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To: stockman_scott who wrote (50803)	5/1/2002 6:25:03 PM
From: Sully-	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 65232

Fire Breaks Out at Church of Nativity BETHLEHEM, West Bank — Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity was on fire early Thursday during a fierce exchange of gunfire between Israeli troops and Palestinian gunmen holed up inside. Israeli soldiers were firing flares and throwing smoke bombs, witnesses said. Flames leaped out of three rooms at the compound. Exchanges of gunfire could be heard outside, though it was not clear what set it off. Israeli soldiers lit up the sky with flares and threw stun grenades and smoke bombs. Israeli forces have been surrounding the church since April 2, when more than 200 Palestinians, including gunmen, took refuge inside as Israeli troops invaded. The 4th-century church marks the traditional birthplace of Jesus. There was no immediate word of casualties. About 30 people have left the church in the last several days, according to agreements between Israeli and Palestinian negotiators. However, there is still a standoff on the main issue, the fate of the gunmen. Israel insists they must either surrender or accept exile, while the Palestinians are prepared only to take them to the Gaza Strip. The church remains the last point of contention from Israel's large-scale incursion into the West Bank that began March 29, after a series of deadly Palestinian suicide bomb attacks. On Wednesday, Israel began withdrawing its forces from Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's office building in the West Bank town of Ramallah after a U.S.-brokered deal, under which six Palestinians wanted by Israel were taken from the building to a Palestinian prison in Jericho. The Associated Press contributed to this report. foxnews.com

To: stockman_scott who wrote (50803)	5/1/2002 10:26:37 PM
From: Dealer	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 65232

Sun Micro President Bows Out By Peter Henderson SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Sun Microsystems Inc. (NasdaqNM:SUNW - news) President and Chief Operating Officer Ed Zander said on Wednesday he would retire, joining an exodus of top managers and leaving founder and Chief Executive Scott McNealy without a No. 2. Four senior Sun executives in the past few weeks have announced plans to retire. The pending departure of Zander, 55, sent Sun shares down 15 percent to their lowest level since late 1998 and led at least one analyst to cut his rating on the stock over the uncertainty. The maker of computers that manage corporate networks and the Internet has consistently said it would return to profitability in the June quarter after a year of losses. "We're on target for meeting our profitability goals this quarter," McNealy, 47, told a conference call. Executives had been waiting until Sun was in good shape before leaving, he said. McNealy -- a colorful chief executive and amateur hockey player who once illustrated Sun's commitment to the Linux operating system by dressing up like a penguin and who never misses an opportunity to bash arch-rival Microsoft Corp. (NasdaqNM:MSFT - news) -- is the soul of Sun, but Zander has been the company's top salesman and a chief strategist. He has served as president and chief operating officer for the past four years. "Sun is a turnaround story, and a turnaround story requires confidence in the management," Bear Stearns analyst Andrew Neff wrote in a note cutting Sun's shares to "neutral" from "buy." "Our concern is not that there is something sinister, just that we have less visibility with the new team and what their goals and objectives will be," Neff said. Sun stock fell $1.21 to $6.97 on the Nasdaq, where it was by far the most active issue, trading more than 266 million shares. The stock price has declined 63 percent in the last 52 weeks, compared with a 37 percent drop for the American Stock Exchange computer hardware index. McNealy, who last week brushed off a question about Zander's future, told journalists in a call there "potentially" were other senior executives who could leave by July 1 but declined to say more. After a strong run during the technology boom of the late 1990s, Sun has scrambled to find new customers as core clients in the Internet, telecommunications and financial sectors suffered. 'WATER TORTURE' McNealy said he would reassume the additional title of president and take over Zander's duties on July 1, the beginning of Sun's fiscal year. Zander will not be replaced, and McNealy reaffirmed he himself has no plans to leave. But Zander's departure will still leave a significant void at Sun, which is based in Santa Clara, California. "It's much easier to throw your hands in the air and say ... 'They must know something and so they are going to leave and so we are going to sell our stock and we'll figure it out some other time,"' said Marty Shagrin, an analyst at Victory Capital Management, which had about 9 million Sun shares at the end of last year. But he said Sun's balance sheet, with $6 billion in cash, and a 5.5 percentage point jump in gross margins in the third quarter from the second showed that Sun was well placed to take advantage of an economic pickup and a stock worth the risk at current levels. In recent weeks, three Sun executives -- Chief Financial Officer Mike Lehman; John Shoemaker, the head of computer systems; and Larry Hambly, head of services -- have all announced plans to leave, and Sun has reorganized its software division. "It sort of felt a bit like gradual water torture," Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi remarked on the call, referring to the string of departures. "Was this really as well orchestrated as you are suggesting?" The company just finished rolling out a new line of well-regarded servers, but it is no longer the unassailable powerhouse it was a few years ago. ZANDER'S FUTURE? Zander also becomes a wild card in Sun's future. The sharply dressed New Yorker has a crowd of admirers but has been in the shadow of the pugnacious McNealy at Sun for 15 years, and McNealy said they had no written agreement that Zander would not go to a competitor. Morgan Stanley analyst Rebecca Runkle predicted in a note that Zander would find work someplace else after a summer break. Zander, who serves on the boards of semiconductor component maker Multilink Technology Corp.(NasdaqNM:MLTC - news), billing software developer Portal Software Inc.(NasdaqNM:PRSF - news) and supply chain management software firm SeeCommerce, said he would take a breather before deciding his next move. "I still have a lot of energy and, you know, a lot of ambition," he said.