October 25, 2002

Vivendi Universal is suing Vodafone Group in attempt to gain more time to put together counterbid for French phone company Cegetal; Vodafone offered to buy 85 percent of Cegetel it did not already own for 13.1 billion euros ($12.8 billion); offer includes stakes held by BT Group, SBC Communications and Vivendi; Vivendi has option of counterbidding and can supersede Vodafone's offer for BT or SBC stakes; Vodafone has given Vivendi deadline of Nov 10 to make counteroffer; Vivendi is arguing that deadline violates part of Cegetel shareholder agreement, which stipulates that any offer for Cegetel must be accompanied by 30-day grace period for due diligence; Vodafone says rule does not apply to existing shareholders (S)

Nicholas Petraco, former police scientist, says that contrary to arguments made by prosecutor at two trials in 1990, four strands of hair were never 'matched' to any of Harlem teen-agers accused of beating and raping jogger in Central Park; hairs, attributed to victim and recovered from clothing of two of suspects, were only pieces of physical evidence offered by prosecutors directly linking any of teen-agers to crime (M)

RIFLE AN UNLIKELY CHOICE -- The gun seized from the two suspects, a civilian version of the standard American military rifle, the M-16, is a slightly unusual choice for a sniper, an expert said. PAGE A29 THE ALABAMA CONNECTION -- What appeared to be just another robbery gone wrong in Montgomery, Ala., proved a vital link in a sniping investigation hundreds of miles away outside Washington. PAGE A27

George Vecsey Sports of The Times column on favorite moments from Game 5 of World Series; photo (M)

Despite months of preparations and the spending of millions of dollars, the United States remains extremely vulnerable to a terrorist attack, particularly at seaports, power plants and oil refineries, a panel of security experts has concluded. In a report being released today, the panel contends that police officials still have little access to intelligence on terror suspects, that only a tiny fraction of vessels entering American ports are inspected and that most emergency workers are ill equipped to handle biowar attacks.