August 11, 2005

TO judge from the pages of late-summer fashion magazines and from the early arrivals at stores, one of the big trends of the fall season for luxury shoppers is astrakhan, a recently popularized name for an old-fashioned fur that in previous generations has been known as Persian lamb, karakul or in some cases broadtail. The fashion industry says the texture -- sleek and suedelike, subtly ridged or deeply wrinkled -- meets an emerging taste for quiet luxury because it does not look like fur. Dark, rare and faintly regal, it is the beluga of outerwear and not incidentally takes its name from a city that is considered the caviar capital of Russia.

Michael K Powell, who stepped down as head of Federal Communications Commission in January, is joining Providence Equity Partners as senior adviser; Powell comments; photo (M)

Abortion-rights group Naral Pro-Choice America runs television advertisement opposing Supreme Court nomination of John G Roberts Jr which other abortion rights supporters and neutral media watchdog group say is misleading and unfair; focus of 30-second spot is argument in abortion-related case that Roberts made to Supreme Court in early 1990's, as deputy solicitor general in first Bush administration; Roberts argued that Reconstruction-era civil rights law could not be invoked against those seeking to block access to abortion clinics with increasingly violent demonstrations; at issue in Naral ad is its failure to include Roberts' explanation that he was not defending demonstrators' conduct but rather proper interpretation' of statute; photos (M)

By the time the Mets arrived at Petco Park on Wednesday afternoon and saw David Wright sitting at his locker, they might have already been sick of him. During an 18-hour news cycle, he was everywhere they turned. Players could not flip on a hotel television set without seeing another replay of Wright's bare-handed diving catch that is already up for induction into the highlight Hall of Fame.

Kelefa Sanneh Critic's Notebook column on Amadou Bagayoko and Mariam Doumbia, duo known as Amadou & Mariam who became famous throughout West Africa as Blind Couple From Mali; duo, in rare trip to US, is promoting American version of album; photo (M)