Manohla Dargis reviews movie Alfie, directed by Charles Shyer and starring Jude Law; photos (M)

A Modern-Day Charmer Who Lives for the Chase

European Central Bank leaves benchmark interest rate unchanged at 2 percent; photo (S)

World Business Briefing | Europe: Interest Rate Unchanged

Scenic Hudson Land Trust buys 366 acres of forest in center of President Franklin D Roosevelt estate in Hyde Park (NY), reconnecting Roosevelt's home to property where Eleanor Roosevelt moved after his death; photos (M)

A Sigh of Relief in Hyde Park

Air National Guard F-16 warplane strafes Little Egg Harbor Intermediate School (NJ) during night training mission, inadvertently firing at school's roof; map (M)

Warplane Strafes a School in New Jersey

Metropolitan Transportation Authority announces that fare increases, service cuts and layoffs affecting subways and buses will be less drastic than originally forecasted (M)

Transit Agency Softens Its Plan to Increase Subway Fares

Medicare is for first time making its payments for new and expensive treatments and diagnostic tests conditional on agreement by companies or other groups to pay for studies on whether new methods actually work on patients who get them; Dr Mark McClellan, agency's new director, says goal is better and more cost-effective medicine; in past, Medicare just paid bills or said no to treatment; problem arises because Food and Drug Administration evaluation tests before they come to market often leave huge gaps in doctors' knowledge of how well they work, and for whom; now, with flood of promising but astronomically expensive treatments and little data on how they work in real world, Medicare wants to use its 41 million beneficiaries to get some answers; it is using threat of refusing to pay unless patients are in study as cudgel to get companies or foundations or professional groups to pay for research; photo; chart (M)

Medicare Covers New Treatments With a Catch

North Dakota University will host world championship tournament of junior hockey, which, because of NHL lockout this season, could attract large crowds of hockey enthusiasts to famed Ralph Engelstad Arena; photos (M)

The Little Rink on the Prairie in North Dakota

Kakha Bendukidze, former business oligarch in Russia and new economy minister of former Soviet republic Georgia, is attempting to jump-start stagnant economy through series of market reforms centering on infusion of private investment; seeks to privatize businesses of all sizes, as well as reduce personal income and corporate taxes and deregulate banking and insurance industries; also wants to end reliance on foreign aid, which currently represents about 15 percent of country's 2005 budget ; photo (M)

An Oligarch Goes Home to Lift Georgia's Economy

South African bank FirstRand announces it will sell 10 percent stake to group of black investors for $1.1 billion; group includes investment holding company Kagiso Trust Investments (S)

World Business Briefing | Africa: South Africa: Black Investors Get Bank Stake

Richard Sandomir TV Sports column discusses CBS Sports NFL analyst Phil Simms's new book Sunday Morning Quarterback; photo (M)

Simms Gives Colleagues Low Ratings

Dave Anderson Sports of The Times column discusses New York Mets' hiring of Willie Randolph as manager; Randolph says he always knew would eventually get managing job (M)

This Man and This Job Were Made for Each Other

New York City Police Department will examine complaints of non-criminal police abuse during protests at Republican National Convention; photo (M)

Police Create Panel on Abuse Claims at Convention

New York City Board of Elections was seriously unprepared for 400,000 new voters who flooded polling places for presidential election; its Web site and phone lines, where thousands went looking for information about where to vote, failed; tens of thousands of voters stood for hours at polls; some befuddled poll workers could not locate basic paperwork and gave incomprehensible directives; antiquated mechanical voting machines at times broke down, and there were not enough mechanics on hand to fix them; critics cite aging systems and tradition of hiring workers not for their qualifications but for their loyalty to political party operatives; structure of city's Board of Elections makes it an anomaly in government; it is financed by taxpayer dollars, but under state law, Republican and Democratic Parties in each borough choose its 10 members; board's staff members, usually connected to elected and party officials, often lack skills for complex tasks they are assigned; board's executive director John Ravitz, who is veiwed by many as working hard to professionalize agency, defends board as working hard with shoestring budget; photo (M)

Warning for 2006 Is Seen in Failures at Polls in the City

Federal judge has temporarily frozen more than $500 million in assets owned by thousands of doctors and dentists who bought abusive tax shelters run by Xelan, San Diego investment company, according to Justice Department; action, one of largest of its kind, is rare and part of effort by Internal Revenue Service to clamp down on tax shelters it considers abusive; about 4,000 doctors and dentists across nation bought tax-reduction plans in recent years from Xelan, evading $420 million in taxes, not including interest and penalties; agents from FBI and IRS search Xelan's headquarters in San Diego; Xelan, founded and run by Dr L Donald Guess, San Diego dentist turned financial adviser, is subject of criminal investigation by federal grand jury in San Diego (M)

$500 Million Frozen in I.R.S. Crackdown in Doctors' Tax Case

United Airlines, trying to restructure after nearly two years in bankruptcy protection, tells its unions that it wants to terminate its four employee pension plans and seek additional wage and benefit cuts, as part of plan to cut another $2 billion per year in costs; termination of pension plans would require approval from Federal Bankruptcy Court; United would have to convince judge that it has no other chance of survival to secure approval; if United terminates its plans, federal Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp, which insures pension benefits in event of default, would have to assume most of airline's unsecured debt to its present and future retirees, which it estimates at $8.3 billion; government has calculated that it would be responsible for about $6.4 billion of that total (M)

United Seeks an Additional $2 Billion in Cost Cuts

Canadian aluminum maker Alcan reports third-quarter net income of $167 million, up from $87 million in year-earlier period; sales rose 77 percent to $6.24 billion (S)

World Business Briefing | Americas: Canada: Profit Rises At Alcan

Article on Greenwood, once sleepy Mississippi Delta town that is becoming cooking capital of world; Greenwood, headquarters of Viking Range Corp, has become destination for cooking, range and cooktop groupies and boasts factory tour, legendary Southern restaurants, first-rate cooking school and Viking-owned luxury boutique hotel called Alluvian; photos; map (M)

The Stove Groupies' Pilgrimage

Rituals article on scene at girls soccer match in Weston, Fla, on Silent Saturday, when coaches are asked not to coach, parents are asked not to cheer or guide children in any way and children are free to have fun; photos (M)

No Yelling, No Cheering. Shhhhh! It's Silent Saturday.

 A Different NY Logo for Randolph  Willie Randolph, the Yankee coach and longtime second baseman, took over as the Mets' manager, the first African-American to manage a major league baseball team in New York.   SPORTSFRIDAY, PAGE D1    Pollsters Find Flaws in System That Overrated Kerry  The new $10 million polling system used by many news organizations to predict the outcome of the presidential race was marred by problems that led to an early erroneous impression that Senator John Kerry was heading for victory, according to a report by the system's architects.   PAGE A23    A Coalition of the Faithful  Pastor by pastor, rabbi by rabbi, and often face to face, President Bush has built relationships over the last four years with a range of religious leaders. The payoff came on Election Day, when Mr. Bush had strong support from social conservatives of many faiths.   PAGE A22    Jet Strafes New Jersey School  An Air National Guard warplane flying a night training mission accidentally strafed an elementary school in Little Egg Harbor Township, N.J., with rounds from its 20-millimeter cannon, New Jersey military officials said.   PAGE B1    Next Up for Bush Strategist  Karl Rove, called by President Bush the architect of his re-election, has cemented his reputation as a canny campaign guru and put himself in position to help realize his goal of consolidating a broad Republican electoral majority for a generation to come.   PAGE A22    Mrs. Edwards Has Cancer  Elizabeth Edwards, the wife of John Edwards, the Democratic vice presidential candidate, received a diagnosis of breast cancer on the same day Mr. Edwards's running mate, Senator John Kerry, conceded the presidential election.   PAGE A25    United Is Seeking More Cuts  United Airlines told its unions it wanted to terminate four employee pension plans as part of an effort to cut $2 billion a year in costs.   PAGE C1    Leaping Short Buildings  ''The Incredibles,'' a Pixar film opening today, comes close to greatness, but in the end raises hopes it cannot quite satisfy. Reviewed by A. O. Scott.   WEEKEND/ARTS, PAGE E1  

INSIDE

Yasir Arafat is in serious condition in intensive care unit of French military hospital after drastic deterioration in his health; absense of regular, authoritative medical reports about precise nature and treatment of his illness and medical prognosis sparks rumors, with Israeli media and Prime Min Claude Juncker of Luxembourg declaring that he has died; French health official issues formal denial of that rumor; Arafat's decline touches off flurry of political activity in Jerusalem and Ramallah, where he has been confined for past two and half years; Israeli military draws up plans to deal with possible unrest in aftermath of his death, and Israeli officials seek ways to ensure that, in event of his death, Arafat would not be buried n Jerusalem as he has requested; Palestinian officials focus on establishing temporary lines of authority to keep day-to-day operations of Palestinian Authority, with Prime Min Ahmed Qurei assuming some of Arafat's financial powers; photos (M)

Arafat's Condition Is Deteriorating, Reports Indicate

Hundreds of plaintiffs' lawyers who claim that people were injured or killed by painkiller Vioxx plan to meet next week in Pasadena, Calif, and Las Vegas to lay groundwork for nationwide legal assault against drug's maker, Merck; J Michael Papantonio, lawyer in Pensacola, Fla, who organized Las Vegas meeting, says about 500 plaintiffs' lawyers are expected to attend; The Lancet, respected British medical journal, publishes analysis of all clinical trials of Vioxx completed by 2001, and concluded that Merck and Food and Drug Administration should have known enough about drug's hazards to withdraw it years ago; photo (M)

Lawyers Organizing for Mass Suits Over Vioxx

Dutch insurance and banking concern ING Group reports third-quarter profit of $2.04 billion, up 63 percent from year ago (S)

World Business Briefing | Europe: The Netherlands: Profit Up At Finance Concern

Iraqi electoral officials say they would allow millions of Iraqis outside country, majority of them Shiites, to vote in coming election, decision that appears certain to increase tensions among minority Sunni Arabs; United Nations and United States had recommended strongly against allowing expatriate voting because such polling is notoriously difficult to organize and process is more prone to irregularities and charges of fraud; leading Shiite and Kurdish politicians, as well as Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, strongly support expatriate voting; Iraqi electoral commission must still determine procedure for expatriate voting, as well as politically charged matter of where it will be allowed; it must also secure relatively large budget for polling; many Iraqis fled during 35-year rule of Saddam Hussein and his Sunni-dominated Baath Party; two million to four million now live abroad, with biggest concentrations in Britain, US and Iran; those voters could account for up to 15 percent of total; pohto (M)

Iraqi Officials to Allow Vote by Expatriates

Long-running battle over federal judgeships is expected to continue when new Congress convenes next year, even under strengthened Republican control; despite significant gains on Election Day, Republican majority of 55 senators falls five votes short of 60 needed to break Democratic filibuster; Sen Arlen Specter, Republican who faced toughest primary race of his political career, is expected to rise to chairmanship of Senate Judiciary Committee, position that will give him great influence over judicial confirmation process; he is centrist whose support for abortion rights is well known; he makes remarks that seem to warn Pres Bush against nominating Supreme Court justices who would overturn Roe v Wade, infuriating abortion opponents and raising possibility that some fellow Republicans will work to block him from chairmanship; photo (M)

Despite G.O.P. Gain, Fight Over Judges Remains

BATON ROUGE, La., where Huey P. Long once held sway, offers visitors plenty of history, roadhouse Cajun cuisine and, oh yes, L.S.U. football. Page 4.  

Kingfish Country

Donald Towe Jones was an American-Dutch actor, singer and dancer; born in Harlem, he went to the Netherlands in his early twenties and became one of the first Dutch black stars.

November 5, 2004

Headlines from November 5, 2004

A Modern-Day Charmer Who Lives for the Chase

World Business Briefing | Europe: Interest Rate Unchanged

A Sigh of Relief in Hyde Park

Warplane Strafes a School in New Jersey

Transit Agency Softens Its Plan to Increase Subway Fares

Billboard 200

Stardust... The Great American Songbook Vol. III

Suit

50 Number Ones

Confessions

Genius Loves Company

Notable Deaths

Historical Context for November 5, 2004