By the end of 2006 , Wall Street had every reason to celebrate .

A second-half rally propelled the stock market to its best year since 2003 .

Companies reported strong profits , and some , like oil producers and investment banks , had record-shattering earnings .

Yet the year had a more precarious beginning .

Worries were rampant that a slowdown in housing would hurt the overall economy and that the Federal Reserve would raise interest rates and stall growth .

But the economy proved resilient , withstanding a housing slump .

The Fed halted its campaign for higher interest rates .

Profits accelerated , and there was a huge wave of mergers and acquisitions .

Nonetheless , Wall Street economists are looking at 2007 with some caution .

They expect at least some slowdown in economic growth .

And many worry that housing 's slump will spread to other corners of the economy .

The analysts surveyed predicted that the Standard & Poor 's 500-stock index , which closed 2006 at 1,418.30 , would end 2007 at 1,440 to 1,570 .

Richard Bernstein Chief Investment Strategist Merrill Lynch Though concerns mount that the world is suffering from global warming , Richard Bernstein is content to call himself a `` bipolar bear . ''

While he foresees returns rising 12 percent over the coming year -- and the S . & P . hitting 1,570 by the end of the year -- Mr. Bernstein expects increased volatility .

That is in large part because the Fed will not ease , or lower rates , in January , he says .

`` As the uncertainty about the Fed easing has gone up , you 've found that the market has become choppier , `` he said .

Mr. Bernstein cautioned that he expected growth in gross domestic product to be a full percentage point below other estimates , citing in part a `` money illusion '' over the growth in the Dow and even in energy prices .

Investors should watch earnings carefully , he said .

`` There 's sort of an embedded assumption that earnings will be going great forever . ``

Mr. Bernstein recommends a mix of 50 percent stocks , 30 percent bonds and 20 percent cash for investors ' portfolios .

Among sectors to watch , Mr. Bernstein rated telecommunications as a growth sector , aided by increasing attractiveness in European and Asian companies .

`` It 's one of our turnaround sectors , `` he said .

He is bearish on energy and commodities , citing their cyclical nature .

Abby Joseph Cohen Chief Investment Strategist Goldman Sachs The coming year looks to be reasonable , if a little slow , said Abby Joseph Cohen , long one of Wall Street 's optimists .

`` We are assuming profit growth is in the process of deceleration , '' she said .

`` Especially in the case of energy companies , we expect that they will show gains for 2007 , but they will not show as much of a boost as in previous years . ''

Still , Ms. Cohen said , her team 's research indicates that the S . & P . is underpriced , pointing to a 12-month target of 1,550 .

Buoyed by the Fed 's halt in raising interest rates , merger activity should keep rolling , but with more of a focus on international expansion .

With the slowdown in housing , the economy will rotate toward discretionary consumer services , like travel , restaurants and entertainment , she said .

Large-capitalization industrials and information technology may also see favorable growth .

Over all , Ms. Cohen said , the economy should run well , with no real bumps in the way .

David Bianco Chief U.S. Equity Strategist UBS Investment Research David Bianco remembers a scary moment from last summer , as he and others feared that the Fed might tighten interest rates .

Since then , the stock market has recovered and that forward momentum should carry over into 2007 , he said .

`` We 'll continue to see P / E expansion , `` Mr. Bianco said of price-to-earnings ratios , '' mostly driven by everybody 's fears of a weakening economy not taking place . ``

Mr. Bianco said that he expects the Fed to cut interest rates in March , setting a fairly steady metronome for slowing but solid growth and a target S . & P . of 1,500 by year-end .

Like Ms. Cohen , Mr. Bianco said that he sees the S . & P . as relatively undervalued .

Despite the flurry of merger activity in 2006 , he believes that the S . & P . has been using less than half of its debt capacity , something he expects to be corrected .

Housing will continue to slow and prices will fall further , taking consumer-related spending and industries like autos along with it , he said .

Abhijit Chakrabortti Chief U.S. and Global Equity Strategist J . P . Morgan Chase Last year can be summed up in one phrase , according to Abhijit Chakrabortti : Value killed growth .

`` If you had that the S . & P . would be up for the year , you would have said that tech , industrials and health care would kill value stocks , '' he said .

`` But telecoms and utilities were the big winners . ''

Coming off a surprisingly good 2006 , however , Mr. Chakrabortti is distinctly bearish .

He sees slower growth in the United States compared with Asia and Europe .

Volatility will pick up as earnings slow down , he added , and the dollar will weaken .

The Fed will hold steady , Mr. Chakrabortti said , but other central banks will tighten .

He predicts the S . & P . will rise to 1,440 -- the low end of targets among the analysts surveyed .

`` I very much suspect that there will be a time when a 1,440 valuation looks good , '' he said .

`` The market will be disappointed with the Fed , and we 'll see a significant correction sometime in the first half . ``

Ethan S . Harris Chief U.S. Economist Lehman Brothers Ethan S . Harris said he was less surprised than most by the resilience of the stock market last year .

He expects 2007 to be a growth year , albeit one without the boom that marked the last half of 2006 .

`` There 's still room for the market to rally , `` he said .

To that end , he staked an S . & P . price target of 1,570 , thanks in large part to the economy shrugging off the housing slump .

But he also said he did not expect a completely rosy economic picture .

Alone among economists surveyed , Mr. Harris talked about the possibility of `` a very mild version of stagflation . ''

Moreover , he gave recession a 20 percent chance to appear in 2007 .

THE YEAR AHEAD IN MARKETS .

Summary: Wall Street economists Richard Bernstein , Abby Joseph Cohen , David Bianco , Abhijit Chakrabortti and Ethan S Harris are cautious about economy in 2007 .

Summary: Many are concerned that housing 's slump will spread to other parts of economy .

Summary: Analysts surveyed predict that Standard & Poor 's 500-stock index , which closed 2006 at 1,418.30 , will end 2007 at 1,440 to 1,570 .

Summary: Photos .


Hundreds of people emerged from tents beside this city 's Canal St . - Martin to greet the chilly New Year with a hot lunch from a nearby soup kitchen .

But not all of them were homeless .

Dozens of otherwise well-housed , middle-class French have been spending nights in tents along the canal , in the 10th Arrondissement , in solidarity with the country 's growing number of `` sans domicile fixe , '' or `` without fixed address , '' the French euphemism for people living on the street .

The bleak yet determinedly cheerful sleep-in is meant to embarrass the French government into doing something about the problem .

`` Each person should have the minimum dignity in a country as rich as this , '' said Bleunwenn Manrot , a 28-year-old with a newsboy cap on her head and a toothbrush in her hand .

Ms. Manrot drove more than six hours with friends from her home in Carhaix , Brittany , to spend New Year 's Eve along the canal .

The demonstration has drawn enough media attention over the holidays for President Jacques Chirac to acknowledge it during his traditional New Year address to the nation on Sunday .

He asked the government to work in the coming weeks to `` put in place a truly enforceable right to housing '' that would give the homeless the legal means to demand a place to live .

Given France 's well-financed social services , the country 's homeless problem is relatively mild -- the national statistics bureau estimated the number of people living without a fixed address on any one night at 86,000 for all of France in 2004 , about equal to the number of homeless in Los Angeles alone .

But even that number is disturbing for the socially active segment of France 's population .

In December 2005 , the French affiliate of the international charity Doctors of the World began distributing nylon pup tents to people who sleep on Paris 's sidewalks and beneath its bridges .

The movement took hold , and since then the tents have become a fixture in odd corners of the city .

In an effort to increase pressure on politicians , another group , Don Quixote 's Children , marshaled some of the tent dwellers last year to set up their tents along the Canal St . - Martin , in the heart of `` bobo '' -LRB- short for bourgeois bohemian -RRB- Paris .

The canal was dug by Napoleon to supply Paris with clean drinking water .

Since mid-December , the encampment has become a happening in one of Paris 's most happening neighborhoods .

`` There are 250 tents now , '' said Jean-Baptiste Legrand , the organization 's president .

`` The people keep coming , and the tents are full . ''

The protest has started to spread to other cities , including Orléans , Toulouse and Lyon , and has been picked up by politicians as the presidential campaign gets under way .

François Hollande , the leader of the Socialist Party , and Bertrand Delanoë , the mayor of Paris , have signed the group 's petition calling for a solution to the housing problem .

Both of the leading presidential candidates -- Nicolas Sarkozy , of the governing Union for a Popular Movement , and Ségolène Royal of the Socialists -- support the cause .

Catherine Vautrin , the minister for social cohesion , met with Mr. Legrand and other members of his group and last week announced a tenfold increase in spending to help the homeless , to $ 92 million from $ 9 million .

She said the money would allow homeless shelters to stay open around the clock on weekends and extend their weekday opening by three hours a day .

But a legally enforceable right to housing is the biggest prize sought by housing activists , including Don Quixote 's Children , and they remain skeptical of Mr. Chirac 's New Year promise .

France already has a hard time housing new immigrants and asylum seekers .

Fires in overcrowded , substandard lodgings have caused scandals in recent years .

Finding a place for the hardcore homeless is certain to complicate those problems .

`` Chirac 's speech means nothing , `` said Ms. Manrot , the Brittany protester .

Such comments suggest that the long camp-out will continue .

Organizers have arranged portable toilets and a soup kitchen to keep the ad hoc village operating .

Vans of blankets and other supplies arrive regularly , much of the material donated by Parisians .

Volunteers sweep the canal-side cobblestones to keep the area clean .

`` I like the protest because it 's nonviolent , `` said another protester , Renaud Huvé , 39 , a photographer .

`` It 's a citizens ' call . ``

So far , the authorities have been tolerant , though they have quietly evicted tent dwellers before , when the news media were not watching .

The police broke up one encampment under a bridge farther north along the canal in October .

Magali Marx , 23 , a sales assistant in a clothes shop , expressed the laissez-faire attitude of the neighborhood 's residents as she passed by .

`` It 's a bit of a pain for the people who want to walk along the side of the canal , `` she said .

`` But then , these people do n't have a roof . ``

Not all of the homeless are down-and-out French .

A group of immigrants continues to live farther up the canal beneath what people in the area have dubbed `` the bridge of the Afghans . ''

The government says that a third of the country 's homeless hold jobs .

The homeless who make up the bulk of the canal-side campers are thankful for the attention .

`` Let 's hope it makes a difference , `` said Jean , a middle-aged man who said he had been living on the streets of Paris for eight years .

But staying on the street is anything but restful for those who have a warm bed waiting at home .

Rain and high winds dampened the canal-side New Year 's Eve celebration .

Ms. Manrot and her boyfriend , Franck Renardineau , ended up sleeping in their car .

`` I sleep in one of the tents , '' Mr. Legrand said , rubbing his pale , exhausted face .

`` But I 've stayed at home a couple of times .

We 've got a lot going on . ``

PARIS JOURNAL .

Summary: Dozens of middle-class French people have been spending nights in tents along canal in Paris in solidarity with country 's growing number of homeless people .

Summary: Demonstration has drawn enough media attention over holidays for Pres Jacques Chirac to acknowledge it during his traditional New Year address to nation .

Summary: Given France 's well-financed social services , country 's homeless problem is relatively mild .

Summary: But even small number of homeless is disturbing for socially active segment of France 's population .

Summary: Photo .


Public School 64 , a vacant building with a leaky roof , broken windows and a colony of pigeons , sits on East Ninth Street near Tompkins Square Park at the center of one of the last fights against gentrification in Manhattan .

Since 1998 , it has touched off pitched battles in the neighborhood , embroiling two mayoral administrations and employing a legion of lawyers and fixers , all for naught .

In November , vandals broke in and painted the walls with another layer of anti-landlord graffiti .

Gregg Singer , the small-time developer who bought the building , which runs from Ninth Street to 10th Street , for $ 3.15 million at a city auction , says he has been stymied at every turn from renovating the building for elderly tenants , nonprofit organizations or college dormitories .

He said he was the victim of a political deal between Mayor Michael R . Bloomberg and a former city councilwoman , Margarita López .

Mr. Singer 's opponents view him as an interloper with little respect for the needs of the community or the building 's history as a political and cultural center for the East Village and Lower East Side .

They say his secret intention is to build luxury housing .

The opponents include not only neighborhood activists but nearly every local elected official , the pro-development Bloomberg administration and the owner of the penthouse next door at the Christadora House , a 1980s symbol of encroaching gentrification where protesters once chanted , `` Kill yuppie scum . ''

The 16-story , 79-year-old apartment building originally housed a charity by the same name that helped immigrants adjust to life in New York .

More than eight years after Mr. Singer bought the building , there is no end in sight .

P.S. 64 is a blight even as Tompkins Square Park , the site of a homeless encampment and riot in 1988 , has been transformed into a quiet oasis for the white-collar professionals who live nearby .

`` It 's an amazing tale , `` said Steven Spinola , president of the Real Estate Board of New York .

`` Whatever you believe , the fact that this has dragged on so long is amazing .

The property continues to be an eyesore and a wasted opportunity in the neighborhood . ``

Last year , the city declared the building a landmark , an example of the French Renaissance Revival style .

It now plans to change the zoning to eliminate most development options .

`` For the government to sell me the building and then landmark it , it 's like bait and switch , `` Mr. Singer said .

`` Complaints from the community do n't bother me .

It 's the government that 's the problem .

They 've blocked me from doing any useful development here . ``

City officials called his claims nonsense and have asked that the suit be dismissed .

Virginia Waters , a city lawyer , said that Mr. Singer could use the building for a medical or community center , or a dormitory , so long as the city is assured it would be occupied by students .

`` The city has in no way prohibited those uses from going forward , '' she said .

`` However , we have read that he wants an exorbitant rent .

That may be his problem . ``

Ms. López , who was appointed last April to the city 's Housing Authority by Mr. Bloomberg , did not return calls about the controversy .

The atmosphere is poisonous .

One flier likened Mr. Singer 's dormitory design to a Nazi concentration camp .

Another invited people to toss dog droppings over the construction fence .

More recently , Mr. Singer put up his own posters announcing that the `` Christotora Treatment Center , '' for the homeless , drug addicted and recently paroled , was `` coming soon . ''

And he set off a furor when he used an old permit to alter the outside of the building to buttress his suit challenging landmark designation .

`` Singer 's been combative from the beginning , `` said David McWater , the chairman of Community Board 3 , which includes Ninth Street .

`` He thinks it 's his God-given right to make as much money as he can . ``

There was little question that Mr. Singer had stepped onto a minefield when he outbid a dozen rival bidders in July 1998 at an city auction .

Police officers offered to escort him past an angry group of protesters .

It took a year to close on the property , which Mr. Singer says is now worth $ 51 million , though the effect of landmark status is unclear .

The building came with a deed restriction : It must be used as a `` community facility , '' including a library , nursing home or clinic , or for social service or arts groups .

The original opposition to the sale was led by Armando Perez and Chino Garcia of Charas , a community group that established the El Bohio Cultural and Community Center in the building after P.S. 64 closed in 1977 .

Over time , it became a home for housing activists , artists , theater groups , a bicycle repair shop and the Latin Kings , a notorious street gang .

The school is `` symbolic of the struggle in our community , '' said Councilwoman Rosie Mendez , Ms. López 's successor .

`` When everyone else fled the community during the 1970s , we took out the rubble and created community gardens , affordable housing .

He can move forward on developing this as a community facility , or he can decide to sell it . ``

In 1997 , Antonio Pagán , who had clashed with Charas and who was then the local city councilman , urged the Giuliani administration to auction the property .

The fight to `` save '' P.S. 64 became a cause célèbre among local groups , the Puerto Rican Legal Defense Fund , the actress Susan Sarandon and Ms. López , a friend of Mr. Perez 's who later succeeded Mr. Pagán on the Council .

Mr. Singer 's first move was to evict Charas .

That took more than two years and 110 police officers to haul away protesters who had chained themselves together .

`` The anger was n't at Gregg , per se , `` said Lyn Pentecost , executive director of the Lower East Side Girls Club .

But he had `` stepped into the thick of community politics . ''

At one point , Ms. Pentecost said , she offered to buy a third of the building for the Girls Club for $ 3 million .

She said Mr. Singer was interested only in leasing it .

`` He 's an opportunist , `` said Valerio Orselli , a member of Charas .

`` I do n't believe for a minute that Mr. Singer intended it to be the community center we envisioned . ``

The developer tells a different story : He says that Ms. López warned the Girls Club , and many other nonprofits , not to get involved with him .

He said 108 schools and nonprofit and social service organizations responded to an appeal he sent to 1,000 groups , but they all backed out .

No doubt some potential tenants who visited the building were scared off by the frequent protests outside , so perhaps New York University , the New School and the New York Society for the Deaf decided to sidestep a volatile situation .

John Caizzo , a vice president at the DeMatteis Organization , who decided on a different site for his company 's project , acknowledged that the building `` seems like a hot potato . ''

But no city officials told him to stay away , he said .

But Cecilia Abrilla , a director of the Puerto Rican Alliance , on the Lower East Side , wrote to Mr. Singer in 2003 saying Ms. López `` has cast a warning to the nonprofit community to stay away from Mr. Singer '' by threatening to withdraw financial support for the organizations .

And a top city official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the litigation made it clear that the local community effectively has veto power .

`` At the end of the day , '' the official said , Mr. Singer `` will have to find an accommodation with the community . ''

After a series of meetings in 2004 with Robert B . Tierney , chairman of the Landmarks Commission , Mr. Singer devised a plan to preserve the Ninth Street side of the old school while building a 19-story dormitory tower at the rear .

He said as much as $ 2 million a year in excess revenue would flow to local groups .

In return , according to the lawsuit , Mr. Tierney promised to refrain from landmarking and support a building permit .

But the proposal ignited broader opposition , and the Buildings Department denied him a permit after imposing what Mr. Singer called `` an unprecedented requirement '' that he prove that he had a contract with a specific school for the housing .

City officials said they imposed the rule after unscrupulous developers had tried to convert `` dormitories '' into market-rate housing .

Days later , Mr. Singer said , Ms. López , a Democrat , announced her endorsement of Mr. Bloomberg , a Republican with whom she had quarreled , rather than the challenger , Fernando Ferrer .

Michael Rosen , who lives in the penthouse at Christadora House , formed a new group that lobbied to designate the school a city landmark .

`` The thought of a dormitory , tall or short , was out of place in this neighborhood , '' he said , adding , `` My hope is that the building comes back to serve people who are in need . ''

Mr. Singer scoffed , saying Mr. Rosen did not want his views blocked .

In June , the Landmarks Commission voted to designate P.S. 64 a landmark , over the objection of the Real Estate Board , a powerful lobbying organization .

`` The building should never have been landmarked , '' Mr. Spinola , the board 's president , said .

Further , he said , the city 's new requirement for dormitories was tantamount to `` telling a commercial developer he must have leases before they 'll give him a permit . ``

City lawyers denied many of Mr. Singer 's assertions .

`` Landmarks never had a deal with him , '' said Gabriel Taussig of the Law Department .

`` He had nothing in writing . ''

Mr. Singer sued over the permit denial and lost .

He is appealing .

The first , and so far only , attempt at a settlement came in July , when Mr. Singer met with Ms. Mendez , United States Representative Nydia Velázquez and a lawyer for the city .

The two sides explored a proposal for Mr. Singer to provide space for community groups while he built apartments in the rest of the building .

The talks quickly collapsed , with each side blaming the other .

That is when Mr. Singer stripped terra cotta elements and copper cornices from the building 's exterior , a move the politicians saw as a breach of faith .

`` I 'm disappointed that all the negotiations have broken down , `` said William Jones , pastor of the Gospel Fellowship Church nearby .

`` I would 've been thrilled if there was a compromise that allowed residential development and community space . `` .

Summary: Developer Gregg Singer and New York City 's East Village community continue eight-year running battle over development plans for former Public School 64 .

Summary: Singer says city has stymied his plans to renovate building for elderly tenants , nonprofit organizations or college dormitories .

Summary: Community says Singer secretly intends to build luxury housing .

Summary: Singer has filed three suits against city .

Summary: One suit contends Mayor Michael R Bloomberg made political deal with former councilwoman Margarita Lopez to block Singer development plans .

Summary: Singer expresses anger over city 's declaring building landmark and plans to rezone area to eliminate most development options .


Logan Fox ca n't quite pinpoint the moment when movies and television shows replaced books as the cultural topics people liked to talk about over dinner , at cocktail parties , at work .

He does know that at Micawber Books , his 26-year-old independent bookstore here that is to close for good in March , his own employees prefer to come in every morning and gossip about `` Survivor '' or `` that fashion reality show '' whose title he ca n't quite place .

`` It kills me , '' Mr. Fox , 53 , said over coffee on Friday afternoon , shaking his head .

`` The amount of time spent discussing culturally iconic shows has superseded anything in the way of books that I can detect .

Discussing books is very much one on one .

It just hurts me . ``

Mr. Fox is bracing himself for an emotionally wrenching few months .

In December Micawber announced that it would close , after years of fighting not only the tyranny of other media but also the steady encroachment of big-box retail competitors and the Internet .

Independent bookstores , of course , have been under siege for nearly two decades by the megachains and the Web retailers , and have been steadily dropping away , one by one .

Now , though , the battle is reaching some of the last redoubts .

Mr. Fox said that Micawber 's first chain competitor , Encore Books , arrived in the mid-1990s , and his sales plummeted 25 percent , nearly putting him out of business .

Soon after , Barnes & Noble and Borders came to town .

And then there was Amazon.com.

But beyond those factors , Mr. Fox said , he blames a change in American culture , in the quickening pace of people 's lives , in the shrinking willingness to linger .

During the 1980s , in the store 's early days , customers would come in and stay all afternoon , carefully inspecting the books that were packed tightly together , spine to spine .

No longer .

`` The driving force of all of this is the acceleration of our culture , '' Mr. Fox said .

`` The old days of browsing , the old days of a person coming in for three or four hours on a Saturday and slowly meandering , making a small pile of books , being very selective , coming away with six or seven gems they wanted , are pretty much over .

If you go to the Strand or to Micawber Books today , it 's a whole different gear , where society wants satisfaction and fulfillment now . ``

The other crisis for independent booksellers , Mr. Fox said , is the current state of publishing .

The job of building writers ' reputations and nurturing them has fallen to agents , he said .

Publishers are concerned only with the bottom line , he added , looking for the home run instead of the single .

And there is the question of quality .

Though Micawber carries a few , Mr. Fox laments the rapid growth of the celebrity cookbook genre .

Children 's books , in particular , are driven by marketability instead of creativity , said Bobbie Fishman , the children 's books buyer at Micawber .

`` It 's either pirates , wizards , one of a series , or written by Katie Couric , `` she said .

Independent bookstores across the country are suffocating , squeezed by Amazon.com and the chain bookstores that deliver deeper discounts and wider variety than independent shops .

According to the American Booksellers Association , a trade group of independent bookstores , there are about 2,500 such stores in the United States , down from about 4,700 in 1993 .

And that is not counting those that sell only used books .

Micawber opened in 1981 , when Princeton was an old-money kind of place , with independently owned shops lining Nassau Street , adjacent to the picturesque Princeton University campus .

`` When we first came , every store on this street was a 15 - , 20-year entrenched old-family business , '' Mr. Fox said .

Today that same thoroughfare is dominated by chain stores like Ann Taylor and Foot Locker .

Micawber Books , with its purple walls and its alien name , which comes from Dickens ' novel `` David Copperfield , '' is the one that sticks out now .

Half the store is devoted to secondhand books and other vintage publications , like a stack of Archie comics on the register .

The other half is new books , a well-edited mix that includes fiction , history , children 's books and the occasional concession to popular taste , like Rachael Ray 's `` Express Lane Meals . ''

-LRB- There are also stalwarts , evidenced by the back wall of shelves lined with Penguin Classics . -RRB-

Mr. Fox is proudly from the old school of bookselling .

He says he has only been inside a Barnes & Noble store three times .

-LRB- `` I ca n't do it , `` he said , grimacing . -RRB-

In the mid-1990s , when the struggling Micawber took on Margaret Griffin as a partner , she insisted that Mr. Fox abandon his system of 3-by-5-inch index cards in boxes and become computerized .

The new Sony Reader , a handheld device that stores dozens of titles electronically .

Never tried it .

`` I do n't want to sound corny about it , `` Mr. Fox said .

`` But there is something transformative about the book . ''

Mr. Fox began as a bookseller in the ` 70s at the Strand Book Store in Manhattan , and moved to Princeton to open Micawber , then a store devoted entirely to secondhand books from his own personal library .

His father , Joe Fox , was an editor at Random House , nurturing the careers of John Irving and Truman Capote .

His childhood was sprinkled with the romantic stuff of traditional New York publishing , with swanky book parties attended by famous authors and writers for The Paris Review .

In her 1998 film , `` You 've Got Mail , `` Nora Ephron used the name of his father , who , as it happens , was also a former boyfriend of hers .

Joe Fox was the name she gave the character played by Tom Hanks , a chain bookstore owner who swiftly puts Meg Ryan and her tiny shop around the corner out of business .

Of course , in the Micawber story , Logan Fox is in the Meg Ryan role , the person who champions the mom-and-pop store and derides the corporate behemoth .

In Micawber 's case , Mr. Fox said there was no imminent financial crisis , only the recognition that years from now , selling the business would be a far more difficult task .

`` Ten years down the road , we could n't imagine who would buy us at all , `` he said .

After Micawber quietly put out the word that it was for sale , Princeton University offered to buy the building that houses the store for an undisclosed sum , and promised to bring in Labyrinth Books , a scholarly chain with stores in New Haven and Manhattan .

All the architectural details incorporated into Micawber , Mr. Fox pointed out sadly , will be bulldozed .

And he has no idea what he will do next .

Still , Mr. Fox said he was trying hard not to be cynical .

`` I consider this a success story , '' he said .

`` Our intention was to be a good townspeople store . '' .

Summary: Logan Fox has sold his independent bookstore Micawber Books in Princeton , NJ . Laments cultural shift away from books .

Summary: Holds that fast pace of life and shrinking attention spans have made customers less eager to linger and search for books in store that forgoes commercial push of best sellers at front of store .

Summary: Photos .


Diane Sawyer , whose continued commitment to `` Good Morning America '' has been the subject of speculation since Charles Gibson departed the show in June , has in recent weeks left some executives at ABC with the impression that she intends to remain with the program until at least early summer , according to one executive briefed directly on Ms. Sawyer 's status .

By sending signals that she intends to stay with `` Good Morning America '' -- at least through the end of the current prime-time television season , and perhaps longer still -- Ms. Sawyer has prompted some exhaling in the upper echelons of both the news division and the network as a whole .

That is because she remains ABC 's biggest news star in the morning -- and perhaps the evening as well -- on a program that is by far the news division 's most valuable , with annual profits believed to be well in excess of $ 100 million .

The executive , who spoke yesterday on condition of anonymity because of the delicate diplomacy involved , said Ms. Sawyer had met before Christmas , as she does periodically , with David Westin , the president of ABC News .

Separately , the official said , she had also had a holiday lunch in New York with Robert A . Iger , the president and chief executive of the Walt Disney Company , ABC 's corporate parent , though that get-together was characterized as more social than business .

By staying put , Ms. Sawyer , 61 , also promises to keep `` Good Morning America '' competitive with `` Today '' on NBC , the ratings leader for more than a decade , at a moment when that program and its audience are continuing to adjust to a new co-anchor , Meredith Vieira , who replaced Katie Couric in September .

-LRB- Since Mr. Gibson 's departure for `` World News , '' `` Good Morning America '' has gone through some growing pains of its own , as it introduced Chris Cuomo as its news reader and Sam Champion as its weatherman , while pairing Robin Roberts with Ms. Sawyer as lead anchors . -RRB-

In the most recent November sweeps period , `` Today '' had an average daily audience of 5.8 million , about 735,000 more than `` Good Morning America , '' which drew an audience of about 5.1 million , according to Nielsen Media Research .

During the same period a year ago , the lead of `` Today '' over `` Good Morning America '' was about 5,000 viewers larger , although both shows have lost viewers over the last year .

In June an ABC spokesman said Ms. Sawyer remained committed to `` Good Morning America '' through at least early 2007 .

When asked in September how much longer she planned to stay with the program , she told a reporter that she was not ready to entertain that question .

`` ` I 'm sorry if it sounds like a dodge , `` she said at the time .

`` I truly am looking ahead and enjoying this part .

And there is plenty of time to think about what remains after -- when and whether . ``

When asked yesterday about Ms. Sawyer , Jeffrey Schneider , a senior vice president of ABC News , dismissed any notion of a timetable for her tenure on the program .

He added : `` Diane is having a great time on ' G.M.A. '

She loves the new team .

And she has had an unrivaled run of groundbreaking reporting which has her passionately engaged . ``

Ms. Sawyer 's current contract with the network extends for at least two more years , said the executive with knowledge of her situation .

But Ms. Sawyer has always characterized her tenure on `` Good Morning America '' as temporary -- and the network has regarded it as such -- even if it has been eight years since she joined the show , at a moment of crisis , after the network had just jettisoned a new , low-rated anchor team .

Summary: Diane Sawyer indicates that she will stay with ABC morning program Good Morning America until at least early summer .

Summary: Decision prompts sigh of relief from upper echelons of news division and network as whole , who have relied on Sawyer for star power since departure of Charles Gibson .

Summary: Photo .


SOMETHING made me uneasy when I dropped a box of gluten-free EnviroKidz organic Koala Crisp cereal in my shopping cart .

But it 's hard to suspect a cartoon koala , so I moved on .

The unsettling sensation came back when I bought a bag of my favorite organic frozen French fries .

Why did the verdant fields in the Cascadian Farm logo make me feel so smug .

Then I got really suspicious .

A bag of natural Cheetos seemed so much more appealing than the classic cheese puff .

Why .

Was it the image of a subdued Chester Cheetah rising gently from a farm field bathed in golden sunlight .

Like clues to a murder that suddenly point to a single culprit , the mystery in my shopping cart revealed itself .

Wheat sheaf by wheat sheaf , sunrise by sunrise , the grocery store shelves had been greenwashed .

And I was falling for it .

The kind of greenwashing I 'm talking about is not just a fake environmental ethos .

Greenwashing , it seems to me , can also describe a pervasive genre of food packaging designed to make sure that manufacturers grab their slice of the $ 25 billion that American shoppers spend each year on natural or organic food .

As a design shorthand , it makes subtle use of specific colors , images , typefaces and the promise of what marketers call `` an authentic narrative '' to sell food .

Especially in recent years , greenwashing has spilled out well past the organic section of the grocery store .

Even the snack aisle at the gas station is n't immune .

`` Somebody becomes successful with a specific point of view , and the consumer begins to identify with it and it spreads like a virus , '' said Paula Scher , a partner in Pentagram , an international design firm .

From there it 's only a matter of time before Cap 'n Crunch shows up in a hemp jacket , raising money to save the manatees .

Buy a greenwashed product and you 're buying a specific set of healthy environmental and socially correct values .

If the package does its work , then the food inside does n't actually have to be organic , only organic-ish .

The right cues on a package free mass-market consumers from doing any homework , said Elizabeth Talerman , a branding analyst .

They can assume that a group she calls the green elite -- those early adopters who pushed for organic food laws and who helped make Whole Foods markets a success -- have done the work for them .

`` The mass market wants an instant identifier , '' said Ms. Talerman , a longtime New York advertising consultant .

So what are the identifiers .

After shopping for dozens of products in places as varied as food co-ops and convenience stores , I 've uncovered the essential elements of a greenwashed product .

Start with a gentle image of a field or a farm to suggest an ample harvest gathered by an honest , hard-working family .

To that end , strangely oversize vegetables or fruits are good .

If they are dew-kissed and nestled in a basket , all the better .

A little red tractor is O.K. Pesticide tanks and rows of immigrant farm laborers bent over in the hot sun are not .

Earth 's Best , a baby and toddler food company , offers a delicious example .

Its whole grain rice cereal features two babies working the rice fields .

One is white and one is black .

-LRB- A greenwashed package would never show the black child working in the fields alone . -RRB-

A sign that looks hand-hewn declares `` No GMO 's . ``

There is a barn , a butterfly and a typeface that could have come from the back room of a general store .

A good greenwashed product should show an animal displaying special skills or great emotional range .

Some Organic Valley packages feature a sax-playing , environmentally friendly earthworm .

Jaunty cows on Stonyfield Farm yogurt wear sunglasses and headbands .

The cows on Horizon 's milk cartons dance a bovine jig , despite challenges by organic purists that some Horizon cows see precious little pasture .

A little family history helps , too .

My Family Farm of Fort Thomas , Ky . , sells packaged cookies and crackers and promises to give some of the money to charity .

On the back of the box is a story that begins , `` With careers as licensed social workers , my sister and I are committed to improving the lives of children . ''

A carton of Country Hen omega-3 eggs , which cost $ 3.69 for six , had a fuzzy black-and-white photograph inside showing the company 's owner , George Bass , and the entire Country Hen family , along with their favorite eggnog recipe .

A cause is important .

Nature 's Path , the maker of Koala Crisp , promises that 1 percent of sales will be spent saving endangered species .

Barbara 's Bakery , maker of Puffins cereal , pays for the National Audubon Society 's live `` puffin cams '' in the Gulf of Maine .

Buy a box of Peace Cereal 's raspberry ginger crisp , and a percentage of the profit helps pay for International Peace Prayer Day in New Mexico .

The actual health benefits of a product do n't always matter .

A package of organic Naturepops from College Farm shows a field of lollipops and a barn , suggesting a well-educated farmer tending her candy .

The sugar might come from cane juice and tapioca syrup , but it 's sugar just the same .

And although `` organic '' is losing its power as a code word for certain cultural values , it does n't hurt to flaunt it if you 've got it .

The word appears 21 times on a box of Cascadian Farm Vanilla Almond Crunch .

Having established a design paradigm that succeeds in selling food that is often more expensive than conventional groceries , the design world should perhaps rejoice .

This is not the case .

Some top brand and package designers find the cartoonish animals and bad hippie typefaces as grating as a self-righteous vegan at a barbecue .

But then , they did n't like American food package design that much to begin with .

`` It 's the bottom of the barrel , `` said Ms. Scher , who works in the New York office of Pentagram design .

Riskier designs , like the clean lettering and curvy bottle of Pom Wonderful pomegranate juice , are rare .

Food manufacturers usually agonize over changing the size of a box or shifting the background color from teal to aquamarine .

But when a trend starts to show success , it 's a design pileup .

That 's what happened with the natural and organic category , which makes up about 10 percent of the food at the grocery store and has been growing by more than 20 percent a year since 2000 .

In the grocery business , a 4 percent jump is considered a victory .

`` It 's aisle after aisle of design desperation , `` said Brian Collins , chairman and chief creative officer of the design group at Ogilvy , the international advertising and public relations company .

He called the look `` phony naïveté '' and predicted that its demise was close because consumers are wising up .

There is value in telling a story , but it must be true , he said .

Merely dressing up the package is not enough , he said .

Nonetheless , manufacturers are eager to project a wholesome image .

`` It 's the halo effect , `` said Caren Wilcox , executive director of the Organic Trade Association .

`` That 's why we encourage consumers to look for the U.S.D.A. organic seal . ``

But even the organic seal does n't necessarily offer assurances that the item is produced in a way that jibes with consumer expectations for something that comes in a greenwashed package .

`` All the ingredients being used in items with the organic seal are produced using the organic system , '' Ms. Wilcox said .

`` It does n't mean they do n't sometimes end up in products some people think other people should n't eat . ``

Design and packaging experts fix the start of sincerity and authenticity in food package design in the 1970s .

Mo Siegel began selling Celestial Seasonings tea in boxes with sleepy bears .

Tom and Kate Chappell gave up the corporate life to create Tom 's of Maine toothpaste .

Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield sold ice cream in Vermont , using goofy hand-rendered graphics to tell their story .

The trend grew in the 1980s , when corporate America entered a noncorporate phase .

`` Companies began to try to not look like big companies , '' Ms. Scher said .

By the late 1990s , anything with a hint of natural organic goodness sold in big numbers .

Today , many companies that started with a humble story line have been purchased by larger interests .

Unilever owns Ben and Jerry 's , the Hain Celestial Group is traded on Nasdaq and Tom 's of Maine is controlled by Colgate-Palmolive .

The kind of imagery that once marked a brand as an alternative to corporate food conglomerates has now been incorporated into Lay 's potato chips .

Consumers can buy classic Lay 's in the shiny yellow bag , or Natural Lay 's , with a thicker cut , expeller-pressed oil and sea salt .

The package has a brown harvest graphic design , old-timey typefaces and a matte bag .

The natural chips cost about 10 cents an ounce more than the classics .

A handful of either still offers 150 calories and 10 grams of fat .

`` When it gets to Lay 's , `` Ms. Scher said , '' its time to change . ``

Ms. Talerman , the New York advertising consultant , predicted that the fascination with what she called the green identifiers will last about five years longer .

Then , she said , green-elite food consumers will push companies for even more information about environmental impact , labor practices and community involvement , and mass market consumers will start reading labels instead of just searching out easy identifiers .

Food manufacturers might begin to copy the new nutrition-style labels that Timberland is putting on its shoe boxes .

Each one lists the amount of energy it took to make the shoes , how much of that was renewable , whether child labor was used and how many hours per pair Timberland dedicated to community service .

`` As soon as the mass market starts to understand these issues more , '' Ms. Talerman predicted , `` we 'll get away from the fields and the giant vegetables and get back to better design . ``

It 's More or Less Natural , And It 's Getting Bigger by the Day EACH year grocery manufacturers roll out tens of thousands of products , ever hopeful that a new box of crackers or a frozen entree will be a hit with consumers .

In 2006 , 17,779 food products were introduced , according to Mintel International , a market research company .

That 's a jump of almost 2,000 items over the previous year .

Of those products , 3,761 either were organic or had an all-natural claim on the label .

`` It seems now that everybody is getting into organics , '' said Lynn Dornblaser , a new-products industry analyst at Mintel .

She predicted that in 2007 , a shakedown will occur in the organic industry as its products become accessible to larger numbers of people .

One key indicator of this shift is that Wal-Mart is selling organic products for less money than many competitors .

Other fast-growing categories last year were baby food , with 116 new products , and ready-to-eat meals or meal-replacement products , with 1,125 items , up from 791 in 2005 .

Desserts , ice cream and candy came out at a healthy clip , but fruits and vegetables were not so lucky .

The number of new products in that category dropped by 13 percent .

`` We 're also seeing more of a focus on authentically ethnic foods , `` Ms. Dornblaser said .

`` It 's not just pasta sauce : it 's pasta sauce from Tuscany . ``

Indian food , in particular , is beginning to catch on .

Although the numbers are small -- only 143 new Indian food items appeared last year -- the figure is almost double the number brought out the year before .

KIM SEVERSON .

Summary: Food manufacturers are greenwashing their packaging , using specific colors , images and typefaces to convey message that product is healthy .

Summary: In recent years , greenwashing has spilled out past organic section , even into snack section .

Summary: Packaging often displays fields , farms , animals or allegiance to worthy cause , and includes words like ` natural ' and ` healthy ' .

Summary: Photos .

Summary: Drawing .


DREW NIEPORENT still remembers the afternoon in the 1970s when Warner LeRoy ordered him to turn off the Barbra Streisand eight-track .

Mr. Nieporent , who today operates restaurants from Louisville to London , was tending the bar for Mr. LeRoy at Maxwell 's Plum on the Upper East Side .

He cued up the Streisand tape every day at lunch .

It 's no longer clear if it was the warble of the tape or of `` Evergreen '' that set Mr. LeRoy off , but he ordered the eight-track turned off and pronounced that from that moment on , music was forever banned during lunch at Maxwell 's Plum .

Silent , strident or Streisand , there 's no consensus on what should play on the dining room hi-fi . Without an easy recipe for success , chefs and restaurateurs turn to consultants , D.J. ` s , enthusiastic staff members and their own record collections , seeking a mix that works .

`` Music in restaurants is a sore issue in general , '' said Andrew Carmellini , who , when he 's not manning the stoves at A Voce , is working on his second recording with his band , the Crown .

`` Pre-opening , I thought my list was brilliant , '' he said .

`` But you name the complaint -- the jazz is too boring , the horns are too shrill , there 's too much bass -- and we 've gotten it . ``

Many restaurateurs try to avoid such complaints by seeking professional help .

Food service establishments make up `` a significant portion '' of the 400,000 locations into which Muzak pipes music , according to Karen Vigeland , a company spokeswoman .

The bulk of those are quick-service places , but Muzak 's roster also includes more elite clients , like ` Wichcraft , the sandwich chain Tom Colicchio has an interest in .

Dean & DeLuca 's cafes .

And Emeril Lagasse 's restaurants .

-LRB- Apologies to anyone who had illusions that Doc Gibbs , Mr. Lagasse 's musical sidekick on `` Emeril Live , '' is selecting the discs at Emeril 's . -RRB-

Many of Muzak 's clients purchase one of the company 's 90 or so `` core programs , '' themed mixes with titles like `` Rock Show '' or `` Concrete Beats , '' each of which is about 1,200 songs long .

For others , the company generates custom soundtracks , which may be a core program with advertising spliced in -LRB- touting breakfast sandwich deals in the morning , for example -RRB- or a mix that 's tailored to a restaurant 's particular vibe .

Part of the appeal of services like Muzak or Digital Music Xperience , another large music consulting firm , is that they make life easier : No iPods to lose , no CDs to scratch .

The bulk of Muzak 's customers stream the company 's musical feed over the Internet or through a satellite dish .

Jeremy Abrams , managing partner of the New York-based music consulting company Audiostiles , said that a large percentage of his clients come to him from the larger companies `` looking for something a little more customized and up-to-date . ''

Daniel Boulud 's restaurant group , Dinex , left Muzak three years ago to become Audiostiles 's first restaurant client .

Since then , Thomas Keller 's restaurants in New York , California and Las Vegas , and the Four Seasons hotel group have signed on .

Mr. Abrams said he tailors playlists to the time of the day they 'll be heard .

To determine exactly what will work for each place , he polls clients on the tempos and genres they want , asking them whether they prefer instrumentals or vocals , new music or something familiar .

Some restaurants , looking for an even more intimate approach , turn to D.J. ` s .

Nemo Librizzi started out choosing the music for the restaurants at the Maritime Hotel and has since added Barbuto , Employees Only , Thor and more to his roster .

Describing himself as the kind of guy who shows up to meetings without business cards or much of a plan , he said : `` I like to tell clients that they can have me come in and do a mix for them for a few thousand dollars , but that 's like an off-the-rack suit , like buying music by the yard .

I prefer to do multiple fittings , to tailor the music after hearing feedback from the staff . ``

His basic strategy might include `` a little jazzy after work music '' for the cocktail hour and late-night montages in which he will slip samples of Jack Kerouac reading from `` On the Road '' between cuts of pygmy music .

`` Sometimes when I look at a place I hear this kind of music being played , '' he said .

`` Certain music likes to live in certain rooms .

I do n't understand it .

It 's like magic . ``

Muzak or magic , some restaurateurs ca n't abide the thought of having an outsider select a soundtrack .

`` Just like I would n't outsource one of my restaurants ' wine lists , I would never outsource the music , `` said Danny Meyer , whose Union Square Hospitality Group operates nine venues in New York .

Both Mr. Nieporent and Mr. Meyer rely on managers to fine-tune the mix .

`` Getting it right is a function of watching the guests , '' Mr. Meyer said .

`` In a restaurant setting , music is a little like air-conditioning -- no one 's going to tell you when the air-conditioning is perfect , but when it is , the conversations in the room will be more energetic . ``

-LRB- Digital Music Xperience developed a high-tech system to manage the Panera Bread chain 's `` aural strategy '' -- the music -- with microphones in the ceilings of the company 's stores that measure noise level in the room and adjust the volume of the music accordingly . -RRB-

Sometimes the music program is a group effort .

Gabriel Stulman , who owns the Little Owl with the chef Joey Campanaro , said the eclectic mix of music played there is `` mine , Joey 's , the servers and all . ``

Sometimes it 's a solo show : regulars at Babbo are accustomed to having plates of black spaghetti with rock shrimp served with an audible side of whatever Mario Batali likes , as loud as he likes , whenever he likes .

-LRB- These days his iPod is more likely to be dishing up the plaintive croon of Michael Stipe than the mix of Led Zeppelin and Jimi Hendrix that dominated the restaurant 's dining room in its early years . -RRB-

At the Great Jones Cafe in NoHo , the manager , Bill Judkins , stocks the restaurant 's jukebox with seven-inch singles from his own personal and obsessively manicured collection .

On Dec . 26 , he replaced part of the jukebox 's holiday lineup with a selection of James Brown and James Brown side project records , to honor the Godfather of Soul .

But not all restaurant folks have 45s of `` Hot Pants '' at their fingertips .

Some even choose the most radical soundtrack of all .

Grant Achatz , the chef of Alinea in Chicago , says he has `` great appreciation for but limited knowledge '' of music , and that that is one reason he has chosen not to play any in his dining rooms .

Beyond that , he said , he has not yet found a way to match the acoustics to the food in a restaurant full of people , each of them at different points in his lengthy tasting menus .

He did experiment with speakers above each table that would deploy `` audio spotlight '' technology , which can project a very precise beam of sound into a narrowly delineated area .

But the noises bounced off the hardwood tabletops and reverberated throughout the space .

Hearing a crunch during a creamy course , he said , just did n't seem right .

The system , he said , is `` back on the drawing board '' for now .

And until that changes , his customers will just have to eat Mr. Achatz 's `` white truffle explosion '' to the sounds of silence .

Correction : January 10 , 2007 , Wednesday An article last week about music in restaurants misstated the relationship between Muzak and ` Wichcraft restaurants .

Muzak provided stereo equipment for a ` Wichcraft restaurant in San Francisco .

It does not provide the chain with recorded music .

Correction : January 15 , 2007 , Monday An article in Thursday Styles on Dec . 7 about holiday music in retail stores and an article in Dining on Jan . 3 about the debate over playing music in restaurants misstated the name of a music consulting company that sells audio systems and programming to such businesses .

It is DMX -- not Digital Music Express or Digital Music Xperience .

Summary: Chefs and restaurant owners sometimes turn to consultants or even staff members for suggestions on type of music to play , but often hear complaints from customers .

Summary: Muzak offers themed mixes or can generate custom soundtracks tailored to specific restaurant .

Summary: Other companies that offer music to restaurants noted .

Summary: Photos .


Capitalizing on Manhattan 's robust real estate prices , the Museum of Modern Art is selling its last vacant parcel of land in Midtown for $ 125 million to Hines , an international real estate developer based in Houston , the museum 's director said yesterday .

As part of the deal Hines is to construct a mixed-use building on West 54th Street that will connect to the museum 's second - , fourth - and fifth-floor galleries , said the director , Glenn D . Lowry .

He said the project would afford about 50,000 square feet of additional exhibition space for the Modern 's painting and sculpture collections .

A Hines spokesman said it was too early to say what the building 's other uses would be .

The property is one of several the Modern acquired during the last decade in mapping out an ambitious expansion .

A glass-and-steel addition designed by the architect Yoshio Taniguchi was completed in November 2004 .

Hines also plans to provide about 10,000 square feet in the new building 's basement for museum storage .

After construction expenses for the new galleries are covered , the Modern estimates that some $ 65 million will go to its $ 650 million endowment .

`` This is a Christmas present , '' Mr. Lowry said .

`` It 's a tremendous boon to enhancing what is already an extraordinary collection . ``

The 10 percent addition to the endowment will go toward caring for the collections and acquisitions .

No firm timetable for construction has been set , he added , but he estimated that completion of the new building was at least five years away .

In 1996 the museum bought the Dorset Hotel , a 19-story building from the 1920s next door on West 54th Street , along with two adjacent brownstones in a $ 50 million transaction .

Much of that land was used for Mr. Taniguchi 's addition .

That expansion , including an increase in MoMA 's endowment to cover operating expenses , cost $ 858 million in total .

The museum also quietly purchased other parcels on West 54th Street , including what had been the City Athletic Club , a brownstone and a sliver building next door .

Over the years , Mr. Lowry said , the museum has been inundated with offers from developers interested in buying the land , but did not seriously consider selling until recently .

`` But as the market went into overdrive it seemed like the right move to make , '' he said .

The Modern put out the word that it was open to offers and the response was overwhelming .

Hines was the highest bidder , Mr. Lowry said .

`` We ultimately settled on Hines because of its financial offer and because it has a good reputation for working with architects , '' Mr. Lowry said .

He added that no architect had been selected to design the new building or the Modern 's additional galleries .

When Mr. Tanaguchi conceived his design he took into consideration a possible future expansion to the west , Mr. Lowry said , making it structurally easy to break through to what will be the new building and extend each of the three gallery floors by about 17,000 square feet .

Jerry I . Speyer , a Modern trustee and real estate developer who is president and chief executive of Tishman Speyer , helped negotiate the sale .

-LRB- He was instrumental in the purchase of the Dorset Hotel , too . -RRB-

`` The museum is not in the real estate business , but in the business of showing art , collecting art and educating people about art , '' Mr. Speyer said .

`` Because of the figuration of the land , there was a limit to the amount of space we could use for galleries . ''

He said that the entire board agreed that now was the time to act .

`` Everyone felt great about the decision , '' he said of the sale .

`` There were no issues in anyone 's mind . ``

The parcel as a whole consists of about 200,000 square feet of buildable space , Mr. Lowry said .

The addition also opens the way for the museum to address wide criticism of the exhibition spaces in the Taniguchi building .

When the Modern reopened in 2004 many faulted its curators for showing fewer artworks in its expanded galleries than it had before .

`` The goal has always been to display the collection better , '' Mr. Lowry said .

Responding to the criticism , he said the display of art in the museum 's previous incarnation was `` overly dense , '' which people felt was `` too much like a textbook . ''

Trying to anticipate the museum 's needs for contemporary art display is not easy .

Mr. Lowry said the new galleries would be designed to be flexible .

`` We envision them to include space that will deal with the unanticipated changes of the future , '' he said .

And whereas MoMA had to close its doors on West 54th Street during the 2002-04 building project , operating a temporary museum in Queens , Mr. Lowry said that would not be necessary this time .

`` The construction of these galleries will not entail closing the museum again , '' he said .

Summary: Museum of Modern Art will sell its last vacant parcel of land in Midtown for $ 125 million to real estate developer Hines .

Summary: As part of deal , Hines will construct mixed use building on West 54th Street that will connect to museum 's galleries and afford about 50,000 square feet of addition exhibition space .

Summary: Photos .


`` I did n't go there to make a point , `` said Laura Poitras , a documentary filmmaker , about traveling in Iraq to make '' My Country , My Country , `` one of four documentaries about the war contending for Oscar nominations this year .

`` I do n't think I would risk my life to make a point , `` she added , seated in her comfortable TriBeCa office early last month .

`` But I did feel it was important to understand this war -- and to document it -- and I did n't think that the mass media was going to do it . ``

Ms. Poitras , 42 , used her own camera and recorded sound herself as she followed an Iraqi physician for eight months .

An outspoken Sunni critic of the American occupation , he was seeking a seat on the Baghdad Provincial Council during the national elections in January 2005 , but did not win .

`` My Country , My Country '' may not capture the best-documentary Oscar , or even be selected as one of the five nominees , to be announced by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on Jan . 23 .

-LRB- The awards ceremony is on Feb . 25 . -RRB-

But its presence on the highly competitive feature-length documentary shortlist -- 14 other films are on that list -- highlights a shift toward gritty , guerrilla filmmaking , a willingness to tackle controversial subjects , no matter the obstacles .

Issue-oriented documentaries dominate the shortlist , chosen by the 138 members of the documentary branch of the academy .

Eighty-one films met the eligibility requirements .

Of those , the members who voted selected 15 and will further narrow the field to the 5 nominees .

`` This is the year of the angry documentary , of the ' Take back America ' documentary , `` Sheila Nevins , president of HBO Documentary Films , said in a telephone interview .

`` The theatrical documentary , '' she added , `` has replaced the television documentary in terms of talking back to the administration .

That 's one of the only places where one can do it . ``

But one pioneering filmmaker , Albert Maysles , did not seem enthusiastic about the trend .

`` I am a strong advocate of distancing oneself from a point of view , '' he said recently .

`` What is good for the documentary world in ' Fahrenheit 9/11 , ' '' -- Michael Moore 's 2004 film -- `` is that Michael 's heart was in the right place `` for viewers who agreed with him , he said .

`` But he damages his cause because he is out to get people .

He 's using people in a nonloving fashion to serve the purpose of his argument .

If what you think is correct , what do you have to fear in telling the full story .

`` Stanley Nelson , the director of another shortlisted film , '' Jonestown : The Life and Death of Peoples Temple , `` said that while Mr. Moore was '' over the top , `` his work occupied a significant position within the genre .

Speaking at an Upper West Side coffee shop , Mr. Nelson said , `` What 's fascinating about documentary today is the different ways to approach it . ``

Referring to his own film about Jim Jones , who led the mass suicide in which more than 900 people died in Guyana in 1978 , Mr. Nelson said : `` It was essential for us not to say that this guy was only evil .

Just by being somewhat objective , we were being revolutionary . ``

Mr. Nelson 's comment reflects a climate in which the pursuit of objectivity in documentaries is hardly the norm , as it had been during the 1950s and ` 60s .

In that period , American filmmakers like Mr. Maysles advocated `` direct cinema , '' where the camera was thought of as a fly on the wall , capturing but not commenting on life .

Still , some of the shortlisted documentaries adopt this approach more than others in treating subjects like these : Global warming : Davis Guggenheim 's box office hit , `` An Inconvenient Truth , '' with former Vice President Al Gore .

Religion : Rachel Grady and Heidi Ewing 's `` Jesus Camp , '' about born-again Christian children at an evangelical summer camp in North Dakota .

Amy Berg 's `` Deliver Us From Evil , '' about Oliver O'Grady , a former priest and convicted pedophile .

And Mr. Nelson 's film about Jim Jones .

Race : Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg 's `` Trials of Darryl Hunt , '' about a wrongly convicted African-American man .

Free speech : Barbara Kopple and Cecilia Peck 's `` Shut Up & Sing , '' on the fallout after Natalie Maines , of the Dixie Chicks , publicly criticized President Bush on the eve of the 2003 invasion of Iraq .

The political campaign process : Frank Popper 's `` Can Mr. Smith Get to Washington Anymore . , '' which follows the 2004 grass-roots campaign of Jeff Smith , a Missouri Democrat , for Congress .

The two-party political system : Henriette Mantel and Steve Skrovan 's `` Unreasonable Man , '' a profile of Ralph Nader .

In addition to Ms. Poitras 's film , the three other shortlisted documentaries on the Iraq war are James Longley 's `` Iraq in Fragments , '' Deborah Scranton 's `` War Tapes '' and Patricia Foulkrod 's `` Ground Truth . ''

Ms. Kopple , a two-time Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker who once worked for Mr. Maysles , said more people were seeing documentaries because they wanted to watch passionate stories about unforgettable characters .

`` Audiences are smart enough to decide for themselves if they agree with the point of view onscreen , '' she said .

`` I 'm not sure that ` distance ' is a positive thing in nonfiction filmmaking .

I think there 's a time and place for distance .

In television journalism , for example . ``

She agreed with Mr. Maysles about letting a story unfold naturally .

`` The most important factor , in my opinion , '' she said , `` is not do we grow too close to our subjects , it 's are we willing to go on a journey with them that may not end up as we first envisioned it .

`` One director who took such a journey was Mr. Guggenheim with '' An Inconvenient Truth . ``

Speaking from Los Angeles , he recalled the beginning of his own transformation after watching a presentation by Mr. Gore on climate change , which became the centerpiece of the film .

`` All movies are personal , '' Mr. Guggenheim said .

`` When I make a movie , I do n't have activism in mind .

I have an experience in mind .

Before I saw Al 's slide show , I was not an environmentalist .

But when I saw it , it shook me to the core . ``

In a telephone conversation in New York with Ms. Ewing and Ms. Grady , the directors of `` Jesus Camp , '' Ms. Grady said their film was as `` balanced as humanly possible for us . ''

`` It 's unattainable to have no point of view at all , `` she said .

`` We 're human , and we did the best we could . ``

With its concentration on national politics , the academy passed over a clutch of well-made films that in other years might have fared better : for example , Christopher Quinn 's `` God Grew Tired of Us : The Story of the Lost Boys of Sudan '' .

Doug Block 's `` 51 Birch Street , '' an exploration into the lives of his parents .

And Ward Serrill 's `` Heart of the Game , '' about girls ' basketball .

Similarly , the three remaining shortlisted movies , all set in foreign countries other than Iraq , may face an uphill battle .

They are Lucy Walker 's `` Blindsight , '' about six blind Tibetan children .

Yael Klopmann 's `` Storm of Emotions , '' about the Israeli pullout from the Gaza Strip .

And Kim Longinotto and Florence Ayisi 's `` Sisters in Law , '' a profile of two Cameroon women -- a judge and a prosecutor -- fighting for women 's rights .

However the academy members vote , Ms. Poitras said she already considered `` My Country , My Country '' successful .

She cited a scene she had shot at the Abu Ghraib detention center : a 9-year-old Iraqi boy is being held for some unspecified reason by American Army officers who call him a dangerous juvenile .

Moments such as these , she said , `` will bring a sense of questioning and shame about some of the things we are doing in Iraq . ''

So even a filmmaker like Ms. Poitras , who by her own account employed a subtle and patient approach , may have made a point after all .

In the current climate for documentaries , she certainly is not alone .

Summary: Documentary films on shortlist for Oscar nominations are all issue based .

Summary: Films My Country , My Country , An Inconvenient Truth , Jesus Camp , Deliver Us From Evil , Trials of Darryl Hunt , Shut Up & Sing , Can Mr Smith Get to Washington Anymore . , An Unreasonable Man , Iraq in Fragments , War Tapes and Ground Truth noted .

Summary: Photos .


In a moment of presidential empathy , former President George Bush recalled a skill he had learned from Gerald R . Ford : how to handle being ridiculed on `` Saturday Night Live . ''

`` I remember that lesson well , since being able to laugh at yourself is essential in public life , '' Mr. Bush said in his eulogy for Mr. Ford on Tuesday .

`` I 'd tell you more about that , but as Dana Carvey would say : ` Not gon na do it .

Would n't be prudent . '

`` As the 82-year-old former president imitated his own impersonator , there were only three people in the audience who knew exactly how it felt to be ridiculed , as a sitting president , on late-night television .

Former President Bill Clinton responded with a hearty laugh from his seat in the Washington National Cathedral , while former President Jimmy Carter , in a neighboring pew , looked on with a smile .

Seated nearby was President Bush , who has been relentlessly skewered by TV comics as well .

With Mr. Ford 's death last week , the group of living former presidents has shrunk to three , down from five in the early 1990s .

Since 1994 , Richard M . Nixon , Ronald Reagan and , now , Mr. Ford have left the stage , while Mr. Clinton has joined the ranks of former chief executives .

The dynamic among the former presidents is perpetually evolving , as people age , rivalries fade and former political opponents discover they share more similarities than differences .

The current club has at its core two presidents in different parties -- Mr. Clinton , 60 , and the elder Mr. Bush -- who have become companions in traveling and fund-raising for causes around the world .

The two at times appear more friendly than Mr. Bush is with his son , or than Mr. Clinton is with Mr. Carter , 82 , a fellow Democrat .

And on Tuesday it was Mr. Carter , not either of the Bushes , who accompanied Mr. Ford 's coffin back to Grand Rapids , Mich . , for burial .

Though Mr. Ford and Mr. Carter squared off in the 1976 election , they became friends after both were out of office .

On a flight home from Cairo in 1981 , after the funeral of the Egyptian leader Anwar el-Sadat , they found common ground discussing their presidential libraries .

Similar kinship has grown between Mr. Clinton and the first President Bush , in contrast to the rocky relationship between Mr. Clinton and Mr. Carter .

Though the two Southern Democrats are from similarly humble backgrounds , they have been at odds repeatedly over the years .

In 1993 , Mr. Carter said he was `` very disappointed '' in the Clintons for sending their daughter , Chelsea , to private school rather than public school , as the Carters had done with their daughter , Amy .

After the Monica Lewinsky scandal , Mr. Carter said he had been `` deeply embarrassed by what occurred . ''

In more recent years , the Clinton-Carter relationship has had a tinge of rivalry , as both men have sought to become global statesmen .

The funeral also provided a stage for those thinking about the politics of tomorrow , as well as those of yesterday .

Along with the three former presidents sat several of those who may aspire to the job , including Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York , former Mayor Rudolph W . Giuliani of New York and Representative Dennis J . Kucinich of Ohio .

And it was a reminder that while the nation elects only the president , the White House becomes home to a whole family whose members have to cope with the spotlight .

At the cathedral on Tuesday , Rosalynn Carter was seen talking intently with Nancy Reagan .

One row behind them , Chelsea Clinton spoke animatedly with a fellow Stanford University alumna , Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice .

Tom Brokaw , the former NBC News anchor , said in his eulogy that when Mr. Ford brought his family to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue , `` he brought the humanity that comes with a family that seemed to be living right next door . ''

For neighbors of the Fords in Alexandria , Va . , from the 1950s until they moved into the White House in 1974 , they were in fact the family next door , with four independent-minded children whose public indiscretions Mr. Ford sometimes had to confront .

His son Jack admitted in a newspaper interview in 1975 that he smoked marijuana and lived a rowdy bachelor 's life .

His daughter , Susan Ford Bales , was a headstrong teenager when her father became president and was married for a time to a Secret Service agent who had been assigned to guard the family .

Mr. Ford and Ms. Bales , now middle-aged , walked hand in hand down the center aisle of the cathedral before the service , and each read a passage from the Bible .

Ms. Bales 's reading came from James 1:19 - 25 , chosen by the family to help illuminate the former president 's humble approach to the bitter times in which he served .

`` Therefore rid yourselves of all sordidness and rank growth of wickedness , and welcome with meekness the implanted word that has the power to save your souls , '' Ms. Bales read .

`` But be doers of the word , and not merely hearers who deceive themselves . ''

THE 38TH PRESIDENT Correction : January 5 , 2007 , Friday An article on Wednesday about the funeral of former President Gerald R . Ford drew an erroneous comparison between Chelsea Clinton and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice , who sat next to each other .

Ms. Rice received degrees from the University of Denver and Notre Dame .

She is not an alumna of Stanford University , where Ms. Clinton received a bachelor 's degree .

-LRB- Ms.

Rice is a former Stanford provost . -RRB- .

Summary: Former Pres Gerald R Ford 's death brings group of former living presidents to three : George Bush , Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton .

Summary: Dynamic among former presidents continually evolves , as people age , rivalries fade and former political opponents discover they share more similarities than differences .

Summary: Photo .


In a soaring tribute to a modest man , Gerald R . Ford was remembered on Tuesday as bringing the ordinary virtues of decency , integrity and humility to mend a broken government after the pain of war and scandal .

`` Amid all the turmoil , Gerald Ford was a rock of stability , '' President Bush told the gathering of generations of Washington 's powerful at Washington National Cathedral .

`` And when he put his hand on his family Bible to take the presidential oath of office , he brought grace to a moment of great doubt . ''

The cathedral 's grand setting and the pomp of a state funeral provided a counterpoint for the unassuming character praised by the eulogists .

President Bush 's father called Mr. Ford `` a Norman Rockwell painting come to life '' .

Tom Brokaw , the former television anchor , described `` Citizen Ford '' as a `` champion of Main Street values '' .

And Henry A . Kissinger said the man he served as secretary of state `` had the virtues of small-town America . ''

When the cathedral 's limestone arches echoed , it was with the drums and brass of Aaron Copland 's `` Fanfare for the Common Man , '' and the ushers directing the capacity crowd of 3,700 to their seats were uniformed Boy Scouts , a tribute to Mr. Ford 's youthful achievement of the rank of Eagle Scout .

Among the hymns was `` Eternal Father , Strong to Save , '' known as the Navy Hymn , a particular favorite of Mr. Ford , who served in the Pacific during World War II .

President Bush , overseeing a deeply unpopular war in Iraq and perhaps pondering his own legacy , lauded Mr. Ford 's `` firm resolve '' in sending the Marines to rescue the crew of the American merchant ship Mayagüez when it was seized by Cambodia .

He suggested that some acts widely condemned during Mr. Ford 's administration in the 1970s had come to look wiser in historical perspective , including his pardon for his immediate predecessor , Richard M . Nixon .

In addition , Mr. Bush noted that Mr. Ford was criticized for signing the Helsinki Accords , the 1975 agreement that ratified borders in Soviet-dominated Eastern Europe while also setting new standards for human rights .

`` History has shown that document helped bring down the Soviet Union as courageous men and women behind the Iron Curtain used it to demand their God-given liberties , '' Mr. Bush said .

Mr. Ford 's coffin arrived at the cathedral by motorcade from the Capitol , a final journey through the city where he served as 13-term congressman , vice president and finally president , the only person to hold the nation 's top two offices without being elected to either .

After the 90-minute Episcopal funeral service , Mr. Ford 's body was flown from Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington to his hometown , Grand Rapids , Mich . , for a burial service on Wednesday in a plot beside the museum that bears his name .

In Washington , the Gothic cathedral where Mr. Ford helped dedicate the nave in 1976 , became for the morning a crossroads of the capital 's past and present , with Supreme Court justices and members of Congress in the south transept facing scores of foreign ambassadors and former foreign leaders in the north transept .

Across an aisle from the diplomats sat Mr. Ford 's honorary pallbearers , including in the front row Mr. Kissinger .

Donald H . Rumsfeld , who served as defense secretary to both Mr. Ford and the current President Bush .

Alan Greenspan , the former Federal Reserve chief who was Mr. Ford 's top economic adviser .

James A . Baker III , who ran Mr. Ford 's unsuccessful 1976 campaign for president .

And Brent Scowcroft , Mr. Ford 's national security adviser .

Facing the altar , where Mr. Ford 's coffin , draped by a flag , sat , were Mr. Ford 's widow , Betty , who was escorted in and out of the cathedral by President Bush , and the Ford children , Steve , Jack , Mike and Susan .

Across the nave from the Ford family sat President Bush and Laura Bush , and Vice President Dick Cheney , who served Mr. Ford as chief of staff , with his wife , Lynne .

Several current cabinet members and three former presidents -- the elder Mr. Bush with his wife , Barbara .

Jimmy Carter and his wife , Rosalynn .

And Bill Clinton and his wife , Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton , and their daughter , Chelsea .

With them was Nancy Reagan , the former first lady .

Like much of the outpouring of affection for Mr. Ford since he died at his home in Rancho Mirage , Calif . , on Dec . 26 at the age of 93 , the service focused on what President Bush called the `` calm and healing '' the former president brought to `` one of the most divisive moments in our nation 's history . ``

Mr. Ford , the House minority leader , succeeded first Vice President Spiro T . Agnew and then President Nixon after both men were forced from office by scandal .

`` Gerald Ford brought to the political arena no demons , no hidden agenda , no hit list or acts of vengeance , '' said Mr. Brokaw , who explained that Mr. Ford had asked him to address the funeral as a representative of the press corps .

`` He knew who he was , and he did n't require consultants or gurus to change him . ``

Mr. Kissinger in particular emphasized the substantive achievements of Mr. Ford in foreign policy , saying the `` deserved commentary '' on Mr. Ford 's character `` has sometimes obscured how sweeping and lasting were his achievements . ''

In remarks perhaps intended to reflect on his own record as well as Mr. Ford 's , he credited the former president with keeping ethnic conflicts in Cyprus and Lebanon from spiraling out of control , producing the first peace agreement between Israel and Egypt and presiding over `` the final agony of Indochina with dignity and wisdom . ''

Historians , Mr. Kissinger added , will find `` that the cold war could not have been won had not Gerald Ford emerged at a tragic period to restore equilibrium to America and confidence in its international role . ''

A few hours after the service , the plane carrying Mr. Ford 's body circled over the University of Michigan football stadium , where he had been a standout center and linebacker , then landed at the airport named for him in Grand Rapids .

The university 's marching band , which arrived on a red-eye flight from California after the Rose Bowl game on Monday , solemnly played its fight song , `` The Victors . ''

About 200 friends and local dignitaries invited by Mr. Ford 's family attended the brief ceremony before the 13-mile motorcade to his presidential museum in downtown Grand Rapids , passing thousands of residents who lined the streets , some holding signs that said `` Welcome home . ''

Billboards around the city declared `` Gerald ' Our ' Ford : 1913-2006 . ``

Despite a fierce , bitter wind blowing off the Grand River , Tim Micho waited with his video camera and 7-year-old daughter , Tessa , for two and a half hours to watch the motorcade pass by .

`` She 'll probably never get to see something like this again , `` Mr. Micho , 43 , said .

`` It 's so moving to see this many people out here to support him . ``

A single bagpiper played `` Amazing Grace '' as Betty Ford and the rest of the family made their way slowly behind the coffin into the museum , a geometric , glassy structure along the water .

Inside , they held a brief service for family and honored guests , including former President Carter .

Like many along the streets in Grand Rapids , Gov . Jennifer M . Granholm spoke of Mr. Ford 's deep roots in the region .

Here , Ms. Granholm said , Mr. Ford had learned from his family `` some good Midwestern values likehard work and sportsmanship and integrity and honesty . ''

Here , he had played high school football -LRB- with a few men , now frail , in attendance on Tuesday -RRB- , had married and had been elected to Congress .

`` Welcome home , '' Ms. Granholm said , `` to the people that you reflected so well when you were in Washington . ''

THE 38TH PRESIDENT .

Summary: Former Pres Gerald R Ford is eulogized as modest man bringing virtues of decency , integrity and humility to mend broken government after pain of war and scandal .

Summary: Washington National Cathedral 's grand setting and pomp of state funeral provide counterpoint for unassuming former president .

Summary: Capacity crowd of 3,700 attends .

Summary: Photo .


A parolee who has served more than 30 years in prison for two separate homicides and other violent crimes in New York City was arrested yesterday by the Suffolk County police and charged in the shooting deaths of a 52-year-old woman and her 30-year-old son over the weekend .

The man , Fernando DeCampoamor , 59 , of Mount Sinai , N.Y. , was scheduled to be arraigned today on two counts of second-degree murder in the deaths of the woman , Amelia Garcia , and her son , Ferneliz Cruz , the authorities said .

They were found shot once in the head in the basement apartment in Coram where they lived with Mr. Cruz 's wife and their two small children .

According to the police , the suspect told investigators he had lent money to Ms. Garcia , whom he described as his companion of six months , and became enraged Saturday evening over what he said was a delay in repayment .

Mr. Cruz and his family had spent that early evening at a nearby self-service laundry .

He had returned home first with a few loads of clean clothes .

His wife , Yessenia Hernandez , and their children , an 8-year-old and a 2-month-old , returned to the apartment 20 minutes later to find Ms. Garcia dead and Mr. Cruz severely wounded .

He died on Sunday night , about 24 hours later , at Stony Brook University Medical Center .

It was unclear whether Mr. Cruz had returned to the apartment , on Marie Lane , before his mother was shot or after , the police said .

Detective Lt . Jack Fitzpatrick of the Suffolk police said that according to state records , Mr. DeCampoamor was convicted of a murder in Brooklyn in 1961 and paroled in 1967 .

In 1968 , he was convicted in connection with a nonfatal shooting and sentenced to 15 years in prison .

He was paroled in 1975 .

In 1985 , he was sentenced to 81/3 to 25 years in prison for manslaughter in connection with a killing in Queens .

He was paroled in 2003 and had been working recently as a tow truck driver .

Lieutenant Fitzpatrick said he did not know whether Ms. Garcia had any knowledge of Mr. DeCampoamor 's criminal background .

Neighbors and friends said Ms. Garcia and Mr. Cruz immigrated from the Dominican Republic about 12 years ago .

Ms. Garcia helped care for her son 's children while he and his wife worked .

Neighbors said he worked full time for a bakery and bread distributing company , and might have held other part-time jobs , including one as a waiter .

His wife worked part time at a local fast-food restaurant .

A neighbor , Darlene Kennedy , 32 , described the family as close-knit and unfailingly polite .

She said the 8-year-old , Yerneli , who played with her children , was cheerful and very bright and seemed to love learning new games .

From the open door of the family 's basement apartment , which was covered in black dust left by police fingerprint technicians on Monday , a chess board and chess pieces could be seen on the kitchen table .

Blood was pooled on the linoleum .

Summary: Fernando DeCampoamor is charged with murdering Amelia Garcia and her 30-year-old son Ferneliz Cruz in Coram , NY . Police say he lent money to companion Garcia and became enraged over delay in repayment .

Summary: Was on parole for 1985 murder in New York City .

Summary: Previous record noted .


Indonesian officials reversed themselves on Tuesday and admitted that they did not know what had happened to a passenger jet that disappeared from radar screens in bad weather on Monday shortly after issuing a distress signal .

On Monday , Indonesian Air Force and Transport Ministry officials told local and foreign news services that wreckage from a 17-year-old Boeing 737-400 operated by Adam Air had been found strewn on jungle-covered mountainside on Sulawesi island .

They also said 12 of the 102 people on board had survived .

But later they said reports that the wreckage and survivors had been found were wrong .

Officials said they had been misled by incorrect information from villagers and local officials in the remote area where the reports had originated .

`` We apologize for the news that we released earlier , '' said Eddy Suyanto , an air force official , The Associated Press reported .

`` It was not true . ''

Indonesian officials said they planned to resume the search for the plane on Wednesday .

The presumed crash was another loss for the Indonesian aviation industry , which boomed after deregulation in 1999 led to the founding of several low-cost airlines but which has had a long history of accidents .

It was a particularly bitter blow to Adam Adhitya Suherman , 26 , the president of Adam SkyConnection Airlines .

In an Indonesian industry known for bankruptcies and safety problems , Mr. Suherman and his family of Chinese traders had aimed to create a reliable and relatively inexpensive airline for a rapidly growing pool of Indonesian travelers .

And they seemed to be succeeding .

From a shoestring domestic operation , started in 2003 with three leased Boeing 737s , the airline grew by 2006 into a $ 300 million-a-year business , flying 19 planes to 25 domestic and international destinations and harboring big ambitions for growth .

The family 's goal for 2006 was to carry six million to eight million passengers .

It was courted by big investors , including Qantas and Tiger Airways .

While emphasizing safety , the airline has had its share of troubles .

On Feb . 11 last year , an Adam Air flight to Makassar from Jakarta lost its way , making an unscheduled landing hundreds of miles off course in eastern Indonesia .

The pilots blamed a malfunction in the navigation equipment but Mr. Suherman said it had been working properly .

On May 31 , 2005 , part of the landing gear of a Boeing 737 operated by Adam Air collapsed on landing at the Jakarta airport .

More Rescued After Ferry Sinking REMBANG , Indonesia , Jan . 2 -LRB- AP -RRB- -- Fishing boats rescued dozens of people from the sea on Tuesday , four days after a ferry sank in a storm off Indonesia , but 400 people remained missing .

The ferry Senopati Nusantara foundered after being pounded by heavy waves for more than 10 hours as it neared the end of a two-day journey to Java , Indonesia 's main island , from the Indonesian section of Borneo island .

Officials said the bad weather caused the sinking .

About 200 survivors have been found , and officials say the search will continue until Sunday .

Thirteen bodies have been recovered and scores more have been seen floating at sea .

Susilo , 35 , was picked up by fishermen and taken to a hospital with chest pains and respiratory problems after drifting four days in a life raft .

`` Six among us died , one by one , '' said Mr. Susilo , who like many Indonesians uses one name .

Some who died drank seawater , he said .

Summary: Indonesian officials reverse themselves and say they do not know what happened to passenger jet that disappeared from radar screen on Jan 1 after issuing distress signal .

Summary: They say initial reports that wreckage was found on Sulawesi island along with 12 survivors was wrong .

Summary: They say search will resume on Jan 3 .


The Israeli chief of staff , Lt . Gen . Dan Halutz , conceded Tuesday that the military had made serious errors during last summer 's war against Hezbollah in Lebanon but said he would not resign his post .

General Halutz said Israel had badly damaged Hezbollah in southern Lebanon and killed `` hundreds of terrorists . ''

But he said Israel was `` not successful in reducing the short-range rocket fire on Israel 's north until the cease-fire , `` which came after 34 days of fighting .

Critics of General Halutz and of the Israeli government of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert have said the military relied too heavily on air power and delayed too long sending in ground troops in the numbers needed to push back the Hezbollah fighters and supporters who were firing Katyusha rockets into Israel .

Critics have also said that the military should be led by a ground forces commander -- General Halutz spent his career in the air force -- and that reserves were not called up in time , were badly trained and equipped , and often faced contradictory orders .

`` We attacked the Katyushas , but unsuccessfully , '' General Halutz said .

He spoke Tuesday at a Tel Aviv news conference summing up the army 's own investigation of its behavior during the war .

He said he would stay on `` to correct what can be corrected , '' and said to resign now would be `` running away . ''

He said Mr. Olmert and Defense Minister Amir Peretz had not asked him to go .

`` I have not heard my superiors calling on me to resign , '' he said .

`` If they do , I will respond . ''

He suggested that discipline had broken down to some degree .

`` There were cases in which officers did not carry out their assignments , and cases in which officers objected on moral grounds to their orders , '' he said , an apparent reference to resistance against attacking southern Lebanese towns and villages .

He said that those instances of refusal `` ran counter to the army 's basic values `` and that a senior officer was suspended as a result .

During the war , as criticism mounted , General Halutz effectively demoted the commander of the northern front , Maj . Gen . Udi Adam , putting the deputy chief of staff , Maj . Gen . Moshe Kaplinski , alongside him .

General Adam later quit the army .

Previously , General Halutz has said the army fired some cluster munitions , with the `` bomblets '' placed in artillery shells , into southern Lebanon in contradiction of his orders that they be aimed only at specific targets .

The United States is investigating whether the Israelis used cluster munitions made and paid for in America in ways that contravene American regulations for the weapons ' use .

General Halutz implicitly criticized Mr. Olmert for setting as a goal of the war the release of two Israeli soldiers captured by Hezbollah in a cross-border raid on July 12 , an act that set off the fighting .

The Winograd committee , which is led by a retired judge , Eliyahu Winograd , and was appointed by the government , is still investigating the conflict and its outcome .

General Halutz said that if the committee called for his resignation , `` of course '' he would comply .

Defense Minister Amir Peretz has made the same pledge .

The war ended with a cease-fire on Aug . 14 , after a United Nations Security Council resolution mandated an enlarged and strengthened international peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon and supervision of Lebanon 's seacoast and border with Syria to prevent the rearming of Hezbollah .

The fighting left more than 1,000 people dead on both sides .

Israel says more than 500 of the dead were Hezbollah fighters , but Hezbollah disputes that .

Israel counted 159 fatalities , including 39 civilians who were killed by the more than 4,000 rockets Hezbollah fired into Israel .

In Gaza on Tuesday , Palestinian security forces were searching for a Peruvian photographer for Agence France-Presse , Jaime Razuri , 50 , a day after his abduction .

The Palestinian Authority president , Mahmoud Abbas , said he was hopeful .

`` We 're sure he will soon be released , `` Mr. Abbas told a delegation from the news agency and French and Peruvian diplomats .

`` In past incidents of this kind , hostages have been freed after one or two days . ''

In the latest in a string of foreigner abductions , several unmasked gunmen abducted Mr. Razuri in the center of Gaza City on Monday as he was returning from an assignment with an interpreter and a driver .

Separately , warring Hamas and Fatah factions returned 14 fighters kidnapped on Monday after mediation from representatives of Islamic Jihad , Palestinian officials said .

The violence resumed Monday when Hamas gunmen shot at a brother of a senior Fatah militant in the northern Gaza Strip , violating an earlier deal for a general truce .

Summary: Israeli chief of staff , Lt Gen Dan Halutz , says that military made serious errors during 2006 war against Hezbollah in Lebanon but says he will not resign his post .

Summary: Halutz suggests one problem was discipline and cites cases in which officers refused assignments and objected on moral grounds .

Summary: Critics of Halutz say military relied too heavily on air power and delayed too long sending in sufficient ground troops .

Summary: Photo .