April 14, 2003

Pres Bush accuses Syria of harboring senior Iraqi military and government officials; demands 'cooperation' in punishing some of them, but stops short of threatening to use military force against Syria; asserts there are chemical weapons in Syria but does not clarify whether they were shipped there during or before war in Iraq; Syrian officials deny allegations that they are taking in Iraqi leaders and accuse Washington of waging 'disinformation campaign' to divert attention from lawlessness in Iraq; Bush also says efforts to get North Korea to bargaining table to discuss nuclear arms may be successful; question remains whether US march to Baghdad will drive North Korea to disarm or to build nuclear arsenal; Gen Tommy Franks says military has samples of Saddam Hussein's DNA and will use them to determine whether he has been killed in airstrikes (M)

Report Shows a Decline In U.S. Tax Investigations Investigations and prosecutions of suspected tax criminals have fallen by half over the last decade, even as cheating has grown, according to an annual assessment of the performance of the Internal Revenue Service. The data also show a continuing shift of tax burdens away from businesses and onto individuals. Last year, corporations paid 10.5 percent of all the taxes collected by the Internal Revenue Service, down from 16.4 percent in 1973. [National Report, Section A.]

American marines move into edges of Tikrit, ancestral home of Saddam Hussein, and meet significant resistance; report getting 'foothold' in city; bombardment by jets and helicopter gunships is intense; objective is to wipe out what is believed to be one of last large concentrations of forces loyal to government of Hussein, and do it in two or three days; size of Iraqi force inside Tikrit is estimated to be about 2,500 men; Tikrit is thought to be where several high-ranking military leaders and possibly members of Hussein's inner circle have taken refuge; city is near village of Awja, Hussein's birthplace; southeast of Baghdad, marines enter town of Kut unopposed; British forces relieve First Marine Division in Amara, and now control area between Amara and Basra; no casualty figures are available for either side (M)

Artisans are repairing brass and stonework and intricate artistic flourishes of Art Deco Verizon building, severely damaged in collapse of buildings at World Trade Center on Sept 11, 2001; Verizon building, once home to New York Telephone Co, is ground zero landmark; photos (L)

Political battles are raging once again over New York City schools, eight months after Mayor Michael Bloomberg won control of school system; some of very lawmakers who granted Bloomberg mayoral control are now furious over his plans to eliminate local school districts and are drawing up legislation to block him; teachers' and principals' unions, which at first were surprisingly encouraging, have now begun lashing out, complaining that they are not being consulted enough about big changes, and raising prospect of difficult contract negotiations over next few months; Bloomberg and Chancellor Joel Klein have stayed their course with sure-footed confidence on school governance issues (M)