March 9, 2003

Max Frankel article on FX movie Pentagon Papers, with James Spader as Daniel Ellsberg; photos (M)

market watch: econo

Israel kills Ibrahim al-Makadmah, top leader of Hamas, and his three bodyguards in Gaza City, just before Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat nominates critic of Palestinians' armed uprising to new post of prime minister; Hamas vows to avenge killing, calling Makadmah a purely political leader; Israeli security officials call him central figure in planning, approval and executing of terrorist operations of Hamas; newly named Palestinian prime minister, Mahmoud Abbas, is deputy in Palestine Liberation Orgn; his appointment is step toward meeting demands for change from Palestinian reformers as well as Bush administration and Israel; at issue is how much power Arafat would cede to him; day's events reflect two fronts of conflict--new rush of violence on one hand and halting search for diplomatic avenues on other; Israel takes rare step of permitting some Palestinian leaders to cross army checkpoints to reach Ramallah for Arafat's annoucement of Abbas's appointment; photos; map (M)

Villanova University suspends 12 players on men's basketball team for using telephone access code to make unauthorized personal calls (M)

Task Pres Bush faces in confronting North Korea's threat of nuclear blackmail contrasts with that he faces in confronting Iraq and other rogue states with nuclear ambitions; big question in Iraq is how to minimize casualties, backlash and damage to American alliances, while key question in North Korea is whether nation can be disarmed at all given Bush's limited options there; failure to face down Korea would send message to rogue states that they should get nuclear arms before confronting United States to avoid Iraq's fate; photos (M)