April 16, 2004

Walter van de Vijver, former head of Royal Dutch/Shell Group's exploration and production unit, reportedly e-mailed Frank Cooper, unit's chief financial officer, on Dec 2, 2003, telling him that his analysis of company's oil and gas reserves problems was 'dynamite' and 'needed to be destroyed' because it was incomplete; was dismissed on March 3, along with company's chairman, Philip Watts, two months after company stunned investors by lowering its estimates of proven reserves by 20 percent, or 3.9 billion barrels; company is under investigation by regulators and prosecutors in Europe and US (M)

Bush administration may pre-empt 9/11 commission's final report by adopting proposal to create powerful new post of director of national intelligence; management of government's 15 intelligence agencies and control of their budgets, which is now scattered across several departments and agencies, would be put under direction of single person; plan was drafted year ago by presidential advisory panel headed by Brent Scowcroft; it was given little White House attention until after 9/11 commission presented withering dissection of American intelligence agencies and commissioners indicated they are preparing to call for more central control; White House is also considering changes within FBI, including creation of new directorate within bureau responsible for domestic intelligece-gathering and analysis; Pentagon's determination to retain its grip of vast swath of intelligence budget it now controls remains significant obstacle to any White House recommendation for major change; chart (M)

Private companies providing tutors for federally financed after-school classes under No Child Left Behind law are struggling with same discipline, attendance and other problems that have kept failing schools from raising proficiency levels on their own; vast start-up effort has proved chaotic in Chicago and many other districts; most companies pay tutors far below what public school teachers earn, making recruitment and retention of tutors difficult; low-income students at schools that fail for third year to meet annual targets on standardized tests are eligible for tutoring; some districts, including Chicago's, are organizing their own teachers to offer tutoring sessions alongside those offered by private companies; photos (M)

New York Yankees and new third baseman Alex Rodriguez prepare to face Boston Red Sox; Rodriguez, who was amost traded to Boston Red Sox, says he is ready for boos that will likely come his way (M)

Group of six companies, led by European Aeronautic Defense and Space Co, known as EADS, and Northrop Grumman, looks set to win contract, worth $4.8 billion, to build mixed fleet of manned and unmanned surveillance aircraft for NATO by 2010 (M)