Interview with E Stanley O'Neal, who will soon mark his first year as chief executive of Merrill Lynch, where he presided over massive restructuring; O'Neal, in contrast with most successful Wall Street chief executives, is known as loner, with few close friends at firm; graph of firm's work force and stock price; photos (M)

Dismantling a Wall Street Club

New Jersey Nets defeat Washington Wizards, 98-95; photos (M)

Nets Win First Game Against Ex-Guru

Home Front interview with Santa Cruz on her hair salon business, which has gone from small shop two decades ago to three locations in Manhattan, employing 15 people; photo (S)

Helping the Economy, One Snip at a Time

Growing success of older artists and of singers who appeal to less cutting-edge tastes offers solace to music industry mired in three-year sales slump; record labels have placed blame on file-sharing networks on Internet, suing or threatening suits against people for illegally distributing free music online; older audience seldom uses free file-sharing sites and so labels are increasingly tailoring releases and marketing to reach them; last year, shoppers over age of 40 bought more than 35 percent of all units sold; some of sales spurt can be attributed to never-ending repackaging of golden oldies; photos; graph show impact of older population on music industry shipments (M)

At Sea With MP3's, Boomers Buoy the Struggling Record Industry

Increasing number and sophistication of attacks on US troops in Iraq and challenge of occupation discussed; photo; Col John R Martin of Army College says Army is not spending enough tme training or equipping soldiers for peacekeeping, focusing more on operational aspects of winning warsthan on stability operations (M)

The World: Arms and Aims; The Art of War vs. the Craft of Occupation

Pres Bush's declaration of California wildfires as major disaster, his 50th such declaration this year, explained; photos; map; graph; millions, or billions, of federal dollars become available immediately to help residents with expenses and communities with debris removal, building repairs and emergency public services; designations political, which is difficult for officials to acknowledge without seeming mean-spirited; critics say aid encourages risky building and discourages insurance purchases (M)

The Nation: Help!; Disaster Aid: The Mix Of Mercy and Politics

Living on the brink of homelessness, Taia Bell and her family found help from The New York Times Neediest Cases Fund, which starts its annual fund-raising campaign today.  

Help and Hope In Hard Times

Rise in number of entertainment-based marathons, like those that incorporate music events or encourage overweight participants, is leading to rise in number of marathon finishers; photo (M)

Music and Medals Attract Marathoners

Behind the Wheel column reviews 2004 Rolls-Royce Phantom; chart compares it to Mercedes-Benz ultraluxury Maybach; photos (M)

BEHIND THE WHEEL/2004 Rolls-Royce Phantom; Keeping Up With the Maybachs

Neil Strauss article on and interview with Britney Spears and her difficulty in growing up after teen-age fame as pop music star; holds that her main problem now seems to be balancing public life with real life; photo

Growing Up: Britney Did It Again

Swimming pool on two floors of Marymount Manhattan College's Main Building has been supplanted by offices and conference room in $2.4 million changeover (S)

POSTINGS: At Marymount Manhattan College; Goodbye Pool, Hello Offices

Article on rise in anxiety among parents over seeming increase in number of people long seen as figures of respect who are being arrested on charges of soliciting sex or possessing or distributing child pornography; drawing (M)

The Watchful Parent, Sentry Over Innocence

Article traces how steroid tetrahydrogestrinone (THG) was discovered, how test was developed to detect it and urine samples re-examined before any athletes who might have used it were aware that authorities knew it existed; sample was sent to Olympic drug-testing lab at UCLA and lab director Dr Donald H Catlin, who had surmised that athletes were cheating by using designer steroids, had opportunity to prove his theory; Catlin believes there are other undetected steroids made by clandestine labs like Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative (Balco), likely source of THG, without regard to approved safety standards or federal laws; subpoenas have been issued to baseball star Barry Bonds and other professional athletes; UCLA lab, opened in 1982, performs 25,000 tests annually for US Olympic Committee, NFL and other sanctioning bodies and is only lab in US accredited by International Olympic Committee; photos (L)

Decoding a Steroid: Hunches, Sweat, Vindication

Article on women politicians' past and current role in New York City politics; notes that city is no longer in vanguard of women's political progress that it was in 1970's; cites costs of running for office, term limit laws, blunting of feminism as political cause, reluctance of many women to run for office and fact that many of city's trailblazing women lost bids for higher office; photos; charts (L)

Where Have All The Women Gone?

Michael Brick describes experiment, prompted by Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute's display called Bravehearts: Men in Skirts, in which he wandered around Brooklyn in skirt; photos (M)

Guy in Skirt Seeks Sensitivity In Brooklyn

Article describes scene at New York sports bars that cater to college football fans who watch games on big-screen TV; photos (M)

Big 10's End Zone: New York Bars

Twenty-two American soldiers have died in Iraq in last two weeks, from accidents, illness and rising insurgency, just six months after Pres Bush declared end to major combat hostilities on May 1; Pentagon officials estimate that for every soldier killed in combat, another seven are wounded; brief profiles of soldiers and reaction from several families; photos (L)

Deaths in Iraq Take a Steady Toll at Home

 Glimmer of Hope for Miners  For a group of apartheid's victims who toiled in a South African diamond mine, a court ruling may lead to part ownership of the mine.   PAGE 3    Community Kept Fire at Bay  As fires raged in California, one planned community was spared because of its modern construction and safety measures.   PAGE 24

INSIDE

Senior American military officers in Iraq are pressing to reconstitute entire units of former Iraqi Army, which American administrator L Paul Bremer III disbanded in May; proposals under consideration involve identifying former Iraqi officers and weeding out any still loyal to Saddam Hussein; talks are at early stage and do not represent actual plan, but acknowledge decision to dismantle 500,000-member army was mistake that contributed to instability and increasing attacks against US forces; move would help put Iraqi face on occupation forces' efforts to plug security gaps in volatile areas; Iraqi combat units, especially Republican Guard and tank units, would not be among those reconstituted, but armored and infantry soldiers would be allowed to apply for retraining and membership in new army (M)

U.S. CONSIDERING RECALLING UNITS OF OLD IRAQ ARMY

Car enthusiasts describe their preferences for 2004 Rolls-Royce Phantom or Mercedes-Benz ultraluxury Maybach (M)

Pick a Car; Ignore the Price

Anemona Harcocollis Coping column on elimination of Proposal 6 from New York City's ballot; if approved by voters, it would have created Charter Commission to study possibility of reducing public school class sizes; referendum was knocked off ballot by Proposal 3, proposing nonpartisan elections, put forward by Mayor Michael Bloomberg; drawing (M)

The Fourth R: A Mother's Resolve

Tenants in New York City's Mitchell-Lama buildings are fearful they will lose their homes to soaring rents or that their buildings will be transformed into luxury condos as buildings' developers emerge from imposed low- and moderate-income rent ceilings after 20 years; for 144 Mitchell-Lama projects finished after Jan 1, 1974, owners are free to set whatever rents they wish, provided they pay up their mortgages and fulfill other conditions; last of Mitchell-Lama buildings went up in 1978, and with 20-year mark past, pace of landlords leaving program has been quickening; how transition from regulation to free market evolves differs from one case to another; experiences of three developments currently in process of leaving program described; photos (L)

Leaving Mitchell-Lama: Many Paths, All Bumpy

China is undergoing an automobile revolution, as sales of domestic cars, vans, pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles rise rapidly. Now it wants to replicate its manufacturing dominance in other industries to become a big exporter of cars.  

China Aiming to Fill The World's Garages

New eight-story glass and limestone addition to Harvard Club of New York will be dedicated on Nov 5, with tours for members; photo (S)

POSTINGS: New Addition to Harvard Club on West 44th Street; Between Two Landmarks, Modern Glass and Limestone

Virginia Tech University defeats Miami University, 31-7; photos (M)

Hokies Touch Off a Mad Scramble for No. 2

Francis Xavier McCloskey was an American journalist, lawyer, and politician from Indiana who served in the United States House of Representatives as a Democrat from 1983 to 1995.

November 2, 2003

Headlines from November 2, 2003

Dismantling a Wall Street Club

Nets Win First Game Against Ex-Guru

Helping the Economy, One Snip at a Time

At Sea With MP3's, Boomers Buoy the Struggling Record Industry

The World: Arms and Aims; The Art of War vs. the Craft of Occupation

Billboard 200

Measure Of A Man

ChickenNBeer

Hard

Speakerboxxx/The Love Below

The Movie Album

Notable Deaths

Historical Context for November 2, 2003

Headlines from November 2, 2003

Dismantling a Wall Street Club

Nets Win First Game Against Ex-Guru

Helping the Economy, One Snip at a Time

At Sea With MP3's, Boomers Buoy the Struggling Record Industry

The World: Arms and Aims; The Art of War vs. the Craft of Occupation

Measure Of A Man

Chicken*N*Beer

Hard

Speakerboxxx/The Love Below

The Movie Album

Notable Deaths

Historical Context for November 2, 2003

ChickenNBeer