July 29, 2004

Cult-movie buffs are organizing 'guerrilla drive-in' theaters in number of cities to take place of community and B-movie drive-ins; people enjoy shared experience, though they set up on private and public properties, violating trespass and copyright laws; photo (M)

Literacy experts say immigrants are flocking to free or low-cost English programs offered at public libraries, schools and community organizations; programs are part of network of adult literacy and work force development efforts supported by fluctuating mix of federal, state and city money; scene described at class in Manhattan that includes students from variety of countries; teachers, many of whom are also immigrants, find experience gratifying because students are highly motivated; photos (M)

Time Warner posts solid second-quarter earnings as America Online, long its most troubled operation, shows continued signs of recovery; total revenue rose 9.7 percent, to $10.89 billion, from $9.92 billion in period year earlier; net income fell to $777 million from $1.06 billion in period year ago; chief executive Richard D Parsons says he still faces concern about its cable unit; photo (M)

Joyce Purnick Metro Matters column compares Teresa Heinz Kerry with first ladies in look at how cultural ideal of women has evolved; says Heinz Kerry does not act role of adoring wife, rather she is more independent and eager to express her own views; says public will someday accept independenf First Lady, but may not be ready yet (M)

Modern journalism is increasingly reliant on advances in wireless and fiber optic technology; use of wireless frequencies for audio and video feeds at Democratic National Convention is strictly controlled to avoid communication problems and security breaches; photo (M)

AIDS pandemic is so sweeping in Durban, South Africa, that people are dying faster than city can find space to bury them; gravediggers are reopening existing graves and interring fresh bones atop old bones; 51 of city's 53 municipal cemeteries are officially filled to capacity; official who heads city's dept of parks and cemeteries fears that all of Durban will become one big graveyard if epidemic continues; roughly one in eight South Africans is HIV-positive; in Durban, country's third-largest city, 35 percent of pregnant women surveyed two years ago were infected with HIV; Durban held conference on cemetery problem and discovered that host of other graveyards--in Cape Town, Bloemfontein, Pretoria, Port Elizabeth--are also filling up at alarming rates; photos; map (M)

Australian real estate trust Ma

Russia's largest oil producer Yukos warns tghat it might be forced to stop exporting, as dispute between company and government intensifies; remote prospect of losing more than 1.6 million barrels each day that Yukos produces is enough to rattle traders at time when demand is high and OPEC is pumping near its capacity; price of crude oil for September delivery settles at $42.90 per barrel, up 2.5 percent, after reaching record $43.05 per barrel; crude oil is up 32 percent so far this year, and has quadrupled since deep slump of late 1998; photo (M)

Intelligence Agencies Resist Revealing Budget Of the 40 main recommendations spelled out in the Sept. 11 report, one of the few that the White House could carry out immediately would be to lift the veil of secrecy on how much the government spends on intelligence. But intelligence agencies have long insisted that making that budget public could aid the nation's enemies. PAGE A16

Internal Revenue Service information shows overall income Americans reported to government shrank two consecutive years, first time that has happened since modern tax system was introduced during World War II; total adjusted gross income on tax returns fell 5.1 percent, to just over $6 trillion in 2000 from $6.35 trillion in 2000; average incomes declined even more, by 5.7 percent, because of population growth; income, adjusted for inflation, fell 9.2 percent from 2000 to 2002; graph (M)

BHP Billiton produced record amounts of iron ore, aluminum and nickel in quarter ended June 30; produced 20.5 million metric tons of iron ore, up 6 percent from its production year ago; production of manganese ores, used in steel production, rose 26 percent; hot briquetted iron fell 36 percent (S)

David Pogue State of the Art column reviews palmtop computer from Hewlett-Packard; device includes standard palmtop suite of applications, but also communicates wirelessly using infrared, Bluetooth, WiFi and cellular phone technologies; photo; drawing (M)