March 11, 2002

St Sabina Saints, basketball team of mostly black Catholic elementary school on Chicago's South Side, quits nearly all-white Southside catholic Conference, athletic league they fought hard to join; parents and coaches cite what they allege is season's worth of racially tinged resentment and hostility; controversy, which began in May 2001 after school tried to join Southside conference and was rebuffed by league officials, discussed; photo (M)

Article in The Media Giants series profiles Rupert Murdoch's empire, which encompasses broadcast, cable and satellite television, movies, books and newspapers; Murdoch says his focus today is not on further acquisitions but on improving operational details and lifting operating income; says company has weathered current downturn better than the last because it moved debt from short-term bank debt to long-term bonds; graphs; photos (L)

Arthur Andersen's decision to seek a merger partner signals that it knows it is no longer viable as an independent company. Page A18.

American commanders, while not declaring victory, cautiously declare crux of battle against Al Qaeda ad Taliban fighters in much of Shah-i-Kot Valley in Afghanistan effectively is over; order about 400 soldiers back to base but say say fresh troops may be rotated into battle to eliminate remnants of enemy; Joint Chiefs of Staff Chmn Gen Richard B Myers says remaining Al Qaeda and Taliban fighters are widely dispersed; hints battle has opened way to eventual end of American combat operations in Afghanistan; jubilant returning soldiers from 10th Mountain Division in Fort Drum, NY, express confidence battle will mark decisive moment in successful war; maps; photos (M)

David A Vise insists that The Bureau and the Mole, his book about FBI and Robert Philip Hanssen, is legitimate best seller, even though he acknowledges ordering nearly 20,000 copies of book from Barnesandnoble.com with free shipping, then returning more than 17,000 of them for his money back; purchases, mixed with returns and reorders, raise suspicions among journalists and publishing executives that Vise was trying to inflate sales of book reported to national best-seller lists; Vise says he intended to buy about 4,000 books in effort to resell signed copies online; photo (M)