On this day
Revisit the news, notable people, and historical moments connected to this date.
In 2002, the world population was approximately 6,337,730,342 people[†]
2002Hadda Brooks, American singer-songwriter and pianist (born 1916)[†]
Hadda Brooks was an American pianist, vocalist and composer, who occasionally appeared playing the piano in film. Billed as "Queen of the Boogie", she was Inducted in the Rhythm and Blues Foundation Hall of Fame in 1993.
2002NATO invites Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia to become members.[†]
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental transnational military alliance of 32 member states—30 European and 2 North American. Established in the aftermath of World War II, the organization implements the North Atlantic Treaty, signed in Washington, D.C., on 4 April 1949. NATO is a collective security system: its independent member states agree to defend each other against attacks by third parties. During the Cold War, NATO operated as a check on the threat posed by the Soviet Union. The alliance remained in place after the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact, and has been involved in military operations in the Balkans, the Middle East, South Asia, and Africa. The organization's motto is animus in consulendo liber. The organization's strategic concepts include deterrence.
2002Arturo Guzmán Decena, founder of Los Zetas and high-member of the Gulf Cartel, is killed in a shoot-out with the Mexican Army and the police.[†]
Arturo Guzmán Decena, also known by his code name Z-1, was a Mexican Army Special Forces officer and high-ranking member of Los Zetas, a criminal group based in Tamaulipas. He defected from the military in 1997 and formed Los Zetas, the Gulf Cartel's former paramilitary wing, under the leadership of the kingpin Osiel Cárdenas Guillén.
Federal criminal investigation into Computer Associates' accounting has intensified, with prosecutors in Brooklyn issuing grand jury subpoenas for testimony and documents from fromer employees and company's customers; use of grand jury signals that prosecutors have decided to devote significant time and effort to inquiry; prosecutors are examining whether top executives inflated company's sales and profits during last 1990's to reach $1.1 billion payday that was tied to performance of company's stock; are also looking into accounting change that company made in 2000 that effectively allowed company to coount some of its sales and profits twice; Computer Associates has said its accounting is proper; client Allstate Corp and former Computer Associates employee Mary Welch say they have received subpoenas to testify or provide documents to grand jury; photo (M)
Design chief Christopher E Bangle, in major shift for Germany's BMW, seeks to make each model different; bid to gain recognition for design as well as for precision engineering is part of drive to raise United States sales by almost 50 percent in increasingly competitive luxury car market; he hopes to appeal to younger buyers' sense of individuality; approach angers many longtime BMW lovers; graph of inroads by foreign carmakers into US luxury market; photos (M)
Study finds vaccine made by Merck & Co unit can prevent cervical cancer by making people immune to one type of human papillomavirus, sexually transmitted virus that causes 50 percent of cervical cancers; Merck is already testing new version of vaccine designed to work against multiple virus types, preventing 70 percent of cervical cancers; funded study, led by Dr Laura A Koutsky; vaccine, which cannot treat cancer, will be most successful if given to girls and young women before they become sexually active; National Cancer Institute researcher Dr Allan Hildesheim cites need for larger and longer-term trials; photo (M)
UBS Closes Trading Floor That It Acquired From Enron Less than a year after acquiring Enron's energy trading operation, UBS Warburg said that it would reduce the size of the unit and shut down the trading floor in Houston. The operation, which had about 630 employees when UBS acquired it, is expected to be reduced to fewer than 100 employees, all of whom will be moved to Stamford, Conn. The decision comes during a sharp downturn in the energy trading business and after some large trading companies have announced plans to scale back their operations or exit the business. [Page C4.] Making a BMW a Conversation Piece Christopher E. Bangle, BMW's first non-German design chief, wants each BMW to be a conversation piece known as much for design as precision engineering. He is trying to make the yuppie dream car as idiosyncratic as it once was predictable. And a lot of longtime BMW lovers hate him for it. [A1.]
Brazil's central bank raises benchmark interest rate by one point, to 22 percent, in effort to cap rising inflation (S)
Japan's cellular phone company J-Phone is raided by Fair Trade Commission, which is reportedly looking into reports of dubious pricing; commission wants to know whether J-Phone and its sales agents tried to raise handset prices by withholding shipments to stores that sold phones at reduced prices (S)
New York City Mayor Michael R Bloomberg's financial plan calls for issuing $1.4 billion in bonds backed by expected payments from tobacco companies; New York State lawmakers weigh similar moves to close state's budget gap; Bloomberg aides say money, to be raised in current and next fiscal year, would be used for capital projects, but would still ease some of burden on operating budget in short term; critics warn such borrowing would worsen future fiscal problems and possibly threaten state programs supported by tobacco money; photo (M)
Anna Kisselgoff reviews Next Wave Festival performance by Japanese Butoh dance group Sankai Juku; photos (M)
Bank of Japan lowers its view of economy for first time in 11 months because of growing concerns about global growth and slowing output in Japan; says economy over all has stabilized, but risks to recovery are rising (S)
Bruce Weber reviews Jeffrey Hatcher and Mitch Albom play Tuesdays With Morrie, directed by David Esbjornson and starring Alvin Epstein and Jon Tenney; photo (M)
World Business Briefing: Japan: Sega Barely Profitablü
Internal memos and interviews show senior Federal Bureau of Investigation officials are frustrated with FBI's performance in war on terrorism and are demanding agents nationwide become more aggressive and focused on hunting terrorists; recent memo from Bruce J Gebhardt, bureau's second-ranking official, reportedly complained that some field offices failed to commit essential resources to fight; frustrations suggest FBI still suffers from many of problems that plagued it before last year's attacks, including failure to share data and prioritize probes; senior officials say some field offices find it hard to shift focus from solving traditional crimes; recent memo from Dir Robert S Mueller III to FBI employees also hinted at his frustration in trying to make counterterrorism FBI's clear top priority; photo (M)