Three chief executives who made millions and were leading citizens now find themselves out of work and hundreds of millions of dollars in debt.

Yesterday John J. Rigas, whose debt is well above a billion dollars, was forced to step down as chief executive of Adelphia Communications. Bernie Ebbers of WorldCom was forced out last month and has five years to repay over $400M. WorldCom's share value is now down 98% from its peak.

Stephen Hilbert of Conseco was ousted in the spring of 2000.

To travel with Secretary Powell is to catch a brief glimpse of a parallel universe: the heedless, insular, bellicose, unilateralist America seen by many European eyes.

Russian reporter to Powell: why had the US "finally agreed" to the arms control treaty, "because, as we know, you don't like treaties."

Powell: "We do like this treaty."

"It's difficult to give an answer overall as to how Europe views American policy, because American policy is multi-faceted."

Powell: "We have worked very, very hard to try to erase this view that we are unilateralist, just doing anything we please and we don't talk to our friends about it."

Teleglobe announced plans yesterday to restructure itself under bankruptcy protection. It also laid off 850 employees, shut down its data operations and accepted the resignation of its chief executive.

Teleglobe filed for bankruptcy protection in Canada and had a hearing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware yesterday. Teleglobe will file for US bankruptcy protection shortly and in the UK on Friday.

Underscoring the breadth of the crisis facing Adelphia Communications, the company said yesterday that its founder and chief executive, John J. Rigas, had resigned and that it was conducting an investigation into issues raised during the preparation of its 2001 financial statements.

Mr. Rigas's son, Timothy, the company's chief financial officer, may resign both his post and his board seat today. Trading in Adelphia's shares was halted yesterday. Adelphia may be delisted, which could lead the company into bankruptcy.

The White House said Wednesday night that President Bush had been warned by American intelligence agencies in early August that Osama bin Laden was seeking to hijack aircraft but that the warnings did not contemplate the possibility that the hijackers would turn the planes into guided missiles for a terrorist attack.

The emotional climax of "Star Wars: Episode II -- Attack of the Clones" is fabulous. Soaring and majestic, it reaches deep inside you to stroke chords of fond memory, to reaffirm the pleasure and healing power of narrative, to liberate the imagination.

Unfortunately, it comes in the first two seconds.

After that, the movie doesn't go downhill or uphill; it doesn't go anywhere. It flatlines.

Memo to George Lucas: Hire an editor, bud.

... It's too long, it's too dull, it's too lame. Lucas seems to have based this episode on "The McLaughlin Group."

President Bush's top drug policy adviser says the government's anti-drug ads largely are being ignored by teens, and a survey finds no evidence the multimillion-dollar campaign is discouraging drug use.

Li Qinfu races his purple Lamborghini toward what looks like the United States Capitol rising above the canola fields south of Shanghai.

As he turns into the manicured grounds surrounding the domed marble building, there stands an 18-foot, three-ton bronze likeness of himself, right hand raised as if beckoning to the future.

"It would have been too dangerous to cast the hand waving with the palm turned out."

While the Communist Party publicly embraces capitalists these days, inviting them in a controversial decision last July to join the party, it is still trying to restrain the emergence of a wealthy class.

...the super-rich have reached critical mass ... China now has one of the world's greatest wealth gaps, from almost none 20 years ago.

WorldCom has plenty of problems, and well-publicized ones. But does it really deserve to be exiled from the Standard & Poor's 500?

So far this year, WorldCom is down 91%.

S&P takes pride in not leaving companies in the index until they file for bankruptcy.

Not long ago, the Washington region was one of the hottest spots in the nation for building bunker-like warehouses for the powerful computers that send, receive and store data on the Internet. Now, with many of those data centers gone dark, the region has become a magnet for bargain hunters.

Only 34.7% of data-center space is being used. About 1/3 of the excess is for sale, at a 50-90% discount off the construction cost.