July 29, 2003

Pentagon's Terrorism Information Awareness Office, headed by Adm John M Poindexter, is said to propose online futures trading market in which anonymous speculators would bet on forecasting terrorist attacks, assassinations and coups; Pentagon calls program new way of predicting events; critics, including Sens Ron Wyden and Byron L Dorgan, who disclosed plan, call it morally repugnant and grotesque; following their attack on program, Pentagon seeks to play down its importance and White House alters its Web site, removing potential events to be considered by market; Bush administration has sought $8 million through 2005 for program; initiative, called Policy Analysis Market, is to begin registering up to 1,000 traders on Aug 1; senators suggest that terrorists could participate because traders' identities will be unknown; photo (M)

Anne Midgette reviews US premiere of Janacek opera Osud, with Leon Botstein conducting American Symphony Orchestra; production is part of new Bard Summerscape festival and first opera production at Fischer Center for the Performing Arts in Annandale-on-Hudson, NY; photos (M)

Milwaukee Brewers defeat New York Mets, 4-2; photo (M)

California may need more support than it now has from municipal bond portfolio managers if it is going to sell bonds at reasonable price to bridge its budget gap; even though state appears to be temporarily stabilizing a fiscal squeeze, some money managers say that they are decidedly unimpressed by state Senate's passage of compromise budget; opinion of bond fund managers is important because Californiam aims to sell bonds valued at $14 billion to bridge most of its two-year budget gap of $38 billion (M)

Article on New York photographer Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, whose latest project is book, tentatively titled XXX: 30 Portraits of Porn Stars; photos (M)