October 3, 2005

Mr. Wilson chronicled the African-American experience in a series of plays that will stand as a landmark in the history of black culture.

By the time 34,534 fans squeezed into Fenway Park to see the first pitch from Curt Schilling on Sunday, there was already good news on the Green Monster scoreboard: the Cleveland Indians were losing again. That was a relief to the ever-anxious fans here, who knew that the Red Sox would win the American League wild card with a loss by the Indians. A victory over the Yankees would also suffice. On the last day of the regular season, the Red Sox got both.

Europe Talks Stall on Turkey European foreign ministers broke off talks on admitting Turkey to the European Union, but agreed to try to resolve the dispute today. Austria alone objects to opening negotiations with Turkey, and wants to offer it less than full membership. PAGE A8 Fraud Found in Afghan Vote Election officials and observers said that with 80 percent of the ballots counted in Afghanistan's national and provincial elections, they had found significant fraud. PAGE A6 Red Sox and Astros Are In A day after the Yankees celebrated winning the American League East title at Fenway Park, the Red Sox celebrated on the same field after clinching a wild-card playoff berth. The Astros won their final regular-season game to claim the National League wild-card spot. SPORTSMONDAY, PAGE D1 2 Phone Companies in Talks Telefónica of Spain is in preliminary talks to buy KPN of the Netherlands for about $24 billion, executives said. The talks could force other companies into discussions. PAGE A10 Adams Opera Has Premiere John Adams's ''Doctor Atomic,'' about the physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, who oversaw the birth of the atom bomb, had its premiere at the San Francisco Opera, with Gerald Finley in the lead role. THE ARTS, PAGE E1

Marketing campaigns for new Medicare prescription drug benefits face significant challenges, including target audience--older people--that does not typically attract marketers' time and money and the very complexity of benefit packages themselves; television campaigns are therefore emphasizing the friendly and familiar, including computer-altered clips of Fred and Ethel Mertz from I Love Lucy show (Pacificare), Florence Henderson (Cigna Senior Care) and Willard Scott (UnitedHealth Group); photos (M)

In Hillsborough County, Fla., local officials voted unanimously in June to ban convicted sex offenders from public hurricane shelters. In Ohio, prosecutors have begun moving to evict sex offenders who live too close to a school. And in towns and counties across the country, including Binghamton, N.Y., and Brick, N.J., local officials have passed laws in recent months that effectively banish anyone convicted of a sex crime against a minor. The new crackdown comes after several horrific and well-publicized cases, including two involving young girls, Jessica Lunsford, 9, and Sarah Lunde, 13, who were abducted and murdered this year in Florida by registered sex offenders. Although state lawmakers across the country have introduced similar proposals aimed at sex offenders, some local elected officials say they have received so many anxious calls from constituents that they cannot afford to wait.