March 14, 2003

Steve Reichl and Thu Huong collaborate on Vietnam: Journeys of Body, Mind and Spirit, most comprehensive American exhibition ever mounted on contemporary Vietnamese life, which opens at Museum of Natural History in New York; they are unlikely pair but have become friends; he is Vietnam vet who is on staff of museum and she represents Vietnam Museum of Ethnology in Hanoi; their relationship and his combat experience discussed; photos (M)

Floyd Norris column on recent disclosures by Tyco International of financial problems at its security subsidiary despite investor confidence in company after new management, led by Edward D Breen, assured investors at end of 2002 that no major fraud was found at company; says Tyco's head David Boies lined up investors at end of last year for two convertible bond issues that proved to be overwhelming success, growing to $4.5 billion from initially announced $3.25 billion; holds investors feel betrayed, and share price is now only pennies above price it rose to on day Breen was hired last year; adds bonds, with conversion prices in low $20's, are trading well below what investors paid for them; graph (M)

Norway's Den Norske Bank and

Molly Haskell article on rush to see Oscar-worthy movies, especially this year when unusually high number of films are in contention; concedes that she and husband, Andrew Sarris, both film writers, enjoy perks of screenings and videotapes, not to mention justifiable dissipation of walking into movie theater in broad daylight on weekday; also mourns loss of most of New York's funkier little theaters (M)

SK Group, conglomerate dominating South Korea's economy, has fallen under cloud of suspicion and investors fearing worst are rushing to pull money out, with government hurrying to keep panic from developing by injecting liquidity into market; country's 31 investment trust companies, akin to mutual fund operators, decide to halt all transactions after more than $4 billion was withdrawn by investors in matter of days; Bank of Korea says it will put $1.6 billion into bond market to counter effects of fund redemptions; Byong Yang Ho, director for financial policy in finance ministry, says Korean economy will able to absorb problem; Hana Bank's shares plunge by daily limit of 15 percent because of concerns about its exposure to SK Group; photo (M)

Clyde Haberman NYC column describes lecture at Jewish Theological Seminary by Seyyed Hossein Nasr, leading Islamic scholar, who acknowledged problems between faiths but also recounts history of peace between Jews and Muslims; audience gave him warm applause but expressed skepticism about mutual understanding (M)

Food and Drug Administration to require bar codes on all medications so that hospitals can use scanners to make sure patients get correct dose of right drug; new requirement is one of several steps agency says it is taking to fight medical errors, which claim tens of thousands of lives a year in United States; FDA Comr Mark B McClellan estimates that bar-code requirement would prevent 400,000 bad drug reactions--from headaches to deaths--over next 20 years; new rule is greeted with enthusiasm by medical safety experts, patient care groups and associations representing hospitals, pharmacists and drug companies; FDA also announces revamping of its system for reporting bad medication reactions and bad reactions to blood or blood products (M)

The House voted 229 to 196 to set a $250,000 limit on jury awards for pain and suffering in medical malpractice cases. It said frivolous lawsuits were forcing doctors out of business.

Secretary of State Colin L Powell says United States might choose to abandon second United Nations resolution authorizing military action against Iraq, week after Pres Bush vowed to force countries to vote on issue; Powell's comment, along with White House statements, seen as evidence that White House is losing hope of winning majority vote on resolution and may proceed to war without one; until now Bush has insisted on vote, but Powell reportedly argued that it would be politically less damaging to go to war without UN vote than to proceed under shadow of explicit rejection of military force; preparations for war are speeding forward; Turkey dismisses third American appeal--this time from Bush and Vice Pres Cheney--to use its territory as base for strikes against Iraq; White House pessimism over Security Council votes is voiced by Prime Min Tony Blair of Britain, who is quoted as saying diplomatic solution is 'probably less likely' and prospect of military action 'more likely' than at any time; both American and British officials blame France for bringing world closer to war, by its immediate rejection of Britain's proposal for Iraq to meet six specific benchmarks to demonstrate it is truly disarming; photos (M)

News analysis; New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's penchant for understating his role in various disputes belies reality that his approach permeates almost every important matter of city government; does not like to invoke office in labor disputes and rarely takes sides notwithstanding long tradition of mayors getting involved in private and public sector disputes; photo (M)

British-Dutch steel company Corus Group loses crucial court case in which it sought to overrule Dutch operation's veto of proposed $830 million sale of its aluminum businesses to Pechiney of France; graph (S)

Securities and Exchange Commission chairman William H Donaldson testifies before House appropriations subcommittee that agency will take longer than previously thought to shore itself up with hiring of 800 lawyers, accountants, investigators and other employees despite huge budget increase after years of financial neglect; aides to Donaldson say his two biggest priorities are finding chairman of new accounting oversight board and shoring up management and morale of agency; photo (M)