December 4, 2002

High hospital prices come under further scrutiny when Tenet Healthcare tells analysts to expect significantly lower profits than they had anticipated as company moves away from its aggressive pricing strategy; Centers for Medicare and Medicare Services says it will scrutinize billing of any hospital receiving excessive payments, practice that appears to be widespread; Tenet also tells analysts it plans to change how it contracts with managed care companies to rely more heavily on fixed payments; plans to offer substantial discounts to patients without insurance so they do not bear brunt of high hospital prices; chief executive Jeffrey C Barbakow tries to persuade investors that company's prospects remain bright; chart (M)

Former Pres Clinton tells Democratic Leadership Council that party lost midterm elections because candidates failed to offer convincing case that Democrats can manage national security in dangerous times; says Democrats must confront issue directly, challenging Republicans on issues like failing to spot signs of impending attacks before Sept 11, and what he calls muddied response to terrorist threat; Clinton brushes aside calls to return to liberal roots, which his allies see as recipe for disaster in 2004; he explains that when people feel insecure they would 'rather have someone who is strong and wrong than somebody who is weak and right'; he recounts his administration's successes in many areas and scolds fellow Democrats for not rallying around leaders, as when Sen Tom Daschle questioned Pres Bush's Iraq policy and was attacked as unpatriotic; cites key areas where Bush officials might have detected terrorist plot, says money should be spent less on reorganization and more on protecting public places, and chastises Democrats for allowing Republicans to take over domestic security bill (M)

Barclays Bank says pretax profit will probably be at low end of analysts' expectations of 3.2 billion pounds to 3.6 billion pounds ($5 billion to $5.6 billion); graph (S)

India's gross domestic product is expected to grow 5 percent to 5.5 percent in year ending next March, compared with 5.4 percent year earlier (S)2

Turkey says US may not deploy substantial numbers of ground troops on its territory in event of war with Iraq; new government, led by party with Islamist roots, says US may station warplanes and use Turkish air space to carry out air strikes, but only if UN Security Council adopts new resolution authorizing use of force; Min Yasar Yakis cites Turkish public opinion in presenting position to Deputy Sec Paul D Wolfowitz; photo; map; Turks do not preclude stationing of Special Operations force and small ground units (M)

Ben Brantley Critic's Notebook column on current London West End theater season, including The Breath of Life starring Judi Dench and Maggie Smith and A Streetcar Named Desire starring Glenn Close and Iain Glen; photos (M)

Regional court in Kazakhstan rules that group called Tengizchevroil led by ChevronTexaco must pay $71 million in environmental fines for storing sulfur at its Tengiz oil field; group originally protested penalty in court in February, when fine was imposed (S)

Campaign by major competitors of United Airlines to undermine its application for $1.8 billion in federal loan guarantees is growing more brutal in its final days; led by Northwest, Continental and American, effort has included not just heated lobbying and bandying about of financial analyses that cast doubts on United's business case, but also personal attacks by rival airline executives against United's top management; chart; photo (M)

Failure of police to tie Matias Reyes to Central Park Jogger case and earlier rape and assault in Central Park reviewed; one detective actually did make connection, but victim in earlier case moved out of town, detective was reassigned and supervisor ordered case closed; over next four months, Reyes raped and killed one woman, then raped and injured three others, but was able to escape scrutiny because crimes appeared solved by arrests of other people; Reyes has asserted that he alone was responsible for Central Park Jogger case; Dist Atty Robert Morgenthau's office continues its investigation; photo (M)

R W Apple Jr reports on cajun cooking and cajun restaurant in southwestern Louisiana; photos; map (L)

Executives and union leaders of United Airlines step up their pressure on United's mechanics, seeking their approval of $700 million package of wage and benefit concessions that airline says could help it avoid bankruptcy court; mechanics' vote is scheduled for Dec 5 and outcome is uncertain; United also announces plans to lay off 220 pilots in early January and 132 in early February, reducing total to about 8,250, and cut senior management ranks by 18 percent, to 36 senior managers; chief executive Glenn F Tilton says remaining managers will take average annual pay cut of 11 percent over airline's planned five-and-a-half year recovery period and will forgo merit and incentive bonuses this year; management savings will total more than $60 million; chart; photo (M)

Matthew Purdy Our Towns column examines AIDS in Yonkers, NY; there is notion there, and elsewhere, that crisis has passed since medicines have helped reduce fatalities, but disease has actually become more concentrated among women, minorities and intravenous drug users; politicians do not want to acknowledge severity of problem (M)