February 2, 2006

Robert J. Stein Jr. could not have been clearer about his feelings toward the American businessman who was receiving millions of dollars in contracts from Mr. Stein to build a major police academy and other reconstruction projects in Iraq. ''I love to give you money,'' Mr. Stein wrote in an e-mail message to the businessman, Philip H. Bloom, on Jan. 3, 2004, just as the United States was trying to ramp up its rebuilding program in Iraq.

People are having radio frequency identification chips implanted in their bodies and wiring scanners to their computers, car doors and other devices so that they activate them without keys or direct physical contact; chips, known as RIFD tags, mark another step towards convergence of human and computer that has long been predicted by digital visionaries; detractors fear a future in which people are required to have implants or raise questions about safety of procesure, which can be performed by body-piercers; photos (M)

Online music fans are downloading individual celebrated oldies along with current radio hits and trend is threatening sales of 'greatest hits' collections; some of classic hits discussed and impact on music industry examined; photos (M)

Evo Morales, first indigenous president of Bolivia, has become fashion trendsetter with his colorful multistriped sweaters; photos (M)

In surprising testimony on Wednesday, Enron's former head of investor relations said that the company fudged its quarterly earnings and repeatedly lied to Wall Street about the true condition of its troubled broadband services division to keep its stock price soaring. Mark E. Koenig, the first witness to take the stand in the criminal trial of Enron's former chief executives Kenneth L. Lay and Jeffrey K. Skilling, said he lied to analysts on several occasions about the source of supposed revenues in the broadband business.

New York Knicks coach Larry Brown discusses team's 14-30 record; photos (M)

Planners of $1 billion Bank of American building at 1 Bryant Park, designed by Cook + Fox Architects with Durst Organization as developer, expect it to be first skyscraper to earn top environmental rating from coalition of building industry leaders when it opens in 2008; tower is among 15 projects highlighted in exhibition on 'green' architecture at Skyscraper Museum; photos (M)

Developers and custom-home builders across nation are supersizing apartments, creating McCondos; drawings (M)

Pittsburgh Steelers and linebacker Larry Foote prepare to face Seattle Seahawks at Super Bowl in Detroit (Mich), where Foote is from; photo (M)

Jeanine F Pirro discusses her dropping out of New York Senate race and new focus on seeking New York State Republican Attorney General nomination; is making her respected record as Westchester prosecutor keystone of current campaign, while trying to explain away concerns of earlier missteps that some say could haunt her political future; photo (M)

Three months after the devastating earthquake leveled every house in this mountain village in Pakistani-controlled Kashmir, the newlyweds Zaheer and Shazia found themselves sleeping once more in the open, this time in the snow. Their cotton tent had collapsed on top of them in the night under a heavy snowfall, so for four nights, they huddled in the open on a rope bed by a fire. ''It was very cold, the snow fell on our faces,'' said Shazia, 19, with a shy smile. ''We need a shelter, food rations and bedding.''

For generations of children, a serving of whole milk, customarily in a red and white carton, has been as synonymous with school as a yellow No. 2 pencil. When President Harry S. Truman signed the National School Lunch Program into law in 1946, a half pint of milk was one of five dietary staples required by the bill. But children today are fat, or at least too many of them are, and to cut the risks of obesity, diabetes and other health problems, New York City -- the nation's largest school district -- has decided to cut whole milk from the menu.