March 2, 2003

Poor performance of Barrick Gold stock at time of rising gold prices discussed; investors believe Barrick's hedging strategy, which locks in prices for future output, leaves it ill-positioned to gain from price rises; company records and interviews with mining and finance experts suggest strategy will not have negative impact on near-term performance that investors fear; graphs; diagram; photos (M)

George W Bush, by tying his presidency so closely to goal of ousting Saddam Hussein from Iraq, has complicated US relationships with some of its oldest allies and narrowed options through which presidents can shape their political fate and legacy, primarily by subordinating his domestic objectives to probably war (M)

Interview with Philip J Purcell, Morgan Stanley chairman and chief executive, on outlook for giant securities firm and rest of Wall Street; he shrugs off questions about Securities and Exchange Commission probe into firm's handling of public offerings of sought-after stocks during market boom; probe adds to pressures on Purcell, who is also dealing with firm's falling earnings and stock price and other legal woes; graphs of financial data and share price; photos (M)

Profile of Antonio Reid, highly successful president of Arista Records; Reid has had string of multi-million record hits in two years at Arista, confounding critics who predicted his failure; photos (L)

Demetrius Perricos, deputy United Nations weapons inspector, says Iraq has begun destroying its illegal short-range Al Samoud 2 missiles, crushing 4 of stock of about 100; says it will take two weeks for Iraq to destroy the rest, along with their warheads, 380 illegally imported engines, any fuel and all design software; says host of other questions about Iraqi cooperation with his team have yet to be resolved; suggests that inspections can still be effective; photo (M)