Giuliani aims to start his own business

New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said in a television interview heis looking forward to life after City Hall and wants to start his ownbusiness. "Whatever I do, I'm going to try to establish something ofmy own, and then maybe have partners," Giuliani said during aninterview with Barbara Walters to be aired today on ABC News' "20/20." The network released a transcript of the interview Tuesday. Themayor said he looked forward to becoming a private citizen Jan. 1,when Michael Bloomberg will be sworn in to office. "I hope I say thisin the right way: I feel like I've done everything I can do for thecity. I've given the city everything that I've got. ... And maybe ofhaving gone through all the death and all the pain of Sept. 11 andthe aftermath of it all, you put life in perspective."

Protection for bills

Under congressional nudging, a consortium of the nation's largestbanks formally have agreed to waive late fees and not raise interestrates on customers whose credit card payments have languished in postoffices because of anthrax scares. The agreement announced Tuesdayspares consumers from fees and penalties from any future biological,chemical or radiological terrorist incidents that disrupt mailservice.

Help for veterans

The House approved three bills Tuesday providing $6.6 billion overthe next five years to help veterans escape homelessness and obtaingreater education, housing, burial and disability benefits. Two ofthe bills--$1 billion to aid homeless veterans and $2.5 billion toincrease compensation payments for disabled veterans--now go to theWhite House for the president's signature. The third bill, a $3.1billion boost for education and other benefits, still needs Senateapproval. All three passed by voice vote. The homeless bill providesmedical and mental health services, substance abuse treatment and jobtraining.

Alcohol drug ineffective?

The drug most used to treat alcoholics in this country has noeffect on long-term heavy drinkers, a Veterans Administration studyfound. The study looked at more than 600 veterans, almost all of themmen. They were about 49 years old on average, had been getting drunkregularly since their early 20s, and when the study began weredrinking about three days out of four, downing an average of 13drinks on those days. One group took the drug naltrexone for threemonths, one took it for a year, and one took look-alike pills with nomedical effect. In all three groups, the patients went an average of41/2 months without drinking. After 13 weeks and after a year, theywere drinking less, and on far fewer days, than they had when thestudy began--but the reduction was about the same for all threegroups. But naltrexone might work for other patients, or with otherdrugs, said Dr. John H. Krystal, who led the study.