October 28, 2004

BP's 50-50 Russian venture TNK-BP is posting record profits and pumps one of every five barrels of BP's worldwide oil supply; BP is maneuvering gingerly in hopes of avoiding any direct conflict with Russian government, which is moving to reassert its influence over country's lucrative energy business; need to respond to shifting political climate has been driven home ever since Russian oil company Yukos came under attack last year from authorities; Yukos's founder Mikhail B Khodorkovsky is in jail facing criminal charges and company still owes $8 billion in back taxes; chart; photos (M)

Howard Goldstein is charged with fatal beating of Rahamim Sultan, 75-year-old Brooklyn man who took him in as border to help pay rent; police say Goldstein kept Sultan's battered body in apartment for days and answered door dressed in women's clothes when police came to investigate; friends from synagogue Sultan attended reported him missing; photo (M)

Lynne F Stewart, lawyer for convicted terrorist Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, breaks down while giving testimony at her trial in New YYork City for passing messages from him; says her actions did not violate any US restriction or commands; lays out her rationale for conveying Abdel Rahman's message to international news media, which called for end to three-year-old cease-fire by his militant followers in Egypt; answers no when asked whether she believed Abdel Rahman wanted followers to start shooting; says confidence between lawyer and client is not to be shared with anyone else (M)

Sculptor Hally Thatcher's desert ranch house in Morongo Valley, Calif, has prefabricated metal canopy over roof and dropcloth curtains around it, providing crucial shade for indoor-outdoor living in treeless landscape; photos (M)

Brazil is expected to produce record soybean crop of 60.8 million metric tons this year; harvest would be 22 percent increase from 2003; forecast also says 20 percent of soy crop was planted with genetically modified seed, which was banned until 2003 (S)m

Pres Bush breaks his silence on disappearance of 380 tons of explosives in Iraq, accusing Sen Kerry of making 'wild charges' and 'denigrating' troops in field; Kerry responds by lauding troops and blaming Bush; Bush remarks reflect concern in his re-election campaign that issue hurts him; Bush, campaigning in Lancaster County, Pa, says military probes number of scenarios, including possibility that explosives were moved before troops arrived; Kerry spends day charging Bush put American troops at enormous risk; photo (M)

Walt Disney Co's former president Michael S Ovitz finds himself on defensive about his continuing relationship with talent agency he left for Disney in testimony at Disney shareholders trial; Steven G Schulman, lawyer for Disney shareholders suing over board's handling of Ovitz's controversial tenure in mid-1990's, attacks one of tenets of Ovitz's defense: that he gave up lucrative career at Creative Artists Agency after 21 years to join Disney in 1995; Schulman points out that Ovitz still received rent from building where agency he co-founded is located; adds Ovitz also gets stake in commission in current Creative Artists, which was reorganized when he left; presses Ovitz about joint venture--to produce advertising--that he helped former Creative Artists colleagues set up with Coca-Cola Co and Disney; photo (M)

Sen Charles E Schumer goes to Staten Island for rare re-election campaign appearance, but is partly there to stump for Frank Barbaro, House candidate, and Diane Savino, State Senate candidate; ignores attacks of his opponent, Assemblyman Howard D Mills; has become adept at denying he is interested in running for governor in 2006 while leaving question open for further discussion; photos (M)

Counterfeit tickets to sports events and concerts are becoming more common, thanks to inexpensive scanners, color printers and publishing software; use of barcoding scanned at entrance has helped deter counterfeiting and some venues may begin use of e-tickets and kiosks for ticket purchase; photo (M)

At Home With interview with Ai Weiwei, Chinese artist, designer and architect who worked with Swiss firm Herzog & de Meuron on Olympic Stadium being built in Beijing for 2008 Summer Games; photos (M)

Honda Motor Co reports 7.5 percent decline in net profit in quarter ended Sept 30 as dollar fell and sales slowed in North America; net income fell to 127.1 billion yen ($1.2 billion) from 137.3 billion yen year earlier; revenue rose 3.8 percent, to 2.09 trillion yen ($19.6 billion); photo (M)/

$17.8 billion, three-way deal that London-based financier Lakshmi N Mattal announced this week would put him at head of largest, most geographically diverse steel company in world; new Mittal Steel would be made up of LNM Holdings and Ispat International, two Mittal family companies that would be merged and then would buy International Steel Group of $4.5 billion; Mittal family would end up with 88 percent of new company; Mittal Steel would ship 57 million tons of steel each year from plants in 14 countries, and generate annual operating income of about $7 billion; photos (M)