April 29, 2004

Unilever says first-quarter profits dropped by almost fifth; reports 515 million euros ($615 million) in net profit, down from 637 million euros year ago; worldwide sales were down 8 percent, to 9.36 billion euros; sales of company's leading brands grew 1.3 percent, below forecasts of 1.5 percent to 2.5 percent (M)

Chinese government officials are expected to sign off on joint venture with DaimlerChrysler to assemble Mercedes-Benz cars in China; agreement may be delivered by China's Prime Min Wen Jiabao when he visits Berlin next week; DaimlerChrysler's chief executive Jurgen E Schrempp has seen bulk of his Asian strategy undermined last week, when board voted not to bail out Mitsubishi Motors of Japan with injection of $1.8 billion or more in new capital; decision hobbled Schrempp's global ambitions and stirred speculation that Schrempp might be pushed out, or at least pushed aside; photo (M)

Annual Kips Bay Decorator Show House is set to open to public and remain on display until May 31; most prominent designer among 25 involved with project this year is Thom Filicia, star of television's Queer Eye for the Straight Guy; photos (M)

William C Rhoden Sports of The Times column contends that NCAA's plan to approve academic incentive proposal, which promises to penalize college programs where athletes are performing poorly academically, is right for stressing importance of athletics to educational experience, but will not likely change way many college presidents use athletics to bring money to their schools (M)

New York Yankees defeat Oakland Athletics, 5-1; photo (M)

Article on first-time film director Richard Ledes, whose movie, A Hole in One, starring Meat Loaf; movie was inspired by story of Dr Walter Friedman, neurologist who pioneered outpatient lobotomies in late 1940's, lost his surgical privileges in late 1960's and drove around country promoting operation in camper van he called lobotomobile; photo (M)

Brazil's Pres Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, faced with declining approval ratings and slow economic recovery, is struggling to stave off political pressure to raise spending and save his hard-earned reputation as fiscal conservative; photo (M)d

Medicare Starts Web Site To Compare Drug Prices Medicare is starting a Web site to help millions of older Americans compare prices of their prescription drugs. The site is the first big-league test for DestinationRx, the little-known company that Medicare hired without competitive bidding to create and run the system. If it works as advertised, Medicare enrollees will be able to visit the site to find prices of their medications at nearby stores that will accept Medicare-certified drug discount cards. They could then use the information to decide which card would help them most. But the program has attracted skeptics. [Page C5.]

Joyce Purnick column on Metropolitan Transportation Authority's new push for Second Avenue subway and East Side Access project to allow Long Island Rail Road trains to use Grand Central Station; says MTA is using these two popular projects to build rationale and constituency for greater resources it will need for maintenance and expansion; interviews Peter S Kalikow, MTA chairman (M)

China Mobile (Hong Kong) will buy 10r

The Cliff's Edge is named favorite for Kentucky Derby; photo (M)

Incentive/disinc entive plan, which proposes to punish college institutions that do not promote academic accountability and progress among its athletes, is expected to be approved by NCAA Division I board of directors; photo (M)