July 31, 2003

Today's summer campers arrive with cellphones and computers to stay in touch with home, but Marla Coleman, American Camping Assn, says feelings of homesickness are compounded every time campers make connection; some camps impose communications blackouts or rationing, insisting youngsters tough out early bouts of homesickness or encouraging campers to write traditional letters; photos (M)

Once-dowdy Selfridges department store, London, has reinvented itself, peppering variety of old-fashioned emporium with ultra-cool style; attracts executives of America's biggest department stores, who now view it as model; has sharply increased space it rents to suppliers, leasing half of store to vendors this year; photos; photos (M)

Protests in Najaf over swearing in of city's first-ever female judge is emblematic of tension between American desire to leave imprint on levers of government in Iraq versus conservative religious establishment determined to fight what it sees as military invasion dragging Western cultural norms in behind its tanks; Lt Col Christopher C Conlin, senior commanding officer in Najaf, is confronted with three fatwas--religious fiats by senior clergy--against appointment of Nidal Nasser Hussein as judge; says he views appointment of judge as civil matter and had not even considered consulting relgious authorities about woman judge; decides to postpone her swearing in; photo (M)

Foreign creditors of SK Global, SK Group's debt-ridden trading firm, yield to intense pressure from company's South Korean creditors and agree to repayment of 43 percent of money owed them; will get 48 cents on dollar if they accept repayment on at least 95 percent of $764 million owed, 47 cents if they tender only 90 to 95 percent of debt and 46 cents for tendering 80 to 90 percent; deal gives SK Global new lease on life and removes immediate threat of any aftershocks through rest of SK Group (M)

Stanford and San Francisco and San Diego branches of University of California are joining with SRI International, nonprofit research institute, to form PharmaStart, consortium aimed at moving medical discoveries made at schools into clinical drug trials; cite increasing reluctance of venture capitalists and drug companies to invest in academic medical discoveries that have yet to show at least some promise in small clinical trials (M)