July 10, 2004

General Electric Reports Higher Income and Sales Second-quarter profit at General Electric rose 3.4 percent, beating Wall Street expectations by a penny a share. Revenue climbed 11 percent, and nine of the conglomerate's 11 business units posted double-digit growth. General Electric raised the low end of its 2004 profit forecast by 1 cent, to $1.55 to $1.60 a share. It had 2003 income of $1.49. [Page C2.]

New York Mets defeat Florida Marlins, 6-3; photos (M)

Dan Barry column on discovery of caches of clothing, food, emergency items and assorted gear in Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, the belongings of survivalist whose former wife says he likes to bury things and has created such caches in a few places (M)

New York Yankees defeat Tampa Bay Devil Rays, 5-4; photos (M)

Kennedy International Airport has lost ground as cargo hub in last 15 years, slipping from busiest airport in world in air cargo tonnage to fifth in nation today; cargo operators say problem lies not at airport itself, which has sophisticated and extensive cargo-handling facilities, but in choked arteries serving it; government officials, mindful of the jobs Kennedy provides and the many more it could provide, are now beginning to focus on improving and expanding roads to make room for more trucks to get goods from airport to their destinations in city and beyond; graph (L)

THE POLITICAL FALLOUT -- President Bush acknowledged intelligence flaws but defended his decision to go to war, while Democrats said the administration could not sidestep blame. PAGE A7

Sen John Kerry's choice of Sen John Edwards as running mate may limit Sen Hillary Rodham Clinton's options if she decides to run for president in 2008 and could set Clinton and Edwards on collision course for leadership of Democratic Party; political observers say that Edwards could be attractive alternative to Clinton if Democratic ticket fails in November; Edwards is seen as energetic and charismatic, and younger than many aging Democrats who failed to grab nomination in 2004; Clinton, for her part, has been very helpful to Kerry campaign, introducing him in New York and opening up her valuable list of donors to him; photo (M)

POLICY, POLITICS AND PRESSURES** Analysis: although Senate Intelligence Committee found no evidence that Bush administration had tried to coerce CIA to produce exaggerated prewar warnings about Iraq's weapons programs, its findings did little to still furious debate about whether White House and Pentagon tried to influence agency's conclusions (M)

Senate Intelligence Committee report finds that most pivotal assessments used to justify war against Iraq were unfounded and unreasonable, and reflected major missteps by US intelligence agencies; says prewar judgment by US intelligence agencies that Iraq possessed chemical and biological weapons had not been substantiated by agencies own reporting; cites, in 117 separate conclusions, sloppy, dysfuncational intelligence structure headed by CIA Dir George Tenet; concludes that culture of 'group think' in intelligence agencies left unchallenged institutional belief that Iraq had illicit weapons; nine Republicans and eight Democrats on committee endorse report; photo of committee chairman Pat Roberts and vice chairman John D Rockefeller IV (M)

Government, in its almost three-year battle against corporate corruption, seen signaling to executives that there have been far-reaching changes in expectations for truthfulness when they communicate with shareholders; demands for frank honest communications are significant shift from late 1990's practices, when unpleasant news was excluded from relentlessly upbeat statements; government officials are now clearly telling corporate executives that deceitful public comments damage capital markets and will be taken seriously; photo (M)

William C Rhoden Sports of The Times column discusses issue concerning both Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees, which is whether or not to pursue acquiring Houston Rockets pitcher Roger Clemens or Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Randy Johnson; photo (M)

michael rigas is free for now aft7