July 2, 2001

My writing desk is a tankard-scoured tavern table that once saw service in an 18th-century inn. When I look up, the waved and bubbled window panes of my study offer a view that has changed very little in the 200 years since the glass was set in place. A small paddock rises gently to an apple orchard, the trees laced with white blossoms. An elderly stallion flicks at flies with a long, supple tail. At this time of year boughs of unfurling oak leaves hide the black slash of electric wires. And that's helpful; for every morning, after I turn off the urgent chatter of news radio -- its breathless headlines and daunting traffic reports -- I make my way up to this little room and attempt to leave my own time behind.

Hours after images of President Fidel Castro's near collapse recently while making a speech flashed across television screens, the Miami Police Department went on alert, bracing for the possibility of a large and emotional public reaction here if the Cuban leader became incapacitated or died. Leaders of the Cuban American National Foundation, the powerful exile group, immediately got on the phone to Havana, trying to contact Cuban government insiders to offer humanitarian aid and a plea for democracy should there be a change of power.

Saudi Arabia's interior minister said today that 11 of the 13 Saudis indicted by the United States about 10 days ago in connection with the truck bombing of the Khobar Towers apartments in 1996 were in prison in the kingdom and that the case would be referred to Saudi, but not American, courts soon. The minister, Prince Nayef bin Abdel Aziz, when asked if any of the suspects held by Saudi Arabia would be sent to the United States to stand trial, responded: ''No. Never. Impossible.''

New Challenge for Ulster With the resignation of Northern Ireland's first minister, the province enters its most turbulent period, the Protestant marching season, without political stability. PAGE A4 Five Palestinians Killed Israeli forces bombed a car in the West Bank they said was filled with explosives and struck a Syrian radar station in Lebanon in retaliation for a guerrilla attack on Friday. PAGE A6

On the bookshelves in Steven McGeady's third- floor study are a small sign and a mock license plate. The sign says ''Why be normal?'' and the license plate reads ''Unix: Live Free or Die.'' Both sentiments reveal volumes about the 42-year-old computer jockey who, against the direct orders of the top executives at the Intel Corporation, became the government's star witness in the Microsoft antitrust trial.