December 22, 2005

San Antonio Spurs defeat New York Knicks, 109-96; photos (M)9

Jeffrey L Bewkes is named president and chief operating officer of Time Warner, in line to succeed chief executive, Richard D Parsons, who is fending off efforts by some investors to break up company; has served for last three years as Parsons's co-deputy along with Don Logan, who has openly contemplated retirement for some time but will continue as consultant to company and as nonexecutive chairman of Time Warner Cable; photo of Parsons, Logan and Bewkes (M)

Qatar is becoming leader in emerging international market for natural gas, having moved swiftly in recent years to develop its huge offshore natural gas reserves--once dismissed as practically worthless because of difficulty of transporting gas to distant markets--while cementing its strong military and economic ties with US, which stands to become world's largest importer of liquefied natural gas; has moved to exert greater influence over trade in natural gas through creation of Gas Exporting Countries Forum; some $100 billion is expected to be invested in Qatar through end of decade, and this cash is fueling economy, expanding population, creating housing and office shortages in Doha, capital, and prompting ambitious construction projects to fill them; photo (M)

News analysis: Transport Workers Union head Roger Toussaint appears to have weak hand in transit strike; he has drawn so many lines in sand that it is hard to imagine he might not eventually have to accept deal that will make him eat some humble pie; he is refusing binding arbitration, or any contract that treats new workers worse, or any wage offer that does not exceed inflation; his union faces $1 million fine for every day of strike and individual strikers stand to lose two days' pay for each day out; he is being threatened with jail by state judge; TWU's parent union has come out in opposition to strike and other city unions have stopped short of giving enthusiastic support to illegal walkout (M)

IN the shadow of the hulking industrial carcass of the Bethlehem Steel site here, a cozy boutique called Comfort and Joy is selling ''aromatherapeutic'' cleaning products, herbal teas nested in silk pouches and $1,200 designer quilts. Down the street, another store, Home and Planet, is offering $800 end tables made from recycled steel beams. The pricey quilts and tables are increasingly being marketed to an influx of middle-class New Yorkers who have come to the Lehigh Valley in search of affordable housing and good schools they could not easily find back home. The newcomers are recasting this former steel and coal-mining area into a new kind of bedroom community, bringing their cosmopolitan tastes with them.