January 28, 2003

Unilever, British-Dutch food and soap company, says its 400 leading brands sold better in 2002 than originally forecast, growing 5.4 percent compared with 4.5 percent to 5 percent projected in December (S)

Commerce Department, in preliminary finding, rules that Viethamese catfish farmers are guilty of dumping discount-priced frozen fish on market in US and could be liable for import duties as high as 63 percent; American catfish farmers have persuaded Congress to bar Vietnam from using name catfish for their exports and then filed suit that led to decision; Vietnamese condemn suit and say it is in violation of new trade agreement with US (S)

Dave Anderson Sports of The Times column contends that mesmerizing face of Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Jon Gruden can be as exciting to watch as game, and is young, new face of NFL; photos (M)

Even if New York Gov George Pataki decides not to certify Indian Point's evacuation plan, which is required by federal officials to keep plant in operation, safety issues will still exist; plant will remain repository for tons of spent radioactive fuel, which must be stored and protected at great cost, and will remain potential terrorist target for forseeable future; shutdown would probably mean hike in electricity rates; Entergy Corp, plant's owner, might sue to recoup $1 billion it spent to buy reactor and money it has paid for security and upgrades; Riverkeeper, environmental organization leading effort to close plant, says removing danger would be worth consequences of closing plant and says financial repercussions would not be as dire as Entergy predicts; issues surrounding closing in 1974 of Reactor I because it lacked emergency cooling system for reactor core and problems associated with storage of spent fuel discussed; ultimate decision on shutting plan rests with Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which has never canceled license over perceived inadequacy of evacuation plans; NRC has wide latitude and might give plant owner opportunity to show plan is adequate or present other compelling reasons for continued operation; map; photo (M)

Analysis of Pres Bush's effort this week to convince country, and largely skeptical world, that Saddam Hussein will never voluntarily disarm, leaving war as only option; Bush got unexpected help from Hans Blix, co-chief of UN weapons inspections program who offered quietly devastating list of questions that Iraq has refused to answer; his list of continuing acts of intransigence by Hussein gives Bush political opportunity to argue in his State of Union address that more time will not solve Iraqi problem; Bush must answer question 'why now?'; even some friends and sympathetic allies concede he has failed to do so in any convincing fashion so far; his case may be hurt by report by Dr Mohamed ElBaradei, Blix's counterpart for nuclear weapons; ElBaradei has made clear that his inspectors have not found signs of radioactivity or other evidence that Hussein is reviving bomb project; chart with status of weapons inspections (M)