October 16, 2003

Harvey Araton Sports of The Times column contends that New York Yankees, who outbid Boston Red Sox for Cuban pitcher Jose Contreras earlier this year, no longer are so pleased with acquisition, as Contreras has had shaky performances this season and postseason; photo (M)

Major sports are increasingly employing technology to train, using computers to quantify perfomance and help athletes reach potential; John Yandell is using digital photography to help tennis player Jeff Salzenstein break down moves of greatest players and then use information to modify his own performance to incorporate successful techniques; photos (M)

Joseph Barry of Applied Companies is charged with paying Robert C Janiszewski, former Hudson County executive, $140,000 in bribes from 1996 to 2001 in exchange for $9 million in county, state and federal funds to aid his luxury and moderately priced housing developments in Hoboken and Jersey City; indictment also accuses Paul J Byrne, longtime county political operative and consultant for county vendors, of passing cash along to Janiszewski; lawyers for Barry and Byrne say federal investigators should have removed Janiszewski from office after he pleaded guilty taking these bribes and others instead of setting him loose among developers and other elected officials whom he secretly recorded for prosecutors; photo (M)

Bruce Weber reviews William Gibson's one-woman play Golda's Balcony, directed by Scott Schwartz and starring Tovah Feldshuh; photo (M)

New York Yankees prepare to face Boston Red Sox in Game 7 of American League Championship Series, which will pit Yankees pitcher Roger Clemens against Boston pitcher Pedro Martinez for fitting final matchup that could be as intense as any in baseball (M)

Exxon Mobil and Royal Dutch/Shell are expected to announce significant investmentss in separate natural gas projects in Qatar; Exxon Mobil plans to sign agreement with Qatar Petroleum to invest more than $10 billion to develop two new liquefied natural gas facilities in Qatar's North Field; is expected to buy all natural gas that would be produced once project goes into operation in 2008, or about 2.8 billion cubic feet per day, for sale in US in 25-year contract; Royal Dutch/Shell is expected to sign $5 billion deal with Qatar's state-owned petroleum company to build one of world's largest gas-to-liquid plants; photo (M)

IBM reports solid profits in third quarter, expresses measured optimism about outlook for technology spending and announces plans to hire 10,000 employees next year; reports earnings of $1.02 per diluted share, up from 99 cents in year-earlier quarter; revenue increased 9 percent, to $21.5 billion; chief financial officer John R Joyce comments (M)

Photo of Chicago Cubs pitcher Kerry Wood after losing to Florida Marlins in Game 7 of National League Championship Series

World Business BrA

Reps Henry A Waxman and John D Dingell, in letter sent to White House Office of Management and Budget, question whether Halliburton is overcharging US government in procurement of gasoline and other fuel for Iraq, which is importing oil products to stave off shortages; contend Halliburton has charged government $1.62 to $1.70 per gallon for gasoline that could be bought in Persian Gulf region for about 71 cents and transported to Iraq for no more than 25 cents; fuel is sold in Iraq for 4 cents to 15 cents per gallon; Halliburton spokeswoman Wendy Hall decline to address specific calculations that Dingell and Waxman use in letter, saying that company's KBR unit, which is working in Iraq, 'continues to negotiate fair and competitive prices to provide fuel to the Iraqi people'; chart; photos (M)

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Ashanti Goldfields of Ghana recommends that shareholders accept improved takeover bid from AngloGold that values company at about $1.4 billion; AngloGold is battling smaller competitor RandGold for Ghana mine; RandGold all-stock bid is worth about $1.5 billion (S)