Maryland University defeats North Carolina University-Wilmington, 75-73, in first round of NCAA tournament South Regional; photos (M)

Facing Early Exit, Maryland Seizes Moment

New Jersey Governor James E McGreevey has faced uphill battle in trying get various administration appointees confirmed; number of his nominations, including that of Port Authority chairman and homeland security director, either withdrew or were forced to quit before being confirmed, which McGreevey camp blames on hostile press and partisanship; McGreevey's latest nomination of Peter C Harvey for state attorney general faces barriers because Harvey served subpeona on Republican state Senator Robert J Martin for opposing his appointment (M)

For Governor, Nomination Doesn't Equal Confirmation

Housing costs in Montclair (NJ) have increased astronomically over past few years, denying middle-income wage earners chance to bid on properties; issue is plaguing many New York metropolitan area suburbs, but is particularly problematic in Montclair, which prizes its diversity (M)

In Montclair, the 'Dream House' Can Often Be Exactly That

 Stocks Rally Sharply  Stocks soared, sending the Dow Jones industrials to their best weekly performance in more than 20 years, as investors reacted to news from Iraq.   PAGE C1

INSIDE

Syracuse University defeats Manhattan College, 76-65, in first round of NCAA tournament East regional; photos (M)

Syracuse's Size Proves to Be Too Much For Manhattan

Thunderous air strikes in Iraq carried out by US military are intended to destroy Saddam Hussein's ability to control his forces and to push his government to brink of collapse; Pentagon officials have been talking for months about strikes that would be concentrated and devastating; more than 1,300 cruise missiles and bombs are used, and most of targets are in and around Baghdad; photos; drawings; map (L)

Aerial Pounding Intended to Push Iraq's Government Toward Brink

Butler University defeats Mississippi State University, 47-46, in first round of NCAA tournament East Regional; photo (M)

Butler Knocks Off Another Big Name In Defensive Battle

New York Times/CBS News Poll shows that American support for Pres Bush's policy in Iraq has surged now that war has begun, but that there are deep partisan divisions in nation's view of conflict; finds that 70 percent of Americans approve of Bush's handling of Iraq, increase of 19 points in 10 days; percentage of people who disapprove of Bush's Iraqi policy drops 15 points, to 27 percent, during same period; while 90 percent of Republicans say they approve of Bush's handling of Iraq, just 50 percent of Democrats do; charts illustrate poll findings (L)

SUPPORT FOR BUSH SURGES AT HOME, BUT SPLIT REMAINS

New Jersey Audubon Society bird counter Dan Hegarty spends days counting migrating birds, research that could be useful in predicting effects of global warming, weather trends and extinction of species; photos (M)

Bird Man of New Jersey; Some Like to Watch Them. His Job Is to Count Them.

American air war on Iraq explodes in ferocious display of precision bombing and cruise missile strikes that blast heart of Hussein's power with spectacular opening bulls-eye on his most forbidding palace and continues with at least 100 more devastating volleys in first two hours; most of strikes appear aimed at few square miles of Baghdad that have been monumental showcase for Hussein's brutal form of authoritarian rule; photo (L)

A Staggering Blow Strikes at the Heart Of the Iraqi Capital

HealthSouth Corp has just over week to arrange financing that will help it avert bankruptcy; company has $354 million in convertible bonds coming due on April 1; number of employees and executives who had knowledge of company's accounting practices have already begun speaking to investigators and offering evidence; those executives include chief financial officer William T Owens, who has been put on leave; company lost access to $1.25 billion line of credit this week after Securities and Exchange Commission accused company and its chairman Richard M Scrushy of adding at least $1.4 billion to earnings since 1999 and inflating assets by $800 million; photo (M)

HealthSouth Is Scrambling to Arrange Financing to Avert Bankruptcy

American air power, in blaze of heavy bombing, devastates parts of Baghdad, including several government buildings and palaces built by Saddam Hussein, as waves of fresh ground troops swarm into Iraq from south; troops crossing border from Kuwait to Iraq follow rapidly advancing armies whose vanguard of tanks penetrated as much as 100 miles northward, about third of way to Baghdad; troops fan out across southern Iraq to seize port, strategic oil fields and refineries on an eastern flank near city of Basra; two marines are killed in fighting; photos (L)

U.S. BOMBS RAVAGE TARGETS IN BAGHDAD; WAVES OF TROOPS SWEEPING SOUTH IRAQ

The military has its heroes, and so does the nonviolence movement. One is Ralph DiGia, who has been suing for peace for more than 60 years.    Article PAGE B9.

A Life Of Resistance

Ethnic conflict in Nigeria has begun to limit oil supplies from Nigeria and could complicate American refiners' efforts to produce more gasoline for spring and summer driving season; Royal Dutch/Shell, largest oil producer in Nigeria, invokes 'force majeure,' effectively warning customers that events outside company's control could delay oil deliveries by up to two weeks from its Bonny and Forcados terminals; ChevronTexco makes similar announcement; officials of both companies play down effect of violence in oil-rich, but volatile, Niger Delta, stressing that production continues in other parts of area; both companies have evacuated their employees from their facilities in delta; Shell reduces production by 176,000 barrels of oil per day because of clashes in delta; normally pumps average of about 800,000 barrels per day from Nigeria; ChevronTexaco, whose average production is about 460,000 to 470,000 barrels per day, has lost about 140,0000 barrels per day; Nigeria was fifth-largest exporter of oil to US in 2002; price of oil for May delivery falls $1.21, or 4.3 percent, to $26.91 per barrel in New York trading; map; chart; photos (M)

Nigerian Strife, Little Noticed, Is Latest Threat To Flow of Oil

Navy Seals seize two Iraqi offshore oil terminals in bold raids, overwhelming Iraqi guards and claiming bloodless victory in battle for Iraq's vast oil empire; with speed, stealth and precision, operation exemplifies kind of unconventional operation that has been embraced by Defense Sec Donald Rumsfeld; terminals are end points of Iraq's sole pipeline into Persian Gulf and pump more than two millions barrels a day, serving four supertankers at a time; American officials feared Saddam Hussein might try to set terminals ablaze or open their spigots into gulf (M)

Navy Seals Easily Seize 2 Oil Sites

Overview of day's events in war in Iraq (M)

Bombarding Baghdad, Deaths in Battle, and Rising Support for Bush

JULIAN SWARTZ sounded upbeat.    He had just arrived at his parents' home in Waukesha, Wis., and was getting reading to dig into Day 1 of March Madness. His Final Four choices were set: Kentucky, Arizona, Oklahoma and Texas. Kentucky would beat Arizona, Oklahoma would beat Texas. Kentucky would win it all.  

Sports of The Times; Road After the Final Four Was His Hardest Journey

Coverage of domestic security, Iraq and related subjects now appears daily in a separate section, A Nation at War, beginning on Page B1.    To accommodate the production of that section, complete Metropolitan and sports reports appear back to back in a shared section, as they did in the months after Sept. 11, 2001. By flipping over The Metro Section, bottom-side up, readers will find the sports pages in the accustomed sequence, starting with S1.

Today's Sections

Hawaiian Airlines files for bankruptcy protection as industry announces deeper cuts in flight schedules and layoffs of 8,300 workers; United Airlines says it is cutting its schedule by 8 percent because of slump in bookings that preceded and accompanied start of war in Iraq; unions say United informed them that it is laying off 1,100 mechanics and 2,300 flight attendants; Northwest Airlines will cut its schedules by 12 percent and lay off 4,900 people; photo (M)

Hawaiian Files for Bankruptcy Amid Layoffs in Airline Sector

Turkish troops cross Iraqi border hours after government opens airspace to American military planes bound for Iraq; move will likely anger Bush administration officials and Kurds of northern Iraq; there is deep concern in Turkey that Kurds may use war to set up independent Kurdistan, which Turkish officials fear would inflame their own large Kurdish minority; Turkish Foreign Min Abdullah Gul says troops are there to prevent flight of refugees into Turkey; photo (M)

Turkey Sends Army Troops Into Iraq, Report Says

Stocks soar, sending Dow Jones industrial average to its best weekly performance in more than 20 years; Dow gains 8.4 percent, while Standard & Poor's 500-stock index rises 7.5 percent; Dow finishes day up 235.37 points, or 2.8 percent, at 8,521.97; S&P 500 index gains 20.06 points, or 2.3 percent, to 895.90; Nasdaq composite index climbs 19.07 points, or 1.4 percent, to 1,421.84; US Treasury prices drop; price of 10-year note plunges 1 5/32, to 98 5/32; yield rises to 4.10 percent from 3.96 percent; graphs; charts; photos (M)

Dow's Week Is the Best In 20 Years

Happiness and sorrow rise together from desolate border village of Safwan, where some of first Iraqis in towns captured by American and British troops find their joy muted by memories of what they had endured; town felt hardest edges of Saddam Hussein's rule; villagers run into streets to celebrate in kind of grim ecstasy, laughing and weeping; photo; map (L)

Muted Joy as Troops Capture an Iraqi Town

New York City Mayor Michael R Bloomberg is riding public transportation, calling press conferences in public spaces and making public appearances in effort to demonstrate way he wants New Yorkers to live in city, free from fear of terrorist attacks; photos (M)

Mayor Turns Into Extrovert In Bid to Calm City's Nerves

Real estate agents and brokers in New York City and Washington offer anecdotal evidence that over last week buyers and sellers have decided to wait and see whether war in Iraq goes well and whether terrorists mount attacks in reprisal; ReMax Capital agent Tsegaye Tadesse says market has never experienced this kind of fear factor; adds some buyers are worried that value of their investment could plummet in wake of attack, while sellers are concerned that they will get shoddy offers because buyers are jumpy; photo (M)

Real Estate Shows Scattered Signs Of Skittishness

Family of Marine Capt Ryan Anthony Beaupre learns of crash of CH-46E Sea Knight helicopter in Iraqi desert while following war on television, and three marines later knock on family's door to inform it that Capt Beaupre was killed in crash along with three other Americans and eight British soldiers; photos (L)

News Flash on TV And 'Sick Feeling' For a Pilot's Family

Terence Ellis "Terry" Lloyd was an English television journalist who reported extensively from the Middle East. He was killed by the U.S. military while covering the 2003 invasion of Iraq for ITN. An inquest jury in the United Kingdom before Assistant Deputy Coroner Andrew Walker returned a verdict of unlawful killing on 13 October 2006 following an eight-day hearing.

March 22, 2003

Headlines from March 22, 2003

Facing Early Exit, Maryland Seizes Moment

For Governor, Nomination Doesn't Equal Confirmation

In Montclair, the 'Dream House' Can Often Be Exactly That

INSIDE

Syracuse's Size Proves to Be Too Much For Manhattan

Billboard 200

Get Rich Or Die Tryin'

Come Away With Me

Street Dreams

Chocolate Factory

La Bella Mafia

Notable Deaths

Historical Context for March 22, 2003