January 7, 2004

US subpoenas Connecticut Governor John G Rowland for documents regarding free work he received on Litchfield (Conn) cottage, including personal records like tax returns and bank records; Rowland is suspected of trading state work contracts for construction work on his private home; has denied allegations; photos (M)

New law on junk e-mail, or spam, which took effect on Jan 1, has yet to have much impact on amount of spam being sent; torrents of e-mail messages with cryptic subject lines and from untraceable senders continue to pour into in-boxes, in clear violation of law; there are some marketers who have added post office box addresses to bottom of their e-mail along with option to unsubscribe from mailer's list; it is too soon to tell whether those addresses are valid, or whether requests to be taken off e-mail lists are being honored; attendance is down at this year's private meeting of high-volume bulk e-mailers being held in Las Vegas alongside Internext trade show; Inter7 chief technical officer Catherine Kouzmanoff says her company did little business with companies that send sexually explicit messages, but she exhibits at Internext because mailers of all sorts use show to find new technology; photo (M)

New York City Department of Consumer Affairs cracks down on tow truck operators who have not renewed their licenses by towing and impounding city tow trucks (M)

India and Pakistan agree to restart formal peace talks on all issues, including Kashmir; Pakistan says it will not permit its territory to be used to support terrorism, first such direct assurance to India in more than half century of conflict; agreement follows Prime Min Atal Bihari Vajpayee's meeting with Pakistani Pres Pervez Musharraf and other less publicized negotiations, some during regional summit meeting in Islamabad; photos, one of Vajpayee with Pakistani Prime Min Mir Zafarullah Jamali; map; Musharraf says 'history has been made'; Vajpayee, 79, offers 'hand of friendship' in hopes of leaving legacy of peace; Musharraf's promise to crack down on militants whom Pakistan has long supported, and who are linked to two recent assassination attempts on him, appears to complete U-turn he made after Sept 11, 2001, when he abandoned Pakistan's support for Taliban in Afghanistan; Pakistan in turn wins long-sought dialogue on Kashmir, where it demands right of self-determination by mostly Muslim population (M)

European Court of Justice rules that European Commission is wrong to fine German drug maker Bayer for restricting traders from exporting prescription heart drug Adalat from Spain and France, where price is low, to Britain , where it is 40 percent higher; decision is setback to commission's efforts to forge single market for drugs, and could have implications for other industries where prices vary widely by country (M)