November 7, 2001

Northern Alliance spokesmen say they have captured three districts near approach to strategic city of Mazar-i-Sharif in northern Afghanistan with help of US military advisers; photo; map; Sec Donald Rumsfeld warns US has not confirmed claim; Qudratullah Hurmat says Americans in fight gave orders to commanders, organized troops, photographed Taliban positions and delivered ammunition by helicopter; claims capture of Taliban fighters (M)

News analysis of Michael Bloomberg's success in New York mayoral race overshadowed by daunting figure of Rudolph Giuliani, whose reassuring calm in great crisis has transformed him into civic saint; photo; Bloomberg will have to figure out way to lead, manage and be judged on his own terms as he confronts breathtaking challenges created by terrorist attack, from budget deficit to rebuilding of devastated financial center and needs of traumatized public (M)

Postal Service, having suffered 10 percent drop in mail volume and $500 million in lost revenues because of anthrax scare, plans to ask Congress for bailout to cover billions of dollars it says it will cost to make mails safe; losses have pushed Postal Service, which closed its fiscal year ended Sept 30 with $1.65 billion deficit, to brink of financial crisis; graphs; photo (M)

Lisa Belkin Life's Work column discusses changed rules of workplace following Sept 11 terrorist attacks; bemoans piles of mail that remain unopened due to anthrax fears, and ubiquitous identification tags worn by employees; drawing (M)

Board of Academy of American Poets ousts its popular executive director, William Wadsworth, setting off uproar among some of country's most prominent poets, who have been enthusiastic about Wadsworth's expansive--and expensive--efforts to help stir interest in verse; Jonathan Galassi, chairman of academy's board, contends programs ran up big deficits in recent years; photo of Wadsworth (M)