June 4, 2005

For weeks, sightings of Taliban fighters were being reported all over the rugged mountains here. But when Staff Sgt. Patrick Brannan and his team of scouts drove into a nearby village to investigate a complaint of a beating, they had no idea that they were stumbling into the biggest battle of their lives. On May 3, joined by 10 local policemen and an interpreter, the scouts turned up at a kind of Taliban convention -- of some 60 to 80 fighters -- and were greeted by rockets and gunfire. The sergeant called for reinforcements and was told to keep the Taliban engaged until they arrived. ''I've only got six men,'' he remembers saying.

Job creation slowed to a crawl in May, the Labor Department estimated on Friday, but the unemployment rate edged down to its lowest point since September 2001. The nation added 78,000 jobs in May, about half the pace of the previous three months and the smallest monthly increase in nearly two years.

Shrugging off White House criticism, an Amnesty International official said the word gulag was deliberately chosen to describe the Guantánamo Bay prison camp. Page A5.

Job Creation Slows, but Unemployment Rate Falls Job creation slowed in May, with 78,000 jobs added, but the unemployment rate edged down to 5.1 percent, its lowest point since September 2001, the Labor Department said. The job creation report, which was weaker than expected, rekindled talk of an economic slowdown, although analysts cautioned that monthly numbers can be volatile. BUSINESS DAY, PAGE C1 Accusation on Israeli Killings An Israeli newspaper reported that Israeli soldiers said they carried out ''eye for an eye'' attacks on Palestinian police officers in 2002 in revenge for the killing of six Israeli soldiers in the West Bank. The Israeli Army said that the events were part of a series of operations directed against terrorism and that they were in line with army orders. PAGE A3 Diplomats Leave Uzbekistan Signs of instability grew in Uzbekistan, as most Israeli diplomats left amid fresh warnings of terrorist attacks, and the American Embassy authorized most of its employees and their families to leave. PAGE A8 Red Tide in New England New England waters are being plagued by what may be the worst outbreak of red tide in the region, a Massachusetts official said. The toxic algae bloom has led officials to close shellfish beds between Maine and Cape Cod. PAGE A10 Kentucky Diocese Settlement The Roman Catholic Diocese of Covington, Ky., has agreed to set up a $120million fund to compensate victims of child-molesting priests and other employees. The sum is the biggest settlement in the scandal that has staggered the Catholic Church. The settlement would bring to a close a class-action suit filed on behalf of more than 100 victims. PAGE A12 For Teenage Tennis Star, the Future Has Arrived Rafael Nadal celebrated his 19th birthday and a victory over the top-seeded Roger Federer in the French Open semifinals in Paris. Nadal will play the unseeded Mariano Puerta in the final tomorrow. SPORTSSATURDAY, PAGE D1

All About Money From hedge funds to billion-dollar mergers, from Wall Street to Silicon Valley (again), money is moving all over the place. But where exactly is it going? And who's taking it there? A special issue. MAGAZINE Summer Reading A special issue, with surveys of travel, cooking and gardening and a literary map of Manhattan, showing where fictional New Yorkers lived and played. BOOK REVIEW With Parents in Tow Parents have plenty of family vacation choices this summer: visiting a medieval salt mine near Krakow, Poland, hiking on an active volcano in Nicaragua and taking part in a dig in the Montana badlands. TRAVEL The Case Against Coldplay The band led by Chris Martin is certainly beloved, but where fans hear a singer full of aching sincerity, the critic Jon Pareles hears a passive-aggressive blowhard. The band's new album is faultless to a fault, he writes. ARTS & LEISURE Rekindling Women's Desire Prescriptions for testosterone are soaring among women seeking to rekindle flagging sexual appetites, and many products are in the pipeline. But not all experts think the quest for a quick medical fix is the best approach. WOMEN'S HEALTH, SECTION 15