December 15, 2005

Striking Back The 1972 Munich Olympics Massacre and Israel's Deadly Response By Aaron J. Klein Translated by Mitch Ginsburg Illustrated. 256 pages. Random House. $24.95. According to a long-secret Israeli government document, the Kopel Report, which was made public this year, members of the Israeli Olympic delegation sent to Munich in 1972 talked among themselves about the obvious lack of security at the athletes' living quarters. They knew that ground-floor dormitory accommodations were dangerous. They worried about their proximity to the Sudanese team's dorms. They were wary of Palestinian workers employed throughout the Olympic Village.

The legal drama ''Close to Home'' revolves around an attractive assistant district attorney with a 100 percent conviction rate, an infant daughter, a carpenter husband and a home life so equitably organized that she would seem to be the one working mother in the country exempt from the double shift. Annabeth Chase, her name offered as assurance of her prosecutorial resolve, is the sort of law enforcement figure at once indignant and fair-minded, obdurate and soft of heart, a careerist permitted full access to all of her womanly inclinations. Though she might have come from the fantasy musings of a Stanford women's studies professor, she is the product of Jerry Bruckheimer's ever-growing television empire, the magnet in a series intended for women for whom staff meetings and pediatricians' appointments present themselves in daily contest.

Thousands attend funeral of New York City Police Officer Daniel Enchautegui, shot and killed during off-duty attempt to stop burglary at neighbor's home; Police Commissioner Raymond W Kelly gives eulogy along with Mayor Michael R Bloomberg; burglary suspects Steven Armento and Lillo Brancato Jr remain hospitalized after being hit by return fire from Enchautegui; funeral comes just days after that of Police Officer Dillon Stewart, shot and killed while chasing suspect; photos (M)

What would be a wrenching moment for any musician has arrived for two members of the Audubon Quartet: the loss of their instruments, casualties of a bitter legal feud with the member they cast out five years ago. Yesterday, a day after a federal bankruptcy court judge in Roanoke, Va., ruled that the instruments be surrendered, a trustee prepared an order for their seizure.

Market for electronic learning toys for babies is expanding despite any lack of evidence of how new media affect young children--and almost no research to support idea that they are educational; new media products for babies, toddlers and preschoolers began flooding market in late 1990's; it has exploded into host of new and more elaborate electronics for preschoolers, including video game consoles and handheld game systems, all marketed as educational; parents are ignoring recommendation made by American Academy of Pediatrics in 1999, that there be no screen time at all for babies under 2, out of concern that it might displace human interaction and impede crucially important brain growth and development of baby's first two years; Kaiser Family Foundation, whose recent report indicates there is little understanding of how new media affect young children, finds babies 6 months to 3 years old spend, on average, hour a day watching TV and 47 minutes per day on other screen media, like videos, computers and video games; photo of 11-month-old girl at computer (M)