April 12, 2004

Syracuse University analysis of new Internal Revenue Service data shows tax enforcement has fallen steadily under Pres Bush, despite his repeated pledges to get tough with tax cheats; finds there are fewer audits, fewer penalties, fewer prosecutions and virtually no effort to prosecute corporate tax crimes; audit rate for 11,200 largest corporations, which pay nearly all corporate income taxes, has fallen by almost half over last decade, as has audit rate for unincorporated businesses; IRS has about half law enforcement resources for each return it did in 1988; graph of audits (M)

Microsoft reaches $440 million settlement of patent infringement suit and licensing deal with InterTrust Technologies Corp, pioneer in development of software to protect digital music and movies from piracy; deal ends threat to Microsoft's ability to deliver piracy protection technology in its software products for playing and handling digital media; experts say technology for handling so-called digital rights management is crucial for its plans to extend its Windows software into emerging market for legally distributed music and movies over Internet (M)

Article on ambitious and risky network television project being undertaken by DreamWorks SKG and NBC Studios; computer-animated cartoon, entitled Father of the Pride, is politically incorrect prime-time sitcom about backstage lives of white lions in Siegfried & Roy's Las Vegas show; photos (M)

Pres Bush defends adequacy of his response to warnings that terrorists in United States might be planning hijacking; claims intelligence briefing he received on Al Qaeda one month before 9/11 strike contained no specific 'indication of a terrorist attack' on American soil; Bush, in his first public remarks since release of top-secret briefing, echoes testimony by national security adviser Condoleezza Rice before 9/11 commission, which had pushed for release of briefing; Bush for first time suggests that others in his administration may not have done enough to head off attacks; says he understood in summer of 2001 that FBI was looking into domestic terrorist threats; bureau's counterterrorism efforts are focus of hearings this week by 9/11 commission; Bush's comments are part of White House effort to quell storm about briefing he received on Aug 6, 2001; Democrats and Republicans say release of document--along with images of American bloodshed and disorder in Iraq--is threatening central pillar of Bush's re-election campaign, his record on managing national security; photos (M)

Presidential race is dividing top Silicon Valley technology executives; recent industry fundraiser for Sen John Kerry in San Francisco raised $3 million; Bush campaign is well ahead of Kerry in raising money and is quickly ramping up its efforts to win over Silicon Valley; key issues for high-tech executives noted; table of their contributions; graph of contributions by industry; photo (M)