December 7, 2002

Customers at Tiger Eye liquor store in Baghdad react jokingly to visit by United Nations weapons inspectors to three gin factories outside city in search of nuclear bombs; drinking alcohol in public has been banned since government's 1996 faith campaign, bars and pubs have been closed, Iraqis now drink at home or furtively in restaurants and nightclubs but liquor shop business is booming; photos (M)

The nation's job market deteriorated in November, lifting the unemployment rate to 6 percent, the government reported. It was 5.7 percent in October. Business Day, Page C1.

Possible involvement of prominent tax lawyers and--by extension--property owners in corruption uncovered among New York City tax assessors is raised in 1993 letter written by David Goldstein, president of city's Tax Commision, to Department of Investigation; prosecutors have refused to name people suspected of being co-conspirators of Albert Schussler, alleged mastermind of scheme, but some of 15 tax assessors who have pleaded guilty to bribery charges and defense lawyers have identified Thomas J McArdle, his son Stephen E McArdle and Joseph Marino as go-betweens who handed assessors cash-stuffed envelopes (M)

Mayor Michael R Bloomberg warns that transit strike would dangerously cripple New York City and could even lead to deaths because emergency vehicles would be unable to navigate gridlocked streets; city officials say strike is real possibility and are preparing detailed battle plan (M)

People involved in inquiry into Enron's finances say that J P Morgan Chase engineered complex transaction for Enron last year to allow company to obtain hundreds of millions of dollars in tax deductions that normally would not have been permitted; transaction was put together by company's structured finance group, and involved entities in Nova Scotia, Quebec City and United States and was intended to give Enron enormous financial benefits through reduction of its tax obligation in Canada, where it owned paper mill (M)