October 10, 2005

Trade Chief Says U.S. Would Cut Farm Subsidies The United States is prepared to cut many farm subsidies by 60 percent in five years and eventually eliminate them, but wants deeper cuts by the European Union and Japan, the top United States trade official said. PAGE A14 East, Meet West Kasugao and 37 other sumo wrestlers were in Las Vegas this weekend for the first top-level event in the United States in 20 years. PAGE A14 Liberia's Vote of Confidence As Liberians prepare to vote in an election this week, they are turning their attention from war and corruption to peace and ideas. PAGE A3 I.B.M. Adopts Genetic Policy Amid concerns that genetic information could become a modern tool of discrimination, I.B.M. plans to announce today that it will not use it in hiring or in determining eligibility for its health care or benefits plans. BUSINESS DAY, PAGE C1 Pressure on Sony BMG Chief Bertelsmann, the German media giant, has notified Sony that it does not want to renew the contract of Andrew R. Lack, the former NBC television executive who runs Sony BMG, the two companies' joint music venture. PAGE A16 A Somber Task in Guatemala Residents of Panabáj, Guatemala, worked through the weekend to dig out bodies from the mudslide that engulfed their village in the wake of Hurricane Stan. The national death toll rose to 652 from 510. PAGE A13

He considers himself an oracle and, yes, a bit of an opportunist, too. He says that nothing will make him sorrier than to be proved right. Yet he concedes that he could benefit financially, should it be proved that his archrival in the business of selling rare or important maps is found to be a thief. Still, W. Graham Arader III, who has been criticized by clients and colleagues for years for his attacks on E. Forbes Smiley III, a leading competitor, says he is looking forward to vindication.

They were eight outs from elimination, staring into the teeth of what might be the best late-inning bullpen in baseball. The Yankees had their closer idling in the bullpen, their bags packed for California, their charter flight ready at the airport. All they needed was a break. First, they made one. Then they got one. A pinch-hit single by Ruben Sierra with one out in the seventh inning tied Game 4 of the American League division series, and the winning run scored soon after on a bounced throw home by third baseman Chone Figgins. Mariano Rivera finished off the Los Angeles Angels for the final two innings, and the Yankees headed to Anaheim, Calif., with a 3-2 victory.

IBM plans to announce new work force privacy policy that it will bar use of genetic information in hiring or in determining eligibility for its health care or other benefits plans; new policy comes as Congress is considering legislation on genetic privacy and is response to growing trend in medical research to focus on person's genetic propensity for disease in hopes of tailoring treatments to specific medical needs; start-up companies are already intent on developing market for genetic testing and counseling, and IBM has become big player in what is called information-based medicine, which relies on genetic information; photo (M)

Early ratings in new television season show some slippage among reality shows, including Survivor and The Amazing Race on CBS and The Apprenctice on NBC; interest in reality shows has already cooled in Britian, where many of formats originated; most executives express no real concern, and networks are expected to continue coming up with reality shows, if only because they are cheaper to produce than most scripted shows; photo (M)