Technology Briefing | Internet: S.E.C. Issues Warning On Fraud
Date: 26 June 2002
Securities and Exchange Commission reprimands 17-year-old Benjamin Snyder who posted fabricated article on Internet under name of journalist John Rega from Bloomberg News to try to inflate stock price of Viragen International Inc, drug company in which Snyder had invested; Snyder posted article on online investor message boards saying Viragen has been working on anthrax treatment called Vivox that has been approved by Food and Drug Administration (S)
Full Article
World Briefing | Asia: India: Investigators Raid Muckrakers
Date: 27 June 2002
By Barry Bearak (NYT)
Barry NYT
Indian investigators raid New Delhi offices of muckraking news Web site Tehelka.com, which became famous in 2001 by setting up its own sting operation to film politicians and army commanders who accepted bribes from journalists posing as arms dealers (S)
Full Article
Germans Fear Bombers May Attack 'Love Parade'
Date: 26 June 2002
By Steven Erlanger
Steven Erlanger
Tabloid news report raises fears that militant Muslims may be planning terrorist bombing at Berlin's annual Love Parade on July 13; police and festival officials say there are no plans to cancel festival, which brings together as many as million people in free-wheeling celebration (S)
Full Article
India to Ease Limits on Foreign Ownership in Media and Tea
Date: 26 June 2002
By Saritha Rai
Saritha Rai
India will relax restrictions on foreign ownership in print media and tea industries in effort to offset swelling current-account deficit; foreign owners could acquire stakes of up to 74 percent in technical journals and other nonnews publications, and up to 26 percent in newspapers and current-affairs periodicals; ban was imposed in 1955; editorial and management control would have to remain in Indian hands and in case of news publications, foreigners could not be largest shareholders; each deal and each foreign owner would have to obtain clearance from government; government also decides to allow 100 percent foreign direct ownership of tea plantations and other parts of tea industry (M)
Full Article
Russia Acquits 6 in Killing of Reporter Investigating the Military
Date: 27 June 2002
By Sabrina Tavernise
Sabrina Tavernise
Russian military court acquits six men, five of them army officers, in murder of Dmitri Kholodov, journalist investigating corruption in Russian military in the early 1990's; verdict outrages Russian journalists (M)
Full Article
Klitschko Keeps Cool During Prefight Show
Date: 27 June 2002
By Thomas George
Thomas George
Ray Mercer and Wladimir Klitschko hold pre-fight news conference, during which Mercer and his entourage spar with Klitschko's brother Vitali, leaving Wladimir to keep his cool and answer questions about upcoming heavyweight title bout; photo (M)
Full Article
Away From the TV Cameras, Fire Consumes Apache Land
Date: 27 June 2002
By Charlie Leduff
Charlie Leduff
Arizona wildfires bring widespread and lasting economic damage to Fort Apache Indian Reservation; letting fires burn out is not option for the Apache, whose economy depends on logging, tourism and hunting permits; threatening messages have been left on answering machine of tribal chairman, laying blame for fire at feet of Apache because one of fires was allegedly set by teenager from Cibecue community; fire on reservation has not received media attention that resort town of Show Low has, and Pres Bush did not set foot on Indian land during his visit to state; photos; map (M)
Full Article
World Briefing | Europe: Russia: Journalist's Appeal Turned Down
Date: 26 June 2002
By Sophia Kishkovsky (NYT)
Sophia NYT
Russian supreme court rejects appeal by jailed journalist Grigory Pasko and also turns down appeal by prosecutors to toughen his sentence; Pasko has served more than half of four-year sentence on treason conviction for gathering information for Japanese television on dumping of nuclear waste by Russia's Pacific Fleet (S)
Full Article
In Defense of Martha
Date: 27 June 2002
By Leslie Savan
Leslie Savan
Leslie Savan Op-Ed article says press coverage of possible improper stock trading by Martha Stewart has been deplorably nasty; says it is always more fun to focus on an individual than corporation, to humiliate a woman over six-figure stock sale than to examine systemic problems that lead to Enron, Global Crossing or insider trading that goes on between lobbyists and elected officials; drawing (M)
Full Article
FEDERATED SELLING $1.2 BILLION OF FINGERHUT ASSETS
Date: 27 June 2002
By Bloomberg News
Bloomberg News
Federated Department Stores agrees to sell about $1.2 billion of credit card receivables from its Fingerhut catalog and Internet unit to CompuCredit Corp; says it will buy receivables at discount and will keep 800 Fingerhut employees in Minnesota (S)
Full Article