Chief Warrant Officer Aaron A Weaver, 32, who survived famous Black Hawk Down attack in Somalia and, more recently, three rounds of surgery for testicular cancer, dies in Iraq in crash of Black Hawk helicopter near Falluja; Weaver, who relatives say insisted on serving in Iraq, dies with eight others while en route to medical checkup; photo; he was awarded Bronze Star in 1994 (M)

Survivor of Somalia and Cancer Dies on Doomed Copter in Iraq

Frank Rich article on Peter Biskind's new book Down and Dirty Pictures: Miramax, Sundance, and the Rise of Independent Film; compares it to John Gregory Dunne book The Studio from mid 1960's; offers his views on Hollywood's problems; photos (L)

Bullies Are Not What Ails Hollywood

European Union reduces allowable sound exposure because of harm done to hearing by high decibel volume; symphony orchestras search for ways to implement restrictions without affecting quality of music; photos (L)

The Shushing of the Symphony

Council of New York Cooperatives and Condominiums to hold seminar, New York City, on dealing with mold; panel will discuss significance of mold, what causes it, when it is dangerous, how to prevent it and how to remediate it (S)

POSTINGS: At Hunter College on Tuesday; A Seminar About Mold

Domestic automakers are producing more passenger cars, while Asian companies have plunged into trucks; new models being shown at Auto Show described; photos (M)

Detroit Focuses on Cars, and Asia on Trucks

Article on New Jersey teenagers who are fascinated by and spend as much time as possible in New York City; focuses on group of teens led by Dave Asaro-Berman as they roam Manhattan neighborhoods; photos (L)

The Emerald City

New England Patriots defeat Tennessee Titans, 17-14, to advance to AFC championship game; photos (M)

Kicker Vinatieri Warms New England Again

Anemona Hartocollis Coping column on mixed reactions by two teachers to listing by New York City Department of Education of Washington Irving High School as one of 12 most violent schools in city; drawing (M)

The View From the Blackboard

Howard Dean and Richard Gephardt battle for dominance before Iowa's Democratic caucuses; transformation of Dean's two-year candidacy is underscored when he appears with Sen Tom Harkin and Al Gore, although Gephardt still has strong base in state and must win to keep his bid alive; Sens John Kerry and John Edwards are also making spirited bids; photos (M)

CAMPAIGN IN IOWA IS CALLED PIVOTAL AND STILL CLOSE

Stacey D'Erasmo article on new Showtime show L Word; photos (M)

Lesbians on Television: It's Not Easy Being Seen

New York Knicks defeat Milwaukee Bucks, 94-88; photo (M)

Knicks' Victory Offers Relief But Nothing Close to Reprieve

Sharpest cold of winter envelops New York region and huge swath of New England and mid-Atlantic in arctic embrace that shatters records and turns 14-state landscape into silent, frozen domain; photos; records are broken from Boston (3 below zero) to Syracuse (16 below) and New York City airports (2 degrees); tales of coping with bitterly cold temperatures recounted (M)

Canadian Cold Leaves the East In an Icy Grip

POSTINGS: 2-Story Structure at Gansevoort and Greenwich Will Grow to 5; First New Building for New Landmark District

Thousands of Americans are taking employers up on generous incentive offers and retiring early, gambling on finding something else in lean job market; workers like Lee Hutchinson, 51, who had no intention of leaving FedEx, are taking fortified pension payments and promises of health benefits; such offers, which drew few takers until year or two ago, are now more carefully aimed at workers in shrinking operations; 3,600 of 14,000 eligible FedEx workers left in Oct and Verion has shed ten percent of work force; several of those taking offers explain; photos (M)

Incentives Lure Many to Quit, Even With a Lean Job Market

Home Front column; January is slowest month in restaurant business in New York City but Manhattan restaurateurs Lisa Hall and Ann Nickinson search for ways to lure customers through menu enhancements rather than coupons or other specials; photo (M)

In January, Restaurateurs Watch the Fat

Article on 'lifestyle' sex party scene in Manhattan, driven largely by younger women, many of them erotic-party promoters who use Internet as marketing tool and screening aid; photos (L)

Parties Where an ID Is the Least of What You Show

Pres Bush has reopened national debate about immigration with his proposal to grant temporary visas to undocumented workers; Immigration and Naturalization Service estimates that 15 states account for all but 13 percent of illegal immigrants; most are concentrated in handful of states--California, Texas, New York, Illinois and Florida--leaving many parts of United States relatively untouched by influx; in states where they live, illegal aliens are major source of cheap labor; Pew Hispanic Center estimated in 2001 that unauthorized labor force in US totaled 5.3 million workers; their importance to commerce was illustrated last month in California, when thousands of Latinos stayed home from work to protest repeal of contentious new law that would have allowed illegal immigrants to obtain driver's licenses; photos (M)

The Nation: A New Order; Imagining Life Without Illegal Immigrants

Gretchen Morgenson Market Watch column says disappointing jobs report for December is stark reminder to investors of perils of trusting consensus view of anything economic; notes that Stephen S Roach, chief economist at Morgan Stanley, has been voice in wilderness for months, arguing that lasting economic recovery cannot be built on increasingly indebted consumer, declining savings rate and widening current-account and trade deficits and that domestic labor market is not rebounding; graph shows rising debt levels (M)

The No-Bang, All-Whimper Recovery

Johnn F Burns article on Lt Gen Ricardo S Sanchez, commander of occupation forces in Iraq who faces challenge of trying to win over Iraqis who do not want Americans in Iraq but also do not want them to leave; 52-year-old general, who went to work at age 6 to augment welfare payments to his Mexican-American family in Texas, explains task on trip from Baghdad to Abu Saida, journey by Black Hawk helicopter that shows patterns of light and dark endured by American troops; troops watch rooftops for infiltrators who wait to strike tanks, but base commander Col Ralph Overland, 28, is also proxy mayor receiving petitions from townspeople and pushing to rebuild schools; photos; map; Sanchez recalls own career and momentous capture of Saddam Hussein (M)

Challenge for Bootstrap General Is Winning Over the Wary Iraqis

Cancer prevention programs, encompassing anything from screenings to smoking cessation and dietary education, have become financial mainstay for major medical institutions such as Memorial Sloan-Kettering and M D Anderson Cancer Center, which is building huge new center for prevention; experts in fiercely competitive world of cancer medicine are divided, noting that for now most efforts involve research that may or may not lead to clinical advances; National Institutes of Health also requires designated comprehensive cancer centers to have prevention component; Dr Donald Berry and others like Dr Michael Gallo worry that many people exaggerate their cancer risk and have inflated expectations about what science can do to protect them; photo of Dr Moshe Shike of Memorial Sloan-Kettering (M)

Cancer 'Prevention' Is Big Seller, But Medical Experts Are Divided

Article on astonishing request by Michael Burgess, who is presiding over British inquests into deaths of Princess Diana and boyfriend, Emad Mohamed al-Fayed, for Metropolitan Police to look into possibility that they were murdered; photos (M)

Who, or What, Killed Diana? Name Your Poison

 What North Korea Showed  North Korea said it had showed what it called a ''nuclear deterrent'' to American visitors, but officials familiar with the visit said they had not seen an actual weapon.   PAGE 6    Guardian for Fetus Rejected  A Florida appeals court panel ruled against the state's appointment last summer of a guardian for the fetus of a rape victim. Gov. Jeb Bush had sought the appointment.   PAGE 14

INSIDE

Accounting fraud at Parmalat, giant Italian food and dairy company, is global scandal but remains profoundly local story in Parma, where Calisto Tanzi founded company four decades ago; ouster of Stefano Tanzi, Calisto's 35-year-old son, as president of company's soccer team, Parma AC, ruptures one of deepest bonds between city and Tanzi family; lawyers and investigators say intense pressure is starting to sunder family; townspeople believe that younger Tanzis like Calisto and his sister Francesca were peripheral figures at Parmalat despite their board seats; chronology of company's downfall (L)

The Rise and Fall of Parma's First Family

Carolina Panthers defeat St Louis Rams, 29-23, in double overtime, to advance to NFC championship game; photo (M)

On Day of Exciting Playoff Finishes, Calmness Prevails

Concept cars abound at North American International Auto Show; process of taking car from concept stage to production described; photos (M)

The Shape of the Future on Wheels

Spalding Gray was an American actor, novelist, playwright, screenwriter and performance artist. He is best known for the autobiographical monologues that he wrote and performed for the theater in the 1980s and 1990s, as well as for his film adaptations of these works, beginning in 1987. He wrote and starred in several, working with different directors.

January 11, 2004

Headlines from January 11, 2004

Survivor of Somalia and Cancer Dies on Doomed Copter in Iraq

Bullies Are Not What Ails Hollywood

The Shushing of the Symphony

POSTINGS: At Hunter College on Tuesday; A Seminar About Mold

Detroit Focuses on Cars, and Asia on Trucks

Billboard 200

Speakerboxxx/The Love Below

The Diary Of Alicia Keys

Shock'n Y'All

Now 14

The Very Best Of Sheryl Crow

Notable Deaths

Historical Context for January 11, 2004