South America, led by Brazil, has had explosion of farm exports over past decade; growth is fueled by combination of market-friendly economic policies and advances in agronomy that have brought formerly unusable tropical lands into production and increased productivety levels beyond those in United States and Europe, challenging their traditional dominance of global farm trade; in addition to Brazil, trend is being felt in parts of Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay; photos; map; graphs (L)

South America Seeks to Fill the World's Table

Stall owners and employees of Fulton Fish Market in Lower Manhattan comment on its closing and move to modern facilities at Hunts Point in Bronx; photos (L)

Raising Anchor

Advice on New York City neighborhoods with both good public schools and relatively affordable housing; finding space and school may require having open mind about what constitutes good school and considering neighborhoods that might be unfamiliar; close correlation between property values and schools' test scores noted; drawing; photos (M)

Finding a Neighborhood and a School

White House officials say Pres Bush readily accepted Bernard B Kerik's decision to withdraw his nomination as homeland security secretary after learning that Kerik's nanny was illegal alien and that he failed to pay taxes on her behalf; say it would be impossible for Kerik to win confirmation for post that supervises enforcement of nation's immigration laws; Kerik claims he could have won confirmation, but decided to spare Bush 'messy, ugly' confirmation process; White House officials are annoyed at Kerik for not determining nanny's immigration status before now, but they say there is no evidence he sought to mislead them; former New York City mayor Rudolph W Giuliani, who spoke on Kerik's behalf to White House, says he feels partly responsible for what happened; photo (M)

Kerik's Position Was Untenable, Bush Aide Says

Louise Sunshine, who handles sales of many new New York City luxury condominiumsi

Inside the Box

Home Front column profiles Jim Power, mosaic artist who uses bits of glass, tile and ceramic to form intricate designs on lampposts in Lower Manhattan that commemorate historic events and recognize city's working people; photo (M)

With Few Luxuries, an Artist Sticks to It

Talibes, or beggar boys, of Senegal are troubling reminder that West and Central Africa can be appalling place to be child; plight of children in Africa has only grown worse in 40 years since countries have freed themselves from Europe's colonial rule; AIDS has orphaned them, poverty has driven parents to sell them as cheap labor and warlords turn them into soldiers; photos (M)/

Beggar, Serf, Soldier, Child

Comedian George Carlin is still making people laugh with shock humor that manages to make subjects like suicide and cancer, among other things, funny; still performs about 150 times a year at age 67; photos (M)

Cancer? Suicide? Politics? That's Hilarious!

New England Patriots offensive coordinator Charlie Weis is reportedly negotiating for head football coaching job at Notre Dame University; photo (M)

Weis Is Close to Signing With the Irish

Article, in light of scandal involving general pension plan for city of Chattanooga, Tenn, and its financial management consultant, William Keith Phillips, explores question of whether consultants are putting their interests ahead of clients; Securities and Exchange Commission, concerned about conflicts of interest among consultants who advise pension funds on asset allocation, selection of money managers and other investment matters, is conducting industrywide inquiry; graph; photos (L)

How Consultants Can Retire on Your Pension

Gretchen Morgenson column on study of stock option grants given to chief executives at US companies, conducted by Donal Byard and Ying Li, assistant professors of accountancy at Baruch College, which confirmed that options are very often granted to executives just before good news about company or just after bad news about company is disclosed; study found heavier reliance on stock options in pay of independent directors more effectively aligns their interests to top management rather than shareholders (M)

Are Options Seducing Directors, Too?

New York Jets prepare to face Pittsburgh Steelers; photo (M)

If Jets and Steelers Are Mirror Images, It's Time for One of Them to Crack

American retailers report luxury market has come back with a bang for holidays; say tourists from Paris, London and Tokyo have descended on United States market for their holiday gift shoppiong, taking advantage of weaker dollar; say even many Americans in market for gifts with elegant label seem unfazed at higher prices they have to pay; photos; chart (M)

Luxury Market Thrives inHoliday Season

Congress is engaged in secret battle over new $9.5 billion spy satellite system that could take photographs only in daylight hours and in clear weather; outside experts say program would duplicate existing reconnaissance capabilities; cost of system and doubts about its usefulness have caused some senators to oppose it, without identifying it by name; some current and former government officials express concern that disclosure of existence of highly classified program might be harmful to national security; Congressional Republicans question whether public hints first dropped by four Senate Democrats opposed to program might represent violation of Congressional rules; Sen John D Rockefeller IV, one of those four, reportedly consulted with security officials before issuing carefully worded statement of opposition to program; among champions of program is Porter J Goss, new director of central intelligence (M)

New Spy Plan Said to Involve Satellite System

Online dating seems to be reaching plateau after enjoying profitable boom in 2002 and 2003 as some people looking for love turn back to more traditional meeting places, like bars and singles events; drawing; photos (M)

E-Dating Bubble Springs a Leak

Special report, Lillian and Julia: A Twilight of Fear, describes extreme case of elder abuse of two Brooklyn women by their drug-addicted nephew; two women, in their 70's, were beaten by nephew and forced to beg in streets for money to feed his habit; they lost their life savings, childhood home and their dignity; shame and blood ties kept them from reaching out for help; alert policewoman's persistence brought end to their ordeal; their story recalled in detail; photos (L)

Bowed by Age and Battered by an Addicted Nephew

Honda and General Motors are getting serious about testing hydrogen cars in states with harsh winters; say they are developing fuel cells that remove water from membranes, where it tends to remain when car is turned off, before it can freeze; photo (M)

Fuel Cells in the Deep Freeze

 Taiwan Elections Support Links With Beijing  The opposition Nationalists did well in legislative elections, taking the edge off President Chen Shui-bian's hopes to rewrite the Constitution, which Beijing views as a move toward formal independence for Taiwan. The economic advantages of ties with the mainland seemed to win over voters. The Nationalists are also very reluctant to approve buying $18 billion in weapons that President Bush has offered.   PAGE 20    Errors on Medicare Line  Medicare's toll-free telephone line for questions about new prescription drug benefits and drug discount cards gives accurate answers less than two-thirds of the time, Congressional investigators say.   PAGE 37    Debate at New Jersey A-Plant  New Jersey regulators and a company report warn that flaws in a critical pump at the Salem nuclear power station could cause an accident if the reactor is restarted.   PAGE 51    Fired Iranian Couple Suing  A Shiite Muslim couple living in the United States are suing after they were fired from their government jobs for failing secret background checks.   PAGE 42    Leinart of Southern Cal Wins Heisman Trophy  Matt Leinart, the quarterback who led Southern California to a 12-0 record and the national championship game, became the sixth U.S.C. player to win the award. Oklahoma's freshman running back Adrian Peterson was second.   SPORTSSUNDAY    The U.S. vs. a Nuclear Iran  The prospect of a nuclear-armed Iran worries Washington, and diplomacy, not airstrikes, seems the only answer. But Europe and Washington lack a common approach.   PAGE 8  

INSIDE

Profile of and interview with actress Cate Blanchett, who plays role of Katharine Hepburn in Martin Scorsese's new movie The Aviator; photos (L)

The Cate Who Would Be Kate

Behind the Wheel column reviews 2005 Saab 9-2X Aero; photos (M)

2005 Saab 9-2X Aero: Well Howdy-Do, It's a Saab-aru

Anemona Hartocollis column on John Gilstrap, black man who became New York City firefighter in 1962 and is now retired; says that civil service had its own forms of quotas to screen blacks out of police and firefighter jobs; says that move to suburbs by firefighters hurt their relationship with communities they served; notes that Gilstrap's eldest son, John J Gilstrap, is making documentary about black firefighters, Black Smoke Black Skin (M)

Proud, Fretful, a Firefighter Watches Blacks Spurn His Path

Viennese doctor says tests confirm that Viktor A Yushchenko, Ukrainian opposition candidate, was poisoned with dioxin, providing explantion for broad array of painful and disfiguring conditions that plagued him during last three months of presidential campaign; Dr Michael Zimpfer says Yushchenko's blood dioxin leve was 'more than 1,000 times' upper limits of normal and that his initial severe abdominal pain suggests he ate the poison; Yushchenko's opponents have in past ridiculed his claim of having been poisoned; he fell ill after Sept 5 dinner with Gen Ihor P Smeshko, head of Ukraine's successor to KGB; KGB and Eastern European intelligence services used poison against political enemies in earlier years of cold war; Smeshko dismisses notion that he was involved in poisoning of Yushchenko, and Yushchenko himself has been vague on topic of who tried to poison him; photos (M)

Liberal Leader From Ukraine Was Poisoned

Article profiles some members of Juilliard School's Class of 1994 and varied paths their lives have taken since graduation; map; chart; photos (L)

The Juilliard Effect: Ten Years Later

NFL emphasizes rules limiting contact between players in effort to increase scoring, which is tactic league uses now and then to put more offense into game and spur even more fan interest; photos (M)

N.F.L. Makes Emphatic Point in Playing by the Book

New York Yankees sign pitcher Carl Pavano to four-year contract; photo (M)

December 12, 2004

Headlines from December 12, 2004

South America Seeks to Fill the World's Table

Raising Anchor

Finding a Neighborhood and a School

Kerik's Position Was Untenable, Bush Aide Says

Inside the Box

Billboard 200

How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb

Encore

Greatest Hits

Destiny Fulfilled

Greatest Hits 2

Historical Context for December 12, 2004