November 29, 2005

Investors have warmed to Qwest Communications; since falling to $3.57 on June 23, shares of Qwest have risen 45 percent, closing at $5.19; recent run-up outshines by far its Bell rivals; initially, investors were relieved tghat Qwest did not continue bidding for MCI; some analysts worried that MCI, had it been acquired, woujld have compounded Qwest's problems; company has also resolved number of issues, most notably class-action lawsuit by shareholders who lost money when Qwest's shares tumbled after accusations of fraud at company starting in late 1990's; other lawsuits remain, but company has moved to get its balance sheet in order; graph (Market Place column) (M)

New York Mets sign closer Billy Wagner to four-year contract, guaranteeing pitcher $43 million; photos (M)

Volcanologists at United States Geological Survey's Cascades Volcano Observatory, Vancouver, Wash, describe 15-month-old quiet eruption occurring at Mount St Helens; current eruption, unlike 1980 explosion, is primarily upward shift of rock and rubble under glacial ice, which has formed new lava dome on south side of crater; eruption has not involved typical visual displays of lava and ash, but is instead internal upheaval believed to be caused by new magna entering volcanoe's magma chamber; theories surrounding possible future events and composition of glacier, rock and ice runoff discussed; photos; map; graph; drawings (L)

Mounting evidence suggests Iraqi forces are carrying out executions in Sunni areas, even as US military pushes largely Shiite Iraqi security forces into larger role fighting insurgency; hundreds of accounts of killings and abductions emerge in recent weeks, mostly from Sunni civilians who say relatives were taken away by Iraqis in uniform without explanation; some bodies have been found with signs of torture, some have vanished and others have turned up alive in prison, including those found tortured in Interior Ministry bunker; Min Bayan Jabr and other officials deny government role but many claims are substantiated by human rights group and by Sunni leaders; one community group reports documenting death or disappearance of 700 Sunni civilians in last four months; photo (M)

The Restoration, the textbooks tell us, was the era when England became a kind of public theater. The playhouses reopened, to great acclaim, and gentlemen began wearing costumes on the street -- foppish coats and pantaloons and long Frenchified wigs. Even politics became a kind of stage play, with the king and Parliament enacting elaborately contrived roles in a lengthy melodrama about power and succession. The degree of spectacle and role playing at court in particular was wittily suggested in Michael Hoffman's 1995 movie ''Restoration,'' a campy costume epic featuring Robert Downey Jr. as a down-at-the-heels physician who becomes veterinarian to the royal dogs. Laurence Dunmore's new movie, ''The Libertine,'' which opened on Friday in New York and Los Angeles, evokes a very different Restoration.

Arguments on rebuilding New Orleans center around universally held article of faith among its people that city must have flood protection system strong enough to withstand Category 5 hurricanes; such protection would be astronomically expensive and technically complex, involving extensive changes to drainage canals and pumps, vast restoration of wetlands and barrier islands and even sea gates near Gulf of Mexico; work could easily cost more than $32 billion and take decades; Army Crops of Engineers is already spending $1 billion to bring damaged sections to original design strength; sense of how much more Category 5 protection would cost can be seen at Rigolets, strait linking gulf and Lake Pontchartrain, where Fort Pike looks down on gap and engineers suggest building gate that could be shut against storm; photo; map; Dutch and American experts offer varied opinions on closing seaward passages and making levees higher; Prof Ivor van Heerden points out that levees were not eroded where there are wetlands, but were annihilated where wetlands have disappeared (M)

Indianapolis Colts defeat Pittsburgh Steelers, 26-7; photos (M)0

Harper's Magazine is an intellectual hothouse that tends to grow its own. The magazine will announce today that Roger D. Hodge, 38, will succeed Lewis H. Lapham as editor in April, and Mr. Hodge is no exception. After being turned down for an internship in 1996, he got a call back a few days later and has remained planted at the magazine since, holding a variety of jobs, most recently serving as deputy editor. Then again, Mr. Hodge was born and raised in Del Rio, Tex., and as the son of a rancher knows his way around cattle, sheep and a gun. The family spread is now a hunting ground, and Mr. Hodge's gimlet eye extends beyond raw copy to the scope of a rifle.

Three weeks after losing the mayor's race by a historic margin, Fernando Ferrer said in a revealing interview that a biased news media and blundering pollsters were to blame for his defeat, and that fishy questions remained about a terrorism alert that Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg announced at a critical moment in the campaign. Mr. Ferrer, the Democratic candidate, used the wide-ranging interview with El Diario, a Spanish-language newspaper that published his comments yesterday, to go beyond his criticism of Mayor Bloomberg's campaign spending and assign fault to others for the first time. Mr. Ferrer also said that he knew he would lose after the Oct. 6 terror alert, and sounded surprised that more New Yorkers had not rallied to him as the city's first Hispanic mayoral nominee.

With a sense of satisfaction that she said she had never before expressed so openly in court, a state judge sentenced a man to the maximum prison term yesterday for raping a woman at knifepoint in Manhattan 32 years ago. And the woman he raped was allowed to tell her attacker what she thought of him, calling him a ''violent, rabid beast.'' The moment of catharsis and satisfaction for the victim, Kathleen Ham, and the judge, Bonnie G. Wittner, came at the sentencing of Fletcher Anderson Worrell in State Supreme Court in Manhattan. On Nov. 9, a jury convicted him of raping Ms. Ham in a studio apartment in Chelsea on June 26, 1973. It was the second time Mr. Worrell had been tried in the same courthouse for the crime; the first trial, in 1974, ended in a hung jury.

In the grand style of performers from Germany's Weimar Republic, Max Raabe likes to party like it's 1929. A recent concert by Mr. Raabe and his Palast Orchester at the Leipzig Opera House included a selection of songs from the 1920's and 30's, witty banter between numbers and the occasional appearance of eight dancing girls in diaphanous skirts. At various points in the show, members of the band took the stage in traditional Bavarian dress and suits that looked tailored for Chicago gangsters, and kneeled in their shoes to appear as if they were about four feet tall. After the show, at a restaurant in the center of Leipzig, in what was once East Germany, Mr. Raabe said simply, ''I love the clichés.'' So, apparently, did the audience, a few thousand mostly middle-aged Germans.

Bush Tries to Reassure G.O.P. on Immigration President Bush said there was a need to slow the flow of illegal immigrants and addressed conservatives' concerns about his plan to give temporary legal status to millions already in the United States. PAGE A18 Funds Still Flow to Terrorists A Congressional report says administration efforts to help foreign nations cut off funds for terrorists have been hurt by leadership problems and insufficient funds. PAGE A8 Mets Land Another Big Star The Mets signed the free-agent closer Billy Wagner, hours after introducing their new slugger, Carlos Delgado. SPORTSTUESDAY, PAGE D1 Drug Maker Plans Layoffs Merck & Company, the third-largest American drug maker, plans to close five manufacturing plants and lay off 7,000 employees. PAGE C1 The Other Potter After more than 100 years, Beatrix Potter -- and Flopsy, Mopsy, Cottontail and Peter -- still attract new readers. An art review by Grace Glueck. THE ARTS, PAGE E1