July 21, 2005

Connie Mack, chairman of Pres Bush's tax advisory commission, will recommend abolishing alternative minimum tax for individuals; says there is no agreement on how to offset $1.2 trillion in revenue over 10 years that would be lost if tax were repealed; almost four million taxpayers will owe tax this year; unless law is changed, 20.5 million will owe it in 2006, and 51.3 million, about 45 percent of all taxpayers, will owe it in 2015 (M)

Profile of Svetlana Zakharova, principal dancer with Bolshoi Ballet and former principal dancer with Kirov Ballet; Zakharova, 26, comments on her dance education and career; photos (M)

ON television, there is a different view of the Tour de France. Instead of the man in the yellow jersey (Lance Armstrong, that is to say), the star on the tube is the host country, which gave us this singular event. Armstrong is the great cyclist of his generation, one of the epic sporting heroes of his own homeland, but in the context of the Tour, he is often one more lithe and determined athlete, knees pumping, somewhere to the front of the peloton.

The Saudi Ambassador To the U.S. Is Resigning Prince Bandar bin Sultan, Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the United States, is resigning for ''private reasons,'' Saudi Arabia announced. In 22 years in the United States, Prince Bandar operated as an insider's insider and wielded enormous influence in Washington over successive administrations. He is to be replaced by another member of the royal family, Prince Turki al-Faisal. PAGE A3 Battle for Unocal Not Over Chevron might have regained the upper hand by getting Unocal to accept its sweetened bid against a higher offer from a government-backed Chinese oil company. But it might not have delivered a knockout blow. BUSINESS DAY, PAGE C1 Sudan Still Backing Militias The Sudan government has continued to finance militias harassing refugees in Darfur, according to American officials. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived in Khartoum, where she will urge an end to the practice. PAGE A3 Doubts About a Rare Bird Three biologists are questioning the evidence used by a team of bird experts who made the electrifying claim in April that they had sighted an ivory-billed woodpecker. The bird, sketched by one of the experts, was presumed to have vanished from the United States decades ago. PAGE A13 Getting Ready to Rumble Wrestlers warming up in El Alto, Bolivia, near La Paz. Indigenous women, dressed in their traditional garb, are the stars of the increasingly popular bouts, Bolivia's version of World Wrestling Entertainment. PAGE A4 Kidnappers Rattle Mexico After armed men kidnapped a famous soccer coach in Mexico City on Tuesday, supporters of crime victims are saying that kidnapping gangs are running amok. PAGE A10 Shield for Reporters The Senate Judiciary Committee gave a generally positive reception to a bill that would protect journalists from having to divulge confidential sources. PAGE A13 'Boots' Made for Mixing A remake of ''These Boots Are Made for Walkin''' aims for every demographic classification. The song mashes up country, dance-pop and more. THE ARTS, PAGE E1

Police investigating terrorist bombings in London begin worldwide hunt for Haroon Rashid Aswat, who they believe may have played key role in attacks; Aswat is former aide to one of Britain's most militant Islamic clerics, Abu Hamza al-Masri, who was arrested in Apr 2004 after urging young men in north London mosque to wage jihad in Afghanistan, Iraq and beyond; Masri faces extradition to United States to face terrorism-related charges; Aswat is also suspected of involvement in plan to set up training camp for Al Qaeda in Oregon six years ago; Scotland Yard suspects Aswat provided four British bombers with support for coordinated attacks in London trains and bus on July 7; he was raised in same section of Britain where one of four bombers lived; senior investigators say they are almost certain he is not in Britain now; photo (M)