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In the abduction, the gunmen stormed a private Sunni Arab-owned security company during the afternoon in a busy middle-class area of eastern Baghdad and carted away the employees in white pickup trucks, the kind used by Shiite-led Interior Ministry police commandos, according to three neighbors who witnessed the raid.

The workers, among them security guards and administrators, did not resist because they assumed the men were government forces on a legitimate operation, the witnesses said.

The government denied any involvement, and it was not clear who had carried out the raid. A police official who runs the operations room in the Baghdad police headquarters but would not give his name insisted that the raid was a terrorist operation.

But Sunni Arab leaders have accused the Shiite-led government, particularly the police forces under the auspices of the Interior Ministry, of operating death squads in a dirty war against Sunni Arabs. Shiite leaders contend that in most cases antigovernment insurgents and other criminals have committed crimes masquerading as government forces using stolen uniforms and vehicles.

Before the abductions, in a series of ghoulish discoveries beginning Tuesday night, 24 bodies, most of them apparently garroted, were found in five locations over 15 hours.

Though the bodies were stripped of identification documents, the authorities have often found sectarian motivation for such executions in the past, and the sudden appearance of so many bodies suggested that the violent expression of rage over the shrine bombing had not so much dissipated as gone underground.

The target of the abductions also pointed to sectarian rivalries. The gunmen stormed the company, Al Rawafid Security, in the neighborhood of Zayouna, and seized weapons, computer equipment, documents and a safe full of cash, police officials and witnesses said.

Al Rawafid Security is owned by a relative of Sheik Ghazi al-Yawer, one of Iraq's two vice presidents and a Sunni Arab, according to a company employee who requested anonymity for fear of retribution. Many of the employees are Sunni Arabs and related to Mr. Yawer, said the employee, who was not at the office during the kidnapping.

Many employees had also been members of Saddam Hussein's security forces, and several were high-ranking officers from the former Iraqi Army, the employee said.

An aide to Mr. Yawer refused to comment on the incident and said the vice president was out of the country and unavailable.

In the executions, American soldiers, responding to a report of a suspicious vehicle parked on the side of a road, discovered 18 of the bodies in a minibus about 9:30 p.m. Tuesday in the predominantly Sunni district of Amariya, officials said.

The victims, all men, had been bound at the wrists and had bruises on their necks, suggesting they were strangled with cord or wire, morgue and Interior Ministry officials said. Four of the men were Sunni bus drivers, according to a ministry official, though the police have not identified the backgrounds of the other men.

Six other victims, all but one of them blindfolded and shot, were dumped in four other locations scattered around the city and found on Wednesday, the official said. The final victim had been beheaded. The authorities said they did not know whether the killings were related.

In addition to the 18 in Amariya, one body was dumped separately in the same neighborhood, officials said; one in Rustamiya, a mixed Shiite and Sunni neighborhood in eastern Baghdad; two in Baladiyat, an eastern Baghdad neighborhood with a mixed population that witnessed a spate of violence after the Feb. 22 shrine bombing; and two in Kadamiya, a predominantly Shiite neighborhood in north-central Baghdad.]]> http://www.spainconfidential.com//noticia.asp?ref=2
Mr. Bush inspected the damage and cleanup efforts here, and said he was impressed by the desire of hurricane victims to "pick up and move on and rebuild." The president, in shirt sleeves, spoke at a work site here, in front of construction cranes, cement mixers, bulldozers and excavation equipment.

Mr. Bush's visit, his 10th trip to the region since Hurricane Katrina, came as a political battle erupted among Gulf Coast states seeking federal money for relief and reconstruction.

On Capitol Hill, lawmakers from Texas and Louisiana are engaged in a tussle over the proposed $4.2 billion in housing assistance for Louisiana, with Texans demanding a share of the money to compensate their state for taking in hurricane refugees.

Speaking in New Orleans, Mr. Bush allied himself with Louisiana over his home state. "Congress," he said, "should make sure that the $4.2 billion I requested goes to the state of Louisiana."

In the House, the Appropriations Committee on Wednesday took up the administration's $4.2 billion request, without designating it exclusively for Louisiana. John Scofield, a spokesman for the panel, said the committee was simply following its standard practice, which is not to set aside money for a particular state.

Mr. Scofield said the money would be distributed to hurricane-afflicted states on the basis of need, under a formula devised by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and predicted that Louisiana would get the "bulk of the money."

Sean Reilly, a member of the Louisiana Recovery Authority, said Louisiana would fight any effort to split the money that Mr. Bush had promised Louisiana. "The number didn't come out of thin air," Mr. Reilly said on Wednesday. "It was fact-based. Every dollar ties back to a damaged house or a damaged piece of local infrastructure."

In the Senate, where the homeland security secretary, Michael Chertoff, testified on Wednesday before the Appropriations Committee, Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, Republican of Texas, said her state was "absorbing enormous costs that should be the federal government's."

For example, Ms. Hutchison said, Texas is still educating 38,000 Louisiana schoolchildren at a cost of $6,000 per child, but is getting just $4,000 from the federal government.

"We shouldn't have to spend on the Katrina evacuees our regular allocation of C.D.B.G. money and not have that reimbursed," she said, referring to Community Development Block Grants. "That is not fair."

But another Republican on the panel, Senator Christopher S. Bond of Missouri, strongly urged colleagues to limit the block-grant money to Mississippi and Louisiana.

Mr. Bond also said it was unwise for Congress to give out huge sums when the states had not produced "comprehensive plans" for recovery.

"I don't believe this is any way to run a program," he said. "The American public expects planning and accountability, not a request for a larger bar tab, and while it may sound offensive, we do expect results."

On Tuesday, Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco of Louisiana, a Democrat, said she feared that Congress would "chip away" at the money promised to Louisiana and divert some of it to other states.

"I do not for a minute seek to minimize the needs of Mississippi, Alabama or Texas," Ms. Blanco told the Senate Appropriations Committee. "The entire Gulf Coast suffered, but Louisiana bore the brunt of this disaster."]]> http://www.spainconfidential.com//noticia.asp?ref=3
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Michael Stravato for The New York Times
Andrew Fastow, Enron's former financial chief, leaving court Wednesday.







Inside the Enron Trial
The trial of two former Enron executives has taken some unexpected twists and turns.



The Rise and Fall of Enron
Find out more about the collapse of Enron with this interactive timeline.



The Enron Trial
Larry Ingrassia, business editor, Joseph Nocera, business columnist, and Kurt Eichenwald, investigative reporter, discuss the Enron trial.

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Michael Stravato for The New York Times
Kenneth Lay, returning to the federal courthouse after lunch Wednesday.

Days after he retook the reins as Enron's chief executive in 2001, Mr. Lay was told that Enron was in such a precarious state that a "massive restructuring" or a sale of the company would be required to save it from ruin, Mr. Fastow said at the criminal trial of his former bosses.

In the most devastating testimony to date that Mr. Lay was not in the dark about Enron's snowballing problems, Mr. Fastow said that he told Mr. Lay in August 2001, just after Mr. Skilling had resigned as chief executive, that Enron had $5 billion to $7 billion of "embedded problems" and had all but run out of options to right the listing ship.

"We needed some sort of dramatic solution and we needed a bank to help us sort it out," Mr. Fastow said in his second day on the witness stand. But Mr. Petrocelli stole the spotlight on Wednesday as he aggressively questioned Mr. Fastow, 44, for more than four hours about his criminal activity in a series of off-the-books partnerships that netted Mr. Fastow millions of dollars while entangling his family in his criminal schemes.

Mr. Petrocelli portrayed Mr. Fastow as a selfish thief who put his own greed before the good of Enron, and as a man who, rather than plead guilty to his own crimes, let his wife, Lea W. Fastow, go to jail for a year.

Mr. Petrocelli drew gasps from the courtroom audience when he displayed what he called a "booty list" totaling $120 million, the sum of all the proceeds Mr. Fastow and Michael J. Kopper expected to earn through their schemes.

But Mr. Fastow seemed determined to weather what is expected to be a lengthy and cutting cross-examination by defense lawyers. Contrite and polite, Mr. Fastow openly admitted to being greedy and conceded that Mr. Skilling earned not a penny from Mr. Fastow's self-dealing partnership schemes. Mr. Fastow, who has already agreed to serve at least 10 years in prison and is cooperating with prosecutors, portrayed himself as a man who had come to terms with his wrongdoing.

"What I did was reprehensible," he said at one point, starting into a speech after a question by Mr. Petrocelli. "It is not easy to look at yourself and to recognize that about yourself. And it took me a long time to do that. And some days it is still hard to do that. I have destroyed my life. All I can do is ask for forgiveness and be the best person I can be."

But in the morning, Mr. Fastow, under questioning by prosecutor John Hueston, said he personally discussed Enron's "serious problems" with Mr. Lay in the summer and fall of 2001. At a meeting on Aug. 15 in Mr. Lay's office, Mr. Fastow said he outlined Enron's problems for Mr. Lay. At the meeting, he testified he presented Mr. Lay with a list of problem areas, including the energy services and broadband units, as well as an Indian power plant project.

"Even if we are smart and don't make a mistake for five years," Mr. Fastow said he told Mr. Lay that day, "it will take us that long to work ourselves out of our problems."

Mr. Fastow suggested to Mr. Lay that "we have to open up the kimono, show them the skeletons in the closet, what our assets are really worth."

The finance chief said he told Mr. Lay that he wanted to pursue a "strategic alternative" with an investment bank, including selling off Enron's pipelines or the entire company. Mr. Lay asked what bank he recommended, and Mr. Fastow said Goldman Sachs because that was one bank that did not have credit lines with Enron and thus would not attract any attention in the market.

Days later, on Aug. 20, Mr. Lay told a BusinessWeek reporter in an interview that Enron was "probably in the strongest and best shape that it has ever been in." He added: "There is no other shoe to fall."]]> http://www.spainconfidential.com//noticia.asp?ref=5
With easy-to-navigate software, a sleek design and reasonable cost, Samsung's new Z5 player may be the first solid rival to the iPod.With easy-to-navigate software, a sleek design and reasonable cost, Samsung's new Z5 player may be the first solid rival to the iPod.With easy-to-navigate software, a sleek design and reasonable cost, Samsung's new Z5 player may be the first solid rival to the iPod.

With easy-to-navigate software, a sleek design and reasonable cost, Samsung's new Z5 player may be the first solid rival to the iPod.]]> http://www.spainconfidential.com//noticia.asp?ref=4
The first, in 2002, was Lotronex from GlaxoSmithKline, for irritable bowel syndrome.

The decision is a victory for multiple sclerosis patients, about two dozen of whom pleaded at the meeting, some tearfully, for the return of the drug they called their best or only hope.

The committee's vote is also a victory for the drug's developers, Biogen Idec and Elan, which lost substantial market value when Tysabri was withdrawn from the market in February 2005, only three months after it was approved.

At that time few analysts thought the drug would return to the market as quickly as it apparently will.

The meeting "was a very moving two days," Dr. Burt A. Adelman, Biogen's executive vice president for development, said in an interview. He said the vote supported Biogen's view "that this is an important therapy and, although there are risks, patients should be able to choose."

Trading of both companies' shares were halted Tuesday and most of yesterday. Shares in Elan, which is based in Dublin, jumped $3.11, or 24 percent, to $15.81 late yesterday after trading resumed. Shares of Biogen, which is based in Cambridge, Mass., rose about 8 percent.

Still, most analysts say they no longer believe that Tysabri, also called natalizumab, will be a blockbuster.

Before the drug was withdrawn, some had projected annual sales would reach $2 billion or more. Now estimates are generally for several hundred million dollars.

"I think it's going to be a relatively slow relaunch, mainly because we just heard two full days of discussion as to all the limitations that have to be put in place to even allow the drug to come back," said Joel Sendek, a biotechnology analyst at Lazard. He estimates sales of $48 million this year and $216 million in 2009.

Three people who took Tysabri in clinical trials, or about one in 1,000, developed progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy or P.M.L., a rare brain disease caused by a virus. Two of the three patients died and the other was severely disabled.

The issue confronting the advisory panel, which met in Gaithersburg, Md., was that there is no good way to predict who would get the brain disease, which has no proven treatment.

Biogen executives said that if doctors rigorously monitor patients, they might detect P.M.L. early enough to stop giving Tysabri and avoid death or disability. But F.D.A. officials and advisory panel members said it was far from certain that could be done, especially since P.M.L. could easily be mistaken for multiple sclerosis itself.

"It is likely there will be cases of P.M.L," the committee's chairman, Dr. Karl D. Kieburtz of the University of Rochester, said at the conclusion of the meeting. "It is likely there will be deaths from it."

Still, the decision to return the drug to the market seemed relatively easy for the panel. More of its time was spent discussing restrictions on use of the drug.

The committee said forcefully that Tysabri should not be used along with other multiple sclerosis drugs, even in clinical trials, because it might increase the risk of P.M.L. That means that sales of Tysabri might eat into sales of Biogen's other multiple sclerosis drug, Avonex, rather than being used alongside it.

The committee voted 7 to 5 that the drug could be used as an initial therapy, rather than only after one or more other drugs had been tried without success.

All patients getting the drug will be entered in a registry. They and their doctors will have to sign forms acknowledging the risk. Biogen had proposed making the registry voluntary but the F.D.A. staff objected.

Drugs will be distributed directly to authorized infusion centers. Before each monthly infusion a nurse will go through a checklist with patients to make sure they have no new symptoms that could indicate P.M.L. Some panel members said they thought patients might cover up symptoms to keep getting Tysabri.

Some pharmaceutical executives say the agency has become tougher on drug approvals in response to criticism that it has been lax on safety. The Tysabri decision could indicate a move toward more leniency.

But Dr. Robert Temple, director of medical policy in the agency's drug division, told reporters the decision was "consistent with what we've done before" because "the disease in question is a devastating disease."

About 400,000 Americans have multiple sclerosis, which can cause paralysis, blurred vision and other problems. Experts say tens of thousands of them are not helped by the existing drugs.

Tysabri did better in preventing relapses when compared to placebos than the older drugs did when they were compared to placebos in separate clinical trials. That suggests Tysabri is better, though proof of that would require testing it directly against the other drugs.

Still, some of the patients and their family members who testified at the meeting swore by the drug.

"Without Tysabri, she is at greater risk of ending up in a wheelchair and becoming a cognitive shell of the woman she once was," David Miller, who teaches business ethics at Yale Divinity School, said of his wife, Karen, who has multiple sclerosis. "This is real risk."]]> http://www.spainconfidential.com//noticia.asp?ref=6
Despite Tubby Smith's success as coach of the Wildcats' men's basketball team, he has never received universal support among Kentucky's fans.Despite Tubby Smith's success as coach of the Wildcats' men's basketball team, he has never received universal support among Kentucky's fans.]]> http://www.spainconfidential.com//noticia.asp?ref=7
In a 30-to-2 vote, N.F.L. owners approved a union proposal that extends the collective bargaining agreement and avoids a showdown with players. Owners approved a union proposal that extends the collective bargaining agreement and avoids a showdown with players.]]> http://www.spainconfidential.com//noticia.asp?ref=11
Mayorga has been shouting to be heard, first over the din in the poverty-riddled streets of Managua, Nicaragua, and later in the dank, cacophonous world of prizefighting, where he has labored without getting what he believes has been his due for many years.]]>
''He ain't changed his mind," King said when asked yesterday if Mayorga has decided to go back on his promise to refuse to fight if he is not paid $8 million, a sum that exceeds the contract he signed by roughly $6 million. ''He ain't got no mind! I don't know what goes through a mind like that, but Ricardo Mayorga is my pick to bring back boxing. I said that right here in Forbes magazine [the financial tome that did a recent story on King and his fistic empire].

''Why? Because he's a fighter. He's not no rocket scientist. He's a fighter. Now ethics and morals leaves a little bit to be desired, but he's a fighter. You just can't take everything he says like it's holy writ.

''Wednesday he said he'd give me an hour to agree to the $8 million. The message there was extortion and blackmail, but we ain't got no dispute on what the agreement is. You sign for a fight, you go fight. He signed for $2 million and I owe him $200,000 from his last fight. That's $2.2 million. I asked him, 'Why'd you pick $8 million? Why wasn't it $12 million or $20 million?' I admit, he's always scheming, but it's been 24 hours and he's still here. Of course, he's going to fight.

''I could never condone what he did yesterday but Ricardo is just trying to get into Oscar's head. He's been quite effective, too. He's in my head."

Mayorga holds the World Boxing Council 154-pound title, a belt he won in his most recent fight, against Michele Piccirillo. It's the second time he has been a world champion but he has never cashed the kind of checks that are commonplace for De La Hoya. The same was true when Mayorga lost to Felix Trinidad. It is others who get the millions, he says.

That, at least, is how he sees it. Mayorga's life is a struggle -- to overcome poverty, boxing politics, and the lack of a powerful promoter until King took over his career. Now it is to overcome King himself, who is set to grab half the $4 million fee De La Hoya's promotional company gave him to deliver Mayorga.]]> http://www.spainconfidential.com//noticia.asp?ref=8 http://www.spainconfidential.com//noticia.asp?ref=9
What do you think of the revised "Janson's History of Art"?What do you think of the revised "Janson's History of Art"?What do you think of the revised "Janson's History of Art"?What do you think of the revised "Janson's History of Art"?]]> http://www.spainconfidential.com//noticia.asp?ref=10