February 26, 2003

Reggie Jackson was once the most dynamic Yankee, a player whose Hall of Fame career was filled with incredible moments that solidified his spot in baseball history. Now Jackson is simply a special adviser to George Steinbrenner who spends part of the baseball season evaluating and motivating major league and minor league players. To Jackson, something is wrong with this arrangement.

Madison Square Garden was sold out last night, buzzing despite the Knicks' four-game losing streak out West, bustling despite their dwindling playoff chances. Yao Ming was in the building, so the home team's plight was overlooked. Celebrities like L L Cool J and Angela Bassett joined Spike Lee in the front row. Asian-American fans came with signs, one reading ''Cheer for Yao Ming'' in Mandarin. Commissioner David Stern showed up, his eyes affixed on the N.B.A.'s latest on-the-court/off-the-court sensation.

Architects proposing designs for World Trade Center site in many ways have been acting like media-age politicians; two finalists from original pack of seven design teams -- Daniel Libeskind from Berlin and Rafael Vinoly and Frederic Schwartz, two front men on Think team -- grasped political nature of selection process from the start, playing straight to the public as if citizens of New York City were clients for job; photo (M)

General Motors Corp will invest $60 million in technology center in Bangalore, India; will hire 260 engineers who will collaborate with company's American and European research center through high-speed communication links (S)

Lobbying by Bush administration for six swing votes in UN Security Council, needed to pass new resolution authorizing use of military force against Iraq, discussed; efforts to woo delegates from nonaligned African nations, notably, Angola, Guinea and Cameroon, noted; photos (M)

Alessandra Stanley reviews CBS sitcom My Big Fat Greek Life; photo (M)

Brazil's energy crisis is seen as test for country's new government of Pres Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva; government must decide whether to halt or reverse privatizatios that have partly liberalized power generation and distribution or try to overhaul industry with mix of public and private investment; da Silva has sent out mixed signals, saying that ll contracts will be respected, but also criticizing regulatory agencies; national development bank BNDES is taking hard line in negotiations with AES Corp of US over its heavily indebted utility Eletropaulo; bank could wrest control of AES since $85 million payment was not made last month on outstanding $1.2 billion loan; photos (M)

Credit Suisse Group reports 2002 loss of 3.3 billion Swiss francs ($2.4 billion), and co-chief executive Oswald Grubel calls results 'unacceptable'; says assets under management fell by 16.4 percent, including net outflow of 2.6 billion Swiss francs ($1.9 billion); assets under management at Credit Suisse First Boston fell by 21.3 billion francs ($15.7 billion); Credit Suisse says it will eliminate 1,250 more jobs to try to get back to profitability; photo (M)

Oil is being pumped again in Venezuela after paralyzing national strike, with production topping two million barrels per day; government planners are busily rebuilding and reorganizing state-owned Petroleos de Venezuela, wondering how to function with 40 percent fewer workers; officials predict that Venezuela's oil industry will soon churn out 3.1 million barrels daily, matching prestrike level; Petroleos de Venezuela has lost $4 billion in exports and nearly 16,000 workers, fired by government for taking part in walkout aimed at debilitating Pres Hugo Chavez's left-leaning government; financial blow and loss of experienced workers could permanently hurt company; graph; chart; photos (M)

E.P.A. Approves the Use Of Monsanto's Altered Corn The government announced that it had approved a new type of genetically modified corn that it says could lead to a significant reduction in the use of toxic insecticides. The approval was granted by the Environmental Protection Agency to a corn developed by Monsanto that is resistant to the corn rootworm. The approval is a lift for Monsanto, which has been struggling with falling earnings, and for the crop biotechnology industry, because it is the first truly new product in some years. The company said it expected the corn would eventually generate $150 million to $200 million in revenues. [Page C10.]

Southcorp, Australia's largest wine producer and exporter, reports decline of 97 percent in after-tax profit for half-year; says sales increased 2 percent, to 728 million Australian dollars ($440 million), while net profits dropped to 5.7 million Australian dollars ($3.5 million) from 210 million Australian dollars (S)

YAO MING was tough on himself. When asked how he evaluated his performance last night, he could have referred to his 24 points, including 6 of 6 foul shots, in his first game at Madison Square Garden. Instead, he had only one standard for himself. ''I think at the end of the game, if it wasn't for my turnovers, the game would have been different,'' Yao said in his deep voice, in Chinese, before the translator turned it into English.