Dell is trying to bounce back from a bad year and is now willing to question just about anything. 

Falling Short of A+

Lincoln Center said Wednesday it was pulling a semistaged production of Wagner's "Tristan und Isolde" scheduled for next spring from the armory.

Armory's Opera Debut Delayed by Lincoln Center

Lexar PowerToGo software is designed to turn a flash drive into a portable Windows XP ecosystem.

A Flash Drive That Holds Your Computer

As evidenced by Tuesday's concert in the Theater at Madison Square Garden, sound has supplanted technique for the musicians in the band.

Radiohead Remains Suspended Between Extremes

Few buyers at this year's Art Basel seemed surprised by the high prices, but many marveled at the diversity of today's players. 

High Rollers and Blue-Chip Artists at Basel Fair

The comforting kitchen in Nancy Meyer's film "Something's Gotta Give" inspired widespread remodeling. Will the sparer one in her next film, "Holiday," do the same?

Setting the Stage for Cooking, or at Least Cocktails

Open kitchens are in, but they don't hide a mess or a stolen kiss.

Closed by Order of the Cook

Seeking political momentum, President Bush warned Democrats that an early withdrawal of troops would set back counterterrorism efforts.

After Iraq Visit, an Upbeat Bush Urges Patience

The greens are supposed to be fast and the rough is supposed to be thick at the U.S. Open.

Where Lawnmowers Fear to Tread

Moazzam Begg, a former Guantánamo detainee, has emerged over the last few months as a minor celebrity.

Jihadist or Victim: Ex-Detainee Makes a Case

The man was arrested after a doorman and cabbies who had seen one of the attacks called 911 on their cellphones as they followed him. 

Suspect Is Held in 4 Stabbings in Manhattan

Self-conscious women are now turning to more obscure anatomical zones. The newest worries? "Bra fat" and "back fat."

Do My Knees Look Fat to You?

Why is an underlying inflation rate of less than 3 percent so alarming?

A Modest Rise Still Amplifies Inflation Fears

Brenda Song celebrates her Asian heritage and employs some martial arts moves in her latest Disney role for "Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior."

Brenda Song Turns Warrior in Disney's 'Wendy Wu'

It was not easy leaving the stadium knowing Germany's World Cup hopes were down to mathematical possibilities.

And in the End, Germany Always Wins

Theresa Rebeck's play, a self-sabotaging hybrid of Greek tragedy and American comic drama, is quietly running amok in this stylishly acted production.

Kate Burton, Carrying a Load of Grief in 'The Water's Edge'

Discoveries about genes are prompting fresh consideration of how much control people have over who they are.

That Wild Streak? Maybe It Runs in the Family

The success of two brothers, Edoardo and Francesco Molinari, is raising golf's profile in soccer-mad Italy.

With a Walk in a Star's Shadow, a Young Player Lives His Dream

Richard A. Grasso faced questions from regulators about whether he prodded traders to support the A.I.G.'s share price while he was head of the New York Stock Exchange.

S.E.C. Asked Grasso if He Buoyed Stock

 Officials Seek Source of Lethal Heroin Mixture  The police and health authorities are struggling to track down the source of powerful heroin that has killed at least 130 people in and around Chicago and Detroit and sent hundreds to hospitals in other cities.   PAGE A14    Turmoil at Tribune Company  A boardroom feud escalated at the Tribune Company as the Chandler family, which once owned The Los Angeles Times and is Tribune's second-largest investor, called for the media company to be broken up.   BUSINESS DAY, PAGE C1    Protecting Hawaiian Waters  President Bush will create the world's largest protected marine area, in Hawaiian waters that are home to coral reefs and a vast array of wildlife, including the black-footed albatross, senior administration officials said.   PAGE A14    Detainee Ruling Favors U.S.  A federal judge ruled that the government has wide latitude to detain noncitizens on the basis of religion, race or national origin, and to hold them without explanation.   PAGE B1    Bush Aide Is Stepping Down  Michael Gerson, a White House speechwriter and one of President Bush's closest aides, is leaving the administration.   PAGE A21

INSIDE

The tourist from Texas was first, stabbed once in the chest on Tuesday while he sat with his girlfriend on a downtown C train. But he was not the last.      In the next 13 hours, the same assailant attacked repeatedly in Manhattan, the police said, plunging a knife into three more people: one man on a subway platform at Rockefeller Center, and two women from Montreal standing on a traffic island at the northern tip of Times Square. The authorities also believe the attacker terrorized workers at a late-night grocery store, menacing them with a knife and throwing a beer at them.  

When President Bush ordered Moazzam Begg's release last year from the Guantánamo prison camp, United States officials say, he did so over objections from the Pentagon, the C.I.A. and the F.B.I. -- all of which warned that Mr. Begg could still be a dangerous terrorist.     But American officials may not have imagined the sort of adversary Mr. Begg would become in the war of perception that is now a primary front in the American-led campaign against terrorism.  

In a bold surgical endeavor that recalls the experiments of the mad Dr. Frankenstein, Theresa Rebeck has tried to transplant the big, blood-gorged heart of a Greek tragedy into the slender body of a modest American comic drama. The resulting self-sabotaging hybrid is called ''The Water's Edge,'' and it is quietly running amok in a stylishly acted production starring Kate Burton and Tony Goldwyn that opened last night at the Second Stage Theater.     This bizarre offering from the talented Ms. Rebeck harks to the days when the announcement ''Daddy's home'' really meant something. And I don't mean the happy family television comedies of the 1950's and 60's, like ''Father Knows Best.'' The model for ''The Water's Edge'' is a few thousand years older than that. Imagine, if you dare, Aeschylus's ''Agamemnon,'' the tale of the disastrous return of an arrogant king to his family after the Trojan War, reconceived as a blithe contemporary mini-series for HBO. Not for nothing does one of the characters observe, with more aptness than originality, ''Beware of Greeks bearing gifts.''  

George Vecsey Sports of The Times column discusses Germany's win against Costa Rica in first round of World Cup; diagram; photo (M)

Seventh Regiment Armory's future as cultural center suffers setback as Lincoln Center pulls semi-staged production of Wagner's Tristan and Isolde after determining that costs of improving audience amenities in time for performance scheduled for next spring are too high; production, collaboration betwwen video artist Bill Viola and director Peter Sellars, will play at Avery Fisher Hall (M)

Raymond Devos was a French humorist, stand-up comedian and clown. He is best known for his sophisticated puns and surreal humour.

Raymond Devos, Belgian-French comedian and clown (born 1922)

Raymond_Devos

Herbert Taylor Pearson was a New Zealand cricketer who played for Auckland in the 1930s and 1940s.

June 15, 2006

Headlines from June 15, 2006

Falling Short of A+

Armory's Opera Debut Delayed by Lincoln Center

A Flash Drive That Holds Your Computer

Radiohead Remains Suspended Between Extremes

High Rollers and Blue-Chip Artists at Basel Fair

Billboard 200

Taking The Long Way

High School Musical

Stadium Arcadium

Me And My Gang

American Idol Season 5: Encores

Notable Deaths

Historical Context for June 15, 2006