The president of the Palestinian Authority condemned the attack, reflecting a split in the Palestinian leadership.

Suicide Bombing in Israel Kills 9; Hamas Approves

Black-footed ferrets are facing a new challenge from the spread of plague in prairie dogs, their only prey.

Endangered, Rescued, Now in Trouble Again

Iraqi leaders and U.N. officials are working assiduously to restore the war-ravaged ancient city.

Babylon Awaits an Iraq Without Fighting

Families displaced by Hurricane Katrina are much more likely to have chronic conditions and a lack of insurance.

Evacuee Study Finds Declining Health

A subatomic particle switches into its upside-down mirror-image evil-twin antimatter opposite and then back again.

A Real Flip-Flopper, at 3 Trillion Times a Second

Harvey Araton Sports of The Times column contends that this season's New York Knicks under coach Larry Brown are worst in team's history; photo (M)

Brown Brings These Knicks to a New Low

 Oil Hits $70 a Barrel; Price at Pump? Don't Ask  Prices for oil and gasoline continue to rise. Crude oil settled above $70 a barrel amid concern about Iran's nuclear program and turmoil in Nigeria. AAA reported gasoline prices were 24 percent higher than a year earlier.   BUSINESS DAY, PAGE C1    Gulf Papers Win Pulitzers  The Times-Picayune of New Orleans and The Sun Herald in Gulfport, Miss., won Pulitzer Prizes for their Hurricane Katrina coverage. In other categories, The Washington Post won four prizes, and The New York Times won three.   PAGE B7    2 at Duke Said to Face Charges  A grand jury issued sealed indictments against two lacrosse players from Duke University in the rape case there, a lawyer said.   PAGE A23    Jewish Scholar Dies  Rabbi Arthur Hertzberg, a scholar of Judaism whose contrarian views and dedication to civil rights found prolific expression, was 84.   PAGE A25    Martínez Wins No. 200  Pedro Martínez gained his 200th victory and improved to 3-0 as the Mets defeated the Atlanta Braves, 4-3, at Shea Stadium.   PAGE D1

INSIDE

Clyde Haberman column praises Rev William Sloane Coffin Jr, who died last week at age 81; calls him 'national conscience' because of his involvement in civil rights movement and antiwar demonstrations during Vietnam war era; Rev James A Forbes of Riverside Church lauds Coffin at Easter morning service; photo (M)

Acknowledging The Conscience Of a Nation

Filmmakers, television executives and academics sign letter demanding that Smithsonian Institution, publicly financed museum, reveal financial details of its joint venture with Showtime Networks and abandon it completely; uproar was set off when Smithsonian announced creation of Smithsonian Networks, which would have rights for first refusal on commercial documentaries that relied significantly on museum's archives, curators or scientists; Smithsonian Institution argues that while agreement restricts some commercial filmmakers from selling their work elsewhere, it would only affect limited number of projects; photo (M)

Filmmakers and Others Petition Against Smithsonian's Showtime Deal

BLUE JAYS' WAY: RETOOLED FOR RUN AT YANKEES AND RED SO

Blue Jays' Way: Retooled for Run at Yankees and Red Sox

Oil futures prices surged to a record yesterday, settling above $70 a barrel amid concern over Iran's nuclear program and continuing shortages in production in Nigeria.     Crude oil for May delivery rose $1.08, to $70.40 a barrel, the highest level at the end of a trading session since the contract was introduced on the exchange in March 1983. The price was short of an intraday high of $70.85 a barrel touched on Aug. 30, after Hurricane Katrina shut down production in the Gulf of Mexico.  

Benchmark Unsought: Oil Over $70

Spread of plague in prairie dogs across American western states is causing reduction in already endangered black-foot ferret populations; prairie dogs are sole prey for ferrets and highly contagious disease has already wiped out one colony of ferrets and threatens more; officials have dusted prairie dog burrows with insecticides to hopefully reduce fleas and spread of plague, but scientists like Michael Lockhart, federal Fish and Wildlife Service coordinator of ferret recovery, say method is untried and may not stop disease, which is highly unpredictable; ferret recovery efforts described; photos; maps (M)

Coal for fuel? Pretty common. But coal as the main ingredient in wall paints, fertilizers, even grocery bags?     With oil and natural gas prices showing no signs of plummeting, and with incentives to use coal built into the Energy Policy Act of 2005, it just might happen. And chemical companies, which use oil and gas as feedstocks -- industry jargon for raw materials -- are hoping it will happen soon.  

Chemical Companies Look to Coal as an Oil Substitute

Physicists at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory report that indecisive particle, known as strange neutral B meson, has set new standard for vacillation; particle has been observed to reverse identity three trillion times per second; despite remarkable characteristic, scientists had hoped for even more radical behavior to support popular theory of supersymmetry; drawing (M)

Nicholas Morris, suspect in shooting death of 2-year-old David Pacheco Jr in Bronx, surrenders to police; Ronneil Gilliam, another suspect, is still at large; stray bullet hit child as mother's car passed scene of shooting; police say neither gangs nor drugs were involved in shooting; photos (M)

Suspect Surrenders in Killing of 2-Year-Old

New York Mets defeat Atlanta Braves, 4-3; photos (M)

Martínez Savors Milestone Victory

Families displaced by Hurricane Katrina are suffering from mental disorders and chronic conditions like asthma and from a lack of prescription medication and health insurance at rates that are much higher than average, a new study has found.      The study, conducted by the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University and the Children's Health Fund, is the first to examine the health issues of those living in housing provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Based on face-to-face interviews with more than 650 families living in trailers or hotels, it provides a grim portrait of the hurricane's effects on some of the poorest victims, showing gaps in the tattered safety net pieced together from government and private efforts.  

The new White House chief of staff put the West Wing and official Washington on notice on Monday about potentially substantial changes in the way the White House is staffed and operates.     Meeting first thing Monday with senior White House aides, the new chief, Joshua B. Bolten, said it was time to ''refresh and re-energize'' President Bush's team, the White House press secretary, Scott McClellan, said. Mr. Bolten also said anybody who was considering leaving within the year should step forward now, according to Mr. McClellan's account of the meeting.  

New Chief of Staff Sends Message: The White House Exits Are Open

New York State Supreme Court (Brooklyn) Justice Theodore T Jones fines Local 100 of Transport Workers Union $2.5 million; orders union to suspend payroll deductions of union dues; union Pres Roger Toussaint vows union will appeal and calls fine unfair; union conducts second vote on contract terms, which MTA says are no longer on table; photo (M)

Transit Union Is Fined $2.5 Million Over December Strike

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg took the rare step yesterday of overruling his own top two social service officials, deciding not to pursue a federal waiver that would make it easier for able-bodied childless adults to receive food stamps.      A statement issued by one of those officials, Deputy Mayor Linda I. Gibbs, said the city was taking the action ''because we believe that every New Yorker who can work should work.'' She said the city would ''continue to monitor this population closely and may consider seeking a waiver next year.''  

Mayor Overrules 2 Aides Seeking Food Stamp Shift

Doctors are rethinking diagnosis and treatment of heart disease in women after research shows marked differences in how illness manifests itself in women verses men; some research suggests that smaller anatomy of women is driving force behind more severe and often difficult to treat condition; microvascular disease, type of heart disease which is not evident in angiogram, is much more common in women and may go unrecognized; Dr Bairey Merz, Women's Ischemia Syndrome Evaluation study chairwoman, points out that angiograms alone will not help reduce heart disease in women; variety of warning signs and life style indicators that point to heart disease and particularly microvascular disease in women discussed; graph; photos; drawings (L)

In Heart Disease, the Focus Shifts to Women

Modernism: Designing a New World 1914-1939, new show at Victoria Albert Museum in London, addresses Modernism's golden age of innovation and demonstrates that today's designs were born decades ago; Christopher Wilk, organizer of show, comments; photos (M)

At the Victoria and Albert Museum, Selling Britons on Modernism

In this ancient city, it is hard to tell what are ruins and what's just ruined.      Crumbling brick buildings, some 2,500 years old, look like smashed sand castles at the beach.  

ON Christianity's most sacred day, when the infinite possibilities of renewal are affirmed, death cast its tireless shadow across Riverside Church.     Even on a joyous Easter morning, some churchgoers had to find their tentative way through the early stages of grief. Death had spared them no more than it does anyone else. From his pulpit, the Rev. James A. Forbes Jr., Riverside's senior minister, read a short list of such people, those who had been close to Sue Julien and to Henry Maddicks, to Sheila Everett and to Eleanor Hyatt, all gone now.  

Acknowledging the Conscience of a Nation

New York gubernatorial aspirant William F Weld has set state Republican politics astir with contention that in 1996 he received $750,000 contribution for his Senate campaign in Massachusetts from Sen Alfonse D'Amato along with expletive-filled tirade about Weld protege Robert S Mueller III; Mueller oversaw federal fraud investigation of D'Amato's brother Armand in early 1990's; D'Amato denies encounter ever occurred, and there is no hard evidence to support either man's story; D'Amato may be actively seeking to thwart Weld, offering praise for Weld's Democratic challenger Atty Gen Eliot Spitzer; photos (M)

April 18, 2006

Headlines from April 18, 2006

Suicide Bombing in Israel Kills 9; Hamas Approves

Endangered, Rescued, Now in Trouble Again

Babylon Awaits an Iraq Without Fighting

Evacuee Study Finds Declining Health

A Real Flip-Flopper, at 3 Trillion Times a Second

Billboard 200

King

Greatest Hits Vol 2: Reflected

High School Musical

FishScale

Educated Horses

Historical Context for April 18, 2006