March 10, 2002

Mexico Arrests Drug Chief Mexico arrested Benjamín Arellano Félix, the chief of the nation's most powerful and violent drug gang. The authorities said it would mean the end of the cartel, which transported Colombian cocaine as well as heroin and other drugs. PAGE 7 Former Black Panther Guilty Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin, the fiery black radical known in the 1960's as H. Rap Brown, was found guilty of murdering a sheriff's deputy in Atlanta two years ago. PAGE 34

US war in Afghanistan discussed as important not only to dislodge Al Qaeda terrorists but also as virtual political and military prerequisite for Bush administration's more ambitious efforts in other regions; insistence on full victory and willingness to use US troops in Afghanistan delivers message to potential foes elsewhere and challenges Pentagon to be able to wage war on multiple fronts (M)

Article on reawakening of Afghanistan's culture which, surprisingly and despite bombed-out ruins of Kabul, depredations under Taliban rule and devastation of war, has emerged not only optimistic but exuberant; Union of Artists, closed by Taliban, has reopened and has already attracted more than 3,000 members nationwide, including 200 women; many Afghans say, contrary to Taliban propaganda, that prohibitions against art were not based in Islam but were political; photos; drawings (L)

BIG EAST CONFERENCE -- Connecticut outlasts Pittsburgh, 74-65, in double overtime for its fifth conference championship. PAGE 1 IVY LEAGUE -- Penn adds another trophy to its case by defeating Yale, 77-58. The victory culminated a three-team playoff. PAGE 6

Los Angeles is transforming itself in tens years since riots ripped apart city; although greater metropolitan area is still spreading out, nation's second-biggest city is fighting sprawl by growing inward, upward, and making fledgling attempt to free itself from automobile; last year city issued more building permits for housing inside city than at any time in last decade; most are for kind of projects planners praise as antithesis of sprawl; in riot zones of South Central, hundreds of houses rise on weed-choked lots; throughout city, parking lots are going down and more densely built apartments and commercial developments are going up; planners and critics say Angelenos weary of spending hours each day in motionless traffic now see worth of living in city rather than in suburb; photos; map (L)