January 31, 2006

Wendy Wasserstein, who spoke for a generation of smart, driven but sometimes unsatisfied women in a series of popular plays that included the long-running Pulitzer Prize winner ''The Heidi Chronicles,'' died yesterday at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in Manhattan. She was 55 and lived in New York. The cause was complications of lymphoma, said André Bishop, the artistic director of Lincoln Center Theater.

U.S. Backs Compromise On Iran Issue in U.N. In a compromise, the United States and its partners said that they supported referring Iran to the United Nations Security Council for its nuclear activities, but that the Council would not act for at least a month afterward. Bush administration officials described the decision as a major breakthrough on dealing with the Iran issue. PAGE A8 Qaeda Deputy Taunts Bush Ayman al-Zawahiri, Al Qaeda's deputy leader, appeared in a videotape on Al Jazeera, berating President Bush as a ''failure'' for a Jan. 13 airstrike aimed at him in Pakistan, and threatening further attacks on the United States. PAGE A6 Iraq's First Bird Flu Kills Girl A 15-year-old has died of bird flu, Iraq's first case, suggesting the virus may be spreading undetected in Central Asia, which is poorly equipped to identify infections. PAGE A13 Teeth Tell Tale of Slavery Decorative filing and chipping of the teeth of bodies unearthed in Mexico have convinced researchers that they are the earliest remains of African slaves brought to the New World. SCIENCE TIMES, PAGE F1 New Museum for the Mall The Smithsonian chose a prominent spot on the Mall for its National Museum of African-American History and Culture. Black leaders reacted with elation, but opponents of the site said the project would clutter the Mall. PAGE A16

Clyde Haberman NYC column questions how bookstores catagorize books, especially after questions arose over veracity of A Million Little Pieces by James Frey (M)

The important presidential nominee who is scheduled for a vote in the Senate on Tuesday is widely regarded as brilliant, has ties to Princeton University and, if confirmed as expected, will influence the lives of ordinary Americans for years to come. Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr. for the Supreme Court?

Two-day conference at Central Intelligence Agency focuses on ways to reinvigorate America's atomic espionage efforts through variety of methods; increased threat of nuclear weapons as result of Pakistani nuclear engineer Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan's selling of nuclear information to Iran, Libya, and North Korea and other possible sources represents just one reason intelligence will likely be increased and made more technologically advanced; various ideas for plutonium and uranium detection discussed; research may eventually help International Atomic Energy Agency form truer picture of atomic weapons production; drawing (M)