July 7, 2005

Chrysler is bringing back Lee A Iacocca to pitch cars in commercials; deal is latest wrinkle in Detroit's price war, which is heating up again as Ford Motor Co and Chrysler rush to match strategy of General Motors Corp of offering public same steep discounts that company employees can get; photo (M)

London wins 2012 Olympic Summer Games in surprising upset over front-running Paris after ardent last-minute lobbying by Prime Min Tony Blair; New York is knocked out in second round of voting, earlier than most expected; London bid was re-energized year ago by Sebastian Coe, British gold-medal-winning runner who took over its leadership; London's ambitious bid plan centered on developing East London, which bid described as among poorest areas of Britain; selection of London ends most fiercely contested--and expensive--bidding competition for Olympics since advent of modern Games in 1896; losing campaigns of Moscow, New York, Madrid and Paris recalled; photos (M)

Kimberly Jones, the rapper known as Lil' Kim, was sentenced yesterday to serve a year and a day in federal prison and pay a $50,000 fine for perjury, after she made a surprise admission in the courtroom that she had lied to a grand jury and during her trial. At the hearing, Ms. Jones abandoned the defiant bad-girl image she had projected to her hip-hop music fans during the month she was on trial.

BEFORE Sharla Phernetton began training with the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team in Training program, she hardly ever made it to the gym. Twice a week, if that. Now, even after five months of organized runs, swims and bike rides, she still doesn't consider herself a real triathlete. ''I'm amazed at what I've done, but I'm not an athlete,'' said Ms. Phernetton, 32, who will attempt to finish the Ford New York City Triathlon on Sunday, along with 250 Team in Training competitors and roughly 1,750 other participants. ''I don't feel at all motivated by the competition itself.''

Shiites' Role Deepens; Envoy Is Threatened Basra, in southern Iraq, far from the insurgency, is being transformed into a Shiite mini-theocracy, forming a flash point because the political parties in Basra also wield significant influence in Baghdad. The group that says it kidnapped Egypt's top diplomat in Baghdad declared that a religious court had condemned him to die as a traitor to Islam. PAGES A6 AND A10 $8 Billion Health Care Deal UnitedHealth Group, one of the nation's largest health insurers, made a bigger push into the large and lucrative Medicare market by agreeing to buy Pacificare Health Systems for $8.14 billion in cash and stock. BUSINESS DAY, PAGE C1 It's the Talk at Work Many turf battles over cellphone etiquette seem to be resolved. Movie theaters and libraries are off limits. Most public transport is fair ground. But the workplace remains unsettled territory. THURSDAY STYLES, PAGE G1 Watergate Figure Is Dead L. Patrick Gray III, an acting director of the F.B.I. and a lasting victim of Watergate, which he helped to expose, was 88. He recently said his ''gravest mistake'' was going to work for Richard M. Nixon. PAGE B11 Evan Hunter Dies The best-selling novelist and screenwriter, credited with virtually inventing the modern police procedural under his pen name, Ed McBain, was 78. PAGE B10 Lil' Kim Gets a Year in Prison Before being sentenced to a year in prison for perjury, Kimberly Jones, the rapper known as Lil' Kim, admitted that she had lied. PAGE B1