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ny0269738 | [
"business",
"dealbook"
] | 2016/04/21 | United Continental Settles Battle Over Its Board | United Continental settled a fight on Wednesday over its board and named a new chairman, striking a compromise with two significant investors who sought to shake up the embattled airline. In reaching an accord with the two investment firms, PAR Capital Management and Altimeter Capital Management, United will avoid prolonging a potentially distracting fight as it continues to try to revive its fortunes. Under the terms of the agreement announced on Wednesday , PAR and Altimeter will choose two new directors: Barney Harford, formerly of the travel booking company Orbitz, and Edward L. Shapiro, an executive at PAR. The two sides will jointly appoint a third new board member in the coming months. Image Robert Milton, the former chief executive of Air Canada, will be United Continental’s next chairman. Credit Shaun Best/Reuters Perhaps more important for the two investors, United will replace its nonexecutive chairman, Henry L. Meyer III, with Robert Milton, a former chief executive of Air Canada. Mr. Meyer and two other directors, John H. Walker and Charles A. Yamarone, agreed to step down come the airline’s next annual shareholder meeting. Oscar Munoz, United’s chief executive, who had been scheduled to become chairman next year, will instead take that post in 2018. The campaign by PAR and Altimeter, who together own just over 7 percent of United’s stock, came as Mr. Munoz planned to return to his post after heart transplant surgery. Behind the push by the hedge funds — the two are longtime investors in travel companies but are not known for shareholder activism — was a belief that the airline’s board was ineffective and entrenched. Last month, PAR and Altimeter unveiled a campaign to take six seats on the company’s board, with candidates including Gordon M. Bethune, a former chief executive of the old Continental. Since the merger of United and Continental in 2010 , the combined airline has lagged behind its rivals in the industry. The carrier has been hit by computer and technical problems, and it has the worst operational and on-time performance among big American carriers. Differences in corporate cultures and labor disagreements have thwarted a unified approach in the company’s operations. Though PAR and Altimeter did not claim the total number of board seats that they had sought, they appeared to be satisfied with the change in United’s directors and in the additional airline experience that many of those new directors bring. Three of the directors added before Wednesday, including Mr. Milton, were appointed by United the day before PAR and Altimeter began their campaign. Despite only returning to work weeks ago, Mr. Munoz led the negotiations with PAR and Altimeter, hoping to avert a protracted and potentially bitter public fight. | Board of directors;United Continental Holdings;PAR Capital Management;Altimeter Capital Management;Airlines,airplanes |
ny0286473 | [
"world"
] | 2016/09/13 | Violence Erupts in Southern India Over Order to Share Water | NEW DELHI — Violent protests broke out in the southern state of Karnataka on Monday after the Indian Supreme Court ordered the state to release water to the neighboring state of Tamil Nadu, the latest chapter in a longstanding dispute. The authorities in the Karnataka city of Bangalore banned public gatherings and deployed riot police officers as protesters set fire to vehicles and pelted buildings and cars with stones. The police fired on protesters who were setting fire to police vehicles in Bangalore, killing one and injuring two others, said Madhukar Narote, an assistant subinspector for the state police. Protests raged elsewhere in the state as well. Several trucks that were burned had Tamil Nadu license plates, said Chandrashekhar, a deputy commissioner of police in Bangalore who goes by one name. The Supreme Court ruled on Monday that Karnataka would have to release 12,000 cubic feet of water, or almost 90,000 gallons, per second to Tamil Nadu every day until Sept. 20 from the Cauvery River , which originates in Karnataka and flows downstream to Tamil Nadu. It is the main source of water for the states’ thirsty rice crops, particularly in the event of a weak monsoon like this year’s in the southwest. “Our only appeal is if you are protesting, please protest peacefully,” the Karnataka home minister, G. Parameshwara, said at a news conference on Monday. “We know injustice has been done to Karnataka,” he added, citing the Supreme Court order. Water disputes over rivers are common in India, where droughts and weak monsoons weigh heavily on the majority of the country that still lives off agriculture. Experts say that the lack of a centralized plan for allocating scarce water resources contributes to the problem. “Are we going to treat this by addressing scarcity? Probably not,” said Nilanjan Ghosh, a senior fellow at the Observer Research Foundation here and an economist working on water issues. He said that in drier years it was important for the authorities to encourage farmers in the region to raise less water-intensive crops. The Supreme Court had ordered Karnataka last week to release 15,000 cubic feet per second of water to its neighbor for 10 days, beginning on Sept. 5. A lawyer for the state said that it did not have enough to release that much, and cited tensions over the decision. The new order, while cutting the amount released, extended the period by five days. In ordering the release on Monday, the Supreme Court essentially accepted Tamil Nadu’s claim that Karnataka had diverted 50 billion cubic feet of water that it was required to provide to Tamil Nadu under terms of a 2007 agreement. Karnataka had argued that it simply lacked adequate water reserves, so that a release of that magnitude endangered its residents’ well-being. The water dispute has provoked ethnic resentments on each side of the border. On Saturday, a Tamil student in Bangalore was publicly beaten , according to local news reports. The attackers took a video of the beating and posted it online, prompting the police in Bangalore to open a case on Monday. That day, protesters in Tamil Nadu attacked a hotel owned by a Karnataka native, The Press Trust of India reported. In its ruling, the Supreme Court noted that violence could not be the basis for modifying an order. “The citizens cannot become law unto themselves,” it said. The chief minister of Karnataka, Siddaramaiah, wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday urging him to intervene. Mr. Siddaramaiah also wrote to the chief minister of Tamil Nadu State on Monday, asking her to provide police protection for Karnatakans who live in Tamil Nadu and are at risk of revenge attacks. Mr. Ghosh said, “It’s an ego issue between the two states and the two leaderships.” | Civil Unrest;Water;India;Monsoon;Karnataka India;Tamil Nadu |
ny0092371 | [
"sports",
"soccer"
] | 2015/08/19 | Manchester United Wins | Memphis Depay, whom Manchester United signed in May, scored two goals and assisted on a third as United took a step toward the Champions League group stage with a 3-1 home victory over Bruges on Tuesday, a day when all five first-leg playoff games had close finishes. Lazio edged visiting Bayer Leverkusen, 1-0, with a 77th-minute strike; host Sporting Lisbon beat CSKA Moscow, 2-1, after Moscow missed a penalty kick; and BATE Borisov beat visiting Partizan Belgrade, 1-0, after Belgrade was reduced to 10 men. Earlier, Astana became the first Kazakh club to win a UEFA playoff match, with a 1-0 home victory over Apoel Nicosia. ■ The United States men’s team was drawn into a group with Canada, Cuba and Panama for Concacaf Olympic qualifying. (AP) | Soccer;UEFA Champions League;Manchester United |
ny0092572 | [
"nyregion"
] | 2015/08/07 | 18-Year-Old Sentenced to Five Years for Robbing Man, 84, She Met on Dating Site | A teenager who with her twin sister robbed an octogenarian they met on an Internet dating site was sentenced on Thursday to five years in prison. The woman, Shaina Foster, 18, had pleaded guilty to one count of robbery in exchange for the five-year sentence in a deal with the Manhattan district attorney’s office. She and her sister, Shalaine Foster, admitted that they tied up Paul Aronson, 84, in his house and took his cash and credit cards after he had taken them both on a dinner date. Citing the seriousness of the crime, Justice Michael Obus of State Supreme Court in Manhattan said he would not grant Ms. Foster youthful offender status, which would have made her eligible for a lesser sentence. Mr. Aronson lay helpless on his living room floor, bound with zip ties, unable to eat or drink, from 8:15 p.m. on Oct. 1 until the next morning, when a neighbor discovered him. “This is a case in which far worse results could have happened if the victim had not been rescued,” Justice Obus said. Shaina Foster said nothing before she was sentenced. Outside court, her lawyer, Theodore Herlich, said, “I hope she makes better choices in the future and leads a law-abiding life.” In April, Shalaine Foster also pleaded guilty to robbery in exchange for a prison term of one and a third years to four years. In that case, Justice Obus and prosecutors agreed to grant her youthful offender status, because she had not planned the kidnapping, but had followed her sister’s lead. The twins came from a troubled family and had lived for some time in separate foster homes, their lawyers said. They were 17 when they were arrested last October. Mr. Aronson contacted Shaina Foster on SeekingArrangement.com, which advertises itself as a service connecting well-to-do men with young women, an online forum “where beautiful, successful people fuel mutually beneficial relationships.” On their second date, Ms. Foster brought her sister along. The three dined at an expensive restaurant in Midtown, and Mr. Aronson invited the teenagers to have a drink with him at his townhouse on East 38th Street. | Robbery;Criminal Sentence;Online Dating;Manhattan |
ny0252372 | [
"business",
"global"
] | 2011/11/26 | Banks Build Contingencies for Euro Zone Breakup | PARIS — For the growing chorus of observers who fear that a breakup of the euro zone might be at hand, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany has a pointed rebuke: It’s never going to happen. But some banks are no longer so sure, especially as the sovereign debt crisis threatened to ensnare Germany itself this week, when investors began to question the nation’s stature as Europe ’s main pillar of stability. On Friday, Standard & Poor’s downgraded Belgium ’s credit standing to AA from AA+, saying it might not be able to cut its towering debt load any time soon. Ratings agencies this week cautioned that France could lose its AAA rating if the crisis grew. On Thursday, agencies lowered the ratings of Portugal and Hungary to junk. While European leaders still say there is no need to draw up a Plan B, some of the world’s biggest banks, and their supervisors, are doing just that. “We cannot be, and are not, complacent on this front,” Andrew Bailey, a regulator at Britain ’s Financial Services Authority, said this week. “We must not ignore the prospect of a disorderly departure of some countries from the euro zone,” he said. Banks including Merrill Lynch , Barclays Capital and Nomura issued a cascade of reports this week examining the likelihood of a breakup of the euro zone. “The euro zone financial crisis has entered a far more dangerous phase,” analysts at Nomura wrote on Friday. Unless the European Central Bank steps in to help where politicians have failed, “a euro breakup now appears probable rather than possible,” the bank said. Major British financial institutions, like the Royal Bank of Scotland , are drawing up contingency plans in case the unthinkable veers toward reality, bank supervisors said Thursday. United States regulators have been pushing American banks like Citigroup and others to reduce their exposure to the euro zone. In Asia, authorities in Hong Kong have stepped up their monitoring of the international exposure of foreign and local banks in light of the European crisis. But banks in big euro zone countries that have only recently been infected by the crisis do not seem to be nearly as flustered. Banks in France and Italy in particular are not creating backup plans, bankers say, for the simple reason that they have concluded it is impossible for the euro to break up. Although banks like BNP Paribas , Société Générale , UniCredit and others recently dumped tens of billions of euros worth of European sovereign debt, the thinking is that there is little reason to do more. “While in the United States there is clearly a view that Europe can break up, here, we believe Europe must remain as it is,” said one French banker, summing up the thinking at French banks. “So no one is saying, ‘We need a fallback,’ ” said the banker, who was not authorized to speak publicly. When Intesa Sanpaolo, Italy ’s second-largest bank, evaluated different situations in preparation for its 2011-13 strategic plan last March, none were based on the possible breakup of the euro, and “even though the situation has evolved, we haven’t revised our scenario to take that into consideration,” said Andrea Beltratti, chairman of the bank’s management board. Mr. Beltratti said that banks would be the first bellwether of trouble in the case of growing jitters about the euro, and that Intesa Sanpaolo had been “very careful” from the point of view of liquidity and capital. In late spring, the bank raised its capital by five billion euros, one of the largest increases in Europe. Mr. Beltratti said that Italy, like the European Union , could adopt a series of policy measures that could keep the breakup of the euro at bay. “I certainly felt more confident a few months ago, but still feel optimistic,” he said. European leaders this week said they were more determined than ever to keep the single currency alive — especially with major elections looming in France next year and in Germany in 2013. If anything, Mrs. Merkel said she would redouble her efforts to push the union toward greater fiscal and political unity. That task is seen as slightly easier now that the crisis has evicted weak leaders from troubled euro zone countries like Italy and Spain . But it remained an uphill battle as Mrs. Merkel continued this week to oppose the creation of bonds that would be backed by the euro zone. Politically, even the idea of a breakaway Greece is increasingly considered anathema. Despite expectations that Greece — and the banks that lent to it — may receive European taxpayer bailouts for up to nine years, officials fear its exit could open a Pandora ’s box of horrors, such as a second Lehman-like event, or even the exit of other countries from the euro union. Europe’s common currency union was formed more than a decade ago and now includes 17 European Union members, creating a powerful economic bloc aimed at cementing stability on the Continent. It ushered in years of prosperity for its members, especially Germany, as interest rates declined and money flooded into the union — until the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy sent global credit markets into chaos three years ago and the financial crisis took on new life with the near-default of Greece last year. The creation of the euro zone meant countless interlocking contracts and assets among the countries, but no mechanism for a country to leave the union. But as the crisis leaps to Europe’s wealthier north, banks have been increasing their preparedness for any outcome. For instance, while it would certainly be legally, financially and politically complicated for Greece to quit the euro zone, some banks are nonetheless tallying how euros would be converted to drachmas, how contracts would be executed and whether the event would cause credit markets to seize up worldwide. The Royal Bank of Scotland is one of many banks testing its capacity to deal with a euro breakup. “We do lots of stress-test analyses of what happens if the euro breaks apart or if certain things happen, countries expelled from the euro,” said Bruce van Saun, RBS’s group finance director. But, he added: “I don’t want to make it more dramatic than it is.” Certain businesses are taking similar precautions. The giant German tourism operator TUI recently caused a stir in Greece when it sent letters to Greek hoteliers demanding that contracts be renegotiated in drachmas to protect against losses if Greece were to exit the euro. TUI took the action just days after Mrs. Merkel and President Nicolas Sarkozy of France acknowledged at a meeting earlier this month of G-20 leaders in Cannes , France, that Greece could well leave the monetary union. On Thursday, Greece’s central bank warned that if the country failed to improve its finances quickly, the question would become “whether the country is to remain within the euro area.” In a survey published Wednesday of nearly 1,000 of its clients, Barclays Capital said nearly half expected at least one country to leave the euro zone; 35 percent expect the breakup to be limited to Greece, and one in 20 expect all countries on Europe’s periphery to exit next year. Some banks are now looking well beyond just one country. On Friday, Merrill Lynch became the latest to issue a report exploring what would happen if countries were to exit the euro and revert to their old currencies. If Spain, Italy, Portugal and France were to start printing their old money again today, their currencies would most likely weaken against the dollar , reflecting the relative weakness of their economies, Merrill Lynch calculated. Currencies in the stronger economies of Germany, the Netherlands and Ireland would probably rise against the dollar, according to the analysis. In Asia, banks and regulators view the situation with growing alarm. Norman Chan, the chief executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, said on Wednesday that regulators had stepped up their surveillance of banks’ exposure to Europe. Regulators have been working with bank managers on stress tests to determine how the banks’ financial stability might be affected by an increasingly severe financial dislocation in Europe, said a Hong Kong banker who insisted on anonymity. The main danger of a euro breakup, said Stephen Jen, managing partner at SLJ Macro Partners in London , is “redenomination risk,” the unpredictable effect that a euro breakup would have on financial assets as newly created currencies sought their own levels in the market and the value of contracts drawn up in euros came into question. Most people hope that will not happen. “Remember when Lehman went bankrupt — nobody could anticipate what happened next,” said the French banker who was not authorized to speak publicly. “That was a company, not a country. If a country leaves the euro — multiply the Lehman effect by 10,” he said. | Euro Crisis;Euro;Banking and Finance;EU;Angela Merkel |
ny0279896 | [
"world",
"americas"
] | 2016/10/11 | In Haiti, a City’s Race Into the 21st Century Is Ruined by a Hurricane | JÉRÉMIE, Haiti — Things had been looking up in Jérémie, a coastal city marooned on the tip of Haiti’s southern peninsula. It had recently gotten its first decent road link to the rest of the country, a new highway through the rugged mountains that brought development. Cellphone service had finally begun, enabling farmers and businesses to flourish. The city was racing into the 21st century, dreaming of advanced agriculture and tourism in one of Haiti’s few nature preserves. But now, Hurricane Matthew has turned back the clock . The rich forests and vegetation are now splinters and a saltwater swamp. Roads are blocked with detritus, trees turned to tinder, homes reduced to mounds of stone and rusted tin shards cleaved from roofs. Jérémie’s ambitious economic plans have been eviscerated. “Instead of going forward, we have to restart,” said Marie Roselore Auborg, the minister for commerce and industry in the Grand Anse department, where Jérémie is the capital. “This storm leveled all of the potential we had to grow and reboot our economy.” Image Hurricane Matthew left Jérémie, Haiti, devastated and in a tragically familiar state of disaster. Credit Dieu Nalio Chery/Associated Press Hurricane Matthew’s toll in Haiti has been hard to measure: the deaths and injuries, the number of people still stranded, the cases of cholera contracted in the week since winds of 145 miles an hour blew the country back to a tragically familiar state of disaster. So, too, is the economic impact of the devastation on the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. For Jérémie, isolated and underdeveloped for decades, recent history had been relatively kind, bringing new hotels and a robust coffee crop. But as so often in the past, whenever Haiti tries to pick itself up, something always seems to knock it back down, including, and perhaps especially, the forces of nature. “In 2010, before the earthquake, we had a growth rate of 5.7 percent,” said Jude Célestin, a presidential candidate who toured the devastated area on Sunday afternoon. “It’s the same in Jérémie. It was going up. People from Port-au-Prince were investing here.” As a crowd shouted in the background, trying to get closer to the candidate in the scrum, Mr. Célestin looked around at the homes stripped to their foundations and the mounds of refuse piled up to his shoulders. “And now, this,” he said, shaking his head. “It’s the way it is.” The vista in Jérémie was a familiar one, of devastation more profound than the sum of its parts. Fetid water pooled along the only entrance and exit from the town, and just about everything on the wind-strafed hillsides had been leveled — trees, houses, cellphone towers. Helicopters and convoys of sport utility vehicles descended on the city on Sunday, choking it with traffic after the highway, blocked for the better part of a week, was reopened. Collecting the dead in Jérémie has become a cruel pastime. The government tally for all of Grand Anse was up to 191 on Sunday, but locals put the figure closer to 450, and the grim work of counting the dead has only begun. New outbreaks of cholera were reported in stretches of the south that were still inaccessible by road, and dozens of victims were said to be making their way to hospitals on foot to seek care. In Jérémie, cholera may be one of the hurricane’s worst aftereffects. Of all departments in Haiti, Grand Anse has the least access to fresh water and modern sanitation, according to the World Bank. The smell of feces and soured storm water filled the streets closest to the city’s waterfront, a recipe for a sustained crisis. Image For all the shattered lives, Jérémie was bustling on Sunday. A few businesses were open, mostly out of necessity, to begin earning back what was lost. Credit Carlos Garcia Rawlins/Reuters For now, though, residents were more focused on the immediate problem of shelter. Gary Guerrier, 36, a schoolteacher, saw the storm rip the metal roof off his house, leaving him, his wife and their week-old baby daughter exposed to the elements. After being driven back twice by the raging winds, he finally wrapped the infant in a bundle of bedsheets to protect her for the journey to a neighbor’s house. “I’m still in a state of shock,” Mr. Guerrier said. “We’re lucky we didn’t lose anyone. But as for material things, I lost everything.” Houses in Beaumont, a town on the outskirts of Jérémie, fared even worse. Constructed of white stones and red earth, they were no match for the winds and pounding rain, and few were left standing among the felled coffee plants and orange trees after the storm passed. Residents farther up in the hills were still hunting for family members, while those along the lower rungs of the mountain had already interred their loved ones. Photos and Detailed Maps Reveal Hurricane Matthew’s Brutal Aftermath in Haiti The storm killed hundreds of people and left a path of destruction in western Haiti. Entire towns were turned into a mix of mud and debris. “We found my father in his home, suffering several broken bones,” said Desir Luckner, 49, pointing to what remained of the house — a concrete foundation with one timber beam still upright. “We carried him down the hill to find help, but he died on the way.” For all the shattered lives, the city of Jérémie was bustling on Sunday. Vendors squeezed between the wreckage on the roadsides, selling bread patties and overpriced spring onions magically procured from somewhere. A few businesses were operating, mostly out of necessity, to begin earning back what was lost. Claudia St. Louis opened her small bakery, selling comparettes, a local sweet bread, to those who could pay. “I lost my home, but I have to keep going, because it’s my livelihood,” she said, swatting at bees whose hive had been crushed during the storm. “There will be fewer people to buy these now, but there is nothing to be done about it.” Image A damaged church in Jérémie on Sunday. Credit Carlos Garcia Rawlins/Reuters Ms. St. Louis said her business had been booming before the storm, with sales up 50 percent in the last year, and she was planning to expand into other baked items and perhaps even open a cosmetics shop as well. “I can’t do that now,” she said. The head of the chamber of commerce in Grand Anse, Monode Joseph, said the situation would be dire for a while. Along with the stores, hotels and small restaurants that gave the city its ambience, the farmers of the region were struggling, he said. Mr. Joseph traveled to Port-au-Prince, the national capital, after the storm to ask investors to keep supporting the coffee planters and bean farmers of the region as they tried to restore their land and start over. “The people were beginning to better organize themselves, which was increasing our business,” and he persuaded the investors only last year to put in more capital, Mr. Joseph said. “It’s going to be hard to get the credit we need now.” Without that money, he said, the repercussions for farming will be catastrophic: “We don’t even know everything that’s been lost.” | Haiti;Hurricanes |
ny0247081 | [
"business",
"media"
] | 2011/05/02 | Hotels.com Campaign Nods to ‘The Hangover’ - Advertising | IN a scene from “The Hangover,” friends visiting Las Vegas wake up after a night of bachelor-party imbibing with no recollection of how their hotel suite came to be trashed, how a tiger ended up in the bathroom or how one friend lost a front tooth. Now, in a Web promotion reminiscent of the movie, Hotels.com is encouraging people to cast themselves in their own hotel misadventures by substituting their faces and the faces of friends for those of actors in provocative videos. On a site for the campaign, TripYourFace.com , a user can upload a photo from a Facebook profile and profile photos of up to three friends. After choosing the actors to superimpose the faces onto, users crop uploaded faces, adjusting brightness and color to match those of the actors, and then are taken to a screen that features a hotel room in New York, Las Vegas or Paris. As in “The Hangover,” each features a tableau of unconscious characters in a room in disarray. In Paris, for example, feathers are strewn all over a room where four blindfolded musicians, in formal attire, are slumped over their instruments, a fencer in a white outfit and mask is asleep in a chair, and Dennis Rodman, the retired basketball player, is passed out shirtless in a bed along with two lingerie-clad women. Clicking one of three play buttons in the scene prompts a video “flashback” that helps piece together the scene: for Paris, one clip shows the two women in a pillow fight, then tearing off Mr. Rodman’s shirt as he sprays the room with Champagne. But with the face substitutions, one actress ripping off Mr. Rodman’s shirt can instead be a Facebook user’s friend. And a segment of the video, starring that unwitting friend, can be posted directly to her Facebook profile, which Hotels.com of course hopes will prompt her to visit the Trip Your Face site and subsequently engage other friends in the campaign. The videos lack the verisimilitude of, say, the special effects that substituted the face of Natalie Portman for that of a professional ballerina in some dancing sequences in “The Black Swan.” But it is more technologically sophisticated than earlier campaigns in which consumers uploaded their faces into two-dimensional situations like Elf Yourself , a viral OfficeMax campaign first executed during the holiday season in 2006, which was two-dimensional and low-tech, resembling “South Park.” The Hotels.com campaign is by Y&R Chicago , part of Young & Rubicam, with the production company B-Reel . The Las Vegas hotel room situation features another celebrity, the rapper Vanilla Ice, while the New York option has no celebrities. “We wanted to produce something where people could put their faces into live action, which I don’t think has been done in a campaign before, and it certainly hasn’t been done in our category,” said Vic Walia, senior director for North America brand advertising at Hotels.com, which is owned by Expedia. “Since they are a digital company and digital brand it’s important for them to invest in new and emerging technology, not just for the e-commerce site but also for the way in which they market and brand themselves,” said Matthew Witt, director of digital production at Young & Rubicam. The campaign aligns with how people use Facebook, said Sonya Grewal, a vice president and creative director at Y&R Chicago. “People post vacation photos on Facebook, so we thought of Facebook as kind of helping us seize this idea,” Ms. Grewal said. “We thought, ‘How cool would it be if you created these videos that happened in hotel rooms, and you are a part of it and so are your friends?’ ” While traffic for the online travel agent category was down 9 percent in March compared with a year ago, according to comScore, Hotels.com traffic rose 9 percent, to 4.9 million unique visitors. Hotels.com, which declined to reveal the budget for the new campaign, has cut ad spending in each of the last three years, sliding to $31.4 million in 2010 from $70.5 million in 2007, according to the Kantar Media unit of WPP. After visiting a preview version of the site, Brian Morrissey, editor in chief of Digiday , an online publication that covers digital marketing and media, said it lacked a critical element of successful campaigns like Elf Yourself: simplicity. Because users are prompted to make numerous cropping, lighting and color adjustments, it can take about five minutes to upload a single photograph, with that time multiplied by the number of friends the user adds. In all, the process can entail dozens of mouse clicks. “Every click comes with a price, and I expect they’re going to have a very high drop-off rate,” Mr. Morrissey said, referring to users who may give up and leave the site. “If you’re going to ask someone to go through all those steps, the payoff better be huge.” For his part, Mr. Morrissey was underwhelmed. “To me the experience was like a long walk for a small beer,” he said. Mr. Walia, of Hotels.com, said many users would come to the site having already seen their faces in a video shared by friends through Facebook and, because they “know what the payoff is,” will navigate through the uploading process willingly. “This is taking it up a notch and saying we can make this look more realistic and more lifelike,” Mr. Walia said. “The bar is higher now, and consumers are more and more tech-savvy and we need to give them credit in that area.” | Advertising and Marketing;Online Advertising;Hotels and Motels;Hotels.com |
ny0252202 | [
"sports",
"football"
] | 2011/11/29 | For Giants’ Defense, Getting to Brees Is Imperative | EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — The Giants’ defensive game plan rarely wavers from week to week. It starts with rushing the passer. The rest trickles down from there. And it remained that way heading into Monday night’s game in New Orleans against the Saints , one of the N.F.L.’s top offenses, the stiffest test yet for the Giants’ defense. A few hours after practice last Friday, its coordinator, Perry Fewell, only chuckled when asked to list the Saints’ offensive weapons. “Too many,” Fewell said, adding something like a sigh. But in offering the keys to stopping them, Fewell started by reiterating the team’s mantra. “The front four is vitally important,” Fewell said. “We’ve said to them, Hey, if we’re going to be successful in this ballgame, you’ve got to come through for us.” This is the company line, so ingrained even the defensive backs rattle it off without hesitation. Giants safeties Kenny Phillips and Deon Grant said pressuring quarterback Drew Brees was the defense’s primary objective Monday. “Can’t let Brees sit back there and get comfortable,” Grant said. “We definitely have to rattle him and make sure to keep somebody in his face.” That did not happen two years ago, the last time these teams met, when the Giants were unable to sack Brees in a 48-27 victory by the Saints. New Orleans (7-3) may have an even stronger offense than it did that season, when it went on to win the Super Bowl . Heading into Monday night’s game, the Saints led the N.F.L. in yards per game (436.9), third-down conversion percentage and first downs per game. Brees has already passed for more than 3,000 yards and is on pace to break Dan Marino’s record of 5,024 yards set in 1984. (He began Monday behind only New England’s Tom Brady, who has 3,627 yards passing, and Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers, who has 3,475.) Brees also led the N.F.L. in completions (299) and trailed only Brady in yards passing per game (332.6). He had also thrown for 23 touchdowns. “He’s been with the same quarterbacks coach, the same coordinator, he’s in the same offense,” Fewell said. “He knows that offense to a science. He knows exactly where he’s going with the football when he takes the snap.” The Giants were unable to put pressure on Philadelphia quarterback Vince Young in the key moments of last Sunday’s loss, when their defense allowed Young to lead an 18-play drive in the fourth quarter. The Giants are tied for the N.F.C. lead with 31 sacks but have only five in the last three games. “The bottom line is we get paid to get after the quarterback and recently, we haven’t done that like we expect ourselves to,” defensive lineman Dave Tollefson said. Tollefson could not explain the lull, saying only that sacks can come in bunches. The Saints are particularly adept at protecting Brees at home; Monday’s game was their fifth there this year, and Brees had been sacked a total of five times in the previous four (all victories). The Giants’ defensive line planned to try to attack Brees without blitzing, to give the rest of the defense the ability to focus on covering some of the weapons Fewell alluded to. They include running back Darren Sproles, a seven-year veteran who is averaging 6.8 yards a rush and has caught 60 passes, third most in the league. Tight end Jimmy Graham, a former basketball player at the University of Miami, is an emerging star whose size (6 feet 6 inches) and speed make him a nightmarish matchup for linebackers. He had 62 receptions and 6 touchdowns through the first 10 games. “They definitely have options,” Giants linebacker Mathias Kiwanuka said. “And they use them well. Their alignments, the way that they come out and distribute their receivers, that’s something we have to pay attention to.” The Giants were also without the veteran linebacker Michael Boley for a second consecutive game because of a hamstring injury. The rookie Mark Herzlich is expected to play more in Boley’s absence. Herzlich earned praise from Fewell for his performance last Sunday, but the youth of the team’s depleted linebacker corps is unmistakable. Kiwanuka is the only player with more than one season of experience. “Our young linebackers have got to grow up real fast,” Fewell said. “We’ve been emphasizing that to them all week.” Many of the players said they watched Dallas beat Miami on Thanksgiving Day, if only because they will face the Cowboys twice in the final six weeks of the season. It incited some urgency, too, with Dallas moving into first place in the N.F.C. East and the Giants having lost two straight games. Even so, the Giants will stick with their defensive status quo. “We know the definition of our defense,” Grant said. “We just have to make sure we show it to them.” | Brees Drew;New York Giants;New Orleans Saints;Football |
ny0001504 | [
"world",
"asia"
] | 2013/03/21 | Swift Demise of Last Major Monopoly in China | BEIJING — China’s powerful Ministry of Railways was an “independent kingdom,” people said. Rooted in the Communist forces that took power in 1949, it was intimately tied to the military and was a culture, a way of life for its employees — more than two million by 2013. But within one quick week this month it was gone, turned into the China Railway Corp. in a move one analyst likened to “bringing a pig to market.” “The Ministry of Railways was a big, fat pig, and this is a golden opportunity to cut a share from it,” said the analyst, a Chinese researcher on corruption who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of political sensitivities. It’s the end of an era. The Chinese news media ran photographs of people crying outside the ministry’s Beijing headquarters, or posing next to its old sign, “Ministry of Railways,” in plain black characters. To appreciate the political as well as economic significance, let me bring you back to the spring of 1990, in Beijing. I was trying to buy a ticket for the Trans-Siberian Railway to Europe, but it was proving difficult. In the classic way here, a friend had a friend who knew someone very high up in the Ministry of Railways. We went to the Beijing International Hotel to meet a man whose name my friend refused to reveal, as did the man. It was all somewhat Kafkaesque, but seizing the chance to talk politics with someone who must know interesting things, I asked what he thought of Li Peng, the prime minister reviled by many ordinary Chinese for announcing the martial law that paved the way for the army to crush the student-led democracy movement the previous June. His response was borderline contemptuous. “He is the cloth we hang out front,” said the man, lifting his arms to mimic linen hanging on a line. Even Li Peng wasn’t in charge, was his message. There were powers behind the throne, and the Ministry of Railways was one. For decades the ministry, whose first head after 1949 was a People’s Liberation Army general, Teng Daiyuan, carried troops, arms and supplies around the country. Its “railway soldiers” took part in the Korean War. They built important roads and railways for the “New China,” including into the sensitive regions of Tibet and Xinjiang, which the Communist government drew tightly into its orbit. Many died. Gravestones lie near those roads. The ministry had its own police officers, investigators and courts, kindergartens, schools and hospitals. The Ministry of Railways wasn’t just a ministry — it was power, as the man in the Beijing International Hotel said. Now it’s gone, and many people are suspicious about the manner of its going. The ministry was officially valued around 4.3 trillion renminbi, or $690 billion, according to The 21st Century Business Herald, but that paper and the corruption researcher doubt the figure. As an entity that transports hundreds of millions of passengers yearly, with stock and other assets, he said, “It’s got to have assets of about 20 trillion.” Like many, he worried the low valuation was deliberate, to facilitate a purloining of state assets by powerful families. The speed of its disappearance is also striking. On March 10, a report on the change was presented to the National People’s Congress. On March 17, the new sign for the China Railway Corp. was already up at its premises. The state-owned company has taken over commercial operations while regulatory functions have been transferred to the Ministry of Transport. What was the change about? How was it possible to dislodge such storied power? “That’s the question. Who will benefit?” the corruption researcher said, naming several people, all senior Communist Party figures or their offspring. Like many here, he believes powerful party families have essentially carved the ministry up among themselves. Others, more sanguine, say that the move is part of reform and that the railways will be better managed. “As the last major monopoly in China, the Rail Ministry never lacked corruption, bureaucracy and mismanagement,” Chen Yao, a public policy expert at Jiao Tong University in Shanghai, told Bloomberg News. Mr. Chen’s comment suggests why the move was even possible: large-scale corruption. Two years ago, Liu Zhijun, the minister, was removed for corruption and sexual misconduct. Here the story becomes murky. Mr. Liu’s younger brother was already in jail for corruption and ordering a murder related to a ticket-scalping operation, according to news reports. Mr. Liu had 18 mistresses, these said. A company whose female head procured some of those made billions of renminbi through “illegal practices,” reported Caixin, a business magazine. There were 100 million renminbi “consulting fees,” it reported. “Liu Zhijun’s case was so massive that it gave the opportunity to strike,” the researcher said. After years of wanting to chop up the business, pro-market — or at least state-controlled market — forces seized their chance. “The breakup is a very significant step as a prelude to reform,” Zhao Jian, an economics professor at Beijing Jiaotong University, told Bloomberg News. Mr. Liu’s successor, Sheng Guangzu, the general manager of the new company, said the change would help the industry to better meet market demand. It will also bring the railways in line with other parts of the state-run economy, including aviation, energy and telecommunications, analysts said. Mr. Liu was expelled from the party in November. Four months later, his 64-year-old ministry was gone. | China;Communist Party of China;Railroads;Corruption |
ny0076997 | [
"business",
"economy"
] | 2015/05/07 | Janet Yellen Sees a Modest Risk in ‘Quite High’ Stock Prices | WASHINGTON — Janet Yellen, the Federal Reserve chairwoman, said Wednesday that stock prices were “quite high,” stronger language than she had used previously. Ms. Yellen reiterated the Fed’s view that risks to financial stability remained modest, despite years of near-zero interest rates, in part because there had not been a marked increase in the use of borrowed money, or leverage, to fund investments. But she cautioned that the volatility of financial markets could increase when the Fed begins to raise its benchmark interest rate. She noted that the Fed has held that rate near zero for “an unthinkable six plus years,” beginning in December 2008. Ms. Yellen’s remarks, made at a policy conference where she appeared with Christine Lagarde , the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, sounded a more wary note than her assessment of financial market conditions earlier this year. In February, Ms. Yellen described stock prices as “somewhat higher than their historical average levels.” In March, she described valuations as “on the high side.” Ms. Yellen and Ms. Lagarde both avoided comment on the most immediate policy questions they were confronting: for the Fed, the duration of its stimulus campaign, and for the I.M.F., the standoff between Greece and its creditors. The two women spoke at a policy conference distinguished by the fact that the 18 scheduled speakers are women, including academics, prominent policy makers and financial market participants. The “ Finance and Society ” conference, organized by the Institute for New Economic Thinking, was put together in part to highlight the rise of women to powerful positions once held almost exclusively by men. But those attending emphasized that its reach was intended to be broad and focused on issues of wide concern. Opening the conference on Tuesday night, Senator Elizabeth Warren , Democrat of Massachusetts, delivered a forceful call for more restrictions on the financial industry. “Just like male speakers don’t make it a male conference, this is not a woman’s conference,” Signe Krogstrup, deputy head of analysis at the Swiss National Bank, said Wednesday morning. “We’re not going to be discussing gender or diversity or the role of women in finance. We’re here to discuss the role of finance in society.” Ms. Yellen’s prepared remarks focused on regulation and reflected the Fed’s post-crisis wariness about the financial industry. She noted that banks and other financial firms provided important services to society, but “despite these benefits, as we have seen, actions by financial institutions have the potential to inflict harm on society.” Ms. Yellen said that the Fed and other regulators were making “significant progress” in reducing incentives for financial market participants to take excessive risks. Ms. Lagarde struck a somewhat more skeptical note . “There is still work to be done to address distorted incentives in the financial system,” she said. She added that regulation alone could not solve the problem. It was necessary and important, Ms. Lagarde said, that finance industry participants should choose “to do the right thing even when nobody is watching.” “I believe that more women leaders would also help,” she added. “What would have happened if it hadn’t been Lehman Brothers but Lehman Sisters?” | Stocks,Bonds;Interest rate;Janet L Yellen;Federal Reserve;Christine Lagarde;Elizabeth Warren |
ny0089063 | [
"sports",
"football"
] | 2015/09/29 | Aaron Rodgers’s Five Touchdowns Lead Packers Over Chiefs | Aaron Rodgers threw for 333 yards and five touchdowns, including three to Randall Cobb, and the Green Bay Packers beat the visiting Kansas City Chiefs, 38-28, on Monday night. Rodgers led the Packers (3-0) on two successful first-quarter drives that ended with scoring passes to Cobb and the rookie Ty Montgomery. Rodgers found James Jones for a 27-yard touchdown reception late in the second quarter for a 17-point lead at halftime. Jamaal Charles rushed for three touchdowns for Kansas City (1-2), which followed its stunning, last-minute loss at home to Denver with a respectable fourth-quarter effort at raucous Lambeau Field. Charles’s 7-yard touchdown run with 1 minute 25 seconds left pulled the Chiefs 10 points behind. But the end result was the same for Kansas City, which lost its second straight. PANTHERS ACQUIRE ALLEN The Carolina Panthers acquired the veteran defensive end Jared Allen from the Chicago Bears in exchange for a 2016 sixth-round draft pick. The Bears announced the trade Monday. The trade will become official pending Allen’s passing a physical, said Steven Drummond, the Panthers’ team spokesman. Fox Sports first reported the trade. ROETHLISBERGER UPBEAT Pittsburgh quarterback Ben Roethlisberger gingerly made his way out of the Steelers’ facility, his left leg immobilized under a brace and his attitude upbeat. He is expected back at some point this season after spraining the medial collateral ligament in his left knee in the third quarter of Sunday’s 12-6 win over St Louis. Coach Mike Tomlin declined to put a timetable on when Roethlisberger would return other than to say it would be “a number of weeks.” Michael Vick will start for the Steelers (2-1) on Thursday night when they host Baltimore (0-3). Roethlisberger fell awkwardly while getting tackled by St. Louis safety Mark Barron. An M.R.I. revealed no major structural damage though Roethlisberger will miss multiple starts because of injury for only the second time in his 12-year career. REFEREE SUPPORTED The N.F.L. vice president for officiating said that the referee Ed Hochuli insisted he never told Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton he “wasn’t old enough” to get a personal foul call during Sunday’s game against the New Orleans Saints. “Ed was adamant that he did not say that,” Dean Blandino, the league official, told NFL Network on Monday. Newton called out Hochuli after Carolina’s 27-22 win because he thought a personal foul should have been called on Saints defensive tackle Tyeler Davison for hitting Newton out of bounds after he released a pass. “The response that I got was, ‘Cam, you’re not old enough to get that call,’ ” Newton said at his postgame news conference Sunday. “I was looking at him like, ‘I didn’t think that you had to have seniority to get a personal foul or anything like that.’ ” Blandino said that Hochuli made the right decision by not throwing the flag. Panthers Coach Ron Rivera refused to address the issue, saying, “We’re going to move forward.” | Football;Aaron Rodgers;Randall Cobb;Packers;Kansas City Chiefs |
ny0271499 | [
"sports",
"golf"
] | 2016/05/05 | Golf’s Schedule Takes the Sheen Off Olympic Gold | CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Adam Scott has a daughter, his firstborn, who will be 18 months old this summer. After careful consideration, he decided his child should take precedence over the baby conceived by an abbreviation-heavy crowd — the I.O.C. and Augusta National, the P.G.A., the R&A, the L.P.G.A., the U.S.G.A. and the I.G.F. — for delivery at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics after a seven-year gestation period. After a disappointing tie for 42nd at the Masters in his sixth start in an eight-week stretch, Scott took stock of his schedule. If he participated at the Rio Games in golf’s modern-era Olympic debut, Scott would have spent seven days with his family in the nine weeks between the United States Open, which starts June 16, and the end of the men’s Olympic competition in mid-August. In that span, he would be competing in three majors and a World Golf Championships event. With too many important tournaments and not enough time with his daughter, Bo Vera, at an important stage in her development, the math did not add up for Scott, who bowed out of the Olympics. Ranked seventh in the world, Scott, the first Australian to have won the Masters, is the most conspicuous golfer in his sport’s budding Olympic Medals Don’t Matter movement. “The tough part was to choose not to represent Australia,” Scott said Wednesday, adding, “But I feel like I do that every week.” Scott’s decision opened him to criticism in his homeland, where the Olympics are highly valued, and in the tight-knit circle of athletes for whom an Olympic gold medal is the most treasured currency. Michael Phelps, the most successful Olympian in history with 22 medals, including 18 golds, said last week, “I think it stinks not having Adam in there, somebody who has been such a big part of the game over the last few years.” Phelps, 30, mentioned Jordan Spieth, a 22-year-old American who has enthusiastically embraced the opportunity to compete. “You see some of these golfers who are so excited to have a chance to be back in the Olympics,” Phelps said. “You could probably argue that some of these guys probably think the Masters, the rest of the majors, are bigger than what the Olympics is. In reality, the Olympics is the largest level in athletics in the world. There’s no higher level of competition.” The scheduling nightmare that Scott and the world’s other top golfers are expected to sleepwalk through so that the sport may field its Dream Team in Rio comes into sharp relief when you consider this: Between the United States swimming trials, where Phelps is expected to qualify for his fifth Olympic team, and his next competitive start, in Rio, the golfers will contest two majors (the British Open and the P.G.A. Championship) and a World Golf Championships event. If the power brokers in golf had taken care to carve out room in the schedule for the Olympics instead of shoehorning them into the calendar, “it definitely could have” changed Scott’s decision, he said. But in their courtship of the I.O.C., the top golf officials were like the ardent suitor who gives little consideration to the future beyond the presentation of the attention-grabbing engagement ring. Rory McIlroy, who will defend his title this week at the Wells Fargo Championship, will represent Ireland in Rio. McIlroy, the third-ranked golfer in the world, said, “I feel like the officials were patting themselves on the back for getting golf in,” instead of treating the sport’s inclusion in the Olympics as the first step in a marathon of planning. Golf’s ruling bodies had seven years to smooth over the ruffled feathers of sponsors or tournament officials whose events could have been sacrificed this year for the greater good of the game. They also could have fought for a mixed-gender event, which Scott said “would have been a great platform,” or a team format at the Olympics. Instead they took the path of least resistance, a stroke-play event that guaranteed a maximum star presence and a minimum overall impact. The powers-that-be whiffed. And because they would not make the tough calls, the players are left to wrestle with the difficult decision on whether to opt out of the Olympics. The recent withdrawals of players like Scott, the South Africans Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel and the Fijian Vijay Singh, who have won a combined six major titles, will surely be followed by others before the Olympic rosters for the 60-player men’s and women’s fields are made final on July 11. Peter Dawson, the president of the International Golf Federation, called the withdrawals “regrettable,” as if he were an innocent bystander and not an architect of the design flaw that is causing so many high-profile recalls. Three top-25 players’ bypassing the Olympics gives golf a black eye. The players have yet to be subjected to the World Anti-Doping Agency’s drug-testing program, which includes unannounced out-of-competition retrieval of blood and urine samples. They officially enter the testing pool on Friday. Given that one player in the world top 20 said his understanding was that random testing came with 24-hour advance notice, more fireworks may ensue. McIlroy’s concern is that golf will be banished from the Olympic family after the 2020 Games. “I’m not sure if we’re going to have another opportunity to win a gold medal after that,” he said, adding: “It’s off to a rocky start. If we don’t do something to change the narrative and get people excited about it, I’m worried what will happen.” Maybe most golfers do not covet an Olympic gold medal the way they do a Masters green jacket or the British Open’s claret jug. But in time their attitudes could change. McIlroy, a four-time major champion, said he was willing to get his vaccinations for potential diseases; leave his fiancée, Erica Stoll, at home as a precaution against the Zika virus; and give the Olympics a whirl. “Go play four rounds really competitively and try and win a gold medal,” McIlroy said. “And if you do, I don’t know how that will stack up against the other things that I’ve done in my career now, but maybe I might look back in 20 years’ time, and a gold medal might be one of my crowning achievements in the game.” | 2016 Summer Olympics;Golf;Adam Scott;Rory McIlroy;Louis Oosthuizen;Charl Schwartzel;Vijay Singh |
ny0220405 | [
"sports",
"olympics"
] | 2010/02/18 | Mistakes and Weather Obscuring Results at Vancouver Games | WEST VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Every few hours, it seems, attention is diverted from Olympic competition to the organizers, who have had to explain a series of foibles, accidents and miscalculations. The Vancouver Games have not reached their midpoint, but there is a sense that they will be remembered in part for a baffling number of blunders and for the unseasonably warm weather that has scrambled skiing and snowboarding events here at Cypress Mountain and about 90 minutes north at Whistler. The incidents range from the luge accident on Friday that killed Nodar Kumaritashvili of the Republic of Georgia to public-relations messes like the chain-link fence around the Olympic flame and the canceling of nearly 30,000 tickets at the snowboarding site because of unsafe ground conditions. Perhaps the glitches were foreshadowed from the beginning, when one of the four arms of the Olympic caldron did not function properly during the climactic moment of the opening ceremony. “On mistakes, we have to fix them,” John Furlong, chief executive of the Vancouver Olympics organizing committee, said Wednesday at a news conference dominated by questions about the problems. “On the others, honestly, I mean, I think that when I look at the first four or five days, I don’t think there’s anybody here or anybody in the city that would have been prepared to say I predicted some of the things that Vancouver 2010 had to deal with.” An ice-resurfacing machine malfunction disrupted the speedskating , and an American-made Zamboni had to ride to the rescue of a Canadian-made Resurfice machine. A spigot opened suddenly on the luge course, sending water onto the track during competition. Biathlon results had to be adjusted when three competitors were mistakenly held up at the start of the women’s pursuit, while in the men’s race two competitors were sent off early. Things have not been smoother off the fields of play. Protests in Vancouver garnered live television coverage. A barricade collapsed at a concert Tuesday, injuring at least 19 people. The Alpine skiing schedule has been scrambled at Whistler because warm weather and rain disrupted training runs and course preparation. At Cypress Mountain record warmth resulted in moguls built of hay bales and the snowboard cross course turning into a ribbon of white surrounded by rocks and dirt. | Olympic Games (2010);Weather;Accidents and Safety;Kumaritashvili Nodar |
ny0148510 | [
"us"
] | 2008/09/18 | Congressman in Alaska Wins Primary in Extended Vote Count | ANCHORAGE — Alaska ’s sole member of the House, Representative Don Young , narrowly won the Republican primary here, escaping with just 304 more votes than his nearest challenger after a prolonged vote count that finally ended late Wednesday. Mr. Young defeated Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell, who had been endorsed by Gov. Sarah Palin, by 48,195 to 47,891. Still, the Young campaign said even before the results were final that it expected Mr. Parnell to seek a recount, which could take more than a week to complete. The primary was Aug. 26, and the wait for results has reduced the time the Republican winner has to campaign against the Democrat in the race, Ethan Berkowitz. Mr. Berkowitz, a former Democratic leader in the state House, has led Mr. Young by double digits in several state polls as Mr. Young has become involved in an expanding federal inquiry into Alaska politics and government. The investigation, centered on lawmakers’ ties to executives from an oil services company, has led to the convictions of three state lawmakers, charges against several others and, in July, the indictment of Senator Ted Stevens. Mr. Young, who has served in the House since 1973, has not been charged. This spring Congress asked the Justice Department to investigate a $10 million earmark that Mr. Young reportedly helped secure for a Florida road project benefiting a campaign contributor. Mr. Young has spent more than $1 million of his campaign money on legal fees. Mike Anderson, a spokesman for the Young campaign, said lawyers had been reviewing thousands of Mr. Young’s records stored in the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington. “It’s filled to the ceiling with boxes that go back 35 years,” Mr. Anderson said. “Can you imagine what happens when you have boxes and boxes of files that need to be digitized, that the federal government wants to go looking at?” The day after the primary, Mr. Young led by 151 votes, but his lead increased to 239 votes after several thousand questionable and absentee ballots were counted. About 300 more votes were counted Wednesday. About 106,000 votes were cast in the contest. | Election Results;Alaska;Young Don;Parnell Sean |
ny0058939 | [
"sports",
"ncaafootball"
] | 2014/08/27 | Josh Shaw’s Rescue Story Investigated | Southern California Coach Steve Sarkisian says the university was investigating defensive back Josh Shaw’s story that he injured his ankles jumping off a balcony to save his nephew from drowning. Sarkisian said U.S.C. had received calls contradicting Shaw’s claims. Shaw did not immediately respond to a phone message. | College football;USC;Josh Shaw |
ny0195370 | [
"sports",
"golf"
] | 2009/11/22 | Westwood Keeps 2-Stroke Lead in Dubai With 66 | DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Lee Westwood maintained his two-shot lead at the Dubai World Championships after shooting a six-under 66 Saturday in the third round. Westwood, of England, made six birdies to take his total to 15-under 201. England’s Ross McGowan was second after a 66. Westwood opened up a five-shot advantage over Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland, his only remaining rival for the Race to Dubai. Should he win both titles, Westwood would receive $2.75 million and become Europe’s No. 1 player for the first time since 2000. The 20-year-old McIlroy had led the European money list going into the tournament but fell five shots behind after a 69. He is seeking to become the youngest player since Seve Ballesteros to in 1979 to be the No. 1 European player. Westwood said his confidence would be high going into the fourth round. “I looked at the names on the leader board,” he said, “and I have won 30 tournaments in my career and no one else has closed out as many tournaments as I have. The Race to Dubai situation is very tense, but I have won it before so I know how to deal with the pressure.” The 27-year-McGowan is playing in only his second full season on the European Tour and recorded his first victory at the Madrid Masters in October. A run of four birdies from the sixth hole on Dubai’s Earth Course took McGowan briefly into the lead until Westwood had three birdies from the ninth. McIlroy made six birdies in 15 holes to be one shot behind Westwood, but his game collapsed. Three errors left him in a tie for third place at 10 under with Padraig Harrington of Ireland and Alexander Noren of Sweden. | Westwood Lee;Golf |
ny0236335 | [
"business",
"energy-environment"
] | 2010/06/03 | China Weighs Tighter Controls on Rare Elements | SHANGHAI — China is planning to tighten its control over its rare earth minerals by allowing just a handful of state companies to oversee the mining of the scarce elements, which are vital to some of the world’s greenest technologies. The State Council, China’s highest legislative body, is weighing a proposal to put the government in control of private and unauthorized mines that produce rare earth minerals, a strategic resource that much of the world depends on, according to China Daily, the official English-language newspaper. Rare earth minerals are an unusual group of natural elements that are vital for high-performance electric motors in hybrid cars, wind turbines, efficient light bulbs and even missiles. China now accounts for over 90 percent of the world’s production of the minerals. Some governments and global companies have recently expressed concern about whether China is planning to restrict exports of its rare earth minerals or force global companies to move factories to China to complete production of items using the minerals. Last year, China distributed a draft policy to foreign executives that called for barring the export of some of the rare earth elements that are in the shortest supply, and happen to be mined mainly in southeastern China using some of the most environmentally damaging techniques. That worry led to a scramble to develop alternative mines in other parts of the world. The U.S. Congress even ordered a study of alternative sources because of the American military’s dependence on China’s supply of rare earth minerals. But Chinese officials say they want to tighten control over the precious resource because the mining of rare earth minerals has led to environmental ruin and chaotic development. Industry experts in China say large supplies of the nation’s rare earth minerals are illegally exported and highly undervalued, and that foreign companies are not paying the cost for the environmental damage left behind. “We want a higher price on our rare earth minerals,” said Zhang Anwen, deputy secretary general of the Chinese Society of Rare Earths, a government-affiliated research organization in Beijing. “Foreign buyers should more or less share our costs, including the high cost of reducing environmental pollution.” Mr. Zhang said he was not aware of a proposal going to the State Council but that it was probable that state companies would control a large part of the industry. According to China Daily, the plan under consideration in Beijing would allow state companies to sharply consolidate the industry, possibly altering the way these valuable minerals are mined and exported. The newspaper said Wednesday that the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology had each submitted a draft proposal for such a plan to the State Council. But Wednesday, a spokesman for the commission said he was unaware of the proposal. A spokesman for the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology could not be reached. China’s state-run news media said a few major state-owned companies would be likely to assume control in order to better protect the rare minerals. China has announced plans to begin a six-month crackdown on illegal mining of rare earth elements starting this month. Ian Chalmers, a managing director at Alkane Resources, a rare earth mining company in Australia, said that China had been planning such a move for several years, partly to manage the devastating pollution generated from mining the minerals. “This could help their environmental credentials and show they’re cracking down on illegal behavior,” Mr. Chalmers said in a telephone interview Wednesday. “And I think they’re smart enough not to try to cut off the world’s supply. This should be a good thing.” | Mines and Mining;China;Regulation and Deregulation of Industry;Hybrid Vehicles;Factories and Manufacturing |
ny0176349 | [
"business",
"yourmoney"
] | 2007/07/08 | All Shook Up, Right Down to the Musical Core | SO omnipotent is the Apple digital music machine that just the possibility of one of its main suppliers holding back some of its music from Apple’s iTunes music store is enough to make headlines and send shock waves. That is what happened last week when the Universal Music Group let Apple know that it would no longer grant the company guaranteed access to its coming releases. Officially, Universal had no comment, but an executive briefed on the negotiations said the music company was merely interested in keeping its options open as it does with most other retailers in the brick-and-mortar world. The upshot is that Universal will provide music to iTunes on an “at will” basis. Thus, if someone offers Universal a boatload of cash for the right to sell the latest Bon Jovi or Rihanna singles exclusively on a rival download service, Universal is saying that it is open for business. This bit of news could shake up the digital music business because Universal, owned by Vivendi , is the world’s largest music conglomerate, representing one of every three albums sold in the United States. And it underscores the longstanding and increasing tension between Apple and the entertainment industry, not to mention the scores of rivals who spend days and nights plotting for ways to chip away at the primacy of the Apple iPod . (That primacy has already bolstered sales of Macintosh computers and, if all goes as Steve Jobs plans, will soon spread to mobile phones and home video.) Theoretically, Apple may be concerned because of Universal’s market clout; an Apple spokesman did not return calls seeking comment. On the other hand, Universal is not about to turn its back on Apple, given that 15 percent of its global sales come from digital downloads. “It looks like a little bit of saber-rattling,” said Susan Kevorkian, an analyst who covers the consumer audio business for IDC. “We’re not seeing ultimatums being dished out here. It’s a very symbiotic relationship.” But there is little question who is benefiting the most from the symbiosis so far. Mr. Jobs’s “iSpawn” holds more than 70 percent of the market for portable music players and more than 80 percent of the online music sales business — a fairly unassailable lead, as contenders like Samsung, Sony and Microsoft have found. You can almost imagine Mr. Jobs shrugging at Universal’s new terms: “Go right ahead.” But as more music sales move online, the volume is turning up not just among hardware players but also among digital music service rivals that include Amazon, Yahoo Music, Napster and Rhapsody. According to figures released last week by Nielsen SoundScan, physical album sales decreased by 15 percent from Jan. 1 to July 1 this year, while sales of digital tracks, though still a much smaller business, rose 49 percent. In this environment, the music industry has a tempestuous relationship with Mr. Jobs, more respect-resent than love-hate. Label chiefs respect that he has revolutionized the online and portable music businesses at a time when so many others have flopped, and file-sharers and sites like Russia’s AllofMP3.com — a site that labels have accused of piracy — have wreaked havoc on the industry’s business models. (AllofMP3 was conveniently shuttered last week as President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia prepared to visit President Bush.) But the chiefs resent Mr. Jobs’s rigidity in areas like pricing — 99 cents a track, take it or leave it — and iTunes’ proprietary digital-rights management software, which has made songs sold there impossible to play on rival devices. Most of all, they envy that Mr. Jobs is in a much higher-margin business of selling gadgets. Ms. Kevorkian of IDC said the label chiefs might still hold out hope that Apple will share someday the spoils of each iPod sold — along the lines of how Microsoft agreed to pay $1 for each of its Zune players, introduced last year. But only a million Zunes have been sold, while iPod sales have topped 100 million. Mr. Jobs ruffled some industry feathers in February by suggesting in an open letter that music labels ought to drop their requirement for digital-rights management protection because only a small percentage of the music on his customers’ iPods was bought through the music store — the rest was from uploads of people’s own collections. So far, only one of the four big music companies, EMI, has sided with Mr. Jobs and lifted the digital-rights management protection on its online catalog, selling those singles for $1.29 each. (Keep in mind that the protection does not exist on physical CDs, which is how the industry got into its file-sharing pickle in the first place.) Although his anti-protection measure stance is somewhat self-serving — European antitrust regulators had been circling the closed iTunes system — there is anecdotal evidence to suggest that Mr. Jobs may be on to something. And, if so, the other big label groups — Universal, Warner Music and Sony/BMG — could follow suit and offer protection-free tunes, although perhaps not with their entire catalogs, as EMI has done. What is astonishing about the music industry, versus other forms of media, is the amount of entrepreneurial fervor it attracts at every level — from indie labels to Web and satellite radio to fan sites and consumer electronics giants and mobile phone operators. This partly explains why Universal has at least raised the possibility that iTunes and the iPod might not forever be the only game in town. Certainly there is no shortage of pretenders to the throne. Although they have struggled to gain traction, the digital music outlets of retail giants like Wal-Mart Stores or Best Buy compete aggressively and can’t be counted out. A few new ventures are starting free download services supported by advertising. And one start-up gizmo that James L. McQuivey of Forrester Research is eyeing is Slacker, which will combine a portable MP3 player with a wide range of Internet radio stations from which consumers can sample music. A key difference, Mr. McQuivey said, is that the Slacker could be much friendlier to music merchandising than the current iTunes/iPod setup. AMAZON, meanwhile, has announced plans to enter the online music store fray by introducing a service next year that will sell only songs that are free of digital-rights management protection. That could give it a leg up if, as expected, the other big music labels start to offer some of their music on that basis. Although Amazon has had its digital media stumbles, it has the dual advantage of knowing its customers’ cultural habits and being a popular online destination where people go to buy electronics and CDs. Indeed, you could imagine Amazon cutting an exclusive deal to offer a hot Universal track for a week or two when combined with the purchase of an MP3 player. That might not be great for iTunes, but it would probably be good for sales of iPods, which stand as a triumph of Mr. Jobs’s trademark design and simplicity. Having spent years trying to keep the computer operating system of his Macintosh computers separate from the much bigger Microsoft Windows, Mr. Jobs has learned that interoperability can work to his benefit. Oddly, Universal or anyone else doing exclusive deals with iTunes’ rivals could end up reducing the clout of iTunes but spurring more sales of iPods — and that means more music to Mr. Jobs’s ears. | Recordings and Downloads (Audio);Apple Inc;Universal Music Group;Computers and the Internet |
ny0173144 | [
"nyregion"
] | 2007/11/22 | Nursing Home Operator in Connecticut Files for Bankruptcy | STAMFORD, Conn., Nov. 21 — Amid accusations that it shortchanged patients while it was diverting millions of dollars to a country music label in Nashville, Connecticut ’s second-largest operator of nursing homes filed for bankruptcy protection this week along with dozens of its affiliates. The bankruptcy filings, which will be heard in federal bankruptcy court in New Haven, began arriving late Tuesday and continued into Wednesday. Officials and lawyers for Haven Healthcare, the Middletown company that is the public face for the various corporations, did not return phone calls seeking comment. The privately owned chain, which manages 15 nursing homes in Connecticut and several others in New England, operates roughly 1,900 of Connecticut’s beds, nearly 7 percent of the total licensed by the state. The company is seeking the protection of the bankruptcy code to continue operating while it seeks to satisfy its creditors. In recent days, The Hartford Courant has published several articles detailing the company’s business practices, its history of providing care that state officials said undermined the health of its patients, and its battles with vendors who had cut off supplies for lack of payment. In one instance, the newspaper reported, patients at its nursing home in Jewett City were huddled under blankets one night in December 2005 because the building ran out of heating oil after the supplier had not been paid. Reacting swiftly, Attorney General Richard Blumenthal charged on Wednesday that the company lent nearly $9 million to Category 5 Records, the label for the country music star Travis Tritt, at the same time that it was failing to pay bills accumulated by the nursing homes. Category 5 was founded by Ray Termini, the chief executive officer of Haven Healthcare. Gov. M. Jodi Rell said that her focus was on the residents of the homes, and that she had placed state monitors at seven homes operated by Haven. “The company is concerned about its creditors, but I am concerned about the patients,” she said in a statement. Mr. Termini denied in The Courant this week that his company had done anything wrong by using corporate funds to invest in businesses unrelated to health care, and said he was working to correct the problems at the nursing homes. Chapter 11 of the federal bankruptcy code generally provides a cooling-off period for debtors who are seeking time to work out their problems with creditors. Under the code, certain legal actions lodged against a company can be temporarily frozen. Mr. Blumenthal said he would urge the bankruptcy court to appoint an independent trustee to run Haven’s business while it is operating under bankruptcy. In a petition filed with the court on Wednesday, Mr. Blumenthal criticized the company for failing to pay vendors with funds that the state allots participants in the Medicaid program and for diverting “considerable portions of these funds for other items and investments that inured to the benefit of insiders.” “Entities that so grossly mismanaged their affairs should not be permitted to continue as debtors in possession,” he wrote. Lawyers with expertise in bankruptcy said that it was not unusual for a nursing home or chain to seek bankruptcy protection. If loved ones were residing at one of Haven’s homes, “I’d be concerned but I wouldn’t be panicked, at this point,” said Stephen Wright, of Harlow, Adams and Friedman in Milford, which is not involved in the case. Generally, Mr. Wright and other bankruptcy lawyers said, vendors who make deliveries after a bankruptcy petition have some priority if the debtor’s assets turn out to be insufficient to satisfy all liabilities. They also said that, as a rule, courts leave managements in place on the theory that they can best protect a company’s assets, but added that when there are allegations of fraud, the court sometimes agrees to install an independent trustee. Deborah Chernoff, a spokeswoman for S.E.I.U. Healthcare, a union that represents 1,200 workers at Haven’s homes in Connecticut and Rhode Island, said that “whatever needs to be done to stabilize these homes and guarantee good care for these residents should be done.” But Ms. Chernoff added that the larger systemic problems, including inadequate state financing for Medicaid patients and state regulations on staffing that have not been revised in two decades, should not be overlooked. “These kinds of stories, as awful as they are, are really symptomatic of a much larger problem that is not confined to one particular nursing home chain,” she said. Nancy Shaffer, a state ombudsman who oversees operators of long-term care facilities, said, “There have been some concerns with this particular nursing home chain, and I think there are a lot of eyes and ears right now, and that’s a good thing.” Company officials asked a reporter seeking comment to leave several Haven Healthcare facilities on Wednesday. Outside the company’s home in Cromwell, Charles Camp, 38, who works in the kitchen, said patients were concerned by the recent allegations and by the prospect of a change in control. “That’s the big talk around here at the bridge table,” Mr. Camp said. As Mr. Camp put it: “It’s shocking, man. I thought I’d get here and there would be some job security, and now it doesn’t seem like that.” | Connecticut;Nursing Homes;Frauds and Swindling;Bankruptcies |
ny0215000 | [
"sports",
"ncaabasketball"
] | 2010/03/22 | Without Its Star, Michigan State Beats Maryland at the Buzzer | SPOKANE, Wash. — Michigan State ’s chances for another springtime march deep into the N.C.A.A. tournament were as broad as the smile on Tom Izzo’s face midway through the second half of Sunday’s game against Maryland. The fourth-seeded Spartans were beating No. 5 Maryland by 16 points and getting help from all corners of their roster in the absence of the injured point guard and team leader Kalin Lucas. But the romp unraveled, and the Spartans found themselves shocked to be losing with 35 seconds left. After trading baskets with the Maryland star Greivis Vasquez, the Spartans trailed by a point again with six seconds left. Michigan State’s fate was left in the hands of the backup sophomore guard Korie Lucious. His 3-pointer from above the top of the key drained through the basket at the buzzer, giving Michigan State an 85-83 victory. It left Maryland in shock, Spartans players and their costumed mascot in a body pile on the baseline, and Izzo on the court with tears in his eyes. “It’s going to be one of the greatest wins in the history of Michigan State,” Izzo said. His counterpart, Maryland’s Gary Williams, had a far more somber viewpoint. “It just seemed like we were going to win that game, and then we had it taken away from us,” he said. “So this is tough.” The victory sent the Spartans (26-8), a Final Four team 5 of the past 11 seasons and the national runner-up last year, to the Midwest Regional in St. Louis to play ninth-seeded Northern Iowa, which upset No. 1 Kansas on Saturday. A potential all Big Ten regional final could take place if second-seeded Ohio State beats sixth-seeded Tennessee in the other regional semifinal. Vasquez, a senior from Venezuela, was hoping to lead Maryland (29-9) to its first round of 16 since 2003. He scored 26 and had 9 assists before time ran out on his college career. In the end, he could not fully compensate for Michigan State’s depth. “I just thought it was going to be my last game, and I didn’t want that game to be my last,” Vasquez said. “But unfortunately it went the other way. I’m just proud that we came back and we took the lead. We had a lot of guts to do that.” The junior guard Durrell Summers, who arrived averaging 10.2 points per game and had not made more than two 3-pointers in a game this season, scored 26 points for the Spartans, 18 of them on 3-pointers. Raymar Morgan added 17 points and 9 rebounds for the Spartans. In some ways, Michigan State’s victory was not unexpected. Izzo’s teams are now 9-1 in the second round. The only loss was in 2007, when the eighth-seeded Spartans lost to No. 1 North Carolina. But those victories were nothing like this. In a game of well-matched teams, Michigan State used an 11-0 run in the first five minutes to take a 17-7 lead, then spent most of the game trying to fend off the Terrapins’ charges. When Lucas hobbled to the locker room with what appeared to be an injured ankle with 2:25 left in the first half, the Spartans led, 44-35. Lucas had 4 points and 6 assists. Izzo, who shared an emotional embrace with Lucas after the game, said the early diagnosis for Lucas was a season-ending torn Achilles’ tendon. Poise and depth fended off most of Maryland’s advances. Lucious, handling most of the point-guard duties in Lucas’ absence, drained a 3-pointer with 8:40 remaining that gave Michigan State a 72-57 lead. That elicited a rare, broad smile from Izzo on the sideline. He fretted all season about his team’s inconsistencies and lack of leadership. But the Spartans looked like a congealed unit. It did not last. Vasquez began driving, dishing and drawing fouls, eroding Michigan State’s lead. Still, when Lucious made a layup with 2:05 remaining, the Spartans held an 80-71 lead. Maryland scored the next 10 points, with Vasquez accounting for eight of them and assisting on the other two. His 3-pointer with 1:27 left narrowed the score to 80-79, and driving layup with 35 seconds gave Maryland its first lead. Michigan State’s Draymond Green (9 points, 8rebounds), another sophomore reserve, made a jumper from the left wing with about 20 seconds left to give the Spartans the lead back. But Vasquez spun toward the basket and banked in another shot with about 6 seconds left, setting up Lucious’ trumping theatrics. | NCAA Basketball Tournament (Men);Basketball;Michigan State University;University of Maryland;College Athletics |
ny0266695 | [
"business",
"dealbook"
] | 2016/03/21 | Affymetrix Rejects $1.5 Billion Takeover Bid | SAN FRANCISCO — Affymetrix, a maker of advanced genetic analysis technology, on Sunday rejected an 11th-hour takeover bid meant to derail its planned sale to Thermo Fisher Scientific for $1.3 billion. In a statement , Affymetrix said that the $1.5 billion offer by some of its former employees, who have set up a shell company called Origin Technologies, was not a “superior proposal” to the Thermo Fisher deal. The move complicates what has already become a complex situation and suggests that both the target company and its preferred buyer will maintain a robust defense of their transaction ahead of a vote by Affymetrix shareholders on the deal this week. Affymetrix agreed in January to sell itself to Thermo Fisher for $14 a share. But on Friday, Origin — which is linked to Centrillion Technology Holdings, a newer genetics analysis provider — proposed paying $16.10 a share in cash. Financing for the Origin bid, according to the shell company’s executives, would come from debt provided by SummitView Capital, a Chinese private equity firm. The intention of the interlopers is to eventually merge Affymetrix and Centrillion. By declaring that the Origin bid was not likely to lead to a superior proposal, Affymetrix’s board has laid out its argument for sticking with the Thermo Fisher deal. But Affymetrix’s shareholders are scheduled to vote on that transaction this week, and shares in the target company jumped on Friday to $15.99 — suggesting that its shareholders believe that a bidding war may be brewing. Affymetrix’s chief executive, Frank Witney, said in the statement that his company held preliminary conversations with the Origin executives last fall and invited them to submit a written proposal. “We heard nothing further from them for over four months until they announced their unsolicited proposal on March 18,” Mr. Witney said. “The board of directors of Affymetrix is firmly committed to carrying out its fiduciary duties and maximizing value for our stockholders, while at the same time complying with the customary provisions of our merger agreement with Thermo Fisher.” Thermo Fisher put out its own response , raising questions about Origin’s financing and playing up concerns about whether the federal government would approve the new offer. In particular, Thermo Fisher noted the possibility that the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, a government panel that weighs in on foreign takeovers with potential national security implications, could take action. Thermo Fisher pointed to the work that Affymetrix did for the United States government as one reason the government panel, commonly known as Cfius, would conduct a lengthy review of the Origin proposal and delay any closing of that transaction. “The proposal put forth to Affymetrix by Origin Technologies, a newly created shell entity relying on a vague and insufficient financing package from a Chinese firm, is highly uncertain and speculative,” Marc N. Casper, Thermo Fisher’s chief executive, said in a statement. Origin has argued that Centrillion is an American company and that any government inquiries would take place after Affymetrix shareholders are paid. A representative for Origin did not have an immediate comment. | Affymetrix;Origin Technologies;Thermo Fisher Scientific;Mergers and Acquisitions;Centrillion Technology Holdings;Frank Witney |
ny0026330 | [
"world",
"asia"
] | 2013/01/03 | City Setting, but Village Mentalities | NEW DELHI — India is essentially a village, and because it is a village it is a woman’s ancient foe. Even the country’s apparent cities are overwhelmed by deep and enduring infestations of rural tradition and the fellowships of the conservatives who hold women in low esteem. The Parliament and legislative assemblies are largely confederations of village headmen. The most ardent fan of the Indian village was Mohandas K. Gandhi, who said, probably with joy, “The soul of India lives in its villages.” That is true even now, but the village is also at the heart of most of India’s social problems. The most factual analysis of the Indian village was from a man who could not stand Gandhi — the primary author of the Indian Constitution and arguably the nation’s most underrated writer, B.R. Ambedkar, who wrote more than 60 years ago, “The love of the intellectual Indian for the village community is of course infinite, if not pathetic. … What is a village but a sink of localism, a den of ignorance, narrow mindedness and communalism?” His view holds even today. The Indian village is the most formidable preserve of caste hierarchies, and at the very bottom of its many social rungs is the woman. The city, for its part, attempts to dissolve everything that the village holds dear, especially its hierarchies, its “narrow mindedness” and its close scrutiny of women. All of India’s struggles for modernity have been about this — the battle of the idea of the city against the idea of the village. The latest uprising in India is a part of this tired war, even though at first glance it appears to be a society’s outrage at the rape and murder of a young woman in Delhi. On the night of Dec. 16, a 23-year-old student was raped and brutalized for nearly an hour in a moving bus in Delhi by six drunken men, and thrown out of the vehicle. She battled for her life for nearly two weeks before succumbing to complications arising from severe injuries. India reacted to the rape and eventually to her death in a profound way. How it reacted became an accidental survey of the many psychological states of urban India, which included, inexorably, the city’s contempt for the village. What happened to this young woman could have happened anywhere in the world, and such crimes have indeed occurred even in some of the most affluent nations. But nowhere else in the world did such an event set off an urban middle-class movement across several cities against the government. The protesters slammed the government for its failure to make Delhi and other Indian cities safe for women. But, largely, the demonstrations were a lament of the city against a nation that has, going by the statements of politicians and policemen in the past, blamed attacks on women on the women’s own modernity. The placards, which were mostly in English, of the women who marched in Delhi in protest, carried statements like these: “Just because I show my legs, it does not mean I will spread them for you,” “Don’t tell me how to dress, tell them not to rape,” and “My body, my right. My city, my right.” In numerous television chat shows and articles, women accused the very core of India for their daily humiliations. The phrase “feudal structure” was used several times to describe a rural Indian society where men perceive rape as a way of showing a woman her place and how such men carry that perception with them when they migrate to the cities. If the idea of a city, as evident in the world’s greatest cities, is the very opposite of the reality of an Indian village, if a city is supposed to be a liberal, broad-minded place that is a young woman’s best friend, then does India truly have even a single city? Mumbai alone appears to come close, but it is today a decaying city run by rustics. Politicians and policemen whose morality seems chiefly to concern the sexual and drinking habits of unmarried women express their alarm now and then. In Mumbai’s bars, under an old law that until the past year was largely unenforced, you actually need a permit to consume alcohol. And a portion of the city’s beautiful southern tip by the Arabian Sea has become an almost exclusive peninsula for fundamentalist vegetarians who have somehow ensured that it is hard for anyone to find meat or even eggs in their neighborhood. Eight years ago, the hotelier Sanjay Narang told me that when he defied them and opened a nonvegetarian restaurant in the area, in the ground floor of a residential building, angry residents of the building stood in their balconies and spat on the patrons. He soon had to shut down. As for the city’s reputation as being safe for women, according to several of its women, this is an exaggeration, or at best a relative virtue. Why does India not have real cities? Because cities require a critical mass of liberal people, or at least its elite, to be somewhat independent — free of their cultural, familial and communal roots, whereas it is the nature of the average Indian to be dependent on a network of his own kind, to deepen his roots and marinate in too many value judgments about other people. Manu Joseph is editor of the Indian newsweekly Open and author of the novel “The Illicit Happiness of Other People.” | India;New Delhi;Social Trends;Urban area;Women and Girls;Women's rights,Feminism;Rape;Sexual harassment;Politics |
ny0012797 | [
"world",
"europe"
] | 2013/11/17 | Defection of Longtime Ally Splits Center-Right in Italy | ROME — Silvio Berlusconi’s center-right political movement, a powerful force in Italy, split Saturday, dealing another blow to the former prime minister as Italian lawmakers prepare for a final vote this month on whether to expel him from the Senate. The rupture in Mr. Berlusconi’s People of Liberty Party signals a new, if uncertain, chapter in Italian politics, with some analysts predicting rising levels of antigovernment populism. The breakaway group was led by Mr. Berlusconi’s longtime protégé, Angelino Alfano, who announced that he and other former lieutenants would refuse to join the rebranded political party, Forza Italia (or Go Italy), that Mr. Berlusconi unveiled Saturday. “I am here to make a choice that I never thought I would make, not to join Forza Italia,” Mr. Alfano said in a statement released Friday night. He announced the formation of the New Center-Right, a group expected to siphon away as many as a third of those lawmakers in Parliament previously committed to Mr. Berlusconi. For several months, Mr. Berlusconi, 77, has been seeking to undermine the country’s fragile coalition government, of which his movement had been a main partner. His chief motivation, according to many analysts, was to derail efforts in Italy’s Senate to strip him of his seat there, after a court in August upheld on final appeal his conviction for tax fraud. But after dominating the center-right for two decades, Mr. Berlusconi has seen his movement fracture in the past six weeks. Last month, Mr. Alfano led a rebellion of center-right lawmakers who rejected Mr. Berlusconi’s attempt to bring down the government in a confidence vote. Now Mr. Alfano, who is the deputy prime minister, is leading the group of breakaway center-right lawmakers, including several who lead important government ministries. These so-called doves will maintain support for the government led by Prime Minister Enrico Letta. Appearing on television on Saturday to kick off Forza Italia, the name of the party that started his career in the 1990s, Mr. Berlusconi said with a broken voice that Mr. Alfano’s defection had “caused him a lot of pain.” Sergio Fabbrini, director of the school of government at Luiss Guido Carli University in Rome, said the center-right split could heighten the strain of antigovernment populism rising in many European countries as voters have become increasingly angry and alienated over the hardships wrought by economic austerity. The new Forza Italia is likely to have a harder, populist edge, Mr. Fabbrini said, even as Italy has already seen the rise of the antigovernment Five Star Movement led by a former comedian, Beppe Grillo. “Forza Italia is not an attempt to create a new center-right in Italy with a majoritarian, center-right perspective,” Mr. Fabbrini said, adding that roughly 40 percent of the lawmakers in Parliament might now support anti-Europe, antigovernment postures. Mr. Alfano also blamed hard-line factions in the center-right for driving away his more moderate group. “This choice comes from the fact that these past few weeks have proved to what extent extreme forces have prevailed within our political movement,” he said in his statement. Mr. Berlusconi, a billionaire media mogul, has been deeply concerned about the impact of his legal troubles on his business empire, according to analysts and some loyalists. A court in Milan recently barred him from seeking or holding office for two years. The full Italian Senate is expected to vote on his expulsion on Nov. 27, a vote he is expected to lose. Indeed, analysts say that Mr. Berlusconi created Forza Italia in hopes that going forward the party could win enough seats in Parliament to provide him leverage to protect his business interests. His daughter Marina might emerge as the leader of the party while Mr. Berlusconi exists in his political purgatory, though she has repeatedly denied interest in such a role. | Italy;Silvio Berlusconi;Angelino Alfano;Legislature;People of Liberty Party Italy |
ny0026149 | [
"business",
"global"
] | 2013/08/22 | Aid to Greece Weighs on German Campaign | FRANKFURT — Members of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government struggled Wednesday to prevent Greece and its problems from disrupting an otherwise comfortably dull German election campaign, after comments by the finance minister raised fears that voters might be asked to help pay for another round of aid. “There’s nothing new,” Steffen Seibert, Ms. Merkel’s spokesman, said a day after Wolfgang Schäuble, the German finance minister, created a political firestorm by suggesting that a third aid package for Greece was inevitable. The brouhaha coincided with a visit to Athens on Wednesday by Jörg Asmussen, a member of the executive board of the European Central Bank and former top aide to Mr. Schäuble. Speaking after talks with Yannis Stournaras, the Greek finance minister, Mr. Asmussen said a third rescue package for Greece was “not discussed” and would not be until spring at the earliest. Despite protests by representatives for Mr. Schäuble that he had previously signaled that Greece would need more aid, his comment on Tuesday aggravated the already fraught relationship between Greece and Germany and provided ammunition for opponents of Ms. Merkel desperate for a way to dent her solid lead in the polls. Peer Steinbrück, chancellor candidate for the opposition Social Democrats, accused Ms. Merkel of concealing the true cost of Greek aid from German voters until after national elections on Sept. 22. Gerhard Schröder, a former chancellor unseated by Ms. Merkel, accused her of “a big lie.” The episode also provided Greek political fodder. Newspapers in Greece, where Germany is blamed for severe cuts in government spending, reacted with sarcastic headlines, including “Schäuble threatens new aid.” Mr. Asmussen told reporters on Wednesday that his trip to Athens had been long planned, but the timing helped feed the controversy stirred by Mr. Schäuble’s remarks about the need for another aid package. Mr. Schäuble, a stalwart of Ms. Merkel’s conservative Christian Democrats, had said on several occasions in recent months that another aid package for Greece was possible and even likely. But observers thought they detected a shift in tone when, while campaigning Tuesday near Hamburg, Mr. Schäuble said that “there will have to be another program for Greece,” according to German news reports. Greece and the cost of saving it remains a sore point for German voters and a potential weakness for Ms. Merkel. While her party is almost certain to finish first in national parliamentary elections in September, she is unlikely to win an absolute majority and will need to form a governing coalition, perhaps with the Social Democrats. Any loss of votes could weaken her bargaining position. German government officials stressed that they remain opposed to any further debt relief for Greece and insisted that Mr. Schäuble was not signaling any change in German government policy. “The minister has repeatedly indicated that Greece’s problems cannot be solved overnight,” his office said in a statement Tuesday. Still, Greece was the central topic at the government’s regular news conference in Berlin on Wednesday after a meeting of Ms. Merkel’s cabinet. Mr. Seibert, her spokesman, said Greece was not discussed at the meeting “because there was no occasion to.” Martin Kotthaus, Mr. Schäuble’s spokesman, said, “It has always been clearly communicated that, if after 2014 the Greeks have further needs, we’ll see what can be done.” Mr. Asmussen, the highest-ranking German in the E.C.B. and a formerly close confidant of Mr. Schäuble, said in Athens that further support for Greece was possible if the country lived up to promises it made in return for aid and if it met spending targets. Greece “must continue the reforms it has started,” Mr. Asmussen said. In talks with Greek leaders, he said, “we focused on making the current program a success.” Mr. Asmussen, who was also to meet later Wednesday with Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, stressed the importance of creating more growth and jobs. He said Greece’s unemployment rate — 27 percent overall and 65 percent for those younger than 25 — was not acceptable. Still, Mr. Asmussen also said there was evidence of the “first signs of stabilization.” Officially, Mr. Asmussen was in Athens to check on Greece’s progress in implementing economic reforms pledged to the E.C.B., the European Commission and the International Monetary Fund — the so-called troika of lenders that have extended Greece two bailouts totaling €240 billion, or $321 billion, since the spring of 2010. Earlier in the day Wednesday, Mr. Asmussen met with George Provopoulos, the governor of the Bank of Greece, to discuss the state of Greek banks, which recently received new capital. The prospect of additional aid from Germany, which as the largest country in the euro zone has paid the most to help Greece, was greeted with anything but relief in the Greek news media. Headlines in daily newspapers reflected fears of Greece plunging further into debt, and being bound more tightly to diktats from Berlin. Other headlines included: “Greece goes to the polls (the German ones),” and “The shackles of a new loan and a new memorandum.” And yet, any new bailout for Greece is likely to be but a small fraction of the previous packages. The I.M.F. has estimated that Greece will have a funding shortfall of around €10.9 billion for 2014 and 2015. Finance Ministry officials have suggested the shortfall will be smaller than the I.M.F. estimate, which is subject to revision, but they have been exploring ways to plug the gap. Some of the funding is likely to come from leftover money from the recapitalization of Greek banks and a possible new reduction to the interest rate that Greece pays on its loans. A return to international bond markets in 2014 would enable Greece to raise additional revenue. The hope is that Greece would need to tap its euro zone partners for only an additional €5 billion in loans. Ms. Asmussen’s visit came as a transitional public television service began transmitting news programs more than two months after Mr. Samaras unilaterally closed the state broadcaster, ERT, triggering a political crisis. Last week, 577 employees were hired to staff an interim broadcaster that is to operate until a permanent replacement for ERT is set up. Dismissed ERT employees continue to occupy the broadcaster’s old offices, airing pirate programming via satellite, and have pledged to continue their sit-in until the original ERT is restored. The transitional service is being broadcast from an old ERT studio in a different part of Athens. Niki Kitsantonis reported from Athens. | Greece;Euro Crisis;Germany;Angela Merkel;Election;European Central Bank;Gerhard Schroder;Antonis Samaras |
ny0266092 | [
"technology"
] | 2016/03/16 | Julia Child Marathon to Stream on Twitch as Gaming Site Widens Focus | SEATTLE — Every month, more than 100 million people go to Twitch , a video streaming service known for airing live matches between people playing League of Legends, Counter-Strike and dozens of other games. An interloper has entered the Twitch fray for a marathon video streaming session — Julia Child, the legendary chef and television personality who died in 2004 . On Tuesday, Twitch began to consecutively stream all 201 episodes of “The French Chef,” the groundbreaking cooking show hosted by Mrs. Child, which aired for a decade starting in 1963. The marathon will be spread over four days. The event is a peculiar mash-up of one of the Internet’s leading destinations for gamers and a cultural icon who introduced American television audiences to beef Wellington, crêpes suzette and other dishes. It is part of a budding effort by Twitch, acquired by Amazon in 2014 for nearly $1 billion, to cultivate viewers interested in all forms of creativity, whether sewing, sculpture or cooking, not just those who want to watch virtual orcs getting slain. The Julia Child marathon, which inaugurated a new food channel on the site, also reflects a relatively recent insight by Twitch into its audience. While many Twitch visitors come to communicate with the people they’re watching through chat rooms that accompany the videos, that will obviously not be possible in the case of Mrs. Child. Instead, Twitch is betting that many of its viewers want to chat with each other. “We always had this idea that it’s critical to be able to talk to the broadcaster,” said Bill Moorier, head of Twitch Creative . “There are some cases where the community just enjoys interacting with itself while enjoying prerecorded content. That’s what we’re experimenting more with.” More than 6,000 people tuned in to watch the initial episodes of “The French Chef” on Twitch on Tuesday and the service’s chat room immediately filled with a torrent of Internet slang and joke-making. Viewers marveled at the copious amounts of vermouth, red wine and brandy that Mrs. Child used in a French onion soup recipe (“So much alcohol OMG,” “Drunk soup”). Early on, one Twitch commenter may have captured the moment best by writing “microwave generation watch cooking show on a gaming stream website.” Twitch decided to double down on recorded videos after the improbable success of a weeklong streaming session featuring the landscape painter Bob Ross . Starting last October, Twitch aired the entire archive of “The Joy of Painting,” the show narrated by the honey-voiced Mr. Ross as he completed canvases, more than 400 episodes in all. Image An illustration of Julia Child. Over four days, Twitch plans to consecutively stream all 201 episodes of “The French Chef,” Mrs. Child’s groundbreaking cooking show that aired decades ago. Credit Sohlol/Twitch About 5.6 million viewers in total watched the marathon over the course of the week, with as many as 183,000 people tuning in at the same time, according to Twitch. Equally impressive was how lively the conversation was around the show. Twitch viewers flooded the chat room with running commentary riffing on Mr. Ross’s hypnotic manner, kitschy paintings and guileless expressions like “ happy little trees .” In one show, he demonstrated how to shake the paint out of a brush, telling viewers to “beat the devil out of him.” Some viewers jokingly chided Mr. Ross, who died in 1995, for not responding to their chat messages. Others blended gamer jargon with their commentary. Whenever an episode ended, Twitch’s chat room invariably filled with the letters “gg” — slang for “good game,” a valediction online gamers use at the end of a match. There was also a dose of toxic comments of the sort that so often accompanies online discussions. Twitch says it was a minor problem and that it has teams of moderators who police its chat room for misbehavior. In all, Twitch says viewers sent 7.6 million chat messages during the marathon. The community that formed around the Bob Ross marathon was a variation of the social television watching that occurs these days during most major broadcasts. Whether it’s the Academy Awards or the presidential debates, people deluge Twitter and other forms of social media with commentary, from the snarky to the sincere. And before social media, water cooler conversations at the office were the way many people shared their perspectives on television shows. With Twitch, live commentary is much more tightly integrated with the experience of watching video, which makes audiences feel more as if they are in a single place, rather than scattered around the Internet. T. L. Taylor, a professor of comparative media studies and writing at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, believes that makes the discussion around Twitch events especially dynamic. ”The community is building memes,” she said. “They’re coming up with their own frames of reference and comedy on the fly." Dr. Taylor said she had watched portions of the Bob Ross marathon and had even bought a T-shirt with the painter on it, part of a wave of merchandise spawned by the Twitch airing of his show. “One of the best things about the Bob Ross week is it really gave this lovely, cooled-out friendly vibe,” she said. “It was just wonderful.” Mr. Moorier of Twitch said the company plans to license more videos featuring well-known chefs for its food channel, though he declined to name them. The focus of the food channel will be prerecorded videos, he said. The Julia Child marathon began on the 65th anniversary of the official date of Julia Child’s graduation from Le Cordon Bleu, the cooking school in Paris where she received her culinary training. | Twitch;TV;Julia Child;Video Recordings; Downloads and Streaming;The French Chef |
ny0019561 | [
"nyregion"
] | 2013/07/30 | Groups That Are Often at Odds Join Forces to Oppose Spitzer’s Campaign | Alarmed by Eliot Spitzer’s momentum in his unexpected bid to win citywide office, an unlikely coalition of business leaders, women’s groups and labor unions is vowing to finance an ambitious effort to thwart the former governor’s ambition. The interest groups, which often spar with one another over competing agendas and priorities, have found rare common cause in their antipathy toward Mr. Spitzer, who infuriated the business community with his aggressive posture toward Wall Street, who offended feminists by paying for sex with prostitutes and who alienated unions by taking on a labor-backed candidate. Now, they are pledging to raise and spend at least $1.5 million on advertising, direct mail and field work in an effort to persuade voters that Mr. Spitzer would be a poor choice for comptroller, New York City’s chief financial officer. That money may be dwarfed by the amount Mr. Spitzer, whose family has a real estate fortune, could spend on his own, but is enough to alter the contours of the campaign, particularly because the groups are likely to be more negative than Mr. Spitzer’s Democratic primary opponent, Scott M. Stringer, the Manhattan borough president. Taking a cue from the changing landscape of presidential politics, the groups are forming two “super PACs” that will be free to accept contributions of any size, unhindered by the restrictions that limit gifts to Mr. Stringer’s campaign. With just six weeks to go before the Sept. 10 primary, the creation of the two groups underscores the urgent trepidation with which these groups now regard Mr. Spitzer. Mr. Spitzer, who worked in television after resigning as governor, has benefited from enormous coverage in the news media and multiple appearances on late-night television since his campaign began; he has led Mr. Stringer in recent public polls, and a majority of New Yorkers now say that his past foibles do not disqualify him from running for office. The separate groups plan to begin their campaigns on Tuesday, with the labor-dominated group planning a radio ad aimed at encouraging Latino voters to back Mr. Stringer. When asked about the debut of the groups, Hari Sevugan, a spokesman for Mr. Spitzer’s campaign, said: “Eliot Spitzer has spent his career taking on powerful interests on behalf of working New Yorkers. So it’s not surprising, now, that some of the same moneyed interests he challenged and the political establishment he rankled are nervously scrambling to prop up his opponent.” One of the new super PACs — ForwardNY , the coalition of business and women’s groups — is being advised by Bradley Tusk, the manager of the 2009 re-election campaign of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. Mr. Bloomberg has been sharply critical of Mr. Spitzer’s behavior toward Wall Street. The group hopes to raise $1 million, and the rhetoric on its Web site is sharply anti-Spitzer. “There’s a lot of concern that Spitzer as comptroller is just a prelude to Spitzer running for mayor, and no one invested in the city’s future wants that,” Mr. Tusk said in an interview. Some members of ForwardNY compare Mr. Spitzer, whose resignation was prompted when his patronizing of prostitutes became public, to a Democratic mayoral candidate, Anthony D. Weiner, who resigned from Congress when his habit of sending sexually explicit e-mails and photographs to women he knew only online became public. Sonia Ossorio, president of the New York City chapter of the National Organization for Women, said that her members were enthusiastic about joining ForwardNY, because “I think everybody wants to leave these tawdry scandals behind and move on with the serious business of electing a whole slew of new people into office and making sure they do a good job.” The other new group, Progress NYC, is a coalition of the city’s four most politically potent labor unions, representing health care workers (Local 1199 of the Service Employees International Union), building employees (Local 32BJ of the S.E.I.U.), hotel workers (the Hotel Trades Council) and teachers (the United Federation of Teachers). The unions failed in their effort to coalesce behind one candidate for mayor. But they are united in their desire to help Mr. Stringer, who has been a longtime ally of labor, both as borough president and as an assemblyman. They plan to spend at least $500,000. “Unions are putting their money and muscle behind Stringer because he is the progressive candidate with a real record of delivering for working families across the entire city,” said Dan Morris, a spokesman for Progress NYC. “Boosting Stringer’s appeal among crucial constituencies like outer-borough Latinos is a recipe for victory.” The focus on Latinos represents a calculation that those voters remain undecided. Mr. Spitzer has a strong lead among African-Americans, another key Democratic constituency; a recent Quinnipiac University survey found that blacks who identified themselves as Democrats likely to vote in September preferred Mr. Spitzer by two to one. | Comptroller race;Eliot L Spitzer;NYC;PACs |
ny0292494 | [
"us",
"politics"
] | 2016/06/02 | Donald Trump Vows to ‘Make a Real Run’ at California in November | SACRAMENTO — Donald J. Trump is the only candidate left in the Republican primary, yet his campaign schedule is adhering fairly closely to the primary calendar, with him spending the second part of last week and the rest of this week holding rallies across California, which votes on Tuesday. With an unrelenting sun shining behind him at an airport hangar here on Wednesday, Mr. Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, hinted at why. “Sacramento, we’re going to do something. Because I’m going to make a real run in California, all right?” Mr. Trump said to a packed and sweaty crowd, referring to the general election in November. He added: “We’re going to work California hard. We’re going to work the state of Washington hard. We may even work the state of Oregon hard.” To endear himself to the West Coast voters, Mr. Trump trotted out his usual array of assaults, deriding the likely Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton, as a politician with “no natural talent.” He again falsely accused her of wanting to abolish the Second Amendment, and attacked her decision on intervening in Libya. Mr. Trump supported the intervention at the time . He spent barely a minute addressing the two issues that have recently dominated the news: the unsealing of documents from a lawsuit involving Trump University and his reported donations to veterans groups. Touching on the donations, he used the first minute of his speech to deliver more broadside attacks against the news media. He never mentioned Trump University. He did respond to President Obama, who waded into the presidential election on Wednesday with a speech in Indiana , promising to “hit him just like I hit Bill Clinton.” Mr. Trump may have his work cut out for him on the West Coast, which has reliably been Democratic in presidential contests for more than 25 years. California last voted for a Republican in 1988, and Washington and Oregon in 1984. But Mr. Trump seemed confident he could win. “I’m like, different,” he told the crowd. | 2016 Presidential Election;Republicans;Donald Trump;California |
ny0072686 | [
"sports",
"basketball"
] | 2015/03/15 | Stephen Curry Helps Warriors Crush Knicks | OAKLAND, Calif. — Stephen Curry, playing on his 27th birthday, had 25 points and 11 assists, and the Golden State Warriors beat the Knicks, 125-94, on Saturday night for their eighth straight home victory. Curry ended the first half with a contested 3-pointer from the top of the arc, leaning in and letting the ball go while off balance. He finished 6 of 10 from behind the arc. Klay Thompson added 27 points, making six 3-pointers and combining with Curry to score 29 points in the first half. The Warriors blew open the game with a 47-point second quarter. Andrea Bargnani had 18 points for the Knicks, and Alexey Shved added 14. | Basketball;Golden State Warriors;Knicks;Stephen Curry;Klay Thompson;Andrea Bargnani |
ny0288523 | [
"us"
] | 2016/08/24 | ‘I Have a Black Son in Baltimore’: Anxious New Parents and an Era of Unease | BALTIMORE — He assembled the crib and mounted the bookshelves. She unpacked the bedding and filled the closet with onesies and rompers. Then husband and wife stood in the nursery and worried. Bill Janu, a police officer, is white. Shanna Janu, a lawyer, is black. As they eagerly awaited their baby’s birth this spring, they felt increasingly anxious. They had chosen not to find out their baby’s gender ahead of time. But their nearly two years of marriage had been punctuated by the killings of African-American men and boys in Ferguson, Mo.; Brooklyn; Cleveland; North Charleston, S.C.; and Baltimore, all at the hands of the police. Mr. Janu, who longed for a son, tried to reassure his wife. Mrs. Janu emailed him one article after another, warning of the perils that face black boys. As the due date approached, Mr. Janu found himself praying for a girl. In the delivery room at St. Agnes Hospital, after more than 20 hours of labor, the infant finally arrived, red-faced and wailing. The newborn had Mr. Janu’s blue eyes and Mrs. Janu’s full lips and nose. The new father exulted. Then he felt the weight of his new reality. “Now, I have a black son in Baltimore,” the white police detective remembered thinking as he cradled his baby boy. Wesley William Janu, born on May 23, 2016, smiled for the first time during a summer bloodied by the worst confrontations between African-Americans and the police in decades: The back-to-back killings in July of black men in Baton Rouge, La., and Falcon Heights, Minn., followed by the killings of five officers in Dallas and three more in Baton Rouge . This month, protesters burned buildings and clashed with law enforcement officers in Milwaukee after an armed black man was shot to death there by the police. The violence has been wrenching for families like the Janus, an interracial couple struggling to straddle the nation’s racial fault lines in a red brick rowhouse in a quiet corner of Baltimore. But the heated national discussions over policing and race feel particularly piercing for a black woman born in the South and her white husband who wears a badge. They know their son is taking his place in the world at a time of promise and unease. Wesley will learn to sit up on his own during the final term of the nation’s first African-American president. He will celebrate his first birthday in 2017, the year that will mark the 50th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision that overturned state bans on interracial marriage . By the time he is 28, more than half of the population in the United States will very likely be members of ethnic or racial minority groups or mixed race, according to the Census Bureau . Yet this is also a time when black and white Americans find themselves deeply divided . In Wesley’s face, there are glimpses of the country’s racial future, yet that future often feels uncertain and unsettled. Born in Louisiana, Mrs. Janu grew up in a predominantly white suburb in upstate New York, joined a white sorority in college and married a white detective. Yet these days, she fears that racism and bias might be “hard-wired” into society and wonders how that might affect her family. She worries as her husband holsters his Glock 22, kisses her goodbye and heads out the door to pursue gun runners and violent criminals in this predominantly black city. Will he be a target now on the street? She worries as she has adjusted to the rhythms of round-the-clock feedings and diaper changes. What dangers might Wesley face as a teenager at the hands of the police? And then there is the racial divide that runs right through her living room, the issues that occasionally create a rift between husband and wife. Mrs. Janu, 31, is a strong supporter of the Black Lives Matter movement, for instance, while Mr. Janu, 42, argues that some of its activists “do more harm than good” and spew “a lot of hate” toward the police. “Am I being a disloyal law enforcement wife because I do feel so strongly for Black Lives Matter, because I do feel such a strong affinity for the movement?” asked Mrs. Janu, describing her internal turmoil during 12 weeks of maternity leave. “I try to see both sides of it,” she said. “It leaves me a little bit torn.” The warnings flashed on Mr. Janu’s cellphone after nightfall on July 7 as he cruised through downtown Baltimore in his unmarked police car. It was his first inkling that a calamity was unfolding. Image Wesley will celebrate his first birthday in 2017, the year that will mark the 50th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision that overturned state bans on interracial marriage. Credit Lexey Swall for The New York Times “Watch your back,” one friend texted. “Be safe out there,” another wrote. At home, Mrs. Janu was trying to erase the image of a dying black man from her mind. She had delighted that day in one of Wesley’s milestones, when she realized he was following her every move with his eyes, and recorded the thrill in an app tracking his development. But then, as she was nursing her baby, she signed onto Facebook and there was Philando Castile, slumped and bleeding in his car in Minnesota, while his girlfriend filmed her confrontation with the officer who had shot him. Mrs. Janu scrambled to press the pause button, but she had already seen too much. She sat stunned on the sofa, with Wesley in her arms, reliving her fears about his future. She was asleep by the time Mr. Janu came home. By then, he knew why he had received the urgent texts. Five Dallas police officers had been shot to death that night. Shaken, he stayed up all night, flipping between CNN, MSNBC and Fox until dawn. Only then did he talk to his wife about what had happened in Texas. “All I wanted to do was hug her,” he said. The couple met six years ago, casually introduced by mutual friends who were shocked when they got together. Mrs. Janu, who is wry and bracingly frank, had vowed never to date a police officer. She had grown up hearing her parents’ stories about ugly encounters between African-Americans and the police in the segregated South. She remembers the day her father was pulled over. She was 7 at the time, sitting in the back seat. And she still remembers the pains he took afterward — checking and rechecking his turn lights and headlights — to ensure that it would never happen again. “Bullies,” she said, matter-of-factly describing the men she assumed joined the force. Mr. Janu, who is stocky, bald and bearded, looked like a character in a television crime drama. He had spent a decade in the military and a decade on the police force, mostly in a specialized squad that focused on gun sales and gun offenders. But he was unlike any officer she had encountered. He was silly and cracked her up. He had studied marine biology in college, loved travel and art and shared her nostalgia for “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” the cult television series. (The Janus named their son and one of their dogs, Buffy, a Maltese poodle mix, after characters in the show.) Image Mr. Janu has been on the police force for a decade, and he spent a decade in the military. Credit Lexey Swall for The New York Times His father, who abhors interracial relationships, stopped speaking to him. Mr. Janu was undeterred by his disapproval, and by the stream of news articles and blog posts that Mrs. Janu emailed him, warning about the challenges facing interracial couples and parents of biracial children. But the pain still surfaces. A year ago, Mr. Janu bumped into his father while he was visiting family near Cleveland. His father stood up without speaking, strode to his white convertible and locked the door. Mr. Janu chased after him, pounding his fists on the car windows. “Why won’t you talk to me?” he remembered shouting before his father drove off. Sometimes, the Janus manage to put that aside, the knowledge that their son might never meet his paternal grandfather, and their fears about what he might face as a young man. They lose themselves in the cocoon of their two-story home, shouting out answers to the contestants on “Family Feud,” chatting about the summer electric bill, the paperwork for day care and their perennial efforts to prod Wesley to nap just a little bit longer, which most recently involved the purchase of an outfit called “Baby Merlin’s Magic Sleepsuit.” “He slept for three hours!” Mrs. Janu announced gleefully to her astonished husband one recent evening when he arrived home from work. They focus on Wesley — Mr. Janu calls him “Little Man” — on the grip of his fingers, the pout of his lower lip, the way he scales tall buildings with his eyes. “I think he wants to climb them,” joked his father, who envisions his boy hurling a football and sliding into home plate. But this summer, the ugliness of the outside world has always seemed to intrude. Just days after the Dallas shootings, one of Mr. Janu’s colleagues, an officer who had attended his wedding, narrowly escaped a spray of gunfire. Some in the department worried initially that the assailant had intended to ambush the police. Two weeks later, as Mrs. Janu was pulling the new sleepsuit out of the package, Mr. Janu called to tell her that his squad was bracing for protests. The state’s attorney in Baltimore had announced that she was dropping the case against the officers charged in the death of Freddie Gray , a black man who was found to have a fatal spinal cord injury after being transported in a police van. Mrs. Janu, who works for the federal government on the Affordable Care Act, was still on maternity leave. Image Mrs. Janu had vowed never to date a police officer until she met Mr. Janu, who was silly and cracked her up. Credit Lexey Swall for The New York Times “There’s going to be rioting — is that what you’re saying?” asked Mrs. Janu, her phone tight to her ear, as she bounced Wesley on her hip. This city remained calm. But this month, the fires were burning in Milwaukee. And the Justice Department released a scathing report , accusing the Baltimore police of systematically stopping, searching and arresting black residents for minor offenses, often without cause. Wesley is blithely unaware of the tumult. But his parents have already begun preparing what to tell him , when the time comes. Don’t do things that bring too much attention to yourself, even if your white friends are doing it. You can’t go running around in a hoodie. Don’t run into someone’s yard and grab a ball. If a police officer tells you to do something, just do it. Mrs. Janu considers herself the no-nonsense, practical parent, but the list fills her with sadness. “Black boys aren’t allowed to be innocent or young,” she said. “They don’t have that privilege.” Mr. Janu felt bewildered at first by such talk. He is the optimist in the family, the dreamer. He had never imagined such a discussion with his son. “You wouldn’t have to explain that to a white child,” he said. He said he had lived most of his life “with blinders on.” His conversations with his wife have opened his eyes. In the past, Mr. Janu said, he often assumed that the black boys he saw on impoverished street corners were criminals-to-be, youngsters destined for handcuffs. Now, he looks for the exuberance in the faces of the wisecracking, jostling boys still savoring the waning days of summer. He hopes that other police officers will see that, too, someday, in his son. | Black People,African-Americans;Baltimore;Police Brutality,Police Misconduct,Police Shootings;Attacks on Police;Civil Unrest |
ny0015876 | [
"technology",
"personaltech"
] | 2013/10/10 | Silver Screen and LEDs Join at Last | The world is discovering LED lights, and for good reason. They last 25 times as long as regular bulbs, they use a fraction of the power, they don’t get as hot and they’re very rugged. They’re cropping up everywhere: in homes, flashlights, car headlights, flat-panel TV screens, movie lights and Christmas lights. And now, finally, projectors. Projectors are amazing these days — the ones in corporate boardrooms, the ones in home theaters and the ones that fulfill both functions. But most still have a regular old light bulb inside. A very, very bright one that gets very, very hot and costs very, very much to replace — maybe $300 or $400. And that’s after about 2,000 hours of use. If you could replace that hot, expensive bulb with LED lights, you’d use half as much power, so you’d be polluting less. Because it would need less cooling, your projector could be much smaller and lighter. Above all, you’d never have to replace the bulb. The LED projectors in this roundup are rated at 20,000 hours or more — at least 10 times the life of a regular bulb. That’s long enough for you to watch a different movie every night for 27 years, or the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy twice. I tried out seven LED projectors priced at $1,000 or less. Each comes with carrying case and remote control. Each offers every conceivable input — VGA so you can plug in your laptop, HDMI for Blu-ray players and game consoles, USB and memory-card slots (so you can project PowerPoint files and slide shows and movies without even needing a computer). All produce a 1,280-by-800-pixel image. A few, with the purchase of a Wi-Fi adapter, can display videos and slides wirelessly from a phone, tablet or laptop. These LED projectors tend to fall into two categories, mobile projectors and business projectors. Mobile projectors are tiny, tiny boxes; the smallest could be mistaken for a brownie. Then again, the power-cord brick is nearly a third the size of the projector. These models are cheap and plastic. There’s no height adjustment. The speaker inside is usually 2 watts, mono — awful for watching a movie. You’ll want to connect a real speaker. The image from these mobile models is nothing like the huge, bright, even, crisp picture that a $1,200 traditional projector gives you. But for their size and cost, these projectors display a surprisingly big, bright image. In a dark room, the image is still bright enough when it’s maybe eight feet wide; with the lights on, you’d probably want to go no larger than five feet wide. (Of course, an actual movie screen — as opposed to a wall — works wonders.) The mobile models manage 300 or 500 lumens, which are the units of projectors’ light output. That seems pretty feeble compared with the 2,000 lumens of traditional projectors, but our eyes perceive brightness logarithmically. Doubling the lumens doesn’t double the brightness. A 500-lumen projector isn’t half as bright as a 1,000-lumen model; it looks brighter. And that concludes the science lesson. Here’s what stands out among the mobile LED projectors: DELL M115 ($520) At about four inches square and 13 ounces, this 450-lumen model is the smallest and lightest projector in the roundup. You could cover it up with a hamburger. And yet this tiny, black plastic Dell is among the best mobile projectors. The picture is bright and the colors are true, especially in the dark. The buttons on the projector light up when you touch them, which is useful, but their labels are dark gray on black, and therefore pretty much impossible to read. The slot accommodates only Micro SD cards, not standard ones. And a remote is $25 extra (booooo!). But you can transfer one gigabyte of PowerPoint, Word, Excel, PDF, picture, music and movie files into the projector, turning it into a self-contained, ready-to-use presentation device that fits in your pocket. Image Credit Stuart Goldenberg AAXA SHOWTIME 3D ($450) This 450-lumen projector offers cheap black plastic, inscrutable no-words menu system, no card slot, orangey skin tones and bursts of blotch in fast scene changes. Not impressed. INFOCUS IN1144 ($540) It’s another small black box — very small — this time offering 500 lumens and a good picture. At 1.8 pounds, it’s got more than twice the heft of the Dell. The LED lasts 30,000 hours, the company says. A good package over all. ELMO BOXI ($630) Elmo (no relation to the red Muppet) is best known for its overhead projectors and cameras, like the ones from biology class in 1975. This attractive, white 300-lumen projector is a super short-thrower. You can put it very close to the wall or screen (three feet) and get a surprisingly big image (50 inches). Remarkably, Wi-Fi is built in; once you install the free iPhone or Android app, or Windows program, you can project images and Office files wirelessly. If you can figure it out, that is; the documentation and user interface are horrible. The second category, LED business projectors, gives you more of everything — weight, cost and size. You won’t fit one of these in your pocket unless you live at the top of a beanstalk in the sky. But you also get more brightness, image quality and polish. All three offer automatic keystone adjustment, where a built-in level sensor tells the projector how to make the image perfectly rectangular automatically. OPTOMA ML1000 ($1,000) A thousand bucks for a thousand lumens. It’s a standard rectangular box, but its cool design makes it look like a wedge. Weirdly, there are no buttons on the projector, only a laptop-style trackpad. You point and click your way through the menus. It works. The image is excellent. Like several of these projectors, this one is “3-D compatible,” which means very little; you’d have to buy both 3-D glasses and a “quad-buffered graphics card” for your PC. And then find something to watch in 3-D. VIEWSONIC PLED-W500 ($600) This puppy looks almost exactly like a laptop (“small enough to fit in your suitcase,” the Web site cheerfully observes). It feels infinitely more businesslike and well designed than its mobile-projector rivals, right down to the super-convenient laser pointer that’s built into the remote. The buttons on the projector light up, there’s one gigabyte of built-in storage and there’s no power brick on the cord. An Eco mode is available. It dims the image by 20 percent, but extends the LED life by 50 percent (and reduces the fan noise). This model and the Casio, next, offer fantastic features like Zoom (makes the picture bigger or smaller without having to move the projector) and buttons that blank the screen or freeze the frame. CASIO XJ-A141 ($1,000) There’s something fishy going on here. This projector creates a truly cinematic 2,500-lumen image, ridiculously bright and clear and true, even when the lights are on. How could this one model be so much better than all of its rivals? Casio says that it uses a hybrid laser/LED system that nobody else has, but you still get the longevity, energy, heat and reliability benefits of LED. Well, whatever. This baby rocks. It’s loaded with features — Eco mode, automatic keystone correction, password protection, auto-on when you plug it in — and it looks slim and fantastic. The Casio’s the clear winner among the pro models; the InFocus strikes the best image/size ratio; the Dell is a mighty mini. LED has always been a bright idea. It’s about time that lovely light reaches the big screen. | Projectors;LED |
ny0060376 | [
"business",
"economy"
] | 2014/08/06 | Reducing Carbon by Curbing Population | Remember the population explosion? When population was growing at its fastest rate in human history in the decades after World War II, the sense that overpopulation was stunting economic development and stoking political instability took hold from New Delhi to the United Nations’ headquarters in New York, sending policy makers on an urgent quest to stop it. In the 1970s the Indian government forcibly sterilized millions of women. Families in Bangladesh, Indonesia and elsewhere were forced to have fewer children. In 1974, the United Nations organized its first World Population Conference to debate population control. China rolled out its one-child policy in 1980. Then, almost as suddenly as it had begun, the demographic “crisis” was over. As fertility rates in most of the world dropped to around the replacement rate of 2.1 children per woman — with the one major exception of sub-Saharan Africa — population specialists and politicians turned to other issues. By 1994, when the U.N. held its last population conference, in Cairo, demographic targets had pretty much been abandoned, replaced by an agenda centered on empowering women, reducing infant mortality and increasing access to reproductive health. “Some people still regret that; some applaud it,” said Joel E. Cohen, who heads the Laboratory of Populations at Rockefeller University in New York. “I’m not sure we need demographic goals but we need forward thinking.” Well, concerns about population seem to be creeping back. As the threat of climate change has evolved from a fuzzy faraway concept to one of the central existential threats to humanity, scholars like Professor Cohen have noted that reducing the burning of fossil fuels might be easier if there were fewer of us consuming them. “Population wouldn’t be the whole story but it could make a big difference,” Mr. Cohen said. An article published in 2010 by researchers from the United States, Germany and Austria concluded that if the world’s population reached only 7.5 billion people by midcentury, rather than more than nine billion, in 2050 we would be spewing five billion to nine billion fewer tons of carbon dioxide into the air. This alone would deliver 16 to 29 percent of the emission reductions needed over the next four decades to keep the global temperature from rising more than 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above that of the late 19th century, the threshold scientists predict could lead to severe disruptions to the climate. Slower population growth could bring other benefits. The World Resources Institute has been looking into how the world will feed itself in 2050 without busting the carbon budget. On current demographic and economic projections, food production would have to increase 70 percent by 2050. “Population growth is responsible for about one-half of increased food consumption,” said Tim Searchinger of the World Resources Institute. “The other half comes from higher incomes and richer diets.” Much of the expected population growth is set in stone, but sub-Saharan Africa, expected to add 1.2 billion people by 2050 on top of its current 900 million, is an exception. If fertility in sub-Saharan Africa slowed more rapidly than projected — declining to 2.1 children per woman in 2050 from 5.4 today — feeding the most undernourished region in the world would be a lot easier. And sparing African forests and woodlands from even greater deforestation would substantially reduce the amount of carbon entering the atmosphere. For all the benefits of slower population growth, population policies remain a highly touchy subject. In the 1970s and 1980s, rich nations’ support for population control in poor countries smacked of just another form of colonialism. Coercive population control — like India’s forced sterilizations, which were abandoned after they led to the collapse of Indira Gandhi’s government in 1977, or China’s one-child policy, which remains in place — is now widely considered a blatant violation of human rights. Even China’s one-child policy is undergoing re-examination in Beijing because of the skewing of the country’s sex ratio — countless pregnancies have been aborted and millions of girls have been killed or left to die by parents who had hoped for a boy — and the tearing of the traditional safety net from so many elderly Chinese being forced to rely on only one child for support. Economists at the International Monetary Fund have even welcomed Africa’s fast-rising population as an opportunity to increase its pace of economic growth. Population growth is only one factor — and not necessarily the most important one — contributing to global climate change. Over the course of the 20th century, emissions of carbon dioxide grew 180 percent faster than the population in poor countries and 60 percent faster than the population in rich ones. Shifting the world economy into more sustainable energy sources and away from fossil fuels is still the most promising strategy. Image China is reviewing its one-child rule because it has led to a skewing of the sex ratio favoring boys. Credit Wang Zhao/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images “There is a strong case to be made that the world faces sustainability issues whether it has nine billion people, seven billion people or four billion people,” said John Wilmoth, who directs the United Nations Population Division. “Nobody can deny that population growth is a major driving factor, but in terms of the policy response, what are you going to do?” Yet there are ways to make a difference on the population front that do not depend on coercive governments straying into people’s bedrooms. Access to education is critical. Across human history, fertility rates have fallen when it has made economic sense for families to have fewer children. Education — especially of girls — has played a powerful role in expediting the decline. Across much of the developing world, more educated women have fewer children, and their offspring are more likely to survive. The spread of public education was accompanied by plummeting fertility rates in such disparate places as Brazil and Iran. The other obvious tool is access to reproductive health. In the developing world, 222 million women have an unmet need for modern contraception, according to one study . Providing them with it, at a relatively small cost of $4 billion a year, could prevent 54 million unintended pregnancies. These are hardly new ideas. The U.N. population conference in Cairo 20 years ago suggested pretty much this approach. But we are not there yet. Out of every 1,000 children born in the Democratic Republic of Congo, for example, 99 die before the age of 5. In Nigeria, it is 123. A third of the girls in Mali are not enrolled in elementary school . Neither are 60 percent of Liberian girls. By contrast, 95 percent of Guatemalan girls are enrolled in elementary school, as are 97 percent of Cambodian girls. In Bangladesh and Bolivia, among the poorest countries outside Africa, only about 40 of every 1,000 children die before they reach 5 years old. During the General Assembly next month, the United Nations plans to hold a meeting to mark the anniversary of the Cairo conference. And it is organizing another to discuss new commitments to mitigate climate change. Perhaps delegates will notice the connection. | Population;Climate Change;Global Warming;Greenhouse gas;UN |
ny0081268 | [
"us"
] | 2015/11/04 | Tennessee: No Charge for Officer in Killing at Traffic Stop | A grand jury cleared a white officer in the fatal shooting of a 19-year-old black man during a fight at a traffic stop in Memphis, a prosecutor said Tuesday. The grand jury declined to indict Officer Connor Schilling despite a recommendation by District Attorney Amy Weirich of Shelby County that he face charges of voluntary manslaughter and employment of a firearm during the commission of a dangerous felony, she said. Police have said Darrius Stewart was a passenger in a car stopped by the officer July 17 for a headlight violation. Mr. Stewart was placed in the back of a squad car without handcuffs as the officer checked on warrants for him, the authorities said. Officer Schilling returned to the squad car to arrest and handcuff Mr. Stewart after a warrant was verified, and Mr. Stewart kicked the door and attacked the officer, beating him with the handcuffs, police said. Officer Schilling shot Mr. Stewart with his duty weapon. Outside the courthouse in Memphis on Tuesday, a group of pastors asked the community to stay calm as the news spreads. They said they would push for criminal justice reform and possible civil action against the officer. Representative Steve Cohen, Democrat of Tennessee, said he wanted the Department of Justice to determine whether any civil rights had been violated. | Connor Schilling;Darrius Stewart;Police Brutality,Police Misconduct,Police Shootings;Memphis TN;Tennessee;Attacks on Police |
ny0114942 | [
"technology"
] | 2012/11/01 | Apple Shake-Up Could Lead to Design Shift | Whether they realize it or not, all of those who swipe a finger down from the top of the iPhone ’s screen to check for notifications are bearing witness to a big sore point within Apple . There, behind a list of text messages, missed phone calls and other updates, is a gray background with the unmistakable texture of fine linen. Steven P. Jobs , the Apple chief executive who died a year ago, pushed the company’s software designers to use the linen texture liberally in the software for the company’s mobile devices. He did the same with many other virtual doodads that mimic the appearance and behavior of real-world things, like wooden shelves for organizing newspapers and the page-flipping motion of a book, according to people who worked with him but declined to be named to avoid Apple’s ire. The management shake-up that Apple announced on Monday is likely to mean that Apple will shift away from such visual tricks, which many people within the company look down upon. As part of the changes, the company fired Scott Forstall, the leader of Apple’s mobile software development and a disciple of Mr. Jobs. While Mr. Forstall’s abrasive style and resistance to collaboration with other parts of the company were the main factors in his undoing, the change also represents the departure of the most vocal and high-ranking proponent of the visual design style favored by Mr. Jobs. The executive who will now set the direction for the look of Apple’s software is Jonathan Ive, who has long been responsible for Apple’s minimalist hardware designs. Mr. Ive, despite his close relationship with Mr. Jobs, has made his distaste for the visual ornamentation in Apple’s mobile software known within the company, according to current and former Apple employees who asked not to be named discussing internal matters. This may seem like little more than an internal disagreement over taste. But Apple venerates design like few other companies of its size, and its customers have rewarded it handsomely as a result. Apple’s decisions can influence how millions of people use and think about digital devices — not only its own but those made by other companies that look to Apple as a standard-setter in design. Axel Roesler, associate professor and chairman of the interaction design program at the University of Washington, says Apple’s software designs had become larded with nostalgia, unnecessary visual references to the past that he compared to Greek columns in modern-day architecture. He said he would like to see Mr. Ive take a fresh approach. “Apple, as a design leader, is not only capable of doing this, they have a responsibility for doing it,” he said. “People expect great things from them.” Steve Dowling, an Apple spokesman, declined to comment. Apple’s customers do not seem to have serious qualms about the design choices the company has made as they continue to buy iPhones and iPads at a healthy clip. But within the circles of designers and technology executives outside Apple who obsess over the details of how products look and work, there has been a growing amount of grumbling in recent years that Apple’s approach is starting to look dated. The style favored by Mr. Forstall and Mr. Jobs is known in this crowd as skeuomorphism, in which certain images and metaphors, like a spiral-bound notebook or stitched leather, are used in software to give people a reassuring real-world reference. In contrast, Microsoft, not known as a big risk-taker, has been praised recently for taking greater creative risks in the design of its software than Apple has. It has come up with a visual style that is now used throughout its computer, mobile and game products. It relies heavily on typography and sheets of tiles that provide access to programs and are updated with photos and other online information. It is not yet clear whether this approach will be a hit with people who do not spend time thinking about design. Bill Flora, a former Microsoft designer who created the earliest prototypes of its new visual style, said Apple had not been innovative enough in the design of its software. “I have found their hardware to be amazing and sophisticated, and I have found their software to be kind of old school,” said Mr. Flora, who now has his own design firm, Tectonic, in Seattle. “Their approach really wasn’t what I was taught as a designer in design school.” Even internal critics of Apple’s software designs say that some references to physical things are still useful. The trash bin on the Mac, for example, is a much-used metaphor for deleting files, one that is unlikely to go away soon. There is also a function in the new Passbook app that runs deleted loyalty and payment cards through something resembling a paper shredder. Some Apple designers see that as a good way of reinforcing the idea that potentially sensitive information has been wiped from the device. But Apple causes conniptions among designers when its visual metaphors seem outdated or downright archaic. Apple’s Podcasts app for its mobile products displays a reel-to-reel tape machine, a product probably few people under 40 have ever seen. Apple’s use of textures representing physical materials is also often ridiculed. In addition to linen, Apple has found opportunities to decorate the borders of its software, including the Calendar app on the iPad and the Find My Friends app on the iPhone, with a tan faux-animal skin that some critics have sarcastically called Corinthian leather, after the upholstery used in Chrysler cars in the 1970s. The allusions to the past also affect how certain parts of its software function. Its iBooks application organizes electronic books on a set of wood-grained shelves, and the books are thumbed through with a page-turning animation. Some designers see that and similar functions in Apple’s software as silly throwbacks to the past, plopped into advanced devices. “It’s like putting horses in front of a car, basically,” said Dr. Roesler of the University of Washington. Handing decisions about software design over to Mr. Ive, who is known almost entirely for his work in hardware, could be risky. One former Apple employee who worked in software for several years said he had never seen Mr. Ive in a meeting and suggested that Mr. Ive would have to work to win credibility among Mr. Forstall’s loyalists. This person declined to be named discussing internal matters because he did not want to antagonize Apple. But those who know him expect Mr. Ive — known to friends and colleagues as Jony — to waste little time in putting his own stamp on the look of the company’s software, including iOS for mobile devices and OS X for Macs. “You can be sure that the next generation of iOS and OS X will have Jony’s industrial design aesthetic all over them,” said a designer who works at Apple but declined to be named as he is not allowed to speak publicly. “Clean edges, flat surfaces will likely replace the textures that are all over the place right now.” | Forstall Scott;Ive Jonathan;Design;Apple Inc;Computers and the Internet;Jobs Steven P |
ny0232887 | [
"nyregion"
] | 2010/08/26 | Many Immigrants No Longer Change Their Names to Fit In Fewer Immigrants to U.S. Change Their Surnames | For many 19th- and 20th-century immigrants or their children, it was a rite of passage: Arriving in America, they adopted a new identity. Charles Steinweg, the German-born piano maker, changed his name to Steinway (in part because English instruments were deemed to be superior). Tom Lee, a Tong leader who would become the unofficial mayor of Chinatown in Manhattan , was originally Wong Ah Ling. Anne Bancroft , who was born in the Bronx , was Anna Maria Louisa Italiano. The rationale was straightforward: adopting names that sounded more American might help immigrants speed assimilation, avoid detection, deter discrimination or just be better for the businesses they hoped to start in their new homeland. Today, most experts agree, that traditional immigrant gambit has all but disappeared. “For the most part, nobody changes to American names any more at all,” said Cheryl R. David, former chairwoman of the New York chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association . Precise comparative statistics are hard to come by, and experts say there was most likely no one precise moment when the practice fell off. It began to decline within the last few decades, they say, and the evidence of its rarity, if not formally quantified, can be found in almost any American courthouse. The New York Times examined the more than 500 applications for name changes in June at the Civil Court in New York, which has a greater foreign-born population than any other city in the United States . Only a half dozen or so of those applications appeared to be obviously intended to Anglicize or abbreviate the surnames that immigrants or their families arrived with from Latin America or Asia . (A few Russians and Eastern Europeans did, but about as many embraced their family’s original surnames as adopted new ones.) The vast majority of people with clearly ethnic surnames who applied to change them did so as a result of marriage (belatedly adopting a spouse’s surname or creating a new hyphenated one) or childbirth (because they were legally identified when they were born only as a male or female child or were adopting a parent’s name). Iyata Ishimabet Maini Valdene Archibald of Brooklyn changed her name to Ishimabet Makini Valdene Bryce. Guo Wi Chan of Forest Hills, Queens , changed his to Ryan Guowei Chan. And after Jing Qiu Wu, the Flushing, Queens, mother of 5-year-old Star Jing Garcia, divorced, she renamed her daughter Star Rain Wu, dropping her husband’s surname. Several dropped Mohammed as a first name, adopting Najmul or Hayat instead. And one older couple changed their last name from Islam to Khan, but they said they were conforming to other younger family members rather than reacting to discrimination. Sociologists say the United States is simply a more multicultural country today (think the Kardashian sisters or Renée Zellweger , for instance, who decades ago might have been encouraged to Anglicize their names), and they add that blending in by changing a name is not as effective for Asians and Latin Americans who, arguably, may be more easily identified by physical characteristics than some Europeans were in the 19th century and early 20th century. Also, at least in certain circumstances, affirmative action and similar programs have transformed ethnic identity into a potential asset. “If you are talking about 1910, the social forces on conformity were much stronger,” said Marian Smith, senior historian of the United States Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services , “whereas now an immigrant arrives with all these legal and identity documents, a driver’s license in their pocket, a passport, with one name on it. To change this is a big deal.” Douglas S. Massey, a Princeton University sociologist, suggested that newcomers from overseas and their children no longer felt pressure to change their surnames beginning “during the 1970s and 1980s, as immigration became more a part of American life and the civil rights movement legitimated in-group pride as something to be cultivated.” You can apply to the State Supreme Court to change your name (for $210) or to Civil Court (for $65) as long as you swear that you are not wanted for a crime and are not doing so to defraud anyone. Immigrants can simply check a box on their applications for naturalization. (The government said that in 2005 fewer than one in six did so, and for every possible reason.) A century or so ago, some names were simplified by shipping agents as immigrants boarded ships in Europe . Others were transliterated, but rarely changed, by immigration officials at Ellis Island. Many newcomers changed their names legally, from Sapusnick to Phillips (“difficulty in pronouncing name, interferes with their business,” according to a legal notice), Laskowsky to Lake (“former name not American”) and from Katchka to Kalin (Katchka means duck in Yiddish and a particular Mr. Katchka was “subjected to ridicule and annoyance because of this”). Most requests appear to have been granted routinely, although as recently as 1967, a Civil Court judge in Brooklyn refused to change Samuel Weinberg’s family name to Lansing “for future business reasons, such that my sons shall not bear any possible stigma.” The judge’s name was Jacob Weinberg. During World War I, another Brooklyn judge refused the application of a Weitz to become a Weeks. “There is no good reason why persons of German extraction should be permitted to conceal the fact by adopting through the aid of the court names of American or English origin,” the judge ruled. “It may involve some moral courage to bear German surnames or patronymics in these days, but the discomfort can best be borne by a display of genuine loyalty to this country.” Nancy Foner, a sociology professor at Hunter College of the City University of New York , said: “Jews and Italians changed their surnames in the past so that people wouldn’t identify them as Jews or Italians, the famous cases of course being movie stars. But if you look, phenotypically, nonwhite — East Asian, for example, or black — changing your last name is not going to make a difference. Betty Joan Perske became Lauren Bacall , and most people didn’t know she was Jewish; whatever name she used, Lena Horne was black.” Lisa Chang, whose parents came from Korea in 1976, had assumed she would marry a Korean man, but decided to retain her maiden name when she wed a Caucasian instead. “I felt like I would lose a part of myself and my Korean heritage and like I was cheating on my family’s name,” said Ms. Chang, 28, a troubleshooter for online advertising sites. “No one actually told me I had to change my last name, but I did feel some pressure from my future in-laws.” Marija Sajkas, 40, a health care advocate who moved from Yugoslavia seven years ago, is adopting her Bosnian husband’s surname, Tomic — partly because it is easier to pronounce. “I am fortunate,” she said, “to have a great husband who also has a pronounceable surname.” Even these days, finding precisely the right adoptive name — one syllable or not — can be a problem. Not long ago, David M. Glauberman, a Manhattan public relations executive, grew tired of having to spell his name every time he left a telephone message. Instead, he legally changed his name to Grant. The first time he left a message, a secretary asked: “Is that Grand with a ‘d’ or Grant with a ‘t’?” | Immigration;Personal name |
ny0029332 | [
"world",
"asia"
] | 2013/06/04 | Shifting Cargo May Have Doomed Plane That Crashed Near Kabul | KABUL, Afghanistan — Crash investigators in Afghanistan said Monday that quickly shifting cargo of heavy military vehicles contributed to the crash of a civilian cargo plane on April 29 in which all seven people aboard were killed. As the Boeing 747 began to take off from the Bagram Air Base, the vehicles slammed into the back of the cargo space so hard that parts of the plane broke off and were left on the runway, officials said. With the center of gravity pushed too far backward, the nose rose too high for the plane to fly. The cockpit voice recorder did not indicate that the pilots knew what was happening, but wiring at the back of the plane showed damage from the shifting cargo, according to Nangialai Qalatwal, a spokesman for the Ministry of Transportation and Civil Aviation. The crash was caught on video by a dashboard camera on a vehicle at the air base. The accident may cast new attention on the quality of Defense Department oversight of its contractors. The safety of civilian flights is usually regulated by the Federal Aviation Administration, but after a 2004 crash in Afghanistan of an American civilian cargo plane under contract to the American military, the F.A.A., which had no personnel in the country, delegated the Defense Department to oversee safety. With the American military pullout from Afghanistan in full swing, a vast network of transportation contractors has been employed to ship heavy equipment out of the country. Although most of the cargo traffic is expected to go through Pakistani seaports via road hauling, a huge uptick in outbound cargo flights is also under way. On May 17, the F.A.A. issued a reminder to cargo carriers with heavy vehicles on board to ensure that their loads were tightly fastened, an indication that American safety officials suspected a cargo shift in the April crash. But on Monday, Afghan officials cautioned that it was too early to determine the exact cause of the accident, which remains under investigation. The cockpit voice recorder, which was recovered from the wreckage, has offered few clues, Mr. Qalatwal said. “The only thing that was recorded by the black box right before the crash was a pilot’s voice, who was shouting, ‘Wait! Wait!’ ” he said at a news conference in Kabul. The plane, operated by National Air Cargo, a Michigan-based carrier, was loaded with three armored vehicles and two mine sweepers, almost 80 tons of equipment in all, for a flight from Afghanistan to Dubai, Mr. Qalatwal said. He said that the plane had been checked twice before takeoff, once two hours before departure and again just before it left, and that neither review had revealed any technical problems. Aviation experts had speculated earlier that there had been a problem with the plane’s pitch control, and that a part might have fallen off during takeoff. The charred remains of the cargo straps were recovered from the site and appear to have been cut, but Mr. Qalatwal said it was unclear whether the damage had occurred before or after takeoff. The plane, consumed by fire from the crash, yielded little else in the wreckage, he said. Under treaties governing aviation, the responsibility for investigating a crash lies with the host country, although other parties, including safety officials from the country where the plane was registered, must be involved. The National Transportation Safety Board sent technical experts to Kabul to assist with the investigation. If the problem was shifting cargo, it was “a freak accident,” said Mark V. Rosenker, a retired Air Force general who was a member of the N.T.S.B. from 2003 to 2009, and chairman for part of that period. But, he said, “it could be that one broke loose and flipped into the others.” In that case, he said, there would have been “a domino effect” inside the plane. | Afghanistan;Plane Crashes and Missing Planes;FAA;Pentagon;Bagram Air Base Afghanistan;National Air Cargo;Afghanistan War |
ny0021001 | [
"us"
] | 2013/09/20 | Residents of Detroit Go to Court for Pensions | DETROIT — In an emotional hearing, Detroit residents protesting the city’s bankruptcy filing pleaded on Thursday with a federal judge to protect employee pensions and essential services from cuts they said would be devastating. William J. Howard, who retired after 35 years in the city’s Water Department, described working nights and weekends repairing Detroit’s sewers and incinerators. “During that time, I worked in human waste with my fellow employees, working to serve the city of Detroit,” Mr. Howard said. “My fellow employees and I are entitled to a pension. I pray that Your Honor objects to this bankruptcy.” His testimony and that of others homed in on some of the toughest questions before the judge, Steven W. Rhodes of United States Bankruptcy Court, as the case heads toward critical hearings next month on Detroit’s eligibility to file for Chapter 9. Opponents of the bankruptcy, led by the city’s public employee unions, have argued that the filing in July violated Michigan’s Constitution, which expressly protects pension rights for workers. They also assert that the state-appointed emergency manager, Kevyn D. Orr, did not bargain fairly with unions, bondholders and other creditors to cut costs and debt before recommending bankruptcy — the nation’s largest municipal bankruptcy filing — to Gov. Rick Snyder. The city is trying to reduce an estimated $18.5 billion in long-term debt. Judge Rhodes has so far reserved decision on the pension and bargaining issues until formal eligibility hearings start on Oct. 23. He also ordered hundreds of creditors to participate in mediation sessions before then to possibly reduce some of the city’s debts. But the judge made it clear Thursday that he considers the testimony of residents, retirees and community leaders to be a key element in deciding whether Detroit should be in bankruptcy, and how its 700,000 residents and rank-and-file workers should be treated. “Everyone who has a stake in the outcome of this case should take the time to listen to this,” the judge said. The hearing had its difficult moments. One woman, Lucinda Darrah, was removed by a security guard when she refused to leave the microphone after the three-minute limit. And tempers flared at times when residents raised a racial issue: whether Mr. Snyder, a Republican who is white, had deliberately imposed emergency managers on several Michigan cities that have largely black populations. Sheilah Johnson, who worked for the city for 28 years, said she feared losing her $3,000 monthly pension, and blamed Mr. Orr and Mr. Snyder for seizing control of the city from its voters and elected officials. Image Olivia Gillon spoke to reporters after telling a judge why she opposed Detroit’s bankruptcy filing. Credit Carlos Osorio/Associated Press “We do not need a dictator,” she said. “We do not need a slave owner. I’m not a slave.” While Judge Rhodes cautioned people against making personal attacks on Mr. Orr and others, the frustration and anger of many homeowners and retirees repeatedly boiled over. Paulette Brown, who rose from a junior typist to a manager during her 30-year career with the city, said longtime employees were being “treated worse than animals” in the bankruptcy. “I object to being referred to as a creditor,” she said. “We did our part and we need the city of Detroit to continue to do theirs.” Others expressed concern that the dismal state of city services like police and fire protection would get worse because of cuts imposed in bankruptcy. One resident, Jean Vorkamp, told of how a gunshot victim lay dead on her street last month for five hours because of staffing reductions in the county coroner’s office. “This is austerity,” she said. “And there is no more room for any more austerity in Detroit.” Bankruptcy experts said that allowing residents and retirees to testify was a prudent and compassionate move by Judge Rhodes, but not one that will likely affect whether the city is found legally eligible to file for bankruptcy. “An individual objector that doesn’t have a lot of resources was probably not going to make an adequate case with sufficient evidence to overcome the city’s arguments on those issues,” said Michael A. Sweet, a bankruptcy lawyer with the firm Fox Rothschild . Yet the stirring anecdotal testimony of regular Detroiters seemed to frame the case in ways far different from the legal issues at stake. Cynthia Blair, the widow of a Detroit police officer, said she relies on her husband’s pension to make a home for her family. “The bankruptcy could take me and my daughter’s pension away,” she said. “And we would be thrown directly to the welfare rolls.” About half of the 110 individuals who filed objections to the bankruptcy testified on Thursday. Judge Rhodes said he found their statements “moving, thoughtful and passionate,” and called the hearing a “truly extraordinary session of the court.” A second hearing on Thursday addressed a motion by a retirees committee representing former city workers. The committee is seeking a stay of the bankruptcy and all further hearings until the Michigan constitutional issues are settled. The committee’s lawyer, Claude Montgomery, argued that the questions about the state’s protection of pensions should be dealt with in Federal District Court rather than in bankruptcy court. Judge Rhodes indicated that he believed the city could not afford to squander any time in its efforts to restore services and fix its finances. “If we put off the eligibility hearing, we delay the whole process,” he said. The second hearing concluded without a decision from the judge, who said he would rule on the issue within a few days. | Bankruptcy;Detroit;Pensions and Retirement Plans;Steven W Rhodes;Civil service |
ny0237224 | [
"business",
"media"
] | 2010/06/17 | Music Publishers Sue the File-Sharing Service LimeWire | A coalition of eight music publishers sued the file-sharing service LimeWire on Wednesday, accusing it of copyright infringement, according to the National Music Publishers’ Association, the industry group that organized the suit. The lawsuit comes after a federal judge’s ruling last month in a similar case brought by record companies that LimeWire and its creator, Mark Gorton , were liable for copyright infringement. David Israelite, chief executive of the publishers’ association, said his organization had decided to bring the complaint because most publishers were not represented in the record company lawsuit and they were now confident that they had a winning case. The suit says that the “knowing and deliberate infringement is massive, as is the harm.” “We want to be at the table for any discussions about settlements,” Mr. Israelite said. “We’re looking for more than cessation of infringement, we’re looking for damages for all of the infringement done over the years.” LimeWire, which says it is trying to start a new paid subscription model, said in a statement on Wednesday that it welcomed the publishers to the table. “Publishers are absolutely a part of that solution, and we’re hopeful that this action will serve as a catalyst to help us get to there,” the company said. The music publishers will seek $150,000 for each song distributed on the service illegally, which could bring the total damages to hundreds of millions of dollars, just as the record companies are seeking. The record companies filed a motion this month to have the service shut down. The publishers’ suit names Mr. Gorton, who started the service in 2000, and the company’s former chief operating officer, Greg Bildson. Mr. Bildson testified in the previous case and was removed as a named defendant. “We may need similar cooperation” from Mr. Bildson, Mr. Israelite said. The companies named as plaintiffs in the suit include all four of the major publishers (EMI, Sony/ATV, Universal and Warner/Chappell) along with four independents (Bug, MPL, Peermusic and the Richmond Organization). It was filed in the Southern District Court in Manhattan. | LimeWire;Copyrights and Copyright Violations;Suits and Litigation;Music |
ny0079150 | [
"business",
"international"
] | 2015/02/27 | Japan’s Household Spending and Retail Sales Decline | Japanese households cut spending more than expected and retail sales fell for the first time in seven months in January, data showed on Friday, a sign the central bank’s radical stimulus has yet to convince consumers that inflation will take hold. Factory output jumped in January as exports rebounded on solid demand in the United States and Asia, but manufacturers expect output to rise only slightly in February and slump in March. The Bank of Japan hopes its aggressive money printing will fuel expectations that prices will rise and prompt households to spend more now. Separate data also underscored the problem the central bank faces with slumping oil prices slowing annual core consumer inflation to 0.2 percent in January, pushing it further away from its 2 percent target. Weak consumer confidence has contained spending as wages have yet to increase enough to make up for the sales tax increase last April, casting doubt on the strength of the economic recovery. The mixed data will keep the central bank under pressure to maintain its stimulus, although Haruhiko Kuroda, the bank’s governor, has emphasized that he sees no need to ease again soon. The bank argues that falling oil prices will lift inflation in the long run by allowing households and companies to spend more on other goods. But analysts doubt that policy makers can meet their pledge of hitting the inflation target in the year beginning in April, as they expect it to take at least six months for the benefits of oil price falls to increase growth. | Japan;Inflation;Retail |
ny0120519 | [
"nyregion"
] | 2012/07/08 | ‘Eugene Ludins: An American Fantasist’, at the Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art | WITH their shining canvases and elegant frames, you would never guess that most of the paintings in a current exhibition at the Samuel Dorsky Museum in New Paltz, N.Y., were recently covered with cobwebs and scrabbled over by field mice. But for nearly 15 years they sat in an isolated, windowless building, a sort of mausoleum assembled by the artist, Eugene Ludins, in the final years of his life. Mr. Ludins was a midcentury painter of regional renown, with regular Manhattan gallery shows and notable exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney. Politically active and an administrator of the Federal Art Project of the Works Progress Administration in the 1930s, he lived in Woodstock, N.Y., in the heyday of that town’s artists’ colony with his wife, the sculptor Hannah Small. When Ms. Small died in 1992, Mr. Ludins began to consolidate her life’s work and his own in a fireproof structure — a concrete storage building he had built expressly for that purpose in a field on his property. Four years later, Mr. Ludins died at age 92. The hundreds of paintings, drawings and sculptures, carefully sorted, were sealed away. Years passed, and winter after winter, the little cinder-block building — surrounded by a sea of snow — had no visitors. Then, in summer 2009, the estate’s executor and a few friends took inventory of the works and set out to give Mr. Ludins’s oeuvre a new audience. Chief among them was Susana Torruella Leval, former director of El Museo del Barrio. She and her husband, Pierre Leval, a United States Circuit judge based in Manhattan, had been close friends of Mr. Ludins and his wife. The couples met in the early 1970s, when Mrs. Leval was a graduate student at New York University and an intern at MoMA, and Judge Leval a young lawyer with Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton. The Levals were newlyweds who had just bought a weekend house in Woodstock; the Ludinses were in their 70s and had been living in the town since the 1920s. It was an unlikely but intense friendship of common passions: art, politics, social justice and racial equality. They met at a costume party. “Pierre and I were dazzled by them,” Mrs. Leval said. “And they had no children, so they were enchanted to have a young couple to adopt.” Saturday night dinners together became a 20-year tradition, and discussions of art were always on the docket. “Gene would start every night by asking, ‘What do you think about those tires in the well of the Whitney?’ ” Mrs. Leval recounted, explaining Mr. Ludins’s reference to the 1,300 tires the museum displayed in the early 1980s. “He was trying to understand what was going on in contemporary art,” she said, adding, “He didn’t like it, but he loved to debate.” Debate they did. On those Saturdays, when the Levals’ daughter, India, was growing up and would accompany her parents to the Ludinses’ rambling compound — where Mama Cass once passed time with the artists as a tenant — she would, concerned, ask her parents after a lively evening, “Why were you fighting last night?” The couples’ spirited conversations transcended the boundaries of Woodstock. After Judge Leval was appointed to the bench, in the late 1970s, Mr. Ludins would drive into the city to sit in at his hearings. He dedicated a drawing to the judge, one depicting a scuffle among jurors amid which the robed presider sought to restore order. Mr. Ludins humorously titled it: “Trouble in the Courtroom, or The Off-Duty Art Historian,” referring to Judge Leval’s background in art history. The drawing has hung in the judge’s chambers for decades. When Mr. Ludins died in 1996, Judge Leval brought a small hammer to the burial and set it in the open grave to symbolize his friend’s love of building and creating. But since then, the Levals and other friends from Woodstock have searched for a way to pay formal tribute to the Ludins legacy. An exhibition, Mrs. Leval’s idea in 2009, has provided them exactly that. Over three years, Mrs. Leval and two Woodstock natives — Peter Jones, an art historian who is also the estate’s executor and a close friend of the Ludinses, and Judith Small Nash, the Ludinses’ niece — pieced together a portrait of the artist’s life. The team spent many hours in the archives of the Woodstock Artists Association and Museum , and Mrs. Leval made a pilgrimage with her husband to Iowa, where Mr. Ludins had spent time teaching, and to the West Side of Manhattan, where, in the Whitney Museum’s storage space, she retrieved a Ludins landscape for the exhibition. She placed an advertisement in the Woodstock Times soliciting work by Mr. Ludins in private collections. The balance and bulk of the works featured in the Dorsky museum exhibition were drawn from the small building Mr. Ludins had curated before his death. “This has been an ultimate labor of love because we were all very close to Gene,” Mrs. Leval said. In the final days of preparation for the show, “Eugene Ludins: An American Fantasist,” Mrs. Leval stumbled upon video of Mr. Ludins speaking about his life and work. As she drafted the explanatory placards for the exhibition, she played the tapes at low volume in the background, comforting herself with the sound of a familiar voice. The show opened this year, and Mrs. Leval, often together with her husband, has led numerous gallery tours. The exhibition runs through July 15, whereupon those works rescued from that small building in Woodstock will be homeless. Patterson Sims, a specialist in American art and former curator of the Whitney, reflected on Mr. Ludins’s modern-day significance as an artist. “His work displays the regional sensibility of Woodstock,” Mr. Sims said. “And Woodstock remains very important to mid-20th-century representational art.” Some 70 years ago, Mr. Ludins enjoyed what Mrs. Leval called his “moment in the sun vis-à-vis New York City,” but, before the Dorsky exhibition’s revival of his work, his name and portfolio had slipped into obscurity. “This has been about paying tribute to someone we admired, but also trying to make sense of how a good artist can be completely forgotten,” Mrs. Leval said. “There were all these fabulous pictures sitting in storage. Think about how often that happens.” | Art;Westchester County (NY);Dorsky Samuel Museum of Art;Ludins Eugene;New Paltz (NY) |
ny0227096 | [
"us",
"politics"
] | 2010/10/12 | Republicans Challenge Democrats Once Seen as ‘Safe’ | ST. CLAIRSVILLE, Ohio — Republicans are expanding the battle for the House into districts that Democrats had once considered relatively safe, while Democrats began a strategy of triage on Monday to fortify candidates who they believe stand the best chance of survival. As Republicans made new investments in at least 10 races across the country, including two Democratic seats here in eastern Ohio, Democratic leaders took steps to pull out of some races entirely or significantly cut their financial commitment in several districts that the party won in the last two election cycles. Representatives Steve Driehaus of Ohio, Suzanne M. Kosmas of Florida and Kathy Dahlkemper of Pennsylvania were among the Democrats who learned that they would no longer receive the same infusion of television advertising that party leaders had promised. Party strategists conceded that these races and several others were slipping out of reach. With three weeks remaining to save its majority, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has increased its spending on two New York races, along with at-risk seats in Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky and Massachusetts, setting up a map of competitive districts that is starkly different from when the campaign began. The strategic decisions unfolded at a feverish pace on Monday over an unusually wide playing field of nearly 75 Congressional districts, including here in Ohio, a main battleground in the fight for the House and the Senate. The developments resembled pieces being moved on a giant chess board, with Republicans trying to keep Democrats on the defensive in as many places as possible, while outside groups provided substantial reinforcements for Republicans. The National Republican Congressional Committee, the party’s election arm in the House, can afford to make the new investments because the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and a host of newly formed political organizations have come to the aid of Republican candidates who have far less money than the Democratic incumbents. Here in St. Clairsville, an Appalachian town on the eastern edge of Ohio, the new investments by Republican groups have become apparent in recent days. Television and radio advertisements are aimed at Representatives Charlie Wilson and Zack Space, both Democrats who were elected in 2006, while new pieces of literature tying the men to President Obama and the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, are arriving in the mail. The two districts, which come together like long and jagged pieces of a puzzle, are among Ohio’s most rural and conservative. Yet even though Senator John McCain carried the region over Mr. Obama in the 2008 presidential race, Republican leaders had initially decided against making major investments because they believed there were greater opportunities elsewhere in the state and because both congressmen had strong connections to the area. But polls taken for their Republican candidates showed steady signs of promise, party officials said, so over the weekend the national party made an initial expenditure of $350,000 on television commercials in both districts. Democratic strategists believe that the spending is either designed to be a head fake, so they are drawn into spending money on the races, or a signal to outside groups, who are prohibited from coordinating with the party, to begin making their own forays into the contests. For months, Bill Johnson, the Republican challenger to Mr. Wilson, has drawn little notice and has struggled to raise money. But last week, things began to change. He was invited to be the guest speaker at a weekly meeting of conservative leaders in Washington that is organized by Grover Norquist, the president of Americans for Tax Reform . Then he appeared on G. Gordon Liddy’s radio show, which he said helped his fund-raising efforts, as did an endorsement from Sarah Palin. “It is a good year to be running as a Republican,” Mr. Johnson said in an interview on Monday as he drove across the sprawling Sixth District, which stretches 325 miles across 12 counties. “People are concerned about rising unemployment, spending and the overreaching of the federal government.” Mr. Johnson, a businessman and retired Air Force officer, has been largely ignored by Mr. Wilson. He has criticized Mr. Wilson for declining to agree to debates. But the race gained attention over the weekend when the Republican committee’s advertisements began appearing on television, calling Mr. Wilson “party line Charlie” and highlighting his votes in favor of the economic stimulus and health care measures. The message was amplified in a radio advertisement playing on a country music station here, with Mr. Johnson saying in a chipper voice: “On Election Day, it’s time we say, ‘So long, Charlie!’ ” The race is springing to life here just as early voting is entering its second full week. Campaign signs for Mr. Johnson and Mr. Wilson can be found in equal measure in Ohio River towns from Bridgeport to Brilliant to Bellaire. Mr. Wilson, who through a spokeswoman declined an interview on Monday because he was meeting with newspaper editorial boards in his district, has begun striking back. He argues in his own television advertisements that he stood up to Democratic Party leaders on climate change legislation , which he calls an “energy tax,” before closing with a line, “I’m Charlie Wilson, and I’m fed up.” The outcome of these Ohio races, along with other contests in the newly expanded Republican battleground, will help determine whether projections of a Republican wave are realized. Democrats dismissed the notion that Republicans were actually expanding the playing field, suggesting that they were looking for new opportunities because efforts to knock out Democratic incumbents have proved difficult. Ed Good, the chairman of the Belmont County Democratic Party here in St. Clairsville, said voters were angry and frustrated and eager to “shoot the messenger, if you will.” A Tea Party rally is scheduled for Thursday on the steps of the courthouse, the latest in a string of events that suggests the political forces may be different for Democrats this year. “They are going to try to pick off what they think is low-hanging fruit,” Mr. Good said. “But the only way Charlie or Zack can lose is if our party does not get out and vote.” | Republican Party;House of Representatives;United States Politics and Government;Elections;Democratic Party |
ny0192753 | [
"us"
] | 2009/02/24 | Plea Deal Ends Sexual Abuse Case Against Federal Judge in Texas | A sexual abuse case against a federal judge in Galveston, Tex., that shocked the community and prompted courthouse demonstrations ended abruptly on Monday with a plea agreement. Judge Samuel B. Kent retired from the bench and pleaded guilty to one count of obstruction of justice in federal court in Houston, averting a trial on five other counts involving sexually inappropriate behavior with employees. Judge Kent would have been the first district judge to be tried on federal sexual harassment charges. “Judge Kent believes this compromise settlement was in the best interests of all involved,” his lawyer, Dick DeGuerin, said in a statement. “A trial would have been embarrassing and difficult for all involved.” Appointed by President George Bush in 1990, Judge Kent, 59, was the sole federal district judge in Galveston until September 2007, when a special investigating committee of the Judicial Council of the Fifth Circuit officially reprimanded him after investigating accusations by his formal case manager that he had harassed her beginning in 2003. He was ordered by the committee to take a four-month paid leave of absence. While prosecutors pursued an inquiry, Judge Kent returned to the bench in January 2008, hearing cases in Houston. His return prompted protests on the courthouse steps. Judge Kent was indicted on the federal charges last August. The indictment accused him of forcing himself on his case manager and his secretary and described his advances as particularly lewd, involving groping and forcing the women’s faces into his groin area. Rusty Hardin, who represented Judge Kent’s former case manager, said his “client is very relieved this first step is over” and “feels vindicated that he admitted the sexual contact was not consensual.” Judge Kent had maintained that his advances were invited and enjoyed. His admission that they were not was part of the plea deal. The obstruction of justice charge carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, but many people involved in the case say the government is expected to seek a three-year sentence. Senior Judge Roger Vinson of Federal District Court in Pensacola, Fla., is in Houston to oversee the case. Judge Vinson has severely restricted comments by lawyers and participants until the sentencing hearing on May 11. In Galveston, which is still struggling to recover from Hurricane Ike , some people worry about the effects of the case. “There’s a lot of concern that this will cost us the federal bench down here,” said Mark W. Stevens, a Galveston lawyer who argued cases before Judge Kent and who was one of many local lawyers who described him as a bully on the bench. “He could have charmed the monkeys out of trees if he wanted to,” Mr. Stevens said, “but he chose to go another way, and it looks like he may take us down with him.” | Kent Samuel B;Sexual Harassment;Judges;Sex Crimes;Decisions and Verdicts |
ny0233123 | [
"us"
] | 2010/08/31 | Incidents at Murfreesboro Islamic Center Spread Fear at Tennessee Mosques | ATLANTA — After a suspected arson and reports of gunshots at an Islamic center in Tennessee over the weekend, nearby mosques have hired security guards, installed surveillance cameras and requested the presence of federal agents at prayer services. Muslim leaders in central Tennessee say that frightened worshipers are observing Ramadan in private and that some Muslim parents are wary of sending their children to school after a large fire on Saturday that destroyed property at the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro. Federal authorities suspect that the fire was arson. The Islamic center has attracted national attention recently because its planned expansion into a larger building in some ways parallels a controversial proposal to build an Islamic center two blocks from the site of the Sept. 11 attacks in New York. The Murfreesboro center, which has existed for nearly 30 years, suddenly found itself on front pages of newspapers this month and on “The Daily Show.” It became a hot topic in the local Congressional race, with one Republican candidate accusing the center of fostering terrorism and trying to link it to the militant Palestinian group Hamas. Then, on Saturday, the police say, someone set fire to construction equipment at the site where the Islamic center is planning to move, destroying an earthmover and three other pieces of machinery. And on Sunday, as CNN was filming a news segment about the controversy, someone fired at least five shots near the property. “We are very concerned about our safety,” said Essam Fathy, head of the center’s planning committee. “Whatever it takes, I’m not going to allow anybody to do something like this again.” No people were injured in either incident. The cases are being investigated by the police, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. In a statement on the center’s Web site, a spokeswoman called the fire an “arson attack” and an “atrocious act of terrorism.” In Nashville, 30 miles northwest, local imams met with representatives of the United States attorney’s office on Monday to discuss the risk of further anti-Islamic violence. Several mosques have requested police surveillance, they said, especially with the end of Ramadan this year nearly coinciding with the ninth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. “We’re worried that these attacks could spill over into Nashville,” said Mwafaq Mohammed, president of the Salahadeen Islamic Center there. “We don’t want people to misunderstand what we’re celebrating around Sept. 11. It would be better to take precautionary measures.” Another mosque, the Islamic Center of Nashville, has installed indoor and outdoor surveillance cameras, hired round-the-clock security guards and requested that F.B.I. agents be on site during worship services, according to the imam, Mohamed Ahmed. “Whoever did this, they are terrorists,” Mr. Ahmed said. “What’s the difference between them and Al Qaeda?” But in other parts of Tennessee, including Chattanooga, Knoxville and Memphis, Muslim leaders reported that they had experienced no hostility and saw no reason to increase security. | Tennessee;Islam;Mosques;Terrorism |
ny0287182 | [
"us",
"politics"
] | 2016/08/18 | Donald Trump to Get First Classified Briefing in Manhattan | Donald J. Trump, who has again reorganized his staff in an effort to right his faltering campaign, will receive his first classified briefing on Wednesday since becoming the Republican presidential nominee, according to a person briefed on the meeting. The meeting comes as Mr. Trump’s campaign appears to be going through another upheaval, as some of his top advisers have urged the candidate to dig in and prepare for a prolonged and aggressive fight for the presidency and amid questions over his campaign chairman’s ties to a pro-Russian political party in Ukraine. Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey, who leads Mr. Trump’s transition team, and retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, who formerly led the Defense Intelligence Agency, will also attend the briefing. According to ABC News , which first reported on the timing of the briefing, it will take place at the F.B.I. field office in Manhattan, which can accommodate the appropriate security needs. The nominees of both parties are eligible to receive the classified briefings after the conventions. But for Mr. Trump, the moment presents another in a series of opportunities for the businessman-turned-reality-television-star-turned-candidate to try to demonstrate gravitas. Aides to Mr. Trump did not respond to an email seeking comment. Hillary Clinton, who as a former secretary of state is in frequent contact with the White House, will campaign in Ohio on Wednesday to highlight her tax plan and how it compares with Mr. Trump’s. | 2016 Presidential Election;Donald Trump;Manhattan |
ny0128865 | [
"world",
"middleeast"
] | 2012/06/17 | Iran Faces Critical Choice in New Round of Nuclear Talks | WASHINGTON — The calendar will loom large over the next round of Iran nuclear talks. Less than two weeks after its diplomats meet on Monday with those of the United States and five other major powers in Moscow, Iran faces the imposition of a potentially crippling European oil embargo and American banking sanctions. Whether choking off Iran’s main source of revenue will persuade Tehran to accept a deal that curbs its nuclear ambitions is the critical question at these talks, which follow inconclusive meetings in Baghdad and Istanbul. Administration officials and outside experts are loath to make a prediction. “The reality is that they’re on the verge of a choice between having a nuclear program or an economy,” said Cliff Kupchan, a senior analyst on the Middle East at the Eurasia Group , a consulting firm. “There’s nothing like no money in your wallet to straighten your senses.” Still, Mr. Kupchan and other analysts said they doubted there would be a breakthrough in Moscow. Even if Iran were to show a readiness to accept an interim deal — something the economic pressure makes more plausible — the United States and the other powers are probably not yet willing to meet Tehran’s terms. The major powers are unlikely to accept a delay in the sanctions. And President Obama is not likely to recognize Iran’s right to enrich uranium, another of the Iranian leadership’s cherished objectives. Granting that concession, in an election year, would open Mr. Obama to criticism from his Republican challenger, Mitt Romney, who has staked out a hawkish position on Iran. The major powers are expected to renew their list of demands that Iran suspend the enrichment of uranium to 20 percent, ship out its stockpile of this uranium, and cease operations at Fordo , an enrichment facility buried in a mountain near Qum that alarms Israel because it could soon be immune to an airstrike. “Both sides had false expectations about how little they had to give to get the other side to move,” said Colin H. Kahl, a former Pentagon official who is a professor at Georgetown University. “The question going into Moscow is: Has either side recalculated?” What distinguishes this meeting, beyond the timing, is the location. It is the first of these sessions to be held in one of the negotiating countries, Russia . And it comes at a time when Russia, facing international opprobrium because of its ties to the brutal government in Syria , could use a diplomatic victory. For all the tension between Russia and the United States over Syria — amplified last week by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s claim that Russia was sending attack helicopters to Damascus — the two countries are more closely aligned when it comes to Iran, according to officials. At the same session in which she criticized Russia about the helicopters, Mrs. Clinton foresaw a positive role for Moscow on Iran. “The Russians have made it very clear that they expect the Iranians to advance the discussion in Moscow — not to just come, listen and leave,” Mrs. Clinton said. “We’ll know once it happens. But I think that the unity and the resolve that has been shown thus far is of real significance.” In Russia, too, there are domestic political motivations at play. President Vladimir V. Putin, analysts said, is eager for a foreign policy achievement to gild his recent return to the Kremlin and to distinguish his presidency from that of his predecessor and protégé, Dmitri A. Medvedev, now the prime minister. “A solution to the Iranian problem, or an attempt to solve it, may vividly demonstrate the new policy of Russia under Putin,” said Rajab S. Safarov , director of the Center for Modern Iran Studies, who traveled to Iran with Russia’s foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, on a preparatory visit last week. But other Russian analysts say that Mr. Putin is not likely to devote much time to Iran if he does not see a chance for a quick payoff. He has had a fractious relationship with Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. After risking his reputation to make a high-profile visit to Iran in 2007, Mr. Putin found Mr. Ahmadinejad “recalcitrant or disdainful” of Russia’s search for compromise, said Dmitri V. Trenin, director of the Carnegie Moscow Center . Iran, for its part, has been sending characteristically mixed signals. On Wednesday, after meeting Mr. Lavrov, Iran’s foreign minister, Ali Akbar Salehi, told reporters that he believed the negotiations were on the right track. “This is a complex issue and we need to be patient, but we’re on the right track,” Mr. Salehi said. “Sometimes the process slows down and sometimes it accelerates, but over all I’m confident about the final outcome.” However, other Iranian officials expressed bitterness that in Baghdad, the United States had backed off recognizing Iran’s right to enrich uranium, after appearing to endorse it in Istanbul. Winning that recognition, as much as winning relief from the sanctions, appears to be driving the Iranian negotiators. Iranian officials blame Israel for the American change of heart, noting that the chief American negotiator, Wendy R. Sherman, stopped in Israel on her way home from Baghdad to brief the government. “Why do the Americans rush off to Jerusalem after every time they have spoken to us?” said Hamid Sheikholeslami, an adviser to Iran’s former top nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani. “The U.S. is clearly under pressure not to seriously negotiate with us.” Administration officials dispute that, and say they have never recognized Iran’s right to enrich uranium in the talks. While the West is reluctant to delay the broader sanctions, analysts said the major powers would probably be open to suspending a European Union ban on insuring Iranian oil tankers. That ban, by itself, imposes a heavy penalty: if it remains, Mr. Kupchan estimated, Iran will be unable to export 1.5 million barrels of oil a day — much of it to Asian customers — reducing its revenues by $4.5 billion a month. | Iran;International Relations;Embargoes and Economic Sanctions;Nuclear Weapons;Moscow (Russia);Russia;Syria |
ny0118750 | [
"sports"
] | 2012/10/25 | Jeff Blatnick, Gold Medal Winner in Wrestling, Dies at 55 | Jeff Blatnick, who overcame cancer to win a gold medal for the United States in Greco-Roman wrestling at the 1984 Olympics, died on Wednesday in Schenectady, N.Y. He was 55. The cause was complications of heart surgery, his wife, Lori, said. Competing in the super heavyweight class at the Summer Games in Los Angeles, Blatnick, 6 feet 2 inches and 248 pounds, defeated Thomas Johansson of Sweden to take Olympic gold. Blatnick and his teammate Steve Fraser, who competed in the 198-pound weight class at those Games, became the first Americans to win Olympic gold medals in Greco-Roman wrestling, which allows holds only above the waist. Blatnick’s win came barely two years after his victory over cancer. After retiring from wrestling in 1988, Blatnick worked as a motivational speaker and as a network television wrestling analyst. At his death, he was a varsity wrestling coach at Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake High School, north of Albany. Jeffrey Carl Blatnick was born on July 26, 1957, in Niskayuna, N.Y., near Schenectady. He began wrestling in high school, becoming the state heavyweight champion in 1975. At Springfield College in Massachusetts, from which he earned a degree in physical education in 1979, he was a two-time N.C.A.A. Division II national champion and a three-time Division II all-American. Blatnick was named to the Olympic Greco-Roman team in 1980; the United States boycotted the Moscow Games that year to protest the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan. In 1982 Blatnick developed Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a cancer that attacks the spleen and other organs. After surgery to remove his spleen, followed by radiation, he resumed training and made the 1984 Olympic team. Blatnick, who lived in Ballston Lake, was inducted into the United States Wrestling Hall of Fame in 1999. He was also a longtime commentator for the Ultimate Fighting Championship, a mixed martial arts promotion company. Besides his wife, the former Lori Nowak, Blatnick is survived by his mother, Angela; a brother, Andrew; a son, Ian; and a daughter, Niki. Blatnick, who was chosen by his teammates to carry the American flag at the closing ceremony of the ’84 Games, was philosophical about his renown. “If I didn’t have cancer, nobody would know who I was,” he told The Lancaster New Era, a Pennsylvania newspaper, in 2007. “Not a lot of wrestlers make the news.” | Blatnick Jeff;Wrestling;Olympic Games;Deaths (Obituaries) |
ny0170507 | [
"nyregion",
"nyregionspecial2"
] | 2007/02/11 | A Smorgasbord of Empanadas | There are plenty of options both sweet and savory at Raul’s Empanadas Town in Morristown. The empanadas, fried pockets of dough, are homemade, and more than 30 different fillings are available. Raul’s empanadas are Colombian-style, with a classic cornmeal crust, although flour can be substituted. (You can also call an hour ahead and order them baked rather than fried.) The fillings encompass both the traditional and the inventive. The casao pairs rice and beans ($1), while the five sausages and lime empanada contains a meat-lover’s mix of Colombian, Mexican, Italian, Argentine and Spanish sausages ($2). The Inferno empanada, with sautéed ground beef and three chilies, packs plenty of heat ($2). The hummus and vegetable empanadas ($1.50 each) are good vegetarian choices and go well with one of Raul’s sauces, which include mango-habanero; criollo (tomato, cilantro and onions); peanut; and creamy chipotle. Empanadas are designed to be eaten on the go, but Raul’s, which seats 40, is a good place to go for a quick lunch (or a late-night snack, especially on the weekends when it is open until 3 a.m. to accommodate customers of nearby bars). Only soft drinks are served; no alcoholic beverages. If you get there before lunch, try a breakfast empanada. The scrambled egg, potato, chorizo, Monterey Jack cheese and jalapeño pepper empanada is a popular option ($2.50). For dessert, the Adam’s Apple empanada is a delicious twist on a turnover. Raul’s version mixes tender apples, caramel and pecans ($2). Other choices pair plantain or guava with cheese. Perhaps the most playful is the peanut butter and jelly empanada ($1.50). Raul’s Empanadas Town, 63 Morris Street, Morristown; (973) 285-5555. Open Monday to Wednesday, 7:30 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Thursday to Saturday, 7:30 a.m. to 3 a.m. KELLY FEENEY | Food;New Jersey |
ny0016112 | [
"sports",
"soccer"
] | 2013/10/26 | Fighting in Brazil Disrupts Clubs | The Brazilian league leader Cruzeiro will have to play one home match away from its stadium because of fan violence. Brazil’s sports tribunal also ruled that São Paulo would play four matches away from its home because of fan fighting. Several cases of fan violence have hit Brazil, host of the 2014 World Cup, in recent months. Vasco da Gama, Corinthians and second-division club Palmeiras have lost home games because of confrontations. ■ Sepp Blatter, the president of FIFA, fiercely defended his integrity, maintaining he was not a “ruthless parasite sucking the lifeblood” out of soccer. With FIFA still trying to repair its reputation after a series of scandals, Blatter used an address at Oxford University in England to say he had become a “scapegoat” for wrongdoing. Some of the harshest criticism against Blatter, 77, has come from England. | Soccer;Brazil;FIFA |
ny0154936 | [
"nyregion"
] | 2008/01/23 | Drugs-for-Information Scandal Shakes Up New York Police Narcotics Force | In the world of urban policing, few relationships are as fraught with peril as those between narcotics officers and confidential informants. These informants — C.I.’s in police parlance — are often small-time criminals who are paid or get criminal charges dropped in return for information about other, theoretically more dangerous criminals. Now four police officers in Brooklyn are under arrest in a case that involves paying informants not with cash or leniency but with the very drugs they craved, taken from the dealers who were arrested after the informants pointed them out. Two of the officers were charged in an internal sting last week after another was caught on a department audio tape bragging about the practice in September, officials said. Prosecutors have moved to dismiss more than 80 criminal cases because the officers caught in the scandal were considered critical to successful prosecutions, law enforcement officials said, and the office of the Brooklyn district attorney is analyzing about 100 more potentially tainted cases. Three additional officers have been suspended without pay and stripped of their guns and badges; two others have been placed on modified assignment — they lose their guns and badges but still receive paychecks — and about a dozen more have been switched to desk duty. They will be barred from taking enforcement action, like making drug arrests, until the scope of the wrongdoing is determined, officials said. Four high-level supervisors have been transferred, and a new commander — Deputy Chief Joseph J. Reznick — has been brought in to supervise the department’s Narcotics Division. The concept of using drugs to compensate confidential informants — mainly people familiar with street culture and criminal habits — is not new. Raymond J. Abruzzi, once chief of Brooklyn detectives, who retired in 1996, said it was illegal but commonplace 30 years ago, “mainly because the department did not have a lot of money to pay the informants.” But the continuing corruption investigation offers a striking example of officers who appeared to have gone too far to make arrests, in a way that is now aggressively condemned. One law enforcement official even called it “noble-cause corruption.” “What it looks like to me is that these guys took a shortcut and shortcuts will get you in trouble and shortcuts will get you in jail,” Mr. Abruzzi said. “For them to become, in essence, crack dealers, shame on them,” Mr. Abruzzi said. “The question is: `Were they lazy? Was it an accepted practice in the unit? And, if so, why would it become accepted?’ Either way it is wrong; it is against the law and it is against our rules and no matter how you slice it, it is corruption.” The officers caught in the scandal are part of two 10-person “modules” or teams of officers assigned to the Brooklyn South narcotics bureau, which is staffed by 260 officers who work under the umbrella of the Police Department’s 1,400-member Narcotics Division. The arrests were first reported on Tuesday in The Daily News. Several officials said it appeared to be a case of a handful of wayward officers in one command — as opposed to systemic activity enmeshed in the culture of the department’s antinarcotics efforts — though others may be involved. One official said one or two more officers may ultimately face criminal charges and others might face suspension. “Additional suspensions may occur as the investigation proceeds,” said Paul J. Browne, the department’s chief spokesman. He said there had been “some cooperation from officers assigned to Brooklyn South in the case,” but he declined to elaborate. At the same time, the case raises questions about supervision of narcotics officers. Two of those arrested — Sgt. Michael Arenella, 31, and Officer Jerry Bowens, 31 — worked on the midnight shift. The lack of supervision for officers working in the middle of the night, who are often the least experienced in the department, has been in the past a chief reason that sloppy, even criminal behavior has taken hold. The two others charged — Detective Sean Johnstone, 34, and Officer Julio Alvarez, 30 — worked in a unit that covered both days and nights, officials said. In a statement, Charles J. Hynes, the Brooklyn district attorney, said, “I have full confidence in the ability and integrity of the Internal Affairs Bureau of the N.Y.P.D. , and we are working closely with them.” The case began last year, when officials said Detective Johnstone and Officer Alvarez, who both joined the force in 2001, claimed to have recovered 17 plastic bags of cocaine, rather than the 28 bags they actually recovered from a drug suspect Sept. 13 in Brooklyn. A day later, Detective Johnstone, in a police vehicle, was overheard on a departmental tape recording bragging to another officer — not Officer Alvarez — about the practice of keeping drugs to give them to informants, officials said. Investigators heard the tape later, and in December, Detective Johnstone and Officer Alvarez were each charged with official misconduct, falsifying business records and filing false documents. What happened to the 11 missing bags of drugs is not clear, officials said. Officials said the man Detective Johnstone and Officer Alvarez arrested, Michael Pratt, was later an informant against them, telling internal investigators that the officers had taken more drugs from him than they claimed — a fact that would, under normal circumstances, not be in his best interest to admit. Peter E. Brill, a lawyer for the Detectives’ Endowment Association who is representing Detective Johnstone, said that his client “avows his innocence and he will aggressively fight the charges against him.” A wider inquiry by the Police Department’s Internal Affairs Bureau led to the arrests of Sergeant Arenella and Officer Bowens last week, officials said. It was not known if the sergeant and officer were the specific focuses of what is known as an integrity test, or if they were simply the only ones to fail. According to officials and court papers, Sergeant Arenella, who joined the force in 1999, and Officer Bowens, who has been a police officer since 1995, took a portion of drugs and cash they recovered in November and provided it to a confidential informant as payback for pointing out the suspect, who was actually an undercover police officer. Sergeant Arenella and Officer Bowens recovered 40 plastic bags of cocaine and $250, but later claimed to have recovered only 38 bags of the drugs and $210 in cash, giving the rest, enough for personal use, to the informant as payback, the officials said. The police disclosed the arrests at 3:44 a.m. on Saturday, in an e-mail message to reporters. Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly transferred Deputy Chief James O’Neill, the commander of the department’s narcotics operations, as well as Inspector James O’Connell, the commander of the Brooklyn South narcotics bureau. Two captains in that bureau, John Maldari and Joseph Terranova, were also transferred, officials said. Officer Bowens’s lawyer, Edward J. Mandery, said that by the officials’ own accounts, his client was not shaking down drug dealers or robbing them for his own profit. “So, it is a situation where obviously it is unfortunate but it seems to me the intentions were to apprehend the bad guy, not line his pockets, not falsely arrest someone,” he said. “This is a case where they are trying to stop the drug dealing and, according to the district attorney’s office, went too far.” Andrew C. Quinn, a lawyer for Sergeant Arenella, said his client had engaged in no criminal wrongdoing. | Police;Police Brutality and Misconduct;Drug Abuse and Traffic;Ethics;New York Daily News;Brooklyn (NYC) |
ny0083092 | [
"world",
"africa"
] | 2015/10/17 | Nigeria President Escalates Campaign to Stem Corruption | ABUJA, Nigeria — Private jets that used to crowd the airport here have been grounded, their wings clipped by the new government’s crackdown on corruption. Rolls-Royces, Range Rovers and Jaguars are gathering dust in the showroom of this capital’s top car dealer. Luxury villas are left unsold, as is the fine Italian marble used to bedeck the homes of Nigeria ’s newly rich. Since assuming power in May on a pledge to root out the graft that has long permeated Nigeria , President Muhammadu Buhari has squeezed the flow of public funds in an effort to clean up Africa’s biggest economy. He has put many public projects on hold to review the contracts, and ordered many government ministries, departments and agencies to consolidate their bank accounts for closer monitoring of financial transactions. He has overhauled the management of the state oil company, while also moving to retrieve stolen money. In recent days, the campaign escalated with the arrest of two high-profile figures: Diezani Alison-Madueke, the former oil minister whose five-year tenure was marred by recurring accusations of widespread theft; and Olajide Omokore, the chairman of a Nigerian oil company. Both were held as part of inquiries into corruption and money laundering. “Those actions will sustain the fear that the culture of impunity is over and government’s will to prosecute is strong,” said Adams Oshiomhole, a governor leading a national panel investigating federal graft. “There’s no more free money flowing because of the attempts by the president to block it, but also the fear that, ‘If I’m caught now, I’ll be prosecuted.’” Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, is the continent’s top oil producer and one of the biggest producers in the world. Yet corruption has undermined the nation, helping to keep 68 percent of its population living on less than $1.25 a day and perpetuating instability, especially the long-running conflict with Boko Haram. Whether Mr. Buhari can maintain the pressure against graft, much less transform a society where corruption thrives at all levels, is far from clear. Over the years, previous assaults on the problem have fizzled. Mr. Buhari himself first rose to power in a military coup in the 1980s, waging a self-described “ war against indiscipline ” during his short reign as military ruler. But this year, with national frustration boiling over corruption and the rampages of Boko Haram, the extremist group that has terrorized northern Nigeria, Mr. Buhari won the presidential election in March as the head of an opposition alliance that is tasting power for the first time. Now many politicians and businessmen say he is facing growing pressure to reward the faithful. The widening anti-corruption drive has chilled the economy elsewhere in the country, but nowhere has its impact been felt as keenly as here in the capital. At Coscharis, the leading dealer of luxury cars here, Happiness Adibe has been going through her worst year in her nine years as a saleswoman. Last year was her strongest: a record number of buyers, mostly businessmen and politicians, spent hundreds of thousands of dollars buying Range Rovers and Jaguars from her. Seventy percent of her customers paid cash. “There’s no money now, no money,” Ms. Adibe said. “Contracts aren’t going on now, everything is standing still. When contracts are going on, people are getting contracts and doing their, you know, thing.” Image Sales of million-dollar villas at the Royal Choice estate outside Abuja have dried up, as the rich avoid conspicuous spending. Credit Glenna Gordon for The New York Times At Royal Choice — a gated community of villas selling for up to $1.8 million each, some furnished according to a London, New York, Dubai or Shanghai theme — Joshua Bialonwu has not scored a single sale since the new government took over. Under the previous administration, customers often bought villas in cash. On a tour through Royal Choice’s eerily deserted streets and inside several villas, each empty except for a guard and a cellphone charging from a wall, Mr. Bialonwu explained why sales had dried up. “With the uncertainties of the government presently, nobody knows how much you might be asked to return,” Mr. Bialonwu said. “So you want to hold on to as much as you can.” Negotiations over what to do with ill-gotten gains are taking place quietly. Nasir El-Rufai, the governor of Kaduna state and a member of the panel investigating graft, said that associates of one former minister had approached him with an offer to return $250 million. “When you say you want to refund, it means you are admitting that you took what was not yours,” Mr. Rufai said. “I said, ‘I am a governor, I am not involved in this. I will pass on your message.’ ” Many officials and businessmen said that graft under former President Goodluck Jonathan reached levels not seen since military rule ended in 1999. Billions of dollars are believed to have disappeared from activities related to the oil industry , the source of 80 percent of all government revenues. Last year, after the governor of the country’s central bank asserted that billions of dollars in oil revenue owed to the treasury was missing from public coffers , he was removed from his post. The missing funds could amount to “$10.8 billion or $12 billion or $19 billion or $21 billion — we do not know at this point,” the bank governor wrote to the Nigerian Senate before his dismissal, adding that the problem could “bring the entire economy to its knees.” The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, the state oil company, spent half of what it collected on its own operations, Mr. Rufai said. “The corrupt try to take money under the table,” he said. “Under Jonathan’s government, it is done so openly, with records. People actually document the diversion of funds. You just wonder, what is wrong with them.” The loss of oil revenues has left many of Nigeria’s 36 states bankrupt or nearly bankrupt, unable to pay salaries. Corruption in other sectors of the government was equally self-destructive, said Mr. Oshiomhole, the federal graft panel leader. Money meant for the purchase of arms in the army’s fight against Boko Haram vanished, leaving soldiers without proper equipment. The privatization of the state power utility was riddled with fraud, enriching individuals but leaving most Nigerians still without electricity. Image An armored car on display in the lobby of a Hilton hotel in Abuja. At many upscale hotels and businesses in the capital, commerce has slowed this year, which many attribute to the government's crackdown on corruption. Credit Glenna Gordon for The New York Times An import duty waiver granted to a politically connected Indian rice importer has dumped one million tons of substandard rice in Nigeria, Mr. Oshiomhole said, adding that a big farmer in his state, Edo, shelved plans to grow rice as a result. Here in Abuja, people with no particular expertise but solid political connections made fortunes. “Nothing better explains the amount of theft that went on that somebody without a business — he has a small office in the corner of his house with an iPad and a cellphone — has jets,” Mr. Oshiomhole said. “Everybody was just buying jets.” The cash fueled a boom in high-end real estate development in the capital, Abuja, and in Lagos, the nation’s main city. Villas and condominiums built or purchased to launder money tellingly remain unoccupied, real estate agents and businessmen say. At Pated, a store that has sold Italian marble to the Abuja elite for decades, some politicians and high-ranking civil servants came to make large purchases in their official vehicles, said John Abimiku, a salesman. Others were more discreet, or tried to be. “If you are dealing with a private businessman, you see a lot of prudence in terms of managing their resources,” Mr. Abimiku said. “But if it’s a politician, you tell him a price and he doesn’t argue too much. ‘O.K., it’s all right, it’s all right. Let’s have it.’” But Sadiq Yaqub, Pated’s manager, said business now was the “worst it’s ever been” in the 12 years he has worked at the store. To press ahead, the Buhari government will back a new law to prosecute cases of corruption more quickly, said Itse Sagay, a legal scholar and human rights activist who now leads another presidential panel against corruption. No high-profile case of corruption has been prosecuted successfully in the past decade, reinforcing a culture of impunity, Mr. Sagay said. Wealthy defendants have been able to exploit legal maneuvers to draw out trials for more than a decade. “After 10, 12 years, you begin to have prosecution fatigue,” he said. “Witnesses have died, witnesses have disappeared. Those who have started the prosecution have retired.” Mr. Sagay said that his panel is also focusing on reforming the handful of government anti-corruption agencies, which, he said, have been “contaminated” by officials working in concert with those they are supposed to be investigating. “We now have at the federal government level a government that actually appreciates the work of the anti-corruption agencies,” said Sola Akinrinade, the head of a government anti-corruption academy. Mr. Akinrinade acknowledged, though, that previous governments had also had strong starts. After being elected president in 1999, Olusegun Obasanjo surprised many with an equally aggressive push against corruption. But within a year or two, it was business as usual in Nigeria. “Corruption,” Mr. Akinrinade said, “will fight back.” | Nigeria;Bribery and Kickbacks;Muhammadu Buhari;Luxury Goods;Boko Haram;Goodluck Jonathan;Abuja Nigeria;Corruption |
ny0262335 | [
"nyregion"
] | 2011/06/22 | In New York, Celebration and Mourning on Summer Solstice | Elise Emerson sat in the darkest nook of the darkest cafe she could find on the Upper West Side, trying to study and, as she put it, not to “get pessimistic.” “The winter one,” said Ms. Emerson, 21, “makes me happy. You’re aware there’s some light at the end of the tunnel. For this one, I’d rather not think about it.” “The winter one”? “This one”? Ms. Emerson was talking about the solstices, of course — the shortest and the longest days of the year. Guess which one was on Tuesday. In some European countries, they celebrate the summer solstice, the longest day of the year, with bonfires. But for some New Yorkers, it is a question mark, a litmus test: Do you see the glass as half-full or half-empty? Is this a moment to rejoice, or regret? Are you thrilled that summer has finally arrived, or is it all downhill from here — at least for the next six months — because the days are about to shrink? Some psychiatrists say the tenor of their conversations with patients changes when it is still light past 8 p.m. “My most depressed patients like the longer days,” said Alan Hilfer, the chief psychologist at Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn. “There is a group of people out there who look forward to this day” — the summer solstice — “and get worried that the days are starting to get shorter, but this is usually a day on which people rejoice that the sun is out for the longest time.” He paused. He looked up at the pinkish-whitish haze in the sky — a clear day on which you could see forever, it was not. “The sun does not appear to be out,” he said, “so it is only nominally the longest day of sunshine.” That sounds like a cue for a weather expert. Enter Stephen Fybish, who tracks weather statistics from his apartment on the Upper West Side. On this particular day, he was not talking about how much extra sun there was on the longest day of the year — 15 hours and 5 minutes from sunup to sundown — he was talking about feeling perky and glad to be alive. As it happens, Mr. Fybish, 74, had triple-bypass surgery last month. “I used to say winter was my favorite season,” he said, “but June would be the winner for favorite month. You don’t get the really stifling ongoing heat episodes very much in June, and everything is still growing and fresh, so it’s my favorite month despite my fondness for landscape transformation in the snow and the opportunity to pretend you’re up in the north — the taste of Minnesota or someplace like that, and the darkness setting in so early.” Some people miss those short days, as Karen Schmidt discovered when she moved to Kenya, which is on the equator, in August 2000. “By November, I felt time wasn’t passing,” said Ms. Schmidt, who now works for the Earth Institute at Columbia University. “Days weren’t getting shorter. I just had a strange feeling.” Back in New York, many people — especially patients with seasonal affective disorder — seem to do better as spring gives way to summer than they do as autumn falls away. “They tend to get more despondent, more lethargic, on winter days,” Dr. Hilfer said. “They’re generally happier when they don’t feel closed in by darkness.” The city’s health department could not immediately provide seasonal statistics on suicides. But H. Reese Butler II, the founder of the hotline 1-800-SUICIDE, said there was no noticeable drop in calls as the longest day of the year approached. “The peak is April,” he said. “People who are depressed figure that by the time springtime hits, they’re going to feel better. And springtime comes and the birds are chirping and the flowers are blooming, and they’re just as depressed.” Wende Persons, a music-industry marketing consultant, celebrated the longest day of the year by taking her dogs to Prospect Park in Brooklyn before 9 a.m. so they could run off the leash. She also wrote in her journal. She later sat through an “endless” staff meeting at work — the endlessness, she joked, confirmed that Tuesday was the longest day of the year. She sounded happy. “I wish every day was like this,” she said. “I want the longest days of the year so I can pack more in.” | Sunlight;Seasons and Months;New York City |
ny0149080 | [
"business",
"businessspecial3"
] | 2008/09/10 | Passion and Prudence, the Secrets to Collecting | A DECADE ago, when Jonathan and Karin Fielding found their vacation house in coastal Maine, they decided to collect 18th-century and early 19th-century “country formal” furniture and objects to fill it. Like many new collectors, they were faced with a series of questions: Where to start? How focused should their collection be? Should they shop at one or two major auction houses or include country auctions, too? Should they hire an expert to help them vet the objects — for a fee — or rely solely on their own instincts? Whether collecting pocket watches, rosewood divans or Sèvres porcelain, seasoned collectors and auctioneers alike say the most important requirement is to find something you love. “You must buy things that stir you, that talk to you,” said Dr. Fielding, who, when he is not vacationing in Maine, works as director of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. “Avoid them if the only reason to buy them is because they’re a bargain.” To Leslie Keno, who directs American furniture and decorative arts at Sotheby’s , the first step in becoming a collector is to find a good bookstore. “Find out what appeals to you, whether French, English or American,” he said. “Then pick the period, say, midcentury Modern. Narrow your focus because it’s easier to know more about a specific area in terms of pricing, quality, aesthetics. Forming your own reference library is key.” Read everything you can on your chosen area — or on the areas you are considering. But books, even those published recently, won’t say which categories are undervalued right now, and they can’t advise you whether to buy a specific piece at a specific auction. WHAT’S HOT AND WHAT’S NOT For those who are undecided — or who love a variety of things — a good first step is to study the terrain and learn which categories are more or less languishing in the marketplace and which are selling for record prices. The auctioneers interviewed for this article agreed that fine 18th-century furniture, like Chippendale, might not be the place to jump in if you’re on a budget. But in the case of American Classical furniture — pier tables, sideboards and sofa tables that date from 1810 to 1840, complete with book-matched veneer, ebony and gilt ornament — if you like it, buy it now. In the late 1980s, Mr. Keno said, the best examples were selling for double what they are bringing now. Oriental rugs and early European porcelain like Meissen and Sèvres? Buy with impunity — what has gone down must come up, and remember: you’re buying primarily because you love it. Oriental rugs, too, are on the bargain counter, said Leslie Hindman, who owns the Chicago auction house that bears her name. “They’re giving them away.” TALKING WITH AUCTIONEERS For advice on what to collect, which specific pieces to go after and how much to pay, Ms. Hindman recommends going to auction exhibitions, even if you do not intend to buy. Many would-be collectors don’t realize that if they spot something they like, they can ask to see an in-house expert, a staff curator. Question the provenance of a piece. Try to ascertain, for example, if a piece is fresh to the market, perhaps from an estate, or whether it’s consigned by a dealer, which could mean it’s something that, for whatever reason, didn’t sell in the shop. Ms. Hindman, who runs what she calls a midsize company ($20 million in sales last year), says that at the huge auction companies, some experts “will work with you” and “some can’t be bothered.” “We need to be bothered,” she said with a laugh, speaking of her own company. “We’re competing — we focus on personal attention.” Mr. Keno of Sotheby’s, not surprisingly, disagrees with her description of large auction houses. His colleagues, he said, always welcome “privates,” that is, people who are not dealers. “We encourage questions; that’s what we’re there for.” Mr. Keno countered any novice’s worries that the experts might steer an unsuspecting buyer to a flawed piece. “On the contrary,” he said, part of the job is to counsel customers. “We might say: ‘It’s not one of the best; it’s not for you,’ or ‘it’s not a great example of the form, but the workmanship is excellent.’ Or we could say: ‘You’re not going to see one like this for a while: it’s got the original finish, the original brasses ... this one you should go for.’ It depends on what kind of collection you want, and, of course, on your budget.’ ” People new to the world of auctions may not know to ask for a condition report, a document that is often much more detailed than the catalog description. While the catalog might only note “repairs,” the condition report would elaborate. Likewise, a condition report should detail the nature of restoration to a piece of pottery or porcelain, or to a teddy bear’s ear. These condition reports are sometimes available on the Web, so read the small print; sometimes one click can take you to them. Or customers can call the auction house and ask to be sent a report. Meanwhile, online catalogs are usually available at least two weeks before a sale. “The technology is getting so good, you can really pump up a photograph so you can see tiny chips on a piece of porcelain,” Mr. Keno said. “You can blow it up larger than you could ever see it in the auction house.” WORKING WITH A DEALER Aspiring collectors may prefer to work with a dealer, who will accompany them to the exhibition (or go alone, if the buyer wants to keep a low profile) and may or may not bid for the client. Some wealthy collectors like to hire the most prestigious dealers. Fees vary widely from dealer to dealer but usually start at 10 percent of the hammer price. One sees these celebrity dealers strolling around Sotheby’s and Christie’s, turning over candle stands and pointing out the nail holes (bad) or pegged joinery (good) to appreciative onlookers. But it may be even smarter to use a trusted dealer or expert at a country auction, where things can sometimes go quite high, and where there is often no in-house expert on hand — and sometimes no catalog at all. (The idea of getting a steal at a country auction is not entirely without merit, but it is rare. More often, it is wise to remember a northern Connecticut auctioneer’s caution about a painting he was holding up: “Buy it for what you think it is.” In that case, he was talking about the signature, but the advice applies to just about anything.) AT THE AUCTION HOUSE Deborah Jones Barrow, who collects both brown-and-white and black-and-white transferware, says she never uses a dealer to help her. Ms. Barrow, the founder of TheDailyGreen.com , a Web site that specializes in environmentally responsible living, says she likes auctions because of “the fun of the hunt” and the ability to find things that are fresh out of somebody’s attic. But before bidding, it’s best to figure out a strategy. Some prefer to signal discreetly to the auctioneer when a desired object is brought forward (by “runners” at a smaller auction; increasingly on an overhead screen at the larger ones). Then, after the auctioneer’s attention is secured, a simple nod will do the trick until the limit is surpassed. Then a negative head shake suffices. Others advertise the fact that they are retail shoppers. They raise their hand deliberately to call attention to themselves and act as if they were prepared to keep bidding no matter what. (All the time, of course, keeping to their preset limit.) The purpose: to drive the dealers away. “The dealers have to get it for wholesale prices, so I wait for them to drop out,” Ms. Barrow said. “If I get it for one peg higher, I know I’ve gotten a bargain.” Ms. Barrow, who lives in the Hudson Valley, bids by phone only if she is unable to attend an auction. “There’s nothing like the rush, the excitement of going and bidding yourself,” she said. IF YOU MADE A MISTAKE Here’s another common fear of the beginning bidder: what happens if you learn you have bought a fake? If it’s an out-and-out fake — say, a chair offered as from the 18th century that turns out to be a so-called “centennial” copy made around 1875 — chances are good that you will get your money back, even at a small country auction. Even so, you may be in for a prolonged wrangle, especially if there is a disagreement among experts. “Ideally, if there is a problem, it’s best to bring it up within a month of the purchase,” said Mr. Keno of Sotheby’s, “because the consignor — the seller — is paid by the auction house in the first 35 days.” But even if it’s later, he said, “the sale can be canceled.” He added that such difficulties are very rare. The major auction houses hold to what they call the “bold-faced description,” in other words, the heading that defines each piece. “If the catalog says ‘no major alterations’ and there’s a leg replaced, then that’s pretty serious and the sale will probably be canceled,” Mr. Keno said. If it’s a two-inch patch, he added, that might be arguable. All in all, though, it’s better to make sure you’re buying what you want before you bid. Come prepared. Do your research. Bring your tape measure to make sure the treasure you seek will fit the space you want it for. Bring your reading glasses, to double-check that there are no catalog changes, and your distance glasses for seeing the auctioneer. Finally, don’t leave the room for any reason — any reason at all — when your item’s number is about to be called. Auctioneers dine out on tales of tearful buyers who missed that one perfect item because they snuck out ... just for one minute. | Auctions;Collectors and Collections;Art;Furniture;Keno Leslie;Sotheby's Holdings Incorporated;Christie's;Personal Finances |
ny0194616 | [
"sports",
"autoracing"
] | 2009/11/09 | Johnson Takes Hit in Dickies 500, and So Does His Lead in the Chase | FORT WORTH (AP) — Jimmie Johnson’s drive to a fourth consecutive Cup title took a hard hit against the wall, and Kyle Busch ran out of gas trying to complete an unprecedented Nascar trifecta. Kurt Busch won the Dickies 500 on Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway, taking over the lead with two and a half laps left when his younger brother Kyle’s car suddenly slowed on the backstretch after leading 232 laps of the 334-lap race. Johnson, the Sprint Cup series points leader trying to become the first driver to win four consecutive Cup season championships, wrecked on the third lap. His crew needed more than an hour to repair and rebuild his No. 48 Chevrolet, but he returned to finish 38th — 129 laps behind Kurt Busch. Johnson’s points lead was cut to 73 from 184 over his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Mark Martin, who finished fourth, with two races remaining in the season. “It’s still a respectable lead, 73 with two to go is a good position to be in,” Johnson said. “I hate we gave up all these points.” He added, “It’s not as bad as it could have been: we could have finished 43rd.” Kyle Busch won the Nationwide and Camping World Truck races at the track, and he was trying to become the first driver to win in all three of Nascar’s top series on the same weekend. It was the 28th time he ran all three races the same weekend. “This is the first time Kyle and I raced each other hard,” said Kurt Busch, who was running in second behind his brother much of the race. “It’s bittersweet. I was rooting for him, but at the same time, this is for us.” Kurt Busch earned his second victory of the season, and the 20th of his career, with an average speed of 147.137 miles per hour. Denny Hamlin finished second, and Matt Kenseth third. Jeff Gordon , a Hendrick driver who is third in the points standings, finished 13th after avoiding serious problems. Kyle Busch had trouble refiring his car after a quick pit stop and wound up 11th. Coming out of Turn 2 on the third lap, Sam Hornish got loose after apparently being tapped by David Reutimann. Hornish made contact with Johnson, who scraped the outside wall. It looked as if Johnson might save his car before he was hit again by Hornish, then slammed into the inside wall. Johnson returned to the track on Lap 115, the front and rear of his car solid black after the repairs. The front and rear suspensions and the driveshaft had been replaced, and other repairs were made. Crew members from the Hendrick-owned teams of Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr. assisted in what looked like a makeshift body shop in the garage. After finishing second at Texas in April, Johnson had another disappointing fall race at Texas. Last November, Johnson struggled to finish 15th while Carl Edwards gambled on fuel and won by a wide margin. Johnson left Texas with a 106-point lead in the standings last year, and he won by 69 over Edwards. Gordon avoided serious trouble in the second turn on Lap 175, spinning but not hitting anything after Juan Pablo Montoya and Edwards made contact and spun ahead of him. When Gordon turned to avoid the other cars, he spun. His car ended up with flat tires and a broken brace. He entered the pits when they were closed, incurring the penalty that made him restart at the back of the field. He was running 18th when the race restarted. | Automobile Racing;Johnson Jimmie;National Assn of Stock Car Auto Racing;Hendrick Motorsports Inc;Busch Kurt;Busch Kyle;Martin Mark;Hamlin Denny;Kenseth Matt;Gordon Jeff |
ny0216439 | [
"world",
"asia"
] | 2010/04/07 | Priest in India Says He’ll Go to U.S. to Face Sex Charges | NEW DELHI — A Roman Catholic priest in southern India charged with sexually assaulting a teenage girl in Minnesota in 2004 said Tuesday that he would return to face the charges, though he and his supervising bishop in India said they did not know about the criminal charges until reporters contacted them. But letters released Tuesday by a lawyer for the Holy See in the United States show that the priest, the Rev. Joseph Palanivel Jeyapaul, was told by his diocesan administrator in India of the accusations in 2005 and urged to cooperate with church and civil authorities. He continues to work in an administrative position in the Diocese of Ootacamund. The lawyer, Jeffrey Lena, said that the Vatican had recommended that the priest be defrocked but that canon law dictated that the decision rested with his superiors in India. They ordered him to undergo counseling and spend a year in prayer. The Vatican clarified and streamlined its procedures in 2001 to respond to sexual abuse accusations against priests. As Pope Benedict XVI has come under fire for his handling of sexually abusive priests in Germany and Wisconsin, the Vatican has sought to defend him by pointing out that he was an architect and a promoter of these procedures. But the Vatican’s policy of deferring to local bishops may also leave it open to criticism that it is not acting aggressively enough. Criminal charges were filed in Minnesota in December 2006 against Father Jeyapaul after a teenager accused him of forcing her to have oral sex in 2004, when she was 14. Mr. Lena said the Vatican provided the priest’s location in India to authorities seeking his extradition. But a spokesman for the Indian Ministry of External Affairs said Tuesday that the Indian government had not been contacted about extradition. “We have not been contacted as of yet,” a ministry spokesman said. Father Jeyapaul’s supervising bishop, Bishop Arulappan Amalraj, said by telephone Tuesday that he did not know of the charges. “No, no, no,” he said. “There was no mention of a criminal case.” But Bishop Amalraj’s immediate subordinate was directly informed in 2005 that charges were possible by Victor H. Balke, then the bishop of the Diocese of Crookston in Minnesota, where Father Jeyapaul had worked. Bishop Amalraj was appointed to his post in 2006. Father Jeyapaul said Tuesday that he was unaware of any criminal case against him until he was contacted by reporters on Monday and that he would be willing to return to the United States to prove his innocence. “I am ready to do it,” he said in a telephone interview. “I want to explain myself, that I am innocent.” He said of the criminal case, “I don’t know anything.” Bishop Balke, in a letter dated Nov. 8, 2005, wrote to the administrator of the Indian diocese at the time, Msgr. A. Anthony Swamy, saying that civil authorities in Minnesota were “exploring the possibility of charging Fr. Jeyapaul with a crime.” He also wrote: “I would like to point out that there are grave reasons to doubt Fr. Jeyapaul’s fitness for ministry. As such, I request you, as his ordinary, to take whatever steps are necessary to prevent him from harming others.” Monsignor Swamy wrote back saying he had urged Father Jeyapaul to cooperate fully with church and civil authorities and that he “is sternly warned of any further mischief.” Bishop Amalraj conducted a canonical trial in 2006, which allowed Father Jeyapaul to continue working after a year spent in prayer, though without access to minors. He said Father Jeyapaul had worked in the diocese for 28 years without any problems or accusations Father Jeyapaul said he left Minnesota on Aug. 28, 2005, to visit his sick mother in India, and received an e-mail message on Sept. 15 from Bishop Balke, telling him that a 16-year-old girl had accused him of molesting her. “I told them that I will come back and prove that I am innocent,” he said. “But the bishop withdrew the invitation. He said not to come back.” But in a letter dated Dec. 7, 2005, Bishop Balke told the Vatican that he had requested that Father Jeyapaul return to Minnesota to “be made accountable for his actions,” but that he had had “no indication from him that he intends to return.” Bishop Balke’s letter was addressed to Cardinal William J. Levada, the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican office handling abuse cases against priests. The Vatican responded in May 2006, informing Bishop Balke that it had relayed his concerns to the diocese in India “with the request that Father Jeyapaul’s priestly life be monitored so that he does not constitute a risk to minors and does not create a scandal among the faithful.” Bishop Balke then sent two more letters to Cardinal Levada informing him that a second teenage girl had come forward with serious allegations, that criminal charges had been filed and that the county attorney in Minnesota wanted to extradite Father Jeyapaul. He urged quick action. Bishop Balke also wrote to the Vatican’s top diplomat to the United States, Archbishop Pietro Sambi, who provided the address of Father Jeyapaul in India to give to the county attorney. The woman in the criminal case, now 20, has sued the Diocese of Crookston. Her lawyers released some of the documents in a news conference on Monday. | Jeyapaul Joseph Palanivel;Priests;Roman Catholic Church;Sex Crimes;Child Abuse and Neglect |
ny0018111 | [
"sports",
"tennis"
] | 2013/07/02 | A Wimbledon of Falling Stars and Teardrops | WIMBLEDON, England — Sabine Lisicki, a 23-year-old German, got up from lying on the Centre Court grass and said, “I’m so happy.” Then she broke into tears. It might not have made much sense, but then again, hardly anything about the 2013 version of Wimbledon has. For a sport so dominated by a handful of players in recent years, it is as if everyone agreed it was time for others to take the spotlight. Rafael Nadal lost in the first round, Roger Federer and Maria Sharapova in the second, all to players ranked outside the top 100. On a single day last week, seven singles players retired or withdrew with injuries, three of them in the top 10. The beloved grass took a beating, attacked for being too slippery. Even Serena Williams was not safe. On Monday, it was Lisicki’s turn to make tennis fans say, “Who?” by eliminating Williams, who was fresh off dominating the French Open and had a 34-match winning streak. Nothing at this tournament, it seems, will unfold as expected. What’s next? Deep-fried Twinkies replacing strawberries and cream at the concession stands? “This is the most unusual major I’ve been a part of in the last 20 years,” said Mary Joe Fernandez, a television analyst and former American champion. She added: “It feels different this week for sure. Today on Manic Monday, with 16 men, 16 women going out there, not seeing a Sharapova or a Federer, it was strange. It was strange not to see them on the schedule. It was strange when you were watching the big courts, not to see them enter it.” Before the tournament began, Williams was an overwhelming favorite to win, and when No. 2 Victoria Azarenka and No. 3 Sharapova exited, Williams became even more heavily favored. But after she was beaten by the No. 23 seed Lisicki, 6-2, 1-6, 6-4, Williams said, “It’s not a shock.” She repeated, “She’s a great player,” over and over to reporters to convince them that her loss was, in fact, not shocking. Maybe we should not be shocked any more by what is happening at Wimbledon. During its first week, the tournament had achieved some unusual milestones: fewest top-10 men and women in the third round (10); most retirements and withdrawals (13); most players over 30 in the fourth round (9); no American men in the third round for the first time since 1912. More surprising than the numbers were the images. On media day, normally an uneventful cliché-fest, Sharapova aired out personal grievances with Williams. On the first match on the first day on Court No. 1, Azarenka’s left leg slid sideways, twisting her knee. She won that match, but she could not play her next. On Saturday, No. 8 Juan Martin del Potro’s left knee made a similarly ghastly bend. He won that match and advanced to the quarterfinals Monday, saying he was still not 100 percent. Williams, a five-time champion here, was also made to look awkward and uncomfortable on grass by Lisicki’s go-for-broke shotmaking. On one break point for Lisicki in the pivotal third set, Williams even missed an overhead. It was Lisicki who ended up lying on the grass in celebration after hitting a forehand winner on match point. As an example of how quickly fortunes can change here, Lisicki is now the favorite to win, with 3-to-1 odds. Her odds were 150 to 1 before the tournament began. But at this tournament, being the favorite is probably the last thing a player wants. “It doesn’t mean anything, especially here,” said Agnieszka Radwanska, now the highest-seeded woman remaining, at No. 4. “So many weird scores.” The good fortune even ran out for a fan favorite. Last Monday, after the British teenager Laura Robson upset No. 10 Maria Kirilenko in the first round, the former British champion Virginia Wade excitedly looked forward to the possibility of a quarterfinal meeting between Robson and Williams. Now, neither player is in the quarterfinals, with Robson losing to Kaia Kanepi of Estonia, 7-6 (6), 7-5. Instead of Williams versus Robson, it will be Kanepi versus Lisicki on Tuesday. Instead of Williams, the last American player at Wimbledon is 20-year-old Sloane Stephens, who beat 19-year-old Monica Puig of Puerto Rico, 4-6, 7-5, 6-1. The 17th-seeded Stephens will face No. 15 Marion Bartoli in the quarterfinal of the section of the draw vacated by Sharapova. “What it does show is the depth in both men’s and women’s tennis,” said Tracy Austin, a former No. 1 player. “And what it does show is, ‘Wow, O.K., they are beatable, so maybe I can do it, as well.’ ” The British fans could not help being nervous when Andy Murray stepped on Centre Court right after Williams’s shocking loss. This Wimbledon’s aura seemed to be at work when Murray started grabbing his back in pain and Mikhail Youzhny was serving for the second set at 5-3. But Murray rallied in the set and won the match, 6-4, 7-6 (5), 6-1. After seeing what happened to Williams and many of his rivals, the second-seeded Murray is not taking anything for granted. “When those sort of results can happen to a player as good as her, there’s absolutely no reason why it can’t happen to me,” he said. “That’s why I’m not getting ahead of myself, and no one else should.” The gambling Web site Paddy Power listed the odds of Murray crying on court at some point in the tournament as 3 to 1. Whether they would be happy or sad tears was not specified. There were plenty of happy tears Monday. With four rounds complete, many of the surviving players have achieved career bests. Six of 16 players remaining are in the Wimbledon quarterfinals for the first time. Kirsten Flipkens, the 20th seed from Belgium, kissed the grass on Court 18 then sat in her chair shaking her head in disbelief and wiping away tears after reaching her first Grand Slam quarterfinal at 27. Fernando Verdasco, a 29-year-old former top-10 player, celebrated his first Wimbledon quarterfinal in 11 chances by doing a dance inspired by the Spanish singer El Fary. Lukasz Kubot, the 130th-ranked player from Poland, did a high-stepping dance on Court 14 after advancing to his first Grand Slam quarterfinal in the strangest fourth-round matchup of all, beating 111th-ranked Adrian Mannarino in five sets. Because this is wacky Wimbledon, Kubot, 31, will face his countryman Jerzy Janowicz, 22, in the quarterfinals. Since 1939, only two Polish men had reached the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam event. Now a Polish man is guaranteed to be in a Grand Slam semifinal for the first time. After Janowicz’s own fifth-set victory was complete, he went to the locker room to see Kubot, and they hugged. “We are happy because what is going on right now,” Janowicz said. “I mean, it’s magical.” That is one word for this Wimbledon. | Tennis;Wimbledon Tennis,Wimbledon;Serena Williams;Sabine Lisicki;Andy Murray |
ny0091379 | [
"business",
"dealbook"
] | 2015/08/05 | Alibaba Names Former Goldman Sachs Executive as President | To oversee international expansion, the Alibaba Group is turning to a former Goldman Sachs executive who has long worked with the Chinese Internet giant. Alibaba on Tuesday named J. Michael Evans, who already serves on its board, as its president. The role is the biggest for Mr. Evans, an Olympic medalist rower who was once seen as a potential candidate to become Goldman’s next chief executive. In his 20-year career at the Wall Street firm, he rose through the ranks in London and Hong Kong before becoming the global head of growth markets. He also played a leadership role on the bank’s Business Standards Committee, formed after the financial crisis to help the firm quell criticism about its practices. But his name came up less frequently in recent years, and he retired from Goldman in 2013 . Mr. Evans’s international experience is expected to drive his work in helping Alibaba expand its business abroad, and in particular convincing companies in Europe, the Americas and elsewhere in Asia that the e-commerce giant is the best way to access hundreds of millions of Chinese customers. Mr. Evans first came to know Alibaba during his time in Hong Kong, where he eventually became the chairman of Goldman Sachs Asia Pacific. He will report to Daniel Zhang, Alibaba’s chief executive. “I am honored to be joining Alibaba and excited by the opportunity to lead Alibaba’s international growth strategy,” Mr. Evans said in a statement. “I look forward to joining Daniel’s management team and working with a terrific group of people with whom I’ve developed strong relationships.” “As we connect Alibaba and the rest of the world, we are turning to a proven international leader who has been connecting China and the rest of the world for most of his career,” Jack Ma, Alibaba’s founder and executive chairman, said in a statement. “Through his work on our board, he has built the trust and respect of our management team, and I have no doubt that he will make a significant contribution to our business.” | Alibaba;J Michael Evans;Appointments and Executive Changes;Goldman Sachs Group;Daniel Zhang |
ny0212287 | [
"sports",
"hockey"
] | 2017/01/06 | Rangers Face Blue Jackets. Then It’s Break Time. | GREENBURGH, N.Y. — Rangers Coach Alain Vigneault cobbled together a new pairing of defensemen at practice Friday: Rick Nash and Pavel Buchnevich, two towering forwards who are battling injuries. Vigneault playfully said later that they were his best defensive pair. The whimsical assignment was one way for the Rangers to cope with reality. Neither is healthy enough to play for the Rangers on Saturday in Columbus, where they are to take on Coach John Tortorella’s Blue Jackets, who rampaged to the top of the N.H.L. standings by winning 16 straight games before losing to the Washington Capitals on Thursday. Vigneault acknowledged that he did think a little about what Saturday’s game would have been like had Columbus beaten Washington. The Blue Jackets would have been in a position to eclipse the record streak of 17 , set by the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1993. But Columbus fell, 5-0, so Saturday’s game will be just another rigorous Metropolitan Division challenge. Entering Friday, four of the top five teams in the N.H.L. were from the Metropolitan: Columbus (27-6-4), Pittsburgh (25-8-5), the Rangers (27-13-1) and Washington (24-9-5). And there appears to be a break in the clouds for the Rangers, whose players have individually missed more than 100 games to injury this season, many by their biggest stars, including Nash. The Rangers have half of their 82 regular-season games remaining, but after Saturday, they get a mandated five days off — what teams are generally calling a bye week — before they play the Toronto Maple Leafs on Friday. “This bye week is coming at a perfect time for me,” Nash said. Rather than return for one game and then take a long break, Nash will continue rehabbing two groin injuries that have kept him out of 11 of the last 14 games. He missed four games after he was first hurt Dec. 8, played three games but injured the other side of his groin — “overcompensating,” he said. He still remains tied for third on the team with 13 goals, including four in his last seven games. “It’s definitely frustrating,” Nash said. “I was feeling it out there, too. I just felt like my game was kind of in a good position. It’s a setback.” Buchnevich, a 21-year-old Russian forward who had four goals in 10 games before being sidelined in November with a back injury, was cleared to participate fully in practice Friday afternoon, then was sent to the Hartford farm club for a home game that night. Vigneault said Buchnevich would be evaluated daily while in Hartford. Center Mika Zibanejad, who came to the Rangers from Ottawa in an off-season trade for Derick Brassard, has missed the last 22 games with a broken fibula after registering 15 points in 19 games. Vigneault said Zibanejad had resumed skating and could return by the middle of January. “Injuries are part of the game,” Vigneault said. “I’m focused on the guys who are here now and healthy and try to find ways to win.” But he added: “That’s what we’ve been trying to do here for quite some time.” The injuries have tested the Rangers’ depth, but they remain one of the highest-scoring teams in the league. Still, the three injured forwards could form a line more potent, at least, than Brandon Pirri, Nicklas Jensen and Marek Hrivik, the make-do fourth line in a 5-2 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on Wednesday. The Rangers have had poor games, like a 4-1 loss Tuesday at home to the Buffalo Sabres, but as they have many times this season, they rebounded a night later. The Rangers’ longest losing streak is two games. “We’ve got to continue to have that right mind-set, competing and having good execution with and without the puck,” the team’s captain, Ryan McDonagh, said. Saturday’s game will be another rematch between Tortorella and Vigneault, who were essentially traded for each other in 2013 when Vigneault went from Vancouver to New York and Tortorella went the other way. Vigneault enters Saturday’s game with 171 victories as the Rangers’ coach; Tortorella’s teams won 172. When that was pointed out to him Friday, Vigneault smiled and said: “I don’t really pay a lot of attention to that. I try to focus on the team rather than my personal stats.” His team is healthier, finally, and it has not stumbled often. The Blue Jackets will offer a tough test. “I’m very impressed what they’ve done over the last five weeks here,” goaltender Henrik Lundqvist said of Columbus. “Torts has everybody on that page, buying into that system. It will save you a lot of nights when your game is a little off. “But it’s the same thing with us. When you have guys on the same page, trusting the system, it’s going to help move it along.” | Ice hockey;Rangers;Rick Nash;Sports injury;Blue Jackets |
ny0259622 | [
"world",
"africa"
] | 2011/01/22 | Congo: Colonel Arrested for Rapes | The Democratic Republic of Congo on Friday arrested a senior army commander, Lt. Colonel Kibibi Mutwara, accused of ordering his men to rape more than a dozen women in eastern Congo this month, a United Nations spokesman said. The arrest follows the detention of 10 other soldiers in the case. Colonel Kibibi was arrested in the Fizi region of South Kivu Province, where soldiers are alleged to have carried out dozens of rapes on New Year’s Day. Colonel Kibibi has denied he instructed his men to carry out the abuses. | Congo Democratic Republic of (Congo-Kinshasa);Sex Crimes;Defense and Military Forces;United Nations |
ny0228238 | [
"sports",
"baseball"
] | 2010/07/16 | In Dresser Drawer, a Chivalrous Steinbrenner Is Recalled | Michael Schriner contacted The Times this week about the friendship between his mother, Mary Jane Schriner, and George Steinbrenner when they were teenagers in Ohio. Over the years my mother wrote short stories about events in her life and kept them in a box under her bed. The stories were fascinating to read because they took us back in time to a place where we grew up. Last year, my mother organized her stories into a small book, “And So,” that is sold at my sister’s bakery in Westlake, Ohio, Kathy’s Kolacke Shop . Now, at 77, my mother spends her mornings working the front counter at the bakery, greeting loyal customers and, every once in a while, selling a book to a local resident who also likes to reminisce. Last week my family flew in from San Diego to see relatives and friends. We wanted our children to see the old family photographs, so my mother reached under the bed and pulled out the box. She showed us some we hadn’t seen in years. While we were sharing memories on Tuesday, we heard the news that George Steinbrenner had died. My mother went into her bedroom and opened her dresser drawer. She pulled out more than a dozen letters from George d ating to 1949. She had spoken of them before but now asked if I would like to read them. Instead I asked her to share her memories with us, and here is what she told us: I met George on a summer’s evening in 1949 when I was 16. My family had recently moved to Bay Village, Ohio. I was sitting on the grass beneath a splendid oak tree in our front yard when a streamlined, powder-blue Plymouth convertible sporting the license plate G7S pulled into the driveway across the street, at the home of the football captain. Lo and behold, a handsome young man got out of the car. Then for no apparent reason he looked in my direction and waved. Over the next four years, George and I sat underneath the oak tree and shared our ideas and dreams. One of his dreams was to run in the Olympics. I am not quite sure if that was his dream or a need to please his father. Every birthday and special occasion, George sent me a dozen gorgeous American Beauty roses. Seeing they came from the local florist shop and being a suspicious teenager, I’d ask the shop’s owner if George sent roses to other girls. The answer was no. But what else would he say? We often visited the ice cream parlor in the center of our small town. Each of us would order a milkshake, although I could seldom finish mine. George would insist I take the remainder of the milkshake home. This was accompanied by a lecture from him on the evils of wastefulness. During those years we went to movies, football games, baseball games, parties and once in a while to watch the trotters at the Thistledown Racetrack. Only once did George become angry with me. We attended a dinner dance at the University Club in Cleveland, and after a rather tiresome dinner, the band began to play the Mexican Hat Dance. George asked me to dance. I refused, saying, “It’s a silly dance and I don’t want to look foolish.” George responded, “If you continue to say no, I am taking you home right now.” And he did. You can imagine the ride back to Bay Village. The silence was deafening. When we arrived at my house, George, ever the gentleman, helped me out of the car and guided me up the porch steps to the front door. When he started to leave, he looked me straight in the eyes and said, “Don’t expect me to call you again.” Early the next morning the phone rang. It was George. “Look on your front step.” I hurried to the front door, opened it and there, in all its glory, was a bright red sombrero with a small sign pinned to it saying, “Sorry.” In those days it wasn’t in George to stay angry. In the late fall, hand in hand, we would stroll along the shores of Lake Erie while watching a golden sun melt into a frosty horizon. We were two young dreamers in harmony with each other and the world around us. As time went on, we went to separate colleges and gradually grew apart. But I’ll always remember him as a fun-loving, kind and generous young man who brightened my youth. In a letter from George dated May 15 1950, he addressed me by my maiden name and wrote: “Well, Elster, I bought a pair of white bucks today, and I thought you would be pleased to know that I plan to wear them all around the Hicksville town we live in. You can laugh till the cows come home, and it won’t bother me.” He did wear the shoes, and I did laugh till the cows came home. | Steinbrenner George M 3d;Schriner Mary Jane;New York Yankees;Letters |
ny0246070 | [
"us"
] | 2011/04/24 | In Chicago, Drill Team Provides an Escape From Violence, but Not Completely | As his team pulled into Dayton, Ohio, at 4 a.m. one day in early April, the head coach of the South Shore Drill Team was confident that his sleepy squad of 15 teenagers from some of Chicago’s toughest neighborhoods had a shot at glory for the first time in nearly 20 years. They had done everything he had asked. They had worked hard in practice for months and were ready to win the color guard world championship if they could complete one more task: block out the violence and struggle back home. It would not be easy. There were 62 teams chasing the same dream, and the ghosts and hardships of the city had followed the Chicago squad on the road. The team barely had enough money for food and gas. Hotels were out of the question. In Dayton, a lucky few slept on air mattresses scattered across the gym of a Boys and Girls Club. But most of the team, including the coach, Michael Borum, 32, had only sheets and blankets, which they spread on the floor. “I was right down there with them,” Mr. Borum said. One of the team’s hardest-working and oldest members, Jeffrey Lovett, 20, who had been with the team since he was 9, did not make the trip. He was at home in the South suburbs nursing a gunshot wound to the stomach that he sustained while trying to break up a fight at a party a few weeks before. “The doctors said two more inches and I could have been dead,” he said. “But I ain’t a street guy, so God spared my life.” The experience rattled his teammates. “People only see the performances,” Mr. Borum said. “They don’t see what we go through to keep the kids off the street. They don’t see what the kids go through to stay off the streets.” In its 31-year history, the South Shore Drill Team has never really been about winning titles or glory. It has been about keeping at-risk youth out of harm’s way. On April 8 it accomplished both. For the second time in 19 years, the team from Chicago hoisted the championship trophy toward the roof of University of Dayton Arena. The teenagers were giddy, including Rodney Nelson, 18, who wept “tears of joy.” “Holding that trophy up was amazing,” he said. Moments later, Rodney’s sister, Ahliya, 16, a member of the girls’ drill team, weaved through the celebration and stood in front of her big brother. Ahliya also was crying. “Quintin’s been shot,” she said, sobbing. “He’s dead.” Childhood Friends Quintin Turner, 17, and Rodney Nelson grew up together in the Bronzeville neighborhood on the South Side. As boys they did everything together. They played basketball, walked to the lakefront, traveled downtown, dreamed of flying airplanes across oceans. “I knew Quintin all my life,” Rodney said. “He was a great kid. Funny. Friendly. Full of energy.” As they got older, Rodney said, he started “hanging with the wrong people, getting into trouble, which is easy to do where I come from.” Then he saw the South Shore Drill Team marching in a parade five years ago, throwing mock rifles high into the air and deftly catching them as the crowd, especially the girls, cheered. “To be honest, I mainly joined the drill team for the females at first,” Rodney said. “Then I started getting out of the neighborhood and it got to be a habit.” Rodney said he had tried to recruit Quintin too, but he had his own interests, his own plan for staying off the corner and alive. “Me trying to do something positive with my life with the drill team — Quintin was doing the same thing playing football,” Rodney said. Before leaving for Ohio, Rodney called Quintin and told him he was going to return home “a world champion.” Rodney was glad they had talked. He had not seen much of his old friend in recent months because he had been busy practicing with the drill team. When the team arrived in Dayton at 4 a.m., the Boys and Girls Club where they were to stay was closed. The team had to sleep in its two rented vans for three hours, until the club opened. At the Friday night finals of the Winter Guard International Class A division , the team performed a skit called “Mind Heist,” based on a scene from the movie “Inception.” A review of the finals in the Winter Guard International newsletter said the performance by the South Shore team had been “eye popping” and included “one of the season’s most spectacular endings, where high rifle aerials combined with leaps and somersaults, culminating in a perfect catch, which had the entire arena on their feet.” Afterward, Elijah Thomas, 18, called Jeffrey Lovett back in Chicago and told him the team had won. Mr. Lovett, whose gunshot wound in the stomach was closed with 29 staples, did not believe him, so Elijah put his cellphone on speaker mode so Mr. Lovett could hear the celebration. “I’ll be at practice as soon as y’all get back,” Mr. Lovett told his teammates. In Broad Daylight Shortly before 5 p.m. on the day of the championship, Quintin Turner was walking with two friends near the post office at the corner of 46th Street and Cottage Grove Avenue when someone opened fire from a moving car, striking the three young men. Quintin was hit in the face. He was pronounced dead at 5:45 p.m. at a hospital. The police said that the case remains open. Will Burns, the incoming alderman for the ward, said police officials had told him that there is a continuing gang war in the neighborhood. “These guys are shooting in broad daylight,” Mr. Burns said. “These are clearly people who have no common sense or decency.” A few hours after Quintin was killed, word reached Dayton. Rodney’s sister got a call from a friend. She wanted to tell Rodney right away, but Mr. Borum, the coach, asked her to wait. “Let him enjoy the moment,” he said. When she did tell Rodney, his tears of joy turned to “tears for my loss.” He retreated to a corner and wept. His teammates followed and encircled him. “That made me break down even more,” Rodney said. “The drill team is my family, and that love and comfort they showed made me cry. I told them if it wasn’t for me being there with them, I probably would have been with Quintin, getting shot.” Rodney said his friend was not involved in either of the warring gangs but was probably walking with the two other young men for protection the day he was shot. “Nobody likes to walk the streets alone,” he said. “Anything can happen. Now I think twice about walking with somebody else. Groups attract more attention.” Quintin’s funeral was Tuesday at Gatling’s Chapel on the Far South Side. Several of Quintin’s teachers from the Tilden Career Community Academy joined dozens of young people to say goodbye. Rodney got up to speak but broke down before finishing. “When I saw that casket close, I felt nervous,” he said later. “I felt guilty. I wish I could have prevented it from happening.” After the funeral, Rodney’s mother dropped him off at the place he said he feels safest: drill-team practice. | Chicago (Ill);Children and Youth;Organizations Societies and Clubs |
ny0110024 | [
"world",
"middleeast"
] | 2012/05/06 | Explosions Hit Major Syrian Cities, Leaving at Least 3 Dead | DAMASCUS, Syria (Reuters) — An explosion killed at least three people in Aleppo, and two blasts hit a Damascus highway on Saturday in further signs that rebels fighting to topple President Bashar al-Assad are shifting tactics toward homemade explosives. Syria’s state news agency said three people had been killed, one of them a child, and 21 had been wounded by a booby-trapped car in the northern city of Aleppo. The Syrian Observatory for Humans Rights, an opposition group based in Britain that relies on information from Syrian activists, said the blast destroyed a carwash in Tal al-Zarazeer, a poor suburb, and killed five people. A member of the rebel Free Syrian Army claimed responsibility for the bombing, saying that the carwash was used by members of a pro-Assad militia. “We placed a bomb inside a car,” said the rebel, Ali al-Halabi. He said seven people were killed. Aleppo, Syria’s largest city and its commercial capital, has been spared the worst of a conflict that has turned some cities into battle zones, but on Thursday security forces and students wielding knives attacked anti-Assad protesters at the university, killing four and detaining 200. In Damascus, the capital, two bombs exploded on Al Thawra Street, a central thoroughfare, destroying nine cars. There was no word on casualties. “We heard a big explosion,” said a resident of a nearby neighborhood. “The security forces have blocked off the area now.” The bombings dealt another blow to a crumbling truce brokered by the United Nations and the Arab League. Fifty out of a planned total of 300 United Nations observers are now in Syria to monitor the cease-fire declared on April 12, but their presence has not halted the violence. Activists said at least 37 people were killed on Friday when security forces fired on protesters around the country. Deadly blasts have shaken major cities as the rebels seek to even the odds between their outgunned forces and the tanks and helicopters in Mr. Assad’s arsenal. “We want to show foreign journalists in Syria that Damascus is not silent, to embarrass the regime,” said Emad, an activist who lives near Al Thawra Street, giving only his first name for fear of arrest. | Damascus (Syria);Aleppo (Syria);Middle East and North Africa Unrest (2010- );Bombs and Explosives;Free Syrian Army;Syria;Assad Bashar al- |
ny0206495 | [
"sports",
"baseball"
] | 2009/06/03 | Randy Johnson Bids for 300th Win Wednesday | WASHINGTON — Anticipation shot through the visiting clubhouse Tuesday, briefly interrupting the video games and the card games that occupied the San Francisco Giants . They seemed to sense a milestone approaching, a date sure to be recorded, a moment they will not soon forget. Only this moment had nothing to do with Randy Johnson , the pitcher who will attempt Wednesday to become the latest 300-game winner. Instead, Wednesday’s scheduled visit to the White House dominated conversations the way Johnson has long dominated the opposition. Johnson strolled through the clubhouse, slim as ever, 6 feet 10 inches, unnoticed and unbothered, on the verge of a landmark victory but not inclined to speak about it. He left the questions of his place in history to others, left them to answer why, at 45, he continues to walk to the mound every fifth game, even after the five Cy Young Awards , the perfect game and the World Series championship. “He’s trying to establish himself as one of the greatest pitchers of all time,” said Dave Valle, one of Johnson’s catchers in Seattle. “It hasn’t been about the Cy Youngs. He’s done that. It wasn’t about the money. He has that.” To win his 300th on Wednesday would be fitting, considering that Johnson is pitching for the Giants, a team near where he grew up in Northern California, and against the Nationals, the franchise that drafted him in 1985 when it was the Montreal Expos. “This is his opportunity to really carve his name into the record books,” Valle said. “And he’s certainly doing that.” After 606 games, after more than 4,000 innings and 4,843 strikeouts, Johnson is one victory from becoming the 24th pitcher — the sixth left-hander — to reach 300 wins. Valle said he could not have fathomed Johnson’s longevity or dominance when the big lefty now known as the Big Unit arrived in Seattle in 1989. The Mariners were the second of Johnson’s six clubs, and he arrived with all of three victories after a trade with Montreal. Valle’s body took the brunt of Johnson’s development. When Johnson missed against right-handed hitters, he often missed up and away, leaving Valle to stretch for fastballs that screamed toward home plate at more than 100 miles per hour. Errant sliders smacked Valle’s hands and wrists. Some fastballs sailed high, into the backstop. In 1993, something clicked for Johnson. Valle said he remembered the exact moment when he saw the change. The Mariners were playing in Minnesota, bases loaded, eighth inning, ahead by a run. Valle walked to the mound and told Johnson to remain in the game and pay no attention to the manager walking toward the mound. Johnson waved the manager off and finished the game. Valle said Johnson had learned to dig deeper, to realize his 80 percent effort was better than the full effort of all but baseball’s best. Years went by. Many, many, many years. Johnson slung fastballs, wore perhaps the coolest mullet in sports, even once blew up a bird with a ball in midflight. He made a dramatic relief appearance in the 1995 playoffs for the Mariners , on one day’s rest. He led the Houston Astros to the playoffs in 1998 after arriving in a trade in the middle of the season. He reached his prime after 35, winning four Cy Youngs, four strikeout titles and a World Series in four seasons with Arizona. He sent a palpable buzz through stadiums each time he took the mound, Valle said, because no one — not fans, not analysts, not even his teammates — knew what would happen next. But each knew of the unlimited possibilities presented when Johnson pitched, the three-quarters, slingshot delivery, the menacing glare, the mustache. Along the way, Johnson endured two back operations, two forgettable seasons with the Yankees and critics who called him surly and combative and questioned what role performance-enhancing drugs might have played in his longevity. He lost the mullet and some miles on his fastball, but not the glare or the mustache or an ounce of his control. He arrived this season in San Francisco, 300 victories in his reach. Immediately, he became a mentor to younger pitchers like Matt Cain, who was 4 when Johnson made his major league debut in 1988. Immediately, Johnson’s competitive nature was evident, in the way he did not speak to teammates during games, in the way he fumed after losses. “He hates to lose,” Cain said. “That’s his big thing. That’s why he’s still doing this.” Johnson has struggled this season but has improved lately. He is 4-4 with a 5.71 earned run average on a team with a strong staff that features Cain and Tuesday’s starter, the fellow Cy Young winner Tim Lincecum. Manager Bruce Bochy reiterated Tuesday what Johnson recently told Sports Illustrated — that he did not play this season simply to reach 300 wins. Still, reaching 300 has become such a rare feat, and it would place Johnson in exclusive company. Only four active pitchers — Andy Pettitte, Pedro Martinez, Jamie Moyer and John Smoltz — have won more than 200 games, and none of them are likely to reach 300. “He might still be pitching in five years,” Randy Winn, Johnson’s Giants teammate, said. “I definitely wouldn’t put it past him. But whenever he chooses to finish, obviously, he’s a first-ballot Hall of Famer. He’ll go down as one of the most feared left-handed pitchers to ever play this game.” | Johnson Randy;Baseball;San Francisco Giants |
ny0158066 | [
"business"
] | 2008/12/27 | Foreclosures Don’t Spare the House of God | After years of renting makeshift quarters, Seabreeze Church finally bought a permanent home in 2004 — a five-acre former tennis club in a beachside Southern California town. The price was high and the building plans ambitious, but Seabreeze secured a $5 million loan from a credit union that caters to evangelical churches and raised several million more. The congregation moved in last year, just as credit markets froze, and now the church finds itself struggling to pay its bills as weekly expenses outpace weekly giving. “We were kind of like that young married couple that really stretched for their first home,” said Bevan Unrau, the church’s senior pastor. “But I don’t think we’re completely unique.” The era of easy credit has begun taking its toll on even the most sacred of borrowers, religious institutions. Many churches expanded during the real estate boom, as banks large and small lent money based on assumptions about growth in their donations. The lenders were, in a sense, betting on the likelihood that a particular pastor could attract a large audience or, in some cases, on the popularity of one denomination over another. But, where those bets were wrong, or too optimistic, congregations found themselves knee-deep in debt and at risk of losing their houses of worship. Hundreds of churches across the country have received foreclosure notices in recent months, and even more are behind on mortgage payments. An economic downturn tends to increase church attendance, but the amount each churchgoer donates tends to decrease. And newer members usually donate less than older ones. Churches can trim spending by cutting staff and social activities, but for many parishes, the biggest monthly expense is the mortgage. Historically, churches were wary of debt, and many old-line congregations have owned their buildings free and clear for decades. But borrowing by churches became more common in the 1990s, reaching $28 billion nationwide in 2006, including mortgages, construction loans and church bonds, according to Lambert, Edwards & Associates, a consulting business in Grand Rapids, Mich. New companies and nonprofit organizations focused on church lending sprang up, as did real estate investment trusts and other bundles of church loans, which were sold to investors. The rise of nondenominational churches and a resurgence in the evangelical movement also led to more religious institutions seeking to borrow. Churches were often founded in storefronts or school auditoriums, but as they grew, they built sprawling edifices, including so-called mega-churches. At the same time, some older churches lost members as young people went elsewhere, and had to borrow to survive. Some in the church lending industry say aggressive lenders pushed church mortgages, too. “Some of the mentality that you saw taking hold of the residential marketplace probably shifted into the church,” said Dan Mikes, executive vice president of the church banking division of Bank of the West, a subsidiary of BNP Paribas. “Lenders loaned far too much, they loaned into lofty projections of future growth, and they just saddled the churches with far too much debt.” At least a quarter of religious properties have mortgages, according to an analysis of property and mortgage filings in 115 United States counties completed for The New York Times by First American CoreLogic, a data provider in California. But that number is far higher than it would have been without the mortgage boom. The number of mortgages issued to churches in those counties in 2005 was 50 percent higher than in 2002, the analysis showed. Foreclosure filings have fallen on the doorstep of 254 properties, or 0.31 percent of the 82,441 churches studied. The percentage is higher when churches without mortgages are excluded. St. Andrew’s Anglican Church in Easton, Md., exemplifies the optimistic assumptions that fed church lending. St. Andrew’s had only 35 members in 2005 when it moved from a rented storefront to a Gothic revival-style chapel built in 1866. The building cost $795,000, but the church borrowed $50,000 from one lender and $850,000 from the Talbot Bank of Easton, according to W. David Morse, a vice president of the bank. The church hoped its congregation would expand at a time when some Episcopalians were leaving their churches to join Anglican parishes. But by early this year, St. Andrew’s had not grown much and had fallen behind on its mortgage. By August, as interest racked up, it owed Talbot Bank $884,657. At auction this month, Talbot took possession of the church for $700,000, giving the congregation weeks to move out unless the auction is contested. “In hindsight, any loan that goes bad will invariably look ‘ambitious,’ ” Mr. Morse said. “At the time the loan was made, the board of directors obviously believed” in the vision and projected growth of the church. Fewer than 30 people attended the church service on the Sunday before Christmas, and most kept their coats on, shivering in the cold because the heat had been turned down to save money. “I bid your prayers for this parish and that God will continue to sustain it,” Bishop Joel Johnson told the congregation. To be sustained, a church does not necessarily need a home. For instance, the Living Truth Church in Des Moines was foreclosed on last summer and now the congregation meets in a local Boys & Girls Club. In Houston, the St. Agnes Baptist Church was foreclosed on in September, but the bank that took over simply rented the building back to the church. Church mortgages, long a niche product, became more mainstream in the past decade. Bank of America and other national banks expanded their practices, and in the last few years specialty financing companies began bundling church mortgages to be sold to investors. Moody’s Investors Service, for instance, rated a handful of church mortgage securitizations just before the financial crisis. Churches are also included in a small fraction of commercial mortgage-backed securities, according to Trepp, a New York research business that tracks the commercial mortgage market. But there are few public filings by churches, which are not required to disclose details of their bond offerings to the public. One exception is church real estate investment trusts, or REITS, which are required to file disclosures with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In one such filing, by the Church Loan and Investments Trust in Amarillo, Tex., nonperforming church loans increased 14 percent for the quarter that ended on Sept. 30, compared with the quarter a year earlier. That real estate investment trust also disclosed in its filing that in 2004 it increased the levels of debt that it would allow its churches to take on to 85 percent of the value of their properties, from 67 percent. No national regulations govern church debt levels. Veterans of church lending predicted most church loans would not fall into the same kind of trouble as the housing and office markets. “You’re beginning with a borrower that considers it a moral obligation to repay his loan,” said Timothy Horner, a partner with Warner Norcross & Judd, a law firm in Grand Rapids, Mich., who has worked on church financing issues. That seems to be the case at the Seabreeze Church in Huntington Beach, Calif. The church reduced its monthly payments by switching to an interest-only mortgage with its lender, the Evangelical Christian Credit Union. Pastor Unrau and his staff now work out of home offices or the Sunday school classrooms instead of separate office space. Each week, he posts the church’s expenses and the amount of donations. Last week, giving totaled $14,066 and expenses were $29,693. Pastor Unrau said people at churches are sometimes not realistic enough in their thinking. “ ‘Well, maybe God’s just going to make this go away,’ ” he said. “But, actually, we have a responsibility for the situation.” | Religion and Churches;Mortgages;Subprime Mortgage Crisis;Credit |
ny0051886 | [
"sports",
"soccer"
] | 2014/10/24 | Three Teams Undefeated in Europa League | Fiorentina, Dynamo Moscow and Legia maintained their perfect starts to the Europa League. Fiorentina secured a third straight win by beating host PAOK Salonika, 1-0, through Juan Vargas’ goal. Dynamo Moscow beat host Estoril, 2-1, and Legia Warsaw beat Metalist Kharkiv, 1-0. Tottenham scored a 5-1 home victory over the Greek side Asteras Tripolis behind a hat trick by the young striker Harry Kane. After keeper Hugo Lloris was sent off in the 87th minute, Kane went into goal, giving up Asteras’s only goal. A game between the former Czechoslovak rivals Slovan Bratislava and Sparta Prague was interrupted for more than half an hour because of fighting among fans. Visiting Sparta won, 3-0. | Soccer;UEFA Europa League;Fiorentina;Dynamo Moscow;Legia Warsaw |
ny0098864 | [
"world",
"middleeast"
] | 2015/06/08 | Yemen: Military Headquarters Bombed | Saudi-led airstrikes before dawn Sunday struck the headquarters of Yemen’s armed forces in Sana, the rebel-held capital, killing at least 22 people, officials said. Most of the dead were soldiers, they said, and the airstrikes damaged several nearby homes. Residents said at least three airstrikes hit the headquarters, a short distance from the city’s center. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to journalists. The Saudi-led coalition began airstrikes in March against the Yemeni rebels known as Houthis and their allies in the military and security forces. The Houthis seized Sana in September and later captured much of northern Yemen before moving south in March. Their southern advance forced the internationally recognized president, Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi, to flee to Saudi Arabia. | Saudi Arabia;Yemen;Houthis;International relations;Sana Yemen;Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi |
ny0130382 | [
"us"
] | 2012/06/14 | Florida: Everglades Plan Advances | The Environmental Protection Agency approved an $880 million plan to improve Everglades water quality on Wednesday, setting the clock on a 12-year cleanup project. The Everglades are a critical water source for South Florida, but have been damaged by the intrusion of farms and other development. Dikes, dams and canals have been cut, draining much of the swamp and polluting it with fertilizers and urban runoff. The state and federal governments’ efforts to restore the wetlands have been stymied for years by financing shortfalls, legal challenges and political bickering. Though state financing and actual construction remain significant hurdles, the approval outlines a specific action, which has been haggled over for years between the state and federal governments. | Wetlands;Environmental Protection Agency;Everglades (Fla);Florida;Water |
ny0021593 | [
"business"
] | 2013/09/28 | F.T.C. Votes for Inquiry Into Patent Businesses | WASHINGTON — Stepping into a volatile debate in the technology sector, the Federal Trade Commission on Friday said it would use its subpoena power to begin an investigation of so-called patent trolls, businesses whose primary purpose is to stockpile patents and use them to sue other companies. The action, which the commission’s chairwoman recommended in June , is the first step in what is likely to be a lengthy and broad investigation. It could eventually result in antitrust enforcement against some of the companies and could provide momentum for efforts under way in Congress to tighten restrictions on such lawsuits. The effort is intended to document the costs and benefits of a rising tide of patent litigation, said Edith Ramirez, the commission’s chairwoman. In announcing the investigation, the F.T.C. said it would seek information from roughly 25 companies that buy and sell patents, and 15 other companies that manufacture devices and write software and applications. “Patents are key to innovation and competition, so it’s important for us to get a better understanding” of how the companies, also known as patent assertion entities, operate, Ms. Ramirez said on Friday. The subpoenas will solicit information about the financial operations of the firms, and they will seek to uncover how much they earn from patent lawsuits and licensing, and how the profits are distributed to investors. “This will give regulators the ability to penetrate the shroud of secrecy that patent trolls operate behind,” said Daniel Nazer, a lawyer at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a nonprofit organization that focuses on free speech and technology. “Patent trolls have complex structures, with thousands of shell companies. It’s impossible to know who is pulling the strings and getting the dollars.” But other patent experts say they fear that the effort could be little more than a fishing expedition, looking for problems that the investigators have already decided exist. “At the end of the day, these are licensing companies that are practicing their property rights, much as a landlord is practicing his property rights by leasing a house,” said Adam Mossoff, a law professor at George Mason University. Even the term “patent assertion” implies that the purpose of the company is to file lawsuits, Mr. Mossoff said, adding that he prefers calling them what they are — patent licensing companies. Andrew Gavil, director of the office for policy planning at the F.T.C., said the agency had not predetermined anything about companies that license patents. “This is a statistical study,” he said. “We are not trying to lay a foundation for an enforcement action.” He said the commission hoped to begin requesting information from companies in the late winter or early spring. The decision to move forward with the investigation was unanimously approved, 4 to 0, by the commission. Image Edith Ramirez, head of the Federal Trade Commission, wants to study the firms because of the increase in patent litigation. Credit Mary F. Calvert for The New York Times If the commission finds evidence of companies’ filing frivolous lawsuits accompanied by demands for payments to license questionable patents, it can begin enforcement proceedings using its anticompetition and antitrust authority. The types of companies targeted by the F.T.C. certainly seem to spend a lot of time in court. They accounted for more than 60 percent of the 4,000 patent lawsuits filed in 2012, up from 29 percent two years earlier. This year, President Obama has called for the federal government to ascertain how such companies are operating. He directed executive agencies to take steps to “protect innovators from frivolous litigation.” American technology companies also have been worried that their patent problems will spread to Europe with the start of a new unified patent court system there. The companies that are generally pointed to as the largest of the litigators say that while there is abuse of patents in some sectors, they themselves are not involved in frivolous litigation. Patent assertion entities span a spectrum. On one end are companies that are essentially legal shells that send letters to businesses claiming infringement and demanding payments; in 2011, for example, such a company targeted coffee shops for setting up Wi-Fi networks for customers. At the other end are companies like Mosaid Technologies and Intellectual Ventures, which buy patents from technology companies, assembling large portfolios that they use to generate licensing payments that run to the millions of dollars. Intellectual Ventures, frequently cited as one of the largest patent assertion entities, said it welcomed the inquiry. “By gathering data from 25 patent assertion entities and 15 operating companies, we believe the F.T.C. analysis would help policy makers make decisions on patent reform based on business behaviors not business models,” said Russ Merbeth, its chief policy counsel. In 2011, Congress completed an effort that was supposed to be an overhaul of the patent system. But among its features was a provision that said a company could not file a patent infringement lawsuit against multiple companies in a single court action; rather, it had to file the cases separately. The idea was that frivolous lawsuits would diminish because of the cost of filing more cases. Instead, the number of patent cases soared. In part, that reflects the fact that a company will often find it more economical to pay to settle a case rather than pay to defend itself. Not Martha Stewart. This week, her company, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, filed a lawsuit in the Eastern District of Wisconsin against a patent-assertion entity named the Lodsys Group. Lodsys claimed in a letter that four of Martha Stewart Living’s iPad apps infringed its patents, and it offered to sell a license for the patents for $5,000 apiece. Although fighting the case will probably cost it more than the $20,000 requested, Ms. Stewart’s company asked the court to rule the patents invalid. | FTC;Inventions and Patents;Lawsuits;Companies |
ny0071858 | [
"nyregion"
] | 2015/03/09 | Crypt at St. Patrick’s Cathedral Is Made Ready to Receive a Cardinal | Underneath the gold altar at St. Patrick’s Cathedral , two small copper doors, turned green by time, provide passage to the cathedral’s crypt, a sanctuary within a sanctuary. On Tuesday, St. Patrick’s will host the funeral Mass for Cardinal Edward M. Egan , who died on Thursday at age 82. After the service, the doors to the crypt will be opened so that Cardinal Egan, who led the Archdiocese of New York for nearly a decade, from 2000 to 2009, can be entombed alongside his predecessors. It is a ritual that is rarely undertaken in a part of the cathedral that is rarely seen. Observed after Mass on Sunday, the crypt is small and, with its black, speckled floor, light gray marble and fluorescent lighting, it feels spare. A gold prie-dieu, or kneeling prayer desk, is one of the few obvious signs of the sanctity of the space. Its simplicity stands in contrast to the grandeur of the rest of St. Patrick’s, which is the seat of the archdiocese and in the midst of a major renovation that has cluttered the inside of the cathedral with an unsightly web of scaffolding. Cardinal Egan’s body will arrive at the cathedral on Monday morning, and a public viewing will be held starting at noon. Image A painting of Cardinal Edward M. Egan, who died on Thursday, stood near the altar during Mass on Sunday. Credit Michael Appleton for The New York Times After the funeral Mass on Tuesday, Cardinal Egan’s successor as archbishop, Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan , will say a final blessing in the crypt. He will be joined there by Msgr. Robert T. Ritchie, the rector of St. Patrick’s; other church leaders; and members of Cardinal Egan’s family. The tombs inside the crypt are stacked one atop another, in a sort of marble checkerboard, and over the weekend preparations for the services were well underway. The marble slab for Cardinal Egan’s space had been taken to Domenick DiNigris Monuments in the Bronx, where the stone was being engraved with the dates that marked the beginning and end of his life and his tenure as archbishop of New York, as well as the coat of arms he designed for himself. The interior of the tomb had been sprinkled with white plastic beads meant to help a coffin slide more easily into its stone resting place, Monsignor Ritchie said. And the pallbearers who will carry Cardinal Egan’s coffin had practiced bringing one down the stairway, to make sure they knew how many stairs they would have to navigate on Tuesday. Cardinal Egan will be buried next to his predecessor as archbishop, Cardinal John O’Connor . Along with archbishops, a handful of other notable Catholics are laid to rest in the crypt. Below Cardinal O’Connor’s tomb is the one that holds Pierre Toussaint , a Haitian slave who bought his freedom in New York and became a great supporter of the church. Monsignor Michael J. Lavelle, a rector of St. Patrick’s from 1879 to 1939, is also entombed there, above Cardinal Egan’s spot, because of his lengthy service to the cathedral. While Monsignor Ritchie, who knows the crypt better than anyone else at the church, has been rector for nine years, he does not think his tenure will rival Monsignor Lavelle’s. “I don’t expect to be buried here,” he said, with a wide grin. “I already have my plot picked out in the Bronx.” | Cardinal Egan,Edward Egan;St. Patrick's Cathedral;Funerals;Catholic Church;Tombstone;church,churches;Manhattan |
ny0279276 | [
"world",
"middleeast"
] | 2016/10/03 | For Mahmoud Abbas, a Gesture. For Critics, a Betrayal. | JERUSALEM — For Mahmoud Abbas , the Palestinian president, what was intended as a gesture of respect for a man of peace has brought him anything but peace back home. His brief visit to Jerusalem to attend the funeral of Shimon Peres , the former prime minister and president of Israel , and his handshake with the current prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu , brought a fierce backlash from many Palestinians who called it an act of betrayal by a leader who has grown out of touch. The youth movement of Mr. Abbas’s own Fatah party at one university declared that he had “committed a crime” and called on him to apologize and resign. A Palestinian military officer was so critical of Mr. Abbas on Facebook that security forces went to his home and arrested him. On Twitter, angry Palestinians used Arabic hashtags that translate to #Treason, #CondolenceForTheKiller and #AbbasDoesNotRepresentMe. “Abu Mazen’s participation in the funeral is an absolute disgrace to the Palestinian people,” Abu Samah, 52, an electrician from Ramallah, said in an interview, using Mr. Abbas’s nickname. Abu Nidal, 36, a taxi driver, complained that Mr. Abbas had joined an Israeli event even as Israelis used force against Palestinians to administer the occupation of the West Bank and continued to build settlements on land claimed by Palestinians. “Why would you honor a man responsible for the killing of your own people and then willingly shake the hands of the current enemy who is continuing to enforce the torture of his people?” Mr. Nidal asked. “Shame on you, Abu Mazen.” The reaction to Mr. Abbas’s attendance at the funeral underscored divergent views of Mr. Peres. In Israel, the United States and much of the world, he was admired for his part in negotiating the Oslo accords , which won him a Nobel Peace Prize. But he was remembered in the West Bank, in Gaza and elsewhere in the Arab world as an Israeli security hawk who was instrumental in building Israel’s military might and promoted settlements on Palestinian territory. He also launched a military offensive against Hezbollah in Lebanon in 1996, during which Israeli artillery shelling of a United Nations base killed scores of Lebanese refugees, many of them children. The wave of criticism also reflects the weakened domestic position for Mr. Abbas and his ruling team after more than a decade in power at the Palestinian Authority . With the peace process frozen, Mr. Abbas has little to show for his cooperation with Israel on security and other matters, according to many Palestinians in the West Bank, who see their leaders as, in effect, Israeli collaborators. To his critics, Mr. Abbas seems less interested in his domestic audience than the international community, particularly in Washington. And yet his international patrons are worried that he is losing the credibility that would be necessary for a peace process to have a chance at success, should it ever be restarted. Mr. Abbas earned praise from world leaders for attending the funeral while other Arab leaders stayed away. In his eulogy, President Obama hailed him for coming. Official Palestinian news agencies published interviews praising Mr. Abbas for acting like a statesman and creating new opportunities for negotiations. Video Israelis and Palestinians shared their thoughts on the legacy of the former prime minister and president of Israel. Mohammed al-Madani, an adviser to Mr. Abbas who attended the funeral with him, said the decision to go would advance the Palestinian cause internationally. “All the world leaders who were at the funeral applauded the president’s participation, and 90 percent of the attendants shook his hands,” Mr. Madani told a Fatah-affiliated radio station, according to Maan News , an Arabic news agency. “It was a political move rather than just participation in a funeral.” Mahmoud Habbash, who served for years as religious affairs adviser for Mr. Abbas, said the Palestinian leader had acted in the best tradition of his faith. The Prophet Muhammad participated in his Jewish neighbor’s funeral, he told Arabic news outlets, “and Peres is our neighbor.” The 1996 shelling that killed Lebanese refugees sheltered at the United Nations base made Mr. Abbas’s presence at the funeral especially controversial in Lebanon. “There is nothing worse than the death of the former Israeli president Shimon Peres, quietly, on the land of occupied Palestine, except the pilgrimage of Arab and Palestinian officialdom to participate in his funeral,” the Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar declared in an editorial . Another Lebanese newspaper, Assafir, described Mr. Abbas’s participation as “shaking the hands of a killer at the funeral of a killer.” The decision gave Mr. Abbas’s foes in Hamas fresh ammunition against him. Mahmoud Zahar, a co-founder of Hamas, told an Iranian television channel that under Islamic law, Mr. Abbas now qualified as a Jew. “I pray for Allah that he will join Peres in hell,” Mr. Zahar said. The criticism extended inside Mr. Abbas’s Fatah party and across social media. Cartoons mocking him were posted and shared. One such cartoon showed Mr. Abbas placing a wreath on a boot representing Mr. Peres; on Mr. Abbas’s backside was a boot print. A Facebook video posted by a critic who excoriated Mr. Abbas had more than 330,000 views by Sunday evening. The funeral was held as violence, and the fear of it, continued. A Palestinian man stabbed an Israeli soldier on Friday at the Qalandiya checkpoint between Ramallah and Jerusalem and was then shot to death, according to the Israeli authorities. Israeli forces shut down all crossings with the West Bank for two days for Rosh Hashana, as they typically do during Jewish holidays. The Palestinian authorities have reacted sharply to some of the criticism. Besides arresting the Palestinian officer, who wrote on Facebook that Mr. Abbas had “made a mistake” by agreeing to “participate in the funeral of the killer of our people,” the authorities shut down the website of the Fatah youth movement at Birzeit University , which had condemned Mr. Abbas for his “betrayal.” Several students were reported to have been detained. Mr. Abbas seemed to react to the criticism by taking a hard line on Israel again as soon as he returned home. At a factory groundbreaking ceremony in Bethlehem, he vowed to break the Israeli occupation. “It is true that we are a state under an occupation that persecutes, oppresses, seizes our land piece by piece, runs after our youth and destroys our homes,” he said, according to reports from the event. “Let them do what they want and build what they want, but we will build our nation and will establish our independent state.” | Mahmoud Abbas;Shimon Peres;Benjamin Netanyahu;Palestinian Authority;Palestinians;Jerusalem;Ramallah West Bank;Israel |
ny0055505 | [
"us"
] | 2014/09/04 | North Carolina Men Are Released After Convictions Are Overturned | RALEIGH, N.C. — Henry Lee McCollum had barely slept in days, terrified that his dream of 31 years — being released from North Carolina’s death row — might not come true. But finally on Wednesday morning, after one more night of delays, he was driven out of the concertina-wire gates of the central prison here and to the waiting arms of his parents. “I just thank God I’m out of this place,” Mr. McCollum, 50, said. “Now I want to eat, I want to sleep, and I want to wake up tomorrow and see that this is real.” Despite a judge’s order on Tuesday overturning their conviction in the 1983 rape and murder of a child , Mr. McCollum and his half brother, Leon Brown, remained in custody overnight as officials processed the paperwork for their release. Mr. McCollum finally left the prison around 9:45 a.m. on Wednesday. Mr. Brown, 46, who was serving a life sentence, was released from prison around 1 p.m. He walked out of the prison gates in Maury, N.C., 80 miles east of here, and was embraced by family members. “God is good all the time,” he said. Image Mr. McCollum, 50, wearing a dark jacket, hugged his father after being freed. Credit Jonathan M. Katz for The New York Times When Mr. McCollum was finally released, his father and stepmother, James and Priscilla McCollum, began to cry and shout for joy as the son they call Buddy stepped out in a houndstooth jacket, khaki pants and slate blue tie he had been given by the lawyers who helped secure his release. The legal team, from the Center for Death Penalty Litigation , began weeping and hugging as well. Standing a free man in fresh air for the first time in his adult life, Mr. McCollum swatted away gnats as he faced a phalanx of television cameras. He told the reporters that his faith in God had sustained him through years of fear that the legal system that had wrongly incarcerated him would also wrongly take his life. Mr. McCollum also spoke of the 152 men still on death row in the state prison, whom he called his family. “You’ve still got innocent people on North Carolina death row,” he said. “Also you’ve got some guys who should not have gotten the death penalty. That’s wrong. You got to do something about those guys.” Finally free, Mr. McCollum, who like Mr. Brown is mentally disabled — Mr. Brown’s I.Q. in tests has registered as low as 51 — faces the challenge of his life: learning to live in a world he has not experienced since he was a teenager three decades ago. On death row, Mr. McCollum was never allowed to open a door, turn on the light switch or use a zipper. He never had a cellphone and until last week had not used the Internet. (He excitedly told his stepmother about his first use of Google Maps days ago, when he saw pictures of her house.) When he got into the family car, a navy Dodge Journey, he sheepishly slipped the beige shoulder belt around his neck and let it hang, unsure of how to use it. Mr. McCollum will also have to get used to life in a state he hardly knows. Though two-thirds of his life have been spent behind North Carolina plexiglass and bars, he grew up in Jersey City and had only been visiting his mother and relatives for a short time when he and his half brother were arrested in 1983. Far from the New York metropolitan area of his youth, Mr. McCollum will now be adjusting to life in a North Carolina town with a smaller population than the death row he just left behind. The lawyers with the Center for Death Penalty Litigation said there was no formal compensation or assistance to help exonerated prisoners reintegrate into society. Image Mr. McCollum sat in court on Tuesday. Credit Chuck Liddy/The News & Observer, via Associated Press “It’s not like being on probation or parole. It’s just — good luck,” said Gerda Stein, the center’s director of public information. She added that the legal team’s own social worker was coordinating with prison social workers and psychologists to help find services for the men in the towns they are returning to. The lawyers are also considering asking for a “pardon of innocence” — a declaration affirming that a person was erroneously convicted and imprisoned — from Gov. Pat McCrory. If granted, it would allow both men to seek compensation from the state. The family, which had been focused on securing the men’s release, did not immediately have plans to seek redress from the government, Ms. Stein said. Last December, Mr. McCrory granted a pardon of innocence to LaMonte Burton Armstrong of Chapel Hill after a newly examined palm print from the crime scene showed he had been wrongly convicted of the 1988 murder of a North Carolina A&T professor. Mr. Armstrong had been released from prison in March 2013 and requested the pardon that following June, according to the governor’s office. For now Mr. McCollum’s father, James, said he wanted to get his son back home to the small town of Bolivia, near Cape Fear. “We’re going to go home to Bolivia, take a shower,” he said. “Then I’m going to say: ‘Do you want to go fishing? I’m going to teach you how to fish.’ ” As he got into the driver’s seat to leave, James McCollum put on a hat that said, “Jesus Is My Boss.” | Henry Lee McCollum;Capital punishment;False arrest;North Carolina;Leon Brown;Murders |
ny0110261 | [
"sports"
] | 2012/05/23 | State Seizes Control of New York Racing Association | Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York took control of horse racing in the state on Tuesday, announcing that he was creating a new board to replace the New York Racing Association in hopes of reforming a scandal-plagued industry that generates hundreds of millions of dollars for the state. The New York Racing Association agreed to the arrangement that will place it under the control of government appointees for three years. The colt I’ll Have Another is already in New York readying for his bid to win the Belmont Stakes on June 9 and become just the 12th Triple Crown champion, and the first since Affirmed in 1978. He has arrived at a time when the racing association is in disarray after a series of equine deaths at its racetracks, missteps by its management and formal investigations into both. Mr. Cuomo, at a news conference to announce the state’s action, said the timing had nothing do with the Belmont Stakes, but that it was urgent to address an imperiled horse-racing industry that has become increasingly reliant on the income drawn from a relatively recent arrival at the racetrack: casinos with hundreds of video slot machines. He said NYRA — the quasi-public agency that oversees the operations of tracks at Aqueduct, Belmont and Saratoga — had “never really worked” since its inception in the 1950s and cited decades of scandal, bankruptcy proceedings and a previous state financial bailout. Last week, the association’s payments from the recently opened casino at Aqueduct were suspended in the wake of the firing of Charles Hayward, NYRA’s chief executive, and Patrick Kehoe, its general counsel. State authorities had found that the association, with the knowledge of its senior executives, had improperly shortchanged bettors of millions of dollars. The new board appointed by Mr. Cuomo is charged with examining the role of drugs in horse racing and in the health and safety of horses and jockeys. This season at Aqueduct, the first to unfold with higher purses made possible by the casino revenue, saw a dramatic spike in the number of breakdowns and fatalities of horses. The number of fatalities at Aqueduct doubled after the casino opened in late October. Last month, a computer analysis by The New York Times showed that horses have broken down or shown signs of injury at a rate of 10.2 per thousand starts at the track, or double the national rate for thoroughbred racing. In many cases, records showed that horses had been injected with multiple anti-inflammatories and painkillers in the days and weeks before they raced in pursuit of increased slots-fueled purses. The New York State Racing & Wagering Board subsequently limited the size of the purses offered in races involving cheaper and potentially less sound horses. Mr. Cuomo’s decision to seize control of the industry in New York comes as racing is facing Congressional investigations, and amid calls from the ranks of respected owners and trainers to seriously reform the way racing polices drug use at the track. To many, the enactment and enforcement of tough and safe drug policies in the sport is both fractured and feeble. Racing in New York will now be overseen by a board dominated by appointees of the governor and senior state legislators. But Mr. Cuomo stressed that the state takeover was designed to be short-lived, and last no longer than three years. “We know that long term this is not a venture for government to run,” Mr. Cuomo said. The Senate majority leader, Dean G. Skelos, said: “The NYRA reorganization board will put in place new leadership to ensure that bettors and taxpayers are treated fairly and honestly. We will continue working together with the governor and NYRA so New York State remains a leading home for horse racing.” The assembly speaker, Sheldon Silver, said, “It is important to maintain the integrity of the sport so that those who come out to enjoy these events are not shortchanged or treated unfairly.” The current NYRA board will be dissolved. It is unclear whether any existing members will be part of the new leadership. Once appointed, the new board will conduct a national search for new senior management. “The NYRA reorganization board will help ensure that racing in New York has a strong and stable future as the gaming and racing industry evolves,” the NYRA chairman C. Steven Duncker said. “I thank the members of the current NYRA board for supporting the changes announced today and together we will work to ensure a smooth transition and bright future for New York racing.” | Horse Racing;New York Racing Assn;Cuomo Andrew M;Doping (Sports);New York State |
ny0146345 | [
"nyregion",
"nyregionspecial2"
] | 2008/07/27 | From River to Sea, a Race About Finishing | TWELVE years ago, the sight of the Olympic torch gave a couple of road racing buddies a bright idea. On an April day in 1996, Mark Zenobia and Dan Brannen watched the Olympic flame pass through Livingston en route to Atlanta, and began discussing the possibility of staging their own relay race. Within minutes, they were talking logistics and unfolding maps. “And the race was born right there,” Mr. Zenobia recalled, “on the hood of Dan’s car.” On Saturday, more than 750 runners will participate in the 13th annual River to Sea Relay, a 91.7-mile race that covers 34 towns and 5 counties: Huntington, Mercer, Somerset, Middlesex and Monmouth. It traverses the state, beginning in Milford, on the Delaware River, and ending on the beach in Manasquan, where many runners take a dip in the ocean before heading to an awards ceremony complete with rosette ribbons, a D.J., pizzas and sodas. It is a scenic race, but fun may not be the best way to describe it. “This event is not for the faint of heart,” Mr. Zenobia warned. “This is not a 5K road race or a bingo tournament. This is extremely hard, and not something the human body should be doing.” Indeed, the R2C, as some veterans call it, is a grueling 14-stage trek usually performed beneath an August sun that can knock the most grizzled runners off their dusty cross-trainers. The race takes some teams more than 12 hours to complete; the fastest team last year finished in just over 8 hours 10 minutes. “It’s not about winning,” said Tom Henry, 46, of Cranford, the captain of Nolan & Associates, who will participate in his 12th R2C on Saturday. “It’s about finishing.” This year’s race features 7-member teams made up of men, women or a combination of both. Each of the 110 teams has two cars in tow, one for directing runners along the arduous route, and a second to drive runners from stage to stage. “When people around the state see us going through their towns, many of them stop to ask about the race,” Mr. Henry said. “When we tell them it’s a 92-mile relay, they think we’re crazy.” Barring injury, each team member is not allowed to run more than two stages. Start times are handicapped based on the average 5K (3.1-mile) time of a given team. “Running early in the morning is not so bad,” said Tom Kelly, 67, of West Orange, who will also partake in his 12th race. “It’s when you hit the 7- or 8-mile mark, when that sun starts beating down on you and there’s no shade, that it really starts to get difficult.” The most grueling leg of the race, from Lambertville through Hopewell — an 8.2-mile jaunt between miles 20-29 — is called the Beast by those who have run the relay. A series of “monster hills,” as Mr. Zenobia calls them, are the most challenging obstacles along that stretch. “Only the craziest runners take that leg,” Mr. Zenobia said. “If you’re not fit to attempt it, don’t — it’s for the real animals of our sport.” Mr. Kelly, whose team includes his wife, Martta Rose, has tackled the Beast before. “You’re really tired when you’re done with the Beast, but it’s a nice feeling of accomplishment,” he said. “Though your body is aching, there’s very little time to feel sorry for yourself, because you have to get back in the car and start driving again.” Kim Standridge, 19, of Randolph, who runs track and field at Cornell, is the captain of MoCo LoCo, a Morris County team made up of seven women, ages 19 to 27, all of whom compete, or have competed, as long-distance runners in college. MoCo LoCo ranks atop a list of colorfully named teams that will compete in Saturday’s race, including Running With Wood (Maywood) and Where in the Shell Is the Sea (Flemington). “This is a race I really look forward to because I get to be a teammate of some of the girls I compete against during the college season,” said Ms. Standridge, who will take part in her third straight R2C. “Our team is in pretty good shape, but still, you really have to be careful and stay focused so that you have enough energy to run both legs, and at the same time, run fast enough to keep a level of competitiveness throughout.” | Running;New York City |
ny0169519 | [
"technology"
] | 2007/04/02 | Hoping to Move Guitar Notations Into the Legal Sunshine | IF budding guitarists fail to master “Stairway to Heaven” in the coming months, they can no longer blame the music publishers. Because of an agreement in March between MusicNotes, an online music publisher and the Harry Fox Agency, which represents 31,000 music publishers, guitar tablature — a popular system for teaching and learning guitar — will enter the legitimate business realm for the first time. Last year popular sites like Olga.net , MxTabs.net and others — where users post tablature, usually called “guitar tabs,” for rock songs — suspended operations after the music publishing industry threatened them with copyright infringement lawsuits. Under the new initiative, MxTabs, which is owned by MusicNotes, will share an undisclosed portion of advertising revenue with music publishers, who in turn will give a portion to artists. The effort could face a chicken-or-egg problem, in that publishers may balk if they do not see enough potential for advertising revenue, and advertisers may balk if publishers do not free enough of their music to attract a big audience. Advertising analysts suggest the revenue could be significant, but even a little is better than none. “It’s a huge opportunity, in that this is a revenue stream publishers haven’t had before,” said Gary L. Churgin the chief executive of Harry Fox Agency. “In a sense, the sky’s the limit.” The initiative is still in the early stages, and Mr. Churgin has not yet formally asked publishers if they would like to participate. Artists are even less familiar with the agreement. Still, Mr. Churgin said, he has not yet encountered resistance. “We’re a step and a half away from knowing how much it will be embraced,” he said. “But the informal feedback we’ve gotten since the announcement has been enthusiastic.” Irwin Z. Robinson, chief executive of Famous Music, Viacom ’s music publishing division, said: “This gives us, for the first time, the opportunity to get something that’s been given away or stolen for all these years. I’m very positive about it.” Mr. Robinson, whose company represents Linda Perry, a songwriter for Christina Aguilera and Pink among others, said that about 2 percent of the songs in the company’s catalog have licensed guitar tablature associated with them. For the remaining songs in Famous Music’s catalog — and the vast majority of the music publishing industry’s collective catalog — there is insufficient demand to justify the costs of publishing tablature. As a result, guitarists who want to know how to play less mainstream songs have gone to sites where amateurs post tablature. Under this agreement, MusicNotes, publishers and artists will essentially earn money from an army of volunteers, who are creating content that the publishers are not creating on their own. Tim Reiland, chairman and chief financial officer of MusicNotes, which is based in Madison, Wis., said publishers would receive “a very healthy split” of the advertising dollars. “We’ve got lots of work here to get the publishers signed up, but we think they should,” Mr. Reiland said. “We think it’s a good deal.” MusicNotes bought MxTabs.net, one of the most popular guitar tablature sites, last year as it came under legal attack by music publishers. Publishers claimed that even incorrect versions of music notation violate copyright laws, since the postings represent “derivative works” related to the original compositions, to use the legal parlance. The guitar tablature sites were typically small operations, running on little more than revenue gleaned from Google text ads. Many shut down rather than challenge the publishers in court. ( Ultimate-Guitar.com , which has a New Jersey phone number but claims that it is based in Russia and that it complies with Russian copyright laws, still operates. Its advertisers include AOL, T-Mobile and Dell, among others.) Mr. Reiland said MxTabs has more than 100,000 tabs in its files. Those tabs will remain under wraps until the site’s re-emergence this summer — assuming his company can clear at least 50,000 of those tabs with publishers. “We’d have to have at least that many to make it a good experience for the customer,” he said. Mr. Reiland and Kathleen Marsh, the chief executive of MusicNotes, are now making plans to sell advertising. That is a new realm for the company, since it has subsisted until now on fees charged to users for downloading sheet music and a small number of guitar tablatures generated by publishing houses. Ms. Marsh said the site “already has a lot of interest” from advertisers. “This demographic — teenage boys to young adults — is very similar to the demographic for gaming. There are a lot of advertisers who are interested in that group.” Shar VanBoskirk, an analyst with Forrester Research, said tablature sites could also join other online publishers and anonymously track the Internet travels of their users. The budding guitar players might somehow show that they were shopping for a car, for instance, or other expensive goods. Suddenly, she said, “these users are really valuable targets for sellers of all kinds.” Lauren Keiser, the president of the Music Publishers’ Association, and the chief executive of Carl Fischer, a music publisher in New York, said he would offer the MusicNotes proposal to his board this month to gauge their reaction. “As a publisher, I want to see this baby walk,” he said. “And we’ll see. There might be a whole bunch of other deals coming out of this.” Representatives from Ultimate-Guitar did not respond to calls seeking comment. Cathal Woods, the director of Olga, wrote via e-mail that he had, in the past, approached Harry Fox, the Music Publishers’ Association and the National Music Publishers’ Association with similar business deals. Those groups “have always rejected out-of-hand any requests about licensing,” Mr. Woods wrote. “I’m somewhat surprised by this.” | Computers and the Internet;Guitar;Music;Copyrights |
ny0216928 | [
"technology"
] | 2010/04/24 | Affiliated Computer Lifts Xerox’s First Quarter | The Xerox Corporation posted its first quarter of revenue growth in more than a year on Friday, helped by its foray into the services business and an upswing in corporate spending on printer and copier supplies. The company also offered a second-quarter earnings forecast that topped Wall Street expectations. Shares of Xerox rose 87 cents, or 8.3 percent, Friday to close at $11.32, after hitting a new 52-week high of $11.72 earlier in the day. The results came about 10 weeks after Xerox closed its $6.4 billion acquisition of Affiliated Computer Services and provided more evidence that companies were increasing spending as the recession eases. Xerox posted a loss of $42 million, or 4 cents a share, for the first three months of the year, compared with a profit of $42 million, or 5 cents a share, a year earlier. Earnings were dragged down in the most recent quarter by one-time expenses related to layoffs and the acquisition of A.C.S. Excluding one-time costs, however, Xerox said it earned 18 cents a share, beating the average forecast from analysts of 13 cents, according to Thomson Reuters. Revenue rose 33 percent to $4.7 billion, primarily because of the A.C.S. acquisition. Had the deal gone through a year ago, revenue would be up 5 percent, Xerox said. The increase in revenue came mainly from the addition of the A.C.S. business-outsourcing segment, which takes on back-office functions for other companies. Xerox was already doing some outsourcing, handling the flow of documents and printer systems for other companies. But the acquisition helped Xerox more than double its first-quarter services revenue. Had the deal gone through last year, services revenue would have been up 3 percent to $1.8 billion. Sales of copier and printer supplies also picked up as corporate spending rebounded from the depths of the recession last year, climbing 15 percent. | Xerox Corporation;Company Reports |
ny0004430 | [
"sports",
"basketball"
] | 2013/04/19 | Knicks’ Prigioni Is Expected to Miss Playoff Opener | Coach Mike Woodson and Raymond Felton expect Pablo Prigioni to miss Game 1 of the Knicks’ first-round playoff series against the Boston Celtics on Saturday. Prigioni, a 35-year-old rookie, sprained his right ankle in Wednesday’s regular-season finale against the Atlanta Hawks. He was on crutches as he watched Thursday’s practice. It was unclear whether Prigioni would be available for Game 2 on Tuesday. Woodson will have a traditional starting lineup for Saturday’s game instead of the smaller, two-point-guard lineup that he used for most of the season. Woodson said he could start Chris Copeland, who averaged 7.7 points in three games against the Celtics, at small forward. Iman Shumpert will be the shooting guard, Carmelo Anthony will be at power forward and Tyson Chandler, who missed the last six games, will play center. “Chris has shown that he can start and come off the bench,” Woodson said. “That’s been a plus for us.” Woodson made it clear Jason Kidd would stay on the bench, because he still needs a backup for Felton. “We’re definitely going to miss Pablo,” Felton said. “Hopefully we get him back for the second game.” Image It was unclear whether the Knicks' Pablo Prigioni, who sprained his right ankle Wednesday, would be available for Game 2 on Tuesday. Credit Mary Altaffer/Associated Press Woodson has paired Felton with either Prigioni or Kidd throughout this season. The strategy improved ball movement and spacing on the court, and has given Woodson more shooters on the perimeter to surround Anthony. According to John Schuhmann, who does statistical analysis for NBA.com., the Prigioni-Felton combination was by far the Knicks’ best backcourt this season. When they were on the court together (266 minutes), the Knicks had their highest offensive rating (points per 100 possessions), 118.2. The Knicks’ defensive rating with Felton and Prigioni was 105. The net rating of those two statistics was the team’s biggest in Schuhmann’s point guard analysis. Woodson paired Prigioni with Felton on March 18 against the Utah Jazz. The Knicks went on to win 13 consecutive games. The Knicks are a better team when Woodson pairs Felton with a second playmaker next to him. When Felton is the only point guard on the court (871 minutes), the Knicks have the same offensive and defensive rating (107.9). “If Raymond is the solo point guard starting out, he has to defend that spot,” Woodson said. “He has to apply pressure just like Pablo does. We have to extend our defense. Nothing changes. We just have to duplicate what Pablo does until he gets back.” Woodson emphasized that Felton was not the only player responsible for ensuring the Knicks have good ball movement. Anthony, Chandler, Shumpert and every other Knick will have to do his part. “Everybody touches the ball one time or another in our system,” Woodson said. “You got a shot, then take the shot. If you don’t have the shot, you have to sacrifice the ball for ball movement and body movement.” The playoff game Saturday will be Felton’s first at Madison Square Garden. He expects that the Celtics will be physical and that Woodson will allow him to be aggressive on offense. REBOUNDS Mike Woodson was named Eastern Conference coach of the month. The Knicks were 8-2, tying Miami for most wins in the league. Five were against playoff teams: Atlanta (twice), Indiana, Miami and Milwaukee. Woodson is just the fourth Knicks coach to win the award and the first since Pat Riley in March 1994. ... Marcus Camby (plantar fasciitis) participated in practice, but Woodson said he was unsure whether he would play against the Celtics. | Basketball;Knicks;Pablo Prigioni;Mike Woodson |
ny0118354 | [
"world",
"europe"
] | 2012/10/12 | Italy: Head of Legionaries on Leave | The Rev. Alvaro Corcuera, superior general of the Legionaries of Christ, a worldwide religious order besieged by a sex scandal, stepped aside on Thursday, citing poor health. The order’s vicar general will take over until a new superior is elected, Father Corcuera, 55, wrote in a letter to his colleagues. The order has been under close scrutiny from the Vatican since 2010, after revelations that its founder, the Rev. Marcial Maciel Degollado had molested his seminarians and fathered at least one child. | Roman Catholic Church;Maciel Degollado Marcial;Sex Crimes;Italy;Corcuera Alvaro;Legionaries of Christ |
ny0092192 | [
"world",
"middleeast"
] | 2015/08/17 | Iraqi Leader’s Overhaul Cuts 11 Cabinet Positions | BAGHDAD — Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi of Iraq reduced his cabinet to just 22 members from 33 on Sunday as part of a major overhaul in response to mass protests against corruption and poor governance. The decision, announced by his office, would eliminate four ministries, including those of human rights and women’s affairs, and consolidate others. The announcement did not mention whether there would be changes to the remaining ministries. The move follows a far-reaching plan approved by Parliament last week that eliminated Iraq’s three vice presidencies and three deputy prime ministers. The plan also reduced the budget for senior officials’ bodyguards. The overhaul cut positions held by a number of prominent politicians, including Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, who was prime minister for eight years before being pushed out last August in response to growing outrage over the fall of Iraq’s second largest city, Mosul, to Islamic State militants. Earlier Sunday, the speaker of Parliament, Salim al-Jubouri, said lawmakers would release a report this week implicating senior officials in Mosul’s fall. “No one is above the law and the accountability of the people,” Mr. Jubouri said in a statement. “The judiciary will punish perpetrators and delinquents.” Mr. Maliki is to be implicated in the report, along with more than two dozen other officials, including Atheel al-Nujaifi, the governor of Nineveh Province, where Mosul is located, according to a lawmaker who declined to be identified because he is not authorized to brief the news media. Iraqis have held huge protests against corruption and poor government services, focusing in particular on power failures during a recent heat wave. In response, Mr. Abadi proposed the first round of measures against reckless spending by government officials. The country’s Supreme Judicial Council said Sunday that it would hold a special session Monday to review proposed reforms. Iraq’s top Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, has lent his support to demands for change, and Parliament unanimously approved the wider overhaul package last week in a dramatic show of unity for a country torn by sectarian and political rivalries. Those measures dismantled much of the top-heavy government erected in the years after the United States-led invasion in 2003 that toppled Saddam Hussein. The three vice presidencies, one of which has been held by Mr. Maliki, were intended to give equal representation to the country’s Shiite majority and Sunni and Kurdish minorities. Iraq is struggling to roll back the Islamic State group, which swept across the border from Syria last summer and seized around a third of the country. Its militants attacked Iraqi troops on Sunday outside the militant-held city of Falluja, killing at least 17 soldiers, officials said. Four suicide attackers drove explosives-laden military vehicles into government barricades outside the city west of Baghdad, setting off heavy clashes, a police officer and an army officer said. The officials said 15 other troops were wounded. Both officers spoke on condition of anonymity, as they were not authorized to release information. The Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, captured Falluja in January 2014, months before its main blitz across Iraq. This past May, the Islamic State captured the nearby city of Ramadi, the capital of Anbar Province, where United States troops fought some of their deadliest battles of the eight-year Iraq war. Tens of thousands of civilians have fled the province amid continued fighting. Also Sunday, Mr. Abadi announced an investigation into commanders accused of withdrawing from Ramadi against orders. A statement from his office said he approved “decisions to refer a number of leaders to military tribunal for leaving their positions without a warrant and contrary to instructions.” The Defense and Interior Ministries will form investigative boards to look into why troops abandoned their weapons and equipment while fleeing, the statement added. | Iraq;Haider al-Abadi |
ny0223323 | [
"world"
] | 2010/11/26 | Frank Fenner Dies at 95; Tracked End of Smallpox | Frank Fenner, an Australian scientist who played an important role in the World Health Organization ’s decade-long campaign to eradicate smallpox and who made the official announcement, in 1980, that the disease had been conquered once and for all, died Monday in Canberra. He was 95. His death was announced on the Web site of the Australian National University in Canberra. Professor Fenner, a virologist and microbiologist who developed an interest in viruses while doing research on malaria during World War II, became a national hero in Australia in the early 1950s, when he helped direct a program to control the spread of the country’s 600 million feral rabbits, which were nibbling their way through the country’s pastureland. A pilot study to release the myxoma virus, shown to kill more than 99 percent of rabbits not previously exposed to it, caused public alarm when, by coincidence, mosquitoes began spreading encephalitis as well as myxomatosis. To reassure Australians that the myxoma virus would not infect humans, Professor Fenner and two fellow researchers injected themselves with samples potent enough to kill 1,000 rabbits. They survived and, with panic averted, the government initiated a pest-control campaign using the myxoma virus. The rabbit population shrank to 100 million, although the rabbits developed resistance to the virus over time and by the early 1990s had rebounded to more than 200 million. In 1969, after doing research on pox viruses, including the variola virus, which causes smallpox, Professor Fenner began advising the World Health Organization on its campaign to eliminate smallpox . The initiative had begun in 1967, a year in which the disease was reported in 42 countries and killed two million people. The W.H.O. organized a campaign of mass vaccinations that evolved into a more focused approach: infected patients were quarantined, and vaccinations were administered to those with whom they might have had contact. In 1977, Professor Fenner was named the chairman of the Global Commission for the Certification of Smallpox Eradication. As the campaign neared its goal, he was able to demonstrate that there were no animal carriers of the disease left, an important step in declaring victory over the disease. The last known case of naturally transmitted smallpox was recorded in Somalia in 1977, and Professor Fenner pronounced its epitaph in Geneva on May 8, 1980. “It was a terrific thrill to be involved in a program which in 10 years removed from the Earth a disease which, at the time we started, was credited with 20 million cases and two million deaths every year,” he said in 2002, on accepting the Prime Minister’s Prize for Science in Australia . With D. A. Henderson, he wrote the definitive history of the campaign, “Smallpox and Its Eradication” (1988). In the early 1970s, his interest in epidemiology and population dynamics led him to found the Center for Resource and Environmental Studies at the Australian National University in Canberra (now the Fenner School of Environment and Society ). He directed the center until retiring in 1979 and continued working at the university well into his 90s. Frank Johannes Fenner was born on Dec. 21, 1914, in Ballarat, Victoria, and grew up in Rose Park, a suburb of Adelaide. He attended the University of Adelaide, where he earned degrees in medicine and surgery in 1938. That year, uneasy about Hitler’s rise, he legally changed his middle name to John. After receiving a diploma in tropical medicine from the University of Sydney, he joined the Royal Australian Army Medical Corps and during World War II served in Palestine , Egypt, New Guinea and Borneo. In 1942, he was granted a doctor of medicine degree from the University of Adelaide. In New Guinea, he developed methods to control the malaria and other tropical diseases that were decimating Australian troops. In honor of this work, he was made a member of the Order of the British Empire. In 1944 he married an army nurse, Ellen Roberts, who died in 1995. He is survived by a brother, William; a sister, Winifred; a daughter, Marilyn Marshall of Canberra; two grandchildren; and one great-grandchild. After leaving the military in 1946, he was recruited by the eminent virologist Frank Macfarlane Burnet to join the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research in Melbourne. There, while working on the genetics of pox viruses and the immune system, he discovered that mousepox, a disease in mice, provided a useful model for investigating the incubation period of infectious diseases like smallpox, measles and chickenpox . After spending a year studying tropical diseases at the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research (now Rockefeller University) in New York, he began researching the myxoma virus at the newly created John Curtin School of Medical Research at the Australian National University, where he was the chairman of the microbiology department and, from 1967 to 1973, director of the school. Professor Fenner’s views on the environment were not cheerful. Sheer numbers and the rapacious consumption of resources, he predicted glumly, would condemn the human species to the same fate as the smallpox virus. “Homo sapiens will become extinct, perhaps within 100 years,” he told the newspaper The Australian in June. “A lot of other animals will, too. It’s an irreversible situation. I think it’s too late.” | Smallpox;World Health Organization;Australia;Deaths (Obituaries) |
ny0045448 | [
"world",
"europe"
] | 2014/02/21 | Britain: Defense Heard in Hacking Case | Rebekah Brooks, the former chief executive of Rupert Murdoch’s British newspaper unit, testified in court on Thursday that during her time as the editor of the tabloid The News of the World she did not know about the activities of a private investigator who has admitted that he hacked phones on behalf of the newspaper. Ms. Brooks, 45, is accused of condoning hacking into telephone voice mail systems while she was the editor of The News of the World; of authorizing the bribing of a public official for an article; and of trying to hide evidence from the police. She denies it all. On the first day of her defense in the trial’s fourth month, Ms. Brooks’s lawyer asked if the involvement of the investigator, Glenn Mulcaire, in intercepting voice mail messages was ever brought to her attention between May 2000 and June 2003. “No, not at all,” she said. Earlier, she was cleared of a charge that she had authorized a reporter to pay for a picture of Prince William in a bikini. | Wiretapping Eavesdropping;News of the World;Rebekah Brooks;Rupert Murdoch;Great Britain |
ny0138087 | [
"sports",
"othersports"
] | 2008/05/01 | No. 20 Post? Derby Favorite’s Handlers Say Sure | LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The confidence the connections to Big Brown have in their colt knows no bounds. Faced with making a choice from five remaining post positions, Big Brown’s trainer, Rick Dutrow, and the co-owner Mike Iavarone, chose what most would consider the worst slot of all: the one farthest outside, No. 20. They did not care that only one horse in 133 runnings of the Kentucky Derby had won from there, and that was the gelding Clyde Van Dusen in 1929. They shrugged off the challenge that Big Brown, the 3-1 morning-line favorite, is going to have to go faster earlier and sideways sure-footedly to clear the field. No one should be surprised by their conviction. In September, Iavarone, on behalf of his International Equine Acquisitions Holdings, anted up $3 million for a 75 percent share in Big Brown because he was so certain that the colt would win this year’s Derby. Two weeks ago, Dutrow, a man who has often bet big money on horses he trained, said that he was “all in” on Big Brown, the undefeated Florida Derby champion. It is a stand he has repeatedly reiterated, as if he pities the rest of the field. “I figured we’d break from the outside and get a clean trip,” said Dutrow, who is saddling his first Derby horse. Iavarone was unruffled as well. “We made the best of a bad situation,” he said, noting only Posts 1, 2, 18, 19 and 20 were left. “All the speed is inside us.” The horses that need the lead will break inside Big Brown and that should make for an interesting dash for the rail and good position. For Big Brown and the rest of the front-runners, the first quarter of a mile is going to be critical in determining who gets the best position without expending too much energy. The Illinois Derby winner, Recapturetheglory, and the Santa Anita Derby runner-up, Bob Black Jack, each 20-1, are in the 18 and 13 posts. Most interesting, however, is the colt next to Big Brown in the 19 hole, Gayego. He led virtually every step of the way in the Arkansas Derby and will be racing Big Brown to the rail stride for stride. Mike Battaglia, the oddsmaker who set the morning line, said Gayego’s tough post prompted him to alter the colt’s odds. “I had him at 10- or 12-1, but when he got stuck outside, I raised him to 15-1,” Battaglia said. Likewise, the odds on the Santa Anita winner Colonel John dropped to 4-1, from 5-1, because of his favorable starting gate, the No. 10 hole. He is the second choice. Horses here load two at time, and Big Brown and Colonel John will be the last tandem to enter the gates. Colonel John is a tractable colt who will not waste energy entering the early fracas. “We’ll save ground,” Eoin Harty, the colt’s trainer, said. Eight Belles will break from the No. 5 gate in her attempt to become the fourth filly to win the roses, and the first since Winning Colors in 1988. Her owner, Rick Porter, decided that after four straight victories she deserved a shot against what is considered a less-than-dominant group of colts. Her trainer, Larry Jones, already has the morning-line favorite, Proud Spell, in the Kentucky Oaks, which will be run Friday. “This filly was on the improve, and he thought I had a strong hand in the Oaks,” said Jones, who is trying to join H. J. Thompson (1933) and Ben Jones (1949 and 1952) as only the third trainer to sweep the Oaks and the Derby in the same year. “She’ll be fine down there inside,” Larry Jones said. Smooth Air (20-1), the runner-up in the Florida Derby, overcame a fever last week and will break from the No. 12 gate for the 70-year-old trainer Bennie Stutts. “This is the best time I’ve had in my whole entire life,” said Stutts, who has a modest string in Florida and his first Derby horse. “I’m here, the horse is healthy, and I’m happy.” For Dutrow, Iavarone and the Big Brown entourage, there will be no such lightness the next few days. They have shouted from the highest rooftops that they have the horse to beat. It matters little to them that Big Brown has been set back by problems in his front hooves or is trying to become the first horse to win the Derby off three lifetime starts since the filly Regret in 1915. Dutrow, Iavarone et al are convinced they have the Derby winner in Big Brown. “He usually puts himself right in the game,” Dutrow said. “So I don’t know how important experience is going to be. I’m not that concerned.” | Horse Racing;Kentucky Derby |
ny0237344 | [
"sports",
"golf"
] | 2010/06/10 | A Tie for the Lead in Jersey | Brian Komline and the first-round leader Bill McGuinness shared the lead at the halfway point in the New Jersey State Golf Association Amateur championship in West Orange. Playing in the second group of the day, Komline, 36, shot a two-under-par 68 for a 36-hole total of 139. McGuinness, 50, shot par on his second trip around Montclair Golf Club. (AP) | College Athletics;Football;Suspensions Dismissals and Resignations;University of Oregon |
ny0101350 | [
"sports",
"football"
] | 2015/12/26 | Giants Place Two on Injured Reserve | Defensive tackle Markus Kuhn (knee) and linebacker James Morris (quadriceps) were placed on injured reserve by the Giants. The Giants signed two players from their practice squad, defensive end Brad Bars and tight end Matt LaCosse. Kuhn, a fourth-year pro, injured his knee on Dec. 14 in a victory at Miami. He also missed the season’s first three games with a knee injury. He had eight starts this season and was credited with 20 tackles (nine solo), half a sack, three quarterback hits and a fumble recovery. Morris, a second-year pro, played in six games. He was credited with two special-teams tackles. Linebacker Devon Kennard (foot) and safety Cooper Taylor (concussion) are out of Sunday’s game at Minnesota. The status of wide receiver Dwayne Harris (shoulder) is questionable. Running back Orleans Darkwa (illness), tackle Ereck Flowers (illness) and defensive end George Selvie (concussion) are listed as probable. | Football;Giants |
ny0150917 | [
"technology"
] | 2008/08/18 | Amid Conference Halls and Keynote Speakers, a Rivalry Forms | SAN FRANCISCO — A frequent ritual of Silicon Valley is the money-making gathering known as the technology conference, where investors, entrepreneurs and industry executives come together to strike deals, catch up on trends and engage in some nonvirtual networking. But a noisy new entrant is disturbing this peaceful realm of croissants, keynotes and hallway handshakes. It has incited a bitter public dispute with a more established competitor over the most ethical way to run such a conference. Demo, a 17-year-old conference franchise owned by the technology publisher IDG, has served as the springboard for hit products like the Palm Pilot and the TiVo digital video recorder. In San Diego during the second week of September, 70 start-ups will pay $18,500 each to make a six-minute presentation to a crowd of investors, journalists and others. To Michael Arrington, the elbow-throwing, supercilious founder of the popular Silicon Valley blog TechCrunch, Demo’s business model amounts to “payola.” “How do you make objective decisions on the best companies when the first decision is whether they can pay or not?” Mr. Arrington said. “Sometimes the hottest start-ups either can’t afford it or don’t need it.” Mr. Arrington is the co-organizer of TechCrunch50, a conference in San Francisco that he intentionally scheduled for the same span of days as Demo next month. In his event, 50 start-ups, selected from a pool of 1,038 applicant companies, will not have to pay to make their pitches. But Mr. Arrington’s show makes its money in other ways — like selling sponsorships and tickets for the event itself, and charging companies to demonstrate their products on tables outside the main conference hall. To promote their conference, now in its second year, Mr. Arrington and his colleagues have used their widely followed blogs and Twitter updates to accuse Demo of concealing its high price tag and exploiting the attention-starved start-up community. They unceremoniously vow to kill the Demo conference. Demo’s soft-spoken executive producer, Chris Shipley, says that Demo’s fees have never been hidden, and that there is no lack of companies willing to pay. She said she meets with 700 companies a year to select the best start-ups to present at two annual Demo events each September and January. Ms. Shipley also says that it is TechCrunch that is obfuscating its own money-making ambitions and the true nature of its relationships with its venture capital sponsors, who she says may be paying in part for early access to the most promising start-ups, which they can single out for investments before rival investors. “Entrepreneurs can’t make an honest choice if one of our competitors is not being transparent,” she said. TechCrunch denies that sponsors get any special advantages; companies can choose to let venture capitalists peek at their applications, but only after the conference ends. This is a fight that Mr. Arrington went looking for. A lawyer who turned to blogging in 2005, Mr. Arrington attended three Demo shows before announcing his competing event from the Demo floor in 2006. In addition to criticizing the presentation fee, he complained that there were too many start-ups at the event, that the wireless Internet network for participants was unreliable and that a committee of executives, entrepreneurs and journalists could more carefully select the best start-ups. In a blog post, his partner in the endeavor, Jason Calacanis, a former executive at AOL, said they would give back to the community of entrepreneurs with a new kind of conference that would seek to cover its costs with modest fees and sponsorships. The sharp criticisms took Stewart Alsop by surprise. Mr. Alsop, a venture capitalist, created Demo in 1991, in part because he thought other conferences did not devote enough attention to product demonstrations. Mr. Alsop has no current affiliation with Demo, but like the people who run it, he is upset at the accusations from TechCrunch. “What I’ve seen from Mike Arrington has just been classless,” he said. “I don’t understand what business objective he has other than to get notoriety.” Such rancor seems to please Mr. Arrington, who enjoys a public scrum. He is also known to compete hard for news — and sometimes rumor — for his Web site, which he has positioned as a rival aimed at overtaking the technology news network CNet. “Being in the mud is where I partially like to stay,” he said. The first TechCrunch show, called TechCrunch40 for the 40 companies that took part, was last September at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco — one week before Demo. There were striking similarities between the shows. The wireless network at the TechCrunch show was overwhelmed and unavailable for most of the conference. And the organizers decided to charge the companies that did not make the final cut to present their products at tables outside the event. This year, Mr. Arrington and his colleagues have expanded their money-making potential. Fifteen companies, including Yahoo, Microsoft, Google and the venture capital firm Sequoia Capital, are paying $35,000 each to sponsor the show. More than 25 exhibitors are paying $10,000 to exhibit their wares, and 1,200 people are expected to buy tickets costing $1,200 apiece. One veteran planner of industry conferences expects TechCrunch50 to make $3.5 million. (The company says that is “on the high side.”) TechCrunch is enduring some of the inconveniences of this success. Most of the company’s 15 employees are involved in screening the start-ups, and the work is done at all hours. Executives at one start-up, who did not want to be named because TechCrunch forbids applicants from discussing their business plans before the event, said they had their screening call with TechCrunch’s chief executive, Heather Harde, a former Fox Interactive executive. The call was held at 4 p.m. on a Sunday. Founders of another start-up say they were screened at 11 p.m. on a weekday night — by TechCrunch’s publicity and marketing executive. Many Silicon Valley entrepreneurs say the overlapping dates of the two conferences have forced them to make a difficult and awkward decision. These companies depend on technology conferences to become noticed by investors and the media. Now their audience is split, and picking one conference could alienate the organizers of the other. A preponderance of local entrepreneurs say they will attend the TechCrunch event, which they say generates more buzz because some of the bloggers who feverishly cover start-ups cannot afford to attend Demo in San Diego. Nevertheless, Ms. Shipley says her business shows no signs of weakening, despite the competition. Though she concedes that Demo might have to adjust its business model in the future, she says that the event is still profitable and that the full schedule of companies are paying to take the stage next month. Ms. Shipley seems wary of talking about the dispute and irritated that she has been dragged into it. “Any time I have to spend dealing with silliness is taking away from companies,” she said. “Frankly, if you believe in entrepreneurial capitalism, then the market will decide and take care of itself.” | Computers and the Internet;Venture Capital;Conventions and Conferences;TechCrunch50;Demo;Entrepreneurship;Start-ups;Prices (Fares Fees and Rates);Silicon Valley (Calif) |
ny0256650 | [
"sports"
] | 2011/08/01 | Hiker Breaks Record on Appalachian Trail | Jennifer Pharr Davis hiked the roughly 2,180 miles of the Appalachian Trail in 46 days 11 hours 20 minutes, breaking the record of 47 days 13 hours 31 minutes held by Andrew Thompson since 2005. Pharr Davis set out from Mount Katahdin in Maine on June 15 and reached the top of Springer Mountain in Georgia at 3:26 p.m. Sunday. Pharr Davis rose at 2:45 a.m. the past two days, hiking 60.2 miles Saturday and the final 36.2 miles Sunday. A crowd of more than 50 people gathered atop Springer Mountain to greet her. “I just cried,” she said. “It was such a relief.” | Hikes and Hiking;Davis Jennifer Pharr;Appalachian Trail;Pharr Davis Jennifer;Records and Achievements;Thompson Andrew |
ny0197275 | [
"nyregion"
] | 2009/10/15 | In Community Action in Greenlawn, N.Y., Capra’s Angel in a Modern World | GREENLAWN, N.Y. The rear door creaks open at the boxcar-shaped video store with the turflike green carpet and the DVDs and VHS tapes piled from floor to ceiling. “What’s the deal, Junior?” calls a raspy voice. It’s Debbie Brown, the manager of Grey Meers Pub, next door. “You staying a little bit?” “I decided to stay,” says Junior Silverio, who since 1994 has owned this tiny oasis with its 15,000 movie titles, its Slim Jims and microwave popcorn, its eternal air of neighborhood bonhomie just down the road from the Greenlawn railroad station. “That’s great,” Ms. Brown says. “I’ll try my best to help. If they want to have a drink, they’ll have to rent a video.” The front door creaks open. “I just came by to say thank you and goodbye,” says Kerry Bracken, a regular. She pauses. “You closing?” “I’m going to stay,” he says. “You’re going to stay? This is great. My whole family was like hysterical. I can’t wait to tell them.” And so it’s gone at Greenlawn Video for the past few days, where the video to rent would have been “It’s a Wonderful Life” — the full story, not just the Hollywood ending. If Frank Capra’s movies evoke a simpler America of small towns, good hearts, plucky immigrants and hard workers where people stick together and prevail against bigger, malignant forces, Junior Silverio, who came to Long Island from the Philippines in 1990, could have been in one. And the climax would have been the events of the past week, when he reluctantly decided to close, his customers rallied around him, the landlord cut him some slack, and he decided to keep going. “It’s been so hard to say goodbye to the people I’ve loved for 16 years, so I promised I’d try to keep it going,” he said on Monday. “I was so touched the way people responded.” Mr. Silverio works 365 days a year, usually from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. He knows all his customers, and before they get to the counter is often ready with the right postapocalyptic thriller or Disney musical. His tastes run to Hitchcock, “Citizen Kane” and “West Side Story,” but his stock includes foreign films, classics, action extravaganzas and recent hits. It’s a community store in every way. He looks out for his customers, recommending some films and dissuading them from others he considers inappropriate for their children. Customers forgo the simplicity of Netflix, bring him food on Thanksgiving and presents on Christmas. One customer donated the whiteboard for recommendations; others have made repairs at the shop or fixed his computer at no charge. But for most people it wouldn’t be a wonderful life, and for him, it’s barely a sustainable one. An independent video store, even in good times, is bucking the tide of Netflix, downloads and Blockbuster. Mr. Silverio, 58, a former social worker whose wife is retired from a housekeeping job with the state and runs a small laundromat, survives only by working all the time and spending almost nothing. “I’m not much of a businessman,” he said. “I think with my heart instead of my head.” The vacant storefronts everywhere are a reminder that not all stories have happy, Capraesque endings. And there’s no guarantee that after six months or a year he won’t have to pack it in. OF course, as Joseph McBride, the author of “Frank Capra: The Catastrophe of Success,” reminds us, “It’s a Wonderful Life” was a relentlessly bleak film in which only the intercession of an angel allowed for the happy ending. And most of Capra’s films, absent the happy ending, were about people struggling against corrupt or indifferent institutions. Capra’s favorite was “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,” a barbed study in political corruption. All of which, certainly the dire economics of “It’s a Wonderful Life,” sounds a lot like the world today. Mr. Silverio’s customers now have some time to figure out how to help him without outright donations, which he’s refusing to take. One model they’re interested in is the 3/50 Project , which began as a blog post and has become an approach in which people agree to spend $50 every month among three local businesses, with the goal of keeping them afloat. It’s just one model, but it plays into the one Capraesque theme that transcends the bipolar world the director depicted: the degree to which good people can’t really succeed without a vehicle for collective action. The Dow at 10,000 or not, it’s still a scary world for most people, and not many of us are going to be saved by angels, Hollywood endings or even the spontaneous kindness of friends and strangers. | Small Business;Greenlawn (NY);Movies;Silverio Junior;Capra Frank Jr |
ny0157701 | [
"business"
] | 2008/12/04 | U.A.W. to Change Contracts in Bid to Help Detroit | WASHINGTON — The United Automobile Workers union said Wednesday that it would make major concessions in its contracts with the three Detroit auto companies to help them lobby Congress for $34 billion in federal aid. The surprising move by the U.A.W. could be a critical factor in the automakers’ bid not only to get government assistance, but also to become competitive with the cost structure of nonunion plants operated by foreign automakers in the United States . At a news conference in Detroit, the U.A.W.’s president, Ron Gettelfinger , said that his members were willing to sacrifice job security provisions and financing for retiree health care to keep the two most troubled car companies of the Big Three, General Motors and Chrysler , out of bankruptcy. “Concessions, I used to cringe at that word,” Mr. Gettelfinger said. “But now, why hide it? That’s what we did.” Labor experts said the ground given by the union underscored the precarious condition of the Detroit companies, as the U.A.W.’s own prospects for survival are also in doubt. “It is an historic and awfully difficult moment for the U.A.W.,” said Harley Shaiken, professor of labor studies at the University of California, Berkeley. The union’s willingness to modify its 2007 contract came a day after G.M. , Chrysler and the Ford Motor Company submitted business plans to Congress in support of their loan requests. Those efforts won praise from President-elect Barack Obama , who said the automakers had offered “a more serious set of plans” to save the industry. G.M. and Chrysler have both said they are dangerously close to running out of cash to run their operations by the end of the year. Ford is somewhat healthier, but is also seeking government loans. The chief executives of the Big Three, along with Mr. Gettelfinger, are to appear before Congress on Thursday and Friday in hopes of building support for emergency assistance. Democratic Congressional leaders have said that they want to help the automakers and that they were heartened by the gesture of contrition that the executives made by driving to Washington — rather than flying on corporate jets, as they did two weeks ago — and by the more comprehensive plans submitted by the companies. But the political climate on Capitol Hill is still doubtful for the automakers, and only seemed to worsen on Wednesday with a new CNN poll showing a majority of Americans opposing a taxpayer rescue. As a result, there is growing concern among the Democratic leadership that they will simply not be able to drum up enough votes to pass an aid package next week, and that to do so will require a major lobbying effort by President Bush and Mr. Obama. “We don’t have a good sense from our members that this is something they want to do,” a senior House Democratic aide said. “It’s going to take Bush and Obama calling people.” Many conservative Republicans remain staunchly opposed to any further corporate bailouts by the government, and some are openly calling for Congress to let one or more of the automakers go into bankruptcy. “Not only should bankruptcy be an option for domestic automakers, but it is considered by most experts to be the best option,” Representative Jeff Flake, Republican of Arizona , said in a statement on Wednesday. Many lawmakers are reluctant to approve another large expenditure of taxpayer money to prop up private corporations, especially given the mounting criticism of the Treasury’s $700 billion stabilization program for the financial system. On Wednesday, the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid , said there did not seem to be enough support in Congress to use that fund to help the auto companies. “I just don’t think we have the votes to do that now,” he told The Associated Press. Two weeks ago, the Detroit executives left Washington empty-handed after skeptical lawmakers refused to approve federal aid until they heard detailed plans on how the companies could be viable in the long term. Other lawmakers were withholding judgment on the plans until after hearings by the Senate Banking Committee on Thursday and the House Financial Services Committee on Friday. But the automakers’ hopes for aid were buoyed by the positive comments on Wednesday from Mr. Obama. At a news conference on his latest cabinet appointment, Mr. Obama said the new plans were an indication that the Detroit companies were responsive to earlier concerns raised by lawmakers. “I’m glad that they recognize the expectations of Congress, certainly my expectations, that we should maintain a viable auto industry,” Mr. Obama said. “But that we should also make sure that any government assistance that’s provided is designed for and is based on realistic assessments of what the auto market is going to be and a realistic plan for how we’re going to make these companies viable over the long term.” The new plans were also being studied by officials in the Bush administration, which has yet to come to an agreement with lawmakers on how to finance a loan package for Detroit. In its plan to Congress, G.M. said it would significantly reduce jobs, factories, brands and executive compensation in a broad effort to become more competitive with American plants operated by Toyota , Honda and other foreign auto companies. But G.M.’s president, Frederick Henderson, said it was also important for the company to get help from the U.A.W. to close the gap with its foreign competition. Currently, the average U.A.W. member costs G.M. about $74 an hour in a combination of wages, health care and the value of future benefits, like pensions. Toyota, by comparison, spends the equivalent of about $45 an hour for each of its employees in the United States. Base wages between the Big Three and the foreign companies are roughly comparable, with a veteran U.A.W. member earning $28 an hour at the Big Three compared to about $25 an hour at Toyota’s plant in Georgetown, Ky. (Toyota pays less at its other American factories.) But the gap in labor costs becomes larger when health care, particularly for thousands of retirees and surviving spouses, and job security provisions are considered. Mr. Gettelfinger said Wednesday that the union would suspend the much-criticized “jobs bank” program, which allows laid-off workers to continue drawing nearly full wages. He also said the union would agree to delay the multibillion-dollar payments to a new retiree health care fund that the automakers were scheduled to start making next year. Beyond those two concessions, Mr. Gettelfinger said the U.A.W. would be open to modifying other terms of its contracts. Changes could include reductions in wages, health care or other benefits, and would require approval from union members. Suspending the jobs bank program, which supports about 3,600 workers, removes one of the most politically sensitive union perks from the discussions in Washington. “The jobs bank has become a sound bite that people use to beat us up,” said Mr. Gettelfinger. In the last five years, the U.A.W.’s membership at G.M., Ford and Chrysler has declined to 139,000 workers, from 305,000, because of plant closings and a series of buyout and early-retirement programs. Both G.M. and Chrysler have said they are not considering bankruptcy as an option to restructure their businesses because of the damage a Chapter 11 filing would do to their reputations with consumers. Mr. Henderson said that G.M.’s restructuring plan included cutting up to 30,000 more jobs in the next few years, as well as closing another nine factories in North America . He stressed that cooperation from the union would be crucial in the company’s overall efforts to match Toyota in labor costs by 2012. A G.M. spokesman, Tony Cervone, said Wednesday that the U.A.W.’s offer to make modifications in its contract would help the automaker survive its current financial crisis . “Clearly the U.A.W. and Ron Gettelfinger have shown a willingness to work with the industry to restructure and make it fully competitive going forward,” Mr. Cervone said. Ford’s chief executive, Alan R. Mulally , said in an interview Wednesday that Detroit needed the union’s help to speed its transformation, particularly in replacing current workers with entry-level employees who will be making $14 an hour in wages under the terms of the 2007 labor agreement. He said that suspending the jobs bank program was also important for cutting costs. “That would contribute to us closing the gap,” Mr. Mulally said. The Detroit companies will remove billions of dollars in financial obligations from their books when the U.A.W. health care trust takes over responsibility for the medical bills of retirees in 2010. But delaying payments to the trust by the companies is a more pressing concern for the automakers. G.M., for example, is scheduled to make a payment of $7 billion to the health care trust before the end of next year. The U.A.W.’s offer to delay that payment will significantly help G.M.’s cash flow as it tries to recover. “Taking retiree health care off the books will save the companies billions and billions of dollars,” said Mr. Shaiken. “By not paying into the trust next year, it won’t postpone the trust, but it will save G.M. and the others a lot of money for now.” At the U.A.W. meeting in Detroit, union officials described their members as extremely anxious about the prospect of more concessions but at the same time afraid of what would happen if the union did not aid the automakers. “We’ve helped them before, but it seems like they always come back to us,” said Shane Colvard, chairman of Local 2164 in Bowling Green, Ky., where G.M. builds the Chevrolet Corvette sports car. | Subprime Mortgage Crisis,2008 Financial Crisis;Cars;UAW |
ny0156380 | [
"world",
"europe"
] | 2008/06/19 | No Longer a Capital, Bonn Is a Global Destination | BONN, Germany — Someone forgot to turn out the lights in Bonn. Germany’s former capital, known derisively as the “Hauptdorf,” or capital village, is supposed to be a relic of the past, nine years after Parliament and the embassies picked up and moved to Berlin. But the little city on the Rhine, immortalized by John le Carré as “a small town in Germany” in his spy novel of the same title, has succeeded in the unlikely goal of remaking itself as a place of the future. Local officials and entrepreneurs combined shrewd spending and no small amount of federal largess with the city’s prime location in the Rhine Valley to refashion it into an international campus for everything from medical research to alternative energy to the United Nations, which began opening offices here in 1996. Since the Bundestag and the Chancellery left in 1999, Bonn, rather than watching employment plummet, has seen an increase of more than 12,000 jobs in a modest-size city of just 315,000 people. Bonn, like Germany itself, appears to have been written off far too soon. Unemployment in Germany is at its lowest level in 15 years. And while it is expected to slow, the German economy grew at an annual rate of 6 percent in the first quarter of this year. Though it is bound to be overtaken by the breakneck growth of China, this old standby in Old Europe — with only one-sixteenth of China’s population — is by many statistical measures still the world’s third biggest economy, behind only the United States and Japan. It is also the world’s leading exporter of goods, second to none thanks to its thriving, high-end manufacturing sector. The country’s former Parliament building is now a convention center, with a bigger facility going up beside it amid a thicket of cranes. Bonn is also home to SolarWorld, one of the leading companies in Germany’s top-flight solar-energy industry. Health care accounts for 1 in 10 jobs in the city and surrounding area. The central government announced in March that Bonn had been selected as the site of a new $1 billion dementia research center. Downtown, the dominant feature of the city’s skyline has appeared since the central government left. The 40-story steel and glass Post Tower of Deutsche Post, the postal service that employs 7,000 people in and around Bonn, towers over the city. It opened in December 2002, two years after Deutsche Post went public. Deutsche Telekom is the region’s largest employer, with some 12,000 employees. “It’s really a city that I feel growing in importance and not the other way around,” said Torbjörn Possne, an executive at the wireless equipment maker Ericsson, which has offices here. Both Germany and its former capital, which former Chancellor Helmut Kohl referred to as a “symbol of conspicuous modesty,” have reasons to be understated about their strengths. Germany’s tendency to bury its power and influence in international institutions, chiefly the European Union but also the United Nations and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, allows it to exert its influence without tempting accusations of revanchist ambitions after the two world wars. For Bonn, the city’s receipt of more than $2.2 billion from the federal government from 1994 to 2004 to ease the transition of losing Parliament, bred no small amount of resentment around the country. And by law the city held on to some 20,000 government jobs, including the headquarters of half a dozen ministries. Taxpayer groups say the result is wasted money and commuting time for employees shuttling back and forth from Berlin, and environmentalists have complained about the excess pollution as a result of the excessive air travel. “One remains very reserved about it,” said Jörg Haas, chief executive at HWB AG, a private equity group based in Bonn. Mr. Haas is less reserved about the gap between his country’s reputation and its economic reality. “Germany is always written off, but if you look at the numbers it just isn’t true,” said Mr. Haas, who moved his previous software company to Bonn from Cologne in 2001. “In the past, we tried a great deal of offshoring in the countries to the east; we went to Hungary, to Poland,” Mr. Haas said. “We brought everything back because at the end of the day the most productive structure and the most affordable place to develop and produce software is Germany,” he said, citing the education, efficiency and reliability of the workers, as well as the physical infrastructure in Germany. Now Mr. Haas and his partners have bet their money on the future of Bonn, building a $465 million real estate development at a scenic bend in the Rhine. The luxury Elysion Hotel, under construction, was originally planned for 160 rooms, but strong local growth led them back to the drawing board to expand it to 254 rooms. The views of the Rhine from Mr. Haas’s office — with long, narrow barges filled with sand and stone heading toward the Netherlands — are breathtaking, as are those of the peaks of the Siebengebirge hills, including the famous Petersberg and the Drachenfels, where, according to some legends, Siegfried slew the dragon. The city still benefits from its time as the cold war capital. The federal government spent half a century trying to give Bonn the trappings of a historic capital. As a result, Bonn sometimes feels like a small city on steroids, with all the perks and benefits normally associated with big-city living, like a subway system and top-notch museums and concert halls, not to mention international schools. Its time as the capital also gave the city name recognition few smaller cities could hope for, which helped it gain a reputation for medical tourism among civil servants from less developed countries. Jürgen Reul, a specialist in neuroradiology, just opened a private clinic specializing in minimally invasive surgery for neurovascular and spine problems. Operations started on the first of the month and foreign patients from everywhere from Persian Gulf states to Russia have helped the clinic fully book its first month of appointments, leaving it with a waiting list. “Bonn was pronounced dead, and then everybody went ahead and proved the opposite,” Dr. Reul said. “Now there’s a gold rush mood.” Dr. Reul has a unique perspective. Before starting his medical studies, he worked as a police officer on diplomatic security details in the mid-1970s. “We used to say that it was a sleepy nest of bureaucrats,” he said. “It’s a living city now.” | Germany;Bonn (Germany);Travel and Vacations |
ny0287755 | [
"world",
"europe"
] | 2016/08/10 | German Police Detain Asylum-Seeker Suspected of Plotting Terrorist Attack | BERLIN — A German special police unit has detained a Syrian asylum-seeker who they said they suspected of plotting a terrorist attack during the opening of the national soccer league season, German officials said Tuesday. Germany has been on edge after four attacks in a span of six days last month, including two linked to the Islamic State. Officers from the special unit arrested the 24-year-old suspect on Friday in the city of Mutterstadt, in the western state of Rhineland-Palatinate, after the authorities in Duisburg received a tip about a possible attack, the Interior Ministry in neighboring North Rhine-Westphalia said. The suspect has been questioned and will remain in detention pending the outcome of the investigation, the ministry said. Michael Maurer, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate, said there had been indications that the suspect was plotting an attack directed at the opening of Germany’s top soccer league, the Bundesliga, later this month. German officials would not confirm reports that the suspect had links to the Islamic State but said that the investigation was continuing. German security officials are on high alert after the attacks in July. The attackers in the two assaults claimed by the Islamic State, a 17-year-old who said he was from Afghanistan and a 27-year-old Syrian, had both applied for asylum in Germany. The two attacks , in Würzburg on July 18 and nearby Ansbach six days later, wounded 20 people. Last year, Germany took in nearly one million migrants and refugees, many of them from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. But resistance to the newcomers has been increasing in parts of the country amid growing fears that Islamic extremists may have infiltrated the ranks of those in genuine need of asylum. The suspect detained in Mutterstadt had been under police observation for weeks, after the state authorities in North Rhine-Westphalia, where he had first been sheltered, had received a tip about him, the authorities said. “We will not let violent Salafists off easy,” Ralf Jäger, the interior minister for North Rhine-Westphalia, said in a statement, referring to an ultraconservative, sometimes militant movement in Sunni Islam. “We accept every tip and investigate it thoroughly.” Under German law, the federal prosecutor in Karlsruhe would take over any case that is found to have a link to terrorism, but so far the investigation has remained in the hands of state prosecutors in Duisburg. Detlef Nowotsch, a spokesman for the office in Duisburg, refused to comment on the detention, citing the continuing investigation. | Germany;Terrorism;Refugees,Internally Displaced People;Middle East and Africa Migrant Crisis,European Migrant Crisis;Syria |
ny0046154 | [
"nyregion"
] | 2014/02/14 | In Terrorism Case, New Path to Testimony From 9/11 Suspect | Lawyers for a son-in-law of Osama bin Laden moved closer on Thursday to being able to use Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the self-described architect of the Sept. 11 terror attacks, as a defense witness to rebut the government’s terrorism case against their client, Sulaiman Abu Ghaith. At the same time, a government request to allow a cooperating witness to testify under a pseudonym was rejected by the trial judge, Lewis A. Kaplan, at a hearing in Federal District Court in Manhattan. The bid to obtain Mr. Mohammed’s testimony would originally have required one of Mr. Abu Ghaith’s lawyers to travel to the United States naval base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, where Mr. Mohammed is being held and is to be tried before a military commission. Mr. Abu Ghaith’s lead lawyer, Stanley L. Cohen, had indicated that Mr. Mohammed had given his consent to be interviewed, but on the condition that no government lawyer be present during the questioning, a demand the government apparently refused. A prosecutor, John P. Cronan, said in court that the government had “gone to great lengths” to give a defense lawyer access to Mr. Mohammed under conditions that it believed were “absolutely necessary.” Unable to reach agreement on an in-person interview, Mr. Cohen told Judge Kaplan on Thursday that he had proposed an alternative approach, in which the defense would pose written questions to Mr. Mohammed. The questions would be screened by government officials, as would any written answers he provided. Depending on those answers, the defense might ask Judge Kaplan to allow a videotaped examination of Mr. Mohammed, at which both the defense and the government could question him, Mr. Cohen said after the hearing. Image Khalid Shaikh Mohammed Credit United States Department of Justice Mr. Cohen said that he expected to hear on Thursday night from Mr. Mohammed’s lawyer as to whether the proposal was acceptable, and he suggested in comments outside the courtroom that he anticipated a favorable response. The defense has said it wanted Mr. Mohammed’s testimony in part to counter a prosecution claim that Mr. Abu Ghaith “must have known” in advance of the so-called shoe-bomb plot by Al Qaeda, including Richard C. Reid’s unsuccessful attempt to detonate explosives in his shoes on a trans-Atlantic flight in December 2001. Mr. Cohen has said in court papers that Mr. Mohammed had “intimate and unsurpassed knowledge of the ‘shoe bomb’ attacks,” and that his testimony would be relevant and “may very well exculpate Sulaiman Abu Ghaith entirely.” Prosecutors had requested that Judge Kaplan allow a cooperating witness to testify under a pseudonym and without his town of residence being revealed. They wrote that “these measures, while unusual, are appropriate in light of the unique risks of harassment and safety” that the witness and his family would face if he were to testify “publicly under his true identity.” Prosecutors have said the witness would testify about his time in Afghanistan in mid-2001, when he encountered Mr. Abu Ghaith at a Qaeda guesthouse in Kandahar. They said he was later arrested in the United States on terrorism charges and pleaded guilty as part of a cooperation agreement. Mr. Cohen had opposed allowing him to testify under a false name, arguing that the witness had already discussed publicly his past and cooperation with the authorities. In a filing, Mr. Cohen quoted directly from statements the witness had made, apparently in a televised interview. Judge Kaplan seemed skeptical of the government’s request, saying that another Qaeda cooperator, L’Houssaine Kherchtou, had testified in a 2010 terrorism trial under his real identity. Questioned by the judge, Mr. Cronan offered additional details about the mystery witness, including that he had been charged in a six-defendant indictment. An Internet search of the quotations in Mr. Cohen’s filing and other relevant words turned up an interview that suggested that the witness is Sahim Alwan, a member of the so-called Lackawanna Six, a group of Buffalo-area Yemeni Americans who had gone to a Qaeda camp in Afghanistan. Both Mr. Alwan’s lawyer and prosecutors said they had no comment. | Terrorism;9/11,Sept 11;Al Qaeda;Khalid Shaikh Mohammed;Detainees;Lewis A Kaplan;Sulaiman Abu Ghaith;Osama bin Laden |
ny0060711 | [
"sports",
"rugby"
] | 2014/08/15 | All Blacks Seek Record Win in Rugby Championship | WELLINGTON, New Zealand — History could be made Saturday when the Rugby Championship kicks off with the test between Australia and New Zealand in Sydney, Australia. The annual Southern Hemisphere tournament also includes South Africa and Argentina, who will meet in Pretoria, South Africa, this weekend, but most interest will focus on Sydney, where the New Zealand All Blacks are gunning for a record 18th consecutive victory by a Tier 1 nation. It is a milestone the world champions are eager to add to their list of accomplishments, and it will surpass the 17 victories by the South African side of 1997-98 and the New Zealand side of 1965-69. But while adding to their legacy is motivation for the All Blacks, maintaining their stranglehold over their close rival Australia and retaining the coveted Bledisloe Cup for another year will also spur them on. The Bledisloe Cup is contested annually between the two teams over three tests, and for both it is second in importance only to the World Cup. The test in Sydney and the one the following weekend in Auckland, New Zealand, will also count toward the Rugby Championship. The third test in October in Brisbane, Australia, is a stand-alone match. “The Bledisloe Cup is an extremely important trophy for us all, and there is a strong desire within the group to begin the Rugby Championship on a positive note with a quality performance,” All Blacks Coach Steve Hansen said. The Australian Wallabies have not held the Bledisloe Cup since 2002. In the 33 test matches against the All Blacks since then, the Wallabies have managed just six victories and one draw. The last victory was in 2011. It is a drought the Wallabies, their fans and any Australian who works alongside a rugby-mad New Zealander are desperate to see ended. Wallabies Coach Ewen McKenzie admits it is a tough assignment, but he also knows exactly what it takes to win against the All Blacks. McKenzie won the Bledisloe Cup in 1992 as a player and from 2000 to 2002 when he was the Wallabies’ assistant coach. “I’ve tasted it, so I understand it,” McKenzie said. “But that was then and now is now. They’ve been pretty successful against us over the last 11 years, so the idea is to change that.” There have certainly been changes on and off the field for the Wallabies since McKenzie took charge 12 months ago — and largely for the better. Now the culture is about putting the team first, while the Wallabies are playing a more exciting, entertaining brand of rugby that showcases the talents of game-breakers like Israel Folau, Adam Ashley-Cooper and Kurtley Beale, who will start at flyhalf for the first time since 2012 on Saturday. Image Ewen McKenzie, coach of the Australian Wallabies, admits that winning the Bledisloe Cup will be a challenge. Credit William West/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images “We’ve always had the capacity to step up, and there are key moments when we’ve done well against the All Blacks in the past,” McKenzie said. “But we haven’t had the consistency that they’ve had.” That consistency and winning habit is starting to come, though, and the Australians will enter the Rugby Championship with seven successive test wins under their belt — including a three-test clean sweep of France in June. And for the first time in three years, there will also be some confidence gleaned from success in Super Rugby after the New South Wales Waratahs defeated the Crusaders of New Zealand in an epic final in Sydney at the start of the month. Many of the players involved in that final will be pulling on gold or black jerseys at the same venue this weekend, although the man who kicked the match-winning penalty for the Waratahs, Bernard Foley, has lost his No. 10 Wallabies jersey to Beale. The two teams will be without some of their leading players, however, with Will Genia, Quade Cooper, David Pocock, Stephen Moore and Tatafu Polota-Nau missing for Australia and Dan Carter and Tony Woodcock absent for New Zealand because they are all injured. In South Africa, the Springboks are preparing to open their Rugby Championship campaign against Argentina. But beating the All Blacks is their major goal this year — particularly with the World Cup just over a year away. For the past two years, they have lost home and away to New Zealand. Last year those were the only two defeats the South Africans suffered. Coach Heyneke Meyer has a good balance in his squad this year between exciting youngsters like Handre Pollard, Damian de Allende and Willie le Roux and gnarly veterans like the du Plessis brothers, Bismarck and Jannie, Bakkies Botha, Bryan Habana and captain Jean de Villiers — all of whom will start against the Pumas. The Springboks are also starting to play a more expansive style of rugby, rather than relying on the kick-chase favored by their more successful Super Rugby sides. But de Villiers made it clear where the priority lies this year when speaking to journalists in Johannesburg. “It still is one game at a time, and for us the focus is still on Argentina,” he said. “But for us to go forward as a team and to make strides as a team and get confidence going into next year, I think it is important for us to beat the All Blacks.” “We haven’t done so in the last two years,” he continued. “That is one of our goals. We want to be the best team in the world and to get back to No. 1. To do that, we need to beat them.” This will be Argentina’s third year in the competition, and as yet the Pumas have not won a match. The closest they have come in the 12 tests so far was a draw against South Africa in Mendoza in their debut season two years ago. Last year they pushed the Wallabies hard in Australia but were no match for South Africa and New Zealand. They faded badly in the latter stages of the competition as the intensity of playing the top three teams in the world in the space of eight weeks took its toll. This will be Coach Daniel Hourcade’s first Rugby Championship since taking over from Santiago Phelan last November, and there is a fresh look to the squad as he has selected fewer overseas-based players than his predecessor. There are just 12 in his squad of 26, including the veterans Juan Manuel Leguizamón, Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe and Agustín Creevy, the new captain. The remainder come from the Pampas XV team that played in South Africa’s Vodacom Cup and won this year’s Pacific Rugby Cup in Australia. | Australia;New Zealand;South Africa;All Blacks;Springboks |
ny0277079 | [
"nyregion"
] | 2016/11/05 | Federal Investigation of New Jersey Transit Finds Numerous Safety Violations | TRENTON — A federal investigation of New Jersey Transit’s railroad this year revealed that workers used personal cellphones while on duty and train crews failed to properly test brakes or blow horns at crossings, among other problems, the agency’s executive director told state legislators at a hearing here on Friday. After angering state lawmakers by not showing up to an investigative hearing last month, Steven Santoro, the new executive director, appeared before legislators and pledged to improve the troubled agency. Mr. Santoro testified for four hours, apologizing at least three times for missing the earlier hearing. He had scheduled a meeting with the Federal Railroad Administration on the same day, he said, even though it could have been held another time. “After being on the job for only a few days, I felt that I needed to have a better understanding of the agency,” Mr. Santoro said. Now three weeks into the job, Mr. Santoro took a conciliatory tone with lawmakers, explaining the steps the railroad was taking to improve safety and to fill vacant jobs. After listing the issues uncovered by the investigation, Mr. Santoro said, “These findings are unacceptable.” In response, the agency was conducting unannounced inspections and had increased penalties for workers, including longer suspensions, among other measures, Mr. Santoro said. The latest legislative hearing came about five weeks after a New Jersey Transit train slammed into a station in Hoboken, killing a woman and injuring more than 100 others. The crash drew attention to safety problems at the agency, and a report by The New York Times found broader concerns about its finances under Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican, as well as growing delays and leadership problems. Mr. Santoro was joined by several top officials from the agency, who together faced a barrage of questions from state lawmakers reviewing thousands of pages of documents that New Jersey Transit recently submitted about its operations and staffing. The agency has “critical vacancies” in its rail division and was now working to hire rail managers and other employees, Mr. Santoro said. State Assemblyman John F. McKeon, a Democrat who leads the Judiciary Committee, questioned New Jersey Transit’s hiring last year of Michael Drewniak, a former press secretary for Mr. Christie, who had no transportation experience. He noted that Mr. Drewniak, who until recently served as the agency’s chief of staff and remains at the agency, was one of its highest-paid leaders. Image New Jersey State Assemblyman John F. McKeon, a Democrat, right, in the hearing on Friday with Mr. Santoro, foreground. Credit Christopher Occhicone for The New York Times Mr. Santoro said he was not the executive director when Mr. Drewniak was hired and he now had a different chief of staff, Paul Wyckoff, who was seated next to him at the hearing. Mr. Drewniak returned to his previous job as policy and strategic planning director. At the end of the hearing, Mr. McKeon said he believed officials were still “dancing a little bit” in evading questions about Mr. Drewniak. He said he had identified 10 people who worked for the agency and had ties to Mr. Christie but little transportation experience, though he declined to identify them. “We’re going to stop New Jersey Transit and the Port Authority and other places as being dumping grounds for patronage,” Mr. McKeon said. “That has got to stop.” Mr. McKeon said he was unimpressed with testimony at the first hearing from Richard Hammer , the state’s transportation commissioner, who said there were no real problems at the agency. Lawmakers are planning to hold several more hearings on New Jersey Transit in the months ahead. After months without a public meeting, New Jersey Transit’s board met twice recently and approved its annual operating budget last week. The board also approved financing for the lease of radio spectrum needed to implement positive train control, which can automatically stop or slow a speeding train. The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the fatal crash in Hoboken and has not determined a cause. Investigators said they did not know yet whether the safety technology could have prevented the crash, but they have said it could have prevented other crashes, including an Amtrak derailment in Philadelphia last year that killed eight people. New Jersey Transit intended to meet a federal deadline to install the safety technology by the end of 2018, Mr. Santoro told lawmakers. He also said he would suggest to the board that it convene every month from now on. After complaints from commuters about recent fare increases amid worsening service, Mr. Santoro said there would be no fare increase this fiscal year. He also said he proposed to state officials that there be no fare increase in the fiscal year ending in 2018. Mr. Santoro acknowledged that New Jersey Transit had more train accidents than other commuter railroads and that older trains were breaking down more often, arguing that plans to hire rail managers and buy new equipment would help address the problems. Asked about the agency’s safety culture, Mr. Santoro said it needed to be improved. “Clearly there needs to be a refocusing and rededication and new resources related to keeping the culture,” he said, “and improving the culture as well.” | New Jersey Transit;Train wreck;Commuting;Steven Santoro;New Jersey |
ny0102723 | [
"us"
] | 2015/12/14 | California Police and F.B.I. Open Hate Crimes Inquiry Into Vandalism of Mosques | The police in California and the Federal Bureau of Investigation on Sunday opened a hate crimes investigation after two mosques were vandalized overnight, the latest in a series of episodes of vandalism and arson at Muslim and Sikh houses of worship in Southern California since the terrorist attack in San Bernardino . Worshipers arriving on Sunday morning at the Islamic Center of Hawthorne found the words “Jesus is the way” spray-painted on the building, said Sgt. Christopher Port, a spokesman for the Hawthorne Police Department. The word “Jesus” was also spray-painted in white on an outer wall of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community Baitus-Salaam Mosque in Hawthorne, he said, and an object resembling a hand grenade was found in its driveway. The object was found to be “a plastic replica,” said Sara Rodriguez, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. The Los Angeles field office of the F.B.I. joined the investigation on Sunday, the Hawthorne police said. The vandalism in Hawthorne came two days after Carl James Dial Jr., 23, was arrested in nearby Riverside County and charged with arson, hate crime and burglary after the police said he set fire to a mosque, the Islamic Society of Coachella Valley, in Coachella. The fire began 15 minutes before the start of a midday prayer service, and several worshipers were inside the building when emergency crews arrived. “We were just here trying to be free and practice our religion just like everybody else,” Salahaldeen Alwishah, 27, who was inside the mosque when the fire started, told The Los Angeles Times . The Riverside County Sheriff’s Department said that the fire was quickly brought under control and that no one was injured. Two days before the fire in Coachella, the police in Buena Park, Calif., opened a hate crimes investigation after a Sikh temple was vandalized. Expletive-laced graffiti was sprayed on walls in the parking lot of the temple, Gurdwara Singh Sabha, as well as on a tractor-trailer parked there, said Jaspreet Singh, a board member of the temple. “The graffiti had gang codes and a racial slur and profanity in reference to ISIS and Islam, which was misspelled,” he said in an interview last week, using an acronym to refer to the Islamic State. The Sikh religion is entirely separate from Islam, but Sikh men, who wear turbans and long beards, have often been the target of anti-Muslim crimes. Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, an advocacy group, said the country had experienced “an unprecedented spike in anti-Muslim incidents” since the Paris and San Bernardino terrorist attacks. “Normally we would issue statements on each and every one of these attacks, but now we don’t even have time to do that because there have just been so many,” Mr. Hooper said, referring to the work of his organization. He said that anti-Muslim rhetoric from presidential candidates like Donald J. Trump and Ben Carson had contributed to an increasingly hostile environment for Muslim Americans. “Right after 9/11, anti-Muslim hate was on the fringes of society, and now it has been brought right into the mainstream,” he said. “It’s almost acceptable now to hate Islam and Muslims, and now we see the results.” On Sunday, the Hawthorne police evacuated the area around the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community mosque, including two nearby residences, while a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department bomb squad responded to the scene, Sergeant Port said. Sergeant Port said the police believed the vandalism at the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community mosque “happened in the early morning hours at some point overnight.” Officers responded to a call from the scene shortly after 6:30 a.m. Dr. Ahsan Khan, a spokesman for the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community mosque, said that in addition to the word “Jesus,” there were three crucifixes spray-painted on the wall of the mosque. “This was a hate crime, by all indications,” he said. “Like everyone else in Los Angeles, members of our community were shocked by what happened” in San Bernardino, Dr. Khan said. “We were saddened that these terrorists did this in what they professed to be the name of Islam.” | Mosque;Islam;Vandalism;FBI;California;Arson |
ny0077754 | [
"sports",
"football"
] | 2015/05/24 | N.F.L. Player’s Prom Date Dies | A Jacksonville, Fla., teenager with liver cancer who went to her high school prom with an N.F.L. player has died. Khameyea Jennings, 18, died Thursday, said Cindy Hamilton, the Wolfson Children’s Hospital spokeswoman. Earlier this month, Jennings went to her prom with the Jacksonville Jaguars defensive tackle Sen’Derrick Marks, who drove the couple to the prom in his Lamborghini. | Football;Jacksonville Jaguars |
ny0094700 | [
"world",
"europe"
] | 2015/01/29 | Suspect in Killing of Putin Foe Calls Accusations ‘Nonsense’ | LONDON — Andrei K. Lugovoi, a Russian entrepreneur and former K.G.B. bodyguard accused of poisoning Alexander V. Litvinenko with radioactive polonium 210, was quoted Wednesday as saying the charges that Russia was behind the killing were “nonsense.” “Such evidence simply does not exist because Russia wasn’t involved,” Mr. Lugovoi told The Associated Press at his office in Russia’s Parliament, where he became a lawmaker after the death in London on Nov. 23, 2006, of Mr. Litvinenko, a former K.G.B. officer and bitter opponent of President Vladimir V. Putin. “Second, even if somebody had produced it, then I can only say that it’s a fake and speculation.” His remarks were published as an oft-delayed public inquiry into Mr. Litvinenko’s death entered a second day in London. On Tuesday, Ben Emmerson, a barrister representing the widowed Marina Litvinenko , said the trail of evidence would lead “directly to the door” of Mr. Putin. The inquiry, which is set to last around 10 weeks and will be conducted at least partially in secret, will explore such areas as the involvement of Russian state agencies and British intelligence services in Mr. Litvinenko’s death. At the time of his death, Mr. Litvinenko and his family had just acquired British citizenship. Mr. Litvinenko’s lawyers have said that he worked in some capacity for MI6, Britain’s overseas spy agency, for several years after seeking asylum in Britain in 2000, and had investigated links between the Kremlin and organized crime. British prosecutors say Mr. Litvinenko was poisoned on Nov. 1, 2006, the same day that he met with Mr. Lugovoi and an associate, Dmitri V. Kovtun, a former Soviet Army officer described at the inquiry as a deserter. “Straightaway a waiter came up to us,” Mr. Litvinenko said in the hospital, according to a transcript read Tuesday by the counsel to the inquiry. “There was already a teapot on the table and I poured some tea out of the teapot, although there was only a little left on the bottom and it made just half a cup. Maybe about 50 grams. I swallowed several times but it was green tea with no sugar and it was already cold, by the way. “I didn’t like it for some reason,” Mr. Litvinenko said. “Maybe in total I swallowed three or four times.” Dr. Nathaniel Cary, a government pathologist who helped conduct a post-mortem examination of Mr. Litvinenko soon after his death, spoke at the inquiry Wednesday and said a medical analysis supported Mr. Litvinenko’s account. “It appears Mr. Litvinenko ingested a large quantity of polonium 210 on or around Nov. 1, 2006, largely if not wholly by oral ingestion, rather than by inhalation,” Dr. Cary said. He described the isotope as “the smoking gun in the case. It shows you what happened.” Because of “very hazardous” levels of radiation in Mr. Litvinenko’s body, Dr. Cary said, the examination after his death “has been described as the most dangerous post-mortem examination ever undertaken in the Western world, and I think that is probably right.” Physicians wore two protective suits, gloves and specialized hoods with air pumped in through a filter, he said. Mr. Lugovoi and Mr. Kovtun have denied the murder charges. Craig Mascall, a detective inspector with Scotland Yard’s counterterrorism unit, told the inquiry Wednesday, “There are still two people wanted for the murder of Mr. Litvinenko, and that’s Mr. Lugovoi and Mr. Kovtun.” | Alexander V Litvinenko;Andrei K Lugovoi;Russia;Poison;Murders and Homicides;Spying and Intelligence Agencies;KGB;MI6;Dmitri V Kovtun;London |
ny0200413 | [
"sports",
"tennis"
] | 2009/09/18 | Beach Tennis Provides Option After Injuries and a Party Atmosphere | LONG BEACH, N.Y. — Put him on any other tennis court, clay, grass or hard, and Paul Whitesell would not draw a second look: racket in hand, cap turned backward, synthetic T-shirt, long white socks, pale sneakers. The only difference is that his shoes are full of sand. Whitesell is a professional beach tennis player. Ever since he caught his first glimpse of the sport in 2005 at Beach Tennis USA ’s inaugural event in Charleston, S.C., Whitesell has been hooked. Like many players who flirted with tennis’s big time, he found in the beach game a way to stay competitive long after his playing career had been hamstrung by injuries. “I can still play at a high level and not beat up my body as much,” said Whitesell, who recently won the beach tennis national title here with his playing partner, Chris Henderson. “This has been my saving grace.” The sport is played by two-person teams on a space similar to a beach volleyball court with a 5-foot-10-inch-high net. It preserves most of the rules of tennis with a few modifications for sand and speed. For instance, there is no second serve, no advantage scoring, and a match consists of a single eight-game set. But most important, the ball, which is the half-pressure kind used to teach young children, never bounces. Beach tennis is played entirely with volleys, making it quick, intense and particularly challenging for players to deal with serves that can reach 90 miles an hour. And all of this unfolds in a party atmosphere on beaches around the country, where loud music pulses during points and the ballgirls wear bikinis. “Tennis is so proper and quiet that you get to a point where you just want to yell and scream,” said Nadia Johnston, who turned to beach tennis after a wrist injury ended her professional career. “So I saw this and thought, why not? You get to play on the beach and do anything you want.” With $10,000 to $15,000 available in potential prize money on the American tour, few players can afford to make it a full-time occupation. Whitesell, who won three tennis team championships with the University of Southern California in the early 1990s before knee injuries ended his brief stint on the professional tour, works as a teaching professional. Henderson does not have the luxury of wearing shorts to work; he is a medical device salesman. But for their opponents in the Beach Tennis USA final, Matteo Marighella and Alex Mingozzi of Ravenna, Italy, beach tennis is a day job. Between prize money on the European tour — where they play as many as 50 tournaments — and their teaching academy, they can earn more than $60,000 a year. Not bad for a pair of guys who have never played regular tennis. In fact, until they started playing American tournaments, Marighella and Mingozzi said, they had never even used a tennis racket. In most of the world, beach tennis is played with 20-inch paddles, something Marc Altheim, a New York real estate developer, never knew when he brought the sport to the United States in 2005. It began when Altheim was vacationing in Aruba in 2003. Thinking he had spotted a beach volleyball tournament, he wandered over to take a closer look. What he found was a competition for a sport he had never seen, played by people of widely differing ages. Altheim entered the tournament on the spot. But as much as he enjoyed it, he did not decide to do anything about it until the next summer, when he found himself watching table tennis on ESPN. “I thought, is that the best thing they can find to put on television?” he said. So within a year, Altheim busied himself finding sponsors to import the game. And in the summer of 2005, he and Jim Lorenzo, the president of Beach Tennis USA, packed up a truck with nets, rackets and court markers and drove up the Eastern Seaboard. They set up on beaches, blasted music and wound up with a tennis-meets-spring-break traveling show. “Everywhere we went, people came out to see,” Lorenzo said. “We never had a city where people looked at us and said: ‘This is silly. This is stupid.’ ” Four years later, though, Altheim and Lorenzo have realized that for the sport to grow and for them to realize their dream of seeing it in the Olympic Games, there are a couple of hurdles to clear. The first is making the game seem accessible; Altheim explained that many people see players with rackets on the beach and think they need to be good at tennis to play. The second is creating an international standard for how the game should be played. Altheim and Lorenzo say they have found solutions for both. This year, they finally conformed to their European counterparts and introduced paddles into the American game. “Now it can really become something for the beach crowd,” Altheim said, “not just tennis players.” | beach tennis;Henderson Chris;Whitesell Paul;Beach Tennis USA;Tennis;Beach Volleyball;Olympic Games |
ny0017376 | [
"world",
"europe"
] | 2013/10/13 | German Outrage Swells Over a Bishop’s Spending | BERLIN — Since being elected in March, Pope Francis has quickly made a mark with his displays of modesty, eschewing lavish papal apartments for a spartan guesthouse in Vatican City, wearing simple vestments, carrying his own bag and preaching against a Roman Catholic Church hierarchy that he said was overly insular and too often led by “narcissists.” Apparently, Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst, 53, the bishop of Limburg, Germany, for almost six years, is not on the same page as his new boss. Roman Catholic bishops rarely serve as Page 1 tabloid fodder or top the national television ratings. But the prelate of Limburg earned this dubious distinction in 24 hours last week as outrage swelled after the news media reported the cost of the renovation of his residence, about $42 million, and a state prosecutor in Hamburg charged him with lying in a legal case. The bishop ordered up a palatial living room, and his apartment alone cost $3.9 million, according to Jochen Riebel, the spokesman for the body administering church property in Limburg. Mr. Riebel said the bishop lied last summer when confronted over the cost, estimating the renovation at just $13.5 million. Citing Mr. Riebel, the German news agency DPA itemized the work: $474,000 for carpentry and cupboards, $610,000 for art, $135,000 for windows for a private chapel, $34,000 for a conference table, $20,000 for a bathtub. “For heaven’s sake!” the headline atop the nation’s largest-selling tabloid, Bild, screamed on Friday. Over a graphic that showed the bishop’s living quarters and offices, it asked, “Why does the bishop need a €783,000 garden?” By Friday, calls for the resignation of Bishop Tebartz-van Elst were multiplying. The church exists to serve the weak, the sick and the poor, said Stefan Vesper, the leader of the country’s biggest organization of Catholics and among those calling for resignation. The bishop’s behavior “is not the Catholic Church,” he said. In September, as thousands of Catholics signed petitions for and against him, the bishop, whose diocese of 682,000 believers includes rural Rhineland but also Frankfurt, the banking metropolis, begged forgiveness from all whom he might have “hurt and disappointed.” After a visit from a Vatican envoy, Cardinal Giovanni Lajolo, who was sent to investigate the growing furor, the bishop agreed to have the German church investigate his spending, which he has insisted incorporated 10 separate building projects and was mandated by preservation laws. On Friday, the bishop scrapped a planned trip to Israel with a church choir, but remained silent, behind the walls of the controversial residence. Image Bishop Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst Credit Michael Probst/Associated Press “He will have to step down; there is no alternative,” said Joachim Heidersdorf, chief reporter for Nassauische Neue Presse, a newspaper in Limburg, a picturesque small town whose cathedral dates from more than 800 years ago. In a telephone interview, Mr. Heidersdorf marveled that the bishop, who he said communicates with just handpicked reporters, had chosen now to talk only with the influential Bild, which published his spirited defense on Thursday but went on the attack with Friday’s front page. Television reports about the Limburg case attracted top ratings Thursday night. For many commentators, the case in Hamburg hurt even more than the ballooning bills for the residence. A senior state prosecutor, Nana Frombach, formally charged on Thursday that the bishop made false statements twice under oath during his legal action against the weekly newsmagazine Der Spiegel, which in 2012 reported that he flew first class on a visit to the poor in India. If found guilty, the prelate could face a fine. Much worse than his spending, in the eyes of Claudia Keller , writing on Friday for the daily newspaper Der Tagesspiegel, is the formal charge that he lied and that “till today, he is sticking hard by that lie.” “That is not just embarrassing and a violation of the Eighth Commandment,” she wrote. “It is the complete opposite of the life that Pope Francis imagines for his bishops.” By late Friday, Bishop Tebartz-van Elst, who was appointed to Limburg by Francis’ predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, a German, was clearly embarrassing even the cautious leaders of the roughly 24 million registered Catholics in Germany. Archbishop Robert Zollitsch, who said he was befuddled by the multimillions spent by the prelate when the figures emerged this week, said pointedly: “We bishops must ask ourselves, where and how we live. A new building represents a chance to send signals.” “Pope Francis is preaching to us all of the simple life, humility and modesty,” the archbishop said, according to the newspaper Passauer Neue Presse. “We all feel how pressured the situation is,” he added, noting that it was the first time he had heard of a prelate being formally charged by prosecutors. “That upsets me greatly. If it is confirmed in court, then we have a new situation.” The archbishop plans to be at the Vatican this week and said he would discuss the case with the pope. Bishop Tebartz-van Elst was reported to be flying to Rome on Saturday. Canon law experts quoted by the German news media said that only the pontiff could decide to remove the bishop. Bishop Tebartz-van Elst, who was ordained in 1985 and studied in France and at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana in the late 1980s, was Germany’s youngest bishop when he was installed in January 2008. His predecessor, Bishop Franz Kamphaus, had reached the church retirement age of 75, but was apparently a cleric more in the spirit of Francis. According to Christa Pongratz-Lippitt, a correspondent for The Tablet, a Catholic weekly in London, Bishop Kamphaus moved out of the bishop’s palace into a small apartment in the adjoining seminary, using the official residence to house refugees. | Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst;Priest;Berlin;Catholic Church;Germany;Perjury |
ny0086903 | [
"business",
"dealbook"
] | 2015/07/31 | R.B.S. Profit Improves Despite Large Restructuring Charge | LONDON — The Royal Bank of Scotland said on Thursday that its profit rose 27 percent in the second quarter, a positive sign as it accelerated efforts to shrink itself and refocus its business. R.B.S., based in Edinburgh, announced plans in February to dismantle its global investment bank and to shrink the number of countries where it operates as it shifts to being a British-focused retail and corporate bank. During the second quarter, the bank booked restructuring charges of 1.05 billion pounds, or about $1.64 billion. That included £734 million related to the cutting of investment bank operations and £126 million for the planned spinoff of Williams & Glyn, a branch network in Britain. The bank, which is about 79 percent owned by the government after its 2008 bailout, also recorded £459 million in additional legal charges, the bulk of which are related to mortgage-backed securities litigation in the United States. On a conference call with journalists on Thursday, Ross McEwan, its chief executive, said that the bank had yet to begin settlement discussions with regulators in the United States regarding mortgage-backed securities, where various mortgages were bundled into larger instruments and sold. He said the bank was “at the back of the queue” behind other lenders. “This will continue to be a noisy year as we go further and faster on the restructuring and deal with the conduct and litigation that we’ve been quite clear about,” Mr. McEwan said. “These are tough issues coming down the track.” In a news release , R.B.S. said that it was not likely to begin to return capital to investors through share buybacks and dividends before the first quarter of 2017. For the three months ended June 30, R.B.S. reported profit of £293 million, from £230 million in the same period a year earlier. That was ahead of analysts’ expectations. Net interest income, the measure of what a bank earns on its lending after deducting what it pays out on deposits and other liabilities, declined less than 1 percent to £2.77 billion in the second quarter, from £2.79 billion in the same period a year earlier. Operating expenses rose 14 percent to £4.21 billion in the quarter, from £3.7 billion in the second quarter of 2014. R.B.S. required government rescue loans of £45 billion pounds during the financial crisis in 2008. In June, George Osborne, the chancellor of the Exchequer, announced plans for the government to begin to reduce its stake in R.B.S., even if it had to record a loss on some holdings. On Thursday, Mr. McEwan said the timing of those sales would be “up to the government.” Since taking the helm as chief executive in 2013, Mr. McEwan has shrunk the bank’s global ambitions and concentrated on the British and Irish markets. It has sold or spun off several businesses in recent years, including Citizens Financial Group, an American retail bank. Citizens Financial was spun off in an initial public offering in the United States last year. R.B.S. said this week that it planned to fully exit its holdings in the bank by the end of the year after it sold $2.2 billion in shares this week. As condition of its bailout, European regulators required R.B.S. to dispose of Citizens Financial and Williams & Glyn. Williams & Glyn is expected to be spun off by the end of next year and become a challenger bank to the biggest lenders in Britain. | Banking and Finance;Earnings Reports;Royal Bank of Scotland;Citizens Financial Group;Ross McEwan;George Osborne;Edinburgh;Great Britain |
ny0122512 | [
"business"
] | 2012/09/17 | Earnings Outlook in U.S. Dims as Global Economy Slows | The boom in American corporate profits, which has far outpaced the gains in the broader economy since the end of the last recession, is faltering. Giants like FedEx and Intel , two bellwethers of the global economy, are warning of lower quarterly profits because of weakness in worldwide demand. Overseas companies are feeling the pinch, too. Burberry, the British luxury retailer which had seemed immune to a slowdown, is offering a similar warning . Even smaller, family-owned companies like Eastman Machine in Buffalo, which makes cutting equipment for the textile industry, are wary. “We feel like we are walking on a tightrope,” said Robert Stevenson, Eastman Machine’s chief executive. In all, Wall Street expects quarterly profits at the typical large American company to decline for the first time since 2009. The causes of the expected decline are many. In addition to the anemic economy in the United States, much of Europe has fallen into recession while growth in China, once white-hot, has slowed. There is also the looming prospect of automatic tax increases and spending cuts in Washington, which has caused companies to sit on the sidelines . After reducing spending and eliminating jobs during the recession, American companies reaped huge gains by keeping expenses down and putting off aggressively hiring new workers as growth slowly returned. Strong profits have also propelled the stock market higher, reassuring investors whose other assets, like real estate, have declined in value over the same period. But while the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index on Friday reached its highest close since 2007 — after the Federal Reserve’s announcement of its latest stimulus effort — the cycle of steady earnings increases appears to have run its course. “A lot of the profit gain you had in the last few years was a bounce from the recession and a result of very aggressive cost-cutting,” said Ethan Harris, chief United States economist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. “Those factors are going to be very hard to replicate.” The expected decline in profits has yet to set off big layoffs. But it is another factor that is inhibiting hiring and keeping unemployment above the politically important level of 8 percent, executives and economists say. Last week, the Federal Reserve announced its boldest effort yet to kick-start growth and confront persistently high unemployment. The next day, the government reported that industrial production in August fell 1.2 percent , the biggest monthly contraction since March 2009. While executives welcomed the Fed’s announcement, many express concern over just how much impact it will have. Just over half of managers at North American companies now expect production levels to increase in the next 12 months, down from 64 percent in the second quarter, according to a survey by CEB, a member-based advisory firm. In the same survey, the percentage of executives who expect to hire more workers fell to 34 percent from 41 percent last quarter. “We’re sort of like in this limbo environment,” said Gregory T. Swienton, chief executive of Ryder System, the truck rental and transportation company. “I’d love to be able to say we’re hiring, but there is no natural big growth that would require hiring.” The slowdown overseas is beginning to cut into profits at both large and small companies, many of which had benefited in the last few years from heightened demand abroad even as growth in the United States slowed. At Eastman Machine in Buffalo, orders from China and Europe are below last year’s levels, said Mr. Stevenson, the chief executive. Business has held up better domestically, and Mr. Stevenson says he is optimistic about the future of his family-owned company over the long haul. Wall Street analysts expect earnings for the typical company in the S.& P. 500 to decline 2.2 percent in the third quarter from the same period a year ago, according to Thomson Reuters, the first such drop since the third quarter of 2009. Earnings are expected slide 3 percent from the second quarter of 2012. What is more, 88 companies have already said that results will come in below expectations; 21 that have signaled a positive outlook, said Greg Harrison, corporate earnings research analyst at Thomson Reuters. “That’s much more pessimistic than normal,” said Mr. Harrison, who added that the third quarter of 2001 was the last time that earnings guidance leaned so heavily to the downside. To be sure, pockets of optimism remain. In addition to the stock market rally this month, corporate earnings are still expected to finish 2012 up 6.1 percent from 2011, largely because gains in the first half of the year will offset any decline in the third quarter. And earnings results in the fourth quarter could benefit from a slowdown late last year, making make year-over-year comparisons look better. Looking ahead, if corporate profits enter a sustained decline, big companies are likely to face increased pressure to cut jobs, since there is much less room left to cut costs elsewhere. After rising steadily in the wake of the recession, profit margins for S.& P. 500 companies peaked at 8.9 percent in late 2011, said David Kostin, chief United States equity strategist at Goldman Sachs. Margins are expected to fall to 8.7 percent in 2012. Indeed, margins are eroding at some companies as revenue dips. Intel said this month that it estimated revenue for the third quarter would total $13.2 billion, plus or minus $300 million. That is off from an earlier forecast of $13.8 billion to $14.8 billion, and 7 percent below revenue a year ago. Profit margins are estimated at 62 percent, down from 63.4 percent a year ago. Wall Street estimates that Intel will earn about $2.58 billion in the third quarter, a 26 percent drop from the same quarter a year ago. The company, which makes semiconductors, has been hurt as computer makers cut chip inventories in Asia, while demand for personal computers has been soft worldwide. At FedEx , which warned of lower-than-expected results on Sept. 4, profits in the current quarter are projected to decline by 2 to 6 percent. When the company reports earnings Tuesday, analysts will watch closely for weakness in shipments in China and the United States, two major markets that have been softer than originally forecast. While profit margins have plateaued in corporate America, productivity gains in the overall economy have ebbed as well. After rising at an annual rate of 2.9 percent in 2009, and a 3.1 percent pace in 2010, productivity inched up 0.7 percent in 2011, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. “There’s only so much you can cut,” said Chad Moutray, chief economist at the National Association of Manufacturers. | United States Economy;Standard & Poor's 500-Stock Index;Fedex Corporation;Intel Corporation;Company Reports;Corporations |
ny0118664 | [
"sports",
"tennis"
] | 2012/10/22 | Venus Williams Wins Luxembourg Title | Venus Williams won her first WTA tournament in more than two years, beating Monica Niculescu, 6-2, 6-3, at the Luxembourg Open. Williams, ranked No. 41, won her 44th singles title. Niculescu, ranked 70th, lost in the Luxembourg Open final for the second straight year. ¶ Caroline Wozniacki beat Samantha Stosur, 6-2, 4-6, 7-5, in the final of the Kremlin Cup in Moscow. Andreas Seppi rallied to beat Thomaz Bellucci, 3-6, 7-6 (3), 6-3, to win the men’s final. ¶ Tomas Berdych won his second ATP title this year, rallying against top-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, in the Stockholm Open. | Tennis;Williams Venus;Niculescu Monica |
ny0277043 | [
"world",
"middleeast"
] | 2016/11/04 | Egypt Floats Currency, Appeasing I.M.F. at Risk of Enraging Poor | CAIRO — Egypt’s central bank on Thursday said it would soon allow the country’s currency to trade freely, part of a broader effort to save a free-falling economy and combat an increasingly prevalent black market for American dollars. The move will help Egypt secure much-needed funds to shore up its economy. Egypt is trying to push through major economic changes to secure a $12 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund. But Egypt’s central bank risks sparking further social unrest, since it decided to devalue the currency by nearly 50 percent ahead of its float, an effort to guide the level at which it should eventually trade. The sharp drop in the value of the Egyptian pound further erodes savings and pushes up the prices of basic goods and services, a destabilizing force among the poor people who make up the bulk of Egypt’s 91 million residents. In its decision, the central bank appeared to distance itself from Egypt’s president, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, who has faced criticism for his handling of the economy. Tarek Amer, the head of the central bank, said the Egyptian pound would be allowed to trade freely beginning on Sunday. “It is going to take us around one and a half years to see changes” in the economy as a result of the decision, Mr. Amer said at a news conference. “We are just fixing the foundations.” Egypt’s economy has been flailing since the 2011 uprising. Tourism has collapsed amid rising political instability and a spate of high-profile attacks. Remittances from Egyptian workers in the Persian Gulf have dropped and revenue from the Suez Canal has fallen amid a slowdown in global economic trade. That has all led to a lack of foreign currency. As a result, imports have ground to a halt, creating shortages of goods from fancy cars to sugar . Companies have begun laying off staff members because they can no longer import the raw materials needed to make their products. Image A low-income neighborhood in Cairo. Officials are worried about the impact the sudden devaluation will have on Egypt’s poor, which could be worsened by a requirement that the authorities peel back energy subsidies. Credit David Degner for The New York Times Making matters worse, Egypt’s relationship with its chief benefactor, Saudi Arabia, has worsened . Saudi Arabia, which has propped up Egypt since Mr. Sisi came to power in 2014, did not send an expected shipment of discounted petroleum products in October, forcing Cairo to use its precious currency reserves to purchase them from elsewhere. To deal with the problem, Egyptian authorities have tightly controlled the purchase of dollars for months. Egyptians traveling overseas saw their withdrawals limited, and airport authorities were on high alert for travelers suspected of transporting cash out of the country. The restrictions drove middle-class Egyptians to the black market to buy dollars, fearing their savings would otherwise lose all their value. While the Egyptian pound was officially trading at 8.8 to the dollar before Thursday’s announcement, it fell at one point to 19 against the dollar on the black market. The central bank on Thursday devalued the pound to 13 against the dollar ahead of Sunday’s float. Officials are concerned about the impact of the sudden devaluation on Egypt’s poor, which could be worsened by a requirement that the authorities peel back energy subsidies, another condition of the I.M.F. loan. A series of subsidized staples — like bread, sugar, rice and cooking oil — could all rise in price. With inflation already at a seven-year high, combined with the psychological effect of millions of Egyptians waking up to find their salaries and savings have officially plummeted in value, the government is fearful of unrest. “There is so much anger here,” said Refaat Hussein, a tax collector and an independent labor union leader who makes about 4,000 pounds a month. “The people will take to the streets.” “This is only going to get worse,” he said. “I don’t know what I can buy now. The little guy is always the one who pays for these decisions. The pound is nothing to the rich.” The central bank’s move was welcomed by many economists and business groups. They argue that not only will a freely floating, weaker currency help curb black market foreign exchange, it will also support Egypt's export and tourism sectors by making the country’s goods and services cheaper to outsiders. In addition, Egyptians overseas, who appeared to be holding off sending money home because of the pound’s artificial strength, could resume. Perhaps to inspire investor confidence, the bank vowed in its statement that it “would not allow the bodies that supervise it to disrupt the application of this new system.” The statement appeared to be a strangely defiant reference to Mr. Sisi, who is the central bank’s direct authority. | Currency;Economy;Banking and Finance;IMF;Egypt |
ny0041198 | [
"sports",
"baseball"
] | 2014/04/25 | Photos: Buy Me Some Pine Tar and Cracker Jack | Billy Martin had one of the best eyes in baseball for catching people who were potentially up to no good. “Cheating in baseball is just like hot dogs, French fries and cold Cokes,” Martin once said. As the manager of the Yankees in 1983, Martin called out George Brett in the best-known baseball incident involving the use of pine tar in a game. He was also the one who noticed something odd about the size of the batter’s box during a game in 1980 while with the Athletics. It turned out that Seattle Mariners Manager Maury Wills had asked the grounds crew to extend the size of the box by one foot to help one of his batters. Whether it be with cork, pine tar, thumb tacks, sandpaper, or whatever else you might find in a garage or medicine cabinet, players and managers were obtaining illegal advantages against their opponents long before the release of the Mitchell report in 2007, but few have been so blatant about it as the Yankees’ Michael Pineda was on Wednesday night against Boston. Red Sox Manager John Farrell, or anyone else at Fenway Park for that matter, did not need Martin’s eagle eye to see the large splotch of pine tar on Pineda’s neck. Pineda raised suspicions earlier this season, also in a game against the Red Sox, when a substance suspected to be pine tar was spotted on his pitching hand. The Red Sox did not seem to mind much then, but twice in the same month was too much to ignore. Pineda could have at least tried a little harder to hide the pine tar, which pitchers sometimes use to get a better grip on the ball, even though it is against the rules of Major League Baseball. He could have kept it on his glove as Jay Howell of the Dodgers did in the 1988 playoffs and Joel Peralta of the Rays did in 2012. Gaylord Perry, the godfather of ball doctoring, kept substances like pine tar, Vaseline and hair tonic under his cap or inside a sleeve. Or he could have tried another kind of pine tar. “If he got some North Carolina pine tar, that’s clear,” Perry said in reference to Kenny Rogers’s suspected use of pine tar in the 2006 World Series. “You’ve got to know what you’re doing.” | Baseball;Michael Pineda;George Brett;Gaylord Perry;Kenny Rogers;Yankees;Red Sox;Cheating |
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