May 11, 2004

New York Yankees catcher Jorge Posada cites Thurman Munson as his idol for way he led on and off field; photos (M)

U.S. Destroys Headquarters Of Rebel Cleric in Baghdad The American military in Iraq said it had killed as many as 18 supporters of the rebel Shiite Muslim cleric Moktada al-Sadr as it demolished his main headquarters in Baghdad early yesterday morning during a heavy firefight that echoed around the capital. PAGE A12 'Wicked' Windfall The musical ''Wicked,'' which tells the story of Oz from the witches' perspective, racked up 10 Tony award nominations. THE ARTS, PAGE E1

Alessandra Stanley reviews The Dick Van Dyke Show Revisited and Carol Burnett special, Let's Bump Up the Lights; photos (M)

China takes four more steps to slow inflation, including setting limited price controls in provinces where cost of living is rising fastest; other steps are aimed at stanching some types of lending and development in order to cool economy; food prices, biggest component of consumer price index, were up 7.9 percent in April; rice and grains rose 10.8 percent; photo (M)

Number of assisted fertility attempts in United States has risen from 64,036 in 1996 to 107,587 in 2001 and fertility experts hold that increased options for infertile couples is part of reason; cost of treatments vary with in vitro fertilization using donor eggs running as high as $35,000 per attempt; there is concern that patients, desperate to have children, are vulnerable and often try even unproven methods to get pregnant; Leigh Todd's story of quest for baby discussed; Dr Mark V Sauer of Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons contends that patients are basically well-informed about procedures and options; graph showing costs of various fertility options; photos (L)

Monsanto said yesterday that it had halted its effort to introduce the world's first genetically engineered wheat, bowing to the concerns of American farmers that the crop would endanger billions of dollars of exports. The announcement indicates how difficult it is becoming to introduce genetic engineering into new crops beyond the four that have been genetically engineered for years -- canola, corn, cotton and soybeans.

Manufacturing employment is down nearly 3 million over last 44 months; 37,000 manufacturing jobs created so far represent minuscule contribution to 708,000 jobs generated over last three months across entire economy; manufacturers warn not expect much of job revival at their companies; graph; photos (M)

George Vecsey Sports of The Times column discusses aging West Side Tennis Club in Forest Hills (NY), which last hosted US Open in 1977 and is relic of bygone tennis era; photos (M)

Market Place column on Citigroup's agreement to pay $2.65 billion to former WorldCom shareholders who claimed that Citigroup and its star telecommunications analysts Jack Grubman misled them about company's prospects; banking analysts say Citigroup had much at stake if WorldCom litigation went to trial as scheduled in January; photo (Market Place column) (M)

Arizona Diamondbacks defeat New York Mets, 12-8; photo (M)

Stock markets worldwide fall sharply as prospect of higher interest rates in US, high oil prices and war in Iraq unnerve investors; all three of Wall Street's main market gauges fall more than 1 percent to new lows for year; Dow Jones industrial average is off 4.4 percent for year while Nasdaq composite index is down 5.4 percent; Japan's main stock market falls nearly 5 percent, while South Korea's market declines 5.7 percent and Brazil's drops 5.4 percent; major European markets are off more than 2 percent; oil stocks fall after Saudi Arabia's oil minister calls on OPEC to increase output to avoid hurting global economy; price of crude oil for June delivery, which broke through $40 per barrel on May 7, falls $1, or 2.5 percent, to $39.35 in New York trading, though gasoline prices in US are at record levels and price of oil is still near 13-year high; Standard & Poor's 500-stock index declines 11.58 points, or 1.1 percent, to 1,087.12; Dow Jones industrial average declines 127.32 points, or 1.3 percent, to 9,990.02; Nasdaq composite index drops 21.89 points, or 1.1 percent, to 1,896.07; US Treasury prices fall; 10-year note declines 5/32, to 93 27/32; yield rises to 4.80 percent from 4.78 percent; euro falls to $1.1867 against dollar from $1.1895 on prospect of higher interest rates in US; dollar rises to 113.72 yen from 112.15 graphs; charts; photos (M)

Walt Disney Concert Hall, which opened in October 2003 in Los Angeles, is scheduled to debut it's vast pipe organ in July; project architect Frank Gehry designed huge askew pipe organ facade and organ creator Manuel J Rosales continues to fine tune highly unique flight of 6,134 pipes, some of which are curved; organ works through electric action and can use remote keyboards to allow musician opportunity to sit in different locations or to allow two organists to play on the same pipes, at same time, from two different keyboards; description of how Disney Hall pipe organ works; challenges to unique project discussed; drawings; photos; (L)