September 3, 2003

Kerry Announces Candidacy Senator John Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts, portrayed his run for the presidency as a mission of courage. PAGE A13 Focus on the Undergraduate New York University's president is pushing to increase the attention that experienced professors pay to undergraduates. PAGE B1

Some in media business express sympathy for Edgar Bronfman Jr's final failure of his bid to recapture part of his former business Vivendi Universal and measure of his pride; Bronfman family still holds big stake in Vivendi Universal but Bronfman resigned his seat on board earlier this year to bid for Universal entertainment business; photo (M)

Dutch insurance company ING sends 13 Mexican employees into hiding abroad to prevent Mexican authorities from jailing them in case involving accusations that company falsified documents; ING is in drawn-out dispute with Mexican mining company Grupo Fertinal over insurance payout for hurricane damage to mine in state of Baja California Sur in 2001; estimated damage at $13 million, while Fertinal said it was owed at least $84 million and as much as $300 million; ING's accounts in Mexico were frozen by Mexican judge on Aug 28; Guillermo Tenorio Avila, attorney general of state of Morelos, says his probes show ING employees falsified documents to limit insurance payout, justifying arrest warrants; Tenorio Avila asks Interpol Mexico for help arresting ING executives; Yves Brouillette, chief executive of ING Latin America, calls charges blackmail (M)

Bush administration is easing rules that specify when and where hospitals have to provide emergency services to patients, regardless of their ability to pay; responds to complaints from hospitals and doctors that rules are onerous and confusing, expose them to suits and fines and spur people to seek free care in emergency rooms; new rule makes clear that hospitals need not have specialists 'on call' around clock; Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services head Thomas A Schully says new rule will cut compliance costs without weakening patients' protection; rule limits scope of 1986 law that defines hospital obligations; photo (M)

Saudi Arabia and Russia, world's two largest oil suppliers, agree to work on easing rules for setting up joint ventures in oil and natural gas industry; Russian Energy Min Igor Yusufov and Saudi Oil Min Ali al-Naimi sign agreement in Kremlin, where Pres Vladimir V Putin of Russia and Saudi Arabia's leader Crown Prince Abdullah meet; countries will 'simplify procedures for setting joint ventures and will promote joint research on oil and gas exploration, production, refining and transportation' (M)