August 27, 1998

Roberta Smith's Critic's Notebook column on Rachel Whiteread's self-effacing site-specific sculpture, Water Tower, that sits atop roof in SoHo; says translucent piece is fitting memorial to neighborhood that is losing out to Chelsea as center of downtown gallery scene; photos (M)

Article discusses series of problems, particularly relief pitching, that have begun to beset New York Yankees; photo (M)

Federal Judge Lewis A Kaplan orders New York City to allow so-called Million Youth March to take place next week in Harlem, saying city's decision to deny marchers a permit was unconstitutional and based on rules that were 'breathtaking in their lack of standards'; city officials say that they will immediately appeal decision; organizers of march, led by Khalid Abdul Muhammad, say they will forge ahead with plans for Sept 5 rally; photo (M)

Organization for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, international agency overseeing treaty that bars chemical weapons, says chemical that US cited to justify its missile attacks on Sudanese factory can be used for commercial products; US has insisted that chemical found outside plant could only mean that plant was intended to make nerve agent VX; treaty group concedes that it is not aware of any commercial product on market that contains chemical, known as Empta; defense and intelligence officials say they still believe there is no other explanation for presence of Empta in soil sample secretly collected outside factory several months ago; photo (M)

Price is the primary reason keeping flat-panel monitors, which use liquid crystal displays, from overtaking conventional computer monitors, known as cathode-ray tube displays; despite sharp price reductions, 1997 list price for 14-inch LCD monitor from IBM was $3,000; price today is $999; at same time, prices for convention CRT monitors have declined, with 17-inch monitors selling for less than $500; photo of flat panel monitor; chart evaluating four such monitors (M)