February 6, 2003

South Korea's Kookmin Bank reports worse-than-expected net loss of 202.6 billion won ($173 million) in fourth quarter compared with loss of $140.7 billion won year earlier; says it had profit in 2002 of 1.31 trillion won compared with 1.49 trillion won in 2001 (S)

Hiring Hits Worst Slump In U.S. in Almost 20 Years The economy has fallen into its worst hiring slump in almost 20 years, and many executives say they remain unsure when it will end. More than two million jobs have been lost since March 2001. About one million people appear to have dropped out of the labor force since last summer, the government reports. The surge in discouraged workers is the most significant since the months after the Sept. 11 attacks. It suggests that the pain of joblessness has worsened even though the unemployment rate, which counts only people looking for work, held steady. [Page A1.]

Rapidly evolving set of conceptual and computing tools allows mathematicians, engineers and insurance executives to assess risks of what are known as low-probability, high-consequence events, such as hurricanes, space shuttle failures and other disasters; field, known as probabilistic risk assessment, helps companies and government agencies decide whether to take certain chances; concepts were developed 40 years ago, but recent advances in computing power have increased use of such analyses and confidence in them; idea behind it is that mathematics can help determine chances of particular outcome based on what is known about smaller variables that lead to those outcomes; examples cited; photos (L)

New York City Council is set to vote on redistricting plan that gives more power to city's Hispanic and Asian voters, while protecting incumbents; under new plan, city will add two districts with Hispanic majorities, and two with Asian majorities; Bloomberg administration lobbied hard to increase Republican voting power but attempts appear to have been thwarted; process is required to comply with City Charter and federal Voting Rights Act by preserving or increasing minority voting strength (M)

Competing visions for development of waterfront in Williamsburg and Greenpoint sections of Brooklyn, two of city's most vibrant neighborhoods, discussed; although Mayor Michael Bloomberg has promised housing here, city is in dire need of electricity; plan proposed by Adam Victor includes 1,100-megawatt plant; city is set to announce whether it will weigh in with state on Victor's TransGas Energy Systems application; TransGas is in contract to buy land and promises that plant will not detract from Victor's grand plan for cultural center; also promises plant would burn relatively clean natural gas and recycle its waste to make steam to heat buildings in Manhattan; Greenpoint residents reject plan but are not thrilled with alternate proposal put forth by Norman A Brodsky to build apartment houses; photo (M)