A O Scott Critic's Notebook column discusses controversy surrounding plans to limit distribution of 'film screeners,' copies of films being considered for Academy Award nominations traditionally sent to academy members, critics and other journalists; goal is to limit piracy (M)

A Film Dispute Becomes Melodrama

Martin Lel of Kenya wins New York City Marathon in 2 hours, 10 minutes and 30 seconds; Rodgers Rop, also from Kenya, is second and countryman Christopher Cheboiboch is third; in all, 11 of top 20 finishers are from Kenya; photos (L)

New York City's Streets Belong to Kenya

Bernard Holland reviews piano recital by Leon Fleisher at Carnegie Hall;photo (M)

For a Pianist, A Reunion Of Right And Left

Rev V Gene Robinson is consecrated bishop of New Hampshire and first openly gay prelate in Episcopal Church USA, laying groundwork for split in American church and break with fellow Anglican churches abroad; nearly 4,000 people attend ceremony in arena at Univ of New Hampshire, applauding and cheering; consecration goes ahead despite warnings from primates who lead Anglican churches in parts of Africa, Asia and Latin American that gay bishop would not be recognized in their churches and would prompt them to break ties with Episcopal Church USA; Rowan Williams, archbishop of Canterbury, releases statement acknowledging Americans' right to choose their own bishops but lamenting Americans' disregard for objections of their more conservative church cousins in other parts of world; photos (M)

OPENLY GAY MAN IS MADE A BISHOP

Dallas Cowboys defeat Washington Redskins, 21-14; photos (M)

By Pushing Redskins Around, Cowboys Show Who's for Real

Afghans living in Flushing, Queens, with American-led forces having driven Taliban from power in Afghanistan, begin rediscovering country many thought they would never see again; some are renting out or selling their reclaimed houses in Afghanistan, some have started businesses there and many are making money as they shuttle back and forth; examples cited; photo (M)

Back to Kabul, With a Queens Accent; Many Immigrants Returning to a Remade Afghanistan, Some to Stay

Virginia Heffernan Critic's Notebook column on controversy surrounding ABC News special Jesus, Mary and da Vinci, which explores the unusual religious claims made in Dan Brown novel The Da Vinci Code: that Mary Magdelene was wife of Jesus, that they had a child and heirs and that heirs, whose existence threatened church dogma, were protected by clandestine priory that counted Leonardo among its members; photo (M)

The Volatile Notion of a Married Jesus

CBS, three months before Feb 1 Super Bowl, has already sold 80 percent of available commercial time; robust demand comes despite average prices of $2.3 million to $2.4 million for 30-second spot, about 8 percent higher than in 2003 Super Bowl; reflects fact that big events still draw large numbers of viewers as rest of television audience continues to fragment; complements healthy marketplace for commercial time in regular-season National Football League games; photo (M)

Most TV Spots Sold 3 Months Before Super Bowl

Robert A Durst murder case is set to go to jury in Galveston, Texas, this week; authorities are still trying to come to grips with Durst, whom prosecutors say cooly and deliberately killed his neighbor Morris Black and then dismembered his body and dumped parts in Galveston Bay; photo (M)

Murder Case Against Durst Is Set to Go To Texas Jury

Mayor Michael R Bloomberg's push to bring his own version of nonpartisan elections to New York City shapes up as most partisan battle yet in his short political career; Bloomberg, Democrat-turned-Republican and businessman-turned-mayor, is personally financing elaborate advertising campaign urging voters to support measure that would end party primaries; his politics has been bundle of contradictions ever since he decided to run for office; he has governed in what many describe as nonideological, nonpartisan way, but he has been model of party loyalty towards fellow Republicans in Albany and Washington; his call to ban partisan primaries in elections for city office has Democratic Party accusing him of engineering Republican plot to weaken Democratic power in city where registered Democrats outnumber registered Republicans five to one; photos; chart (M)

In Bloomberg, Nonpartisan Fights Party Loyalist

Investors and policy makers are finding that it could take years to learn potential environmental and health impacts of nanotechnology, which involves materials so small their dimensions can be measured in molecules; such materials are already embedded in hundreds of products; early research, by DuPont and others, raises troubling issues; photos (M)

As Uses Grow, Tiny Materials' Safety Is Hard to Pin Down

Ben Brantley reviews revival of Tennessee Williams's play Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, directed by Anthony Page; Ashley Judd, Jason Patric and Ned Beatty star; photo (M)

Big Daddy's Ego Defies Death and His Family

Diebold Election Systems is waging legal war against grass-roots advocates, including dozens of college students, who are posting on Internet copies of company's internal communications about its electronic voting machines; students say effort to spread word about problems with company's software is valuable form of electronic civil disobedience, protected by copyright law's fair use exceptions; Diebold charges copyright infringement; has sent cease-and-desist orders to students and, in many cases, their colleges, demanding that 15,000 e-mail messages and memos be removed from each Web site; messages include discussions of software bugs and warnings that computer network is poorly protected against hackers; Swarthmore and some other colleges have removed documents; photo (M)

File Sharing Pits Copyright Against Free Speech

Harvey Araton Sports of The Times column discusses New York Giants overtime win against New York Jets, which Giants coach Jim Fassel considered necessary to salvage chance to contend this season; photos (M)

Sports of The Times; Giants Were Seconds From Ruin

NBC Entertainment president Jeff Zucker claims NBC's Tonight show has vanquished CBS's Late Show after ten-year battle for supremacy in late-night television; Tonight show star Jay Leno has opened up his biggest lead in five years, with 5.8 million viewers to 3.8 million for David Letterman; enjoys biggest edge ever in rivalry for coveted 18-to-49-year-old viewers; Letterman side cites weakness of CBS's 10 pm and late news shows and new quirks in ratings system; Letterman seems unwilling to take any special steps to deal with ratings falloff, putting tens of millions of dollars in advertising revenue at risk; ratings graph; photos (M)

Late at Night, That's NBC Crowing

New York Giants defeat New York Jets, 31-28, in overtime; photos (M)

Giants Keep Fingertip Grasp on the Season

Analysis of political challenge posed to Pres Bush by deadly helicopter attack in Iraq: how to keep public opinion from swinging against him over Iraq while not abandoning his quest to bring stable democracy to that country; well-armed and apparently coordinated guerrilla attacks on American forces, on Iraqis cooperating with them, on international institutions and on ordinary civilians seem to have common purpose: undermining American resolve and sowing doubt in Iraq and elsewhere; administration officials and military commanders have been dismissive of insurgency in way that may now be questioned; Bush is clearly sensitive to pressure on him to bring home more American troops as soon as possible; his entire handling of Iraq is under intense partisan attack that is likely to intensify as presidential campaign heats up (M)

Public's Doubt Vs. Bush Vows

Special report, Crossing With Strangers, on growing number of children traveling without families who have been snared in net that American and Mexican agents cast to stop illegal immigrants from crossing border; because of heightened border security, parents living in United States illegally can no longer risk returning home to retrieve their children, so they hire strangers to smuggle their children into US; American officials warn that immigrant parents leave themselves and their children vulnerable to smugglers' abuses; despite dangers, more and younger children are being detained during attempts to cross border; Mexican consular authorities report they have repatriated more than 9,800 unaccompanied Mexican minors caught crossing illegally in first nine months of year; illegal immigrant man and woman who have made new home in Pennsylvania say pain of separation from their two young sons outweighed risks of journey with smuggler; they are distraught when sons are detained at border; photos; map (L)

CROSSING WITH STRANGERS: Children at the Border; Littlest Immigrants, Left in Hands of Smugglers

 California's Fire Refugees  The fires that ravaged San Bernardino are under control, but 1,300 people are homeless and waiting to resume their lives.   PAGE A13    Justices Facing 9/11 Cases  The Supreme Court will soon decide whether it will become a player in civil liberties cases related to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.   PAGE A16

INSIDE

Article on Paul Green, former member of rock cover band who has opened Paul Green School of Rock Music in Philadelphia and teaches youngsters to play rock and roll music; enrollment has grown from 17 students in 2000 to 175 today with 15 instructors; Green plans to open satellite school in Downington, Pa; photo (M)

Class, Get in Touch With Your Inner Zappa; A Real Life School of Rock Focuses on Jamming and Performing

Nassau County Exec Thomas R Suozzi is taking high-profile role in campaigns for County Legislature; his fellow Democrats hold tenuous one-vote majority in Legislature, and Republicans are fighting to regain control; Suozzi contends if Republicans win Legislature, they will block his efforts to solve Nassau's fiscal crisis; losing Legislature would also weaken his chances for re-election in 2005 and undercut his aspirations for higher office; photo (M)

In Nassau, Vote Is Measure of a Democratic Chief

Margaret Okayo of Kenya breaks her own course record for women by nearly two minutes to win New York City Marathon in 2 hours, 22 minutes and 31 seconds; Catherine Ndereba of Kenya is second and Lornah Kiplagat, native Kenyan who now competes for Netherlands, is third (M)

Okayo Breaks Her Record By Nearly Two Minutes

Former Mayor David N Dinkins endorses Letitia James, Working Families Party candidate, to succeed slain Councilman James E Davis, over Davis's brother, Geoffrey A Davis; citywide, there is stream of mailings and telephone calls for and against ballot proposal that would eliminate party primaries for municipal elections; photo (M)

Dinkins Picks Davis's Rival For Council

 Fund Fees Are Focus Of Spitzer Testimony  The New York attorney general, Eliot Spitzer, will say that mutual fund directors should be paying closer attention to the fees charged to shareholders when he testifies today in front of a Senate committee, according to a draft of that speech.     Mr. Spitzer said that last year funds paid advisory fees of over $50 billion and other management fees of nearly $20 billion. ''Fund directors do not -- and cannot -- negotiate hard on the fees,'' he said. [Page C2.]

BUSINESS DIGEST

Berlin, in Aug, became world's first major city to switch from analog to entirely digital television broadcasting; transition went almost unnoticed in Germany or elsewhere; example could prove instructive to United States, where same process has been bogged down by politics, vested interests and fear of viewer revolt; photo (M)

German Way To Go Digital: No Dawdling

Rasul Gamzatovich Gamzatov was a Soviet and Russian poet who wrote in Avar. Among his poems was Zhuravli, which became a well-known Soviet song.

November 3, 2003

Headlines from November 3, 2003

A Film Dispute Becomes Melodrama

New York City's Streets Belong to Kenya

For a Pianist, A Reunion Of Right And Left

OPENLY GAY MAN IS MADE A BISHOP

By Pushing Redskins Around, Cowboys Show Who's for Real

Billboard 200

Measure Of A Man

ChickenNBeer

Hard

Speakerboxxx/The Love Below

The Movie Album

Notable Deaths

Historical Context for November 3, 2003

Headlines from November 3, 2003

A Film Dispute Becomes Melodrama

New York City's Streets Belong to Kenya

For a Pianist, A Reunion Of Right And Left

OPENLY GAY MAN IS MADE A BISHOP

By Pushing Redskins Around, Cowboys Show Who's for Real

Measure Of A Man

Chicken*N*Beer

Hard

Speakerboxxx/The Love Below

The Movie Album

Notable Deaths

Historical Context for November 3, 2003

ChickenNBeer