April 13, 2004

Single women of baby boom gen

Troop of Kenyan baboons experiences temperament shift after all dominant adult males die in accident; Dr Robert M Sapolsky, Stanford University biology and neurology professor, and wife Dr Lisa J Share co-author research report on group known as Forest Troop; report is published in journal PloS Biology; holds that swing toward pacifism and affection between tribe members has carried over to new males entering group; contend that other examples of animal multiculturalism exist, but are more task specific than global code of behavior witnessed within Forest Troop; photos (M)

South Korean stÄ

American troops battle Iraqi insurgents to thwart their attacks on vital military supply lines in and out of Baghdad; attacks pose new hazards to civilian contractors who operate many of convoys, and siphon short-handed combat forces away from main fight against militants; along with attacks on convoys, sabotage to roads and bridges opens another front in surge in violence in Iraq; two American soldiers and seven employees of Kellogg Brown & Root are missing and feared abducted after attack on fuel convoy near Abu Ghraib, west of Baghdad; Gen John P Abizaid says he has requested from Pentagon equivalent of two more combat brigades--as many as 20,000 troops--to keep American forces in Iraq at about 130,000 for foreseeable future; levels had been scheduled to decline to 110,000 during present troop rotation; photo; map (M)

Surplus in Japan's current account grew 46.2 percent in February from year earlier, helped by rising exports to Asia and Europe and decline in services deficit (S)