February 24, 2004

China's central bank is considering increase in interest rates as economy appears to be overheating; producer prices rose 3.5 percent in January from year earlier, up from 3 percent in December and sharp rise from 1.9 percent increase in November; consumer price index rose to annual pace of 3.2 percent in January for second consecutive month; graph; photo (M)

Special section, Small Business, noted; photo

Dave Anderson Sports of The Times column contends that New York Rangers, which are poised to go seven consecutive seasons without playoff appearance, need regime change as president, general manager and coach Glen Sather is not helping team that is already one of richest in NHL and perhaps worst in all of sports; photo (M)

Dean Bumbaco, guest at Jayson Williams's New Jersey estate the night Costas Christofi was killed by shotgun blast, testifies that Williams began organizing cover-up of his involvement minutes after fatal shot, trial, Somerville, NJ; testifies that Williams told eight men present to tell authorities that Christofi had shot himself; photo (M)

Saudi Arabia's vast oil fields, pumped for more than half-century, are in decline, raising serious questions about whether kingdom will be able to satisfy world's thirst for oil in coming years; energy forecasts call for almost doubling Saudi output in next decade and after, but capacity will likely stall near current levels, potentially creating significant gap in global energy supply; outsiders have not had access to Saudi Aramco data for more than 20 years but Saudi experts suggest looming problems; map; charts; Saudi Arabia is not running out oil, but it is becoming more difficult or expensive to extract; country now produces about eight million barrels daily, about one-tenth of world's needs, and is top supplier to US; average decline rate in mature fields is about eight percent a year (M)