December 8, 2004

Regulators are wielding new weapon against Wall Street firms in hope that it might hurt more than multimillion-dollar fines: temporarily shutting down certain business lines; NASD last week prohibited Merrill Lynch and Wachovia Securities from registering brokers for five days on top of fining firms: $1.6 million for Merrill and $650,000 for Wachovia; each firm had failed to report to NASD on-time information including customer complaints, regulatory actions and criminal charges and convictions about brokers (M)

Supreme Court hears arguments on whether to permit interstate wine sales; justices appear notably unmoved by New York's and Michigan's arguments defending state laws that bar direct shipments to consumers from other states, but allow shipments from in-state wineries; age of Internet sales finds 50 states almost equally divided, and federal courts also split between one upholding New York's law and second declaring Michigan's ban to be unconstitutional curb on interstate commerce; two states say 21st Amendment, which repealed Prohibition, gives states such blanket authority over 'importation' of alcohol as to trump Constitution's rule that states cannot discriminate in favor of own products and Congress regulates interstate commerce; Kathleen Sullivan, arguing for 13 Michigan consumers, sees pattern of state discrimination; Clint Bolick, arguing for New York plaintiffs, says small wineries cannot affor to set up offices around country to reach customers (M)

Sony Corp is using Russian cargo planes to fly new version of its PlayStation 2 games console to Europe after incident in Suez Canal disrupted supplies (S)

In the spring of 1998, Mahin Gorji became the first female sportswriter allowed into Iran's national soccer stadium since the country's Islamic revolution of 1979. As she spoke to an American reporter in the open press box, Gorji ignored bits of food tossed at her in disgust. A year later, Gorji followed the 1999 Women's World Cup through satellite television, surfing the Web, rewriting news-agency reports for her sports newspaper in Tehran. Of all the players, she found Mia Hamm particularly intriguing.

New York State Legislature approves $1.4 billion expansion of Jacob K Javits Convention Center (NYC), pleasing those who say center's added size will attract more trade shows and disappointing those who hoped officials would vote to keep facility linked with proposed new stadium for New York Jets; photo (M)