Michael Phelps (US) wins 100-meter butterfly swimming event at 2004 Olympics; Ian Crocker (US) wins silver and Andriy Serdinov (Ukraine) wins bronze; Gary Hall Jr (US) wins men's 50-meter freestyle; Duje Draganja (Croatia) wins silver and Roland Mark Schoeman (South Africa) wins bronze; photos (M)

In His Finale, Phelps Takes Away, and Then Gives

Federal Bankruptcy Judge Eugene C Wedoff gives United Airlines 30 days more to come up with restructuring plan; warns airline and its warring unions to cooperate on solution or he will weigh allowing alternative offers for United; approves bankruptcy financing plan arranged by United in July, despite charge by unions and Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp that United improperly pledged to terminate its pension plans to win financing; United says it hopes to salvage pension plans; says workers will get benefits like 401(k) retirement programs if it cannot save plans; stand fails to reassure unions (M)

United Given New Deadline To Devise Plan

Kenenisa Bekele (Ethiopia) wins men's 10,000-meter final in track and field at 2004 Olympics; Sileshi Sihine (Ethiopia) wins silver and Zersenay Tadesse (Eritrea) wins bronze; Alan Webb (US) does not qualify for men's 1,500-meter race; photos (M)

Future Is Now in 10K, But Webb Must Wait

 A Sting, Not a Shock, From High Oil Prices  Though the United States has been driven into recession three times by abrupt surges in the price of oil over the last 30 years, the most recent spike will most likely have a less intense effect because of greater energy efficiency and low inflation.   NEWS ANALYSIS, BUSINESS DAY    Crucial Juncture for Kerry  Senator John Kerry's response to the long series of attacks on his Vietnam record may prove pivotal to his hopes for victory in the fall.   NEWS ANALYSIS, PAGE A10

INSIDE

New Jersey Gov James McGreevey, having announced resignation, moves for executive order to tighten restrictions on campaign donors, imposing limits he was unwilling or unable to push through balky Democratic Legislature last spring (M)

McGreevey Seeks Limits On Donations

Todd Fatjo, hipster bellwether of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, cuts his hair and moves to Bronx with girlfriend, giving up loft that was neighborhood's party central; photos (M)

Out of the Loft, Into Reality; A Hipster Quits Williamsburg, and Gets a Haircut

Netherlands baseball team manager Robert Eenhoorn has led team to 2004 Olympics, with help of bench coach Davey Johnson, former major league manager; Eenhoorn's efforts deal with death of six-year-old son Ryan discussed; photo (M)

Davey Johnson Helps Dutch Manager Go On

Pyyros Dimas (Greece) prepares for 85kg men's weight lifting event at 2004 Olympics; Greek teammate lifter Leonidas Sampanis could lose bronze medal for testing positive for steroids; photos (M)

Olympic Weight: Can One Man Lift Greece?

Centuries-old traditions in Gambell, Alaska, Eskimo village of 700 people on St Lawrence Island in Bering Strait, have been slipping away, as one of most remote villages on earth finally contends with modern world; life has shifted so much in Gambell, where satellite television, rising rates of alcoholism and growing rejection by younger generation of Yupik language and customs have begun to chip away at hunting-and-gathering subsistence lifestyle; rising tension between old ways and new ones, between older generations and younger ones, is playing out in native villages across state; Internet, more regular airline travel and other modern advances are connecting most remote Alaskan villages to mainstream society; photos (M)

For Native Alaskans, Tradition Is Yielding To Modern Customs

Mall developer and manager Rouse Co agrees to be acquired by General Growth Properties, owner of shopping centers, for $7.2 billion in cash and $5.4 billion in debt assumption; Rouse shares jump; General Growth chief executive John Bucksbaum says merger offers retail chains 'one-stop shopping' as they expand; photos (M)

Reshaping a Reshaper of Landscapes; Rouse Company to Be Acquired By Owner of Shopping Centers

Bush administration modifies its policy and signals approval of growth in at least some Israeli settlements in occupied West Bank, in move to lend political support to Prime Min Ariel Sharon; supports construction of new apartments in some settlements as long as expansion does not extend outward to undeveloped parts of West Bank; Sharon's government has announced that 1,001 bids for construction will be issued for subsidized apartments for settlers in occupied territories (M)

U.S. Now Said to Support Growth For Some West Bank Settlements

Newfound friendship between Pres Bush and Sen John McCain may be good for late-night laughs, but it is deadly serious political business for both men, result of deliberate, months-long effort by White House to woo Arizona senator; turnabout could not be more striking, and for both men stakes could be nothing less than presidency itself; Bush is locked in tight race with John Kerry and needs all help he can get with moderate, Democratic and independent voters who like McCain; photos (M)

Bearhug Politics: Careful Steps to a New Bush-McCain Alliance

Influential Chinese Communist Party elders are using 100th birthday of Deng Xiaoping to emphasize urgency of one great endeavor that he never embraced, overhauling one-party political system; comments by former leaders appear to reflect mounting internal pressure for Communist Party leader Hu Jintao to put forward at least modest proposals for fighting corruption, introducing greater accountability and reducing censorship; Jiang Zemin, Deng's successor, remains military chief even after retiring as president and party leader in 2002; he is being urged to follow Deng's example and relinquish authority to Hu; photos (M)

Chinese Advocates of Reform Seek Help From Deng's Spirit

About New York column on arrest of priest Joseph Byrns as bittersweet vindication for Bob Lambert and his brother Rev Timothy Lambert, who shouted for years that they had been abused as children in Queens, and were ignored by Bishop Thomas V Daily and others in diocese (M)

About New York; For 2 Brothers, Priest's Arrest Is Bittersweet

Confusion over New York State's capital punishment law is complicating job of presecutors and putting fate of inmates in limbo; Court of Appeals, state's highest court, had seemingly suspended capital punishment in June, finding central provision of law unconstitutional; prosecutors and defense lawyers say law is neither completely in force nor convincingly defunct; Brooklyn Dist Atty Charles J Hynes is trying to delay his four death penalty cases, waiting to see if State Legislature will adopt new law; Hynes photo (M)

Across New York, a Death Penalty Stuck in Limbo

 Justice Department Inquiry Examines Medical Supplies  The Justice Department has opened a broad criminal investigation of the medical supply industry, apparently to determine whether Medicare and other federal and state health programs are being overcharged for goods like rubber gloves, drugs and X-ray machines.     More than a dozen medical supply companies have recently received federal subpoenas in what appears to be a wide-ranging investigation into the way suppliers market their products to clinics, hospitals and nursing homes that serve Medicare and Medicaid patients and whether those institutions properly account for the purchases. [Page A1.]

BUSINESS DIGEST

Interview with Jonathan Mirin, who turned his experience investing unsuccessfully in hot technology stock, Wave Systems, into one-man show, Riding the Wave.com; play is part of New York International Fringe Festival; photo (M)

For a Reformed Wavoid, The Play's the Thing

Justice Department opens criminal investigation of medical-supply industry to determine whether hospitals and other medical care providers are faudulently overcharging Medicare, Medicaid and other federal and state health programs for wide array of goods; over dozen medical-supply companies have received federal subpoenas; investigation appears to center on medical-supply industry's dealings with Novation, industry leader in negotiating contracts that thousands of hospitals and other facilities use to buy drugs and other supplies; Novation is owned by about 2,200 of hospitals and care centers that use its services (M)

WIDE U.S. INQUIRY INTO PURCHASING FOR HEALTH CARE

David Norcross, central organizer of Republican national convention, is also lobbyist for corporate clients like Raytheon that seek access to highest levels of Bush administration; dual roles are not illegal but illustrate how campaign finance reform has had unintended effect of exaggerating already considerable influence of corporations in party conventions; Fred Wertheimer of Democracy 21 calls conventions 'last remaining watering hole'; Norcross is lobbyist for Blank Rome and also longtime politician in New Jersey; photo (M)

Convention Boss's Other Hat: Lobbying G.O.P. for Defense Clients

Economic impact of current surge in oil prices is likely to be much less intense than in past, when oil shocks drove United States into recession; economy is much more energy-efficient than in past and inflation remains under control; rising energy prices are slowing rise of interest rates, providing unexpected economic stimulus; photo (M)

An Oil Shock That Could Be an Economic Stimulus in Disguise

Veteran New York City firefighters Tony Deluca and Christian Waugh are suspended after admitting having had sex with woman in Bronx firehouse while on duty; woman, who has bipolar disorder, returned home to Staten Island and said she had been raped; two men say sex was consensual; Deluca had developed Internet relationship with woman; photos (M)

Two Bronx Firefighters Suspended After Sex Accusation

 INTERNATIONAL   A1-7    Bush Backs Settlements, In Move to Boost Sharon  The Bush administration has modified its policy and signaled approval of the expansion of at least some Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, in a move to lend political support to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.   A1    Uncertain Outcome in Najaf  An attempt to end the standoff between Moktada al-Sadr and American and Iraqi forces at the Imam Ali shrine in Najaf was unclear, as reports suggested that while Mr. Sadr's Mahdi Army fighters may have vacated the shrine, Iraqi security forces did not yet control it.   A7

NEWS SUMMARY

Aug 19 article about conciliatory messages from Moktada al-Sadr omitted attribution for comment from national security adviser Condoleezza Rice; she said, 'I don't think we can trust al-Sadr'

Corrections

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, in Athens for Olympics, cites argument with antiwar protesters over demonstration site as another reason to build stadium on Manhattan's far West Side; again defends refusal to allow large demonstration on Great Lawn of Central Park, pointing out that city is allowing march right past Madison Square Garden site, unlike Boston, which kept protesters behind barbed wire during Republican convention (S)

For Mayor, Antiwar Protest Makes a Pro-Stadium Case

Aug 19 article about teachers' efforts to counter distractions of electronic gadgets in class misidentified software program used by one teacher, Nancy Kemp of Cairo, Ga, with her high-school students; it is Mechanical Desktop 2004

Sachidananda Routray was an Indian poet, novelist and short-story writer who wrote in Odia. He received Jnanpith Award, the highest literary award of India, in 1986. He was popularly known as Biplabi Kabi Sachi Routray.

August 21, 2004

Headlines from August 21, 2004

In His Finale, Phelps Takes Away, and Then Gives

United Given New Deadline To Devise Plan

Future Is Now in 10K, But Webb Must Wait

INSIDE

McGreevey Seeks Limits On Donations

Billboard 200

Autobiography

Now 16

License To Chill

Confessions

Here For The Party

Notable Deaths

Historical Context for August 21, 2004