Table of Contents

10 QUESTIONS: Yeslam bin Ladin 8

LETTERS 9

NOTEBOOK

A Bin Laden tape roils the campaign; the Halliburton probe gets uglier; the art world's child prodigies 23

MILESTONES: William Rehnquist takes ill; Bill O'Reilly settles 27

WORLD

Looted Arms With 377 tons of explosives missing in Iraq, Bush is forced on the defensive. What went wrong? 28

IRAQI ELECTIONS: Embattled Sunni Muslims may sit out the vote 30

Sharon's Dilemma With Arafat severely ill, Israel's leader faces another challenge to his plan to pull out of the settlements 32

HARD-LINERS: An inside look at Israel's extreme right wing 34

COVER STORY

Epic Triumph All it takes to end 86 years of torment is a team that plays like no one is watching. Boston's beloved "idiots" redeem the Red Sox and finally reverse the curse 38

BUSINESS

Sneaking Ahead How the family-owned New Balance found its groove 48

SCIENCE

Little People The discovery of tiny human remains on an island in Asia rewrites our evolution 50

SOCIETY

Test Fever Critics question the value of high school AP classes 54

Getting Hitched Does Bush's marriage initiative make sense? 58

ARTS

Crime Time How CSI became the most popular drama on TV 62

A Novelist in Full Tom Wolfe delves into college-campus debauchery with I Am Charlotte Simmons 73

COMEDY: With a sitcom, a book and a tour, Wanda Sykes has it all 76

MOVIES: Finding Neverland's Peter Pan story is sadly earthbound 79

BOOKS: Anita Desai's The Zigzag Way is a tale of displacement 80

YOUR TIME

HEALTH: Gyms for men only; cereal cafes; Marx Brothers' DVD 109

TECH: The first hybrid SUV; a safer kid's seat; stability control 110

LIVING: Avoiding sugar overload; why stinky onions are better 113

PEOPLE: Ashlee Simpson's snafu; John Travolta's new gig 115

ESSAY: Lev Grossman on why video games made him cry 116

COVER: Photograph by Jed Jacobsohn--Getty Images