August 18, 2003

The Chairman of SK Global Resigns Under Pressure The chairman of SK Global, the trading firm whose troubles led to South Korea's worst financial scandal in nearly four years, resigned under pressure from creditors eager to give the company a new image while rescuing it from bankruptcy. The resignation of Son Kil Seung, one of 10 executives of the SK Group who was convicted of fraud after SK Global misstated its earnings for 2001 by $1.2 billion, goes only part of the way, however, to meeting demands of foreign investors and creditors for a management shake-up. [Page C8.]

United States defeats Puerto Rico, 101-74, in exhibition game; photos (M)

Governors Unite on Health All 50 governors support a measure that would shift as much as $7 billion in costs to the federal government to provide drug coverage to people who are both poor and elderly. PAGE A10 City Rediscovers Its Shores Despite economic hard times, developments are proliferating along New York City's shoreline as cleaner waters have encouraged revitalization projects. PAGE B1

Television coverage of Little League World Series has increased in recent years, prompting some critics to bemoan loss of innocence and demise of slice of Americana; increased coverage has ignited debate over whether children should have to risk public failure in front of millions and whether it is right to make commercial endorsers out of unwitting schoolchildren; in 2001, Little League entered modern era of sport rights fees, signing six-year deal with ABC and ESPN worth more than $7 billion; this year, including regional championships, 35 games will be televised; young players are in demand as celebrities, shuttled from practice to TV interviews and photo sessions; Randy Keen, manager of Tallmadge, Ohio, team comments on how times have changed since his own experience as World Series Little Leaguer; photos (M)

Utility and government monitors have been concerned for years that electricity transmission system in Ohio and rest of Midwest was being strained to its limits; so when series of line failures and plant shutdowns suddenly exploded into North America's biggest blackout, few experts were surprised at where it had begun; one report by Federal Energy Regulatory Commission warned that complexity and magnitude of Midwest power flows could 'overwhelm' system; Midwestern and Ohio power managers and First Energy Corp, Ohio utility that struggled for hour to deal with failure of several of its lines that may have been precipitating event of blackout, find themselves enduring intensifying scrutiny and criticism; First Energy spokesman cites other problems throughout region that may have contributed to crisis; inquiry by North American Electric Reliability Council, nonprofit industry group, and host of other investigations are trying to unravel how series of incidents around Ohio failed to be isolated before problem crossed maze of lines linking Midwest with eastern United States and Canada and blossomed into more than 10,000 'discrete system events' scattered over thousands of miles of interconnected systems; photo (M)