February 18, 2006

Asbury Park, New Jersey, City Counil, under pressure to show progress on redeveloping 56 acres on blighted oceanfront, gives developer Asbury Partners one month to negotiate changes in its agreement and prove its financial resouces; ambitious plan became mired in developer's bankruptcy and indictment of some town officials 15 years ago; work is under way on three condominiums but landmark board buildings like Convention Hall remain ghostlike, even as Victorian homes inland are renovated; critics like renovation developer Richard DePetro say Asbury Partners is 'land banking' sites until value increases; photos (M)

Cisco Systems, Microsoft, Yahoo and Google appear before House subcommittee investigating their role in helping Chinese government supress free speech on Internet; Rep Tom Lantos questions company representatives, asking if they are ashamed for what they have done; all companies maintain they must work within nation's laws and that limited, censored Internet is better than no Internet at all; companies often must figure out rules themselves since no government guidelines currently exist; some argue government has similar policies toward dealing with China as technology companies do (M)

Carl C Icahn reaches deal with Time Warner chairman Richard D Parsons to end proxy fight for control of company; Parsons will appoint two independent directors to board but insists Time Warner will choose them with Icahn's input; Icahn had planned to scale back his demands if agreement was not made; says he underestimated shareholders' desire for complete change; photo (M)

Vivi, award-winning whippet that escaped from crate at Kennedy International Airport, is one of dozens of dogs and cats lost and found on airport's 5,000 acres each year; local resident Bobbi Giordano has set up no-kill shelter in cargo area, sharing space with pet hotel and stable for horses being shipped by air; shelter presently has 25 dogs; photos (M)

Fannie Mae adopts new guiding principles in stark contrast to how company has acted in past; chief executive Daniel H Mudd acknowledges long, hard work will be needed to change company's arrogant image; critics say little has changed despite Mudd's insistance on different Fannie Mae; Justice Department, Securities and Exchange Commission and Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight are investigating how executives violated accounting rules to improve company's earnings which led board of directors to force out most of senior management beginning Dec 2004; photos; graph (M)