time after terrorist attack; church leaders must decide whether to leave items alone or box them up; church's vicar Rev Samuel Johnson Howard plans to poll visitors about memorial; photos (M)

International consortiumof oil companies that includes Exxon Mobil says it has discovered new oil and gas reserves in Kazakhstan sector of Caspian Sea; seven-company consortium, which is led by Eni of Italy, says initial drilling indicates oil flow rate of 2,300 barrels per day (S)

Federal Communications Commission blocks merger of satellite television broadcasters EchoStar Communications and DirecTV unit of General Motors' Hughes Electronics, first time in 36 years that agency has challenged large corporate deal for being anticompetitive and against public interest; companies' executives say they remain committed to deal and will soon propose substantial revisions to satisfy regulators; Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, which lost to EchoStar last year in bidding war for Hughes Electronics and DirecTV, is expected to make another bid for DirecTV if EchoStar deal eventually collapses; photo (M)

San Francisco Giants defeat St Louis Cardinals, 4-1, to lead National League Championship series, 2-0; photos (M)

Two terms in office that controls tens of billions of dollars in spending and his status as front-runner have given New York State Gov George E Pataki extraordinary advantage in contest to pull in lots of cash to run modern-day political campaign; Pataki has entered final month of his re-election campaign with 11 times as much money as his Democratic opponent H Carl McCall; Pataki collected at least $691,000 in donations on last day of September, compared with McCall, who raised $79,761 on same day; analysis of contributions to Pataki of $10,000 or more shows pattern of giving that is road map of lucrative state contracts, important political jobs, intensely contested legislative matters and complicated regulatory affairs; charts; graphs (M)

Pres Bush receives authorization from Congress to use force against Iraq by vote of 77 to 23 in Senate and 296 to 133 in House; hard-won victory for Bush comes just month after many lawmakers of both parties expressed grave doubts about rush to war; turnaround is credited to weeks of lobbying and briefings by administration, culminating with Bush's speech on Oct 7; votes in favor of resolutions are large and bipartisan, but they highlight sharp split in Democratic Party over how and when to use force; in House, minority leader Richard A Gephardt votes for resolution but more House Democrats vote against it than for it, splitting 126 to 81; only 6 Republicans oppose it; opposition cites doubts that Iraq would imminently develop nuclear potential, fears that military action would take away from war on terrorism, and sentiment against war among constituents; photos; House roll call vote (L)