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ny0232327 | [
"nyregion"
] | 2010/08/27 | Lawyers for 9/11 Victims Told to Justify Their Fees | The lawyers representing most of the ground zero workers who sued the city over health issues will be appearing in court in a new role: defending themselves. The federal judge overseeing the cases has summoned the law partnership of two firms, Worby Groner Edelman and Napoli Bern Ripka, to a hearing on Friday to justify $6.1 million in legal expenses that they are charging their clients. Next week, the lawyers are due back in federal court to respond to accusations of overcharging made by the other leading law firm representing workers. That firm, Sullivan Papain Block McGrath & Cannavo, alleges that its co-counsel is trying to inflate its fees by inappropriately charging clients more than $400,000 for publicists, lobbyists and legal and medical experts as case-related costs. The Napoli firm, as the partnership is called in court papers, which represents about 9,400 of the more than 10,000 plaintiffs, already faced criticism from clients for a settlement that many plaintiffs said did not give them enough money and compensated less for some illnesses like cancer. Several dozen workers have also discovered that they were taken on as clients even though they were never eligible for the settlement because they had taken money from a federal victims compensation fund that prohibited pursuing lawsuits. “It seems like everyone is profiting off of the sick 9/11 workers except the sick who need it,” said Ernest Vallebuona, 45, a retired New York police detective whose settlement offer of $313,200 to $382,000 for lymphoma would be reduced by $12,750 for legal expenses and by tens of thousands more for a 25 percent contingency fee for the lawyers. “We want this to be over, but we want a fair settlement,” Mr. Vallebuona said. Maneuvering over who pays for what is common at the end of protracted litigation, but in the case of the rescue and recovery workers it comes in the emotionally charged atmosphere in which plaintiffs are still deciding whether to accept the settlement. It offers them as a group $625 million to $712.5 million, depending on how many plaintiffs beyond the 95 percent required to approve it accept the proposal. Over all, lawyers in the case stand to receive 25 percent of the final settlement after expenses. On Wednesday, the city’s insurer, the WTC Captive Insurance Company, cited the pending court hearings, which could result in adjustments to individual settlement amounts, as one reason for extending by two months, to Nov. 8, the deadline for plaintiffs to make their decisions. Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein of the United States District Court in Manhattan, who is overseeing the litigation, has ordered the lawyers to justify a category of expenses labeled “interest on funds borrowed by law firm” that amounts to $6.1 million. The expense comes from loans at interest rates of 14 to 18 percent that the lawyers say they took out to help finance more than $30 million in expenses over seven years of litigation. Paul J. Napoli, one of the lead plaintiffs’ lawyers, argued in court papers filed this week that it was common and appropriate to charge loan interest to clients and that “no unethical conduct by the law firm has occurred in connection with these expenses.” But while legal experts say borrowing is relatively common in mass tort cases like this, there is some criticism of the practice because it may add to the economic pressures on lawyers to settle cases. “At best, this is ethically dubious and raises a lot of questions about the law firm’s ability to handle this case,” said Stephen French, managing partner of Legalbill, a consulting firm based in Nashville that helps corporate legal departments and others analyze and track their legal costs. “If the law firm can’t carry the upfront costs, then they need not to agree to a contingency fee.” The interest charges also figure in the dispute between the Napoli firm and lawyers from Sullivan Papain, who represent 689 clients, most of them firefighters. Sullivan Papain argues that the expenses should not be passed on to clients because the retainer agreements did not ask them to accept such charges. In court papers filed this week, Sullivan Papain also questioned other expenses being charged to clients by the Napoli firm, including $220,000 for medical and legal experts, $93,000 for public relations and $35,000 for lobbying in Washington for the health care bill for those with 9/11-related injuries. The experts hired by the Napoli firm include Steven Wilkins, a doctor whose license was revoked for “gross negligence” in 2000 and who is identified on the firm’s Web site as a consulting attorney. He received $13,000. In an interview, Mr. Napoli said that his firm bore a very large share of expenses given its number of clients and that Sullivan Papain “could sit back and ride our coattails.” He said his firm therefore intended to lay claim to half of Sullivan Papain’s attorneys’ fees in the cases. Mr. Napoli said the high profile of the litigation demanded significant spending for news conferences, lobbying and other needs to keep up with the lawyers defending the city and its contractors. Those lawyers, who are paid from the federally financed $1.1 billion Captive Insurance fund, had incurred about $210 million in legal fees and expenses, officials with the insurance company said. The squabbling over money by the lawyers is infuriating already angry clients. “What started out as an intention to help the Sept. 11 community has now become a feeding frenzy with the lawyers,” said Kenny Specht, a plaintiff who leads a firefighters group. Mr. Specht said he had already rejected his settlement offer of $127,000 to $158,000 before legal fees and expenses are taken out as “less than what I would have made in one year as a New York City firefighter.” About 60 workers who sued despite having taken money from the federal September 11th Victim Compensation Fund before it closed in 2003 are coming out empty-handed from the settlement. Some of the plaintiffs say they feel misled and used by the Napoli lawyers to increase their client numbers. But Mr. Napoli said his firm took the cases in the belief that the workers were eligible because the lawsuits involved injuries that developed later and had not been compensated. He said he was now advising the clients to opt out of the settlement and continue to pursue their cases. “I can’t for the life of me understand why would we have been only told at the 11th hour that we in fact would be disqualified from this settlement,” said Vincent Forras, a volunteer firefighter who came to ground zero from Westchester County and is now among the ineligible plaintiffs. “I feel very let down.” | Suits and Litigation;World Trade Center (NYC);September 11 (2001);Health Insurance and Managed Care;Prices (Fares Fees and Rates);Legal Profession;Manhattan (NYC);Hellerstein Alvin K |
ny0207217 | [
"sports",
"soccer"
] | 2009/06/28 | DeMerit, a Guy From Green Bay, Excels at the ‘Other’ Football | JOHANNESBURG — On an unlikely United States national soccer team, there is no more unlikely player than defender Jay DeMerit , whose nickname is Rags to Riches and whose adventurous career path to the Confederations Cup involved van rides on boxes of socks and underwear, living in an attic and being hugged by Elton John. If few expected the Americans to reach Sunday’s final against Brazil, even fewer expected DeMerit to be starting on the back line. “I’m probably the most improbable of all the improbable events going on,” the chatty DeMerit, 29, said. He grew up in Green Bay, Wis., played three sports in high school and went to the University of Illinois-Chicago, where he did not remind anyone of Franz Beckenbauer. Some young players refine their skills at the academies of Barcelona and Manchester United. DeMerit played summers for Green Bay 7 Up. He designed the team logo and spent most of his time as a groundskeeper for the local school district. “One year, I graduated from cleanup crew to lawns and hedge clippers,” DeMerit said. Eventually, he played with the developmental team of the Chicago Fire, but went undrafted by Major League Soccer upon graduation in 2003 . His closest contact with the big time, DeMerit said, came one day when DaMarcus Beasley of the Fire walked into the bar where he worked. “Nobody in here knows you, but I do,” DeMerit said he told Beasley, handing him a free drink. “Good luck with your season.” Beasley was soon headed to Europe, and DeMerit would even beat him there, but Beasley’s career was flying first class while DeMerit’s was stowed in baggage. He had a gnawing feeling that he could be a professional, but while Beasley ended up first at PSV Eindhoven in the Netherlands in 2004, DeMerit alighted in 2003 at Southall, a semiprofessional team outside of London. If Dante had a seventh circle of soccer hell, this was it. DeMerit lived with a soccer-playing friend, Kieron Keane, in the attic of Keane’s mother’s house. Bed was a mattress on the floor. The pay was about 25 bucks a week. Practices were held on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and games were played on Saturdays. On Sundays, they played in a pub league. “People showed up hung over just to get a run in,” DeMerit said. Each Saturday morning, the Southall manager picked up DeMerit and Keane in a blue minivan with no rear windows. During the week, the van was used to haul dry goods for sale at a market stall. The human cargo had to make do. “We used to play paper, rock, scissors,” DeMerit said. “The loser had to sit in the back on top of boxes of socks and underwear.” And the winner? “He got to sit in front while the manager rolled his own cigarettes,” DeMerit said. Five or 10 people tended to stray past for each match. “It wasn’t Lambeau Field ,” DeMerit said. In 2004, Southall’s assistant moved up a few rungs on the English soccer ladder to Northwood. DeMerit followed. He thought his style of defense was perfectly compatible with the English game: aggression without anger. He relied on speed, strength and agility as a defender. He did not particularly need skill, he figured, only a determination not to let those with skill get a kick on the ball. During a preseason match for Northwood, DeMerit impressed the manager of another club, Watford , which played at a level just below the English Premier League. An audition with Watford led to a contract for the 2004-5 season. DeMerit’s career began to ascend, as if he were a small-town singer who found his big-city voice on “ American Idol .” On May 21, 2006, Watford met Leeds United in a playoff for promotion to the Premier League. Before the match, Aidy Boothroyd, the Watford manager, told USA Today that DeMerit was brave and essential in defense. “He will put his head where other people are not even prepared to put their feet,” Boothroyd told the paper. As it happened, DeMerit put his head onto a corner kick, directing it into the net for the game’s first goal. Watford won, 3-0. Still, the United States did not offer him a spot on its 2006 World Cup team. If DeMerit had not stirred Bruce Arena, who was the coach of the United States team, he had caught the attention of Elton John, an inveterate soccer fan and Watford’s former chairman. During training for the 2006-7 season, DeMerit said that John arrived and said, “Where’s the American?” He wanted to talk about football, but the N.F.L., not soccer. “He wanted my opinion on whether Brett Favre should leave the Packers,” DeMerit said. John, according to DeMerit, wore two Super Bowl rings, saying he was friends with the Kraft family, which owns the New England Patriots. “He threw one at me and said, ‘Have a feel of that,’ ” DeMerit said. Occasionally, John would helicopter in to Watford’s training site, DeMerit said, and sometimes awakened at 5 a.m. in the United States to watch Watford’s games on television. “It’s pretty crazy when you get hugs from Elton John,” DeMerit said. Last fall, John abruptly resigned as Watford’s president for life, upset with the club’s drooping fortunes. DeMerit’s career has proceeded with more equanimity. After niggling injuries, he finally got a start with the United States national team in 2007. And when Carlos Bocanegra was sidelined with a hamstring injury at the Confederations Cup, DeMerit eagerly slipped into central defense, playing superbly against Spain in the semifinals. “He has a good balance between being hard and aggressive and still making good decisions,” Coach Bob Bradley said. Now comes a rematch with Brazil, which defeated the timid Americans by 3-0 in group play. DeMerit said he would approach Brazil on Sunday the way he has always approached soccer. “I understand where I am and where I need to go,” DeMerit said. “It comes with being patient and waiting for an opportunity and not being daunted by the task ahead.” | Confederations Cup;United States;Soccer |
ny0147375 | [
"world",
"africa"
] | 2008/07/01 | An Interview With Abdelmalek Droukdal | Following is a transcript of audio responses to questions from The New York Times for Abdelmalek Droukdal, the leader of Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. The responses were in Arabic and were translated by The New York Times. The New York Times: Why did you join Al Qaeda? Abdelmalek Droukdal: Praise to God and peace and blessing be upon God’s prophet, his family, his companions and his allies. As for the answer to your question, why did we join Al Qaeda? We say, why shouldn’t we join Al Qaeda? God ordered us to be united, to be allied, to cooperate and fight against the idolaters in straight lines. The same way they fight us in military allies and economic and political mass-groupings. Why shouldn’t we join our brothers while almost all these nations got united against the Muslims and separated them, and divided their land, and took away Al Aksa mosque out of their hands, and consumed their goodness, and destroyed their morals? Then look at the crimes that happen in Gaza and Iraq and Afghanistan, and Somalia and others places. These crimes are committed by the Jew-crusader ally. But when the Muslims get together to defend themselves, they blame them for getting together and accused them with mass-grouping, and made an approach about their unity. Yes, we see that it’s our duty to join Al Qaeda so that we can have our fight under one flag and one leadership in order to get ready for the confrontation. An ally is faced by another ally, and unity is faced by unity. The joining was a legitimate necessity by the book of our God and the sunnah of our prophet, peace and blessing be upon him. It was a mindful necessity imposed by the actual reality and the international system that is full with injustice against the Muslims. Many analysts and observers are mistaken when they think that our joining was a result of secular accounts and self interests. We are a jihadi ancestral community. We rely on legitimacy (from religion) before anything else as a base of our decisions. The New York Times: What have you gained from your relation with Al Qaeda, and conversely what has Al Qaeda gained from your joining? Abdelmalek Droukdal: As we mentioned in our previous answer that our joining to Al Qaeda wasn’t a deal that we try to gain something out of it, as many of those who call themselves experts in jihadi groups promote. In reality, they are way far from the real understanding of the jihadi ancestral movement. We say that we realized and we got from this joining many goals. The most important one is that we believe that we won and acquired the pleasure of God by following his order. God’s says “hold on to the rope of God and do not be dispersed.” If there was nothing to realize from this joining except following the order of this verse, we would never hesitate to do so. Secondly, we realized a condition and a reason for victory. If difference and division are causes of weakness and defeat as it was mentioned in our religion “And fall into no disputes, lest ye lose heart and your power departs.” (Koran: Chapter 8, Verse 46). Unity is a reason of strength and victory. This is a universal norm that even the infidels are aware of. All these mass-groupings and the international alliances are proof of that. We Muslims must be the ones who apply this universal norm. Thirdly, by this unity we brought grief and sorrow to our enemies the Jews and apostates and crusaders. These are some of the most important goals, which are many, thank god. We hope that we got our God’s pleasure, and the confidence of our nation, and that we made terrorized our enemy. The New York Times: We understand that the correspondence between you, Abdelmalek Droukdal, and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in 1994 and 1995 by e-mail played a decisive role in your joining to Al Qaeda. Is that true? Abdelmalek Droukdal: The date that you mentioned is wrong. Maybe you meant the years 2004 and 2005. Yes, we don’t deny the pivotal role of the martyr of the nation Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, may God bless him, in the joining operation since its first phases. We ask God to reward him with the best reward for what he has done for Islam, jihad, and for the nation. Nevertheless, we don’t underestimate the efforts of many of the brothers. Because the joining operation relied on other channels and contacts that other brothers participated in them. May God reward them goodness on our behalf and Islam’s behalf. The New York Times: Did Abu Laith al-Libi and Atiyah Abdel Rahman help in making your contact with Al Qaeda? Abdelmalek Droukdal: We don’t want to mention persons in particular, but there was a participation from many brothers to make the contact and there are many channels that allow us to do it. Thank God. The New York Times: As we understand, you continue to communicate with Qaeda leaders in Waziristan. Is this true? And what is the nature of the information you exchange? Abdelmalek Droukdal: We care about staying in contact with our brothers in Afghanistan or Iraq or any other jihad side. Our project is one. Therefore, we have to help, advise, consult each other, and exchange the experiences and coordinate the efforts to face the world’s crusade war against Islam. The New York Times: Does Al Qaeda give you any assistance? And if so, what is the nature of this assistance? Abdelmalek Droukdal: We and Al Qaeda are one body. It’s normal that they get stronger by us and we get stronger by them. They back us up and we back them up. They supply us and we supply them with any kind of support, loyalty, advice and available support. The New York Times: Do you have any support in Europe? And if so, how much and what kind? Abdelmalek Droukdal: Yes, there are people who are sympathetic with us in Europe and elsewhere. The Muslims are sympathetic with Al Qaeda because its cause is just. Also, most of the Muslims including those residing in Europe are against the crusade war lead by America, and they hate the Arab regimes that are working as agents and that crushed their people and sold the Palestinian cause in the give-up market. But what should be thought about is that whoever is arrested by the European governments in Spain, France, Britain or Italy and allegedly say that they are related to our organization, all that is a lie, and deception, and injustice. The problem is that the European government started judging the Muslims about their intentions and their sympathy with the Muslims’ causes. This comes from the crusade’s religious hate that moves the West, and that blew up all the bright slogans that they hold dear, such as freedom, forgiveness, human rights and justice, those slogans that they hurt our hearing with for years. The New York Times: How many active fighters do you have? Abdelmalek Droukdal: Thank God we have enough fighters to make our enemies lose. It doesn’t matter if they were in hundreds or thousands, because the numeric factor in the unification doctrine is the last and the weakest of the influencing factors in the equation of victory or defeat. We have a holy Koran and a pure sunnah [the way of the Prophet Muhammad] and a large history that has a balance of tests, and it’s full with examples that prove that the victory of the believers during all past generations, since prophet Moses until today, is from God. God says “There is no help except from God: and God is exalted in power, wise.” (Chapter 8, Verse 10) and “If God helps you, none can overcome you. (Chapter 3, Verse 160). It’s not from themselves or from their large number or arms. Lately, specifically in Algeria, France left defeated in 1962 after the liberation war, even though the day it went out it was and still is a military superpower, the third or fourth power in the world. Meanwhile, the power of the mujahedeen in Algeria went backward in the last few years of the revolution. They were weaker when France went out, compared to the years that represent for the revolution its top power and hest ascendancy. You see today many wars against Islam in many places, and where barely a tracker finds any mentioned role of numeric superiority for the mujahedeen. Nevertheless, we stress that we possess a huge inventory of men. This inventory gets wider, bigger and spreads with time. We use it according to the necessity and according to our available material. As far as the numbers that the Interior Ministry has given, the confusion and the contradiction that they contain make them unreliable and subject of ridicule between people. The New York Times: Where do your fighters come from? Abdelmalek Droukdal: The large proportion of our mujahedeen comes from Algeria. And there is a considerable number of Mauritanians, Libyans, Moroccans, Tunisians, Mali’s and Nigerians brothers. The New York Times: How many of your fighters have returned from fighting in Iraq? Abdelmalek Droukdal: What the media is promoting about the existence of a large proportion of fighters in Iraq that came back and joined us is wrong. But there is a limited and very small number of the mujahedeen brothers who fought in Iraq than came back and joined us. The New York Times: How many men have joined your group after being released from prison through the government’s amnesty program for convicted militants? Abdelmalek Droukdal: If you mean those who came back from Iraq. As I said their number is very limited and there is nobody among them that the government released. But if you mean those whom the government released, within what you call reconciliation, and then joined the jihad, they are plenty, thanks to God. And this is proof that the reconciliation program that [Algerian President] Bouteflika promotes has failed badly, and the matter of jihad is still alive inside the hearts of the Muslims in Algeria. The New York Times: What are your goals? Abdelmalek Droukdal: God says, “And fight them on until there is no more persecution, and religion becomes God’s in its entirety.” (Chapter 8, Verse 39) Our first goal is the arbitration of the Lord of the world’s law, and the achievement of the servitude to God. Our general goals are the same goals of Al Qaeda the mother, and you know them. As far as our goals concerning the Islamic Maghreb, they are plenty. But most importantly is to rescue our countries from the tentacles of these criminal regimes that betrayed their religion, and their people. Because they are all secretions of the colonialism that invaded our country in the last two centuries, and enabled those regimes to govern. Therefore, they started governing for its account and on behalf of it. They implement its programs and protect its interests and fight Islam on its behalf. It’s never going to be possible for this region to stabilize unless its people start enjoying freedom and dignity and security under Islam. The conditions of stability will not be available in the presence of these corrupt and harming models that proved for decades that they are unable to achieve the least rapprochement between their people in any of the areas. We are one nation with one religion and one language. Our history is the same but our land is divided, torn apart into states by colonialism. After half a century since independence, there is a clear deliberate action from the agents of colonialism in creating this rupture. More than that, there are hidden intentions that enlarge and deepen the chasm between its people. The Sahara issue is the best witness about that. What is strange is that the Moroccan regime according to its claim seeks to annex the Western Sahara that is ruled by Saharans. In the mean time, it is as silent as an accomplice about the occupation of Centa and Melilla by the Spanish crusaders. The same thing applies for Algeria, They claim that they strongly support the principle of the right of the people to decide their self determination, while a few days ago they refused to acknowledge the independence of Kosovo from the criminal Serbian entity. Even though the Muslim people of Kosovo chose to be independent in the elections that was supervised by the U.S administration and the U.N and NATO. Therefore, one of our goals is to stop this tampering and make an end to these foolish and blind policies, and rescue our Islamic Maghreb from the project that was designed to destroy it. Also, we seek to liberate the Islamic Maghreb from the sons of France and Spain and from all symbols of treason and employment for the outsiders, and protect it from the foreign greed and the crusader’s hegemony. The New York Times: Do you intend to attack any American interests in Algeria? Abdelmalek Droukdal: When we carried arms we declared that we are fighting the crusaders’ agents among those rulers who came out against Islam and committed crimes of corruption and tyranny and treason against the religion and the nation. And we said that we want to bring back the place of Islam in the country and the ruling of the Koran over the people, and bring to the nation its rights that were taken. But what happened later on is the West. They provided it with all kind of support and encouraged it and supported it in the forums. It did not stop there, it even went further to a direct intervention. Then we found ourselves on the black list of the U.S administration, tagged with terrorism. Then we found America building military bases in the south of our country and conducting military exercises, and plundering our oil and planning to get our gas. Also, opening an F.B.I. branch in our capital city, and starting an unusual Christian conversion campaign among our youths to change their religion in order to create religious minorities among us. Its embassy in Algeria began playing almost the same role as the American Embassies in Baghdad or Kabul. It intervenes in the internal policy by planning, instructing and controlling. All of that just to kill the spirit of jihad and resistance among the Muslims so that it can put its hand on the energy stock that we have. So did America leave us any choice with this flagrant aggression? No doubt that the answer is going to be no. Therefore, it became our right and our duty to push away with all our strength this crusade campaign and declare clearly that the American interests are legitimate targets to us. We will strive to strike them whenever we can. And we are sure that America is going to loose its war against us like it lost it against Afghanistan and Iraq. It’s America that is unfair and that started evil and injustice. Injustice is the greatest cause of the disappearance of the countries even if they were Muslims. Why not and America has the both infidelity and injustice. “And those who did wrong will know what they will end-up with. The New York Times: Do you intend to carry out any attacks on American soil? Abdelmalek Droukdal: If the U.S. administration sees that its war against the Muslims is legitimate, then what makes us believe that our war on its territories is not legitimate? Everyone must know that we will not hesitate in targeting it whenever we can and wherever it is on this planet. We say to the American people who are driven to more catastrophes by the Bush administration: If you are truly looking for your security and safety then listen carefully to the speeches of our sheik and emir, Osama bin Laden, may God protect him, who advised you to stop supporting Bush and his policies and to unseat your government that is invading the Muslims’ homes. Otherwise, Bush and his administration will drive you to abyss and loss. The New York Times: How strong is organization in the Maghreb? How much support do you have? Abdelmalek Droukdal: Yes, we do have a lot of support from our Islamic nation in the Maghreb. This generous nation that gave and still giving the best of its sons for the jihad. Without this support our fight against this puppet regime and its masters wouldn’t last for 16 years continuously despite the French and the Americans’ material and information support, and despite the alliance of the Maghreb regimes and the coast region against us. The Maghreb region is witnessing an awakening blessed jihad in Mauritania, Morocco, Libya, Nigeria, after the nation and its youths discovered the size of employment for the crusaders and the treason committed by this government against its people. The New York Times: What is your view on the estimated $120 billion the Algerian government has collected from oil and gas sales, and the criticism that the government has not spent this money on programs to help create jobs for Algerians? Abdelmalek Droukdal: This is the greatest kind of crime and theft against our nation, and among the greatest methods of looting and robbery that these robber governments are characterized with. The country is floating over a sea of oil and gas. The size of the revenue never stopped getting larger, year after year, and month after month. It’s ironic that as the line is on the rise in oil revenues, the line of the living standards of the population is in decline. It is logic that this situation drags us to ask this question: Where does the oil and gas money go? The Algerian finance minister months ago said he doesn’t know where is this money, and after a short time from this statement the supreme authority wanted to rectify this scandal, and then announced that 60 percent of this money is in the American banks and that 40 percent is distributed between Britain and France and Japan. Do you now know who is the first beneficiary of the $120 billion? It’s the American and European economy, and the way of the remaining percentage of the money is opposed by the senior thieves deployed in all the official institutions starting by the presidency of the republic, passing by the ministry of fuel and trade, and the ministry of defense which its generals conquer the drug trade, the smuggling of goods, transfer of property, looting of public money through embezzlement, bribery and types of commissions. How is it possible for the country to benefit from this wealth if the president himself is considered to be a burglar with criminal records? In the 1980s he was required by the court of suppress of economic crimes, and his story is well known. In short, the beneficiaries of the energy revenues in the first place are the American and European economy, followed by the thieves that are ruling the country. The rest is spent to fight the jihad and the mujahedeen by acquiring weapons that are directed only towards the chests of the Muslims, and airplanes that don’t stop shelling the best children of the nation in the mountains. As far as the conditions of the poor people, they will not change. The poverty will remain plagued in the body of the nation. The boats of death will remain throwing the desperate youths to the sea. All the honorable in the nation, the intellectuals, unions, students and advocates should resist this plunder. They should incite the nation for jihad and martyrdom in order to recover the rights taken away. The Muslim youths must not take the policy of escape and clandestine immigration , they have to carry the weapon to take back their rights and push away the domination of those agents. The New York Times: How do you respond to critics who say the Algerian government has weakened your operational abilities, and that the passage of April 11 without a large attack was evidence of this? Abdelmalek Droukdal: The Algerian government can lie to the public however it wants and it can make its effort to field facts. But what can not be hidden is that its soldiers are killed constantly and that the bombs of the mujahedeen harvest dozens of them monthly. And that the western interests cannot be protected, and that it will get its share also as we did with the U.N. and the Interpol headquarters and the embassy of Israel in Nouakchott, and the German hostages, then the Austrians. Just as a reminder, this is not the first time that they repeat this talk. For years, they described the mujahedeen as tattered and tearing. But, during the recovery of the jihad in the last few years people discovered the size of the government’s misleading of them with the complicity of the Algerian press that is dependent, especially in what concerns the security news that is controlled by the intelligence agencies. Concerning the April 11th question and that we couldn’t strike this year in this date, of course we are not stupid to let our enemy define for us the date when we should strike. But, by the strength from God, we define the date and the place. The apostates and their masters have to wait for the strikes that the heroes of Islam will generously do in the right place and time. The New York Times: Some people have criticized the December 11 attacks in Algiers, saying innocent people were killed. How do you justify this? Abdelmalek Droukdal: We are not insane to target our Muslim brothers. We left our homes and took this long and tiring road and we sacrificed ourselves and our efforts and our time only to defend the Muslims and to preserve their lives and their holy sites. This lie that the media is repeating about us is very untrue, and its objective is to mangle us and to isolate us from the nation so that they wouldn’t sympathized with us. If we really wanted to strike the civilians, we could have reaped hundreds in one strike by targeting the markets and the transportation and the public gatherings. Our goals in our fight are very clear, which are the military and official targets of the government and the Western interests. We make sure as much as we can in our attacks that no Muslim gets hurt. But, the government and the press lie to the people and say that the people who died in the U.N headquarters are civilians. But the truth is that more than 95 percent of the injured are associated with the U.N. headquarters and are from the crusaders and from the police and guards, eventually with a civilian dress. Those are not all civilians. Also the people associated with the blasphemousness Constitutional council are in the scale of the commencing (religion) fighters and enemies of Islam. And those who were injured in Batna when Bouteflika was targeted, they were police and military intelligence wearing a civilian dress. So, are those civilians? This is lying and mangling that’s all. It’s the same thing that the Americans and the apostate government are doing in Iraq. They ignore 30 killed apostate police men and focus on one Muslim who got hurt unintentionally. Also, most of the time they call the police civilians and this is mangling and media war, nothing more. We assure our Muslim brothers that they will not get hurt by their mujahedeen brothers. We sacrifice our souls and blood to defend you and to protect you from the sons of France and the agents of America. Our nation must know that we are in a war against the apostates and their crusader masters. Mistakes may occur in the war but they are unintentional. We seek pardon from God and we apology to our nation about that. The New York Times: Have you had to adjust your tactics in any way to deal with the support provided to Algeria by America, such as electronic surveillance or night vision goggles? Abdelmalek Droukdal: Of course, we do modify our strategy according to each stage. And we have an advice council and senate that convene each time to put down the plans and the strategies for the phase. It also assesses the previous phases and remedies the deficiencies and takes into account the development on the jihad ground. The Americans entered the line and they have bases on the Algerian territories and other places even if the government lies and claims other than that. Then they (the Americans) provide the Algerian military with developed materials as you mentioned and they train the security services in the Sahara, and provide them with information and air watch. We draw our power from God, glory to him, and we rely on him “on God the believers shall rely.” God is greater than America. America or other than America will not frighten us, but we never underestimate the reason. We do strive to make the right plans to face this evil alliance against Islam and the Muslims. America must know that when it gets involved in a war with the sons of Youssouf ibn Tachfine and the grand children of Tarik ibn Ziyad, then the region will turn on fire under America’s feet, if God permits it. We will mobilize the sons of the Islamic Maghreb in order to soak the nose of the Americans in the mud, and put into their account that’s already filled with defeats, another defiance. The New York Times: What do you see as your biggest accomplishment to date, and your biggest failure? Abdelmalek Droukdal: We believe that our greatest achievement is that the jihad is sill continuing in the Islamic Maghreb for 16 years. And today it is developing and climbing. By the generosity of God we were able to transfer our jihad from the country to regional, and we were able to expand our activity to the Maghreb states and the African coast, and we could participate in the regional awakening jihad. Based on their sacrifices and their blood, our mujahedeen could keep the jihad reason and carry the flag generation after generation, and revive the absent duty in the hearts of the Muslims. Today, we receive a lot of requests from some Muslims who want to do martyrdom operations. In Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia we see Muslim youths who support our matter, they are ready to sacrifice themselves and their money for the sake of supporting Islam. We consider this as one of our greatest achievements. Among our greatest achievements is that we realized unity with our brothers as an important step towards the adult succession. Also, we did not weaken and we remained on the road, we developed our jihad and we revived the jihad matter in the heart of our nation after it was absent for a long time. This is a big change in the region and we thank God that he enabled us to participate in its achievement. We ask his glory to be like those people whom he said about “How many of the prophets fought (in God’s way), and with them (fought) large band of godly men? But they never lost heart in they met in disaster in God’s way, nor did they weaken (in will) nor give in. and God loves those who are firm and steadfast. (Chapter 3, Verse 146). Regarding failure, we don’t know what failure is. The real failure is in these agent regimes who betray their religion and their nation. The nation discovered their betrayal, their corruption and their cooperation with the enemies of Islam. The large percentage of non-participation in the last elections, and the large opposition to the government’s policies by the people, and the death of hundreds of youths in the ocean because of the clandestine immigration, and the repeated popular intifada, which the last one happened in Achlaf, and the proportion of the poverty and unemployment indices, and the growing union strikes, and the gap that grows day after day between the people and the government. These are all indicators of a real failure that becomes an emerged feature of all the governments of the Islamic Maghreb that are agents. If it is necessary to have a failure, then surely our failure is that we are for a long time unable to win the martyrdom and join our brothers who preceded us on the road of sacrifice and martyrdom: “O Lord! (they say), let not our hearts deviate now after thou guided us, but grant us mercy from thee: from thou art the grantor of bounties without measure.” (Chapter 3, Verse 7). | Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb;Droukdal Abdelmalek;Al Qaeda;Armament Defense and Military Forces |
ny0214410 | [
"world",
"europe"
] | 2010/03/31 | Moscow Attacks May Bring Iron Fist Back to Caucasus | MOSCOW — When two bombs ripped through Moscow subway stations at rush hour on Monday morning, Russia’s leaders reached for the kind of hunt-them-down-and-kill-them statements that propelled the country through two brutal wars in the Caucasus. President Dmitri A. Medvedev boasted that previous bombers had been “annihilated to ashes,” calling them “beasts, simply.” Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin told the police to “drag them out of the bottom of the sewer and into the light of God.” So it was a surprise, barely a day after images of bloodied commuters flooded Russian airwaves, when Mr. Medvedev made a point of publicly discussing poverty and unemployment in the North Caucasus, which he has said are the root causes of violence there. He said that resolving those problems was “even harder than looking for and destroying terrorists,” but that he planned to continue pursuing both aims. “People want a normal and decent life, no matter where they live,” he said, in a meeting with his top human rights adviser. “The federal authorities, along with the authorities in the Caucasus region, are obliged to create these conditions.” Monday’s bombings came at an uncertain moment for Russia’s Caucasus policy, which had been wavering between the muscular clampdown championed by Mr. Putin as president and the cautious liberalization introduced after Mr. Medvedev took office. If attacks become a regular occurrence in Moscow, as they were for most of Mr. Putin’s presidency, “it means war, war against terrorism,” said Aleksei V. Malashenko, a Caucasus specialist at the Carnegie Moscow Center. If they are not repeated, he said, Mr. Medvedev could continue to steer away from Mr. Putin’s approach, which relied almost entirely on force. Mr. Malashenko pointed especially to a decision Mr. Medvedev made early this year, when he appointed the businessman Aleksandr G. Khloponin — not a general or a veteran of the F.S.B. security service — as his special envoy to the region, giving him the task of creating new jobs. “It meant they recognized the old approach was failing ,” he said. “I think this is the last hope. If it fails once again, it is over.” No group has claimed responsibility for the bombings, which killed 39 people, but the authorities have said they believe that the attackers were from the North Caucasus, the restive border region that includes Chechnya, Ingushetia and Dagestan. A law enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the Interfax news agency on Tuesday that two female suicide bombers and their male companion had arrived in Moscow on Monday morning on a bus that carried shuttle traders from the North Caucasus. The official said the bus driver had identified the women from photos. He said suicide bombers had used the bus system to carry out two subway attacks in 2004, since “the passenger flow on private buses, unlike trains and planes, is virtually impossible to control,” according to Interfax. Russian politicians on Tuesday pressed their leaders to take a tougher line on terrorism. State prosecutors revived a proposal to collect fingerprints and DNA samples from all citizens of the North Caucasus. Aleksandr Gurov, a deputy in the State Duma, complained that political correctness was tying authorities’ hands when dealing with ethnic minorities. “How much can we play at so-called tolerance?” said Mr. Gurov, who sits on the Duma’s security committee, to the Web site GZT.ru. “How many cases have there been when Caucasians beat up policemen and the police could do nothing about it? What is this outrage?” Magomed Mutsolgov, who heads a nonprofit organization in the republic of Ingushetia that documents abductions and killings during antiterrorist operations, said he worried that policies in the region were bound to swing back to patterns set under Mr. Putin. One of Mr. Medvedev’s first major appointments was Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, who succeeded Ingushetia’s hard-line leader. Mr. Yevkurov reached out to the opposition and invited citizens to tell him their grievances. The new leader, Mr. Mutsolgov said, “really does have liberal views, but he is not supported by the law enforcement structures.” Asked if Monday’s attacks meant the experiment was coming to an end, Mr. Mutsolgov said, “I don’t think so, and I certainly don’t want it, but it is absolutely possible.” The choice of Mr. Khloponin, too, has underlined the difference between Mr. Medvedev and Mr. Putin, who was willing to extend extraordinary benefits in exchange for security guarantees. At a meeting with senators last month, Mr. Khloponin publicly challenged Chechen strongman Ramzan A. Kadyrov, saying he traveled internationally as if he were the president of an independent country. “Did he think Saudi Arabia was going to give him money?” Mr. Khloponin asked about Mr. Kadyrov, according to the newspaper Kommersant. “We have a Foreign Ministry for that kind of negotiation.” Such a rebuke would have been unlikely under Mr. Putin, who honored Mr. Kadyrov with the Hero of Russia medal, the country’s highest honor, even as human rights organizations documented his forces’ use of intimidation and torture. “The policy that Putin used in the North Caucasus was pure force,” said Tanya Lokshina, who researches the region for the Moscow office of Human Rights Watch. “Today, what we see is a bunch of confusing tendencies. On the one hand the policy of force continues, but at the same time Khloponin is appointed, who is no man of force, and whose task is to focus on the social infrastructure.” Thomas de Waal , the co-author of a book about the first Chechen war from 1994 to 1996, said he had watched Russia’s Caucasus policy evolve gradually since the days of Boris N. Yeltsin. “They have realized that complete colonial subjugation is not an option,” said Mr. de Waal, now a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment in Washington. Since that approach demanded too much manpower and resources, Russia adopted the model the British used in India, Mr. de Waal said, “co-opting the locals to run your strategy.” “The strategy is cleverer, but a long-term strategy means having a different idea of what it means to be Russian, and that they are ‘us’ and not ‘others,’ ” he said. “I think they are a million miles away from that kind of understanding, which is what is needed to make the North Caucasus part of Russia.” | Moscow (Russia);Terrorism;Putin Vladimir V;Transit Systems |
ny0253903 | [
"us"
] | 2011/07/05 | N.E.A. Shifts Position on Teacher Evaluations | CHICAGO — Catching up to the reality already faced by many of its members, the nation’s largest teachers’ union on Monday affirmed for the first time that evidence of student learning must be considered in the evaluations of school teachers around the country. In passing the new policy at its assembly here, the 3.2 million-member union, the National Education Association, hopes to take a leadership role in the growing national movement to hold teachers accountable for what students learn — an effort from which it has so far conspicuously stood apart. But blunting the policy’s potential impact, the union also made clear that it continued to oppose the use of existing standardized test scores to judge teachers, a core part of the federally backed teacher evaluation overhauls already under way in at least 15 states. “N.E.A. is and always will be opposed to high-stakes, test-driven evaluations,” said Becky Pringle, the secretary-treasurer of the union, addressing the banner-strung convention hall filled with the 8,200-member assembly that votes on union policy. The union’s desire both to join and to stand apart from a White House-led effort to improve teacher performance represents the delicate situation it finds itself in as it confronts what Dennis Van Roekel, the union president, called “the worst environment for teachers I’ve ever seen.” Amid deep budget cuts and layoffs, the union has lost more than 30,000 members this year, and is fighting back against legislative efforts to curtail its collective bargaining rights in Wisconsin, Tennessee, Arizona and other states. In response, union leaders, who spent last year’s Fourth of July weekend challenging the Obama administration’s promotion of charter schools and high-stakes standardized testing, spent this year’s trying to close ranks and encouraging even those union members who are furious at those policies to embrace calls for change — if on their own terms. On Monday, the assembly voted by secret ballot to give Mr. Obama an early endorsement for his 2012 presidential run, a move that will allow the union to begin channeling its considerable political resources to the campaign. The strong showing in favor — 72 percent — was foreshadowed by the standing ovations that greeted Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., who gave an impassioned pro-union speech here Sunday. “There is an organized effort to place the blame for the budget shortfall squarely on the shoulders of teachers and other public workers, and it is one of the biggest scams in modern American history,” Mr. Biden told the educators. In contrast to that threat, the differences between the White House and the union, he said, were like disputes within the same family. Bertha J. Foley, a middle school teacher from Fort Myers, Fla., said: “All of the Republicans are worse on education than Obama. I’m not saying I agree with everything, but you have to pick the least evil, the one who will do the least harm.” The union’s new dual role as defender of union protections and promoter of reform created some unlikely tableaus. At one point an angel-voiced folk singer with a guitar took to the stage to lead the thousands of teachers in a sing-along called “Solidarity Forever.” At another point, the narrator of a video projected on the hall’s multiple Jumbotrons began his report about inspiring teachers with the following sentence: “We have a huge problem of teacher quality in this country.” “They’re just shifting back and forth,” said Jana Wells, 53, a teacher from Glendale, Calif., who called herself one of the few Republicans representing the California caucus. “And on the endorsement of Obama, it’s scare tactics — it’s like if we don’t do this right now, our enemies will win.” The debate over the new teacher evaluation policy largely focused on the concern that by even mentioning test scores, the union would further open the door to their use. Some teachers also balked at another section of the policy — the proposal that failing teachers be given only one year to improve, instead of the standard two. But in the end a clear majority voted yes. Segun Eubanks, the director of teacher quality for the union, said the new policy was intended to guide, not bind, state and local union chapters. It tries to close the disconnect between the many local union chapters that have already assented to using student test scores in teacher evaluations, and the union’s national policy that explicitly opposed their use. Now the union can offer those chapters support, and conduct research on the impact of standardized tests. “What it says is, now we are willing to get into that arena,” Mr. Van Roekel said. “Before, we weren’t.” The policy calls for teacher practice, teacher collaboration within schools and student learning to be used in teacher evaluations. But for tests, only those shown to be “developmentally appropriate, scientifically valid and reliable for the purpose of measuring both student learning and a teacher’s performance” should be used, the policy states, a bar that essentially excludes all existing tests, said Douglas N. Harris of the University of Wisconsin, a testing expert. Mr. Eubanks said, “We believe that there are no tests ready to do that,” though he added that with the new national Common Core curriculum standards being rolled out, new tests might be created that could meet the bar. The American Federation of Teachers, the nation’s second-largest teachers’ union, with 1.5 million members, has already stated that student test scores “based on valid assessments” should be a part of improved teacher evaluations. But how much these new national policy statements will actually shift state and local union practice remains to be seen, experts said, assessing the work of both unions. “At the national level, what they are proposing really lacks much specificity at all,” said Sandi Jacobs, the vice president of the National Council on Teacher Quality, a nonpartisan advocacy group in Washington. “There really isn’t much to hang your hat on. And with so many states and locals already out of the gate, it’s hard to see what new proposals they are bringing to the table at this point.” Priscilla Savannah, a seventh-grade science teacher attending the convention from Shreveport, La., said, “It’s already too late.” Ms. Savannah’s state is about to start using teacher evaluations that give standardized test scores heavy weight. “It’s going to take a major fight, and a lot of money, to change anything now,” she said. | Performance Evaluations (Labor);National Education Assn;Teachers and School Employees;Tests and Examinations;Education (K-12) |
ny0285477 | [
"us"
] | 2016/09/21 | Protests Erupt in Charlotte After Police Kill a Black Man | About 16 police officers in Charlotte, N.C., were injured when a standoff between law enforcement and demonstrators turned ugly overnight after an officer fatally shot a black man on Tuesday afternoon. Protesters clashed with police officers in riot gear and blocked a stretch of Interstate 85. Video from local television early Wednesday showed some demonstrators looting trucks that had been stopped on the highway and setting fire to the cargo. Protesters are burning stuff from the trucks now. This is all happening on I-85 @wsoctv pic.twitter.com/82fdCyfCkX — Joe Bruno (@JoeBrunoWSOC9) September 21, 2016 Police Chief Kerr Putney said during a news conference on Wednesday morning that the officers had sustained minor injuries and that one person had been arrested during the protests, which began in the University City neighborhood in northeast Charlotte, near the campus of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. WSOC-TV reported that looters later moved off the highway and tried to break into a Walmart before officers arrived in force to keep them out, and at least one family driving on Interstate 85 reported that their windshield had been shattered by demonstrators throwing rocks. Mayor Jennifer Roberts urged calm in a series of Twitter messages and promised a thorough investigation into the shooting death of Keith L. Scott, 43. “The community deserves answers and full investigation will ensue,” Ms. Roberts said. “Will be reaching out to community leaders to work together.” The shooting occurred just before 4 p.m. on Tuesday as officers were trying to serve an arrest warrant for another person in an apartment complex. Police officials said the officer opened fire because Mr. Scott, who they said was armed with a gun, “posed an imminent deadly threat.” Although their accounts sometimes diverged, members of Mr. Scott’s family generally told local news outlets that he had not had a weapon. Instead, they said, he had been clutching a book while waiting to pick up a child after school. The shooting revived scrutiny of a police department that drew national attention about three years ago when a white officer was quickly charged with voluntary manslaughter after he killed Jonathan Ferrell, an unarmed black man. The shooting in Charlotte this week was the latest in a string of deaths of black people at the hands of the police that have stoked outrage around the country. It came just a few days after a white police officer in Tulsa, Okla., fatally shot Terence Crutcher, an unarmed black man , who could be seen on video raising his hands above his head. The encounters, many of them at least partly caught on video, have led to intense debate about race relations and law enforcement. In Charlotte, dozens of chanting demonstrators, some of them holding signs, began gathering near the site of the shooting on Tuesday evening. Around 10 p.m., the Police Department said on Twitter that it had sent its civil emergency unit to the scene “to safely remove our officers.” “Demonstrators surrounded our officers who were attempting to leave scene,” the department said. It identified the officer who fired his weapon as Brentley Vinson, an employee since July 2014. Officer Vinson is black, according to local reports. According to the department, officers saw Mr. Scott leave a vehicle with a weapon soon after they arrived at the apartment complex. “Officers observed the subject get back into the vehicle, at which time they began to approach the subject,” the department said in its first statement about the shooting. “The subject got back out of the vehicle armed with a firearm and posed an imminent deadly threat to the officers, who subsequently fired their weapon, striking the subject.” A police spokesman did not respond to an after-hours inquiry about whether a dashboard or body camera had recorded the shooting. Chief Putney had acknowledged that Mr. Scott had not been the subject of the outstanding warrant. On Facebook, a woman who identified herself as Mr. Scott’s daughter said that the police had fired without provocation. “The police just shot my daddy four times for being black,” the woman said moments into a Facebook Live broadcast that lasted about an hour. Later in the broadcast, she learned that her father had died and speculated that the police were planting evidence. (The police said that investigators had recovered a weapon.) In September 2013, officials charged a Charlotte police officer with voluntary manslaughter after he fired a dozen rounds at an unarmed black man, killing him. The criminal case against the officer, Randall Kerrick, ended in a mistrial , and the authorities did not seek to try him again. The department, which said on Tuesday that Officer Vinson had been placed on administrative leave, said it was conducting “an active and ongoing investigation” into the killing of Mr. Scott. | Police Brutality,Police Misconduct,Police Shootings;Black People,African-Americans;Keith Scott;Brentley Vinson;Charlotte NC;Civil Unrest |
ny0131546 | [
"science",
"earth"
] | 2012/12/28 | Lisa P. Jackson of E.P.A. to Step Down | Lisa P. Jackson is stepping down as administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency after a four-year tenure that began with high hopes of sweeping action to address climate change and other environmental ills but ended with a series of rear-guard actions to defend the agency against challenges from industry, Republicans in Congress and, at times, the Obama White House. Ms. Jackson, 50, told President Obama shortly after his re-election in November that she wanted to leave the administration early next year. She informed the E.P.A. staff of her decision on Thursday morning and issued a brief statement saying that she was confident “the ship is sailing in the right direction.” She has not said what she intends to do after leaving government, and no successor was immediately named, although it is expected that Robert Perciasepe , the E.P.A. deputy administrator, will take over at least temporarily. Ms. Jackson’s departure comes as many in the environmental movement are questioning Mr. Obama’s commitment to dealing with climate change and other environmental problems. After his re-election, and a campaign in which global warming was barely mentioned by either candidate, Mr. Obama said that his first priority would be jobs and the economy and that he intended only to foster a “conversation” on climate change in the coming months. That ambivalence is a far cry from the hopes that accompanied his early months in office, when he identified climate change as one of humanity’s defining challenges. Mr. Obama put the White House’s full lobbying power behind a House cap-and-trade bill that would have limited climate-altering emissions and brought profound changes in how the nation produces and consumes energy. But after the effort stalled in the Senate, the administration abandoned broad-scale climate change efforts, instead focusing on smaller regulatory actions largely though the Clean Air Act . White House and E.P.A. officials said that Ms. Jackson’s decision to leave government was her own and that the timing had been negotiated with the White House. Mr. Obama praised her in a statement, calling her “an important part of my team.” “Over the last four years, Lisa Jackson has shown an unwavering commitment to the health of our families and our children,” the president said. “Under her leadership, the E.P.A. has taken sensible and important steps to protect the air we breathe and the water we drink, including implementing the first national standard for harmful mercury pollution, taking important action to combat climate change under the Clean Air Act, and playing a key role in establishing historic fuel economy standards that will save the average American family thousands of dollars at the pump, while also slashing carbon pollution.” After Republicans took control of the House in 2010, Ms. Jackson became a favored target of the new Republican majority’s aversion to what it termed “job-killing regulations.” One coal industry official accused her of waging “regulatory jihad,” and she was summoned to testify before hostile House committees dozens of times in 2011. She was frequently subjected to harsh questioning that at times bordered on the disrespectful. Ms. Jackson, the first African-American to head the E.P.A., brushed off that treatment as part of the territory and a reflection of the new partisan reality in Washington. More difficult for her was the occasional lack of support from environmental groups, who saw every compromise as a betrayal, and from the White House, which was trying to balance worries about the economy and the president’s re-election campaign against the perceived costs of tough environmental policies. The White House rejected or scaled back a number of proposed new regulations from the environmental agency, most notably the withdrawal of a proposed new standard for ozone pollution that Ms. Jackson sought in the summer of 2011. Mr. Obama rejected the proposal on the grounds that it would be too costly for industry and local government to comply with at a time of continuing economic distress. Other new rules, including those for emissions from industrial boilers and cement factories, were either watered down or their introduction delayed after complaints from lawmakers, lobbyists and businesses. Despite a number of disappointments, however, Ms. Jackson has achieved some notable firsts, including the finding that carbon dioxide and five other gases that contribute to global warming meet the definition of pollutants under the Clean Air Act. That so-called endangerment finding , which has survived federal court challenges from industry, allowed the agency to negotiate strict new emissions standards for cars and light trucks, the first time the federal government has limited global warming pollution. The new vehicle standards will eliminate billions of tons of carbon dioxide emissions and double the fuel efficiency of the American light-duty transportation fleet over the next decade. The finding also formed the basis of the first steps toward regulating greenhouse gas emissions from new power plants and, possibly, toward requiring existing ones to reduce global warming pollution. The rule governing new power plants in effect bans the construction of new coal-fired power plants unless they capture carbon dioxide emissions, a technology so far unproven on a commercial scale. The E.P.A. under Ms. Jackson also established the first standards for emissions of mercury , arsenic and other airborne toxins from power plants, and finalized a rule reducing industrial pollution that crosses state borders. The latter rule was struck down by a federal court and is under appeal. Ms. Jackson, a native of New Orleans who holds chemical engineering degrees from Tulane and Princeton , has spent most of her professional career at the E.P.A. She led the Department of Environmental Protection in New Jersey from 2006 to 2008 under Gov. Jon S. Corzine , who named her his chief of staff in late 2008, shortly before Mr. Obama chose her to head the federal environmental agency. This month, the E.P.A.’s inspector general, prodded by Republicans in Congress, announced that he was opening an inquiry into Ms. Jackson’s use of a secondary e-mail account to conduct business inside the agency. Ms. Jackson has said that she used the second account because her public e-mail address was widely known and that her e-mail alias — “Richard Windsor” — derived from the name of her dog and her former home in Windsor Township, N.J. It is not known when the inquiry will be completed. In a brief interview on Wednesday evening, Ms. Jackson said that she hoped to decompress after four intense years running the E.P.A., which has 17,000 employees and an $8 billion annual budget. She said she would probably do some consulting and public speaking but has not begun looking for a new job. She is thought to be a candidate for the presidency of Princeton. Asked what she considered most important in her tenure, Ms. Jackson mentioned the endangerment finding, because it was the first time that the federal government began to address climate change. She also said that although it received little notice during her tenure, she was proud of her role in expanding the environmental agenda to include voices that have been little heard, including low-income communities, Native Alaskans and American Indian tribes. “Before me,” she said, “some people said that African-Americans don’t care about the environment. I don’t think that will ever be the case again.” | EPA;Lisa P Jackson;null |
ny0156056 | [
"business"
] | 2008/06/29 | No Need to Starve in a Garret | The idea of an artist receiving a W-2 form does not quite square with romantic notions about creativity. But nearly two million Americans say they are artists as their primary occupation. In a recent report, “Artists in the Work Force,” the National Endowment for the Arts debunks the stereotype of the “troubled dreamer,” “footloose bohemian” or “charming deadbeat” who exists on society’s margins. In fact, artists — in the form of actors, announcers, architects, dancers, photographers and writers, among others — make a significant contribution to the American economy, the report says. Of course, you are much more likely to make money if you hitch your art to a profitable star. Who knows what kind of brilliant, eccentric and utterly individual art might have emerged if these gainfully employed artists had not been constrained by the needs of the marketplace? On the other hand, who knows how many would have failed to create any art at all? PHYLLIS KORKKI | Art;United States Economy;Taxation;National Endowment for the Arts |
ny0252900 | [
"science",
"space"
] | 2011/10/05 | Nobel in Physics Goes to Perlmutter, Schmidt and Riess | Three astronomers won the Nobel Prize in Physics on Tuesday for discovering that the universe is apparently being blown apart by a mysterious force that cosmologists now call dark energy , a finding that has thrown the fate of the universe and indeed the nature of physics into doubt. The astronomers are Saul Perlmutter, 52, of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of California, Berkeley ; Brian P. Schmidt , 44, of the Australian National University in Canberra ; and Adam G. Riess , 41, of the Space Telescope Science Institute and Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore . “I’m stunned,” Dr. Riess said by e-mail, after learning of his prize by reading about it on The New York Times ’s Web site. The three men led two competing teams of astronomers who were trying to use the exploding stars known as Type 1a supernovae as cosmic lighthouses to limn the expansion of the universe. The goal of both groups was to measure how fast the cosmos, which has been expanding since its fiery birth in the Big Bang 13.7 billion years ago, was slowing down, and thus to find out if its ultimate fate was to fall back together in what is called a Big Crunch or to drift apart into the darkness. Instead, the two groups found in 1998 that the expansion of the universe was actually speeding up, a conclusion that nobody would have believed if not for the fact that both sets of scientists wound up with the same answer. It was as if, when you tossed your car keys in the air, instead of coming down, they flew faster and faster to the ceiling. Subsequent cosmological measurements have confirmed that roughly 70 percent of the universe by mass or energy consists of this antigravitational dark energy that is pushing the galaxies apart, though astronomers and physicists have no conclusive evidence of what it is. The most likely explanation for this bizarre behavior is a fudge factor that Albert Einstein introduced into his equations in 1917 to stabilize the universe against collapse and then abandoned as his greatest blunder. Quantum theory predicts that empty space should exert a repulsive force, like dark energy, but one that is 10 to the 120th power times stronger than what the astronomers have measured, leaving some physicists mumbling about multiple universes. Abandoning the Einsteinian dream of a single final theory of nature, they speculate that there are a multitude of universes with different properties. We live in one, the argument goes, that is suitable for life. “Every test we have made has come out perfectly in line with Einstein’s original cosmological constant in 1917,” Dr. Schmidt said. If the universe continues accelerating, astronomers say, rather than coasting gently into the night, distant galaxies will eventually be moving apart so quickly that they cannot communicate with one another and all the energy will be sucked out of the universe. Edward Witten, a theorist at the Institute for Advanced Study , Einstein’s old stomping grounds, called dark energy “the most startling discovery in physics since I have been in the field.” Dr. Witten continued, “It was so startling, in fact, that I personally took quite a while to become convinced that it was right.” He went on, “This discovery definitely changed the way physicists look at the universe, and we probably still haven’t fully come to grips with the implications.” Dr. Perlmutter, who led the Supernova Cosmology Project out of Berkeley , will get half of the prize of 10 million Swedish kronor ($1.4 million). The other half will go to Dr. Schmidt, leader of the rival High-Z Supernova Search Team, and Dr. Riess, who was the lead author of the 1998 paper in The Astronomical Journal, in which the dark energy result was first published. All three astronomers were born and raised in the United States ; Dr. Schmidt is also a citizen of Australia . They will get their prizes in Stockholm on Dec. 10. Since the fate of the universe is in question, astronomers would love to do more detailed tests using supernovas and other observations. So they were dispirited last year when NASA announced that cost overruns and delays on the James Webb Space Telescope had left no room in the budget until the next decade for an American satellite mission to investigate dark energy that Dr. Perlmutter and others had been promoting for almost a decade. Indeed on Tuesday the European Space Agency announced that it would launch a mission called Euclid to study dark energy in 2019. Cosmic expansion was discovered by Edwin Hubble, an astronomer at the Mount Wilson Observatory in Pasadena , Calif., in 1929, but the quest for precision measurements of the universe has been hindered by a lack of reliable standard candles, objects whose distance can be inferred by their brightness or some other observable characteristic. Type 1a supernovae, which are thought to result from explosions of small stars known as white dwarfs, have long been considered uniform enough to fill the bill, as well as bright enough to be seen across the universe. In the late 1980s Dr. Perlmutter, who had just gotten a Ph.D. in physics, devised an elaborate plan involving networks of telescopes tied together by the Internet to detect and study such supernovae and use them to measure the presumed deceleration of the universe. The Supernova Cosmology Project endured criticism from other astronomers, particularly supernova experts, who doubted that particle physicists could do it right. Indeed, it took seven years before Dr. Perlmutter’s team began harvesting supernovae in the numbers it needed. Meanwhile, the other astronomers had formed their own team, the High-Z team, to do the same work. “Hey, what’s the strongest force in the universe?” Robert P. Kirshner of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics , and a mentor to many of the astronomers on the new team, asked a reporter from this newspaper once. “It’s not gravity, it’s jealousy,” Dr. Kirshner said. In an interview with The Associated Press, Dr. Perlmutter described the subsequent work of the teams as “a long aha.” The presence of dark energy showed up in an expected faintness on the part of some distant supernovae: the universe had sped up and carried them farther away from us than conventional cosmology suggested. As recounted by the science writer Richard Panek in his recent book, “The 4% Universe, Dark Matter, Dark Energy, and the Race to Discover the Rest of Reality,” neither team was eager to report such a strange result. In January 1998, Dr. Riess interrupted preparations for his honeymoon to buck up his comrades. “Approach these results not with your heart or head but with your eyes,” he wrote in an e-mail. “We are observers after all!” In the years since, the three astronomers have shared a number of awards, sometimes giving lectures in which they completed one another’s sentences. A Nobel was expected eventually. “No more waiting!” Dr. Kirshner said Tuesday. | Saul Perlmutter;Adam Guy Riess;Brian P Schmidt;Nobel Prize;Physics;Astronomy and Astrophysics |
ny0230866 | [
"us"
] | 2010/09/07 | Evacuations in Colorado as Wildfire Breaks Out | DENVER (AP) — A wind-driven wildfire broke out in rugged foothills and quickly spread across more than five square miles on Monday, destroying an unknown number of homes and leading to the evacuation of a thousand others. No injuries were reported. The authorities could not say how many structures had burned, but they said at least some were houses. Four belonged to firefighters, a fire management team spokeswoman said. The fire started in Fourmile Canyon, northwest of Boulder, and erratic winds gusting to 45 miles an hour spread the flames to the west and the northeast. At least four roads were closed, and a billowing, white plume of heavy smoke was visible for miles. The cause of the fire was unknown. Late in the day, winds subsided enough that aerial tankers were able to begin dropping fire retardant. Cmdr. Rick Brough of the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office said the fire had moved quickly through rugged country. “It’s very rocky, hilly, mountainous terrain,” he said. About 200 homes scattered in and near the canyon were evacuated earlier in the day. The authorities said residents of seven subdivisions had been ordered to evacuate by Monday night. They included at least 200 homes, but the total was not immediately known. The Boulder County Emergency Management Office said the county’s telephone alert system was not working properly and advised residents in the evacuation areas to leave rather than waiting for a call from the authorities. At least 100 buildings were threatened, and one fire vehicle was destroyed, said Patrick von Keyserling, a spokesman for the emergency management office. Three evacuation centers were set up in Boulder and in the mountain village of Nederland, and at least 65 people had checked in at the three centers by midafternoon. A shelter for livestock was set up at the Boulder County Fairgrounds in Longmont. | Colorado;Forest and Brush Fires |
ny0245270 | [
"sports",
"basketball"
] | 2011/04/17 | Knicks’ Hopes Depend on Point Guard, as in 1990 | The last time a rising Knicks team played an aging championship Boston squad in the first round of the N.B.A. playoffs, mortality visited the favored Celtics at a most inopportune moment. It was May 6, 1990, and the Knicks were protecting a scant lead in the fourth quarter of a decisive Game 5 at the old Boston Garden, when 33-year-old Larry Bird drove the baseline and went up for an uncontested reverse dunk . “Him, of all people, trying to dunk — and missing,” Jeff Van Gundy, then a Knicks assistant, recalled of that Sunday afternoon. With the invisible leprechaun in charge of making sure the ball splashed through the net taking a nap, the long rebound settled into the sure hands of another 33-year-old, this one in Knicks road blue. Maurice Cheeks quick-dribbled his way to the other end to nail a pull-up jumper. Just like that, the building was drained of certitude and the Knicks pulled away to a victory that sent their grinning general manager — an old Celtics-hater named Al Bianchi — into the cramped corridor to puff on a victory cigar as Red Auerbach, the Celtics’ patriarch who would not live to see another Celtics title, walked by. Twenty-one years later, we have a potential re-enactment at the point of attack with 34-year-old Chauncey Billups manning the position for the Knicks as they return to the playoffs for the first time since 2004 on Sunday night at TD Garden in Boston. Like Cheeks , acquired for Rod Strickland in 1990, Billups joined the Knicks (with Carmelo Anthony) around the February trading deadline at the cost of a younger point guard (Raymond Felton). Like Cheeks, he came with a championship ring to impress and inspire his wannabe teammates. Like Cheeks, who had had many playoff battles in Boston during his prime with the 76ers, Billups has no great love for the Celtics, as a former conference rival with the Pistons and as a top 1997 draft pick dealt away by Rick Pitino’s Celtics after 51 games. In effect, and in further indictment of Pitino, Billups was traded for Kenny Anderson. “Everybody thought that I hated Rick and Rick hated me, and that wasn’t the case,” Billups said. “Rick had signed for a lot of money. When I got traded, he just told me there was a lot of pressure on him to win and he wanted to get a veteran point guard. “But it was tough to get traded at that point in my career. Third pick in the draft, you feel like you’re going to be there for 9, 10, 11 years.” Instead, Billups became a journeyman, a perceived bust, wearing five uniforms in six years before evolving into an All-Star, Mr. Big Shot, in Detroit. There are no hard feelings, no residual anger, he said, about his short-lived stay. “My first couple of years, I did,” he said. “But none of the guys I played with, nobody’s really there anymore.” Don’t believe Billups isn’t relishing this opportunity to participate in what promises to be an old-school, hard-knocks series because that is how these Celtics play and that is how his no-frills Pistons, champions in 2004, went about their business. And for those who contend that the Knicks are playing with house money, in Stage 1 of their grand renaissance, Billups would argue on a more personal level that time is of the essence, just as it was for the point man 21 years ago. In Game 5, 1990, Cheeks played all 48 minutes, had 21 points and 7 assists, his last great N.B.A. occasion. After the Knicks beat the Celtics, breaking a 26-game losing streak at Boston Garden, they lost in the next round to the Pistons of Isiah Thomas and Joe Dumars. Cheeks did return for the next season — one of turmoil and regression — but was gone by the time Pat Riley revitalized the franchise in the fall of 1991. Who can say that Billups, like Cheeks, will not ultimately be a drive-by Knick, one of their few tradable assets next season, assuming the team picks up the option on what would become a $14.2 million expiring contract? By next February, Billups could be part of the bait for Chris Paul or some other leveraged free-agent-to-be. For now, his matchup with the crafty blur named Rajon Rondo is being called a key to this much-anticipated series. “Although they got a lot of Hall of Famers, he is the kind of guy that makes them go,” Billups said. But for all the talk about Billups’s chances of keeping Rondo in front of him, Coach Mike D’Antoni does have another defensive option, Toney Douglas. Hence, the more important order for Billups will be on offense, not allowing the Knicks to make the Celtics’ lives easy by giving in to quick-jump-shot temptation. To win close games, the Knicks must execute in the fourth quarter against a premier help defense, space the floor, drive the ball, get to the free-throw line. From Billups, they will need big shots, but also a calm, steady hand, an approach that doesn’t let his younger teammates succumb to the notion that time is their ally and the big February trade wasn’t really for now. For Billups, there may be no playoff tomorrow in New York, and that is not the worst mentality to take into a series against the proud and favored former champions. Because history does tell us that even the leprechauns are not a slam-dunk. | New York Knicks;Boston Celtics;Basketball;Billups Chauncey;Cheeks Maurice;National Basketball Assn;Playoff Games |
ny0157893 | [
"sports",
"ncaabasketball"
] | 2008/12/02 | Scarlet Knights Avoid Another Loss, but Just Barely | Even playing a nonranked opponent gave the Rutgers women’s basketball team fits. Down by 15 points in the first half, the 15th-ranked Scarlet Knights were on the brink of their longest losing skid in five years. Unlike their futile effort on the West Coast, Rutgers was good enough to rally on the road and win. Epiphanny Prince scored 25 points and Kia Vaughn had 10 points and 8 rebounds Monday night to help Rutgers end a two-game losing streak and rally past Temple, 64-60. “We were lucky to win the game,” Rutgers Coach C. Vivian Stringer said. The Scarlet Knights (3-2) were lucky to survive the final minute. They turned a double-digit deficit into a 7-point lead late in the game. Temple’s Lindsay Kimmel made two 3-pointers in the final minute for the Owls (3-2), making it a 2-point game. Prince made the final two free throws of Rutgers’s 22-for-24 effort from the line to seal the win. “It’s obvious we’re struggling,” Stringer said. “It’s going to be some time before we’re anywhere near right.” Shanea Cotton led the Owls with 18 points and Shenita Landry added 12. Temple never trailed in the first half and went into halftime with a 32-21 lead. Prince scored 19 points in the second half, and the Scarlet Knights put consecutive losses to No. 3 California and No. 4 Stanford behind them. “The losses to Cal and Stanford are fine, as long as we learn from it,” Stringer said. Men SYRACUSE 86, COLGATE 51 Paul Harris had 22 points and No. 16 Syracuse celebrated its first appearance in the national rankings in more than a year with a victory against visiting Colgate. Syracuse (7-0) has won 43 in a row against Colgate (2-3). UCONN 79, DELAWARE STATE 49 The reserve forward Gavin Edwards scored 17 points as No. 2 Connecticut (7-0) beat visiting Delaware State (1-9). Hasheem Thabeet added 10 points and tied his career high with 17 rebounds. KANSAS 87, KENT STATE 60 Sherron Collins scored 16 of his 19 points in the second half for host Kansas. The Jayhawks (5-1) dropped out of The Associated Press top 25 poll earlier Monday for the first time in 47 weeks dating to the 2005-6 season. WISCONSIN 74, VIRGINIA TECH 72 Trevon Hughes hit a floater in the lane with nine-tenths of a second left, and visiting Wisconsin (6-1) survived in the opener of the Atlantic Coast Conference-Big Ten Challenge. IN OTHER GAMES D. J. Kennedy had 17 points as host St. John’s held on for a 69-61 victory over St. Francis of Brooklyn, the Red Storm’s 30th victory in their last 31 games against the Terriers. ... Anthony Raffa scored 17 points, leading host Albany to a 57-47 win over Bryant. ... Anthony Johnson scored 20 points as Fairfield won at Holy Cross, 78-66. VILLANOVA CENTER TO TRANSFER Center Casiem Drummond told Villanova’s coaching staff that he would leave the university and transfer. Drummond, a junior, averaged 2.0 points in two games for the No. 17 Wildcats (6-0). | Basketball;College Athletics;Syracuse University |
ny0138257 | [
"science"
] | 2008/05/23 | 6 Tribes of Bacteria, the Good Kind, Found to Be at Home in Inner Elbow | The crook of your elbow is not just a plain patch of skin. It is a piece of highly coveted real estate, a special ecosystem, a bountiful home to no fewer than six tribes of bacteria. Even after you have washed the skin clean, there are still one million bacteria in every square centimeter. But panic not. These are not bad bacteria. They are what biologists call commensals, creatures that eat at the same table with people to everyone’s mutual benefit. Though they were not invited to enjoy board and lodging in the skin of your inner elbow, they are giving something of value in return. They are helping to moisturize the skin by processing the raw fats it produces, says Julia A. Segre of the National Human Genome Research Institute. Dr. Segre and colleagues report their discovery of the six tribes in a paper being published online on Friday in Genome Research. The research is part of the human microbiome project, microbiome meaning the entourage of all microbes that live in people. The project is an ambitious government-financed endeavor to catalog the typical bacterial colonies that inhabit each niche in the human ecosystem. The project is in its early stages but has already established that the bacteria in the human microbiome collectively possess at least 100 times as many genes as the mere 20,000 or so in the human genome. Since humans depend on their microbiome for various essential services, including digestion, a person should really be considered a superorganism, microbiologists assert, consisting of his or her own cells and those of all the commensal bacteria. The bacterial cells also outnumber human cells by 10 to 1, meaning that if cells could vote, people would be a minority in their own body. Dr. Segre reckons that there are at least 20 different niches for bacteria, and maybe many more, on the human skin, each with a characteristic set of favored commensals. The types of bacteria she found in the inner elbow are quite different from those that another researcher identified a few inches away, on the inner forearm. But each of the five people Dr. Segre sampled harbored much the same set of bacteria, suggesting that this set is specialized for the precise conditions of nutrients and moisture that prevail in the human elbow. Microbiologists believe that humans and their commensal bacteria are continually adapting to one another genetically. The precision of this mutual accommodation is indicated by the presence of particular species of bacteria in different niches on the human body, as Dr. Segre has found with denizens of the elbow. Other researchers have found that most gut bacteria belong to just 2 of the 70 known tribes of bacteria. The gut bacteria perform vital services like breaking down complex sugars in the diet and converting hydrogen, a byproduct of bacterial fermentation, to methane. The nature of the gut tribes is heavily influenced by diet, according to a research team led by Ruth E. Ley and Dr. Jeffrey I. Gordon of the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. With the help of colleagues at the San Diego and St. Louis Zoos, Dr. Ley and Dr. Gordon scanned the gut microbes in the feces of people and 59 other species of mammal, including meat eaters, plant eaters and omnivores. Each of the three groups has a distinctive set of bacteria, they report Friday in Science, with the gut flora of people grouping with other omnivores. Despite the vast changes that people have made to their diet through cooking and agriculture, their gut bacteria “don’t dramatically depart in composition from those of other omnivorous primates,” Dr. Gordon said. This new view of people as superorganisms has emerged from the cheap methods of decoding DNA that are now available. Previously it was hard to study bacteria without growing them up into large colonies. But most bacteria are difficult to culture, so microbiologists could see only a small fraction of those present. Analyzing the total DNA in a microbial community sidesteps this problem and samples the genes of all bacterial species that are present. The goals of the human microbiome project include analyzing the normal makeup of bacterial species in each niche on the human body. “The focus in microbiology has been on pathogenic bacteria, but we are trying to identify the commensal bacteria so that we can begin to understand what proteins they make and how they contribute to our health,” Dr. Segre said. Another goal is to understand how pathogenic bacteria manage to usurp power from the tribes of beneficial commensals in the skin or gut, causing disease. The lifetime of an individual bacterium in the human superorganism may be short, since millions are shed each day from the skin or gut. But the colonies may survive for a long time, cloning themselves briskly to replace members that are sacrificed. Just where these colonies come from and how long they last is not yet known. Dr. David A. Relman of Stanford University has tracked the gut flora of infants and finds their first colonists come from their mother. But after a few weeks, the babies acquired distinctive individual sets of bacteria, all except a pair of twins who had the same set. Dr. Relman said he was now trying to ascertain if the first colonists remain with an individual for many years. Taking a broad spectrum antibiotic presumably wreaks devastation on one’s companion microbiome. If the microbiome is essential to survival, it is perhaps surprising that the drugs do not make more people ill. Dr. Relman said that perhaps there were subtle long-term consequences that had not yet been identified. Much the same set of bacteria recolonize the gut after a course of antibiotics, he said, suggesting that the makeup of the colony is important and that the body has ways of reconstituting it as before. | Bacteria;Skin;Microbiology;Science and Technology |
ny0122781 | [
"world",
"middleeast"
] | 2012/09/26 | Syrian Shells Land Near Israeli Border | JERUSALEM — Several mortar shells launched from Syria landed in the Golan Heights near Israel ’s northern border on Tuesday morning, prompting the Israeli military to file a complaint with United Nations forces operating in the area. No one was injured, and no damage was caused by the shells that landed near Kibbutz El Rom. Israeli military officials said the firing was aimed at rebel forces holed up in Jubta al-Hashab, a village on the Syrian side of the border. “The shells were aimed at villages inside Syria and are actually part of the internal, ongoing conflict inside Syria,” the Israeli Defense Forces said in a statement. “Fire from Syria leaking into Israel will not be accepted. I.D.F. forces remain alert and will continue their routine activity protecting the borders and the residents of the state of Israel.” Israel seized the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 war and effectively annexed the plateau. Dudi Murad, the tourism manager for the 400-person kibbutz about a mile and a half from the border, said the windows on the second floor of his home shook and “we thought it was something very close to us.” One round fell about a quarter-mile away in an apple orchard, Mr. Murad said. “We are now in the middle of our season, we have a lot of fruit and are picking every day,” Mr. Murad said. “Some people work very close to there, and they are very scared from this noise.” “This is the first time that we see in front of us, in the villages, we saw a lot of smoke coming there and we hear a lot of bombings all around us,” said Mr. Murad, a father of three, noting that Tuesday was a day off school and work, with families preparing for Yom Kippur. Last week, there was intense fighting in Quneitra, a Syrian village about five miles from Kibbutz El Rom on the Syrian side. A similar episode occurred July 23, when a single mortar fell near the Druze village Masada, close to the border. Last week, the Israeli military conducted a drill on the border involving thousands of soldiers, helicopter airlifts and live-fire exercises. Officials said the drill was not directly related to the conflict in Syria , but troops in the north have also been on high alert with some additional patrols during weekends in recent months. | Golan Heights;Syria;Israel;International Relations |
ny0111449 | [
"us",
"politics"
] | 2012/02/29 | Michigan Primary Voters Ponder Mitt Romney’s Roots | BLOOMFIELD HILLS, Mich. — Many voters left their cars running in the parking lot early Tuesday morning, exhaust clouding the brisk air, as they filtered in and out of a firehouse where voting booths for the Michigan primary were lined up near a bright-red engine. Mitt Romney spent a lot of time and money in recent weeks reminding the people of Michigan about his roots — that he was born in Detroit, that his father was an automotive executive in the 1950s and then governor of the state. “Michigan’s been my home, and this is personal,” he said in one ad. Residents here know that history, perhaps more than anyone else in the state. “He grew up over the hill there,” said Rick Williams, 70, who voted for Mr. Romney on Tuesday and said he was a childhood classmate of Mr. Romney’s brother. “We could walk to his house.” Mr. Williams said he thought the local ties would help Mr. Romney in the primary, but most voters here and at other polling sites, even those supporting Mr. Romney, said it barely factored into their decision. “I don’t think that’s important,” said Karen Lamb, 49, who said she voted for Mr. Romney because of his business experience. “We need a leader, an economic leader, and he has the right leadership capabilities.” Bloomfield Hills and the other suburbs near Detroit were expected to be strong areas for Mr. Romney, who despite his home-state credentials was in a tight race in Michigan with Rick Santorum . Even in his old neighborhood, Mr. Romney had his detractors, and enthusiasm among his supporters seemed generally low. Some were angry that Mr. Romney did not support the federal auto bailout in 2008. Others did not like the negative tone the candidates adopted. But many said they were forced to choose between a candidate they thought could beat President Obama in November and one who shares their personal values. Wearing a tie printed with the American flag, Sandy Munro, 62, said he cast his vote for Mr. Santorum because he was “probably the little more moral of the two.” “Romney was the right guy the last time around to get the country back on its feet,” he said about the 2008 election. “Now what we need is a strong political leader to do something to get us out of the moral slump that we’re in.” In Novi, a nearby suburb, Jim Graves, 49, decided on Tuesday morning that he would vote for Mr. Romney, whom he called the “least of all the evils.” Since losing his job at an auto supplier in 2006, Mr. Graves said, he has been able to find only part-time work. He said Mr. Romney’s business experience was impressive, though he did not seem excited about his vote. “I’m comfortable with it,” he said about his choice. “I’ve made my peace with it.” Pat Tschirhart, 77, said that he sided with Mr. Santorum on many social issues — especially his opposition to abortion — but that in the end chose to back Mr. Romney because he was the best “anybody but Obama” candidate. On the western side of the state, at the Rainbow Grill in Grandville, Mich., near Grand Rapids, voters packed in to see Mr. Santorum, enthused by his stance on social issues. Barb Northuis, 54, works in day care and voted for Mr. Santorum, a former senator from Pennsylvania, because “he’s pro-life and has Christian values,” she said. Her friend Sandy DeGroot, a 60-year-old banker, agreed. “We need to get back to a president with faith.” As for Mr. Romney? “No way,” she said. Many voters, however, were still undecided, even after casting their ballots. Jean Dalman, 84, is a church volunteer who voted for Mr. Romney on Friday by absentee ballot, but now regrets it. “I was betwixt and between,” she said. “You don’t know what the truth is. Truth has gone out the window.” The electorate’s lack of enthusiasm has popped up again and again throughout the Republican contest, with front-runners rising and falling over the last few months. It was noticeable again in Novi on Tuesday, where volunteers working at the polls at Holy Family Catholic Church said turnout was surprisingly light, even for a primary. A voter or two, then more waiting. Around midday, the machine counting ballots sat silent in the empty gymnasium. “Most of the people I know aren’t even going to take the time to vote,” said Jon Spendlove, 31, who came to the church on his day off to back Representative Ron Paul of Texas. Campaign ads that flooded the airwaves might have added to voter fatigue, said Susan Abrams, 46, who decided on Monday night to support Mr. Romney and looks forward to things getting back to normal. “I’m so sick of hearing about it,” she said. “I didn’t even turn on the news this morning because I knew it’s all I would hear.” | Presidential Election of 2012;Voting and Voters;Michigan;Romney Mitt;Primaries and Caucuses;Santorum Rick |
ny0122445 | [
"business",
"global"
] | 2012/09/28 | Despite Public Protests, Spain’s 2013 Budget Plan Includes More Austerity | MADRID — The Spanish government on Thursday presented a draft budget for 2013 with a package of tax increases and spending cuts that it said would guarantee the country could meet deficit-cutting targets agreed to with the rest of the euro zone. Because the Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s Popular Party controls Parliament, the budget is expected to be adopted within the next few weeks. But with current austerity measures already prompting street demonstrations amid high unemployment and a recession, there is little likelihood that the new budget will do anything to calm a restive public. Facing down independent-minded Catalonia, the central government warned Thursday that it would fight any breakaway attempt by the region, the most economically powerful among Spain ’s 17 semiautonomous regions. Artur Mas, Catalonia’s leader, called this week for regional elections in November and suggested that Catalan citizens had the right to decide whether they wanted to secede from Spain. Spain’s deputy prime minister, Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría, said Thursday that there were legal and constitutional provisions to forbid a region from holding a referendum and that “this government is ready to use them.” The 2013 budget plan released Thursday is meant to help carry out a sweeping long-term austerity package outlined by Mr. Rajoy in July, which is aimed at reducing the central government’s budget deficit by 65 billion euros, or $84 billion, over two and a half years. The plan involves an average cut of almost 9 percent in the spending of each government ministry next year. The salaries of civil servants will be frozen for a third consecutive year. In a specific gesture toward older people and one made to maintain one of Mr. Rajoy’s pledges, the 2013 budget includes a 1 percent increase in pension payments. Several economists, however, have suggested that Madrid would eventually need to cut pension payments to stick to its budgetary targets. As expected, the new measures would include removing a tax break for home purchases. In a surprise move, the budget proposal calls for raising the tax on lottery winnings — though it is not a move that would affect many people in a significant way. In total, the government said the tax measures would increase revenue by 4.4 billion euros next year. Cristóbal Montoro, the budget minister, said the new budget would “prolong our effort to clean up public finances.” He added: “We are making an effort that is shared among many citizens and this is the way, even if it is not short, to get out of this crisis and erase the doubts over Spain.” Mr. Montoro said the 2013 budget guaranteed that Spain would meet a pledge to the rest of the euro zone to cut its deficit to 4.5 percent of gross domestic product next year, from a target of 6.3 percent this year. Trying to keep that pledge to Europe amid a deepening recession, however, has already led Mr. Rajoy to backtrack on some campaign promises, including an increase in the value-added tax to 21 percent from 18 percent that went into effect on Sept. 1. That move helped spur the street protests against the government in recent weeks. Hewing to the fiscal discipline demanded by other euro zone leaders could prove crucial to the Rajoy government, if it eventually wants to tap the new bond-buying program the European Central Bank announced this month. That program is meant to help reduce the borrowing costs of beleaguered euro zone members like Spain — if the governments choose to ask for the help. While that would help ease Spain’s debt financing problems, Mr. Rajoy is concerned that the aid would be accompanied by demands for more austerity measures. Luis de Guindos, the economy minister, said Thursday that the government was still analyzing the program and noted that Spain had managed so far to continue to finance itself on the debt markets. But Spain faces debt refinancing needs of 38.6 billion euros next year, according to the draft budget presented Thursday. That is almost 10 billion euros more than what was budgeted for 2012, underscoring the extent to which Madrid has struggled to contain its borrowing costs. Mr. Rajoy has ordered regional governments to cut their deficits to 1.5 percent of G.D.P. this year and 0.7 percent next year. But Spain’s 17 regions are not only struggling to cut their budget deficits but are also crippled by mountains of debt. On Thursday, Castilla-La Mancha became the fifth region to announce it would tap into an emergency fund set up by the central government to help regions meet their debt repayment obligations. Its 848 million euro request means that the five regions have jointly requested 16 billion euros out of the 18 billion euro emergency fund the Rajoy government has set aside. The government announced Thursday the creation of a supervisory agency to help ensure budgetary compliance by public administrations, as well as a further drive to streamline regional and local bodies in order to avoid expensive duplications. “We have made important efforts to improve central administration, but we need to extend those to regions and municipalities,” Mr. de Guindos said. Whatever Mr. Rajoy’s latest measures, “political tension between central government and the regions could also increase the likelihood of additional fiscal slippage because the chances that the government will use its powers to impose fiscal discipline are slimmer,” analysts at Barclays warned in a report issued Thursday, before the budget presentation. Mr. Montoro, the budget minister, suggested that such doubts were unfounded and insisted that tax revenues were in line with what the government anticipated. Mr. Rajoy’s government expects Spain’s economy to contract 1.5 percent this year and 0.5 percent next year. But Mr. Montoro forecast that exports would pick up and unemployment would peak, so that 2013 should be “the last year of recession for our country.” On Friday, Madrid is expected on Friday to release a final assessment by Oliver Wyman, a financial consulting firm, on how much more capital Spanish banks will need to maintain safe reserves. That report, based on audits by four accounting firms, will help determine if and how much Madrid will request of the 100 billion euros of European banking rescue funding that it negotiated in June. Mr. de Guindos said last month that he expected the final findings to be in line with Oliver Wyman’s preliminary assessment that banks would need as much as 62 billion euros in additional capital to stay afloat. About 20 billion euros of that is expected to be absorbed by Bankia, a giant mortgage lender whose nationalization in May led to Madrid’s request for aid. | Spain;Politics and Government;Budgets and Budgeting;European Sovereign Debt Crisis (2010- ) |
ny0147054 | [
"business"
] | 2008/07/09 | Fed Sees Turmoil Persisting Deep Into Next Year | WASHINGTON — Federal policy makers have concluded that the turmoil plaguing the housing and financial markets is likely to spill deep into 2009, becoming one of the most significant domestic problems to confront the next president when he steps into the White House in January. Ben S. Bernanke , the chairman of the Federal Reserve , publicly indicated on Tuesday that he believes the problems will persist into next year when he outlined a series of steps the Fed is considering in the coming months. One such step would extend low-interest lending programs to Wall Street’s largest investment banks into next year. The programs, one of which was set to expire in September, can continue only if the Fed issues a finding that there are “unusual and exigent circumstances” that justify them. Mr. Bernanke also recommended that Congress grant the Fed broader authority to monitor and supervise the financial markets to assure greater stability in the future. But with time running out on this session, lawmakers are unlikely to adopt such legislation before next year. Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. said in a speech last week in London that the problems of the housing and financial markets might last longer than originally expected. He followed up in another speech on Tuesday by saying that the Bush administration was working to prevent as many home foreclosures as possible, but that “many of today’s unusually high number of foreclosures are not preventable.” Mr. Paulson said 1.5 million home foreclosures were started in 2007 and that an estimated 2.5 million more would take place this year. Still, the markets seemed reassured that Washington officials were redoubling their efforts to resuscitate the weak housing sector, despite the downbeat comments. The Dow Jones industrial average, which has fallen sharply in recent weeks, closed up 1.4 percent, or 152 points. Mr. Bernanke said that the Fed would issue next week long-awaited rules to restrict new exotic mortgages and high-cost loans for people with weak credit. Such mortgages have been a central cause of the current market problems. The Federal Housing Administration will also begin an expanded effort next week to help a larger group of troubled homeowners refinance their adjustable mortgages. Under the plan, homeowners would be eligible to refinance even if they have missed up to three monthly mortgage payments over the previous 12 months. Homeowners who have fallen behind on their payments because of job loss, declining wages and family illness would also be eligible, even if their rates have not increased. Homeowners are now eligible only if they were current on their mortgages before their interest rate was adjusted upward. For its part, Congress is close to completing legislation on a $300 billion foreclosure-rescue plan that would help troubled borrowers refinance into more affordable loans insured by the federal government. The Senate is expected to approve a measure by next week. The Fed created the lending programs to Wall Street in March as part of a broader effort to prevent financial institutions from collapsing, as Bear Stearns nearly did before it was sold under heavy pressure from the Fed and the Bush administration to JPMorgan Chase. The lending programs to the investment banks, a broad expansion of the Fed’s historic practice of providing loans only to commercial banks that the Fed supervises, are intended to provide confidence to financial institutions that they will have enough cash to meet their daily needs. And by permitting investment banks to post collateral for Fed loans, including hard-to-sell financial instruments backed by mortgages, the programs have helped prop up the enormous and troubled market in securities sold by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the all-important mortgage-finance companies. The two buyers of mortgages, which together held more than $1.4 trillion of mortgage-backed bonds as of the end of last year, have struggled in recent months through the wave of foreclosures and declining housing markets. On Tuesday, Fannie Mae closed up nearly 12 percent, and Freddie Mac rose 13 percent, after their regulator said he would probably not force them to raise more capital because of an accounting rule change. The shares of both government-chartered companies had tumbled on Monday amid concerns over the accounting rule and worries that the worst of the mortgage crisis was yet to come. Officials said that the Federal Reserve remained concerned that the declining housing market would not reach its bottom and financial markets would not become more stable before some time next year, and that the economy would continue to suffer as a result of declining consumer confidence, a sluggish global economy and the widespread effects of the rapid jump in oil prices. “The financial turmoil is ongoing, and our efforts today are concentrated on helping the financial system return to more normal functioning,” Mr. Bernanke said at a forum in Virginia on lending for low- and moderate-income households. He did not provide a forecast of how soon he expected markets would begin to turn. “Although short-term funding markets remain strained, they have improved somewhat since March,” Mr. Bernanke said, reflecting both the intervention of the Fed in offering loans to Wall Street and “ongoing efforts of financial firms to repair their balance sheets and increase their liquidity.” Officials said that the Fed privately reached the view some time ago that weakness in the housing and financial sectors would likely continue well into next year. Mr. Bernanke’s comments Tuesday were not intended to signal any change in interest-rate policy. In his speech in London, Mr. Paulson emphasized that the financial markets have yet to adapt to the changing climate. “Working through the current turmoil will take additional time, as markets and financial institutions continue to reassess risk, and re-price securities across a number of asset classes and sectors,” Mr. Paulson said. The Federal Housing Administration’s expanded program to help more troubled homeowners refinance, called F.H.A. Secure, was announced in April at a time when fewer than 2,000 homeowners at risk of foreclosure had been helped by it. Housing Secretary Steven C. Preston said the expanded program would help an additional 100,000 borrowers in crisis by the end of the year. So far, more than 260,000 homeowners have refinanced through the program, the vast majority of them people who have paid their bills on time. Mr. Preston predicted that 500,000 families would be helped by year’s end. Mr. Preston warned, however, that F.H.A.’s efforts could be derailed if Congress passed housing legislation that failed to safeguard the agency’s financial stability. He said he was concerned about efforts to eliminate the agency’s plans to use risk-based pricing, which would allow F.H.A. for the first time to charge higher mortgage insurance premiums to borrowers viewed as presenting a higher credit risk. He said he was also concerned about efforts by some lawmakers to maintain an agency program in which the seller finances the down payment on a mortgage. The program has suffered high delinquency and foreclosure rates in recent years, and the F.H.A. hopes to eliminate it. If the Senate, as expected, adopts housing legislation by next week, differences need to be ironed out in the House, which approved a similar measure in May. Though the White House has expressed some willingness to negotiate, the administration has not rescinded a veto threat. Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democratic majority leader, urged Republican lawmakers to speed up the bill, which has been slowed by a procedural fight despite broad support among lawmakers in both parties. “Since the last stall on the housing bill, 85,000 more Americans have received foreclosure notices — 8,500 a day,” Mr. Reid said. “Tomorrow it will be over 90,000. Every day they squander the Senate’s precious time, the American people lose.” | Federal Reserve System;Mortgages;Bernanke Ben S;Credit;Foreclosures;Law and Legislation;Housing;Banks and Banking;United States Economy |
ny0125725 | [
"world",
"asia"
] | 2012/08/07 | India Stray Dogs Are a Menace | NEW DELHI — Victims of the surprise attacks limp into one of this city’s biggest public hospitals. Among the hundreds on a recent day were children cornered in their homes, students ambushed on their way to class and old men ambling back from work. All told the same frightening story: stray dogs had bitten them. Deepak Kumar, 6, had an angry slash across his back from a dog that charged into his family’s shack. “We finally closed the gates to our colony and beat the dog to death,” said Deepak’s father, Rajinder. No country has as many stray dogs as India , and no country suffers as much from them. Free-roaming dogs number in the tens of millions and bite millions of people annually, including vast numbers of children. An estimated 20,000 people die every year from rabies infections — more than a third of the global rabies toll. Packs of strays lurk in public parks, guard alleyways and street corners and howl nightly in neighborhoods and villages. Joggers carry bamboo rods to beat them away, and bicyclists fill their pockets with stones to throw at chasers. Walking a pet dog here can be akin to swimming with sharks. A 2001 law forbade the killing of dogs, and the stray population has increased so much that officials across the country have expressed alarm. In Mumbai, where more than 80,000 people reported being bitten last year, the government plans to conduct a census of the strays by using motorcycles to chase down dogs and squirt their fur with ink. A member of the Punjab Legislative Assembly proposed in June sending strays to China — where dogs are sometimes eaten — after more than 15,000 people in the state reported being bitten last year. In New Delhi, officials recently announced an intensified sterilization campaign. India’s place as the global center for rabid dogs is an ancient one: the first dog ever infected with rabies most likely was Indian, said Dr. Charles Rupprecht, chief of the rabies program at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. Dog bites cause 99 percent of human rabies deaths. Indeed, tackling rabies on the subcontinent is challenging because the relationships that Indian dogs maintain with humans are ancient. India’s pariah dog, the dominant street breed, is probably a descendant of an early Chinese immigrant, said Peter Savolainen, a professor of evolutionary genetics at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm. With pointed ears, a wedge-shaped head and a tail that curls over its back, the pariah is similar in appearance to other prehistoric dogs like the Australian dingo. For thousands of years, dogs’ relationship with humans was similar to that of pilot fish with sharks, said John Bradshaw, director of the Anthrozoology Institute at the University of Bristol in Britain. “Dogs essentially started out as scavengers,” Dr. Bradshaw said. “They evolved to hang around people rather than to be useful to them.” While that relationship has largely disappeared in the developed world, it remains the dominant one in India, where strays survive on the ubiquitous mounds of garbage. Some are fed and collared by residents who value them as guards and as companions, albeit distant ones. Hindus oppose the killing of many kinds of animals. Malini Jadeja, who lives in Delhi part time, said she was walking her beloved dog Fudge Cake some years ago not far from Lodi Gardens when “two dogs came out of nowhere and attacked.” Fudge Cake was leashed, so he could not run away. “I tried to grab the strays and pull them away, but just as I got one, the other would attack,” Ms. Jadeja said. “They killed Fudge Cake right in front of my eyes.” She blames herself for her dog’s death and remains terrified of strays. “It’s very difficult to take a dog for a walk here because of the attacks from street dogs,” said Dr. Radhey S. Sharma, president of the Indian Veterinary Association. Nonetheless, India’s burgeoning middle class has begun to adopt Western notions of pet ownership, buying pedigreed dogs and bringing animals into their homes. But many pedigreed dogs end up on the street, the castoffs of unsuccessful breeders or owners who tire of the experiment. Stray dogs are dangerous not only because of their teeth but also because they help ticks and other parasites thrive. But animal welfare advocates fervently reject euthanasia , and some warn that reducing the stray population while doing nothing about the country’s vast mounds of garbage could be dangerous because rats might thrive in dogs’ place. “The first thing you need to start doing to reduce the stray population is manage your garbage better,” said Arpan Sharma, chief executive of the Federation of Indian Animal Protection Organizations. “And the second thing is very aggressive spaying, neutering and vaccinating of animals.” Jaipur has reduced its stray population, but it is a lonely exception that overcame not only enormous logistical and financial challenges but cultural ones as well. “People really don’t want us to take the street dogs away, particularly in poor areas,” said Dr. Jack Reece, a Jaipur veterinarian who helped lead the city’s effort. “In other areas, especially Muslim ones, they won’t let us release the dogs back. I have been surrounded by large crowds, angry young men, saying you can’t release the dogs here, even though they were caught from there two days before.” More than a dozen experts interviewed said that India’s stray problem would only get worse until a canine contraceptive vaccine, now in the lab, became widely and inexpensively available. Dr. Rosario Menezes, a pediatrician from Goa, said that India could not wait that long. Dogs must be taken off the streets even if that means euthanizing them, he said. “I am for the right of people to walk the streets without fear of being attacked by packs of dogs,” he said. Arshpreet Kaur was 3 when a stray came in through her home’s open front door and bit her and her grandfather. Within a week, Arshpreet got a headache and then a fever. Her parents took her to a hospital, but she soon slipped into a coma, in which she remained for nine years before finally dying. “There are stray dogs everywhere in Delhi,” Arshpreet’s mother, Jasmeen Kaur, said in a telephone interview. “We are more scared of dog bites than anything else.” | India;Dogs;Rabies;New Delhi (India) |
ny0173492 | [
"sports",
"ncaafootball"
] | 2007/10/04 | Surrogate Family Nurtures a Star | COLUMBIA, Mo. — A buoyant disposition earned Jeremy Maclin the nickname Smiley as a child. But soon after Jeff Parres became Maclin’s youth football coach 10 years ago in Kirkwood, Mo., he saw that Maclin’s effervescence also served as a facade. When Parres drove him home to the bleak Meacham Park neighborhood, the lights were often out, the house empty. Sometimes, Maclin was locked out and wanted to stay elsewhere. Once, on a chilly October night, an agonized Parres saw him crawl through a window. “This is just not right,” Parres said he thought to himself. The piercing sight, though, proved a portal to Maclin’s future, setting in motion an improbable sequence of events that funneled him where he is today. Escaping a childhood of neglect and emotional abuse, Maclin essentially became an adopted third son of Jeff and Cindy Parres. They provided not merely the starkly enhanced material comforts of their home in affluent Town and Country but the more important gift of always being there. “They love him so much; they love my child,” said Cleo Maclin King, Jeremy’s biological mother. “I am so blessed. I really, really am.” So, too, is the University of Missouri , where Maclin, at 6 feet 1 inches and 185 pounds, has emerged as a mesmerizing talent in his freshman season. With 230.2 yards a game, Maclin leads the Football Bowl Subdivision in all-purpose yardage and is a vital reason the No. 17 Tigers (4-0) have stirred talk of their first conference title since 1969 as they prepare to play host to No. 25 Nebraska (4-1) on Oct. 6. “He can change a game any time he touches the ball,” Missouri Coach Gary Pinkel said. Ostensibly a receiver, Maclin’s versatility has added a dimension to an already scintillating offensive attack. He has three touchdown catches, has scored on a direct snap from center and twice returned punts for touchdowns. Among his distinguishing traits are a seemingly effortless form and a tendency to whimsically twist and wind and, as he put it, run 60 yards to gain 20. “He’s so smooth it looks like he isn’t running hard,” said Dave Christensen, Missouri’s assistant head coach and offensive coordinator. “But he’s separating himself from every other guy who’s in the picture.” His seamless style and instant impact are unfathomable considering what Pat Smith, the team physician, called a “grotesque” right knee injury sustained in July 2006 during a voluntary workout. Maclin’s anterior cruciate ligament was torn, and so were the surrounding lateral collateral ligament and posterolateral capsule. The plain English translation: “I don’t know if he’s going to come back,” Smith told Pinkel at the time. A year later, Smith said he felt goose bumps as Maclin returned a punt 66 yards for a touchdown in Missouri’s opening 40-34 victory over Illinois in St. Louis, planting on his right leg along the way. For a time after her husband left her with three boys — Andre, 8; Roshon, 4; and Jeremy, 7 months — Cleo Maclin King kept the family afloat by working two jobs and deputizing Andre to take charge in her absence. Andre changed Jeremy’s diapers, did the laundry and prepared meals. But making ends meet became more difficult for Maclin King. She lost a job and became more frustrated. “My mom tried, man,” Jeremy Maclin said. “But things just didn’t go right.” That often manifested itself, the three boys said, in excessive drinking, her berating them or neglect. They became, Roshon said, emotional “punching bags” for her. “She could be completely wasted and she’d act like we were making things up; she never admitted she had a problem to go get help,” said Roshon, 23. “I guess I’ve forgiven her, but I haven’t forgotten anything.” Cleo Maclin King denied that her behavior was inappropriate or that she drank heavily, saying what she consumed might have bothered her children but “was never a problem for me.” Before Andre left to play football at Illinois State, he said, he typically was able to absorb or deflect her outbursts. With him gone, though, Roshon and Jeremy lost their anchor and shield. Roshon failed to graduate with his class, and his football future was stifled. The same probably awaited Jeremy Maclin if not for the intervention of Jeff Parres, a urologist whose oldest son, Tyler, was on the youth football team with Jeremy. What began with Friday night sleepovers before games and staying at the Parreses’ house for weeks at a time during the summer became an all-but-legal adoption by Maclin’s sophomore year of high school. Along the way, the Parreses tried to stabilize Jeremy’s relationship with his mother, paying her rent for nearly a year. But Maclin’s need to completely move away from his mother became clear to him one night when she refused to turn music down as he was trying to sleep. Cleo Maclin King remembers it differently, that he moved in with the Parreses because she was moving to an apartment she could afford. Either way, the effect was the same: Jeremy was part of the Parres family now, with his own room and use of a car, credit card and cellphone. He had new responsibilities, from making his bed to greeting people properly, along with all the other rules that governed Tyler and Mitchell, 15. Cindy Parres said she even gave him “the sex talk.” In turn, the Parreses got an education through Maclin, including when he flourished as a junior and senior at Kirkwood High and recruiting intensified. “When you pick up the phone on a Sunday night and it’s Charlie Weis, it’s like, Whoa, wait a minute,” Jeff Parres said, recalling recruiting calls from the Notre Dame coach. Scholarship offers came from all over the country, and Maclin initially committed to Oklahoma, Missouri’s opponent next week. But Cindy Parres was not surprised, she said, when he changed his mind and decided to go to Missouri. “I knew deep down he wasn’t going to go far away, because he was a mama’s boy,” she said, smiling. Cleo Maclin King now works for a box factory, she said, often adding overtime hours. She has gone to three of Missouri’s four games this season, at least once sitting with the Parreses. Although he acknowledged he did not see her “as much as maybe a son should see his mother,” Andre Maclin, a salesman for Lowe’s, said her behavior was “10 times better than it was.” When Jeremy gathered both of his families for a recent photograph, Cindy Parres was moved, she said, by the spirit in the room and sense of shared purpose. “They all made me who I am today,” Jeremy Maclin said, adding that he loved his “bonus mom,” as Cindy Parres calls herself, and his biological mother. “I’m going to take care of her.” That’s something he might not have had a chance to consider if the Parreses had not taken care of him — a life-changing move that has made his smile less a front than a window. | University of Missouri;Football;Maclin Jeremy;Families and Family Life |
ny0211706 | [
"business"
] | 2017/01/19 | China’s Economy Grows Strongly, Yet Central Bank Eases Policy | BEIJING — China’s economy firmly hit its growth target last year and even accelerated a bit at the end. In most countries, that would be seen as unequivocally good news. But this is China, where figures are sometimes doubted and where economists look for signs of strain underneath the numbers. Indeed, Chinese officials who released the economic data on Friday faced questions about the country’s mounting debt. And in an unusual move, its central bank on Friday took an extra step to inject more money into the economy over the next month. China’s economy grew 6.7 percent last year after accelerating slightly to 6.8 percent in the fourth quarter, the government’s statistics bureau announced on Friday morning. The strong economic growth in 2016 came after a weak start last year, when China’s currency and stock market were tumbling and many foreign investors fretted that the country’s three decades of robust economic expansion might be ending. The Chinese government appears to have delayed an economic reckoning, but at a high cost. The central bank and state-owned banks shoveled trillions of renminbi into a surge of credit, putting aside longstanding worries about a deeply indebted corporate sector and signs of a real estate bubble. The government borrowed and spent heavily, continuing oversize projects like the construction of world-class highways and high-speed rail lines to cities that are increasingly remote from the main hubs of economic activity near the coast. But Ning Jizhe, the commissioner of the National Bureau of Statistics, dismissed concerns about rising debt. “I don’t think this worry is necessary,” he said at a news conference. Hours after the data release, the central bank said on its official Weibo microblog account that it was providing temporary help to “several large commercial banks” that have been distributing large sums of cash ahead of China’s Lunar New Year celebrations, which begin at the end of next week. Image A Uniqlo store at a mall in Beijing. Much of China’s online consumer spending growth last year came at the expense of brick-and-mortar stores. Credit Wang Zhao/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Consumers Keep Spending Chinese and foreign economists generally agree that the best hope for the country’s long-term economic health is for the current emphasis on debt and investment to give way to greater consumer spending. Adjusted for inflation, consumer spending climbed 9.6 percent last year, led by blistering growth in online retail sales of 26.2 percent. But as in other countries, including the United States , much of that growth has come at the expense of brick-and-mortar stores and malls. Image A construction site in Beijing last month. After state-owned banks were told to step up mortgage lending last year, commercial building sales rose 34.8 percent, and residential sales climbed 36 percent. Credit Thomas Peter/Reuters Image Coils of steel at a factory in Dalian, Liaoning Province. Concerns have been raised about the quality of Chinese economic data, but many economists say last year’s growth appears to have been real. Credit China Daily/Reuters Real Estate Prices Surge When Zhou Xiaochuan, the governor of China’s central bank, said at a news conference in Shanghai last February that the answer to China’s immediate economic troubles lay in more mortgages, few paid close attention. Chinese officials previously expressed concern that real estate prices were already too high, hurting affordability and exposing the economy to significant risks if prices tumbled. But after Mr. Zhou’s remarks, state-owned banks were instructed to step up mortgage lending, and the results were spectacular. Sales of commercial buildings rose 34.8 percent, and residential sales climbed 36 percent as prices leapt higher and higher. The steel, cement and glass industries — all suffering from overcapacity in recent years — benefited as they supplied builders, and electricity production to power those factories rose. Municipal governments in Shanghai and elsewhere began imposing administrative controls this winter to limit further real estate price increases. Debt Piles Up More mortgages were part of a big expansion in the overall credit moving through the Chinese economy. To achieve its 6.7 percent growth last year, the Chinese government allowed total credit to rise at nearly two and half times that pace, according to a calculation by Louis Kuijs, an economist at Oxford Economics. Credit used to grow at the same pace as the economy, but debt has been accumulating faster than the economy’s output since the global financial crisis. The central bank, the People’s Bank of China, said on Friday afternoon that it was providing liquidity assistance for 28 days to several large commercial banks. It did not identify the banks. The central bank also did not provide details except to say that it was using a market mechanism to make sure the extra money entered the country’s financial system. The People’s Bank of China did not respond to requests for clarification. Stock markets were up on Friday in China, and short-term interest rates were only slightly higher — two signs that while money may be fairly tight in China ahead of the holidays, any difficulty has not yet become severe enough to alarm investors. What’s in a Number? Many concerns have been raised about the quality of Chinese economic data. Western economists have suggested that Chinese government statisticians underestimate growth in boom years and overestimate growth during busts to present a smoother overall picture of the Chinese economy. Worries about data quality increased after the state-run People’s Daily quoted Chen Qiufa, the governor of the northeastern province of Liaoning, as saying on Tuesday that local governments had inflated growth data from 2011 to 2014. But many economists say last year’s growth appears to have been real — although bringing additional debt that could burden the economy for years to come. Mr. Ning insisted on Friday morning that national economic data was reliable, and he added that if local officials were caught fabricating data, “we will show no leniency.” | China;Economy;GDP;International trade |
ny0191261 | [
"science"
] | 2009/02/03 | Tracking Forest Creatures on the Move | BARRO COLORADO ISLAND, Panama — We were tramping doggedly through the forest in pursuit of white-faced capuchins, those familiar organ-grinder monkeys with the wild hair, piercing eyes and impatient scowls of little German professors. Capuchins are said to be exceptionally quick-witted, and that morning they might as well have been swinging from their Phi Beta Kappa keys. A mother monkey with baby on board flashed into view 20 feet above me, I whipped up my binoculars for a closer look and, hey, Marie and Irene Curie, where did you go? My gracious guide, Margaret Crofoot, a primatologist who is studying the monkeys, murmured that a big male capuchin just behind me had been scrutinizing us for some time. Slowly I turned, swiftly he rose, and, wow, that’s a male all right; a crash of leaves, a twang of branches and peep show over. “Nothing seems to slow them down,” Dr. Crofoot said. “They never stop moving.” Neither did Dr. Crofoot, 29, who is tall, blond and sporty and who reminded me of the actress Laura Dern in “Jurassic Park.” It was January and supposedly the dry season, but suddenly the skies burst into rain. So now would the monkeys hunker down and wait out the storm? “I wish,” Dr. Crofoot said. How about mutual grooming? Surely they have to stop for that. “Capuchins groom each other occasionally,” she said, “but much less often than, say, baboons or chimpanzees.” Yet somehow the capuchins manage to either outwit or outrun the forest’s legions of parasites. Of the dozens of monkeys that Dr. Crofoot has handled over the years, she has found ticks on only one or two. I, by contrast, spent a mere three days in the field and am still so covered with swollen red tick and chigger bites that I look like the color plates from a dermatology textbook. Capuchins are smart, gorgeous and socially sophisticated, and Dr. Crofoot has relished the many hours spent studying them with the traditional field research tools of binoculars, notebook and a saint’s portion of patience. Yet she and other scientists who work here at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute are thrilled with a new system for tracking their subjects that could help revolutionize the labor-intensive business of field biology. Called the Automated Radio Telemetry System, the method relies on seven 130-foot-high radio towers scattered across the island that can monitor data from many radio-tagged individuals simultaneously, round the clock, through the calendar. Once an animal has been outfitted with a transmitting device, the towers can track its unique radio signature and, by a process of triangulation, indicate where it is on the island, whether it’s moving or at rest, what other radio-endowed individuals it encounters. The constant data streams feed into computers at a central lab building on the island, allowing researchers to stay abreast of far more animal sagas than they could possibly follow through direct observation, and to make the best of their hours in the field. If you see an extended flat line on your computer monitor, it’s time to go out, retrieve the corpse and figure out what happened. And because transmitters can now be made as light as two-tenths of a gram, scientists can tag and track katydids, orchid bees, monarch butterflies, even plant seeds. “Automated systems like this are ushering in a new era of animal tracking,” said Roland Kays, another institute research associate. “There’s a lot of potential for seeing the routes animals take and the decisions they make every step of the way.” The application of radio telemetry towers, global positioning satellites and other cyberscapes to the mapping and deciphering of the natural world has spawned a new subdiscipline. “Movement ecology is the term being thrown around now,” said Dr. Kays, who is also curator of mammals at the New York State Museum in Albany. Dr. Kays is applying the tracking system to explore the dynamic ménage à trois among the island’s population of ocelots; the ruddy, snouty rodents called agoutis; and the island’s towering and thickly buttressed Dipteryx trees. The agoutis love Dipteryx seeds, and the ones they don’t eat immediately they bury for later consumption. The Dipteryx needs the agoutis to bury its seeds before ground beetles or other animals destroy them, but then the tree wants the rodent to conveniently disappear. Ocelots love agoutis; the rodents are their most important food source. The question Dr. Kays is asking: How many members of each sector are needed to sustain this tripartite economy? The telemetry system adds to the scientific luster of an island that has been a research mecca ever since Barro Colorado’s 3,865 acres were separated from the mainland by the construction of the Panama Canal in 1914. “It’s a living laboratory,” said Stefan Schnitzer of the University of Wisconsin. “It’s the most heavily studied piece of forest in the world.” Of course, what sounds dandy in theory can act buggy in practice, and researchers admitted that the upkeep of a complex computerized network in the pitilessly catabolic conditions of a tropical rain forest is always tricky. Moreover, tagging animals remains difficult, particularly when the subjects are smart and easily spooked, as capuchins are. At the moment, only five of the island’s estimated 250 to 300 capuchins are fitted with radio collars, a figure that Dr. Crofoot hopes to double or treble. Once she is able to eavesdrop simultaneously on a representative sampling of the 15 to 20 capuchin social groups that roam the island, she can better address her abiding interest in intertribal politics. “There have been decades of work looking at social relations within primate groups,” she said. “But primates have neighbors, and they’re with those neighbors over decades, so the question is, what are those relationships like?” Early evidence suggests that capuchins are xenophobic but not imperialistic. “The tracking data indicate there’s lots of long-distance avoidance,” Dr. Crofoot said. The monkeys give especially wide berth to their versions of demilitarized zones, where one group’s territory overlaps with another’s. The best way to win a war is not to start one in the first place: pure genius. | Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute;Monkeys and Apes;Forests and Forestry;Panama;Radio;Science and Technology;Biology and Biochemistry |
ny0177209 | [
"world",
"asia"
] | 2007/09/29 | The Monks Are Cut Off, and Burmese Clashes Ebb | BANGKOK, Sept. 28 — Myanmar ’s armed forces appeared on Friday to have sealed tens of thousands of protesting monks inside their monasteries, but they continued to attack bands of demonstrators who challenged them in the main city, Yangon. Witnesses and diplomats reached by telephone inside the country said troops were confronting and attacking smaller groups of civilians around Yangon, chasing them through narrow streets and sometimes firing at protesters and arresting them. “Today has been quieter than previous days, meaning far fewer protesters came out, but the military is being very quick to use violence, tear gas, guns and clubs to break it up,” said Shari Villarosa, the chief diplomat at the United States Embassy. Diplomats said that there was no way to know the toll of dead and wounded in Yangon or other cities, but that it was certainly far higher than the junta says. Bob Davis, Australia’s ambassador to Myanmar, said that based on unconfirmed reports, he was sure the death toll was “several multiples of the 10 acknowledged by the authorities.” “I am afraid we believe the loss of life is far greater than is being reported,” Prime Minister Gordon Brown of Britain said. Human rights and exile groups with contacts in Myanmar said they had fewer clashes to report on Friday, at least partly because of an apparent government clampdown on Internet and telephone communications. Brutal attacks on monasteries and a heavy military presence outside their gates appeared to have choked off, at least for now, the huge demonstrations led by monks that are the most serious challenge to the military junta since it took power in 1988. Exile groups passed on many vivid reports about brutality toward monks, many of whom were reportedly driven away in trucks. Soldiers were said to have prevented others from leaving the monasteries. “Wednesday night, numerous monasteries were raided,” Ms. Villarosa said, “and we have reports that many monks were beaten and arrested, and we have pictures where whole monasteries have been trashed,” including images of blood and broken glass. With the monks contained, another Western diplomat said, the demonstrations seemed to have lost their focus, and soldiers were quick to pounce on any group that appeared on the streets. “Troops are chasing protesters and beating them and taking them away in trucks,” said the diplomat, speaking anonymously under embassy policy. “There are pockets of protesters left. They are unorganized, and it’s all very small-scale.” Even if the junta clears the streets, it seems to have turned most of the world against it. The crackdown has drawn far more intense criticism than in 1988, when the military responded to protests by killing thousands. Nor was it clear how the junta would recover any legitimacy at home. “The military is doing their best to frighten people into going back, but they are not doing anything about the underlying grievances,” Ms. Villarosa said. “Whether they will ultimately be successful, I doubt, because the grievances are real.” Heavy pressure from the United Nations has forced the military to allow a visit from a special United Nations envoy, Ibrahim Gambari. He is expected to reach Myanmar on Saturday. In Washington, President Bush thanked China, Myanmar’s leading trade partner, for helping persuade the junta to allow the visit. In Tokyo, Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda said that he had spoken with his Chinese counterpart, Wen Jiabao, and that they had agreed to work on international efforts to solve the crisis. “I asked that China, given its close ties with Myanmar, exercise its influence, and Prime Minister Wen said he would make such efforts,” Mr. Fukuda said. Reuters reported that Japan would send an envoy to Myanmar to investigate the death of a videojournalist, Kenji Nagai. A videotape shows that Mr. Nagai, who was killed Thursday while filming protests near the Sule Pagoda in Yangon, may have been shot at close range. The current crisis began on Aug. 19, after the government increased fuel prices overnight by as much as 500 percent without any announcement or explanation. The increases ignited scattered protests led at first by longtime dissidents, most of whom had been involved in the protests of 1988. The demonstrations revealed the deep discontent and anger over the junta’s economic mismanagement. In 45 years of military rule — and 19 years under this junta — Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, has become a ragged, suffering nation, one of the poorest and most repressed in Asia. The crowds grew much larger after Sept. 18, when huge columns of monks filled the streets and residents joined them by the tens of thousands. The demonstrations swelled to as many as 100,000 monks and supporters in Yangon alone. Defying international warnings and condemnation, the government crackdown began Wednesday morning with raids on several monasteries and the appearance of an aggressive armed force on the streets. | Myanmar;Demonstrations and Riots;Politics and Government;Freedom and Human Rights |
ny0063542 | [
"sports",
"autoracing"
] | 2014/01/12 | British Formula One Driver Chilton Retained | The British driver Max Chilton has been retained by Marussia for the 2014 Formula One season. Chilton, 22, failed to win a point in his debut season last year but impressed by finishing every race. With Jules Bianchi having secured his seat for 2014, Marussia will keep the same driver lineup for the coming season. Chilton says “continuity is important for the team but also for me as a driver. You learn such a lot in your debut season, but the second year is when you can really pull all of those new experiences together and show your true potential.” | Car Racing;Formula One;Max Chilton |
ny0071355 | [
"world",
"africa"
] | 2015/03/10 | International Criminal Court Seeks U.N. Action on Sudan | Flustered over Sudan’s longstanding refusal to extradite its leader for trial on charges of genocide and other crimes in the Darfur conflict, the International Criminal Court on Monday asked the United Nations Security Council to take “necessary measures” to enforce compliance. The request came three months after the court’s chief prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, said she was suspending her criminal investigations of Darfur atrocities because they could not make progress without cooperation from Sudan and coercive pressure from the Security Council. In a statement from its headquarters at The Hague, the court said the charges against President Omar Hassan al-Bashir of Sudan, some of them dating to March 2009, had been repeatedly ignored by the Sudanese authorities. The statement said the court had “decided to inform the United Nations Security Council to take the necessary measures it deems appropriate.” Without such action, the statement said, the Council’s decision a decade ago to refer Sudan to the court would “never achieve its ultimate goal, namely, to put an end to impunity.” Mr. Bashir is the only sitting head of state with genocide charges hanging over him from the court, which was created in part to hold those responsible for atrocities like those committed in Darfur accountable. Yet the court has no police force of its own to ensure compliance with warrants and must rely on cooperation from other governments. International jurists have viewed the charges against Mr. Bashir, and the court’s ability to carry out a prosecution, as an important measure of its credibility. Some said the court’s statement on Monday reflected its deepening frustration with prosecutions that have foundered over noncooperation from countries where sitting leaders and other high-ranking officials have been charged. In December, Ms. Bensouda announced that she would “hibernate” the genocide case against Mr. Bashir and others in Sudan because she had been unable to secure arrests. The same month, Ms. Bensouda announced she was dropping charges against Kenya’s president, Uhuru Kenyatta, for his role in the violence that upended Kenya following the 2007 elections, citing what she called his government’s noncooperation. “My reading of what happened in December, and this announcement, is that the prosecutor’s office is trying to fix blame squarely on the Security Council for its failure to back the court up,” said Richard Dicker , director of the international justice program at Human Rights Watch. It remains unclear what, if anything, the Council will do to raise pressure on Sudan’s government, which has close relations with two of the Council’s permanent members, Russia and China. Ms. Bensouda, who reports to the council every six months, has written the council at least eight times before asking for help in securing the arrest of suspects charged with Darfur crimes. “If there was full political will of all the members on the Security Council, then something would have happened,” she said in an interview with The New York Times in December, when she last appeared before the council. In 2005, the Security Council asked the court to open a criminal investigation of Sudan’s campaign against civilians and rebel groups in Darfur, which has left hundreds of thousands of people dead and displaced.The court later indicted President Bashir, his defense minister and two other associates on charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. But the defendants have largely behaved with impunity, in some instances even traveling to other countries despite the risk of arrest. | International Criminal Court;Sudan;Darfur;Omar Hassan Al- Bashir;Extradition;UN;War Crimes,Genocide,Crimes Against Humanity;UN Security Council;Fatou Bensouda |
ny0274348 | [
"us"
] | 2016/02/02 | Fight Between 2 California Escapees Proved to Be Turning Point | LOS ANGELES — After five days on the run, two of the three inmates who had broken out of an Orange County jail came to blows as they argued over whether to kill a taxi driver they had kidnapped in Southern California and taken with them to San Jose. One escaped inmate, Hossein Nayeri, 37, apparently wanted to kill the taxi driver and bury his body, law enforcement officials said. But another escapee, Bac Duong, 43, objected, and the two fought inside the motel room where they were hiding on Wednesday. The altercation proved to be a turning point in the statewide hunt for the three escapees, who had broken out of the Orange County Central Men’s Jail on Jan. 22. All three now face charges for the escape. When Mr. Nayeri and the third escapee, Jonathan Tieu, 20, left the motel on Thursday afternoon, Mr. Duong and the cabdriver took off. The two drove back to Southern California, where Mr. Duong turned himself in on Friday morning, according to Orange County Sheriff’s Department officials. The other fugitives were recaptured the next day. With all three men back in the jail from which they escaped — this time in isolation — Sheriff’s Department officials on Monday laid out a timeline of the eight days they spent on the run. Planning for the escape began in July, said Capt. Jeff Hallock, a spokesman for the department, and included coordination with people both inside and outside the jail. Captain Hallock said Mr. Nayeri had developed a relationship with Nooshafarin Ravaghi, 44, who taught English as a second language to inmates. Investigators arrested Ms. Ravaghi last week and said she had provided information like Google maps that assisted in the escape. But on Monday, the district attorney, Tony Rackauckas, said that there was not enough evidence to charge Ms. Ravaghi and that she would be released. Loc Ba Nguyen, an associate of Mr. Duong’s, has been charged with smuggling weapons and tools into the jail in January, before the escape. The three inmates cut metal bars to escape their cell, then rappelled from the roof using makeshift rope early on Jan. 22. Once on the outside, Mr. Nguyen picked them up about half a mile from the jail, Captain Hallock said. “During that first day, they bounced between some residential locations” in Orange County, Captain Hallock said. “We believe they obtained some money from family members or associates.” At 9:30 that night, shortly after the Sheriff’s Department realized the men had escaped, the fugitives called a taxi to take them to Rosemead, east of Los Angeles. Mr. Duong stuck a gun in the cabdriver’s ribs and told him that he was coming with them, and the four of them spent the night at an undisclosed location, officials said. For the next couple of days, the escapees moved around Los Angeles County, where they visited a hair salon in an effort to change their appearances, stole a white utility van and spent several nights at a hotel in Rosemead. On Monday, they drove north to the Alameda Motel in San Jose, Captain Hallock said, taking the taxi driver and his cab with them. The men remained in that motel until the fight on Wednesday, Captain Hallock said. Then, when Mr. Nayeri and Mr. Tieu went to get the windows of the stolen van tinted on Thursday, Mr. Duong and the taxi driver headed back to Rosemead, where they stayed for a night, before Mr. Duong surrendered. Meanwhile, sheriff’s officials had put out an alert for the stolen van, and on Friday, after Mr. Duong’s recapture, they notified the public that the men were believed to be in Northern California. On Saturday morning, a man in San Francisco spotted the van parked at a Whole Foods Market and notified two officers, who approached the vehicle. Mr. Nayeri ran and was captured after a short chase; Mr. Tieu was found hiding in the van. The two men were returned to Orange County early Sunday. Before the escape, Mr. Nayeri faced charges of kidnapping and torture in connection with the abduction of a marijuana dispensary owner in 2012. He had been held without bond since 2014. Mr. Duong is charged with attempted murder, and had been held without bond since December. Mr. Tieu is charged with murder and attempted murder, and had been held since 2013. | Prison escape;Hossein Nayeri;Jonathan Tieu;Bac Duong;Orange County CA;Kidnapping and Hostages;Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department;Nooshafarin Ravaghi |
ny0249024 | [
"business"
] | 2011/05/15 | Inwood House’s Leader, on Commitment and Teamwork | This interview with Linda Lausell Bryant , executive director of Inwood House in New York, was conducted and condensed by Adam Bryant . Inwood House focuses on teenagers’ health issues. Q. Talk about some important influences for you. A. Part of my background includes conflict resolution training. And I really feel like that has shaped me tremendously. There are understandable tendencies among people to say, “Let’s avoid conflict.” I was trained to really go for it, and find out what some disagreement is about. What’s really underlying it? What are the underlying needs and issues here? So two people will present the conflict as, “I wanted the red one; she wanted the blue.” Or whatever it is. But is it really about the red or the blue, or what’s it really about? I’ve always felt particularly adept at finding out the underlying psychodynamic issues. The training to not avoid the conflict — to kind of go for it and learn to get comfortable with it — was something that shaped me very much. Q. How else does your background influence the way you manage and lead? A. You have to respect not only people’s needs, but also their pain, their vulnerability. A lot of battles are about very personal things. I’m very attuned to the unspoken needs that people play out in the workplace. People are people in whatever setting — they bring their luggage of stuff, we all do — and the dynamics in the workplace are a function of the interaction of what we all have in our suitcases. You can’t change that. You can acknowledge it. You can give it space. You can give it air and light. In the end, it can’t rule the day, either, because in the workplace there are higher things and rules that are going to guide what we need to do here. It’s helpful to know that, and be aware of it as a boss, and it’s even better if employees are aware of it and that they feel that you’re not trying to change who they are. So I really try to allow people to bring their full selves, and I try to hire with an eye toward: “O.K., what is it that you have? What are these personal characteristics that you have in addition to all your obvious qualifications that would mesh with this organization, that are complementary to what we’re trying to get done here?” Q. How has your leadership style evolved? A. Recently, I’ve really shifted my thinking. Our culture reflected our work, which is to create a sense of family for our teens. So our staff would say: “We’re a family. We’re a family.” And I’ve actually said directly to everyone in all-staff meetings: “We’re not a family, because in a family you never can fire somebody like your Uncle Joe. You just can’t. You have to put up with him because he’s family. In an organization, if someone is taking the organization down, we can’t accept that because the organization is bigger than any one of us.” So I’ve said to them that the analogy that best suits us is, “We’re a team,” and in a team, everybody’s got a role to play. And the team wins when everybody plays their roles to their best ability. The other thing that’s different in a team is that people understand the concept of roles. So if you’re the manager, you have a job to do as a manager. No one, generally speaking, resents the fact that you have authority because they understand that it comes with the role of a manager and that teams need managers. They don’t manage themselves. But in a family, it is about power. You know, Mom or Dad has the power, and I think the dynamic that often plays out in a workplace is that people project all of their parental stuff. And I remember a job where I actually had to say to my team: “I am not your mother. I’m the division director here. I have a job to do. You have a job to do.” Q. How else has your leadership style changed? A. I feel I’ve grown up more as a manager in this job. It’s been a process, but I’ve really grown up because I went from being the charismatic leader, the leader everyone loves — “I love you, and you love me, and we’re a big, happy family” — to being more comfortable with everyone not being happy. I’d like everyone to be happy, but I can take it if they’re not. And I no longer feel like it’s my job to make sure everyone is happy. My job is to fulfill the mission of this organization, and to make sure that all the pieces are in place so that we can do that. Q. What changes did you make when you took over? A. One of the practices I initiated when I came on was an all-staff meeting. Get everyone from every level — the cook, the maintenance guy, the executive team — and bring them together to focus on organizational business. One, it’s important to show that everybody’s got a role to play here. Two, there’s the opportunity to interact so that you know you’re part of a whole. And, three, here is some direct communication from me and from your colleagues about what’s going on. Q. And how often are those meetings? A. They’re quarterly, and they end up being kind of like these pep rallies where we kind of all come together, and we’re reminded of why we do this. We bond around the challenges. We also connect around our victories — we share inspirational stories around the work and connect around the bigger picture. Q. What’s important to you in terms of the culture of your organization? A. People need to know it’s O.K. for them to be human because — and this for me is nonnegotiable — I have to know you’re bringing your full self, your full game. Everything else is negotiable. I’m very tolerant of the fact that people are different, and different things float different people’s boats. But what makes me judgmental and angry is people who might say, “It’s just a job. I’m here for a paycheck.” You cannot work here with that attitude. We won’t tolerate it. Can’t stand it. No excuse for it. I feel like that’s a violation of our corporate values. I’d rather have simple enthusiasm and passion than a genius who couldn’t care less. Q. How do you hire? A. Some people are looking to build a career. I don’t have anything against people building careers, but if that’s your primary driver, and this is a steppingstone on the way, then this won’t work. You have to be motivated by more than yourself to do this work. And I don’t apologize for that. I am looking for core values that are aligned with our organization. I’m looking for a commitment that will transcend the conditions of this work. You’re not going to have a gorgeous office, and there’ll be no Christmas bonus, and you will definitely work more than eight hours a day. I’m really looking for people who can do hard work because they’re strongly motivated to make a difference, but who can also hold a real high bar for the kids we work with. That’s really important. I know personally it makes all the difference. Q. Could you talk more about the hiring process? A. It’s really intuitive. I want to hear about their path. I always like to know where people come from. “What’s your story? Tell me the narrative of your trajectory.” You look for what propelled people in their transitions. “What were you looking for when you went from here to here?” So I like to hear the narrative, but I’m really listening for values. I’m listening for commitment. I’m listening for what they’re looking for here. “What’s this going to really do for you?” I also am very straight with them about some of the challenges here. I don’t do the rosy sell. When they start on Day 1, I want them to be well aware of the challenges they are walking into so there isn’t a moment where they say, “I had no idea that this was going to be so hard!” I’m looking for someone who is comfortable in their skin. Is this an authentic person? What do they project, and what will they project to other people on the staff? Will they fit in this organizational culture? And I think about the different levels — I might think I could work with someone comfortably, but how will all my folks on the front line respond to them? And, then, what’s their philosophy around managing people? Tell me about your management style. Tell me what makes you tick as a manager. I also want to know about their philosophy around working with young people. Q. What were some big influences earlier in your life? A. I was a trailblazer in my family. I was always the smart kid in school. I skipped from 7th to 9th and 10th to 12th, so I was out of high school a month after turning 16 and in college. I’m the first person in my family to get a college degree and a master’s, and I am on my way to my Ph.D. And with the kids we work with, that’s something that just imbues all of our work — this idea that the sky’s the limit; you can do this. You need support. You need guidance. You need to believe that it can be done, and I did believe that. I had a grandmother who would always say to me: “You’re going to be something. You’re going to be somebody.” I didn’t know exactly what that was, but I did believe that. So I think there’s a tremendous amount to be said for having someone who believes in you. And I’ve always loved school. I love learning, and that’s something I bring to my work. It’s like everything I do at work is — it’s a big inquiry. “How can we do this better? Are we doing it well? Are we really achieving what we set out to achieve?” So that curiosity, that motivation to keep going, is very much something that has shaped me. I often describe myself as a builder. I wouldn’t hire me if you had this really well-run company and you just needed somebody to keep it going. That’s not me. I would have to somehow come and rebuild it. I wouldn’t tear down what worked, of course. Inwood House was a 175-year institution when I joined it, with a tremendous legacy. It had had a tremendous leader before I came. This wasn’t a broken shop by far. So my challenge then was, “O.K., so how do we take it to that next level? How do we make it even better?” I’m a builder — that’s my thing. I would be bored to tears if I had to just keep the wheels turning. And in the social service sector, there is constant change — in policy, funding and, most importantly, in the challenges our young people face. So we have to keep ourselves attuned to what is going on in our communities and then be flexible and adaptable, while remaining faithful to our core mission. There are days where we deal with so much change that I think, ”You know, I would like one boring day at Inwood House.” I haven’t had one yet, but I wouldn’t mind just one kind of boring day. | Executives and Management;Inwood House;Bryant Linda Lausell |
ny0013448 | [
"sports",
"ncaafootball"
] | 2013/11/09 | Saturday’s College Football Games to Watch | 10 L.S.U. at 1 ALABAMA 8 p.m. Eastern, CBS If it is possible for the No. 1 team in the nation to be flying under the radar, then that is what Alabama has been doing the past few weeks. Since opening its season with victories over Virginia Tech and Texas A&M, which was No. 6 at the time, Alabama has been blowing out inferior opponents with increasing ferocity, outscoring its last six opponents by 246-26. Suddenly, the Crimson Tide are a given at No. 1, and the jockeying for No. 2 has captured the attention of the college football world. But now Alabama faces one of the biggest tests left on its schedule. Although Louisiana State has two losses, and this is not a “game of the century,” as L.S.U.’s 9-6 win in 2011 was billed, the Tigers have been one of the few teams to enjoy success against Alabama during the last several seasons. Also, early November games have been a problem for the Tide in the past couple of years. On Nov. 5, 2011, L.S.U. handed Alabama its only defeat of the season. On Nov. 10, 2012, Alabama received its only loss that year, to Texas A&M. Both times, the Tide were able to rebound and win national titles, the first time in a remach with L.S.U. As they go for their third straight national championship, however, it feels as if a loss this time might be too much for them to overcome. If the Tide have been flying under the radar, so has their quarterback, A J McCarron. Even though he is 33-2 as a starter and is trying to win his third straight national title, the knock on him is that he is a game manager who is a product of the system he plays in. But he has a long history of playing well on big stages, and this season, his offensive line (a question mark coming into it) has really come together. Expect running backs T. J. Yeldon and Kenyon Drake to make a big impact as well. For L.S.U., two 3-point losses on the road have probably eliminated them from the Southeastern Conference West race. The Tigers have offensive weapons in quarterback Zach Mettenberger and receivers Odell Beckham and Jarvis Landry, but their defense is young and has looked suspect at times. If L.S.U. is able to run the ball, that could be the difference. VIRGINIA TECH at 14 MIAMI 7 p.m. Eastern, ESPN The Hurricanes looked outclassed last week against Florida State, but they would like a rematch in the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game. They need a win against the struggling Hokies to keep that goal alive. HOUSTON at 19 C. FLORIDA 7 p.m. Eastern, ESPN2 A big game in the American Athletic Conference. (That still sounds so weird.) Central Florida knocked off Louisville, then No. 8, on Oct. 18, and a 3-point loss to South Carolina is the only blemish on the Knights’ record. NEBRASKA at MICHIGAN 3:30 p.m. Eastern, ABC Nebraska needed a last-second Hail Mary to get by Northwestern, while Michigan was handled by Michigan State. If the Cornhuskers win in Ann Arbor, next week’s game against the Spartans will be for the lead in the Legends Division of the Big Ten. 16 U.C.L.A. at ARIZONA 10 p.m. Eastern, ESPN Both teams are trying to keep pace in the Pacific-12 South behind Arizona State. | College football;Louisiana State University;University of Alabama |
ny0293369 | [
"sports",
"international"
] | 2016/06/10 | Japanese Plant Seeds of Baseball Throughout Africa | DAKAR, Senegal — Babacar Ndiaye, 12, does not know Babe Ruth from Bryce Harper. The boy’s favorite baseball player is Ryoma Ogawa, who teaches Senegalese children to catch, throw, field and hit. Baseball is called America’s pastime, but Japan has been cultivating the sport in soccer-crazed Africa for years. Ogawa, 24, is the latest in a long line of Japanese baseball missionaries. They have helped create leagues in Burkina Faso and Tanzania, and the Japanese government paid for new fields in Ghana and Uganda. African coaches and top players visit Japan for training. A few Africans have earned spots on teams in Japan’s independent leagues. Volunteers are sent around the world by the Japan International Cooperation Agency , or JICA, which runs a program similar to the Peace Corps. They say baseball, which is one of Japan’s most-loved sports, is rewarding beyond the field. Image Baseball practice in Dakar, Senegal. Volunteers and local baseball associations are often on their own because there is little government support. Credit Jane Hahn for The New York Times “Children can learn about team spirit and rules in sports, because there are rules in society,” said Megumi Chiba, a JICA volunteer coordinator in Dakar. “We can contribute also for their health. Especially in Dakar, schools don’t have sports grounds, so they don’t have a chance to practice sports at school.” Ogawa’s weeknight practices are held on a sandlot next to a military base in Dakar’s Ouakam neighborhood. Volunteers and local baseball associations are often on their own because there is little government support. There is no grass and no pitcher’s mound. Players wear jeans, sweatpants or shorts. A big tree sits in left-center field and aircraft engines hum beyond the concrete wall in deep center. The soccer game behind home plate sometimes spills over. “I’ve had to teach the basics very slowly,” said Ogawa, a former high school outfielder. “They’re very energetic, but it’s all new for them.” During one informal game, a tall boy in yellow rounded third base, pushed aside his slower teammate and scored ahead of him, an act that would be normal for taxis on Dakar’s hectic roads, but one that is against the rules in baseball. Image Labibide Francois Thiabre, 8, running for the ball on a field without grass in Dakar, Senegal. Credit Jane Hahn for The New York Times Along with smiles, there is discipline. The boys must retrieve their errant throws. Before each practice, they remove rocks and trash from the field. “If you don’t pick up, you can’t play,” said Mamadou Bassirou, 13. At times, the practices are a hot mess of linguistic and cultural misunderstandings. Ogawa speaks some French, but the players prefer Wolof, a local language. He calls out “strike one” and “strike two” in accented English, and the boys mimic him. They ask him if Japan is the same as China, and if everyone knows karate. Babacar, who has never heard of Miami Marlins outfielder Ichiro Suzuki , either, has barely mastered throwing and catching, but he patriotically discusses his potential as a future professional. “I want to go abroad,” he said through an interpreter. “I want the name of Senegal to be celebrated.” Ogawa and a volunteer in another city instruct 50 children between them. Since 1970, more than 235 baseball volunteers and 54 softball coaches have been sent abroad, according to JICA. Six baseball instructors are working in four African countries: Uganda, Zimbabwe, Ghana and Senegal. There are currently no JICA softball volunteers in Africa. Image The Ouakam neighborhood in Dakar, Senegal. Japan has been cultivating baseball in soccer-crazed Africa for years. Credit Jane Hahn for The New York Times Japanese grants of $120,000 allowed Uganda and Ghana to build ball fields, which opened in 2014. “Ghana baseball is what it is because of the help and support from Japan,” Albert Frimpong, president of the Ghana Baseball and Softball Association, said in a telephone interview. “No other country can claim to be part of that success story.” Frimpong was an outfielder on Ghana’s national team in the 1990s, when he lobbied his government to appoint Shinya Tomonari as the team’s manager. Tomonari was working for JICA in Ghana at the time. Tomonari later created the Association for Friends of African Baseball, which has raised more than $200,000 in the last 13 years to help teams pay for travel costs and equipment. More recently, Tomonari built a league from scratch in Tanzania and managed the country’s under-18 national team. He returned to Japan in 2015. “There is no culture of baseball on this continent,” Tomonari said. “Many talented players play not baseball,” but soccer. Access to equipment is a major obstacle. Donations from the United States, Japan or elsewhere sometimes sit idle in African ports because of bureaucratic problems. Security is another problem. Chiba, the Dakar coordinator, said JICA decided to not replace its departing volunteers in Burkina Faso after a terrorist attack in January at a hotel and cafe in Ouagadougou, the country’s capital, left 30 people dead. “Where there is a danger, we have to stop,” Chiba said. “Security is the No. 1 concern for us.” Tokyo will host the Summer Olympics in 2020, and Japan plans to increase its global sports initiatives as the Games approach. The International Olympic Committee will decide this summer whether to return baseball and softball, which last appeared in the 2008 Games, to the Olympic roster for 2020. Supporters say an Olympic return would result in financial support at a local level. “There’s great potential, pending a positive Olympic outcome for 2020, to really have a boost within Africa,” said Oscar Lopez, spokesman for the World Baseball Softball Confederation , which is responsible for the 2020 bid. “The growth will depend and be boosted on whether our sport is Olympic or not. That’s just the reality.” South Africa is considered to have Africa’s best baseball program — its baseball team has played in the Olympics and the World Baseball Classic, and a handful of players have played in the minor leagues — and is the site of Major League Baseball’s annual African Elite camp. Among other countries, Uganda is widely considered the next baseball hot spot on the continent. A Ugandan team in 2012 became the first from Africa to compete in the Little League World Series, and Richard Stanley, a part-owner of the Class AA Trenton Thunder, built an academy there focusing on baseball and softball. Tomonari said he had been trying to persuade Japan’s top league, Nippon Professional Baseball, to help in Africa. He said elite programs were fine but would not expand the game. “The population of baseball players is quite small in Africa,” he said. “We have to try to introduce baseball from a low level.” | Baseball;Japan;Africa;Japan International Cooperation Agency;2020 Summer Olympics;Association for Friends of African Baseball;World Baseball Classic;Ryoma Ogawa;Shinya Tomonari |
ny0054742 | [
"nyregion"
] | 2014/07/23 | Cash, but Not Remedial Tools, in Wrongful-Death Settlements | On a Saturday evening in July five years ago, Shem Walker tried to roust a bummy-looking guy from the stoop of his mother’s brownstone on Lafayette Avenue in Brooklyn. One thing led to another; a second man came to help the bum. Mr. Walker, 49, was shot dead. Last week, the city agreed to pay Mr. Walker’s widow $2.25 million to settle a wrongful-death claim. The other men on the stoop, it turned out, were undercover police officers working on a case that had nothing to do with Mr. Walker or his mother’s home. The years spun past; one mayor has come and gone; the Walker death and lawsuit flared into view in 2009 and all but disappeared until the settlement was reported last week by John Marzulli in The Daily News. Just as it does whenever an administration changes , the city is paying off multimillion-dollar lawsuits left over from the last mayoralty. And once again, those settlements show no sign of being used as teaching moments, maps of past error that might show us how to do things better, so that the wrong people don’t get locked up or that innocent people don’t get shot. The government of Mayor Bill de Blasio is settling lawsuits that the administration of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg fought like bobcats. The Central Park Five , $40.7 million. A man who died in a jail on Rikers Island of blunt force trauma to the head, $2.75 million . The widow of Shem Walker, $2.25 million. Mea culpas come easy when you’re beating your breast for someone else’s sins. The city’s Law Department has a duty to protect the public purse and defend the work of public officials. But fulfilling that duty too often means legal brawls with no end in sight until a new mayor comes along to say: Enough. Surely, there are better ways to run a city legal department than to wait for an election to put an end to prolonged fights. The public interest goes beyond winning every case and extends to an honest examination of how things go wrong. That interest was rarely in sight during the Bloomberg administration and, so far, has been missing from the mayoralty of Bill de Blasio. It is the definition of cheap grace to write checks with other people’s money for other people’s mistakes, and to skip down the road without a glance back. The Law Department could be an engine for reform. How, for instance, does the mayor propose to stem the false confessions that were the foundation of the Central Park jogger case? Or take the matter of Mr. Walker. Despite the settlement, his family says it remains in the dark about the most basic facts of what happened, including the identity of the officer who shot him. “What actually happened July 11, 2009?” asked Robert Collins, Mr. Walker’s stepson. “The whole purpose of this was justice, and trying to find out what happened that night.” The family knows virtually nothing more than it did five years ago, he said. Plainly, the undercover officer did not want to disclose his identity when Mr. Walker tried to shoo him. A struggle, a gunshot, and an unarmed 49-year-old man fell dead. Perhaps the problem grew not from what happened on the stoop, but from what did not happen long before all the parties got there: possibly, shortcomings in the way undercover officers are trained to get out of sticky situations. Or perhaps it was a failure to have enough plainclothes backups around. Officers often have good reason not to be recognized as police, but disguise can be dangerous. The city paid $7 million in 2010 to settle lawsuits brought by the family of Sean Bell and two of his friends when a plainclothes police officer mistakenly believed they had a gun. It appears that Mr. Bell, who was leaving his own bachelor party, did not recognize the man with the gun at his car window as an officer, and when he tried to drive off, was shot dead. Sandra Walker, the widow of Mr. Walker, agreed to the city’s offer, Mr. Collins said, because she was urged to do so by the lawyers representing her: “They said, ‘This is what they’re offering. You’re better off taking it or risk getting nothing or a lower amount.’ ” In “Young Men and Fire,” the author Norman Maclean recounts how 13 firefighters died in a wilderness fire. His description of a duty to understand catastrophes applies no less to New York in 2014 than it did to Montana in 1949: “Although young men died like squirrels in Mann Gulch, the Mann Gulch fire should not end there, smoke drifting away and leaving terror without consolation of explanation, and controversy without lasting settlement.” | NYC;Lawsuits;Bill de Blasio;Mike Bloomberg;Central Park Jogger Case;Police Brutality,Police Misconduct,Police Shootings;False arrest;NYPD;Shem Walker |
ny0277077 | [
"sports",
"hockey"
] | 2016/11/04 | Oilers Equal Rangers’ Speed but Can’t Match Their Stamina | Cam Talbot, the Edmonton Oilers’ goaltender, stayed down on one knee for a while, stunned after Rick Nash had scored what proved to be the winning goal for the Rangers with 1 minute 21 seconds left in the third period on Thursday night. Talbot, a former Ranger, was demonstrating what most opponents have been feeling this season against the Rangers, who won for the eighth time in 11 games and improved to 7-1-0 at Madison Square Garden with a 5-3 victory over the Oilers. The game had been eagerly anticipated, despite the teams’ divergent recent histories. While the Rangers have been consistent contenders for most of the past decade, the Oilers have not reached the playoffs since 2006, when they advanced to the Stanley Cup finals. But quick starts by the two speedy, youth-infused squads — the Rangers entered leading the N.H.L. in goals, and the Oilers are paced by their wunderkind Connor McDavid — generated the sense of an early-season showdown. After the teams entered the third period tied at 2-2, the former Devils defenseman Adam Larsson put the Oilers ahead at 8 minutes 49 seconds before Jesper Fast tied the score for the Rangers 42 seconds later. Nash struck at 18:39, tucking the puck under Talbot to give the Rangers the lead with his sixth goal of the season. J. T. Miller added an empty-net score, and the Rangers skated off with another victory on home ice. “We stick with it,” said Nash, a renewed force this season as part of a balanced Rangers scoring attack. “We know we are a good team. I’m getting inside and taking pucks to the net.” The Rangers entered the game having won six of their last eight and having dominated conference finalists in their last two home games — a 6-1 thrashing of Tampa Bay on Sunday followed by a 5-0 rout of St. Louis on Tuesday. But for most of Thursday night, the Rangers could have been forgiven for believing they were seeing their mirror images wearing the white, blue and orange of the Oilers, who rely on speed and pace from every line. “It was a great test for us,” said Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist, who had 21 saves for his sixth win of the season. “They came out really hard. They showed their speed, but they didn’t surprise us at all.” With the career leading scorer, and former Oiler, Wayne Gretzky in attendance, the 19-year-old McDavid faced the Rangers for the first time since he was injured last season and ended up missing 37 games. McDavid assisted on Ryan Nugent-Hopkins’s power-play goal at 6:36 of the first that gave the Oilers an early 1-0 lead. McDavid, the Oilers’ captain and one of the league’s scoring leaders, was matter-of-fact before the game as he considered his first appearance at the Garden. “For sure, it’s special,” he said. “Everyone talks about M.S.G., the meaning it has in the sports world.” McDavid, the top overall pick in the 2015 draft, and his youthful teammates came at Lundqvist strongly in the first and kept the pressure on throughout the game. Lundqvist made a point-blank save on Anton Lander 1:35 into the game. He denied the 18-year-old Jesse Puljujarvi — the fourth overall pick in the June draft — and stopped Jordan Eberle on two occasions. In the other crease was Talbot, who helped the Rangers reach the Stanley Cup finals in 2014 and won 21 games two seasons ago, when Lundqvist missed significant time with a vascular neck injury. It was Talbot’s first game at the Garden since he was traded to Edmonton in June 2015. “I want it to be just another game,” Talbot said after the morning skate. “It’s no different tonight. I just know a few more guys across the hall.” Talbot finished with 26 saves as he and the Oilers fell to 7-3-1. Edmonton won seven of eight to start the season. “We made enough mistakes for them to capitalize,” Oilers Coach Todd McLellan said. Kevin Hayes, a prime beneficiary of better conditioning and sure-handed linemates this season, banged in his fourth goal of the season to tie the score for the Rangers at 8:34 of the first. The teams ended the first period even in shots, with 10 each. The Oilers continued their swift attacks in the second, and Lundqvist made an acrobatic glove stop on the 6-foot-4 Puljujarvi. The athletic Puljujarvi blocked a shot in the Rangers’ zone later in the second and set up his linemate Patrick Maroon to put the Oilers ahead at 10:28. Michael Grabner, another forward known for his speed, continued his dynamic scoring production, notching his sixth goal of the season at 15:46 when he deposited the puck past Talbot with assists from Hayes and Miller. Grabner, a former Islander, was signed by the Rangers after playing last season with Toronto. “Speed is so important to create space and create plays,” said Grabner, whose line with Hayes and Miller combined for seven points against the Oilers. Rangers Coach Alain Vigneault praised his team’s “character win” against an Oilers squad that had taken the lead three separate times. He was especially pleased with the play of Nash, now tied for the team lead in goals with six with Grabner and the rookie Jimmy Vesey. “He was one of our strongest two-way players,” Vigneault said of Nash, a 32-year-old power forward whose game-winner was the 399th goal of his career. “If you want to score in this league, you have to go to the tough areas.” | Ice hockey;Edmonton Oilers;Rangers;Connor McDavid;Rick Nash;Henrik Lundqvist |
ny0191360 | [
"sports",
"baseball"
] | 2009/02/04 | Fans Line Up for Book, and Torre Does Some Explaining | While the line of fans looped around the Art and Design aisle of a Midtown Manhattan bookstore Tuesday afternoon, Joe Torre stood amid a throng of reporters and defended his frank and sometimes critical new book, “The Yankee Years.” Insisting that he never violated any trust the Yankees placed in him, Torre said he was not concerned about any of the fallout the book had generated. Published excerpts from the book have generated their fair share of headlines over the past 10 days, particularly when it came to Torre’s take on his unhappy departure from the club at the end of the 2007 season and on the performance and personality of Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez. Those were the issues that kept resurfacing through the rest of Torre’s daylong blitz to publicize his book. After he finished his book signing at Barnes & Noble, Torre was a guest on National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered” and had a 45-minute interview on WFAN. By the time he reached his evening appearance at the Yogi Berra Museum in Little Falls, N.J., Torre was well rehearsed in what he wanted to say. Yes, he stands by everything in the book, which he began working on nearly two years ago. No, it was never meant to be a tell-all exposé. Yes, he would have written it even if the Yankees had given him the contract he wanted to continue as the manager. And, Torre maintained over and over, there are no hard feelings, even if some people think there are. “There’s no question bitter things happened,” he said during the bookstore appearance. “But when I left, it was more a sense of relief, trust me.” One of the most controversial sections of the book, written in the third person with Tom Verducci of Sports Illustrated, implies that General Manager Brian Cashman let Torre down during his final negotiations with the Yankees’ hierarchy after the 2007 season, never fighting to get him the two-year contract he sought. But even as a member of the publisher’s staff tried to end his session with reporters, Torre jumped in with, “The Brian thing, let me answer that.” “Brian was supportive of me, and I think that was written in the book,” Torre went on to say. “We disagreed on a number of instances, on a number of different things. But you know, Brian, we got along. You work for someone, you work with someone, it doesn’t mean you’re always going to be on the same page. The last few years I thought it changed somewhat, but over all, I thought Brian and I got along.” Torre said it was common knowledge among Yankees players that he was working on the book. In it, he describes what he perceives to be Rodriguez’s overall insecurity and laments a clubhouse thrown off balance by all the attention directed at Rodriguez. The book, without quoting Torre, also says that Yankees players and coaches referred to Rodriguez as A-Fraud without his knowledge. But on Tuesday, Torre was quick to play down the A-Fraud issue. “A lot of that stuff that went on in the clubhouse was more tongue-in-cheek, fun-type stuff,” he said. “I know Larry Bowa, when maybe Alex had a bad day defensively, would take him out and say: ‘Come on, let’s see who we see today. Is it A-Rod or A-Fraud? Let’s go.’ It was in front of him. You never did any of that stuff behind his back.” Still, Torre noted that Rodriguez’s struggles to adapt to the demands of playing in New York were never much of a secret. “Especially coming in on the heels of all the success we’ve had,” Torre said, “that put a lot more pressure on him, and he certainly tried to be more than he could be at times.” If Torre’s book has created some difficulties for his Yankees legacy, his trip to the Berra museum on Tuesday night sent a different message. There was Torre in a shrine to pinstripe pride alongside the club’s ranking legend, Berra, who is a longtime friend of Torre’s. The museum had sold 600 books to be signed and was expecting the largest crowd in museum history, according to the museum director, Dave Kaplan. Earlier in the day, the Barnes & Noble store on Fifth Avenue closed the book-signing area at 10:30 a.m., two hours before the signing was scheduled to begin. Outside the store, still more people lined up around the block as snow fell. Their reaction to Torre’s comments in the book was mixed. Some, like Michael Williams, 29, simply saw the book as a “nice memento of his 12 years as manager of the Yankees,” a run that included four World Series championships. But others, like Bill Caffran, a retired New York City police officer who was wearing a Yankees hat, sweater and jacket, were taken aback. “I don’t think he really said anything that a real Yankee fan didn’t know already,” Caffran said of Torre. “But I was still surprised that he wrote a book hanging out some of that dirty laundry. I always thought he was good about keeping those kinds of things in-house.” Disappointed with Torre or not, Caffran and hundreds of others were more than willing to part with $26.95 for Torre’s side of the story. A little bit of controversy always sells. | Torre Joe;Books and Literature;New York Yankees;Baseball;Yankee Years The (Book) |
ny0293070 | [
"nyregion"
] | 2016/06/28 | Odd Question From a Man of God | Dear Diary: I saw him walking toward me along the east side of the Union Square Farmers Market on the first 90-degree Saturday of the spring season. He had a Bible or some such black religious book in his prayerfully positioned hands. Keep up the wall, I said to myself, facing forward, resolutely staring into the fine afternoon at some distant point ahead so I could avoid any sort of interaction with the Bible-stomping missionary heading my way. Of course, what you resist persists, and he had my number. A fallen-away Catholic of mixed Jewish heritage, which I most likely projected with my jeans, gold jewelry and curly hair, an open-minded softy for sure. But instead of asking if I believed in Jehovah, Jesus, Allah or Yaweh, he asked the type of question that I, as a New Yorker, willingly stop to answer. He asked for directions. “Do you know where I can find … ” I paused imperceptibly to hear the whole question. Was he looking for a Starbucks? There was one across the street. The Farmers Market? It’s just a few yards to his right. The subway? Keep walking; it’s straight ahead. But no, he finished his question with, “ … an organic smile?” And so I gave him what he sought. I smiled, organically, and I imagine that he smiled back, perhaps divinely, though I didn’t stop to see his response. | Bible;Missionary;Union Square Manhattan |
ny0115367 | [
"nyregion"
] | 2012/11/12 | Storm Brings Extra Day of Shopping to a New Jersey Town | PARAMUS, N.J. — Well before the Nordstrom at the Garden State Plaza, New Jersey’s largest mall, opened at 11 a.m. Sunday, a line of shoppers had already formed outside, eager to browse the department store’s half-yearly sale. Were it not for Hurricane Sandy , they could not have been there. Since large malls began clustering in Paramus in the 1950s, so-called blue laws have kept most stores closed every Sunday. But at the request of the Bergen County executive, Gov. Chris Christie suspended the restrictions to give residents reeling from the storm an extra day to replace possessions and assemble basic supplies, turning Sunday into what many Paramus residents fear the town would look like if blue laws were scrapped for good. The Sunday bans have already survived several attempts at repeal. For those who say the bans are the only way to preserve some peace and quiet around town, the statutes are sacrosanct. “It’s a wolf in sheep’s clothing — it’s an attack on our sacred blue laws,” Mayor Richard LaBarbiera said. “It’s business as usual now, and I defy anybody to tell me that more than a fraction of people coming and taking advantage of this are buying items they lost as a result of the storm.” Mr. LaBarbiera first announced that the borough would selectively enforce the statute on Sunday to make sure that only essentials — and not “$800 shoes,” as he put it — were sold. He was forced to back down after Kathleen A. Donovan, the county executive, won a court ruling ordering Paramus to suspend all blue laws. (The statute was also suspended the previous Sunday, but with the requirement that shops sell essentials.) Jeanne Baratta, Ms. Donovan’s chief of staff, said Ms. Donovan had no intention of mounting an attack on the blue laws and would ask Mr. Christie to lift the suspension starting next Sunday. She said selective enforcement would have confused shoppers and hampered recovery efforts as retailers and shoppers tried to rebound from the storm. “I would remind the mayor that it’s one day, and we hope that he and the residents of Paramus would have compassion for what these people have suffered through and what they’ve lost,” Ms. Baratta said. “Who are we to tell them what they should be buying, what they shouldn’t be buying and what they need to replace?” But few shoppers on Sunday seemed to view the opening of the malls as anything but an opportunity to browse the holiday sales, start their Christmas shopping or run errands that they might have done anyway. Rhonda Chaudhary, 40, had taken advantage of Garden State Plaza’s being open to do some early Christmas shopping with her daughter. With relatives in California, she explained, they had to mail their presents in the first week of December. And they had already lost a week of shopping because of the storm. Not that their shopping was restricted to Sunday: They had also spent nearly 11 hours shopping the day before. “Shopping is essential! How can he say shopping isn’t essential?” Ms. Chaudhary, of Fairview, N.J., said of Mr. LaBarbiera. “It’s ridiculous how far we have to go on Sundays to shop.” Several of the mall’s stores had elected to stay closed, including Apple, Club Monaco, Kay Jewelers, Brookstone and J. C. Penney. But many did open. “Today’s like a second Friday, not as good as a Saturday but better than a Monday and Tuesday combined,” said Sergio Cuellar, 22, the proprietor of a stand selling remotely controlled toy helicopters. “I need a day off, too. But you got to do what you have to do.” Residents who staunchly support the blue laws presumably stayed away from the malls on Sunday. But there were those who, despite their stubborn opposition to shopping on Sundays, could be found running an errand, or three — and found it not so bad after all. One of them, Christopher Clarke, 66, was at Home Depot buying wallboard for repairs to his home, which had been damaged after his washing machine broke. He said he opposed lifting the blue laws. “Well, if it’s an emergency,” he conceded, “that’s O.K. for maybe one week. But I don’t want it to continue.” Robert Fullem, 50, of Ridgewood, N.J., had picked up gas cans and batteries at Home Depot as he passed through Paramus. He said he had grown up in Bergen County and had always respected the blue laws, adding that he was “a bit shocked and disappointed” to hear of their suspension. “We need to go to church and play football on Sunday,” he said, over protests from his children, who liked the idea of buying toys and candy on future Sundays. But Mr. Fullem said that he had seen Home Depot’s “Open Sunday” sign on the road and, well, he needed the supplies. “It was just convenient and on the way,” he said with a shrug. | Shopping and Retail;Hurricane Sandy (2012);Bergen County (NJ);New Jersey |
ny0217302 | [
"world",
"americas"
] | 2010/04/13 | Leg Lost, Dancer Is Caught Between Caregivers | PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Fabienne Jean, a professional dancer who lost her right leg in the earthquake, hopped on her slim left leg through the dusty General Hospital compound on her way to a very important X-ray . Once at the radiography clinic, Ms. Jean, 31, wearing a form-fitting black minidress with a chunky lapis-blue necklace, draped herself on the examining table like a fashion model. Then the technician entered and positioned her stump for X-rays bound for New York, where, if things worked out, Ms. Jean would be heading, too. “Maybe my luck is changing for the better?” she said that day, more than two months after she had survived a raging deadly infection by reluctantly agreeing to an amputation. But then began a tug of war between two health care providers over who would get to rehabilitate Ms. Jean. Would it be the big New York hospital whose director of critical care helped save her life five days after the quake? Would it be the small New England prosthetics company whose foundation has been working since to get her up and about? Or would the two organizations find a way to collaborate? Among Haiti ’s thousands of new amputees, Ms. Jean, who was featured in an article in The New York Times in February, has been singled out for special opportunities because of serendipity, news media attention and her potential as a symbol of Haiti’s resilience: if the dancer who almost died rises to dance again, that will resonate, her caregivers believe. But Ms. Jean’s situation also highlights the way in which many Haitians, like their country, are now dependent on international charity. As Ms. Jean sees it, this is largely a blessing — “Thank God for the foreigners,” she said — but it can also be complicated and uncomfortable. The New York hospital, Mount Sinai Medical Center , wants to follow through on its Haiti relief team’s involvement with Ms. Jean by offering her corrective surgery and rehabilitation. The hospital is petitioning the Obama administration to grant Ms. Jean humanitarian parole to enter the United States. It has also found doctors and lawyers to volunteer their services and a Haitian-American nurse to provide Ms. Jean a home in Brooklyn during her treatment. The New England Brace Company Foundation, on the other hand, believes that Ms. Jean can and should be treated in Haiti, where she will live. With its prosthetists preparing to fly to Port-au-Prince to fit her with a temporary new leg this week, the New Hampshire-based group does not want to lose her as a patient, for personal and professional reasons. The foundation wants Ms. Jean’s help in fund-raising, and has considered making her its spokeswoman. For Ms. Jean, a dancer with Haiti’s National Theater, tragedy has turned into opportunity in a way that dizzies her. During the Jan. 12 earthquake, a stone wall collapsed on her leg. For days afterward, she lay waiting for help in a sea of broken bodies on the grounds of the General Hospital, where Dr. Ernest Benjamin, Mount Sinai’s director of critical care, arrived with a medical team. Ms. Jean begged Dr. Benjamin, who is Haitian-born, to save her leg, arguing that it was crucial to her livelihood. But it was too late. “It was not an easy decision to amputate, but she was critically ill and further delay would have cost her life,” Dr. Benjamin, an intensive care specialist, said. “Indeed, despite the amputation we feared that we were going to lose her. She was the first patient to have a seizure after surgery. It was heart-wrenching and we promised ourselves that we would do everything to help her if she survived.” Not long after her amputation, though, the General Hospital transferred Ms. Jean to a clinic on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince. That is when Dr. Benjamin lost track of her — and when Dennis Acton of the New Hampshire group found her in a place he described as a kind of “squalid homeless shelter for amputees.” Moved, Mr. Acton pledged to help Ms. Jean walk — and dance — again. “Fabienne has a great attitude,” he said. “I figured she would be a strong patient who could get back on her feet quickly and be a positive role model to other amputees.” With a team of New England prosthetists now committed to treating about 50 amputees in Haiti, the Nebco Foundation is a newly incorporated group that solicits donations on its Web site, saying: “No funding is trickling down from the large organizations who have raised over a billion dollars; we need your help to continue!” The article in The Times on Ms. Jean moved scores of readers to offer help. At the same time, Dr. Benjamin, finding Ms. Jean again through the newspaper article, proposed that Mount Sinai bring her to the United States to continue her treatment, and began preparing a humanitarian parole application. (The Department of Homeland Security has granted parole for medical reasons to scores of Haitians since the earthquake, Matthew Chandler, a department spokesman, said.) Learning of Mount Sinai’s initiative, Mr. Acton was initially upset because he had just been counseled by disability experts in Port-au-Prince that their guidelines advocate that Haitians be treated in Haiti. Indeed, Handicap International, a leading group here, does not approve of sending Haitians abroad for rehabilitation, even though “there is little or no rehabilitation system in Haiti,” Lea Radick, a spokeswoman for the group, said. Haitian amputees need low-tech prostheses that can be repaired or replaced in Haiti, she said, adding, “The work before us involves building local capacity so that injured Haitians will have access to critical services for the rest of their lives.” Doctors at Mount Sinai say that Ms. Jean needs additional surgery before rehabilitation. Her stump ends in a thick, scabby scar that is likely to open with friction from a prosthetic limb, leaving her vulnerable to further infections, according to her application to enter the United States. While Ms. Jean could potentially get such surgery in Haiti, resources are stretched thin, and Mount Sinai is offering her “world-class” medical treatment and rehabilitation, Dr. Benjamin said. Mr. Acton, after considering this, hesitantly agreed that going to New York might be in Ms. Jean’s best interest. He wrote an e-mail message in late March that he had initially been “defensive (and maybe a little jealous?)” but that “Fabienne will never get the care she needs in Haiti.” For a brief period, Mr. Acton and Mount Sinai appeared to be working in tandem. He offered to sign an affidavit of support for Ms. Jean to accompany her humanitarian parole application. But later, he conditioned that offer on his group’s remaining her prosthetic provider, and he said his board of directors was concerned that Mount Sinai was trying to steal a high-profile patient. The cooperation broke down. After a frustrating week in Haiti, Dr. Benjamin said that he believed the New England group was impeding his efforts to obtain documents needed for Ms. Jean’s parole application. The group, he said, while most likely “doing some wonderful stuff,” had made an investment in Ms. Jean that it did not want to lose. “Her ability to dance again will help them cash in,” he wrote to his colleagues in New York, proposing that they “throw in the towel” on their plan to bring Ms. Jean to Mount Sinai. Mr. Acton said he would make sure that Ms. Jean got the care she needed. And he added that he resented the implication that his group was exploiting Ms. Jean, whom he said he considered a friend and “an equal partner” with “the power to decide how she wants to work with us in her future career, if at all.” He added: “I am learning the hard way that the disaster zone is more than just destruction and injured people; it is a complex mix of politics, egos and power plays as well.” In the end, Mount Sinai decided to keep pursuing permission for Ms. Jean to enter the United States. Separately, Mr. Acton prepared to travel to Haiti with her new limb. And, in the middle, Ms. Jean, appreciative though stressed, does not want to take sides. But she does want to go to New York for treatment if possible. She said in Creole: “I want to! I want to! I want to!” | Haiti;Amputation;Jean Fabienne;Humanitarian Aid;Earthquakes;Philanthropy;Mount Sinai Medical Center;New England Brace Company Foundation |
ny0079041 | [
"business",
"economy"
] | 2015/02/18 | Homebuilder Sentiment Slips, but Still Points to Optimism for Spring Sales | WASHINGTON — United States homebuilders say sales prospects and buyer traffic fell slightly this month. The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo builder sentiment index released Tuesday slipped to 55 in February from 57 in January. Despite the decline, the index shows optimism a month before the start of the spring buying season. Readings above 50 indicate that more builders view sales conditions as positive rather than poor. Lower mortgage rates, coupled with job gains over the past year, point to stronger sales. But while home sales are projected to rise this year, economists doubt they will return to a more typical pace as builders still seem chastened by the 2007 housing crash that helped bring about the worst recession in 80 years. When builder sentiment was at similar levels in 2006, housing starts were 60 percent higher, said Joshua Shapiro, chief economist at Maria Fiorini Ramirez, a forecasting firm. “There remains a big disconnect between what homebuilders are saying and what they are actually doing,” Mr. Shapiro said. Builders’ outlook for current sales conditions and prospective buyer traffic slipped in February, while the expected sales conditions over the next six months held steady. The latest reading is consistent with the forecast for the United States housing market to steadily improve this year. Buyer traffic may have stalled in February because of storms, the group said. After sluggish real estate sales for much of 2014, Americans snapped up newly built homes at a faster pace in December, a promising sign as warmer months tend to draw out buyers and sales begin to peak heading into summer. Sales of new homes surged 11.6 percent in December to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 481,000. Only 435,000 new homes were bought last year, a modest 1.2 percent improvement from 2013. That is well below a pace of roughly 700,000 new homes selling in the 1990s. A separate report showed that manufacturing activity in New York State expanded at a modest pace in February, held back by weaker orders and hiring. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York said on Tuesday that its Empire State manufacturing index slipped to 7.8 this month from 10 in January. Any reading above zero indicates expansion. Orders fell to 1.2, suggesting that demand was nearly unchanged. | US Economy;Real Estate; Housing |
ny0225357 | [
"sports"
] | 2010/10/11 | Freire Wins Paris-Tours Race | The three-time world champion Óscar Freire of Spain won the Paris-Tours classic in a bunched sprint finish. He made his move at the end of the 144.5 miles from La Loupe to Tours, overtaking Angelo Furlan of Italy at the line. | Freire Oscar;Bicycles and Bicycling |
ny0066974 | [
"sports",
"baseball"
] | 2014/06/25 | Kershaw Extends His Shutout Run | Clayton Kershaw followed his first career no-hitter with eight outstanding innings, Adrian Gonzalez and Andre Ethier each drove in a run and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the host Kansas City Royals, 2-0, on Tuesday night. Kershaw (8-2) allowed six hits and a walk while striking out eight. He has not allowed a run in 211/3 innings, spanning his near-perfect game against Colorado on Wednesday — the only runner occurred on an error — and his previous start against Arizona. Kenley Jansen pitched a perfect ninth for his 23rd save. PIRATES 6, RAYS 5 Andrew McCutchen drove in two runs, Jeff Locke pitched into the eighth inning, and visiting Pittsburgh defeated Tampa Bay. Image Jake Arrieta started for the Cubs against the Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday. Credit Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images The Pirates have the National League’s best record (27-18) since May 6, and moved above .500 (39-38) for the first time since starting the season 7-6. BRAVES 3, ASTROS 2 B. J. and Justin Upton both homered to lead visiting Atlanta over the Houston. It was the fourth time the two Uptons, who are brothers, have homered in the same game as teammates, tying a major league record. PHILLIES 7, MARLINS 4 Marlon Byrd hit a two-run homer, David Buchanan threw five effective innings and host Philadelphia beat Miami. Buchanan (4-3) allowed two runs and six hits to help the Phillies snap a three-game losing streak. WHITE SOX 4, ORIOLES 2 Jose Quintana allowed one run in seven innings, Gordon Beckham homered and visiting Chicago beat Baltimore to end a five-game losing streak. Alexei Ramirez had two hits and scored twice for the last-place White Sox, who had eight straight on the road. | Baseball;Orioles;MLB;Manny Machado;Grady Sizemore |
ny0172531 | [
"business"
] | 2007/11/01 | Profit at MasterCard Jumps 63% | Third-quarter profit for MasterCard, the credit card processor, soared past Wall Street’s expectations, jumping 63 percent in a powerful reminder that many people around the world were still making money and finding ways to spend it. The results — helped by sharp increases in spending overseas and moderate growth in the United States — drove MasterCard shares up yesterday to an all-time high. The company, based in Purchase, N.Y., said profit in the July-to-September period was $314 million, or $2.31 a share, up from $193 million, or $1.42 a share, a year ago. Excluding after-tax gains from the partial sale of its investment in Redecard, a Brazilian company, profit was $1.80 a share. Revenue rose 20 percent to a record $1.08 billion, from $902 million last year. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial predicted earnings of $1.42 a share on revenue of $1.03 billion. MasterCard shares jumped $32.76, or almost 21 percent, to $189.91, an all-time high. | Credit and Money Cards;Mastercard International Inc;Company Reports |
ny0172461 | [
"world",
"europe"
] | 2007/11/08 | Serb Nationalist’s Trial Begins in The Hague | THE HAGUE, Nov. 7 — The man considered the main propagandist of the Serbian nationalism that led to four disastrous wars went on trial on Wednesday at the war crimes tribunal in The Hague. He is accused of inflammatory speech and of numerous crimes committed by his own militia. Uniquely, the defendant, Vojislav Seselj , did not sit in the dock. He had a seat at the bench reserved for defense lawyers, a privilege that he demanded because he is conducting his own defense. Mr. Seselj, 53, the most senior political leader now on trial here, laughed out loud several times as a prosecutor read a four-hour opening statement. Calling him a “master politician” and an “autocrat, a shrewd and calculating man,” the prosecutor, Christine Dahl, said that Mr. Seselj had engaged in poisonous propaganda that incited fear and hatred and that his fiery speeches in many towns and at the front lines spurred Serbs to kill, torture and rape in their effort to drive away Croats and Muslims. “The language Seselj used made his speech criminal,” Ms. Dahl said. The prosecutors will have to demonstrate that Mr. Seselj was accountable for the acts of looting, killing, rape and persecution of Croats and Muslims that they attribute to his militia in the wars that tore up the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s. At a pretrial hearing this week, Mr. Seselj said: “I am being tried for atrocious war crimes that I allegedly committed through hate speech as I preached my nationalist ideology that I am proud of. I have no other involvement in these crimes except for what I said or wrote.” The trial of Mr. Seselj, a onetime sociology professor who has fenced with the court for many months over his rights, often in foul language, is certain to create another formidable headache for the United Nations tribunal. The court has had to deal with a variety of disruptive defendants but none as forceful as Mr. Seselj. Slobodan Milosevic, the former Serbian leader, who died in 2006 before the end of his long trial, was low key by comparison. Mr. Seselj has announced that he will present a political defense, which is likely to be grist for the mill of the party he leads, the nationalist Serbian Radical Party. It is Serbia’s largest opposition party, holding one-third of the seats in Parliament. Party officials have pressed several Serbian television stations to broadcast the entire trial, which the judges said might run until 2009. Some experts watching the session from the public gallery said they saw the Seselj trial as the most important case since Mr. Milosevic died. While the two men were variously rivals and allies, they were linked in the same project of using a violent campaign to drive away anyone not a Serb from parts of Bosnia and Croatia and thus create a larger homeland only for Serbs. Mr. Milosevic never openly espoused Mr. Seselj’s fanatic style and once called him the “personification of violence and primitiveness.” But Mr. Milosevic made ample use of the support Mr. Seselj generated and of the militia he mobilized and led. “This is like a continuation of the Milosevic trial,” said Sonja Biserko, chairwoman of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia. “Seselj helped create the conditions for the war.” “He provided the framework and spread the ideology,” Ms. Biserko said. “The trial will probably show how the propaganda war worked, show what role the media played and how the militia worked with the army and police.” A panel of three judges, from France, Italy and Denmark, is trying Mr. Seselj on charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes, many of them attributed to his armed bands of unruly and feared volunteers known as Seselj’s Men. Mr. Seselj once said that his group, also known as Chetniks, comprised about 10,000 men. He collected money from Serbs abroad and said weapons were provided by Mr. Milosevic. A prolific author, Mr. Seselj has continued to write books in his cell in The Hague, where he has been since he surrendered to the tribunal in 2003. Although the trial opened a year ago, it was stopped when he went on a 28-day hunger strike to push various demands, several of which were met. All earlier proceedings were then annulled. On Thursday, Mr. Seselj will have four hours to make his own opening statement. Europeans Back Serbia Deal LJUBLJANA, Slovenia, Nov. 7 — With the deadline for negotiations over the disputed province of Kosovo just a month away, the European Union gave pro-Western forces in Serbia some help on Wednesday, initialing a deal with Serbia that could lead to its membership in the union. The deal, which must now be agreed upon by the European Union’s 27 member states, stipulates that Serbia must first arrest and turn over four war crimes suspects indicted in The Hague. But a leading human rights group quickly accused the European Union of giving in after it had for years demanded that Serbia turn over the suspects before any deals could be made. The four suspects still at large include the wartime commander of the Bosnian Serbs, Gen. Ratko Mladic, and the political leader of the Serbs, Radovan Karadzic. The initialing of the deal could strengthen the hand of pro-Western politicians and groups that urge close ties with Europe as they struggle against Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica. Mr. Kostunica accuses the West of planning to break up Serbia by backing United Nations plans to grant Kosovo independence. The United Nations has set a Dec. 10 deadline for the completion of talks between Serbia and Kosovo’s ethnic Albanian majority, after which Kosovo is expected to declare independence. | Seselj Vojislav;Hague (Netherlands);War Crimes Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity |
ny0040936 | [
"business",
"media"
] | 2014/04/14 | Mizuno Campaign Asks What Makes Sammy — and Everybody Else — Run | A running shoe firm is seeking to attract new customers and encourage current ones with a campaign that promotes the positive changes that could occur if only more people were to put one foot in front of the other. The campaign, now underway, is for the Mizuno line of running shoes sold by the Mizuno USA division of the Mizuno Corporation, the Japanese maker of sporting goods and sportswear. The campaign, by the McKinney advertising agency in Durham, N.C., delivers its theme in the form of a question, as if it were part of a game of “Jeopardy”: “What if everybody ran?” The campaign, with a budget estimated at $2 million, includes the brand’s first-ever television commercial, video clips, print advertisements and digital ads. There is also a presence in social media like Facebook , Twitter and YouTube with the hashtag #IfEverybodyRan. The centerpiece of the campaign is a web address, www.ifeverybodyran.com , which redirects to a section of the Mizuno USA website devoted to running . A 100-second video that can be watched there provides a manifesto for the campaign. “Everyone has their own thoughts on what running can do,” an announcer begins. “Here’s ours.” As vignettes appear on screen of men and women of various ages, races and shapes running in various conditions and locations, the announcer continues: “We believe running can transform you. It can transform your mood, your thoughts, your psyche. It can transform your pants size, the numbers on the scale and the feeling you get when you hear the words ‘bathing suit.'” The announcer goes on to describe how running can “transform how you treat others and how others treat you,” then concludes: “And if running is powerful enough to transform anyone, we believe running is powerful enough to transform everyone. Join us.” As ethereal as that may be, the campaign also tries to discuss the benefits of running in a more down-to-earth way. Mizuno Running commissioned a research project with the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina to come up with answers to the question “What if everybody ran?” using statistics like census data to model the effects on a large scale. The results are shared on the website section and in videos and include “up to 48,081,000 fewer cigarettes smoked daily,” “20 million more great-grandmothers,” “135 million more victory beers,” “7 billion more hours spent outside,” and “up to $143 billion in health care savings.” The videos address the benefits of running more fancifully. One clip , showing runners leaving a race with aluminum wraps on their shoulders to stay warm, says that if everybody ran, there would be “314 million more superheroes.” In another clip , of a young man running with his dog, the outcome would be “63 million happier best friends.” In a third clip , showing runners with expressions of joy, exhaustion and exultation, the result would be “73 percent more race face.” And in a fourth clip , perhaps the best of them all, a man in a home workshop is seen using a drill to make holes. In the next shot, he is seen standing at the workbench in his boxers, with his pants around his ankles. Whatever could he be doing? He is drilling the holes into his belt, after which he adjusts the belt so that his pants — clearly too big around the waist — fit better. If everybody ran, the video concludes, there would be “200 million lost inches.” The campaign is reflective of “our overall brand purpose,” says Ahmet Abaci, vice president for brand marketing and management at Mizuno USA in Atlanta. “We believe in the transformative power of sports to make the world a better place,” he adds, and “help people to live better lives.” “We’re delivering the same message in all our divisions,” Mr. Abaci says, which also include baseball, golf, soccer and volleyball. The company found through research that it “resonates with our consumers.” Image The campaign includes the brand’s first-ever television commercial, video clips, print advertisements and digital ads. Still, there is a risk that the message could be perceived as elitist or too noble. As a result, “we try to keep grounded,” Mr. Abaci says, and demonstrate “the transformative benefit in the life of the individual first” before going on to discuss the benefits to the world at large. He describes the individualized message this way: “A single run can change your day. You had a bad day at work, you go home, you run, you feel better.” And to reinforce it, Mr. Abaci says, there will be “a lot of grass-roots events” in local communities. The individualized message is eventually aggregated to “more runners can make your city better, more runners can make your country better and more runners in more countries can make the world better,” he adds. The “What if everybody ran?” campaign follows a campaign that was called the Mezamashii Run Project, which sought to elicit from consumers examples of “when running means more” to them. There were more than 40,000 people who took part, says Jonathan Cude, chief creative officer at McKinney. The new campaign is meant to be a “broader platform,” he adds, in that “the transformative nature of running can mean different things to different people, and different things to the same people on different days.” “Like many good ideas,” the new theme is “simple in its thinking,” Mr. Cude says. “Many people know the benefits of running in their individual lives so we extrapolated that: What if everyone knew of running’s emotional and physical benefits?” In the first television commercial for Mizuno Running, titled “Happy Heart,” runners appear on screen as an announcer says: “What if the world was different? What if moods were lighter? What if thoughts were deeper, hearts bigger?” “What if our forward momentum tilted the world ever so slightly in our favor so we all felt a little looser and at the same time tighter?” the announcer concludes. “What if everybody ran?” The commercial is scheduled to run April 21, the day of the 2014 Boston Marathon, both nationally, on ESPN, and on the CBS station in Boston, WBZ-TV. “Given the tone surrounding the race this year,” Mr. Cude says, alluding to what happened during the race in 2013 , the spot is appropriate because it has “an uplifting tone to it.” Mr. Abaci says that Mizuno and the agency tried “to be very sensitive” in developing the brand’s plans for its presence during the marathon. Another aspect of the campaign, to be introduced next month, is a partnership with a national nonprofit organization named Back on My Feet , Mr. Cude says, which “works with the homeless to transform their lives through running.” “Later in the year, we’ll introduce a cool app” with a charitable element, he adds: “For every mile you run for a week, Mizuno will donate a dollar” to Back on My Feet. “It’s a great example of brand and technology coming together to do something based on the brand’s purpose,” Mr. Cude says. Mizuno is among several running-shoe brands that are bringing out new campaigns for 2014. Others include Brooks Sports, also known as the Brooks Running Company, which introduced a campaign carrying the theme “Run happy.” Hmmm. Maybe the two campaigns can be mashed together with this theme: “What if everybody ran? They would run happy.” If you like In Advertising, be sure to read the Advertising column that appears Monday through Friday in the Business Day section of The New York Times print edition and on nytimes.com . | Running;advertising,marketing;Mizuno;McKinney |
ny0272253 | [
"us",
"politics"
] | 2016/05/17 | Hillary Clinton Shapes Potential New Role for Bill Clinton | In an election year when Bill Clinton’s policies and personal indiscretions have faced intense scrutiny, Hillary Clinton is beginning to shape the role her husband would play in her administration, zeroing in on economic growth and job creation as crucial missions for the former president. Mrs. Clinton told voters in Kentucky on Sunday that Mr. Clinton would be “in charge of revitalizing the economy, because, you know, he knows how to do it,” especially “in places like coal country and inner cities.” On a campaign swing this month before the West Virginia primary, she said her husband has “got to come out of retirement and be in charge” of creating jobs. She has not provided details about how a former president would fit into a policy-making role in his wife’s administration, a position never before seen in American politics. Asked on Monday whether Mr. Clinton would hold a cabinet position, Mrs. Clinton shook her head and said, “No.” Aides said Mr. Clinton’s role would be narrowly defined to focus on hard-hit areas of the country, such as the Rust Belt, and they rejected any implication that Mrs. Clinton would outsource a central part of her administration to her spouse. But even a passing promise that Mr. Clinton would be put in charge of a significant part of a president’s portfolio raised questions about how such an arrangement would work in a White House that has long relied on an appointed Treasury secretary and National Economic Council. “There is a practical puzzle of how a role like this would jibe with the existing cabinet members whose job is to work on the economy,” said Austan D. Goolsbee, an economic adviser to President Obama and a professor at the University of Chicago. The declaration about Mr. Clinton’s potential place in a Hillary Clinton administration comes as her campaign is preparing to battle the likely Republican nominee, Donald J. Trump, and widening its efforts to win the support of white working-class voters. Those voters hold generally favorable opinions of Mr. Clinton, but view her with more skepticism. Mr. Clinton’s more emotive style appears to resonate with blue-collar voters in ways Mrs. Clinton’s has not. Some 55 percent of voters nationwide said they do not believe Mrs. Clinton “cares about people like me,” according to a Quinnipiac poll conducted in February. And Mr. Clinton’s record — a balanced budget, the creation of 22.7 million jobs and 7.7 million people lifted out of poverty — is in many ways simpler for Mrs. Clinton to pitch than Mr. Obama’s economic record, when economic growth has disproportionately benefited the wealthiest Americans. “Hillary Clinton’s statement that if elected president she’d put Bill Clinton ‘in charge of revitalizing the economy … because, you know, he knows how to do it’ suggests she’s no longer touting the successes of the Obama economy, or even linking herself to it,” said Robert B. Reich, a secretary of labor during the Clinton administration who endorsed Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont in the Democratic primary. But for all the benefits of relying on Mr. Clinton, and touting the economic prosperity he oversaw, the strategy could open Mrs. Clinton up to further attacks by Mr. Trump, who has outspokenly criticized Mr. Clinton’s personal indiscretions. Mr. Trump, who has campaigned as an economic populist, has also hit Mrs. Clinton over her husband’s trade policies, including the North American Free Trade Agreement, which Mr. Clinton signed into law in 1993 and which many voters believe hurt American workers. Mrs. Clinton’s embrace of her husband’s economic legacy comes after she has spent much of the past year grappling with a challenge from Mr. Sanders and the liberal wing of the Democratic Party. With economic inequality emerging as a main concern among Democratic voters, she has sought to distance herself from the Wall Street deregulation and trade policies associated with the 1990s. “To what extent does Bill Clinton’s mixed policy agenda map out to the current campaign? That’s the challenge,” said Jared Bernstein, a senior fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and a former economic adviser to Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. Mrs. Clinton often says she is not running for her husband’s third term, but she has also leaned heavily on his economic record. “Jobs, jobs, jobs,” Mrs. Clinton said on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” last month, when asked what Mr. Clinton would do in the White House. “Nobody did it better, created more jobs, helped incomes rise. I want every bit of advice he can give me about how we do the same going forward.” Nick Merrill, a spokesman for Mrs. Clinton, said that the central focus of her campaign has been increasing wages and creating good jobs, and that she would not outsource that effort. “As she has repeatedly said throughout this campaign, Secretary Clinton is interested in having President Clinton focus on places that have experienced substantial job loss and economic dislocation, like coal country and some inner-cities,” Mr. Merrill said, adding that “she has put forward an ambitious agenda for serving economically distressed communities” and “looks forward to having President Clinton be a part of these efforts.” While Mrs. Clinton has devoted much of her time in the Democratic primary to speaking out against the impact caused by parts of the 1994 crime bill and a 1996 overhaul of the welfare system that cut federal assistance to the poor by nearly $55 billion over six years, she can now more safely embrace the Bill Clinton years, Democrats said. “What we’ve seen for decades is that the broader electorate thinks the 1990s went pretty damn well,” said Matt Bennett, a former aide to Mr. Clinton and senior vice president for public affairs at Third Way, a centrist think tank. “Did they love every single thing? Of course not.” Mrs. Clinton’s advisers said the upside of using Mr. Clinton, particularly in the general election, would far outweigh any potential personal baggage that he brings — and that Mr. Trump plans to exploit . Polls show that voters have a better opinion of Mr. Clinton than either Mrs. Clinton or Mr. Trump, with 56 percent of registered voters viewing him positively, according to a CNN/ORC poll in February . If Mrs. Clinton leans on her husband for economic advice, the former president may need to update his approach. To address the growing income inequality and middle-class wages that have remained virtually stagnant for the past 15 years, Mrs. Clinton, in her current campaign, has put forth an economic agenda that is more populist and reliant on government than Mr. Clinton’s centrist approach of deficit reduction and welfare reform. “Bill Clinton is well aware that the economy has changed since the 1990s,” said Alan B. Krueger, a professor of economics at Princeton University and a former chairman of Mr. Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers who has advised Mrs. Clinton. “He would recommend policies that would strengthen the economy, especially for the middle class, in the current environment.” | 2016 Presidential Election;Hillary Clinton;Bill Clinton;US Economy |
ny0032884 | [
"world",
"africa"
] | 2013/12/11 | Obama, George W. Bush and Hillary Clinton Share Flight to South Africa | JOHANNESBURG — President Obama, his predecessor, and the woman who might be his successor crossed the Atlantic together Monday in an example of extended bipartisan togetherness to pay tribute to Nelson Mandela at a memorial service on Tuesday. For more than 16 hours, Mr. Obama hosted former President George W. Bush and former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton aboard Air Force One — part of a global pilgrimage that brought dozens of world leaders to South Africa. The flight of political opposites was a midair testimonial to the profound impact that Mr. Mandela had on generations of American politicians as he fought against his government’s system of racial oppression and later brought unity and reconciliation to a divided people as their president. And the journey was a continuation of the tradition among the tiny group of ex-presidents of building relationships at 30,000 feet. Gerald R. Ford and Jimmy Carter bonded in 1981 on a flight to the funeral of Anwar el-Sadat, the slain Egyptian president. And the first President George Bush and Bill Clinton became fast friends on a long flight to Asia after the tsunami of 2004. Mr. Clinton did not travel aboard Air Force One on Monday; he and his daughter, Chelsea, were in Rio de Janeiro for a conference and traveled to South Africa separately. Mr. Carter, a longtime friend of Mr. Mandela’s, also made his way to Africa on his own for the memorial. The elder Mr. Bush is not making the trip to South Africa, aides said. On board the presidential aircraft as it flew to South Africa, White House aides said, Mr. Obama and the first lady, Michelle Obama, congregated in the conference room during the early part of the trip with Mrs. Clinton, Mr. Bush and Mr. Bush’s wife. “There have been very good conversations in that room,” said Jay Carney, the White House press secretary. He did not elaborate. At other times, aides said, the Obamas retreated to the presidential cabin that he inherited from Mr. Bush. The Bushes stayed in the medical office just behind Mr. Obama’s cabin. Mrs. Clinton spent some time in the senior staff cabin, aides said. Space is always at a premium on flights with so many V.I.P. guests. During the flight to Asia for tsunami relief, Mr. Clinton let the elder Mr. Bush have the only bed on the government plane, while he stretched out on the floor, and the two discovered that they liked each other. “I thought I knew him,” Mr. Bush later wrote, “but until this trip, I did not really know him.” On the flight to the 1995 funeral of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin of Israel, Mr. Clinton relegated Newt Gingrich, the speaker of the House, to a seat toward the back of the plane and spent little time talking with him. Mr. Gingrich’s subsequent public complaint that he was forced to deplane from the back earned him ridicule, including a New York Daily News front-page cartoon depicting him as a wailing infant under the headline “Cry Baby.” On Monday, the younger Mr. Bush twice strayed to the back of the modified Boeing 747, where about a dozen reporters sit, to chat — off the record — for about 90 minutes. Mrs. Clinton also visited with reporters on the plane just after it stopped for refueling in Dakar, Senegal. Mr. Obama has said repeatedly that his earliest political activism was on behalf of Mr. Mandela’s cause. A young Barack Obama offered a few words at an anti-apartheid rally in the early 1980s. Mr. Obama has written that he later drew inspiration from Mr. Mandela’s single term as president. But Mr. Mandela was largely gone from the public stage by the time Mr. Obama entered the Oval Office. Mr. Mandela’s age and failing health prevented all but a fleeting meeting between the two men. Mr. Mandela was also out of office by the time Mr. Bush became president. In 2002, the American president awarded Mr. Mandela the Presidential Medal of Freedom, though the former South African leader was unable to attend the ceremony. Mr. Bush hosted Mr. Mandela at the White House in 2005 and later visited him in South Africa. The two men discussed how to stem the AIDS crisis in Africa, a major interest of Mr. Bush’s. In his statement upon Mr. Mandela’s death, Mr. Bush called him “one of the great forces for freedom and equality of our time” and said, “This good man will be missed.” But the exchanges between the two men were not always positive. While Mr. Mandela supported the American intervention in Afghanistan soon after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, he was critical of the war in Iraq. Mr. Mandela criticized the American president for invading Iraq against international law as set by the United Nations. “For anybody, especially the leader of a superstate, to act outside the United Nations is something that must be condemned by everybody,” Mr. Mandela said. Of the three, Mrs. Clinton knew Mr. Mandela the longest. She met him in 1992, just two years after his release from prison and before his election to the South African presidency. Mrs. Clinton attended Mr. Mandela’s inauguration in 1994; three years later, he served as her personal tour guide in his former prison, showing Mrs. Clinton, then the first lady, the small cell on Robben Island where he spent the majority of his 27 years behind bars. As secretary of state, Mrs. Clinton returned to South Africa in 2012, visiting Mr. Mandela in the village of Qunu, where he will be buried on Sunday. Already quite ill, Mr. Mandela posed for pictures with Mrs. Clinton, who declared, “That’s a beautiful smile.” Mr. Clinton and Chelsea made a similar visit to Qunu a month earlier, to help celebrate Mr. Mandela’s 94th birthday. | Funerals;Nelson Mandela;Michelle Obama;George W Bush;Hillary Clinton;South Africa |
ny0215667 | [
"nyregion"
] | 2010/04/11 | In Old Westbury, Reshaping the Art of Nature | In the last few decades, quite a few sculptors and installation artists working with materials scavenged from nature have risen to the forefront of the international art world. What distinguishes the three artists included in “Regarding Nature: Thorns, Twigs, Buds and Branches,” the terrific show currently at the Amelie A. Wallace Gallery at SUNY College at Old Westbury, is an exclusive focus on thorns, twigs, buds and branches. The artists transform their chosen materials into elaborate, often beautiful installations, sculptures and drawings. None of the artists dabble in environmental politics, at least not openly. They are more interested in aesthetics — the way in which tree and shrub materials can be shaped, bent, twisted or combined to create evocative, symbolic objects and environments. First and foremost, this show celebrates the understated beauty and malleability of nature. But it does touch on themes of sustainability and the preservation of the environment, for the artists all work with found materials, using mostly dead or discarded branches and other plant debris. Their artwork is also usually not sold, and generally the materials are recycled after each exhibition. John Day, a Californian now living in New York, spent two months foraging the forested areas of the State University’s Old Westbury campus to collect the more than 8,000 sticks, twigs and tree branches that he used to create “Heliotrope” (2010). A site-specific installation, it consists of a single large spiral ascending from the center of the room toward a small upper window, in the manner of a plant growing toward light. (I visited the show as the finishing touches were being put on this and the other large installation, by Barbara Andrus. Cui Fei’s work was already in place.) “Heliotrope” is more an art environment than an installation, for it is to be experienced rather than simply viewed. Walking in and around the spiral, you are reminded of astronomically oriented structures made of natural materials, like Stonehenge. The raw meshing together also creates the impression of a fence, and thus feelings of confinement. But what is especially interesting about “Heliotrope” is the way Mr. Day has incorporated the rhythms and systems of nature within the work. The structure mimics the behavior patterns of plants, with the branches arranged so that they seem to be growing toward the light. Barbara Andrus also uses tree branches to construct spirals, but with a different idea in mind. Her elaborately layered, soaring conical structures, made of tree parts collected on walks in Yonkers and in Maine at Montville and Otis and on Swan’s Island, serve as sheltering towers that suggest protection but also a raw natural energy. More than the other artists here, Ms. Andrus seems aligned with the sometimes spiritual attitude toward the environment found in art. The passage into her spirals can even evoke the experience of being alone in quiet wilderness. These works also smell like the forest, enriched by the scents of the birch, beech, maple, ash and other trees that supplied the materials used in their construction. Cui Fei makes very different work. Her mixed-media drawings consist of dried thorns from all sorts of plants stuck onto rice paper in patterns that evoke Arabic script, Chinese calligraphy and even Braille (with an obvious hazard for the user). Ms. Cui has been working with thorns for some time, and her artworks using them are widely admired, if a little vacuous. But as a new, major piece in this show makes clear, she is pushing the idea further; in “Not Yet Titled” (2009), the twists and twirls of the thorns are the basis of a message about the second Sino-Japanese War (1937-45) . “Not Yet Titled” consists of hundreds of long thorns arranged along a wall to resemble the simple crosshatch markings that are often used to record the passage of time. Each thorn represents a day of the war; they are arranged in rows representing months. The work is an act of remembrance, a means of reminding viewers of the duration and brutality of the Japanese occupation of China. Beyond the use of tree or plant material, it is hard to see how Ms. Cui fits with the other artists in this show. Her work is also a kind of drawing, not sculpture. But it doesn’t matter, for this is a beautiful, inviting exhibition that invites us to ponder art’s enduring links with nature. | Sculpture;Art;Long Island (NY) |
ny0290543 | [
"sports",
"olympics"
] | 2016/01/26 | Finalists for U.S. Women’s Olympic Team | Tamika Catchings, Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi are among the 25 finalists for the United States women’s basketball Olympics team. The three players have won three Olympic gold medals and could be trying for a fourth straight in Rio this summer. The United States has won five straight gold medals. Other former Olympians among the finalists include Seimone Augustus, Sylvia Fowles, Candace Parker, Tina Charles, Angel McCoughtry, Maya Moore and Lindsay Whalen. The American team will conduct a training camp from Feb. 21 to 23 at the University of Connecticut. ■ The team managing Los Angeles’s 2024 Olympic bid confirmed that it had dropped a plan for a $1 billion athletes’ village. Under a new plan, the athletes would be housed on the U.C.L.A. campus. (AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE) | 2016 Summer Olympics;Basketball;2024 Olympics;Los Angeles |
ny0027781 | [
"technology"
] | 2013/01/07 | Ad Blocking Raises Alarm Among Firms Like Google | PARIS — Xavier Niel, the French technology entrepreneur, has made a career of disrupting the status quo. Now, he has dared to take on Google and other online advertisers in a battle that puts the Web companies under pressure to use the wealth generated by the ads to help pay for the network pipelines that deliver the content. Mr. Niel’s telecommunications company, Free, which has an estimated 5.2 million Internet-access users in France, began last week to enable its customers to block Web advertising. The company is updating users’ software with an ad-blocking feature as the default setting. That move has raised alarm among companies that, like Google, have based their entire business models on providing free content to consumers by festooning Web pages with paid advertisements. Although Google so far has kept largely silent about Free’s challenge, the reaction from the small Web operators who live and die by online ads has been vociferous. No Internet access provider “has the right to decide in place of its citizens what they access or not on the Internet,” Spiil, an association of French online news publishers, said in a statement Friday. The French government has stepped into the fray. On Monday Fleur Pellerin, the French minister for the digital economy, plans to convene a meeting of the feuding parties to seek a resolution. Free’s shock to advertisers was widely seen as an attack on Google, and is part of the larger, global battle over the question of who should pay to deliver information on the Web — content providers or Internet service providers. An attempt to rewrite the rules failed at the December talks of the International Telecommunication Union in Dubai, after the United States and other nations objected to a proposal that, among other measures, would have required content providers to pay. Mr. Niel declined to comment on Sunday, through a spokeswoman, Isabelle Audap. But he has often complained that Google’s content, which includes the ever expanding YouTube video library, occupies too much of his network’s bandwidth, or carrying capacity. “The pipelines between Google and us are full at certain hours, and no one wants to take responsibility for adding capacity,” he said during an interview last year with the newsmagazine Nouvel Observateur. “It’s a classic problem that happens everywhere, but especially with Google.” Analysts said that French regulators would probably not oppose an agreement between Free and Google aimed at smoothing traffic flows and improving the quality of the service, as long as competitors were not disadvantaged. But they said regulators would probably not allow an Internet access provider to unilaterally block content. When it comes to blocking ads, though, disgruntled consumers do not have to rely on their Internet service providers. Consumers already have the option of downloading software like Adblock Plus to do the job for them. Free is the second-largest Internet access provider in France, behind Orange, which is operated by France Telecom and has 9.8 million Internet customers. Because Free seeks to be a low-cost competitor, the company may feel itself particularly vulnerable to the expense of providing capacity to meet Internet users’ ever-growing demand for streaming and downloading videos, music and the like. Ms. Pellerin, the digital economy minister, expressed sympathy for Free’s position in an interview with Le Figaro, published Saturday. “There are today real questions about the sharing of value between the content providers — notably in video, which uses a lot of bandwidth — and the operators,” she said. “In France, and in Europe,” Ms. Pellerin added, “we have to find more consensual ways of integrating the giants of the Internet into national ecosystems.” And in a subsequent Twitter message, she said she was “no fan of intrusive advertising, but favorable to a solution of no opt-out by default.” Google, which is currently engaged in delicate antitrust negotiations with the European Union, has been largely silent about the Free episode, appearing content to let other aggrieved parties take the lead. Al Verney, a Google spokesman in Brussels, said Sunday, “We are aware of Free’s actions and are investigating the impact.” He declined to comment further. Free’s ad-blocking campaign began last week when it rolled out a new generation of hardware and software that enables users to block Web advertising. Free has set the ad-blocking software as the default option. Numerama, a news site, thundered in an editorial that the move “demonstrates the power that Internet service providers can have on the content of Web sites, and the risk it represents to democracy.” Free, it said, “penalizes thousands of sites that can only make it through online ads,” including Numerama itself. Affected sites can either “join in a game of cat and mouse with Free to escape the filter,” it said, or “change their business models.” Jean-Baptiste Fontana, founder of Frequence-sud.fr, a news site, argued that smaller Web sites were being left to suffer the collateral damage, in Free’s fight with Google. On Atlantico, an online news site, Mr. Fontana wrote: “Numerous Web sites, and particularly the online press, have worked out a moral contract with their readers: You get valuable information, we don’t make you pay, because the advertisers pay for you.” But “should either the reader or the Internet service provider break that contract, the entire system collapses,” Mr. Fontana continued. “It brings us back to the economic model of the press: who pays for information?” If nothing else, the dispute has been a publicity coup for Mr. Niel, who is the majority shareholder in Iliad, the publicly traded company that operates Free. He is also half-owner of the French daily Le Monde. Iliad reported third-quarter revenue of €819 million, or about $1.1 billion. The company’s shares have gained more than 36 percent over the past year. Mr. Niel’s online business background dates to the days of the Minitel, the French precursor to the Internet in the 1980s. Then, a decade ago he upended the market with the introduction of an inexpensive broadband package offering Internet access, fixed-line telephone calls and television. Last year Iliad entered France’s mobile telephone market, shattering the cozy dominance of the three established carriers with ultra-low-cost service. | Computers and the Internet;Tech Industry;Free SAS;Iliad;Google;Online advertising;France;Xavier Niel;advertising,marketing |
ny0243369 | [
"sports",
"baseball"
] | 2011/03/01 | For Diamondbacks, First Step in Building a Winner Is Believing | SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Kevin Towers joined the Arizona Diamondbacks as their dreary 2010 season lurched to a close. Towers, the new general manager, had spent the season as a superscout for the Yankees, learning the inner workings of a wealthy team and perennial contender. The Diamondbacks are neither. They had two extreme problems to fix: their hitters set a record for strikeouts in a season, and their bullpen was by far the worst in the majors. But as Towers looked around at his players, managed by the fiery Kirk Gibson, he concluded that the issues ran much deeper. “I told Gibby at the end of the year, ‘The culture feels so bad here; it’s just blah,’ ” Towers said last week. “I mean, you could walk in the clubhouse, even if you’re a stranger, and go: ‘Losers.’ “You could take the average fan and say: ‘You’ve got a minute, walk through the front door of the Yankee clubhouse and, on the same day, walk through the Diamondback clubhouse. You can’t say anything, just evaluate what’s going on, walk through the room, down the steps, into the dugout and out, and you tell me which one’s a winner and which one’s not.’ Even if they had their name tags covered, it’d be easy. Those guys are the winners, and those guys are the losers.” The Diamondbacks lost 97 games last season, more than every other team except the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Seattle Mariners. It was their third straight season of regression since 2007, when their 90-72 record was the best in the National League. That season was a desert mirage; the Diamondbacks actually allowed more runs than they scored. But the totality of their collapse was still startling, and resulted in the midseason firings of General Manager Josh Byrnes and Manager A. J. Hinch. The San Diego Padres had fired Towers at the end of 2009, after 15 seasons that included four division titles and an N.L. pennant. The team he left behind won 90 games last season, led by the majors’ best bullpen, and the Diamondbacks noticed. The Diamondbacks’ bullpen had an earned run average of 5.74, more than a run higher than any other team in the majors, and nearly two runs worse than the average team. Enter Towers, who specializes in cost-effective bullpen construction. “I’ve known Kevin a long time, and he’s always put together successful rosters on fewer resources than he’s going to have here,” said Derrick Hall, the Diamondbacks’ president. “He’ll have more money to spend here than he ever has, but even with his limited resources in the past, he knew how to build a roster, and he knew how to build a bullpen.” Through the first five innings of games last season, the Diamondbacks led more often than they trailed. Starters Ian Kennedy, Daniel Hudson and Barry Enright pitched well in their first extended stays in a rotation. But, Towers believed, too many relievers had a similar repertory: fastballs and changeups, from predictable arm slots. To change things, Towers tackled the team’s other pressing weakness, strikeouts, by dealing third baseman Mark Reynolds to Baltimore for relievers David Hernandez and Kam Mickolio. Reynolds is the only hitter in history with 200 strikeouts in a season (a threshold he has crossed three times), and by dealing him, Towers freed up money to sign closer J. J. Putz for two years and $10 million. Towers, a scout at heart, rattled off the varying attributes of the revamped bullpen: Putz’s splitter, Hernandez’s curveball, Mickolio’s sinker, Mike Hampton’s changeup, the sidearm delivery of the rookie left-hander Joe Paterson, and so on. He hired the former All-Star Charles Nagy as the pitching coach, and Don Baylor, also an ex-All Star, to coach the hitters. As the hitting coach for the Colorado Rockies last season, Baylor often witnessed the futile approach by the Diamondbacks, who averaged more than nine strikeouts a game. “What they averaged last year is staggering,” Baylor said. “Just staggering. I know it’s not acceptable to them. They chased a lot of pitches up in the strike zone, out of the strike zone. Home runs, it looks like, took precedence over anything else. I thought they were just afraid to go deep into the count.” This spring training, Baylor said, he has stressed the need to hit up the middle, instead of trying to pull home runs. He has pointedly not mentioned the need to cut down on strikeouts; the players understand that implicitly. “You might lose some damage, you might lose a couple of homers, but you’re going to gain some quality at-bats,” second baseman Kelly Johnson said. “If you watch the American League East or you watch the playoffs, you know that wins games. You’ve got to wear pitchers out.” Johnson had the most strikeouts of any 2010 holdover (148), but he also had the most walks, with 79. He is one of several Diamondbacks younger than 30 who run well and hit for power, including Justin Upton and Chris Young. Towers added veterans like Geoff Blum, Melvin Mora and Xavier Nady to the core, a signal that he expects to compete right away. “When you have a leader who’s not just looking down the road, and he wants to win this year, that’s exciting,” Young said. “You don’t ever want to be told, ‘It’s O.K. if we lose this year, we’ll be good in years to come.’ You want to try to be good now.” To emphasize the mind-set, Towers called in some friends — Navy Seals just back from Afghanistan — for a clubhouse speech before a recent practice. The sanitized version of their message: we’re the best, we believe it, and we don’t lose. The visit fit perfectly with Gibson’s persona: brash, confident and unapologetic. Gibson said that players and staff would be honest with each other — brutally so, if needed — and that his team would play by the rules, but play tough. “Our intensity and the way we compete, it’s going to change,” Gibson said. “It’s going to change, trust me. We won’t be well-liked.” That would please Towers. He might not build a winner right away, because so much would have to break right. But his team should not act like losers, and that would be a start. | Baseball;Arizona Diamondbacks;Towers Kevin;Gibson Kirk |
ny0187128 | [
"sports",
"othersports"
] | 2009/04/18 | When Winning Is All in the Family | Tennis history will be made on Monday when Dinara Safina gives her family another turn at No. 1. The timing could be better, and so could the WTA Tour’s ranking system. Safina, a 22-year-old Russian, has not won a tournament since September and has never won one of the four Grand Slam singles titles that separate the greatest from the good. Meanwhile, the all-time great she replaces at the top, Serena Williams, has won two of the last three and reached the final of the other. But there should be no quibbling over the conclusion that Safina and her more combustible big brother, Marat Safin, are a phenomenal sporting pair. Safin, who plans to retire at the end of this season, is six years Safina’s senior. He first reached No. 1 in November 2000, even though he barely got credit for it at the time because the men’s tour had just shifted its marketing focus to emphasize the year-end No. 1, not those who reached the top of the established, rolling 52-week system. Few remember that injustice now, however, and Safin is there in the record books along with Ivan Lendl, Pete Sampras, Roger Federer and all the other former rulers of the men’s game. On Monday, with Safina set to take the throne, her mother and childhood coach, Rausa Islanova, can be doubly proud of her two pupils’ achievements. “They are good together,” Islanova said recently. “Their spirits are pretty much identical. They have the souls of a brother and sister and always felt that way, and as parents we put so much effort and time so that they would grow together.” Sibling rivalries and the common gene pools that accompany them often produce great sporting results, but brother-sister combinations at the highest level are rarer than the same-gender variety that has given us the Schumacher brothers behind the wheel and the Manning brothers behind the offensive line. Search, for example, for a brother and sister who both have truly succeeded at the highest level at the world game of soccer. Even though tennis is traditionally a family game and one in which the women’s tour is a well-established circuit, there is no true precedent for both Safins’ reaching No. 1. Byron Black of Zimbabwe and his younger sister, Cara, were both ranked No. 1 in doubles in the last decade, and Cara also won the Wimbledon mixed title with her other brother, Wayne. In singles, the closest anyone comes would be Arantxa Sánchez Vicario of Spain, who reached No. 1 in the women’s game, and her older brother, Emilio, who peaked at No. 7 in men’s singles in 1990 (and was also No. 1 in doubles). Nancy Richey and her younger brother, Cliff, were both ranked No. 1 in the United States, with Nancy winning Grand Slam singles titles at the 1967 Australian Championships and 1968 French Open and with Cliff later reaching the semifinals at the French and U.S. Opens. From the same period, Billie Jean King, the most prominent women’s player of the era, had no tennis star for a brother but she did have a major league baseball pitcher in the family: Her brother, Randy Moffitt, pitched for the San Francisco Giants. But brothers and sisters, like brothers and brothers, tend to gravitate to the same games, playgrounds and pools. Consider Cheryl and Reggie Miller, the American basketball stars who are surely the most accomplished brother and sister in the history of team sports. Cheryl, in her years at the University of Southern California in the 1980s, was considered the best female player on the planet and also led the U.S. team to the 1984 Olympic gold medal. Reggie, one year younger, was long in Cheryl’s shadow, even in one-on-one games on the family court. But one afternoon the dynamic changed, as Cheryl told Sports Illustrated. “I woke Reggie one day and asked if he was ready for another ass kicking,” Cheryl says. “When he got up, he kept getting up. And up and up. All of a sudden he was 6’6.” We went outside for our usual head-to-head game. I took first outs, blew by him like always and sailed in for the layup. As I was running under the basket I heard this noise. Clang. I looked up and the ball was still up there. So was Reggie. He had pinned it. I stopped in my tracks. ‘Uh, Red,’ I said, ‘How about a game of H-O-R-S-E?’ ” Reggie went on to become a perennial N.B.A. all-star with the Indiana Pacers. Or consider the Kostelics of Croatia, the two Alpine skiers with fragile knees who were driven so hard by their father, Ante, and yet shrugged off (or fed off) the pressure. Janica became one of the greatest, and the only female skier to win four Olympic gold medals. Ivica became world champion in slalom at the same championships in St. Moritz, Switzerland, in 2003 where his sister won the world title. Skiing, another family sport, has no shortage of brother-sister success stories. Pirmin Zirbruggen of Switzerland was overall men’s World Cup champion and his younger sister, Heidi, was a top downhiller. Paco Fernández Ochoa of Spain and his younger sister, Blanca, both won Olympic medals in slalom. The Wenzels, Andreas and Hanni, of tiny Liechtenstein, combined for six medals over three Olympics. William and Charlotte Dod became the first brother-and-sister duo to win medals at an Olympics. Both were archers: William took gold at the London Games in 1908, while Charlotte, nicknamed Lottie, took silver but was better known for having won the Wimbledon ladies singles title five times. More than 70 years later, there came Jackie Joyner-Kersee, who was the Olympic heptathlon and long jump champion for the United States while her older brother, Al Joyner, was Olympic champion in the triple jump. There are also brothers and sisters who compete against each other, like Sally Smith and Rob Fisher, who in 2008 became the first such siblings to skipper opposing boats in the Sydney-Hobart yacht race. But on Monday, at least, there will be no trumping Safin and Safina. They have traveled far on the same route: from home base in Moscow to the training base of their teens in Spain to the courts and clubs of the world. Now, they have arrived at the same very low number, too. | Tennis;Safin Marat;Miller Reggie;Kostelic Janica;Joyner-Kersee Jackie |
ny0004314 | [
"sports",
"basketball"
] | 2013/04/10 | Marty Blake, N.B.A. Scout, Dies at 86 | Marty Blake, a basketball executive whose capacious memory, keen eye for talent and relentless appetite for scouring gymnasiums in remote places made him perhaps the most valuable scout in the history of the National Basketball Association, died on Sunday in Alpharetta, Ga. He was 86. The cause was heart failure, his son Ryan said. As the general manager of what is now the Atlanta Hawks from 1954 to 1970, Blake drafted a veritable all-star team: Lenny Wilkens, Zelmo Beaty, Lou Hudson, Jeff Mullins and Pete Maravich, among others. Later, as the N.B.A.’s director of scouting for more than 30 years — he was sometimes called the godfather of N.B.A. scouting — Blake was known for unearthing talent at small colleges, like Southeastern Oklahoma State, where a fierce rebounder named Dennis Rodman came to his attention, or the University of Central Arkansas, where he found Scottie Pippen. Blake’s career in basketball lasted almost 60 years, from the heyday of Bob Cousy to the era of Kobe Bryant and LeBron James, beginning as the public-relations director of the Milwaukee Hawks during the N.B.A.’s adolescence. The Hawks’ front office was skeletal, to put it kindly, and Blake ended up functioning as the general manager, making basketball decisions as well as promotional decisions, before assuming the title in 1960. He ran the franchise when, in 1955, it moved to St. Louis, where he promoted the team by booking the likes of Stan Kenton and Duke Ellington to perform at halftime and after games. The team won the N.B.A. championship in 1958, led by Bob Pettit. It was an era before regularly televised games, before videotape and before teams set aside a budget for scouting. Scouting meant calling up coaches around the country to ask for player recommendations. But Blake, who stayed with the Hawks through 1970 — the franchise moved to Atlanta in 1968 — traveled to places most teams would not spend money to send hired hands to; he recalled finding Beaty playing in a segregated park in Cut and Shoot, Tex. “I’m the one who dug up all those players we drafted, and nobody but me was out there in the field scouting players,” Blake was quoted saying in a 2006 book , “Full Court: The Untold Stories of the St. Louis Hawks,” by Greg Marecek. In 1970, Blake made a brief stop in Pittsburgh, in the American Basketball Association, before going into the scouting business for himself. His company, Marty Blake & Associates, which grew to employ as many as 60 scouts, served several N.B.A. and A.B.A. teams, reporting on hundreds of draft-eligible players in the United States and, significantly, abroad. In his last year with the team, the Hawks became the first N.B.A. team to draft foreign players (Manuel Raga from Mexico and Dino Meneghin from Italy). After the N.B.A. and the A.B.A. merged in 1976, the unified league contracted for Blake’s services, and his vast stores of data and analysis became indispensable for every team. “Marty was our human database before the word database was invented,” Stan Kasten, the former general manager and president of the Atlanta Hawks and the current president of the Los Angeles Dodgers, said in an interview Monday. “Encyclopedic doesn’t begin to describe his knowledge of the available crop of basketball players, and it didn’t matter where they played. Every single team in the league leaned on him for generations.” Martin Eliot Blake was born in Paterson, N.J., on March 22, 1927. His father, Elias, died when the boy was 10, and he moved with his mother, Ethel, to Wyoming, Pa., where she opened a sewing shop. He served in the Army at the end of World War II and attended Wilkes College (now Wilkes University) in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. He began his career promoting local boxing matches, stock car races and baseball games before working for several professional baseball and football teams and helping to found the Continental Basketball Association, a pro league. Blake, who lived in Milton, Ga., was married for more than 50 years to the former Marcia Whitworth, who survives him, along with his son Ryan, who became his father’s business partner; another son, Eliot; a daughter, Sarah; and five grandchildren. Blake was also a force behind two events crucial to pro player evaluation. In the early 1970s, he focused league attention on the annual Portsmouth Invitational Tournament in Virginia, where unsung college players like Pippen, Rodman, Dave Cowens, Tim Hardaway, John Stockton and John Lucas first had a chance to shine in front of scouts. And in 1982, with Matt Winick, now an N.B.A. vice president, he put together the first N.B.A. predraft camp, where eligible players could work with pro coaches. “Somehow, over the course of the season, he ferreted out these guys,” Kasten said. “If he’s identifying a guy in a Division III game, you’d make sure you saw him. He’d make the judgment whether someone was going to be a real prospect, and invariably, the guy would be a real prospect. “I promise you, until Marty Blake showed us Scottie Pippen, we didn’t know who Scottie Pippen was.” | Marty Blake;Basketball;Obituary;Sports Drafts and Recruits |
ny0002192 | [
"sports",
"baseball"
] | 2013/03/06 | For Yankees’ Hughes, a European Vacation With an Edge | TAMPA, Fla. — Phil Hughes has never sat in the bleachers at Yankee Stadium, but having warmed up in the bullpen below, he has a good sense of the raucous atmosphere there during some games. Until this past November, he would have ranked the Stadium among the loudest, most passionate and high-energy sports arenas. Then he went to Etihad Stadium in Manchester, England on Nov. 11. He sat in the visitors’ end in the South Stand, among Tottenham Hotspur fans, for a highly charged game between Spurs and the defending Premier League champion Manchester City. It was not only Hughes’s first foray into professional soccer, it was his first time outside North America, the opening leg of a European vacation that began with a vigorous jolt of English culture that he will not soon forget. “It was wild,” he said. “I just didn’t know. I thought, they are English, they are cordial, they’re polite. But it was nuts. People were yelling back and forth, stuff you can’t even print, pretty much saying they were going to fight after the game. We had to stand the entire game, and I was like, ‘What is going on here?’ ” Traditionally, the away ends of soccer stadiums are the most volatile sections, even in the modern all-seater stadiums that have replaced the Victorian terraces of the previous two centuries. Hughes said he could relate to the players who, like him, perform in such high-intensity settings. But he said it was hard to compare because when he pitches at Yankee Stadium, he did not often notice the noise level. “I’m so focused I just don’t hear it,” he said. “But when I’m not pitching, I’ve seen stuff happen in the stands. “The atmosphere is not quite the same. Soccer is mostly once a week, and everyone is waiting for the games. There is so much intensity for 90 minutes with all the singing and everyone is standing.” Hughes went to the game with his sister, Molly Beal, and her English husband, Pete, a Sheffield Wednesday fan, and his brother and two cousins, who are also from England. Although there had been some discussion about going to the game, Hughes said he was not prepared for what he saw and heard. That they ended up in the away end had to do with Hughes’s endorsement of Under Armour, the athletic apparel manufacturer that also supplies Spurs with its gear. Hughes had no background in soccer, but he was on the Under Armour Web site one day last year when he saw that it manufactured Tottenham’s uniform. From that moment, he became intrigued with the north London club. So it was decided he, his sister and his brother-in-law would start their journey with a trip to Manchester to watch Spurs play. It was up to Hughes to outfit his group with the apparel — which Under Armour supplied. He purchased tickets online, opting for seats in the visitors’ end because of his connection to Spurs. Image From right, Phil Hughes, his sister Molly Beal and her husband, Pete, last November. Credit Courtesy of Phil Hughes Pete Beal, his brother and his two cousins, all fans of Sheffield Wednesday, reluctantly agreed to wear the Tottenham gear, at least for the afternoon. “They didn’t like doing it,” said Hughes, who spent some of the day explaining to his English hosts about his job pitching for the Yankees. Soon after they arrived, Tottenham scored on a header by Steven Caulker, sending the away section into spasms of delight and raising the noise level and tension among the 47,208 at the stadium. City came back to win, 2-1 , on a goal by Edin Dzeko with two minutes left in the game, which was just fine with Hughes’s group. “I think that meant the home fans were a lot happier when we walked out,” he said. “We were all wearing the gear, which was a mistake. Everybody was quick to take it off once we left the stadium. “Nothing happened, and there is security and police everywhere. But when it’s your first time there, it’s kind of jarring. It’s crazy. I was not expecting it to be that way.” After the game Hughes, his sister and brother-in-law boarded a train for London, where they began a more sedate but equally interesting continuation of their European tour. Having never been anywhere but Canada and Mexico, Hughes said he was enthralled by much that he saw. They toured London and saw Big Ben, Westminster and the changing of the guard. Then it was on to Paris, where Hughes discovered escargot. He visited the Louvre and saw the Mona Lisa, at least for a minute. “I’m not big into art and stuff like that,” Hughes said. “So we just kind of made a beeline for the Mona Lisa.” Of course, they had to visit the Eiffel Tower, which was not a stop Hughes particularly relished given his unease with heights. “I was not cool with that at all,” he said. “It was way too high.” They continued on to Rome, where they saw the Colosseum — one of the world’s first major stadiums — and Florence. In all, they were gone about three weeks, from which Hughes took away at least one lesson. “It was great,” he said. “I’ll definitely go back. But I’ll never sit in the visiting section again.” | Baseball;Phil Hughes;Yankees;Tottenham Hotspur Soccer Team;England;Soccer;Manchester;Manchester City Soccer Team;Europe |
ny0213086 | [
"science"
] | 2010/03/05 | Thomas H. Pigford, Nuclear Engineer, Dies at 87 | Thomas H. Pigford, an independent-minded nuclear engineer who was recruited by the federal government for his advice on major nuclear accidents and nuclear waste, died Saturday at his home in Oakland, Calif.. He was 87. His death was confirmed by the nuclear engineering department at the University of California, Berkeley, of which he was the first chairman. Dr. Pigford had been treated for Parkinson’s disease for nine years, his wife, Elizabeth Pigford, said. In 1979 he was a member of the commission that investigated the accident at the Three Mile Island reactor, near Harrisburg, Pa. The panel found that poorly trained operators had turned off key safety systems, allowing a simple malfunction to grow into a harrowing accident that reduced the nuclear core to rubble. Dr. Pigford, who was often pointed and even discordant in his views, was highly critical of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission , which he said had made technical errors and been unduly alarmist during the accident. He also maintained that his panel’s findings were limited and should not be used to form a general indictment of nuclear power plants. “Every technology imposes a finite degree of risk upon society, both in its routine operation and in the occurrence of accidents,” he wrote. “The essential question is the trade-off between the risks and the benefits. The commission neither received any evidence nor reached any conclusions that the risks of nuclear power outweigh its benefits.” Seven years later, when the Soviet-designed reactor in Chernobyl, Ukraine, exploded and sent a cloud of radioactive material over Europe, he was appointed by the secretary of energy to a committee to evaluate the accident and the safety of a similar reactor operated by the department in Hanford, Wash. Dr. Pigford said that the American plant, which was used to make plutonium for nuclear bombs, was far more dangerous than American commercial reactors, and that one safety measure proposed by the department would be no help at all. Soon after, the department closed the reactor. In the mid-1990s, he also served on an Environmental Protection Agency panel that advised on what the standards should be for a nuclear repository then under consideration at Yucca Mountain, Nev. (The Energy Department said last month that it would kill the project.) The E.P.A. panel advised that standards for the waste dump should allow only very small radiation exposures to future generations. But to Dr. Pigford’s dissatisfaction, the panel also said the government should be able to make assumptions about how land in the area would be used in future millenniums, a major factor in determining radiation exposure. The E.P.A. had assumed that water that had passed through the repository and picked up contaminants would be used by farm families to irrigate their crops and grow their own food, creating a pathway for exposure. But the panel advised that the agency should be allowed to assume that contaminated water from the site would not be used by subsistence farmers. The effect would be to permit higher levels of contamination. Dr. Pigford complained about the advisory panel’s approach. "They end up with such a less stringent result that cannot be defended,” he said. “That’s bad for the project; it’s bad for the country." Thomas Harrington Pigford was born on April 21, 1922, in Meridian, Miss., to Lamar and Zula Pigford. He graduated magna cum laude from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1943, served in the Navy in World War II, and was asked by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to join the faculty while still completing his doctorate there, his wife said. Before going to Berkeley, Dr. Pigford helped establish the nuclear engineering department at M.I.T. A chemical engineer, Dr. Pigford helped develop the process used by the government for years to harvest plutonium for bombs from irradiated reactor fuel. He was a co-author of “Nuclear Chemical Engineering,” published in 1958, revised in 1983 and considered the first text in the field. Dr. Pigford’s first wife, the former Catherine Kennedy Cathey, died in 1992. Besides his wife, the former Elizabeth Hood Weekes, who is known as Betty and whom he married in 1994, Dr. Pigford is survived by two daughters, Cynthia Pigford Naylor, of Durham, Calif., and Julie Pigford Earnest, of Portland, Ore.; two stepdaughters, Janvrin Demler, of Dedham, Mass., and Laura Weekes, of Los Angeles; five grandchildren; and one great-grandson. One of Dr. Pigford’s most memorable projects was perhaps the least successful: a cold war effort to develop a reactor to power an airplane. “It had worlds of engineering problems, and they were all fun to work on,” Dr. Pigford said in an oral history published in 1999 . But he acknowledged that the project was allowed to continue for too long. “You see,” he said, “the trouble is, the Air Force was the one who made the decisions and managed the money, and it fell in love with almost anything nuclear.” | Nuclear Energy;Engineering and Engineers;Deaths (Obituaries);Pigford Thomas H.;United States Defense and Military Forces;Nuclear Regulatory Commission |
ny0242898 | [
"business",
"energy-environment"
] | 2011/03/09 | Dudley of BP Says Industry Must Change to Guard Against Spills | HOUSTON — In his first public address to oil industry executives since becoming chief of BP , Robert Dudley said the entire industry needed to change to prevent another devastating deepwater oil spill like the one BP suffered last year. “I think it would be a mistake to dismiss our experience of the last year simply as a ‘black swan,’ a one-in-a-million occurrence that carries no wider application for our industry as a whole,” Mr. Dudley told oil executives at a conference here. “I believe the industry also has a responsibility to change.” He embraced the findings of the presidential investigative commission that came to a similar conclusion, and said BP was ready to share what it had learned. Mr. Dudley’s comments were in sharp contrast to the statements of other senior oil executives who said their companies would have designed wells differently from the Macondo well involved almost a year ago in a blowout that killed 11 workers and leaked millions of barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. They said the accident would not have happened had rig workers and their supervisors followed industry procedures, conducted adequate tests and been properly trained. The chief executive of Exxon Mobil, Rex T. Tillerson, recently repeated his position at a conference in Austin, Tex., saying, “I do not agree that this is an industrywide problem.” Since he took over as chief executive last fall, Mr. Dudley has tried to reposition BP and return a sense of calm and confidence. Company shares have recovered well over half of the value lost when they plunged after the spill. With oil prices rising, the company recently reinstituted a dividend that had been suspended after the accident. Mr. Dudley has sold billions of dollars in assets to pay for damages from the Gulf accident. He has put up for sale half of BP’s refining assets in the United States, including the giant Texas City refinery where 15 workers were killed in a 2005 explosion, in an effort to raise $5 billion. But he has also tried to guide the company on a renewed growth path. Mr. Dudley has lined up more than 30 projects around the world, including in Russia, India and Canada. Only two weeks ago, BP announced that it would pay $7.2 billion to acquire a 30 percent stake in 23 oil and gas fields operated by Reliance Industries, India’s oil giant. BP will offer its expertise in deep-sea drilling and technology, a sign that last year’s accident had not affected its ability or desire to continue to drill in deep water. The Reliance deal came only weeks after BP reached a $7.8 billion agreement with the Russian company Rosneft to drill in the Arctic. That deal turned heads around the industry, and was seen as a coup giving BP access to exploration licenses in one of the world’s last giant oil and gas frontiers. A seal of approval from Moscow was viewed as particularly important since Russia is now the world’s largest oil producer. But the deal has also caused one more in a series of headaches in the country as BP tries to navigate Russia’s rough-and-tumble business environment. Another BP Russian partner, TNK-BP, has tried to halt the deal in a London court, saying it violated previous agreements. Last week Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin of Russia expressed frustration, saying that BP had offered false assurances that the Rosneft agreement would not violate BP’s contracts with its other Russian partners. Wall Street analysts say that the company benefited from a report by the presidential commission investigating the fatal explosion because it held not only BP responsible but also the contractor Halliburton and the owner of the Deepwater Horizon rig Transocean for a series of mistakes leading up to the accident. “By spreading the blame around, you would think BP will not be found grossly negligent,” a legal finding that could multiply future fines, said Matti Teittinen, vice president and senior equity analyst at IHS Herold. In his speech, Mr. Dudley said the company had introduced new safety standards that had already born fruit. He said the company had already intervened several times to stop operations when corrective action was needed, and turned away rigs from contractors when they did not meet company standards. “We have shut in one production platform to repair the fire water pumps,” he said, referring to an incident in Azerbaijan. “And a producing field was shut down to enable pipeline integrity work to be carried out,” he added, referring to an incident last month in southern England. At a news conference, he said neither case threatened an imminent disaster. “When we see a problem we want to be able to stop operations,” he told reporters. “We are rewarding people for doing that. This is part of the cultural change.” William K. Reilly, co-chairman of the presidential commission that investigated the Gulf well accident, applauded the speech. “I thought it was a splendid acknowledgment,” he said. “A lot of C.E.O.’s are not happy with the characterization that the problem is systemic.” But Wall Street analysts are still skeptical about the future of the company. “I’m not a believer yet,” Brian Youngberg, a senior energy analyst at Edward Jones, said. “There’s still uncertainty over spill liabilities, and there is no real catalyst to see how this company can grow over the next three years.” | BP Plc;Oil (Petroleum) and Gasoline;Accidents and Safety |
ny0085951 | [
"nyregion"
] | 2015/07/16 | Closing Arguments Are Made in State Senator Sampson’s Conspiracy Trial | State Senator John L. Sampson leaned on his longtime cronies when he was in legal trouble, but in the end he was undone by the friends’ sense that he had betrayed their loyalty to protect himself, prosecutors said in closing arguments on Wednesday at the legislator’s federal conspiracy trial. “John Sampson is predisposed to tamper with witnesses and tamper with evidence like a fish is predisposed to swim,” Paul Tuchman, a federal prosecutor, told the jury in United States District Court in Brooklyn. But Mr. Sampson’s lawyer, Nathaniel H. Akerman, countered that federal authorities had entrapped Mr. Sampson and that a secret videotape they arranged for “would make Steven Spielberg proud.” Prosecutors initially charged Mr. Sampson, 50, a Brooklyn Democrat who was first elected in 1996, with embezzling $440,000 while serving as a court-appointed referee for two home foreclosure proceedings in 1998 and 2002. The government alleged that after pilfering money from the deals he was meant to arbitrate as part of his outside law practice, he tried to cover up the theft by pressuring Edul Ahmad, a real estate developer and confidant, to lend him money to replace the stolen funds in exchange for political favors. After Mr. Ahmad was indicted, prosecutors said, Mr. Sampson enjoined another trusted friend, Sam Noel, a paralegal in the United States attorney’s office in Brooklyn, to poke around illegally in confidential files for helpful information about the case. Mr. Noel and Mr. Ahmad were charged with crimes for their roles in the alleged conspiracy, and both testified against Mr. Sampson during the trial, which began on June 24. Mr. Ahmad’s testimony was critical, as he agreed to secretly record conversations with Mr. Sampson, in which the senator encouraged him to conceal damning evidence. Judge Dora L. Irizarry dismissed the embezzlement charges in October, saying the statute of limitations had expired. Prosecutors said they planned to appeal that ruling, but they proceeded to try Mr. Sampson on nine other counts, including conspiracy to obstruct justice, witness tampering, tampering with records, concealing records and making false statements. Mr. Sampson sat stiffly on Wednesday, his arms crossed and a dour expression etched on his face, as prosecutors recounted testimony and showed video recorded at a Queens restaurant in 2012 that they said revealed how the senator first persuaded Mr. Ahmad to lend him money to cover up for the misappropriated funds, and then pressured him to lie to the authorities about their arrangement. Image Senator John L. Sampson Credit Sam Hodgson for The New York Times Prosecutors said the conspiracy began when Mr. Ahmad was charged in 2011 in a mortgage fraud case, and Mr. Sampson worried that Mr. Ahmad might sweeten his own deal by turning on him. Mr. Sampson, in the prosecution’s account, offered to get Mr. Ahmad inside information on his case, hoping that would keep the developer from exposing their deal. The prosecution’s case and summation relied heavily on the testimony of Mr. Ahmad, who pleaded guilty to the mortgage fraud charges and is awaiting sentencing. Mr. Ahmad testified that Mr. Sampson had threatened to harm anyone he caught cooperating with the authorities against him. After that, Mr. Ahmad agreed to help the authorities in their case by secretly recording his conversations with Mr. Sampson. In those conversations, which were played in court, Mr. Sampson urged Mr. Ahmad to withhold from the authorities a document detailing the $188,500 loan the senator had received from Mr. Ahmad. In the event the ledger emerged, Mr. Ahmad said in testimony, Mr. Sampson suggested fictitious explanations for the money that Mr. Ahmad could offer to the authorities, including that it covered legal services Mr. Sampson had provided. Mr. Akerman allowed that Mr. Sampson had shown “bad judgment,” but he painted Mr. Ahmad as a sketchy witness who “made lying the foundation of his professional life,” and who agreed to help the government ensnare Mr. Sampson to help his own case. Prosecutors said Mr. Sampson was a natural at abusing his office to commit crimes. “The defendant thought he was above the law, the defendant acted as if he was above the law and the defendant broke the law,” Mr. Tuchman said. Having exploited one friend, prosecutors told the jury, Mr. Sampson then did so to another, when he asked Mr. Noel in late 2011 to ferret out the names of people who might be cooperating as witnesses in the Ahmad case. Mr. Noel testified that out of loyalty, he searched a confidential database, to no avail, but that ultimately he was caught and fired. Mr. Noel said in testimony that he was distressed that Mr. Sampson seemed more concerned with his own exposure than with what could happen to a close friend. Mr. Noel noted in his testimony that he had served as Mr. Sampson’s groomsman, was godfather to his daughter and had lost his job and his dignity in breaking the law for Mr. Sampson, whom he considered a “brother.” Mr. Noel was charged with exceeding authorized access, a misdemeanor, in September 2012, and pleaded guilty. He faces up to a year in jail when sentenced. Jury deliberations are expected to begin on Thursday. | John L Sampson;New York;Embezzlement;State legislature;Brooklyn;Crime;Politics |
ny0027015 | [
"nyregion"
] | 2013/01/29 | Connecticut Legislature Hearing on Gun Violence | HARTFORD — Victims of gun violence, burly men clad in hunting jackets and National Rifle Association hats, mothers wearing stickers reading “We Demand Change Now.” They were among hundreds of people who packed into the State Capitol on Monday for a charged and often emotional hearing on gun laws. The turnout highlighted the deep divisions in a state that has become a focal point of the national gun control debate since the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown last month that killed 20 children and 6 adult staff members. Among those to testify Monday were parents of some of the youngest Newtown victims, who took opposing sides. “The sole purpose of those AR-15s or AK-47s is to put a lot of lead out on the battlefield quickly, and that’s what they do and that’s what they did at Sandy Hook Elementary School,” said Neil Heslin, whose 6-year-old son, Jesse Lewis, was a victim. Mr. Heslin told lawmakers that he had grown up around guns and was the son of an avid hunter, but that he believed that there was no reason any citizen should have an assault-style weapon like the one used to kill his son. “That wasn’t just a killing. That was a massacre,” he said. “Those children and those victims were shot apart. And my son was one of them.” But Mark Mattioli, whose son James, 6, was also killed at Sandy Hook Elementary on Dec. 14, said: “I believe in a few simple gun laws. I think we have more than enough on the books. We should hold people individually accountable for their actions.” Mr. Mattioli said he also thought some liberals were using the attack in Newtown to spread fear on gun issues. “The problem is not gun laws,” he added. “The problem is a lack of civility.” The hearing, one of several scheduled by the legislature’s Bipartisan Task Force on Gun Violence Prevention and Children’s Safety , was expected to run deep into the night. Nearly 1,500 people, including family members, gun control advocates, gun rights advocates and gun industry representatives, had signed up or were invited to testify, although it was not clear how many would get the chance. The task force hopes to have legislation prepared for passage by the end of February. Outside the building, people braved frigid temperatures and driving snow while waiting to pass through metal detectors, part of the heightened security measures for the hearing. Women from groups like March for Change and One Million Moms for Gun Control, which are calling for stricter gun laws, stood far outnumbered by gun rights supporters, most of them men. One man carried a sign reading “Gun Control Does Not Make You Safer.” Another wore a jacket that said “N.R.A. Empowerment Member.” David Gentry, a personal trainer from Stamford, wore a holster on his waist with a copy of the Constitution tucked in it. “I just feel that’s where the conversation should start,” he said. Image “The sole purpose of those AR-15s or AK-47s is to put a lot of lead out on the battlefield quickly, and that’s what they do and that’s what they did at Sandy Hook Elementary School,” testified Neil Heslin, whose 6-year-old son was among the 26 children and staff members killed. Credit Jessica Hill/Associated Press Mr. Gentry, a father of two, said he was saddened by the Newtown massacre but also worried about “knee-jerk reactions” to it. Immediately after the attack, he said, he renewed his N.R.A. membership, bought four N.R.A. T-shirts and decided to attend the hearing on Monday to oppose stricter gun proposals. “There are things we can do in this country to help secure our children and improve firearms safety,” he said. “Better training, securing firearms, yet not making them inaccessible to authorized owners.” Kori Hammel, a musician and mother from Stratford, came with March for Change. “Sandy Hook was 10 minutes from where I grew up,” she said. “I just can’t act like everything is O.K.” Inside the hearing room, gun rights supporters wore round yellow stickers reading “Another Responsible Gun Owner.” People on the other side of the issue wore green ribbons, which have become a symbol of the Newtown tragedy. Connecticut is considered to have some of the strictest gun control laws in the country. But gun ownership has been on the rise, and the gun industry and pro-gun groups have flexed more muscle in Hartford in recent years. Last year, gun rights advocates showed up by the hundreds at a hearing to oppose legislation that would have restricted high-capacity ammunition magazines like the ones used by Adam Lanza in the Newtown massacre. On Monday, the state’s gun manufacturers said they supported stricter background checks but warned the task force against legislation they said could harm the state’s historic gun industry. Connecticut is the nation’s seventh-largest maker of firearms. “We have a reason to consider the ramifications on the firearms industry that has contributed much to the state’s history and culture and continues to play a vital role,” said Dennis Veilleux, president and chief executive of Colt Manufacturing, which has been based in Connecticut since the mid-19th century. Robert Crook, president of the Coalition of Connecticut Sportsmen, a gun rights lobbying group, said none of the gun control bills floating around Hartford would have stopped Mr. Lanza and would instead restrict the rights of lawful gun owners. “Remember, gun owners are the good guys,” he said. The testimony was marked by plenty of poignant moments. Veronique Pozner, whose son Noah died in the attack, showed task force members the last picture taken of her son the night before the shooting as she urged broad new restrictions. She recalled her son’s inquisitive nature. “He used to ask, ‘If there are bad guys out there, why can’t they just all wake up one day and decide to be good?’ ” Ms. Pozner said she did not always have an answer. | Gun Control;Sandy Hook Elementary Shooting;Legislation;Sandy Hook Elementary School Newtown Conn;Connecticut |
ny0061126 | [
"sports",
"golf"
] | 2014/08/25 | Ryu Edges Choi at Canadian Women’s Open | So Yeon Ryu of South Korea held off her compatriot Na Yeon Choi on Sunday to capture the Canadian Women’s Open in London, Ontario, ending her L.P.G.A. drought of more than two years without a win. The ninth-ranked Ryu matched the season-low L.P.G.A. 72-hole total of 23 under par, finishing at 265 to defeat Choi by two shots. Ryu fired a three-under-par 69 in the final round for a wire-to-wire win. ■ Scott Dunlap won the Champions Tour’s Boeing Classic in Snoqualmie, Wash., when he made a short birdie putt on the first hole of a playoff against Mark Brooks. (AP) ■ Jamie Donaldson of Wales shot a four-under 68 to win the Czech Masters in Vysoky Ujezd and secure a spot on the European Ryder Cup team. Donaldson birdied six holes and dropped two shots for a total 14-under 274. (AP) | Golf;So Yeon Ryu;Scott Dunlap;Jamie Donaldson |
ny0108982 | [
"business",
"energy-environment"
] | 2012/05/17 | Fight Over Auto Emissions Is Measured in Grams | The battle to control carbon dioxide from automobile tailpipes in the European Union is fought by the gram — a measure roughly equivalent to the weight of a paperclip. Greenhouse gases in these amounts may sound tiny, but they could affect millions of jobs in the Union and help determine Europe’s future as a major manufacturer. Four years ago, France, where Renault and PSA Peugeot-Citroën produce small and fuel-efficient cars, favored a proposal requiring each automaker’s fleet to emit, on average, 120 grams of CO2 per kilometer, or about two ounces per 0.6 mile. Germany, home to heavier and more fuel-hungry luxury brands like Mercedes and Porsche, was vehemently opposed. More than 35 percent of the European car industry’s 2.3 million workers who are involved in vehicle production are in Germany, a major auto exporter. Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, eventually struck a deal with the former French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, to delay full implementation of those measures — the Union’s first such mandatory targets — by three years, to 2015. The rules also were tweaked in subtle but important ways. Carmakers would be credited with 10 grams per kilometer of cuts for taking steps like equipping cars with engines compatible with biofuels and adding tire-pressure monitors and other gizmos to urge drivers to adopt fuel-saving behaviors. Automakers also could win seven grams of extra credit through so-called eco-innovations, like solar panels installed on car roofs, that are not normally part of emissions tests. And rather than paying €95, or $121, for each gram above the target on each registered car, as originally proposed, automakers that missed the target by one to three grams faced far more modest penalties of €5 to €25 for each excess gram. Italy and Britain also won special treatment for low-volume luxury brands like Aston Martin and Ferrari. Finally, automakers were entitled to so-called supercredits allowing them to count cars emitting less than 50 grams of CO2 initially as 3.5 cars, diminishing the need to phase out high-emitting vehicles. This year there could be another round of difficult negotiations and further demands to water down the rules. Connie Hedegaard, the E.U. commissioner for climate action, is expected to present legislation in July that would require the passenger car fleet to attain average emissions of 95 grams per kilometer by the end of the decade. The average level of CO2 for new vehicles sold in 2010 in the European Union was 140.3 grams per kilometer, according to the European Environment Agency. But approval for the recommendations is needed from governments and the European Parliament, which allows plenty of scope for lobbying before any new target becomes law. This time around, the focus is on whether the industry will be given latitude because of the poor economy. Sales of midsize vehicles have plunged across Europe, leading to manufacturing overcapacity and squeezing profits. Sergio Marchionne, the chief executive of Fiat and the head of the European Automobile Manufacturers Association, a trade group, has warned that “today, very few manufacturers make money in Europe.” The automakers’ association said reaching a target of 95 grams by the end of the decade would be “extremely challenging, in view of the required technological transformation, the necessary market uptake and the wider economic context that forces cost absorption through other channels than product price.” Not all automakers face the same problems. Sales of premium brands like BMW and Audi have held up better than those of lower-price cars, because affluent buyers have not suffered as much in the economic downturn, and because the manufacturers have broadened their ranges to make stylish, less-expensive small models. Moreover, some of the world’s biggest car parts companies have endorsed the target as part of an effort to make Europe a more competitive manufacturing hub. “We firmly believe reaching 95 grams by 2020 is feasible,” said Jean-Marc Gales, the chief executive of the European Association of Automotive Suppliers and a former board member of PSA Peugeot-Citroën. Mr. Gales, whose association’s members include Bosch and Delphi, said simple and inexpensive systems like those that cut engines when cars are at a standstill had already delivered big reductions in emissions. Last year, a report commissioned by Ms. Hedegaard’s department found that some of the most expensive technologies, like electric cars , now looked unnecessary for meeting the 95-gram target because making improvements to cars with internal combustion engines had turned out to be cheaper than originally thought. The report said there should be no continuation of “super-credits” that diminished automakers’ incentives to phase out high-emitting vehicles. But the report, prepared by TNO, a Dutch research organization, also warned that automakers still needed time to adjust. Some environmental groups say the 95-gram target is not ambitious enough and are pushing for binding targets of 80 grams by the end of this decade and 60 grams by the middle of the next decade. One such group, Transport & Environment, said the ambition was justified because the car industry’s previous warnings that binding targets would make cars unaffordable had been proved false. Carmakers could hit their targets for the middle of this decade before the deadline and without the need to raise prices significantly for consumers, said Greg Archer, who runs the group’s clean vehicles program. Another group, Greenpeace, warned that a failure to set adequate targets beyond 2020 for passenger cars could derail the European goal of making cars deliver the largest reduction of emissions from the transport sector by the middle of the century. The industry “has to be led by the nose on fuel efficiency,” said Franziska Achterberg, the E.U. transport policy adviser for Greenpeace. “Politicians and bureaucrats should hold their nerve,” she said. | European Union;Automobiles;Greenhouse Gas Emissions;Air Pollution;Carbon Dioxide;Europe |
ny0132744 | [
"sports",
"soccer"
] | 2012/12/23 | In England, Day After Christmas, Boxing Day, Means Soccer Games | After the confinement and tiring etiquette of Christmas Day, the prospect of soccer on Wednesday offers something of a refuge for Britons. An opportunity to escape the family, the simmering tensions and the dinner table strife, and breathe a sigh of relief, Boxing Day games are a tradition that Britain holds dear. A national holiday, the day after Christmas (also called St. Stephen’s Day) has come to be known as Boxing Day. The origin of its name is largely unknown. One theory suggests the date was a day off for servants who would receive a Christmas box from their employers to take home to their families. Another proposes that great ships setting sail would have a sealed box full of money onboard for good luck. If the voyage was a success, the box was given to the church and the contents donated to the poor on this day. Whatever its roots, its quintessentially British traditions are steeped in history, of which soccer is the centerpiece for many. The tradition of soccer on Boxing Day dates to 1860, when the world’s oldest and second-oldest clubs contested the first interclub match. Hallam and Sheffield played a game under Sheffield Rules, a 19th-century interpretation of today’s modern sport that still permitted participants to catch the ball with their hands. Derby matches were once contrived to fall on Dec. 26, bypassing the computer that randomly decides the schedule for the rest of the season. That particular tradition is now neglected in the upper echelons of English soccer. The past two seasons have had only two genuine derbies, with Fulham drawing with Chelsea in 2011 and West Ham winning at Craven Cottage the year before that. Only Arsenal and West Ham represented such a clash this year , until planned London Underground strikes for Wednesday forced a postponement. These local games were devised to ensure that supporters would not have to travel long distances at a time of the year that revolves around the home. Those who perhaps would not or could not attend their local team’s games for a majority of the season would go to the Boxing Day derby, in much the same way some Christians might attend only Christmas Eve services. Perhaps it is an indictment of modern soccer’s precedence that this consideration is now dismissed. Or maybe the authorities simply decided that holding feisty derby matches fueled by alcohol was probably not the best way to mark the holidays. (At one game between Sheffield Wednesday and Sheffield United in 1979, players and supporters took Boxing Day a little too literally, and more than 50 were arrested.) The most remarkable Boxing Day occurred in 1963, when 157 goals were scored in 39 games, with Fulham registering a 10-1 win over Ipswich Town; Liverpool defeating Stoke City, 6-1; Blackburn Rovers routing West Ham, 8-2; and Burnley topping Manchester United, 6-1. Surprisingly, when United met Burnley again two days later, it scored five goals. Likewise, Ipswich defeated Fulham, 4-2, and West Ham also completed an unlikely turnaround, beating Blackburn by 3-1. As far as the rest of Europe is concerned, sports on Dec. 26 is uniquely British. In Germany, the Bundesliga takes a six-week break in December and January. France similarly enters a state of hibernation, and some Eastern European countries postpone all sporting endeavors until March. But in Britain (Scotland’s Premier League also has a full slate of games), the festivities are a time-honored and much-loved highlight of the sporting calendar, despite a degree of clamor from some for a continental-style winter break. Outsiders question why the most games are played at the most volatile time of the year. (Many lower-level teams will be unable to complete their schedules for months because of unplayable fields.) Insiders might not have an answer. British Boxing Day sports, in general, has a long and storied history. Dog-led fox hunts were a popular pastime, particularly among the upper classes, until the sport was outlawed in 2005. Horse racing was also a Dec. 26 staple, with the King George VI Chase still hosted every year at Kempton racecourse. Rugby once operated a schedule similar to soccer’s until adopting a summer season in 1996. One Boxing Day tradition that has withstood time along with soccer is the urge to take to the sea, as participants don novelty costumes and plunge into the icy waters. That custom puts typical British eccentricity on full display all along the shoreline. But no other sport can claim a stronger influence of good will over the holidays than soccer. Even during World War I, British and German troops called a temporary truce over Christmas to play a game with each other between their trenches. Festive traditions tend to outlast their practicality; the explanation for the name Boxing Day is testament to that. Although the custom of soccer on the day after Christmas might have been diluted somewhat over the years, its place on the calendar is still marked. Soccer and Christmas have changed significantly since Hallam and Sheffield played for the first time in 1860, but some traditions are seen as worth preserving. | Christmas;Soccer;Boxing Day;Great Britain |
ny0152085 | [
"business",
"yourmoney"
] | 2008/08/30 | The Bank Account That Sprang a Leak | They are a staple of consumer-complaint hotlines and Web sites: anguished tales about money stolen electronically from bank accounts, about unhelpful bank tellers and, finally, about unreimbursed losses. But surely customers of the elite private banking operation at JPMorgan Chase , serving only the bank’s wealthiest clients, are safe from such problems, right? Wrong, says Guy Wyser-Pratte, an activist investor on Wall Street for more than 40 years who uses his hedge fund’s war chest of roughly $500 million to wage takeover fights and proxy battles in the United States and Europe. In May, Mr. Wyser-Pratte learned that someone had siphoned nearly $300,000 from his personal account at the private bank through many small electronic transfers over a 15-month period. Then he was told by the bank that he could stop the theft only by closing his account and opening a new one — an enormous hassle, he said. And finally, JPMorgan Chase told him that the bank would cover only $50,000 of his losses. “While this is an unfortunate situation, we believe our response has been entirely appropriate,” said Mary Sedarat, a spokeswoman for the private banking service at JPMorgan Chase. Mr. Wyser-Pratte emphatically disagrees. “They never should have approved that first transfer,” he said. The wealthy financier “is getting a taste of what the rest of us have to deal with all the time,” said Gail Hillebrand, the senior staff lawyer for Consumers Union in San Francisco. That sour taste is called automated clearing house fraud, theft involving unauthorized electronic transfers through the automated networks of the circulatory systems that connect the world’s bank accounts. When a consumer writes a check, the merchant that accepts it is entitled to have the specified amount taken from the customer’s bank account and sent electronically to the merchant’s account. But once someone has certain routing numbers for a customer’s account, fraudulent transfers become possible unless the customer carefully scrutinizes all of the transactions on the monthly account statement. If the consumer reports a clearly unauthorized transaction within 60 days, federal banking rules require the bank to cover the loss, Ms. Hillebrand said. If not, and if the bank informed the customer in advance about the 60-day deadline, the bank has no liability. Consumer advocates agree that online purchases and automatic bill-paying arrangements have greatly complicated the task of catching fraudulent transfers — particularly small ones — from busy accounts. And Mr. Wyser-Pratte’s personal account was as busy as his life. Louis Morin Jr., his chief operating officer, said his boss splits his time between Paris and New York and travels almost constantly. “He is not someone who writes 30 checks a month — more like thousands a month,” Mr. Morin said. And a retail bank statement is kindergarten arithmetic compared with the monthly statement for a private banking client. Indeed, Mr. Wyser-Pratte said that the statements have become so complicated not even a Wall Street veteran like himself could detect the continuing theft. “I kept complaining that the bank’s records showed I was overdrawn when I shouldn’t be,” he said. Each time, he was assured that the statement was accurate, even if he could not decipher it. As for the 60-day deadline for reporting a theft, “I never knew about it,” he said. “I opened that account eons ago, it must be 20 or 25 years now. I don’t think I ever signed anything agreeing to that policy.” It all sounds sadly familiar to Ms. Hillebrand, who said all bank customers — even wealthy private banking customers — must know their rights and watch their monthly statements. “It is easier than ever for people to steal money from your account,” she said. Mr. Wyser-Pratte has filed a complaint with the New York City Police Department . A detective working on the case confirmed that an investigation is under way. According to Mr. Morin, the money was sucked out of Mr. Wyser-Pratte’s personal account through dozens of unauthorized purchases of computer equipment from Dell. But so far, police investigators have been able to trace only a single $1,600 shipment of equipment, delivered to a nonexistent business in Brooklyn. Mr. Wyser-Pratte, understandably eager to solve the mystery, complained that neither Dell nor his bankers were giving the police enough help. “Dell is cooperating fully” with the police, said Jess Blackburn, a company spokesman. “We have been very responsive to all requests for information.” JPMorgan Chase is also cooperating fully, said Ms. Sedarat, the bank spokeswoman. “This is an important reminder that clients are responsible for monitoring activity in their accounts.” The bank’s private banking clients probably did not need another reminder so soon. On July 29, federal authorities in Manhattan announced the indictment and arrest of Hernán E. Arbizu, who was a vice president in the private bank’s Latin American unit and who is accused of embezzling more than $5 million from his private banking clients. Ms. Sedarat said that case was completely unrelated to Mr. Wyser-Pratte’s loss. | Morgan J P Chase & Co;automated clearing house fraud;Computers and the Internet;Frauds and Swindling;Robberies and Thefts |
ny0045221 | [
"business",
"international"
] | 2014/02/19 | Chinese Developer Envisions a Future for Abandoned London Docks | LONDON — Known for ambitious plans in China for business parks the size of cities, Xu Weiping says he cannot wait to start work on his first project abroad: turning an abandoned London dock into Europe’s main hub for Chinese companies. “I’m a man with a vision and the ability to turn my dream into reality,” said Mr. Xu, dressed in a yellow-and-white Versace shirt, a black velvet jacket and patent-leather shoes with gold buckles. Mr. Xu last year agreed to invest $1.6 billion to turn London’s derelict Royal Albert Dock back into a vibrant global trading hub. But instead of ships he is betting on Chinese companies that are seeking a foothold in Europe. Mr. Xu said that more than 60 Chinese businesses, many already tenants of his empire in China, have signed up to take space in the development, about nine miles east of London’s city center. Construction on what is planned as 4.5 million square feet of office space, to be done in phases through 2022, could start as soon as this summer. The plan has the backing of Mayor Boris Johnson, who welcomed the investment. Lying untouched since the dock closed in 1981, a hundred years after it was built for ships too big to dock farther up the Thames, the site is one of the largest undeveloped areas in London and has been a major headache for the city. Despite the initial investment, questions remain as to whether the project will succeed. Other plans for the area have failed, and some officials question how many local jobs the Chinese investment will create. Alex Foshay, a partner at the real estate agency Knight Frank in London, said he did not think Mr. Xu would have any problem filling office space. Rising demand from tenants as Britain’s economy recovers, combined with a backlog of planned developments, is pushing up rents and creating a shortage of supply, he said. Standing on the Docklands Light Railway platform at the Royal Albert Dock station, it is hard to imagine that the windswept patches of grass, parking lots and concrete walkways below could one day be a bustling business center with restaurants, residences and a hotel. The area benefits from a large waterfront, an advantage when attracting Chinese companies because of its importance in feng shui, which holds that water can help the flow of energy. It is also a 10-minute train ride to the Canary Wharf financial district. Image Mr. Xu of Advanced Business Park, in gray suit, toured the Royal Albert Dock site in May. His plans call for redeveloping the site into a business center. Credit Dan Kitwood/Getty Images Mr. Xu’s business park is unlikely to face much opposition from neighbors, mainly because there are none. The existing residential developments are separated from the site by a busy highway, and many residents would welcome anything that would bring restaurants and stores to the area. “It’s wasteland now, so it can only get better,” said Kelly Newsome, who has lived in the area for more than four years. “If the project will create jobs and inject money into the area, that would be very welcome.” Mayor Johnson has said that Mr. Xu’s plan would eventually add 6 billion pounds, or about $10 billion, to the British economy and turn what was once one of “the throbbing arteries of U.K. trade and commerce” into “a world-class international business district.” Mr. Xu said his company, Advanced Business Park, would provide 30 percent of the $1.6 billion investment to construct offices and public and retailing spaces. The rest would come from investors, banks and the presale of office units. The government plans to sell Mr. Xu the 35 acres of the Royal Albert Dock, though the sale price was not disclosed. The development, being in what is now a derelict zone, is eligible for tax advantages. But some of Mr. Johnson’s critics have branded the project the latest example of what they see as his willingness to sell parts of London to the highest bidder too easily. Just west of the Royal Albert Dock, Mr. Johnson struck a sponsorship deal with the airline Emirates for a cable car across the Thames in 2012 and secured funds from Abu Dhabi for the ExCeL London conference center in 2008. The Financial Times reported last year that questions were raised in China about the source of Mr. Xu’s finances for his developments and his links to the Chinese government. In an interview, Mr. Xu dismissed accusations of close government ties and said he made his money designing knitting machines and other appliances before setting up his real estate company. Advanced Business Park owns a business complex in Beijing and has two similar projects under construction. An additional project in Hangzhou Bay, close to Shanghai, is planned to be the size of central London, including a green space the size of Hyde Park. Mr. Xu’s London plan is by far his smallest, but it comes with challenges. The airplanes taking off and landing at London City Airport just across the water interrupt any calm the waterfront might create. The council of the borough of Newham, which is in charge of the area, has imposed strict rules about a timetable for the construction and how many local jobs the project must create. Previous projects for the area, which included a floating village, failed because they fell afoul of local rules and ran short of developer financing. Image A photo of a rendering of the proposed development. Boris Johnson, London's mayor, has said the project will eventually add 6 billion pounds (about $10 billion) to the British economy. Credit Hazel Thompson for The New York Times Sitting in his temporary office in the Royal Albert Dock, in a former storage space designed to keep beef shipments from Argentina dry and cool, Mr. Xu seemed unfazed. Speaking through an interpreter, he said he was not worried about Britain’s bureaucratic hoops to gain building permission. “There is more structure in the U.K. system,” he said with a smile. “But the council of Newham is adapting to our speed.” Mr. Xu said his company expected to get planning permission in the coming months and to start construction of the business park this year. Patricia Holland, a member of the Newham council, said Mr. Xu’s planning application was getting a good reception. Newham, a relatively poor borough that has been struggling to reduce unemployment, said it expected the project to create 20,000 jobs and increase employment locally by 30 percent. Some residents have questioned whether the new Chinese neighbors will indeed seek to employ local staff members without Mandarin language skills. But Ms. Holland also said residents were excited that the project would turn into “something that has more soul because people will care more about it, just like Canary Wharf.” Chinese companies that pledged to take offices in the Royal Albert Dock include the Eve Fashion Group, a male fashion brand; the China Water Group, a water and sewage treatment provider; and the Guangyao Oriental Group, a real estate development company. Even if the project goes ahead as planned, such regenerations can take decades to be successful, said Michael Edwards, a senior lecturer at the Bartlett School of Planning of University College London. Canary Wharf’s initial developers went bankrupt in the commercial real estate collapse of the 1990s. It took decades and large sums of government investment to improve transportation links to attract the global businesses that now provide more than 100,000 jobs. Mr. Xu said he was attracted to the Royal Albert Dock because it fit with his company’s strategy of acquiring land just outside major city centers. As cities grow, the properties will eventually become part of them, he said. His hope is that Canary Wharf will eventually expand eastward and link up with the Royal Albert Dock. But he said he was also attracted by the history of the site and the link the docks established between Europe and Asia. The Royal Albert Dock opened in 1880 and included warehouses and granaries that lined the quays, storing imported goods before they were delivered farther into London. The docks survived heavy bombing by the Germans during World War II but succumbed to transportation innovation when merchants started using larger container vessels that no longer entered the docks. The docks finally shut in 1981. A history buff, Mr. Xu said he was seeking to revive the dock’s importance. “In the 19th century, the docks were an important trading connection between Asia and the U.K., and it made a good contribution to the economy of Europe,” he said. “There is a new, highly educated generation of Chinese people now, and through this generation we can bring together the cultures of the West and East.” | Construction;Commercial Real Estate;Real Estate; Housing;London;China;Boris Johnson;International trade;Xu Weiping |
ny0105173 | [
"nyregion"
] | 2012/03/13 | In Albany, Cardinal Timothy Dolan Is Friendly Yet Concerned | ALBANY — The cardinal explored the Capitol like a curious tourist on Monday, commenting loudly as he gazed from side to side at the paintings and historic treasures outside Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo ’s office. He ribbed a veteran reporter, calling her Helen Thomas because of her seniority in the press corps and her vague resemblance to the former White House correspondent. The reporter, Betty Flood, poked back, presenting him with a four pack of Murphy’s Stout, suggesting that the lighter brew would be good for his round frame. And when the cardinal, Timothy M. Dolan , the archbishop of New York, sat down with a television reporter, he slipped off the heavy gold ring the pope gave him last month at his elevation to let the reporter examine it. The Catholic Church’s policy positions, particularly on social policy, are often are at odds with the leanings of the New York State Legislature, which last year legalized same-sex marriage and this year is debating a measure to solidify abortion rights. But Cardinal Dolan, making his first visit to Albany since being elevated to cardinal, chose on Monday to emphasize the positive, demonstrating the back-slapping banter and glass-half-full outlook of his public posture. “One of the things we bishops always cringe a little bit about,” Cardinal Dolan told reporters, “sometimes we worry that we’re caricatured as always being against things and that we’re coming up here just filled with negatives and warnings. But in general, we come up here to affirm and to encourage.” After a 45-minute meeting with Mr. Cuomo, Cardinal Dolan glossed over their differences — the governor, who is Catholic, supports gay marriage and abortion rights and is a divorced man who lives with his girlfriend — and instead emphasized their commonalities. “With Governor Cuomo, they’re particularly friendly and substantive,” Cardinal Dolan said of their meetings. It appears that the good will is mutual. On Monday Mr. Cuomo declared this week “Timothy Cardinal Dolan Week,” and ordered 1 World Trade Center to be illuminated with red lights until Sunday. “Cardinal Dolan has quickly become a beloved leader in our state, and it is clear that he will continue to have a tremendous impact on the next generation of Catholicism in New York and throughout the United States,” Mr. Cuomo said in a statement. The cardinal, accompanied by several other New York State Catholic bishops, also met with Dean G. Skelos, a Long Island Republican who is the Senate majority leader, and Sheldon Silver, a Manhattan Democrat who is the Assembly speaker. Cardinal Dolan’s visit was a friendly prelude to a more difficult encounter Tuesday, when more than 1,000 Catholics are expected to descend on the Capitol to push the church’s legislative agenda. The church is especially concerned about the proposed Reproductive Health Act, which would codify abortion rights in state law. “Whenever we see the abortion license being strengthened or consolidated or expanded, we get more and more worried,” Cardinal Dolan said. “We’re particularly worried about this one for a number of reasons. For one, it seems to be predicated upon almost a paranoia that abortion rights, the abortion license, is being restrained or set back. If anything, we keep seeing it expanded.” Cardinal Dolan said he was worried that Catholic health facilities could be coerced into performing abortions if the law is passed. The cardinal said he also expressed to the governor a concern that the Catholic Church might be forced to perform gay marriages. But he said the governor assured him that he would protect religious freedom. Cardinal Dolan criticized a legislative proposal that would, for a year, drop the statute of limitations for filing civil claims for sexual offenses, allowing for lawsuits by people who say they were abused long ago. The cardinal said he was concerned that a flood of lawsuits over abuse by priests could drain the church of money it is using for charitable purposes. “I think we bishops have been very contrite in admitting that the church did not handle this well at all in the past,” he said. “But we bristle sometimes in that the church doesn’t get the credit, now being in the vanguard of reform. It does bother us that the church continues to be a whipping boy.” The cardinal did not take a position on Mr. Cuomo’s push to expand casino gambling in New York. After joking that he had not thought much about the proposal, he said that Mr. Cuomo had bet him $5 he could not leave their meeting without taking a doughnut from the table. Cardinal Dolan said he won the bet. | Dolan Timothy M;State Legislatures;Politics and Government;Roman Catholic Church;Cuomo Andrew M |
ny0052707 | [
"technology",
"personaltech"
] | 2014/07/04 | Prepaid Mobile Data Plans for International Travel | Q. I’m going on vacation to Europe and want to get an international data plan for my AT&T tablet to keep in touch by mail and social media. The plans are prepaid, but I’m not sure which one to get yet. How much data does the average email message use up? A. The size of an email can vary, especially if there are documents or photos attached. A plain message with no file attachments may take up only about 20 kilobytes, but a message with photos attached may burn up anywhere from 300 kilobytes to a couple of megabytes. Of all the activities that send and receive data, plain email is generally one of the lighter ones. Depending on the sites you visit, browsing the web for an hour may use 15 to 20 megabytes of a data plan, and streaming high-definition video can eat up more than five megabytes a minute. To get a better idea of your anticipated data usage, check AT&T’s interactive International Data Calculator page. You can select your type of device and then use on-screen sliders to estimate how much email you plan to send and receive. You can also make estimates for other online undertakings, like posting photos to a social media site. Other carriers, including T-Mobile (which includes international data with some of its plans), Verizon Wireless and Sprint , have similar online tools for estimating general data use. As you adjust the sliders, the calculator page shows you approximately how much data is being used up so you can pick your prepaid plan accordingly. Should you find yourself with an unexpectedly high volume of mail or other data-intensive tasks on your trip, your carrier will most likely warn you when you are getting close to your limit — and then offer to sell you more megabytes. Backing Up the Whole iPod Q. How do you back up an iPod that has music loaded on it from multiple computers that aren’t all in the same iTunes library? I’d like to get the contents of the entire 80-gigabyte iPod backed up for safekeeping. A. Apple’s iTunes program keeps a copy of all the content you load on your iPod from that computer. In an attempt to thwart piracy, this is a one-way trip and iTunes does not sync back files you manually loaded onto the player from other machines. However, many of your past purchases from the iTunes Store can also be downloaded again or transferred back to your computer , even if you purchased the content on a different Mac or PC. For all those other files — loaded from previous computers, work machines and elsewhere — a third-party program that copies iPod files to the computer is one way to go. Most of these iPod-copy programs, which range from free to about $25, scan the connected iPod’s contents, let you select files to copy back and then ask you to pick a destination for the goods. Various online guides explain different methods for the iPod-to-computer trip in detail. For example, CNET has a demonstration video and the iLounge site has an old, but mostly still-relevant overview . Programs for Windows and Mac OS X are available around the web, like CopyTrans for Windows, or Senuti or iRip for OS X. Sharepod , for both platforms, can copy files right back to iTunes too. The ability to copy files back from the iPod can also come in handy in case your computer’s hard drive goes south and takes its copies of your iPod’s files with it. If you did not have a backup drive for the machine, you can use the iPod-copying approach to harvest your music and videos and deposit them onto your new computer. | Computers and the Internet;Tech Industry;iPod;Wireless;Apple;AT&T;Sprint Nextel;T-Mobile US;Verizon Communications;iTunes |
ny0217662 | [
"business",
"energy-environment"
] | 2010/05/04 | U.S. Farmers Cope With Roundup-Resistant Weeds | DYERSBURG, Tenn. — For 15 years, Eddie Anderson, a farmer, has been a strict adherent of no-till agriculture, an environmentally friendly technique that all but eliminates plowing to curb erosion and the harmful runoff of fertilizers and pesticides. But not this year. On a recent afternoon here, Mr. Anderson watched as tractors crisscrossed a rolling field — plowing and mixing herbicides into the soil to kill weeds where soybeans will soon be planted. Just as the heavy use of antibiotics contributed to the rise of drug-resistant supergerms, American farmers’ near-ubiquitous use of the weedkiller Roundup has led to the rapid growth of tenacious new superweeds. To fight them, Mr. Anderson and farmers throughout the East, Midwest and South are being forced to spray fields with more toxic herbicides, pull weeds by hand and return to more labor-intensive methods like regular plowing. “We’re back to where we were 20 years ago,” said Mr. Anderson, who will plow about one-third of his 3,000 acres of soybean fields this spring, more than he has in years. “We’re trying to find out what works.” Farm experts say that such efforts could lead to higher food prices , lower crop yields, rising farm costs and more pollution of land and water. “It is the single largest threat to production agriculture that we have ever seen,” said Andrew Wargo III, the president of the Arkansas Association of Conservation Districts. The first resistant species to pose a serious threat to agriculture was spotted in a Delaware soybean field in 2000. Since then, the problem has spread, with 10 resistant species in at least 22 states infesting millions of acres, predominantly soybeans, cotton and corn. The superweeds could temper American agriculture’s enthusiasm for some genetically modified crops . Soybeans, corn and cotton that are engineered to survive spraying with Roundup have become standard in American fields. However, if Roundup doesn’t kill the weeds, farmers have little incentive to spend the extra money for the special seeds. Roundup — originally made by Monsanto but now also sold by others under the generic name glyphosate — has been little short of a miracle chemical for farmers. It kills a broad spectrum of weeds, is easy and safe to work with, and breaks down quickly, reducing its environmental impact. Sales took off in the late 1990s, after Monsanto created its brand of Roundup Ready crops that were genetically modified to tolerate the chemical, allowing farmers to spray their fields to kill the weeds while leaving the crop unharmed. Today, Roundup Ready crops account for about 90 percent of the soybeans and 70 percent of the corn and cotton grown in the United States. But farmers sprayed so much Roundup that weeds quickly evolved to survive it. “What we’re talking about here is Darwinian evolution in fast-forward,” Mike Owen, a weed scientist at Iowa State University, said. Now, Roundup-resistant weeds like horseweed and giant ragweed are forcing farmers to go back to more expensive techniques that they had long ago abandoned. Mr. Anderson, the farmer, is wrestling with a particularly tenacious species of glyphosate-resistant pest called Palmer amaranth, or pigweed, whose resistant form began seriously infesting farms in western Tennessee only last year. Pigweed can grow three inches a day and reach seven feet or more, choking out crops; it is so sturdy that it can damage harvesting equipment. In an attempt to kill the pest before it becomes that big, Mr. Anderson and his neighbors are plowing their fields and mixing herbicides into the soil. That threatens to reverse one of the agricultural advances bolstered by the Roundup revolution: minimum-till farming. By combining Roundup and Roundup Ready crops, farmers did not have to plow under the weeds to control them. That reduced erosion, the runoff of chemicals into waterways and the use of fuel for tractors. If frequent plowing becomes necessary again, “that is certainly a major concern for our environment,” Ken Smith, a weed scientist at the University of Arkansas, said. In addition, some critics of genetically engineered crops say that the use of extra herbicides, including some old ones that are less environmentally tolerable than Roundup, belies the claims made by the biotechnology industry that its crops would be better for the environment. “The biotech industry is taking us into a more pesticide-dependent agriculture when they’ve always promised, and we need to be going in, the opposite direction,” said Bill Freese, a science policy analyst for the Center for Food Safety in Washington. So far, weed scientists estimate that the total amount of United States farmland afflicted by Roundup-resistant weeds is relatively small — seven million to 10 million acres, according to Ian Heap, director of the International Survey of Herbicide Resistant Weeds, which is financed by the agricultural chemical industry. There are roughly 170 million acres planted with corn, soybeans and cotton, the crops most affected. Roundup-resistant weeds are also found in several other countries, including Australia, China and Brazil, according to the survey. Monsanto, which once argued that resistance would not become a major problem, now cautions against exaggerating its impact. “It’s a serious issue, but it’s manageable,” said Rick Cole, who manages weed resistance issues in the United States for the company. Of course, Monsanto stands to lose a lot of business if farmers use less Roundup and Roundup Ready seeds. “You’re having to add another product with the Roundup to kill your weeds,” said Steve Doster, a corn and soybean farmer in Barnum, Iowa. “So then why are we buying the Roundup Ready product?” Monsanto argues that Roundup still controls hundreds of weeds. But the company is concerned enough about the problem that it is taking the extraordinary step of subsidizing cotton farmers’ purchases of competing herbicides to supplement Roundup. Monsanto and other agricultural biotech companies are also developing genetically engineered crops resistant to other herbicides. Bayer is already selling cotton and soybeans resistant to glufosinate, another weedkiller. Monsanto’s newest corn is tolerant of both glyphosate and glufosinate, and the company is developing crops resistant to dicamba, an older pesticide. Syngenta is developing soybeans tolerant of its Callisto product. And Dow Chemical is developing corn and soybeans resistant to 2,4-D, a component of Agent Orange, the defoliant used in the Vietnam War. Still, scientists and farmers say that glyphosate is a once-in-a-century discovery, and steps need to be taken to preserve its effectiveness. Glyphosate “is as important for reliable global food production as penicillin is for battling disease,” Stephen B. Powles, an Australian weed expert, wrote in a commentary in January in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The National Research Council, which advises the federal government on scientific matters, sounded its own warning last month , saying that the emergence of resistant weeds jeopardized the substantial benefits that genetically engineered crops were providing to farmers and the environment. Weed scientists are urging farmers to alternate glyphosate with other herbicides. But the price of glyphosate has been falling as competition increases from generic versions, encouraging farmers to keep relying on it. Something needs to be done, said Louie Perry Jr., a cotton grower whose great-great-grandfather started his farm in Moultrie, Ga., in 1830. Georgia has been one of the states hit hardest by Roundup-resistant pigweed, and Mr. Perry said the pest could pose as big a threat to cotton farming in the South as the beetle that devastated the industry in the early 20th century. “If we don’t whip this thing, it’s going to be like the boll weevil did to cotton,” said Mr. Perry, who is also chairman of the Georgia Cotton Commission. “It will take it away.” | Roundup;Weeds;Agriculture;Defoliants and Herbicides;Farmers;Factory Farming |
ny0085307 | [
"world",
"middleeast"
] | 2015/07/04 | Aleppo Fighting Flares as Syria Insurgents Attack | BEIRUT, Lebanon — The fiercest fighting in months raged in the divided Syrian city of Aleppo on Friday, as newly reorganized insurgents carried out a new offensive on government-held areas. Two insurgent coalitions — a new one that includes the Nusra Front, Al Qaeda’s branch in Syria , and one formed in May by local factions long active in Aleppo — attacked simultaneously from several directions, unleashing hundreds of rockets and shells. Government forces hit back with shelling and airstrikes, and civilians came under fire from both sides, according to witnesses and statements from the warring parties. The stakes are high for all sides. For President Bashar al-Assad , losing his foothold in Aleppo, Syria’s industrial and economic capital and its largest city before the war, would signal that the government could not meaningfully project power beyond its strongholds stretching from the Mediterranean coastal mountains to Damascus, the capital. For the insurgents, the fight tests whether they can reprise their seizure this year of another provincial capital, Idlib , where they executed an unusually coherent battle plan through a newly created, unified operations center. But Aleppo is a greater challenge for them: The government and its allies, the Lebanese group Hezbollah and Iraqi Shiite militias, are likely to fight harder. And the Islamic State jihadist group is trying to drive rival insurgents out of core territory east of city. Just hours after the battle began late Thursday, rifts were already evident between insurgent groups — apparently centering on who would rule Aleppo and how, as the new coalition including the Nusra Front declared it would rule with other factions according to Islamic law. That raised the specter of infighting among insurgent groups if they manage to drive out government forces. The fighting also underscored the lack of progress from international leaders in finding a political solution to the war, which has lasted four and a half years and claimed more than 230,000 lives, driven millions from their homes, and destroyed much of the storied old city of Aleppo. Less than a year ago, the United Nations special envoy, Staffan de Mistura, had pinned hopes for reviving talks on a proposed freeze in fighting in Aleppo; the idea never gained traction. Turkey, a fierce opponent of Mr. Assad, sent reinforcements to its borders as the fighting intensified, raising speculation of an imminent intervention. But the prime minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, told a Turkish television channel that the country aimed only to protect its borders. Footage posted online by Syrian insurgents showed explosions like fireworks and the flash of tracer bullets over Aleppo at night, and heavy smoke at dawn over the Zahra neighborhood, which insurgents said they had wrested by morning from government hands. Iraqi Army Retakes Government Complex in Central Ramadi Efforts to stem the rise of the Islamic State. Much of the fighting in Aleppo has been with ground-to-ground projectiles that are fired into civilian areas. Coupled with government airstrikes, that has meant that civilians are again bearing the brunt of the fighting, amid the strain of life in a city divided into government and rebel zones by a deadly buffer zone. Death tolls in the latest fighting were impossible to confirm, but each side said that civilians had been killed and claimed to have killed scores of the others’ fighters. As the fighting started, the Nusra Front and its close ally Ahrar al-Sham, a large Islamist faction, declared the formation of a new coalition called Ansar al-Shariah — which can be translated as Supporters of Islamic Law — that included several other factions coordinated through a shared operations room. In a video statement, its leaders declared that their aim was “the liberation of Aleppo and its countryside,” after which they would work with other factions on a “joint covenant” to rule the city “according to the rules of Sharia.” But the new formation did not include some of the main groups that have held eastern Aleppo since insurgents seized it in 2012. Those groups include some that United States officials have at times deemed moderate enough to receive aid, and had previously organized a joint operations room called Fatah Halab, or Conquest of Aleppo. They, too, joined the battle alongside the new coalition, with the commander, Yaser Abdulrahman, declaring in a video, “In retaliation for the massacres committed by the regime against our people in Aleppo, we won’t stop till the liberation of the whole of Aleppo, God willing.” The two groups appeared to work together, and some activists and insurgents said they remain allies at least for the short term but divided into two separate coalitions as a gesture to satisfy the United States and its allies, which object to aiding groups that work directly with the Nusra Front. An Islamist activist who shares often reliable information about the various factions on Twitter, using the name Mzamjer al-Sham, criticized the formation of Ansar al-Shariah, calling it a sign of fragmentation. He said other factions in Aleppo were preparing to declare yet another operations center, meaning there would be three rival groups. “The factions in Aleppo disagreed on how to run the city if liberated, so they were divided into three operation rooms,” he wrote. “Each of them is aiming to liberate the city from the jaws of the pliers,” he added, referring to the government forces and those of the Islamic State, which has clashed in the area with Nusra and a range of other insurgent groups that oppose its self-declared caliphate. By Friday evening, it was Fatah Halab, the coalition that excludes the Nusra Front, that was claiming victories. Its leaders announced that they had taken over a scientific research center west of downtown. | Syria;Al Nusra Front;Aleppo Syria;Civilian casualties;Bashar al-Assad;Ahrar al-Sham |
ny0084692 | [
"sports"
] | 2015/10/12 | Kenyans Sweep Titles in Chicago Marathon | CHICAGO — The Kenyans Dickson Chumba and Florence Kiplagat pulled away late on Sunday to sweep the titles in the Chicago Marathon. Chumba broke out of a three-man pack around the 23rd mile and easily outdistanced the field for his first victory in the Chicago Marathon. Kiplagat, 28, also won her first title in the race, finishing in 2 hours 23 minutes 33 seconds. Chumba, 29, completed the 26.2-mile course in 2:09:25, while his countryman Sammy Kitwara was 25 seconds behind. It was Kitwara’s second consecutive finish as the runner-up in Chicago. The runners were slowed down by headwinds late in the race, but Chumba was able to pull away, then had the wind at his back at the end. “I tried to push,” he said, but the wind first held him back. “It was a problem.” Kitwara couldn’t close the gap. “My legs were not moving anymore at times,” he said. Sammy Ndungu finished third, giving Kenyans a sweep of the podium. Kiplagat, who holds the world record in the half-marathon, beat the Ethiopian Yebrgual Melese by 10 seconds. Birhane Dibaba of Ethiopia was third. Kiplagat, who finished third in Chicago last year, briefly lay on the asphalt after finishing, then rose with a bright smile and jumped in celebration. “I love my kids, and I told them when I win, I’ll jump,” said Kiplagat, who has two daughters. “It’s been a long time since I’ve been in Position No. 1.” Kiplagat’s last marathon win was in Berlin in 2013. Joan Benoit Samuelson, who had been set to commemorate the 30th anniversary of a record-setting Chicago run, was a late scratch because of illness. She had hoped to finish within 30 minutes of her 1985 time of 2:21:21. Forty-two-year-old Deena Kastor, the 2004 Olympic bronze medalist and the 2005 Chicago champion, led parts of the race before finishing seventh, in 2:27:47, as the top U.S. woman. Luke Puskedra was the top American man, with a fifth-place finish in 2:10:24. Sunday’s race was the first without pacesetters, which officials said would result in a more competitive but slower event with record-breaking performances less likely. The men’s and women’s champions each won $100,000. The Australian Kurt Fearnley won his fifth Chicago men’s wheelchair title, his first since 2011. The American Tatyana McFadden captured her fifth straight women’s wheelchair championship and sixth over all. | Chicago Marathon;Dickson Chumba;Florence Kiplagat;Marathon |
ny0230503 | [
"sports",
"football"
] | 2010/09/17 | The Younger Manning, Now Wiser, in His Own Way | EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — From his corner of the locker room, looking around at his Giants teammates, Eli Manning drew a conclusion: he is old. “There’s none of the same faces really,” Manning said. “A little of it happens year to year, guys moving on. Next thing you know, you’re looking around, you’re one of the old guys.” Manning, 29, has gone from unassuming rookie to unassuming veteran, his shrug-it-off temperament unchanged by playing seven years in the N.F.L. Perhaps it is the reason Manning has never escaped the shadow of his older brother Peyton. But the arc of Eli’s career, marked by a slow start and a chilly reception from fans, has bent to his own unique stardom. Even if he will always be viewed as Peyton’s little brother, he has become the face of the Giants. “It takes a few years to figure it out, to kind of be comfortable that you’re here,” he said of playing in New York. “But I’ve enjoyed it.” The Giants-Indianapolis game on Sunday night has been billed the Battle of the Brothers, Eli vs. Peyton. Their only previous meeting was in 2006, when Eli faced questions about whether he was just another overpriced No. 1 draft pick. It did not help when the Colts won, 26-21 . Now, he has forged his own reputation as a Super Bowl most valuable player who went on to have a career year, statistically, in 2009, when he threw for 4,021 yards and 27 touchdowns. This week, Eli Manning’s growth has been evident in his comments about wanting to enjoy Manning Bowl II. In fact, in a DirecTV commercial promoting the game , little brother finally got the upper hand, stuffing Peyton in a closet. “There is a big difference between being in your second year and being in your seventh,” Peyton Manning said. “Certainly, a lot has happened since that game four years ago.” When Eli arrived in New York, the Giants had a cast of strong leaders — the outspoken defensive end Michael Strahan, the star running back Tiki Barber and the well-respected wide receiver Amani Toomer. Into the fray stepped a rookie with a famous last name and a quiet personality. Manning grew up in New Orleans with a taste for shrimp Po’boys. He would marry his college sweetheart from the University of Mississippi. New York — a city that tends to eschew modesty and embrace brashness — did not seem to fit a quarterback known to friends as Easy for his cool demeanor. Handling New York was not something that Peyton, his biggest mentor, or his father, Archie, who spent 11 seasons in New Orleans, could help Eli with. They never played under such intense scrutiny. His father suggested he seek out the former Giants quarterbacks Phil Simms and Kerry Collins for guidance. “Peyton and I talked about it when Eli went up there,” Archie Manning said in a telephone interview. “We could not advise him on that. I played in New Orleans; Peyton’s playing in Indianapolis. Both of them are small markets.” Manning said he modeled his public behavior after Derek Jeter’s. Like Jeter, the Yankee captain, Manning avoids off-field distractions. Jeter called Manning with congratulations when he was named the starter late in the 2004 season, and the two talked about life in New York. Speaking generally in a recent interview, Jeter said his biggest piece of advice in handling the New York fishbowl was to avoid reading the newspapers. “You have to realize that every person, I don’t care who you are, is going to be criticized,” Jeter said. “If you let that bother you, you’re in a lot of trouble. You can’t be sensitive. Don’t listen to it. You’ll be better off.” Manning learned that lesson early. In 2005, his first full season as a starter, Manning was erratic (24 touchdowns, 17 interceptions, a 52.8 percent completion rate). In 2006, he did not show marked progression (24 touchdowns, 18 interceptions, a 57.7 percent completion rate). But the next season Manning led the wild-card Giants on an improbable playoff journey that culminated with a stunning Super Bowl victory over the undefeated New England Patriots. Manning and his teammates — only the offensive linemen Rich Seubert and David Diehl and the defensive end Osi Umenyiora have been with the team longer — seemed to have weathered the off-season criticism after the 2009 debacle, in which they lost their last five games and missed the playoffs. In the season opener, Manning threw for 263 yards and 3 touchdowns in a 31-18 win over the Carolina Panthers. Although Manning might not be a dominant figure in the locker room, it might be inauthentic if he were. In his own way, Manning, the offensive captain, has control. “He trumps everything,” wide receiver Steve Smith said. “When he tells you to do something, you listen.” Manning has a good collaborative relationship with the offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride, who consults with Manning on play calls. The Giants ask Manning to audible often — they estimated he changed a third to a half of the plays against Carolina. “In this offense, the quarterback sort of controls everything; it’s a huge responsibility,” said the backup Sage Rosenfels, who played for four teams since 2001 before joining the Giants on Sept. 3. “We decide where the line is going more so than other teams I’ve been on. On run plays, we tell the line where we’re working to, where before the center has always made that call. It puts a burden on the quarterback, but he seems to be up to that task.” Off the field, Manning has settled in. He lives in Hoboken, N.J., with his wife, Abby; they also own a home in Oxford, Miss. In the off-season, Manning plays golf on the local courses, and he frequents Italian restaurants in Manhattan. He does not pal around with the offensive linemen as often as he once did. “I’ve gotten a little dinner and a play with my wife, then called it a night,” Manning said. “I still do something fun, but try to get in bed and get a reasonable amount of sleep.” That did not make him sound old, he said. Only more grown up. | Football;New York Giants;Indianapolis Colts;Manning Eli;Manning Peyton;Manning Archie |
ny0125531 | [
"business"
] | 2012/08/26 | In Mario Batali’s Kitchen, Please Refrain From Shouting | This interview with Mario Batali , the chef, cookbook author and television personality, was conducted and condensed by Adam Bryant . Q. When you walk into a busy kitchen in one of your restaurants, what can strike you as off-key in terms of how people are interacting? A. One of the big rules for our kitchens is that if you’re not close enough to be able to touch me, you can’t talk to me. A lot of people will yell across the kitchen because it’s just easier and faster. That doesn’t work with us, so our kitchens are smaller, and you need to talk in a conversational tone. If you can’t, you have to move toward me, because if you’re yelling at me, there can be problems understanding the nature of your message. Q. The whole culture of yelling seems to be celebrated in some restaurants’ kitchens. A. I worked with a lot of yellers over the years. My opinion is that yelling is the result of the dismay you feel when you realize you have not done your own job. Everyone in the restaurant business knows it’s not going to be busy at 5 p.m. It’s going to be really busy between 7:30 and 9:30 or 10, and then it’s going to taper off a little bit. And it is as inevitable as Christmas. So it’s the chef’s job to prepare the staff for what will inevitably come. And it comes every night, so it’s not like, “Oh my God, what happened today?” The reason the chef yells is because the chef is expressing dissatisfaction with himself or herself for not having prepared you properly. And then, of course, the obvious scapegoat is the person who’s the least prepared. That said, if someone isn’t learning, my strategy for changing someone’s behavior has always been a stern, relatively direct conversation, sotto voce but within earshot of their peers — not mocking them, yelling at them or calling them names — and telling them exactly what I expect them to be able to do the next time we go through this. Their peers can hear it, so the message is clear to everyone. Q. Other leadership lessons you’ve learned over the course of your life? A. Well, one of the most important things is realizing you’re not the most important or the most intelligent person in the room at all times. And understanding that is a crucial component of the kind of self-deprecation that makes someone really good at understanding other people, especially when they’re faced with their own limitations and they come to you for help. It’s about being able to empathize and understand and communicate, even under stress, in a way that helps them solve a problem, as opposed to becoming part of the problem. The first day that a chef believes that he or she knows everything is the first day for the rest of their life that they will be a jerk, because you can’t know everything about our field. Q. What about some lessons early in your life? A. My dad was a heat treatment engineer for Boeing, and there was a process and a directive that you needed to repeat every day. His job was to go in and find out if there were any flaws in surface metal. His understanding of the necessity of that kind of careful process was a big part of us growing up. I’ll never forget the time I was over at a friend’s house and he’d call and say, “Mario, come home.” I said, “Why, Dad? Is everything all right?” “Yeah, come home,” he said. So I would come home, and in the drain there were still chunks of stuff. It had been my turn to do the dishes, and the dishes were done. The kitchen was clean, but the job had yet to be completely finished. And I said, “That’s ridiculous.” But understanding the importance of a job being completely done stuck in my mind. Because of that, I’m fastidious, and I need to have everything in order. And having everything in order is important, but it’s not the only objective. It’s better to start with order and move toward chaos than to start in chaos and try to move toward order, because as a business model, chaos doesn’t work. Q. Let’s talk about hiring. How do you interview people? A. The first thing I’m doing is looking them in the eye. I can tell in about a minute whether they’re going to work out. I will also look at their résumé. If they have experience in places I am envious of or like or know people at, I will call the people they work for because that’s the quickest path to understanding somebody. But in about a minute or two, I can tell whether I like you. I want to see if you have a gentle, smiling eye and a happiness, but I also want to see if you’re driven, and whether you’re paying very careful attention to what I’m doing. If I move my hand quickly, they should see that — not that they’re distracted by it, but I want to see if they’re paying attention, because that’s the key to understanding cooking. It’s really about having your senses on fire all the time. Even though I’ll give you a recipe to make veal saltimbocca, you’re never going to learn it from that recipe. You’re going to learn it from standing next to the guy who knows exactly how brown it should be at exactly the right time. You get three days to five days to pick up on a station working with somebody else. By the end of the fifth day, we will have shown you a dish that you need to see 100 times. Of those 100 times, we will have not let you touch it the first 20. We will allow you to touch it, but not finish it, the next 30 or so, and we will have allowed you to start it and finish it the next 50 times. At that point, then you either know it or we should think about putting you somewhere else. Q. Cooking skills are one thing, but how do you know if somebody’s going to fit into the culture? A. I can tell by where you’ve worked, and I can tell just from a conversation with you whether you’re attentive. I also don’t hire managers. The highest position we’ll hire for in our kitchens is a line cook. Then people move up after I’ve seen them work. | Batali Mario;Chefs;Executives and Management (Theory);Cooking and Cookbooks;Hiring and Promotion;Restaurants |
ny0230733 | [
"sports"
] | 2010/09/26 | Alan Webb’s Road to Recovery Leads to Fifth Avenue | Alan Webb accepted the physical challenge with typical determination. The American record-holder in the mile, Webb faced a two-mile hike up a steep, zigzag trail to a rail-protected deck he had envisioned as the setting for the most romantic moment of his life. But Webb was nursing a sore Achilles’ tendon, which had stalled his running career. He tried to ignore the piercing pain as if he were approaching the gun lap of an Olympic final. He was on a mission to get engaged. On Sept. 17, 2009, Webb gutted out the journey to a spot overlooking the rushing waters of Multnomah Falls near Portland, Ore. With the sun setting, Julia Rudd, also an elite runner, said yes. “If there’s anything that’s gone right in my life the last couple years, it’s been her,” Webb said in a phone interview. “She has been the one good decision I have made for sure.” The engagement could be considered Webb’s most significant victory in two years. As a favorite, Webb failed to win a medal in the 1,500 meters at the 2007 world championships in Osaka, Japan. Weary from heavy training, he dropped out of a 5,000-meter road race in Carlsbad, Calif., in April 2008. Dogged with self-doubt, he did not qualify for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Burdened in part by the Achilles’ injury that occurred in the fall of 2008, he failed to qualify for the 2009 world championships after he did not start the 1,500-meter final at the United States championships. Last December, Webb had surgery to remove scar tissue from the tendon. The 27-year-old Webb, romantically fulfilled and refreshed as a runner , will compete Sunday in the Fifth Avenue Mile in New York for the first time since 2007, when he won in 3 minutes 52.7 seconds. He finished second in 2005 in 3:51.4. His typically high-octane ambitions have been tempered. “At this point, I’m happy to be in a race and be competitive,” he said. “It can’t get any worse than the last two years.” At the 2007 world championships, Webb entered the 1,500 with the top time in the world, a personal best 3:30.54. He was among the lead runners coming off the final turn, seemingly poised to win his first world medal. But he faded badly and finished eighth. Webb reacted with a blunt self-analysis moments after finishing. Asked in a television interview what he could take away from the effort, Webb replied: “Nothing. I learned nothing. It was a waste of my time. I should have just stayed home. I had no idea what was going to happen. I was going to run as hard as I can and see where it fell. It fell mighty short.” Webb’s expectations were clearly different in his first race back from surgery, on Aug. 14 in Hampstead, England. On a rain-slicked track, he allowed two runners to pass him on the final lap of an 800 and finished seventh in 1:52.32, well off his best time of 1:43.84. Webb said he placed such a low premium on winning that he was not sure how he finished. “It was pretty much the smallest meet we could find,” he said, laughing. Webb has shown improvement since. On Sept. 3, he ran 1:48:34 in Padova, Italy, and in his last race, on Sept. 9, Webb finished fifth in a 1,500 in Milan in a respectable 3:36.21. Webb’s training has been inconsistent since the operation. A stress fracture in March further delayed his comeback. He ran mostly on water and antigravity treadmills until May, when he started with easy runs on grass and the track. He began speed training in July. “I’d wonder, am I O.K.?” he said. “It got to the point where I’m healthy. I said, ‘Let’s get in a couple races this summer so we can have a benchmark.’ ” Last year, Webb severed his running roots in Reston, Va., where as a senior, he ran the mile in 3:53.43 to break Jim Ryun’s high school record. He left Scott Raczko, his coach since high school, and moved to Portland to work with the Nike-financed Oregon Project coached by Alberto Salazar. For the first time, Webb trains regularly with runners who have matched his success, including the two-time United States cross-country champion Dathan Ritzenhein and Galen Rupp, a two-time national 10,000-meter champion. “Leaving Scott was probably the toughest part of making the change,” Webb said. “We were great friends. We both felt it was best to go separate ways. I had been struggling to be where I wanted to be. Failing to make the Olympic team was my lowest point. I wanted to try a different training approach, a different coach and set of eyes. Something about what we were doing was not clicking.” Salazar says Webb will break Bernard Lagat’s American record in the 1,500 and improve on his own mile time. He has changed Webb’s biomechanics and will adjust his training routine and competitive approach. Webb’s arms and legs now move in a more linear manner. In the past, they would flail to the sides in what Salazar described as a waddling motion. He’s also shortened Webb’s stride so he lands more on his forefoot than on his heel. “Alan was a strength-trained runner suited more for a 5K than a mile,” Salazar said in a telephone interview. “I will give him more speed training than he did before.” Salazar will also have Webb run more and different races than he had in the past to reduce the pressure when he does compete and to help him enjoy the sport more. “He’ll run the 400 and 500 indoors and even some 800s,” he said. “It does not have to be every time Alan Webb goes on the track, he sets a record. It’s O.K. to lose. You manage stress that way.” The Fifth Avenue Mile will be Webb’s first race in the United States since the 2009 outdoor nationals and his final one of this season. The next big event on his schedule is his wedding Oct. 16. Webb’s relationship with Rudd was tested the night the two were engaged. After eating fried oysters earlier in the evening, she woke up during the night vomiting. “I’ve got to be there for sickness and in health,” Webb said. “I’m lying on the floor next to her saying, ‘It’s O.K., it’s O.K.’ It was bad on the outside, but we were happy on the inside.” | Webb Alan;Running;Fifth Avenue Mile |
ny0069573 | [
"world",
"asia"
] | 2014/12/12 | Australia Failed to Protect Asylum Seekers, Report Says | SYDNEY, Australia — The Australian government failed to protect asylum seekers locked up in Papua New Guinea during two days of riots in February that left one man dead and others seriously wounded, a parliamentary inquiry has concluded. The inquiry’s report , submitted to Australia ’s Senate on Thursday, depicts a crowded, hastily built center on Manus Island, off northern Papua New Guinea, where three Australian prime ministers have sent more than 1,000 asylum seekers, most of them from Iran and Afghanistan, to prevent them from settling in Australia. Prime Minister Tony Abbott has taken a hard line on refugee policy, turning around boats at sea and towing them out of Australia’s territorial waters and moving refugees to offshore processing centers, with the result that their requests to settle in Australia are stymied. In response to the report, prepared by politicians from the conservative governing Liberal Party as well as from the opposition Labor and Greens Parties, Scott Morrison, the immigration minister, said, “We’ve stopped the boats, and we are getting on with the job of resettlement, once again cleaning up a Labor mess in partnership with the government of Papua New Guinea, who retains sovereign control and responsibility for the center.” But the report found conditions at the Manus Island center failed to meet basic human rights, and from Feb. 16 to 18, the inadequately staffed compound erupted in violent protests. The violence eventually involved detainees, residents and the police and resulted in the shooting of one man, while another, Reza Barati, an Iranian, died after being beaten with a stick and hit on the head with a rock. The report found that staff members spoke of leaving detainees to fend for themselves. “It is clear from evidence presented to the committee that the Australian government failed in its duty to protect asylum seekers including Mr. Barati from harm,” it said. Mr. Barati was beaten on Feb. 18. Two men from Papua New Guinea have been charged with his murder. | Australia;Refugees,Internally Displaced People;Papua New Guinea;Human Rights;Civil Unrest |
ny0177313 | [
"world",
"asia"
] | 2007/09/16 | Chinese Reject Imported Meat | BEIJING, Sept. 15 (Agence France-Presse) — China said Saturday it had sent back meat imported from the United States and Canada because it contained traces of a drug that is banned by the government. Food safety authorities returned more than 40 tons of pork imported from the two countries after discovering traces of the growth stimulant ractopamine, China’s official Xinhua news agency said. Most countries ban the use of ractopamine in livestock destined for human consumption, but it is permitted in 24 countries, including the United States and Canada, Xinhua said. China made the move after a spate of safety scandals involving Chinese exports to the United States and elsewhere, including toys, tires, seafood and toothpaste. | China;Meat;United States;Food Contamination and Poisoning |
ny0047372 | [
"nyregion"
] | 2014/11/16 | Facts About Foghorns and Garbage on the Sidewalk | Q. It was remarkably foggy one morning this week, and it reminded me of a foggy day last winter, when I could have sworn I heard a foghorn as I sat one afternoon in the theater district. Is that possible? I’ve lived in Manhattan since childhood, and I don’t remember hearing one before. Are there foghorns in the waters off Manhattan or, for that matter, anywhere else in New York City? A. Foghorns are not a thing of the past. They are still required on ships and at certain locations on land for use in poor visibility. “The writer probably heard horns from departing cruise ships — around 4 to 5 p.m. on weekend days, occasionally Fridays,” said Capt. John Doswell, executive director of the Working Harbor Committee , a nonprofit educational group devoted to New York Harbor. “They can be heard in Times Square if it’s not too noisy there.” The cruise ship terminals are Piers 88 and 90, at West 48th and 50th Streets, and the horns can be heard in the upper 40s and 50s from Ninth to 10th Avenue, he said. “Also, Circle Line vessels at 42nd Street, as well as other vessels, sound blasts on departures all day long, but not nearly as loud as cruise ships,” Captain Doswell added. “Possibly, under the right conditions, they might be heard from Times Square, but I have doubts.” Every ship arriving or departing from New York Harbor has a pilot on board from the Sandy Hook Pilots Association . That organization has operated out of Staten Island since its New Jersey office was damaged by Hurricane Sandy. There are also land-based foghorns in the New York area. Among them are those at the Norton’s Point (Coney Island) lighthouse in Seagate, Brooklyn, and the ferry slips on Staten Island, according to Capt. Andrew McGovern, a pilot who is the president of the association’s New Jersey branch. Q. I get really annoyed at the mounds of garbage bags heaped on the sidewalks every evening, especially outside the restaurants in Midtown Manhattan. How long are they allowed to leave those smelly bags there? A. The Sanitation Department’s rules and regulations for commercial premises state that if refuse is scheduled to be picked up after closing, the merchant may place it out for private collection within one hour of closing. If the collection service is performed during the day, the commercial waste may not be placed out for collection unless it is within two hours of the actual collection time. Other rules cover the prompt removal of commercial establishments’ Dumpsters after pickup. Garbage may never be left out on a holiday or a weekend. There is a $100 fine for each violation. | NYC;Ships and Shipping;Waste management |
ny0277001 | [
"us"
] | 2016/11/04 | ‘Cowardly’ Killings of Officers Strike a Raw Nerve in Iowa | DES MOINES — For law enforcement officers here, it feels like a still-raw wound being torn open anew. Less than eight months after a drunken driver killed two police officers in a fiery crash, two other officers were shot to death in separate episodes on Wednesday. Scott M. Greene, 46, an Iowa man with a history of personal problems and clashes with the police, was charged on Thursday with two counts of first-degree murder in the fatal shootings of Anthony Beminio, a Des Moines police sergeant, and Justin Martin, an officer in an adjacent city, Urbandale. On Wednesday, officers searching a rural area west of Des Moines found Mr. Greene’s abandoned truck, and the rifle they believe was used in the shootings. Sergeant Beminio, 39, was well-known and liked within the Des Moines Police Department, which he joined in 2005, where he worked as a school resource officer and a detective, officials said. His voice choked with emotion, Sgt. Paul Parizek, a department spokesman, said, “We lost a great friend and one of our family members.” Sergeant Beminio, who was married and had three children, was a state champion wrestler and football lineman at West High School in Iowa City. Dan Dvorak, who was an assistant football coach there, remembered him as the kind of positive influence that coaches treasure. “At the end of his junior season, we got beaten in the playoffs, we were pretty dejected,” he said, but Sergeant Beminio’s reaction was, “Coach, can we start lifting tomorrow?” Officer Martin, 24, attended high school in Rockwell City, and had joined the Urbandale police department just last year. He and Sergeant Beminio had graduated from Simpson College in Indianola, near Des Moines. Fred Jones, a sociology and criminal justice professor at Simpson, taught them both, and knew Officer Martin especially well. “He’s exactly the sort of person that you would hope would go into police work,” Dr. Jones said. “He was gentle and kind and compassionate, very intelligent, thoughtful.” “Always, from Day 1 the day he walked in the door here at Simpson, he wanted to be a police officer,” Dr. Jones said. The fatal shootings struck a law enforcement community still recovering from the deaths in March of Officers Carlos Puente-Morales and Susan Farrell . A drunken driver going the wrong way on Interstate 80 struck them head-on, killing himself, the two officers, and the prisoner they were transporting. Until that crash, it had been eight years since a Des Moines officer had died in the line of duty, and nearly 39 years since one had been killed by another person. The department had never lost two officers in a single day. The Urbandale police department said that, before Wednesday, they had never had an officer killed on duty. Image Sgt. Anthony Beminio, left, and Officer Justin Martin. Credit Des Moines Police Department Emotions over “losing Carlos and Susan” are still vivid, Sergeant Parizek said, and, this time, the grief is mixed with another emotion. “Fair to say we’re all pretty angry right now.” Police Chief Dana Wingert made that clear at a news conference, calling the gunman “this monster,” whose crime “was cowardly in every sense of the word.” “What happened yesterday was calculated murder of two law enforcement officers, plain and simple,” Chief Wingert said. “Tony and Justin did not deserve this. The Des Moines Police Department and Urbandale Police Department did not deserve this. The communities they served did not deserve this.” Des Moines officials said the police department had a robust peer-to-peer counseling program, which would be tested again. “I always stand in amazement, thinking how do these guys come back to work the next day,” Mayor Frank Cownie of Des Moines said. “This is not something that the city of Des Moines has dealt with, where someone decides to go shoot a couple of public safety officers.” Residents have responded, as they did after the crash in March, leaving flowers and gifts outside the cities’ police stations, making food deliveries, and raising money for the officers’ families. The officers were killed between 1 and 1:30 a.m. Wednesday, about two miles apart, while sitting in their patrol cars. Officials said they believed the gunman had no interaction with either of the officers before opening fire. Mr. Greene, the accused gunman, who lives in Urbandale, surrendered later Wednesday morning in rural Dallas County, and it was there that investigators found his truck, bogged down in brush and mud, and, separately, a .223-caliber rifle. An explosive-sniffing dog “was able to track that gun down in a place where no person would have found it,” Sergeant Parizek said. “It was hidden very well.” No permit is required to own a rifle in Iowa, but under state law, carrying a loaded gun in any city generally does require a permit. Polk County, which includes Des Moines and Urbandale, said it had not issued a carry permit to Mr. Greene, but another Iowa county might have done so. When he turned himself in, Mr. Greene complained of a medical problem and was taken to a hospital, where he remained until being taken to jail on Thursday. Until then, detectives had not questioned him, and it was unclear if they were able to speak with him after he left the hospital. Sergeant Parizek said that no motive for the shootings was known. “I guarantee whatever it is, it’s not going to make any damn sense to any of us,” he said. | Attacks on Police;Murders and Homicides;Police;Anthony Beminio;Scott Michael Greene;Justin Martin;Des Moines Iowa |
ny0071927 | [
"nyregion"
] | 2015/03/31 | Amid Inquiry, Menendez Finds Well of Support Among Jewish Leaders | FRANKLIN LAKES, N.J. — Senator Robert Menendez spoke in a level, matter-of-fact tone, but his words were grave. Anti-Semitism is on the march around the world, he said. Negotiations with Iran, he warned, have reached “the witching hour,” with the security of both the United States and Israel at stake. Addressing a Sunday morning crowd at the Barnert Temple , a Reform synagogue in northern New Jersey, Mr. Menendez promised that his listeners could count on him to be vigilant. “There can be no denying the Jewish people their legitimate right to live in peace and security,” he said, vowing just days before the Passover holiday that he would stand with Israel “so long as I have a voice and a vote in the United States Senate.” It was the closest the senator came to acknowledging his recent troubles. For weeks, Mr. Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat, has battled to keep his standing in the Senate amid an unfolding investigation into his relationship with a political benefactor, the Florida eye surgeon Salomon Melgen, and whether Mr. Menendez improperly influenced policy on his behalf. In his moment of political peril, Mr. Menendez, who has denied any wrongdoing, has found perhaps his deepest well of support in the expansive pro-Israel community, including prominent Jewish Democrats concerned about the direction of White House negotiations with Iran. The top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Mr. Menendez has been a vocal critic of the Iran talks, writing multiple bills to toughen economic sanctions and recently introducing legislation with Senator Bob Corker, a Tennessee Republican, to require congressional review of any nuclear deal. This year, Mr. Menendez startled Washington by harshly mocking the Obama administration’s defense of its tactics toward Iran: The White House message, he said in January, “ sounds like talking points that come straight out of Tehran .” Mr. Menendez has found an appreciative constituency in the array of advocacy groups focused on Israel’s security, many of which have been alarmed by the talks with Iran and the eruption of tensions between the Obama administration and Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. Mr. Menendez received enthusiastic applause addressing Aipac, the prominent Israel advocacy group, this month; its leaders have contributed to his legal defense fund and have privately pressed other Israel-oriented donors to do the same. By the end of 2014, Mr. Menendez had raised more than $200,000 for his legal fund — nearly a quarter of all its receipts — from political donors who have also given to pro-Israel political action committees, according to an examination of financial documents filed by the Robert Menendez Legal Expense Trust. The support has been rhetorical, as well as financial: Major Jewish leaders in both parties have spoken up as character witnesses for Mr. Menendez, even suggesting that the potential charges against him might be politically motivated. “All I hear, repeatedly, is that he is being punished for his rational and strong stance on trying to get a strong deal for America and Israel, on Iran,” said Morton A. Klein, president of the Zionist Organization of America. Mr. Klein said he was agnostic on the merits of the legal investigation, but had encouraged allies to help Mr. Menendez in any case: “I say, look, we don’t know the validity of these allegations, but this is a man who deserves support.” Norm Coleman, a former senator from Minnesota who sits on the board of the Republican Jewish Coalition, said Mr. Menendez could count on “broad, widespread, deep support, across the political aisle, from people who care about Israel.” That line of thinking frustrates some Jewish and pro-Israel Democrats, who say Mr. Menendez has earned their gratitude but who will not go quite as far in alleging a conspiracy against him. What’s more, Jewish leaders said, Mr. Menendez has won over the community on issues outside Iran’s nuclear program. He has been a staunchly liberal voice on matters of social policy; as the Senate’s only Hispanic Democrat, Mr. Menendez has been a champion of immigration reform, a popular measure in the Jewish community. Greg Rosenbaum, chairman of the National Jewish Democratic Council, a group that has been critical of Mr. Menendez’s hawkish approach to Iran, called the notion of sinister prosecutorial action “baloney.” But Mr. Rosenbaum, who is also involved in Aipac, said he expected the senator’s pro-Israel allies to remain supportive even in the event of criminal charges. “I think we’re pretty much lock step with his positions on issues that matter to American Jewish voters,” he explained. Speaking in Franklin Lakes over the weekend, Mr. Menendez refrained from head-on criticism of the Obama administration, but he repeatedly staked out positions well to the president’s right, and drew chuckles by alluding to tensions with the White House. “The president and I don’t always see eye to eye these days,” he said. There was no explicit mention of the senator’s legal predicament, but one of his hosts offered a message of reassurance to the embattled lawmaker by way of an introduction. Josh Gottheimer, a Microsoft executive, told Mr. Menendez that he could count on the Jewish community to stick with him. “No matter what, no matter when, no matter how, we will always have your back,” Mr. Gottheimer said. “Because you’ve always had ours.” | Robert Menendez;Israel;Iran;Nuclear weapon;US;New Jersey;Ethics Misconduct Malfeasance;Judaism;Military |
ny0189856 | [
"nyregion",
"new-jersey"
] | 2009/05/10 | A Mom and Pop Store, and Then Some | I KNEW how to count from 1 to 10 in English. I could recite the alphabet. And that was about it. Ronald Reagan was starting his first term as president when I immigrated from South Korea with my mother and two older sisters. We came to reunite with my father, who had set up an Asian gift shop in Manasquan, N.J., and there I was, 10 years old and fresh off the plane, standing behind the bank of showcases in the middle of our store, waiting to serve customers. Next aisle over, a mother and daughter were struggling with a pagoda-shaped music box, unable to figure out how to make the tinny music come alive. There was a gold pin at the base of the pagoda you had to pull, but it was tiny. I still recall the moment my parents urged me to help them. Loosely translated from the Korean, the conversation went like this: “Go show them,” my father said. I froze. “Come on, you can do it!” my mother said. Until then, I had been a single-parent child; my father left for the States before I had any firm memories of him. So for the first time, I was being double-teamed, and I found myself heading toward the two Americans, my heart thudding away. I didn’t say a thing. I just snuck in between them and reached for the pin, pulled it out and practically ran away. My face burned with embarrassment, but when I glanced back, the customers were smiling and listening to what I later learned was “Moon River.” Just why a pagoda-shaped music box in an Asian gift shop would be playing a Henry Mancini tune, I have no idea. Almost 30 years have passed since that memorable day in March, and when I think back on it, I can’t believe people actually bought anything from our store. Shoppers would walk in and start to say all sorts of things, but when they realized I didn’t understand a word, a gesture-laden negotiation would transpire. They would point, I would follow their finger and remove the desired item from the showcase, and they’d either push it back to me or take it to the register. I didn’t win any salesman-of-the-month awards, but people still bought our merchandise. Though not always. Christmas was of course very busy, but working retail meant doing a whole lot of waiting. We tried enticing the passers-by with eye-catching sales signs, but with a store like ours, people either liked Asian goods or they didn’t; not many shoppers rushed in because the Chinese slippers were suddenly a dollar off. During these slow times, my mother would lament that we sold such nonessential items. She often thought we should have gone into selling groceries, but secretly I was glad we didn’t. In the mall where our shop was located, there was a guy who operated a small farmer’s market, and he was forever wheeling in huge boxes of cabbage and refilling his enormous bin of potatoes. What actually helped our business more than anything was completely out of our control: the weather. During the hot summer months, everyone escaped to the Jersey Shore, unless dark clouds moved in. So as a family, we collectively hoped for rain, prayed for rain, would even have danced for rain if it would have made a difference. Our wish for precipitation, like Goldilocks’s preference among beds, was quite specific: not too hard (nobody wanted to drive through a storm), not too soft (people could go to the beach and wait it out), but just right (cha-ching!). The exact reverse applied in wintertime, when drifts of snow meant certain financial doom. After a year, I’d picked up enough English to figure out that nothing made my classmates happier than snow. Even the mere rumor of snow got them in a tizzy, chatting about school cancellations, snowball fights, building snowmen. I smiled and agreed with everyone that getting a foot of snow on Thursday night would be awesome, meaning Friday off and a weekend of winter wonderland, but who was I fooling? There would be no snow-related fun for me, because I would be stuck at the store from 9 in the morning until 9 at night, subjected to the long faces of my parents as they sat and sighed and read the Korean newspaper to pass the time. Although I grew up certain that I would never make a career in retail, I did work at various stores all through high school — at T.J. Maxx, Rickel Home Center, Caldor and Barnes & Noble. Two of those chains have gone belly up. This past Christmas, my wife and I stopped at our neighborhood Linens ’n Things, on the very last day the store was open, when everything was 90 percent off, all sales final. The place looked thoroughly ravaged, the remaining tablecloths and blankets damaged or stained, an orphaned salt shaker forever missing its pepper twin. Yellow caution tape, the kind police use to barricade a crime scene, reduced the shopping area to just the front of the store. Only one register was open, the cashier taking care of her customers with as much zest as a zombie. The situation is even sadder at smaller shops, where signs that say “Going Out of Business” usually mean “Running Out of Options.” In my hometown in Warren County, half of the businesses are now shuttered, their windows displaying the darkness of failure. When I walk by these abandoned storefronts, I can’t help but remember those days when our own register was silent. My sisters and I didn’t know it then, but we kids had it easy. For us, the hours that dragged on as we waited for customers who never showed up were just an annoying source of boredom, but I can’t even imagine what was going through our parents’ minds. The rent was due at the end of the month, for both our apartment and our shop. Telephone, electricity, car payments, auto insurance — the pile of mounting bills was as high as the day was long. The only thing that kept my parents going, at least for a while, was the same hope that sustains many small businesses today: that the next customer was just around the corner. | Shopping and Retail;New Jersey;Families and Family Life;South Korea |
ny0140129 | [
"world",
"middleeast"
] | 2008/02/07 | In Seized Video, Boys Train to Fight in Iraq, U.S. Says | BAGHDAD — The children in black — T-shirts, trousers and face masks — hoist AK-47s and pistols and rush toward an apparently unarmed man on a bicycle. In an instant they have surrounded him, shouting in the high voices of boys who are not yet men, “Put your hands behind your back.” The man hesitates, looking confused. He is wearing a thin, untucked button-down shirt and looks vulnerable before the boys. They wave their guns, menacingly. As the video segment ends, he is kneeling on the dirt road as the boys close in and wave their guns at him. The scene is from a video captured by the American military in December near Khan Bani Saad, a town in Diyala, a turbulent province northeast of Baghdad. The video, shown Wednesday by the military at a news conference, is believed to be part of a propaganda tape made by Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia , the homegrown extremist group that American intelligence officials say has foreign leadership. While this is not the first time that the military has found images of children in the insurgent group’s tapes and photos, the video has the largest volume of raw images that American forces have come across, a military spokesman said. The insurgent group “wants to poison the next generation of Iraqis,” said Rear Adm. Gregory Smith, an American spokesman, at a briefing about the group’s use of women and children. Military officials say they believe that the tapes are used during sessions with children in “the process of indoctrination and training that starts early to ensure they grow up to become future terrorists when they become of age,” he said. Admiral Smith said the military believed that the adults playing the roles of victims in the video were probably the boys’ parents or other relatives and that the militant group had possibly intended to circulate the video either internally in extremist circles or on one of the 5,000 Web sites of its affiliates. The video was professionally made and easy to understand even for non-Arabic speakers. In the tape, some of the boys look as if they are scarcely more than 10 or 11 years old, while others appear to be teenagers. Their energy and enthusiasm for what is almost a game, but with real guns, is palpable. After forcing the man off the bicycle, they stop a car and force the men out in a simulation of a kidnapping. In another clip, a line of boys is seen running out of a house. As each boy emerges, he shouts “Allahu akbar!” (God is great.) Some of them speak uncertainly, half-stopping to turn to the camera; others say it as they are almost off screen. In a later scene they are sitting on the floor, their guns piled in the middle of the group, and they read a prayer. Admiral Smith emphasized that the military did not believe that this was a real training camp, but rather a rehearsed propaganda piece meant to encourage people to go to real camps. The militant group has long used young people as spotters, watching for victims or for police officers or troops who might apprehend the insurgents. However, the military offered no proof that suicide bombings or other attacks using teenagers had become a trend. Admiral Smith cited just two cases, in January, in which teenage boys were used as suicide bombers. Similarly, several recent attacks have been carried out by women. Until 2007, the military found that women were bombers in five attacks. But since then 10 women have carried out attacks, 4 of them so far in 2008, Admiral Smith said. But he said it was too soon to say that it was a trend. The number of attacks carried out by women was small relative to the total number of attacks or even the total of suicide attacks. The American and Iraqi military reiterated assertions made last week that the bombings at two pet markets in Baghdad were carried out by women with severe mental disabilities, but they did not offer forensic proof other than to say that the condition of the women’s heads, the only body parts found after the bombing, was consistent with people who have Down syndrome, a genetic disorder. In Anbar Province, tensions between Sunni factions appeared to be high. The tribal Awakening Council, which is now the most powerful group in the province but which lacks political influence, said it was giving members of the Iraqi Islamic Party 30 days to vacate the seats it holds in the provincial council. The Islamic Party holds a disproportionate number of seats in Anbar and some other Sunni-majority provinces; while many Sunnis boycotted the last election, the Iraqi Islamic Party was one of the few Sunni parties on the ballot. Now, as other political factions have gained ground, they are seeking to oust the party and replace its members with homegrown groups. That effort is particularly strong in Anbar, where the tribes have joined to fight Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia and are an influential force. Indications from the government in Baghdad that provincial elections would not be held until fall prompted the anger. Tribal leaders said they had expected the government to hold elections in March. Either the elections should be held sooner or, in the meantime, the provincial council needs to be replaced, said one leader, Sheik Ali al-Suleiman. Different accounts continued to emerge Wednesday in the American military’s killing of three people near Tikrit on Tuesday. Those killed were a farmer, his wife and his son; at least one daughter was wounded. In a statement released Wednesday, the American military said its soldiers were fired on when they entered the house. As they moved through the house, they shot one man who was “holding a woman as a human shield.” A second man was killed by a soldier who believed the man had “hostile intent.” While checking the rest of the house, they found a dead woman and a wounded girl, the military statement said. They said the woman had been killed in the first exchange of fire as the troops advanced on the house. However, a cousin of the farmer said the military had mounted a large operation and had used overwhelming force against his relatives, who were poor and lived in a three-room house with cattle and sheep in the yard. “When I entered my cousin’s house the next day, I saw pools of blood everywhere,” said the cousin, Abu Hamza, 41. “His body was showered with bullets; parts of his brain were on the bed. The same was true of his wife’s body.” “We have no idea why they made this attack,” he said. Iraqi military officials in Samarra, an overwhelmingly Sunni area about 60 miles north of Baghdad, said Wednesday that they found a mass grave on Tuesday with 55 bodies in varying states of decay. The officials said they suspected it was the work of Islamic extremist groups. | Iraq;Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia;Recordings and Downloads (Video);Children and Youth |
ny0078692 | [
"world",
"asia"
] | 2015/02/04 | Fiji Will Drop Union Jack From Its Flag, Premier Says | HONG KONG — Fiji will replace its national flag this year to remove symbols of British colonialism, Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama announced Tuesday. Upon independence in 1970, the Pacific island nation adopted a flag closely modeled after its colonial-era banner, with a British Union Flag in the upper left corner and a shield with symbols including the British lion and the Cross of St. George in its right half. “They are the symbols of the colonizer — Britain — a country with whom we are friends and will continue to be so,” Mr. Bainimarama said . “But they are not symbols that are relevant to any Fijian in the 21st century. And they should go.” The Union Flag, also known as the Union Jack, appears on the flags of a variety of territories and provinces, as well as a handful of national flags of former British colonies. One of those countries, New Zealand, could drop the Union Jack from its flag pending the outcome of two referendums , to be held this year and next. Mr. Bainimarama said Fiji would begin soliciting citizens’ suggestions for a new design with “indigenous and truly Fijian symbols of identity.” He said he hoped the final result would retain the existing “Fiji blue” background but remove the Union Flag and colonial shield. A government-selected citizens’ panel will choose a final design, with plans to complete the process in time for Oct. 10, when Fiji marks 45 years of independence. | Fiji;Flags;Frank Bainimarama;Great Britain |
ny0090125 | [
"science"
] | 2015/09/08 | The Hummingbird’s Tongue: How It Works | Hummingbirds are great subjects for evolutionary biologists because they are so extreme. They live at a fast pace, wings a blur, tongue darting in and out of flowers at a frenetic pace, often 15 or 20 times a second. And, according to Alejandro Rico-Guevara at the University of Connecticut: “They’re just fascinating. They are so bold.” Dr. Rico-Guevara, who just published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B a description of how the hummingbird’s tongue works to draw up nectar, said that when working in the middle of the forest, he has often had hummingbirds approach him. “They just come to hover right in front of your face.” He said it is as if they are asking, “Why are you here?” Dr. Rico-Guevara could have explained that he had reasons beyond his delight in the birds, which he said were everywhere when he was growing up in Colombia. He was researching how their tongues work, with his colleagues Tai-Hsi Fan and Margaret A. Rubega, also at the university. Scientists had studied hummingbirds for a long time, he said, but had not reached a clear understanding of how they drink nectar. In the recent work and earlier experiments with Dr. Rubega, he and his colleagues showed that the tongues, which are forked, open up in the flower to trap nectar in the tongue and to pump nectar up two grooves in the tongue. It was once thought that capillary action, the force behind fluid rising in a narrow straw even without suction, propelled the nectar up the tongue. But high speed video of the tongues at work showed that the nectar is drawn up too fast for capillary action. The tongue is compressed until it reaches nectar. Then it springs open and that rapid action traps the nectar and it moves up the grooves. Capillary action does not play a role. The findings could affect thinking about how flowers and hummingbirds have evolved together, since the shape of the flower, the composition of the nectar and the shape and workings of the tongue must all fit together for the system to work. | Hummingbirds;Tongue;Flowers and Plants;Proceedings of the Royal Society B;Alejandro Rico-Guevara |
ny0051148 | [
"nyregion"
] | 2014/10/09 | Cuomo Reflects in Memoir on Highs and Lows, Both Personal and Political | Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo learned about his divorce from a journalist. He blames himself for his father’s political demise. As for his own political near-death experience, a gaffe that ultimately led him to quit the 2002 governor’s race in disgrace: His mistake was “stupid,” but reporters made it seem even worse. Those are among the more potent revelations included in Mr. Cuomo’s 517-page memoir, “All Things Possible: Setbacks and Success in Politics and Life,” which is to be released by HarperCollins’s Harper imprint on Tuesday, just three weeks before Election Day as the governor seeks a second term. The book, a copy of which was obtained by The New York Times, sets down a largely positive narrative for Mr. Cuomo, who is often mentioned as a potential presidential candidate — though his memoir does not take up that subject. Mr. Cuomo covers much ground, from his complicated relationship with his father, former Gov. Mario M. Cuomo, to his 2003 breakup with Kerry Kennedy, to more current events — including a detailed account of how he persuaded lawmakers to legalize same-sex marriage in New York in 2011. Two days after he signed the legislation, he writes, he received a hero’s welcome at the Gay Pride Parade in Manhattan: “For a few hours, I knew what it must feel like to be the Beatles and Elvis wrapped into one.” Elsewhere, Mr. Cuomo, a Democrat, describes what he believes it takes to do well in government. “Effective politics, smart politics, and politics that result in improving lives and changing the status quo truly require the concentration and drive of an Olympic athlete,” he writes. His recollections are sometimes less gauzy when they concern his father, who Mr. Cuomo says inspired him to pursue public service, but also left him wanting. “His absence when other fathers were present at Boy Scouts and Little League was palpable,” Mr. Cuomo writes, saying that his father now regrets how little he was around then. Mr. Cuomo emphasizes that he refuses to let political commitments interfere with his time with his daughters. At another point, Mr. Cuomo writes that in his early years his father “never mentioned that he had any particular confidence in my political acumen.” “Expressing feelings and pride in their children,” he adds, “was not something the men of his generation did.” Still, Mr. Cuomo writes of his “tremendous guilt” over his father’s failed bid for a fourth term as governor in 1994. Then an assistant federal housing secretary, Mr. Cuomo declined the request of his father, a Democrat, to return to New York to manage the race against George E. Pataki, a Republican. “Watching my father’s campaign unfold was like watching a slow-motion automobile crash,” he writes. Mr. Cuomo describes his failed attempt to challenge Mr. Pataki in 2002 as a setback akin to death. The misstep that helped drive him from the Democratic primary that year came when he told reporters aboard his campaign bus that, after the Sept. 11 attacks, Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani had been New York’s true leader, and that Mr. Pataki “held the leader’s coat.” Mr. Cuomo writes that he had made a similar joke at an event in Westchester County, and the crowd had laughed. “But now, weeks later, the reporters on the bus did not,” he writes. He adds that it was a “stupid remark.” In a happier time, Mr. Cuomo recalls wooing Ms. Kennedy, whom he met at a Democratic fund-raiser, and stocking up on polo shirts and loafers for his first trip to Hyannis Port, Mass. He describes the unraveling of the couple’s marriage in general terms, refraining from criticizing Ms. Kennedy and saying he was too focused on work. He says he learned of his divorce while driving in his car, when he received a call from a reporter for The New York Times seeking comment about it. “After 13 years of marriage, and truly stressful times, I knew the ties that bound us together had frayed,” he writes. “But I had hoped we could work through what I saw as a difficult time, not an end. Obviously, I was in denial.” He adds that he felt “sad, angry, scared” and “alone.” (Mr. Cuomo describes his girlfriend, the Food Network host Sandra Lee, as a “godsend” who “balances my obsessive focus on government.”) Mr. Cuomo attributes some of his youthful nicknames, such as the “Prince of Darkness,” to people unhappy at not being hired by his father, and laments the gossip and “culture of negativity” in Albany, frequently expressing disdain for the news media. He has sharp words for what he calls the “extreme left of the Democratic Party,” those who “speak of punitively raising taxes on the rich and transferring the money to the poor,” and try to “demonize those who are very wealthy.” Mr. Cuomo’s book highlights what he sees as his political courage. Recounting his push for strict gun laws after the mass shooting in Newtown, Conn., in 2012, he recalls an aide noting his high approval rating and saying, “Are you sure you want to mess with that?” “If there’s ever a good issue to spend political capital on,” Mr. Cuomo says he replied, “this is it.” | Andrew Cuomo;Books;New York;Mario Cuomo;US Politics;Gubernatorial races;All Things Possible |
ny0085238 | [
"world",
"europe"
] | 2015/07/03 | Led by Pirates, Iceland Legalizes Blasphemy | Less than a week after Iceland’s prime minister contended that his nation’s fundamental values would be at risk should the insurgent Pirate Party ever come to power, the group celebrated its first legislative success on Thursday, the decriminalization of blasphemy. Birgitta Jonsdottir , one of three Pirates in the Althing, Iceland’s Parliament, was among party activists celebrating the vote in favor of their bill to repeal the prohibition on impious irreverence, which had been in force since 1940. First Pirate Party law was passed in the parliament today :) Blasphemy Law Abolished in Iceland! | Siðmennt http://t.co/zfDv2d1xUC — Birgitta (@birgittaj) July 2, 2015 Blasphemy is no longer a punishable offence in Iceland thanks to @PiratePartyIS @birgittaj @helgihg @jonthorolafsson #piratar — Arnaldur Sigurðarson (@Arnaldtor) July 2, 2015 The measure to repeal the law , which made “ridiculing or insulting the dogmas or worship of a lawfully existing religious community” an offense punishable by a fine or up to three months in jail, was introduced in January , in the wake of the deadly attack in Paris on Charlie Hebdo, the satirical weekly that enraged devout Muslims with its mocking portrayals of the Prophet Muhammad. While the vote was underway in the Althing on Thursday, The Iceland Monitor reported , all three of the party’s members took the floor to say, “I am Charlie Hebdo.” After the bill was made law, the party said in a statement , “The Icelandic Parliament has issued the important message that freedom will not bow to bloody attacks.” Ms. Jonsdottir is a free speech advocate who helped script and edit the WikiLeaks video “ Collateral Murder ,” made from American military footage leaked by Bradley Manning, now known as Chelsea, that showed the killing of Iraqi civilians and journalists by fire from United States Army helicopter gunships. She and her two colleagues are currently the smallest party in the 63-member Parliament in Reykjavik, but recent opinion polls have suggested that they could be the largest after the next election, with the support of about a third of Iceland’s voters. In an interview last Friday, Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson, who leads the current governing coalition, warned that the Pirate insurgency threatened everything Icelanders hold dear. “If general discontent led to a revolutionary party — a party with some very unclear ideas about democracy, and a party which wants to upheave the foundations of society — becoming influential, that would be cause for concern for society as a whole,” he said. Pirate rule, Mr. Gunnlaugsson added, “would take society in a whole other direction, where it would be difficult to hang onto those values that we possess and have been building on for decades.” The prime minister also expressed his distress over the unruly behavior of antigovernment protesters who booed his speech during a celebration of Iceland’s Independence Day last month, and held aloft red cards, suggesting it was time for him to go. Helgi Hrafn Gunnarsson, who leads the Pirates in Parliament, responded to the prime minister’s remarks by saying that “the values we have been putting the most emphasis on are democratic improvements.” Mr. Gunnarsson expressed his frustration with Iceland’s government in a parliamentary session late Wednesday, first by comparing the workings to “the final scene of a ‘Game of Thrones’ episode — the only thing you know for sure that there’s probably something perfectly horrible about to happen,” and then by rapping the lyrics to an Icelandic rock song that concludes with the declaration, “I’ve had enough of this mess; let’s take it to the next level.” | Iceland;Birgitta Jonsdottir;Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson;WikiLeaks;Charlie Hebdo |
ny0047400 | [
"world"
] | 2014/11/16 | Iraq and U.S. Find Some Potential Sunni Allies Have Already Been Lost | BAGHDAD — When the militants of the Islamic State entered the Sunni Arab area of Al Alam, they gave its tribal leaders a message of reconciliation: We are here to defend you and all the Sunnis, they said, so join us. But after a group of angry residents sneaked out one night, burned the jihadists’ black banners and raised Iraqi flags, the response was swift. “They started blowing up the houses of tribal leaders and those who were in the security forces,” Laith al-Jubouri, a local official, said. Since then, the jihadists have demolished dozens of homes and kidnapped more than 100 residents, he said. The captives’ fates remain unknown. In the Islamic State’s rapid consolidation of the Sunni parts of Iraq and Syria, the jihadists have used a double-pronged strategy to gain the obedience of Sunni tribes. While using their abundant cash and arms to entice tribal leaders to join their self-declared caliphate, the jihadists have also eliminated potential foes, hunting down soldiers, police officers, government officials and anyone who once cooperated with the United States as it battled Al Qaeda in Iraq. Now, as the United States and the Iraqi government urgently seek to enlist the Sunni tribes to fight the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, they are struggling to undo the militants’ success in co-opting or conquering the majority of them. Officials admit little success in wooing new Sunni allies, beyond their fitful efforts to arm and supply the tribes who were already fighting the Islamic State — and mostly losing. So far, distrust of the Baghdad government’s intentions and its ability to protect the tribes has won out. “There is an opportunity for the government to work with the tribes, but the facts on the ground are that ISIS has infiltrated these communities and depleted their ability to go against it,” said Ahmed Ali, an Iraq analyst at the Institute for the Study of War. “Time is not on the Iraqi government’s side.” Much of the Islamic State’s success at holding Sunni areas comes from its deft manipulation of tribal dynamics. Portraying itself as a defender of Sunnis who for years have been abused by Iraq’s Shiite-majority government, the Islamic State has offered cash and arms to tribal leaders and fighters, often allowing them local autonomy as long as they remain loyal. At the same time, as it has expanded into new towns, the Islamic State has immediately identified potential government supporters for death. Residents of areas overrun by the Islamic State say its fighters often carry names of soldiers and police officers. If those people have already fled, the jihadists blow up their homes to make sure they do not return. At checkpoints, its men sometimes run names through computerized databases, dragging off those who have worked for the government. “They come in with a list of names and are more organized than state intelligence,” said Sheikh Naim al-Gaood, a leader of the Albu Nimr tribe. The most brutal treatment is often of tribes who cooperated with the United States against Al Qaeda in Iraq in past years, mostly through the so-called Sunni Awakening movement supported by the Americans. The Albu Nimr tribe, an important part of the Awakening effort, has been among the hardest hit. The Islamic State, since seizing the area of Hit in Anbar Province last month, has slaughtered hundreds from the tribe. The Islamic State’s propaganda operation has emphasized those tactics, warning Sunnis that they are either with the group or against it. Its videos show fighters sharing meals with “loyal” tribal sheikhs and gunning down former soldiers. “What did the Sunnis get from joining that army other than apostasy from God’s religion, the destruction of their homes and the cutting off of their heads?” asked Abu Mohammed al-Adnani, the group’s spokesman, in a recent audio message. “Rally around the mujahedeen, O Sunnis of the Levant, and stop your sons from joining the army and the Awakening councils.” Elements of the Awakening councils remain, and pro-government tribes are fighting alongside the army on a few fronts, though all say they lack support. “We are the people who know the most about ISIS — who they are and where they are — so we are the only people who can fight them in Anbar,” said Sheikh Muayed al-Hamayshi, an Iraqi police commander leading tribal fighters near Ramadi. Analysts say that the tribes that have joined the Islamic State have not done so because of its extremist ideology. For most, it has been a practical decision to ally with the authority they believe can best ensure security, and resources for their men. So turning the tide is likely to require a steady influx of guns and money, and a track record of success. Essentially, the government must give them a better deal than they get from the Islamic State. Iraqi Army Retakes Government Complex in Central Ramadi Efforts to stem the rise of the Islamic State. “There is a large number of the people from the tribes who are with ISIS; this we can’t deny,” said Wasfi al-Aasi, an Obeidi tribal sheikh who opposes the jihadists and has met with American officials. “But that does not mean that any tribe that has some members with ISIS is entirely with ISIS.” It remains unclear how successful even a reliable long-term effort by the Iraqi government to enlist the tribal fighters can be. Though American cash and battlefield presence helped the Awakening succeed before, both are lacking this time around. American officials say the United States is encouraging the process, but that all arms and salaries must come from the Iraqi government. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi of Iraq supports arming the tribes, but many of his political allies oppose it, fearing that tribal fighters will either sell their arms to the jihadists or join them outright. From the tribes’ side, many still distrust the government but say that the Islamic State’s violence toward Sunnis is turning people against it. “They tell all the tribes that they are liberators who are coming to free them, but once they get in, the mask falls and you see that they are really thieves and killers,” said Mr. Jubouri, the local official from of Al Alam. Last week, Salim al-Jubouri, the Sunni speaker of parliament, flew to Al Asad Air Base, which is surrounded by Islamic State territory in Anbar Province, to reassure pro-government tribal leaders that help was on the way. But before leaving the base, Mr. Jubouri acknowledged the deep resistance by many in the government to arming the tribes. “There have been doubts and a lack of confidence,” Mr. Jubouri said. “They think that someday these arms will be turned against the government.” But a first shipment of weapons would be distributed soon, he said, and further shipments were on the way. “A good meal has arrived and other good meals will come,” Mr. Jubouri said. “God willing.” | Iraq;ISIS,ISIL,Islamic State;Sunnis |
ny0065124 | [
"world",
"europe"
] | 2014/06/17 | Marriage by Force Is Addressed in Britain | LONDON — England and Wales made it a criminal offense as of Monday to force anyone into marriage, an effort to persuade victims to come forward and to emphasize secular legal values. The practice of forced marriage is more common among South Asians here, government officials said. Nearly two-thirds of the cases that the government’s Forced Marriage Unit deals with stem from these communities, where the common cultural practice of arranged marriage can in extreme cases become forced marriage, which the government considers a form of violence. The law, which carries a maximum prison sentence of seven years, also makes it a crime to force a British citizen into marriage abroad, since some families force their children to fly to other countries, like Pakistan, India or Bangladesh, for an arranged marriage there. Last year, the Forced Marriage Unit dealt with 1,302 cases, with 82 percent of the victims female, while 40 percent were age 17 or under and 15 percent were 15 or under. The government said 43 percent of the cases involved Pakistan, 11 percent India and 10 percent Bangladesh, though 74 countries were involved. But other estimates from social workers and campaigners suggest that there are 5,000 to 8,000 cases of forced marriage annually in Britain. The law does not yet apply to Scotland, which has passed similar legislation, or to Northern Ireland, which is likely to pass its own measure. The law is seen here as part of the Conservative-led government’s effort to promote “British values” like gender equality and freedom of choice. The government has been accused by some Conservative legislators and by the populist U.K. Independence Party of not doing enough to combat religious extremism, which here tends to mean radical Islam, or cultural practices like female genital cutting. Recently, the government has been embroiled in a heated dispute about some schools in Birmingham, a city with a large Muslim population, and whether they had become too sectarian, leading to charges of government laxity on the one hand and Islamophobia on the other. Theresa May, the home secretary, said Monday in a statement that “forced marriage is a tragedy for each and every victim, and its very nature means that many cases go unreported.” She said that Britain would hold a first conference designed to address forced marriage later in the year, much as the Foreign Office sponsored an international gathering last week headlined by Angelina Jolie to combat rape as a weapon of war. The law defines a forced marriage as one in which one or both spouses are coerced into marrying by “physical, psychological, financial, sexual or emotional pressure.” An arranged marriage is presumed to be one where both parties consent. One woman told the BBC, which did not reveal her name, that she had been duped into traveling to Pakistan at the age of 17 to marry her first cousin on the pretext of a family vacation. She later escaped what she called an “absolutely horrendous” marriage, in which she was “treated like a slave” by the family of her husband. Her own family has disowned her. “Their view of it all was that they felt I was going to become far too westernized and bring shame onto the family,” she said. Saima Afzal, the assistant police and crime commissioner for the northwestern county of Lancashire, was coerced into marriage as a young woman. She told the BBC that action was needed, as “cultures do not change alone,” and that it was important to focus on early intervention. Jasvinder Sanghera of the Karma Nirvana charity, which supports victims of honor crimes and forced marriages, praised the new law and said victims should report violations, and then decide whether to prosecute. “Nobody is going to be forcing you to prosecute or criminalize your parents,” she told the BBC. Some fear that family pressure will keep victims quiet, or sway them into withdrawing criminal complaints. British courts can already issue civil orders to prevent forced marriage, but the new law criminalizes such marriages. Failing to obey such an order can now result in a prison sentence of up to five years. The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children said that children as young as 12 had contacted the group about forced marriage, and that the number of calls had risen considerably in the past year. | Great Britain;Marriage;Crime;England;Wales |
ny0239934 | [
"science"
] | 2010/12/07 | Ex-Puzzle Addict Leaves Simple Solutions Behind | I confess: I used to be a puzzle addict. I was corrupted at an early age. My physicist mom loved mind games of every kind. She fed me math riddles as if they were vitamins for the brain. She could finish a Rubik’s cube in the time it took me to do one side. Mind-(and material-)bending doodads littered the kitchen counter like so many odd, inviting garnishes. One contraption had wooden rings on a tether. Another required a series of transformations to extricate a small grooved hunk of steel from a larger hollow one. Growing up, I never gave much thought to what I liked about puzzles or why it was so hard to set one down — even if it took hours or days to complete. Why agonize over problems that contribute no social good, financial reward or (to the best of anyone’s knowledge) health benefit? Torturing oneself for hours for a chance at fleeting pleasure seemed a sick form of entertainment. In high school, my big brother, Ben, steered me toward chess, whose beauty lies in its mind-boggling complexity. It is estimated that the number of possible variations in a game exceeds the number of atoms in the observable universe. Chess books are filled with diagrammed puzzles that teach players to look for surprising combinations of moves that sometimes sacrifice pieces for a positional advantage. A good player surveying a position is instantly aware of the pressure points, the range of motion of each piece and all the other pieces it can engage, as though the diagonal squares for a bishop and the ends of a knight’s L-shaped canter flashed hot pink. The most elegant chess problems often look the simplest, like the famous one Richard Reti published in 1921 with just two kings and two pawns. Or try checkmating someone using just a bishop and a knight in under 50 moves (to avoid a forced draw). Similarly, I was drawn to tennis. Since I was never the fastest, strongest or tallest player on the school team, I made it a kind of chess puzzle — dissecting opponents’ weaknesses and then constructing points to exploit them using the depth and angles of the entire court. In his autobiography, “Open,” Andre Agassi speaks of the game’s “perfect balance of power and strategy” and says his father was attracted to it because “geometry and mathematics are as close to perfection as human beings can get, he says, and tennis is all about angles and numbers.” During my junior year, our chess team was one of the two best in Oregon . Ben, a senior, played Board 1, and I was Board 2. At the state high school championships, we defeated team after team until we met our archrivals from Wilson High School in Portland . Of the five boards, they won three, earning a trip to nationals. We returned to Corvallis, heartbroken. We felt cheated — and as it turned out, we were. Wilson had stacked their boards, putting their top three players on Boards 1, 3 and 5 in violation of tournament rules, not to mention unwritten codes of ethics and sportsmanship. Chess puzzles, at least, were safe from human guile. Maybe what I liked about puzzles was their relative simplicity. As perplexing as they can be, all have a discrete and finite solution. Life, on the other hand, presents challenges far too complex to quantify or even define, much less solve. Why are we here? What’s the key to happiness? What is the air-speed velocity of an unladen swallow? Puzzles were an escape when I was growing up, a way to replace real-world problems with manufactured ones for which answers existed. Now, between producing online content at The New York Times and teaching at CUNY’s graduate journalism school, I am trying to manage the profound complexities of married life and raising an 11-month-old son in Manhattan . Time to dust off that Rubik’s cube. | Puzzle;Chess;Tennis;Science and Technology |
ny0217047 | [
"world",
"asia"
] | 2010/04/23 | China: Snow Snarls Recovery | Thousands of homeless earthquake survivors huddled in tents against strong winds Thursday as traffic slowed on snow-slicked roads, challenging recovery workers in far western China . Snow was to continue through Saturday in Yushu County, the disaster’s center, the official Xinhua news agency reported. The death toll was 2,183, with 84 missing. | Snow and Snowstorms;China;Disasters and Emergencies;Rescues |
ny0277089 | [
"us"
] | 2016/11/05 | Tense Jurors in Michael Slager Trial See Video of Killing of Walter Scott | CHARLESTON, S.C. — Before court began here on Friday, the county’s chief prosecutor stepped into the gallery and spoke quietly to the family of Walter L. Scott, a black man who was shot and killed by a white police officer last year. “The video’s coming up,” the prosecutor, Scarlett A. Wilson, said. “If you can’t take it, everybody understands that. It’s rough. It’s hard. It’s emotional.” Less than two hours later, with Mr. Scott’s mother out of the courtroom, rapt jurors fixed their attention on the video: a cellphone recording of some of the fatal encounter between Mr. Scott and Michael T. Slager , the North Charleston police officer now on trial for murder. The video shows Mr. Slager firing eight rounds toward the back of Mr. Scott, who had fled a traffic stop and become involved in a struggle with the officer. As the jury of 11 white people and a black man watched State’s Exhibit No. 237, a female juror held her right hand to her lower lip. A male juror repeatedly swallowed. Mr. Slager watched the video on a screen near the defense table as the sound of gunfire boomed, shot after shot, through the courtroom. “It was an injustice what I saw,” testified Feidin Santana, who recorded the video on his way to work on April 4, 2015. Mr. Santana, the only witness to the shooting besides Mr. Slager, said he had been first drawn by the sight of Mr. Scott running. Moments later, Mr. Slager came into view. Mr. Santana said he had heard the buzz of a Taser and watched Mr. Slager punch Mr. Scott’s side. Using his cellphone’s camera, Mr. Santana taped the men as they tussled. Then Mr. Slager opened fire, and Mr. Scott fell to the ground. Mr. Santana testified that the officer handcuffed Mr. Scott, who was not moving. “At any point, did you see Walter Scott coming at Officer Slager?” Ms. Wilson asked. “That never happened,” Mr. Santana replied. Mr. Santana acknowledged ignoring an officer’s request that he stay around, and he did not immediately supply the video, which became a stirring symbol of the national debate over race and policing, to city or state investigators. Instead, Mr. Santana said, he provided the video to Mr. Scott’s family and sat for multiple news media interviews before meeting with the authorities. Mr. Santana said he wanted to ensure his personal protection, and he testified that his lawyer had arranged the payments he received from licensing the video. But faced with the most damning evidence of the trial, Mr. Slager’s lawyer, Andrew J. Savage III, pointedly tried to undermine Mr. Santana’s credibility and fact-check his memory. Mr. Savage picked at details: Why, for instance, did Mr. Santana take a long, indirect route to work on a day he was running late? And with a stanza of a song that Mr. Santana wrote, the defense lawyer moved to portray the witness as a man with a distrust of law enforcement that predated the shooting. “It’s all war, trouble, police abuse and those who must defend us as the worst criminals,” Mr. Santana wrote about six months before the shooting. “Who can I trust? Tell me.” Mr. Santana said he did not oppose the police, generally. “I’m against police brutality,” he said, adding, “I write how I see things, you know, in the moment.” Mr. Slager, who was fired after the shooting, could be sentenced to life in prison if he is convicted of murder in state court, where his trial will resume on Monday. He has also been indicted on federal civil rights charges. The video could resurface in the state trial, in which Judge Clifton B. Newman on Friday denied a defense request to block the footage from being played in slow motion. The recording is also expected to be crucial evidence in the federal case. Yet Mr. Santana testified that he did recognize what was unfolding as he recorded the video on the morning before Easter. He first thought Mr. Slager’s handgun had been loaded with rubber projectiles. “I didn’t know it was real bullets,” he said. | Feidin Santana;Walter Scott;Michael Slager;North Charleston SC;Police Brutality,Police Misconduct,Police Shootings;Video Recordings; Downloads and Streaming;Black People,African-Americans |
ny0244909 | [
"nyregion"
] | 2011/04/29 | Gay Marriage Gets Backing From New York Business Leaders | Two dozen high-profile New York business leaders plan to release an open letter on Friday urging state lawmakers to legalize same-sex marriage , arguing that the measure would help companies attract and retain employees. The letter’s release comes as Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and gay rights advocates prepare what they say will be a major push to pass legislation this spring that would make New York the sixth state in the nation to allow same-sex couples to wed. The letter’s signers, from the legal, financial and real estate worlds, include Lloyd C. Blankfein, the chief executive of Goldman Sachs; Jerry I. Speyer, chairman of Tishman Speyer Properties; and Paul E. Singer, a prominent hedge fund executive. “In an age where talent determines the economic winners, great states and cities must demonstrate a commitment to creating an open, healthy and equitable environment in which to live and work,” the letter reads. “As other states, cities and countries across the world extend marriage rights regardless of sexual orientation, it will become increasingly difficult to recruit the best talent if New York cannot offer the same benefits and protection.” The letter reflects efforts by gay rights advocates to broaden their coalition after an embarrassing defeat in Albany, where a proposal to legalize same-sex marriage lost in the State Senate in 2009. This year, advocates are focusing on a few Democrats and Republicans who are thought to be open to switching their votes. Kathryn S. Wylde, president of the Partnership for New York City, an influential business group, said she hoped the letter would “provide an opportunity for legislators who may not have heard the voice of business to feel that they’ve got some cover to rethink their position on this issue.” Ms. Wylde helped collect signatures for the letter at the urging of Christine C. Quinn, the speaker of the City Council, who has been lobbying the Legislature to approve a bill. In an interview, Ms. Quinn said, “I knew there was support out there, yet when you talked and did lobbying in Albany, there was no way to show that to people.” One prominent supporter, John J. Mack, the chairman of Morgan Stanley, said that he believed legalizing same-sex marriage would help attract more talent to New York, but that he saw the issue chiefly as one of fairness. “It’s that simple,” Mr. Mack said. “I grew up in North Carolina. I’m 66 years old. I grew up when there was segregation. It makes an impression on you.” Some of the executives who signed the letter are well known in political circles, including Alan J. Patricof, a venture capitalist and major Democratic donor, Mr. Mack and Mr. Singer, who is active in Republican politics. Others venture more rarely into the political spotlight, including the corporate lawyer Martin Lipton. Some of the business leaders are close to the Senate Republican caucus, which voted unanimously against the marriage bill two years ago. Mr. Speyer, for example, is an influential voice among the city’s real estate developers, whose financial support was decisive in helping Republicans take control of the Senate in the election last fall. | Same-Sex Marriage Civil Unions and Domestic Partnerships;Law and Legislation;Cuomo Andrew M;Homosexuality;New York State |
ny0218360 | [
"nyregion"
] | 2010/05/28 | Andrew Cuomo Accepts New York Governor Nomination | RYE BROOK, N.Y. — Even as Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo was hailed as the Democratic Party ’s nominee for governor at a convention that was largely a coronation, there was lingering unease in some party circles about his ascension, partly by Mr. Cuomo’s own design. Mr. Cuomo is running against the state government, though it is controlled by his fellow Democrats, and he has laid out policies that put him on a collision course with some labor unions that have been reliable Democratic allies. Already, the state teachers union, recoiling at Mr. Cuomo’s support of charter schools , has said it may not make an endorsement in the governor’s race. And Mr. Cuomo’s fiscal policies, presented over the last week, could lead to a bitter budget fight if he is elected. He has rejected imposing tax increases and borrowing, meaning he would have to rely largely on spending cuts to close a yawning deficit next year. In his speech to delegates on Thursday, Mr. Cuomo vowed to shake up Albany, which he said had failed its citizens. And he continued to strive to distance himself from the morass of state politics, which has been mired in scandal and gridlock, even while underscoring his family ties to Albany — his father, former Gov. Mario M. Cuomo, could be seen playfully poking his son to make a point after the speech. Along with his father, several Cuomo family members and Mr. Cuomo’s companion, the celebrity cook Sandra Lee , gathered in the front of a standing-room-only hotel ballroom to applaud him. “When you go around the state, from Montauk to Buffalo, you hear over and over and over again the betrayal people feel towards the government,” Mr. Cuomo said in the speech, adding that trust “has to be restored, and we’re not going to do it with words.” Mr. Cuomo’s appearance at the convention on Thursday capped his crowning as the party’s nominee for governor, which has been in the making for the last year, as Gov. David A. Paterson faltered and in February ended his own, brief candidacy. The three-day convention focused largely on Mr. Cuomo; the party’s five candidates to succeed him as attorney general were not permitted to speak from the podium, an unusual development that left some of the contenders seething. His speech was received with sustained applause at points, if not exuberance, perhaps underscoring his arm’s-length approach to some elements in his own party. At times, his address echoed the rhetorical rhythms of his father, who captivated Democrats with a national convention address in San Francisco in 1984. Minutes after his speech, Mr. Cuomo emerged at a luncheon at the hotel where delegates were gathered and began shaking hands, and fielding reporters’ questions about how he would handle next year’s budget. “I’m not going to raise taxes; I’m not going to have a wage increase for public employees,” he said. “You may have to cut. You’re going to have to cut where the money is. The money is in education. The money is in health care.” Not everyone was in lockstep with the party’s new leader. Senator Ruth Hassell-Thompson, a Democrat who represents parts of the Bronx and Westchester County, said Mr. Cuomo should work with lawmakers to solve the state’s problems. “I have no way of knowing whether he’s going to be a partner or not,” she said, “but I think it’ll be very lonely trying to be the governor without the Legislature as a partner.” Richard C. Iannuzzi, president of New York State United Teachers, said Mr. Cuomo had failed to acknowledge the value of unions in his convention speech. “We have about 90 days until our leaders make an endorsement,” he said. “We’ll be paying a lot of attention between now and then.” Mr. Cuomo, while staking out a centrist fiscal agenda, this week reaffirmed his support for a number of left-leaning social positions, including same-sex marriage . But he has so far declined to say whether he would accept the endorsement of the Working Families Party, a coalition of liberal and labor groups. If Mr. Cuomo declined its endorsement, the party would almost certainly lose its ballot line status for statewide elections. Mr. Cuomo was introduced by William C. Thompson Jr., the former New York City comptroller; Kathy Hochul , the Erie County clerk; and Vivian Viloria-Fisher, a Dominican-born Suffolk County legislator — an African-American, an upstate woman and a Latina. It reflected the type of careful ethnic and gender choreography that characterizes most conventions, but also seemed a response to grumblings here that the ticket fails to reflect the diversity of the state. Mr. Cuomo has selected as his running mate Mayor Robert J. Duffy of Rochester, who, like himself, is a white, middle-aged, Catholic man. The Cuomo campaign maintained its tight control of information. Mr. Duffy, unavailable for interviews since Mr. Cuomo picked him on Tuesday to be the candidate for lieutenant governor, was surrounded by reporters after the speeches ended. After only briefly fielding questions, he was asked if he and Mr. Cuomo disagreed on anything, and Mr. Duffy responded, “We have not hit one thing that I consider to be any issue of disagreement.” At that, a nearby Cuomo aide shouted “Shut it down!,” and Mr. Duffy, trying to answer a question about what his portfolio might be as lieutenant governor, was whisked into the kitchen. Before the speeches concluded, Curtis Sliwa, the provocative radio host, snuck into the hallway outside the ballroom in a bright red cape, crown and sunglasses. As Mr. Cuomo finished speaking, Mr. Sliwa, wearing a sign that said “King Cuomo II,” began loudly demanding recognition. “This is my kingdom. I am your king. You have anointed me,” Mr. Sliwa cried as several police officers and hotel security guards forced him from the hallway. “You sycophants, toadies and lackeys — how ungrateful!” After leading him out to the parking lot, security guards tried to take him to his car. When he refused to say where it was, they pulled him to a nearby loading dock, walked him through a door and barred a growing crowd of reporters from following. “We’re going to get him medical assistance,” one guard said. | Cuomo Andrew M;New York State;Politics and Government;Democratic Party;Sliwa Curtis;Duffy Robert J;Elections;Governors (US) |
ny0093528 | [
"world",
"middleeast"
] | 2015/08/12 | Egypt: Dozens Die as Temperatures Reach 111 Degrees | A scorching heat wave has gripped Egypt this week, killing at least 42 people, including a German man, three patients in a psychiatric hospital and three detainees at a jail, officials said Tuesday. While Egyptian summers are usually hot, this week’s temperatures in the south soared to 111 degrees Fahrenheit. Most of the fatalities — at least 26 — were in Cairo, a crowded, sprawling city of at least 18 million where the power failed for a few hours Tuesday in several areas because of increased consumption. The identity of the German victim was not made public, though a security official said he had been living in Luxor, and the official MENA news agency described him as in his sixties. | Weather;Egypt;Fatalities,casualties;Temperature;Germany |
ny0231003 | [
"sports",
"basketball"
] | 2010/09/09 | Serbia and Turkey Advance to Semifinals | ISTANBUL (AP) — Serbia eliminated defending champion Spain, 92-89, in a quarterfinal game at the basketball world championships on Wednesday when Milos Teodosic made a long 3-pointer with 3.1 seconds left. Spain erased an 8-point deficit in the final four minutes to tie the score on Marc Gasol’s basket with 25 seconds remaining. After a timeout, Serbia patiently ran its offense until Teodosic pulled up from well beyond the arc. The Spaniards could not get a final shot off, with Jorge Garbajosa losing the ball after a timeout. Serbia’s players celebrated at midcourt as Spain’s Sergio Llull kicked the ball into the stands. Serbia avenged a loss in last year’s European championship game and advanced to face Turkey, the unbeaten host, in the semifinals Saturday. TURKEY 95, SLOVENIA 68 Ersan Ilyasova scored 19 points to help Turkey eliminate Slovenia. The teams traded leads five times until Kerem Tunceri’s 3-pointer with 6 minutes 35 seconds left in the first quarter put Turkey ahead, 12-11, fueling a 20-5 run. Turkey made 8 of 11 3-pointers in the first half. Turkey will finish in the top four for the first time at an Olympics or world championships. | World Basketball Championship;Basketball;Serbia;Spain;Turkey;Slovenia |
ny0192020 | [
"us"
] | 2009/02/10 | David C. Sabiston Jr., Heart Surgeon, Dies at 84 | Dr. David C. Sabiston Jr., who led a surgical team in performing an early and daring coronary bypass operation on a human in the 1960s, paving the way for more effective cardiac procedures, died on Jan. 26 in Chapel Hill, N.C. He was 84. The cause was a stroke , his family said. In 1962, while at Johns Hopkins University, Dr. Sabiston operated on a beating heart and used a vein stripped from the patient’s leg to bypass a blocked coronary artery and increase the flow of blood to the heart. The vein was grafted to an arterial wall. Even though the patient later had a stroke and died, the procedure was picked up and refined by others to develop techniques now common in bypass surgery. Dr. Michael E. DeBakey and Dr. H. Edward Garrett did what is considered to be the first successful coronary bypass in 1964, in a procedure made possible by improvements in the heart-lung machine. That operation also employed a vein removed from the patient’s leg. Dr. C. Rollins Hanlon, a cardiovascular surgeon who was director of the American College of Surgeons from 1969 to 1986, described Dr. Sabiston’s 1962 effort as a “new development in dealing with coronary obstructions that gave rise to hundreds of thousands of subsequent operations.” “It showed David Sabiston to be a man of considerable research capacity and a monumental worker,” Dr. Hanlon added. “He went on to pursue other innovations, not least of which has helped us make a more definitive diagnosis of pulmonary embolisms found within the lungs.” Dr. Sabiston left Johns Hopkins to become head of the department of surgery at Duke in 1964. At Duke, he enlarged the department and pressed for the inclusion of laboratory researchers to work alongside surgeons to study nonsurgical factors that influence outcomes. In the late 1960s, Dr. Sabiston helped desegregate black and white patients being treated in medical clinics at Duke. In the 1980s, he argued for a more active recruitment of members of minorities to the medical faculty, said Dr. Danny O. Jacobs, who became chairman of Duke’s department of surgery in 2003. Dr. Sabiston also wrote and edited a magisterial reference work, “Sabiston’s Textbook of Surgery: The Biological Basis of Modern Surgical Practice,” which has appeared in an 18th edition. Dr. Jacobs said the book remained in wide use and still formed a “gold standard for a surgeon’s education.” David Coston Sabiston Jr., was born on his family’s farm near Jacksonville, N.C., on Oct. 4, 1924. He graduated from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, before earning a medical degree at Johns Hopkins in 1947. He was named an instructor in surgery at Johns Hopkins in 1952, when he was also chief resident surgeon at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. He received a Fulbright scholarship to Oxford in 1960 and became a professor of surgery at Hopkins in 1964. The American Surgical Association elected Dr. Sabiston its president in 1977. He was president of the American College of Surgeons in 1985 and 1986; he was president of the American Association for Thoracic Surgery in 1984 and 1985. He retired from his chairmanship at Duke in 1994. Dr. Sabiston is survived by his wife of 54 years, the former Agnes Barden. The couple lived in Chapel Hill. He is also survived by three daughters, Anne Leggett of Charlotte, N.C.; Agnes Butler of Chapel Hill; and Sarah Sabiston of Salt Lake City; a sister, Alma Peacock of Wilmington, N.C.; and five grandchildren. | Surgery and Surgeons;Doctors;Deaths (Obituaries) |
ny0209049 | [
"business",
"global"
] | 2009/12/11 | China to Tax Some Imports From U.S. and Russia | China, the world’s largest steel consumer, said Thursday that it would impose provisional duties on some U.S. and Russian imports after anti-dumping and subsidy investigations, intensifying a trade dispute that began in September. Flat-rolled electrical steel products from steel makers including AK Steel Holding Corp., OAO Novolipetsk Steel and Allegheny Ludlum would attract duties of as much as 25 percent starting Friday, China’s Commerce Ministry said in two statements on its Web site. The steel is used to make power transformers. China is striking back after the United States, the European Union and other countries slapped on tariffs and filed complaints about Chinese steel and commodity products with the World Trade Organization this year. The United States and Russia last year exported a combined $602 million of the designated steel products to China, according to Mysteel Research Institute. “Dumping allegations can’t always be made from one side,” Xu Xiangchun, an analyst at Mysteel, said from Beijing. “U.S. and Russian imports have hurt Baosteel Group Corp. and Wuhan Iron & Steel Group, the only two producers of transformer steel in China.” The tariffs come after U.S. President Obama in a visit to Beijing last month pledged with President Hu Jintao to work on easing trade frictions. Mr. Obama imposed tariffs on Chinese tires in September, and the United States later levied duties on some Chinese steel pipes. The two countries have $409 billion in annual two-way trade. Baoshan Iron & Steel, the listed unit of Baosteel, fell 1.3 percent to close at 9.12 renminbi, or $1.33, in Shanghai. Wuhan Iron & Steel Co., gained 3 percent to 8.57 renminbi, also in Shanghai. Richard Buangan, media officer at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, declined to comment, while Baoshan Steel, Wuhan Steel and the Russian Embassy’s media office could not be reached. U.S. steel products will face two types of duties, one for subsidies and the other for dumping, the Chinese ministry said in its statement. Russian companies will pay tariffs only for violating anti-dumping rules, it said. A final ruling will be decided later, the ministry said. “This is the first time China has conducted an anti-subsidy and anti-dumping investigation,” the ministry said. The imports have hurt the Chinese steel industry, it said. Disputes between China and its trading partners are growing as the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression has led countries to protect jobs. China protested U.S. duties of as much as 99 percent on $3.2 billion of Chinese steel pipe exports on Nov. 6, and announced the start of an anti-dumping investigation into American carmakers. The Chinese Commerce Ministry in October made a preliminary ruling that U.S., European, Russian and Taiwanese chemical companies had dumped nylon fibers at below-cost prices in the Chinese market. | International Trade and World Market;China;United States |
ny0263812 | [
"us",
"politics"
] | 2011/12/07 | Obama Strikes Populist Chord With Speech in Kansas | OSAWATOMIE, Kan. — Laying out a populist argument for his re-election next year, President Obama ventured into the conservative heartland on Tuesday to deliver his most pointed appeal yet for a strong governmental role through tax and regulation to level the economic playing field. “This country succeeds when everyone gets a fair shot, when everyone does their fair share and when everyone plays by the same rules,” Mr. Obama said in an address that sought to tie his economic differences with Republicans into an overarching message. Infusing his speech with the moralistic language that has emerged in the Occupy protests around the nation, Mr. Obama warned that growing income inequality meant that the United States was undermining its middle class and, “gives lie to the promise that’s at the very heart of America: that this is the place where you can make it if you try.” “This is a make-or-break moment for the middle class, and all those who are fighting to get into the middle class,” Mr. Obama told the crowd packed into the gym at Osawatomie High School. “At stake,” he said, “is whether this will be a country where working people can earn enough to raise a family, build a modest savings, own a home, and secure their retirement .” Mr. Obama purposefully chose this hardscrabble town of 4,500 people, about 50 miles south of Kansas City, Kan., where Theodore Roosevelt once laid out the progressive platform he called “the New Nationalism” to put forth his case for a payroll tax cut and his broader arguments against the Republican economic agenda in what his aides hoped would be viewed as a defining speech. Though it was lacking in specific new policy prescriptions , the hourlong speech, and the days of buildup that preceded it, marked the president’s starkest attack on what he described as the “breathtaking greed” that contributed to the economic turmoil still reverberating around the nation. At one point, he noted that the average income of the top 1 percent — adopting the marker that has been the focus of the Occupy movement — has gone up by more than 250 percent, to $1.2 million a year. The new tack reflected a decision by the White House and the president’s campaign aides that — with the economic recovery still lagging and Republicans in Congress continuing to oppose the president’s jobs proposals — the best course for Mr. Obama is to try to present himself as the defender of working-class Americans and Republicans as defenders of a small elite. Republicans, though, portrayed the visit to Osawatomie (pronounced oh-suh-WAHT-ah-mee) as an effort by the president to paper over his failed stewardship of the national economy. Though unemployment levels dropped to 8.6 percent last month, they remain higher than the level at which any president has been re-elected since the Great Depression . Mitt Romney , one of the contenders for the Republican presidential nomination, dismissed the president’s address. “I thought, ‘In what way is he like Teddy Roosevelt?’ ” Mr. Romney said. “Teddy Roosevelt founded the Bull Moose Party. One of those words applies when the president talks about how he’s helped the economy.” The trip was Mr. Obama’s third out of Washington in as many weeks to press for passage of the payroll tax break, which would reduce the how much employees pay for Social Security to 3.1 percent from the already reduced level of 4.2 percent. Under the Democratic proposal, which Republicans have blocked, the cut that would go to most working Americans would be offset in the budget by a 1. 9 percent surtax on those with modified adjusted gross incomes of more than $1 million. If Congress takes no action, the tax will revert back to 6.2 percent next month. In Washington, the two parties remained at an impasse in their efforts to write legislation to extend the tax cut, with Senate Republicans rejecting the latest Democratic proposal and House Republicans still writing their own plan. Though the earlier speeches on the payroll tax took place in swing states, the fact that the president brought the message to one of the most reliably Republican states in the country shows that he and his party are increasingly confident that they have found a message that resonates with voters. This speech, however, was cast in broad historical terms, with Mr. Obama declaring that that after a century of struggle to build it, the middle class has been steadily eroded, even before the current economic turmoil, by Republican policies intended to reduce the size and scope of government — ranging from tax cuts for the wealthy to deregulation of Wall Street. “Fewer and fewer of the folks who contributed to the success of our economy actually benefited from that success,” he said. “Those at the very top grew wealthier from their incomes and investments than ever before. But everyone else struggled with costs that were growing and paychecks that weren’t — and too many families found themselves racking up more and more debt.” Mr. Obama sought to pre-empt a Republican response that he was engaging in class warfare. “This isn’t about class warfare,” he said. “This is about the nation’s welfare.” The visit was unusual for its setting in a state that he lost decisively despite his own family roots — his mother was born in Kansas . The vast majority of his visits as president have been to swing states like Pennsylvania that are expected to play an important role in next year’s election. But it was here, 101 years ago, that Theodore Roosevelt laid the intellectual framework for his unsuccessful bid for a third term after leaving the Republican party. That speech, which Mr. Obama referred to repeatedly, touched on many of the same themes — often in similar language — like concentration of wealth and the need for government to ensure a level playing field. Central to progress, Mr. Roosevelt said, was the conflict between “the men who possess more than they have earned and the men who have earned more than they possess.” Mr. Obama, to laughter from those familiar with attacks against him, noted: “For this, Roosevelt was called a radical, he was called a socialist, even a communist.” After the speech, one woman in the audience, Debra Harrison said the president put voice to her concerns about this community, which has been eroded by job losses and depopulation. “We’re doing what the middle class has always done in this country,” said Ms. Harrison, 51, who works at a nearby bank, shaking her head. “We work hard. We teach our kids to work hard. But it’s very hard for us to keep our heads above water these days. And it’s even harder for our kids.” | Barack Obama;US Economy;Federal Taxes;2012 Presidential Election;Income Inequality;Republicans;US Politics;Theodore Roosevelt;Kansas |
ny0136016 | [
"business"
] | 2008/04/23 | Insurer Says Economy Has Dented Its Prospects | It is never a good thing if many of your customers can no longer afford what you are selling. The UnitedHealth Group , which announced disappointing first-quarter earnings on Tuesday, said the weakening economy was causing fewer businesses and employees to sign up for its health insurance . UnitedHealth, whose stock fell sharply on the report, also cut its overall profit outlook for 2008. “We are clearly being impacted by the declining economic outlook,” Stephen J. Hemsley, the company’s chief executive, told investors Tuesday. While he acknowledged the company’s own missteps, Mr. Hemsley said that fewer employers — particularly small businesses — were offering health coverage to their workers, and that when they did, fewer employees were choosing to enroll. As one of the nation’s largest insurers and the first to report earnings this period, UnitedHealth’s results have raised anxiety about the industry’s challenges. While some analysts say UnitedHealth has simply hit a trough in the industry’s normal business cycle, others are worried about more fundamental challenges to the insurance business model. In recent years, despite soaring medical costs, insurers have made big profits by keeping premiums well ahead of health care inflation. But analysts say that business strategy may be reaching its limits, with companies finding it harder to raise prices without losing substantial numbers of customers. “The market is not growing — it’s shrinking,” said Sheryl Skolnick, a health care analyst for CRT Capital Holdings in Stamford, Conn. The market for employer-purchased coverage remains a large one, accounting for 158 million people. But Ms. Skolnick says that UnitedHealth, like many insurers, has priced its product beyond the reach of too many people and is now fighting with its competitors over a shrinking pool of customers. Investors in insurance stocks have been particularly anxious since WellPoint, another big player, warned last month that it expected disappointing first-quarter earnings. UnitedHealth’s profit report on Tuesday, which felt short of expectations, started a sell-off of its shares, which carried over to smaller declines in the stock of competitors like Aetna and WellPoint. Shares of UnitedHealth fell $3.66, or nearly 10 percent, to $34.15, which was near the 52-week low of last month. UnitedHealth earned $994 million, or 78 cents a share, on revenue of $20 billion for the first quarter. Although that was a 5 percent increase in earnings per share over last year, the company cut its 2008 profit outlook by 40 cents, to $3.55 to $3.60 a share. It cited, in part, the decline of its core commercial insurance business, estimating it may lose about 700,000 customers this year. That would reduced its core commercial business to about 10 million insured people. The main issue facing UnitedHealth is how much it can protect its profits as it loses customers for its traditional health insurance. “The issue for them is growth, and where is the growth going to come from?” asked Les Funtleyder, the health care strategist for Miller Tabak & Company, who rates the stock as neutral. Analysts disagree on whether UnitedHealth has already weathered the worst of the business cycle, or is at the onset of what could be two to three years of a difficult environment. Matthew Borsch, an analyst at Goldman Sachs, thinks the competition for customers is likely to make it hard for insurers like UnitedHealth to raise prices. The economy makes it even harder, said Charles Boorady, an analyst with Citigroup Investment Research. But while Mr. Boorady said he expected more earnings disappointments from other insurers — WellPoint is scheduled to report results on Wednesday and Aetna on Thursday — he predicts the cycle will be on the upswing as soon as next year, as profits stabilize. And while he says UnitedHealth’s shares could continue to be a poor performer for a time, he judges them to be cheap at the current price. UnitedHealth has also struggled since the departure of the company’s chief executive, William W. McGuire, who agreed to leave in October 2006 after being caught up in an options trading scandal. The company has received sharp criticism from many of its customers as well as the hospitals and doctors with whom it contracts for care. Regulators are also looking into some of the company’s business practices, including an inquiry by the New York state attorney general into the UnitedHealth unit that helps insurers determine how much of a doctor’s bill to pay. “It’s the litany,” said Ms. Skolnick, who argued that the company has expanded into too many businesses to be well managed. “There’s too much going on.” On Tuesday’s conference call some of the company’s major shareholders raised doubts about some of management’s decisions, arguing that UnitedHealth should pay shareholders a sizable dividend on shares instead of buying it back, or should consider selling some of its businesses that might be worth more as separate companies. “We have not executed well and have not executed well over the last two years,” said Mr. Hemsley, who emphasized that the company would consider a variety of moves. Mr. Boorady said UnitedHealth had not been as receptive as it should be to outside ideas, saying executives were “tone deaf to their customers and their shareholders.” And even if companies like UnitedHealth are not convinced that they need to do anything fundamentally different, Mr. Funtleyder said, there is a chance that the politicians will. For the insurers, that might not be a bad thing, he said. A new administration in Washington could decide to address the increasing number of uninsured Americans by asking the private insurers to play a role. The companies would benefit from a new pool of potential customers. “The hail Mary may be that we turn to some sort of universal care,” he said. Still, he recommends holding off on buying shares since he, too, thinks that there could be a tougher environment ahead. “There’s no sense in buying now if there’s more risk to come,” he said. | UnitedHealth Group;Health Insurance and Managed Care;Company Reports;Stocks and Bonds;Economic Conditions and Trends |
ny0126809 | [
"nyregion"
] | 2012/08/22 | Samuel H. Lindenbaum, Lawyer to Major New York Developers, Dies at 77 | Samuel H. Lindenbaum, who was widely considered New York City ’s top zoning lawyer and who was credited with doing as much as any of the powerful developers among his clients to shape the modern skyline of Manhattan, died on Friday at his home in East Hampton, N.Y. He was 77. The cause was esophageal cancer, his daughter Erica Tishman confirmed. Mr. Lindenbaum did not become the unofficial dean of the land-use bar in New York City through connections alone, though he was well connected. Nor did he engineer back-room deals that depended on skid-greasing, though he knew the world of fixers. “His edge was his brilliance and creativity in statutory interpretation,” said Michael T. Sillerman, a colleague of more than 30 years at Rosenman & Colin and at Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel, where Mr. Lindenbaum had served as counsel since 2002. Mr. Lindenbaum cultivated a scholar’s knowledge of the Zoning Resolution , the arcane document that governs development in New York. As a result, he was able to bend the resolution to his clients’ will without breaking it. And because his clients were major builders and landowners — among them Harry B. Helmsley, Harry Macklowe, Larry A. Silverstein, Jerry I. Speyer, Leonard Litwin, Steven Roth and Donald J. Trump; the Fishers and Tisches and Rudins and Roses; the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art — Mr. Lindenbaum’s imprint was enormous. His interpretations sometimes seemed to contradict the plain meaning of the resolution. For instance, in 1992 he and his colleagues convinced the City Planning Commission that the public would actually gain by losing public space at the former AT&T headquarters on Madison Avenue, which was being renovated as Sony Plaza. They argued successfully that the loss of 10,000 square feet of open-air space would be more than offset by the addition of 4,000 square feet of climate-controlled pedestrian space. “He could create something out of nothing,” Mr. Speyer said on Monday during Mr. Lindenbaum’s funeral, at Central Synagogue in Midtown. Not everyone welcomed such creations; certainly not the neighbors of Trump World Tower at First Avenue and East 47th Street, which was built in 2000 as the tallest residential building in the world. They battled the project until the Court of Appeals upheld the city’s approval process and, by extension, the intricate assemblage of development rights that Mr. Lindenbaum had helped to craft. Samuel Harvey Lindenbaum was born in Brooklyn on March 29, 1935, to Abraham M. and Belle Lindenbaum. He was sandy-haired as a boy, when he earned the nickname that would stick with him for a lifetime. (“It’s common throughout the real estate industry for people simply to say, ‘Ask Sandy,’ ” Mr. Speyer said. “No last name was necessary.”) He graduated from Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn in 1952 and from Harvard College in 1956. The next year he married Linda M. Lewis, whom he had met when they were teenagers at Camp With-a-Wind in Pennsylvania. She survives him, as do their daughters, Ms. Tishman and Laurie Lindenbaum, and six grandchildren. He also had a home on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. Mr. Lindenbaum earned his law degree from Harvard in 1959, after which he and his young family left for Oslo on a Fulbright fellowship. After returning to New York in 1960, he was soon tugged to his father’s side at Lindenbaum & Young on Court Street in Brooklyn. His father, known as Bunny, had a thriving real estate practice, representing Donald Trump’s father, Fred C. Trump, and the brothers Preston Robert Tisch and Laurence Tisch, who were then developing a half-dozen Loews hotels in New York. “They came to see us and my father said, ‘We’ll take care of it,’ ” Mr. Lindenbaum recalled in an interview for The Real Deal magazine in 2009. “When they left, he turned to me and said, ‘Go take care of it.’ I said, ‘What do you mean, I have no idea what you guys were talking about!’ He said, ‘You’re not going to make a liar out of your father, go take care of it.’ ” At the time, the Zoning Resolution was hot off the press, having been comprehensively revised in 1961. “Believe it or not,” Mr. Lindenbaum said, “I figured it out.” What he figured out was that zoning rules said hotel garages were intended “primarily” for guests and employees — not “exclusively.” He persuaded the Buildings Department to accept that interpretation, which allowed the Tisch brothers to open moneymaking transient parking spaces to the general public. In 1974, after 12 years with his father, Mr. Lindenbaum joined what was then Rosenman Colin Kaye Petschek Freund & Emil. He built up its land-use practice, serving as counsel to the firm beginning in 1983. His clients included The New York Times Company, which he represented before the Landmarks Preservation Commission in 2001 regarding the exterior of The Times’s headquarters at the time, at 229 West 43rd Street. Gary R. Tarnoff, a colleague at both Rosenman & Colin and Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel, recalled being interviewed for a job by Mr. Lindenbaum in 1988. “He said that he expected phone calls returned within the hour, and that’s how he lived his life,” Mr. Tarnoff wrote in an e-mail. At the funeral, one eulogist after the next testified to the same habit: Mr. Lindenbaum did not allow the business day to end without having called back everyone who had telephoned him. So it was in June that a reporter for The Times, looking for historical perspective on a city tax-exemption program and having no idea how gravely ill Mr. Lindenbaum was, left a message at his office. From East Hampton, Mr. Lindenbaum returned the call. | Lindenbaum Samuel H;New York City;Zoning;Deaths (Obituaries);Real Estate (Commercial) |
ny0043457 | [
"business"
] | 2014/05/06 | Another General Motors Official to Leave | DETROIT — Another top General Motors official is leaving the company after the automaker’s long-delayed recall of 2.6 million small cars with defective ignitions. G.M. said on Monday that Jim Federico, a senior engineer responsible for global vehicle integration, would retire after 36 years to pursue other interests. His departure brings to four the number of executives who have retired or resigned since the automaker admitted in February that it failed for years to recall cars with faulty ignition switches linked to 13 deaths. A G.M. spokesman, Greg Martin, said Mr. Federico’s retirement was not related to a continuing internal investigation of the switch recall. “Jim Federico has decided to retire and pursue other interests,” Mr. Martin said. “This is not switch-related.” Mr. Federico previously was chief engineer on G.M.’s small-car programs, and documents filed with federal regulators show that he was involved in studying the faulty switches. He worked directly for John Calabrese, G.M.’s head of global engineering, who announced his retirement in April as part of a major restructuring of the vast engineering department. Documents filed with regulators described Mr. Federico as a “champion” of one of G.M.’s many efforts to discover what went wrong with its switches. Since announcing its recall, G.M.’s chief executive, Mary T. Barra, has vowed to discover who was responsible for failing to fix switches that could be accidentally jarred, cutting engine power and deactivating air bags. The automaker has said it knew of problems with the switches as far back as 2001. But despite a series of internal studies and product liability lawsuits, it did not decide to recall the vehicles until after a safety committee recommended it on Jan. 31. Last month, G.M.’s communications chief, Selim Bingol, and its head of human resources, Melissa Howell, left the company . In addition, G.M. has suspended two engineers directly involved in the design and procurement of the faulty switches. An internal investigative effort led by a former United States attorney, Anton R. Valukas, is expected to be done by the end of this month. The recall is also being investigated by the Justice Department, a House committee and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The recall and other vehicle safety actions have cost G.M. about $1.3 billion so far this year. The company is in the process of replacing switches on affected vehicles. | Automobile safety;GM;Appointments and Executive Changes;Recalls and Bans;Jim Federico |
ny0054544 | [
"nyregion"
] | 2014/07/06 | Airbnb’s Promise: Every Man and Woman a Hotelier | In recent weeks, Airbnb, the online lodging site and popular Silicon Valley emblem of the sharing-loving-trusting-hugging-anyone-can-be-Conrad-Hilton economy, unveiled a promotional campaign in New York aimed at getting doubters to see what a valuable social function the company performs. In a series of ads, visible mostly in subway stations, Airbnb hosts of various races and creeds are depicted in the unpretentious living quarters they rent out — in Prospect-Lefferts Gardens, Brooklyn, in Astoria, Queens — over text explaining that Airbnb not only provides tens of thousands of New Yorkers with supplemental income, but also “strengthens our communities.” A television spot, Airbnb’s first, depicts an African-American woman named Carol wearing a dashiki and arranging flowers in her Lower East Side home. She is shown extending her hospitality to out-of-town guests for whom she makes pancakes. We learn that her husband died, she has grown sons and her employment vanished. Airbnb made possible both her survival and, we’re meant to understand, her pursuit of graduate education in divinity. The company operates in 34,000 cities, and of those, Airbnb has had the most trouble securing the affections of local governments in Barcelona, San Francisco and New York City, where the state attorney general, Eric T. Schneiderman, who has described the Internet as “one of the primary crime scenes of the 21st century,” has sought to limit the company’s influence. The hippie entrepreneurialism embodied by Internet ventures like Airbnb is not the most obvious target for an office that once, more usefully, imagined Wall Street as the century’s greatest theater of malfeasance. But the attorney general and other officials don’t easily gravitate toward the company’s argument for civic good. Occasionally events transpire that would seem to substantiate their reservations. In March, a Chelsea man, returning home to the apartment he had rented to someone who said he was looking for a place for his in-laws to stay while they were in town for a wedding, found instead an orgy that left him throwing sheets over all of his furniture in disgust. (Referring to the participants, The New York Post inimitably described this as an “overweight orgy.”) In 2010, two years after Airbnb was created, the New York State Legislature strengthened the statute related to the operation of illegal hotels, which are essentially defined as apartments or rooms rented out for fewer than 30 days. Believing that anyone ought to be able to rent out a home, Airbnb would like to see that law overturned. When a company valued at $10 billion clamors about government interference as it positions itself so we might view it as an agent in the war against inequality, there are obvious reasons to be suspicious. The benefits of the sharing economy can redound, after all, only to those with actual assets to share. Part of the impetus for the 2010 law in New York were the concerns that short-term rentals were depleting the city’s housing stock and that profits were accruing to landlords with multiple apartments who foresaw greater gains serving tourists than those who lived here. But when Airbnb conducted a survey of its participants in the city last year, it says, it found that 87 percent were renting out their primary residences. Moreover, 62 percent claimed that hosting guests through Airbnb helped them afford to remain in their homes, and almost half of hosts who reported earnings had household incomes at or below the city’s average. A map of available Airbnb spaces for rent throughout the city reveals them to be spread out, beyond the obvious upper-middle-class enclaves: on Staten Island, in parts of the Bronx and in East New York, Brooklyn. The hotel industry has been bedeviled by the company, but clearly traditional accommodations are not under any real threat. Over the past year, hotel demand has increased in the city, not diminished. Airbnb users are coming to the city when they seemingly wouldn’t otherwise be able to bear the expense. At a moment when a sector of Midtown Manhattan is becoming a vast condominium complex for foreign billionaires who will alight in the city only when the spirit moves them and only when they don’t find themselves in Singapore, Mustique or Rio, it is worth considering the value of democratizing the tourist class. One kind of tourist will ensure the survival of a bookstore like Rizzoli , and another will ensure that it is replaced with someplace to buy $15,000 watches. Part of what regulators don’t like about Airbnb is the sense that it promotes transience, and all the problems attendant to it, in buildings intended as permanent residences. But how many of them have raised a fuss about the erection of high-rises that serve as de facto resorts for the global aristocracy? Michael R. Bloomberg supported the law against short-term rentals as he wished for every rich Russian bachelor to move into One57 . Maybe everyone will be happy to tolerate orgies there because the participants will be skinnier. | Travel,Tourism;Hotels;Airbnb;Eric T Schneiderman;NYC |
ny0257785 | [
"sports",
"hockey"
] | 2011/01/29 | Donald Fehr Says Hiring of Assistant Isn’t Shot Across N.H.L.’s Bow | Donald Fehr , the new executive director of the N.H.L. Players Association, said Thursday that a newly hired assistant who has opposed the N.H.L. over franchise relocations was not the “shot across the bow” it has been described as in some quarters. Speaking in an interview before he left New York for Raleigh, N.C., on Friday to attend the N.H.L.’s All-Star weekend, Fehr traced his ascendancy to the position , stressing his admiration for the N.H.L.’s players and saying he would spend up to a year learning the hockey business before considering opening negotiations on a new collective bargaining agreement, which expires Sept. 15, 2012. Fehr, whose nomination to the post was approved overwhelmingly in a full membership vote announced Dec. 18, said: “What I’m going to try to do over the next several months to a year is to absorb as much detailed knowledge as I can as to how the industry operates, what the players’ role is in it, how the various provisions of the collective bargaining agreement work, what people think is good about it, what they think is bad, what they think can be improved, what they think can’t be improved or shouldn’t be touched.” Fehr, who led baseball’s players association for 26 years before stepping down in 2009, declined to discuss specific issues involved in future negotiations. But he did talk about the union’s hiring on Monday of Richard Rodier, a Toronto lawyer who represented the Canadian billionaire Jim Balsillie in contentious efforts to buy first the Pittsburgh Penguins, then the Nashville Predators and finally the Phoenix Coyotes, and move them to Hamilton, Ontario. According to the players union, Rodier’s duties will include helping the union review and analyze “certain legal, economic and business issues affecting the sport.” News reports in Canada pointed to Rodier’s aggressive advocacy, which included deposing N.H.L. Commissioner Gary Bettman in the Coyotes’ bankruptcy case and his charges that some league practices violated antitrust regulations. The reports characterized Rodier as a thorn in Bettman’s side and his hiring by the union as a sign of future contention. “All I can tell you is this: I don’t pay attention to any of those characterizations,” Fehr said. “Your objective is to find the strongest and the best functioning staff that you can — strongest being defined as people that you think can help in the analysis and work of the union.” Rodier worked with Balsillie in his three unsuccessful efforts to buy a team from 2004 to 2010. In 2003, Rodier was part of a separate, unsuccessful effort to buy the Ottawa Senators, then in bankruptcy, and move them to Hamilton. Through those efforts, Rodier has acquired extensive knowledge of the economics of N.H.L. franchises. Many expressed surprise when Fehr, 62, confirmed his intention to take the hockey union job after so many years as head of the baseball union. Marvin Miller, his predecessor with the baseball union, said last summer that Fehr was “crazy” to seek the hockey job, given the “chaos” that the N.H.L.P.A. had experienced over the previous five years and the four executive directors it had run through in that period. “First of all, it was the right thing to do — they asked — and secondly I’ve always liked the guys,” said Fehr, who began working with the hockey union in December 2009, four months after the members had fired Paul Kelly as executive director. Fehr worked as an unpaid adviser to help the union — then troubled by dissension and a wave of staff firings and resignations — rewrite its constitution and search for a new executive director. “I found myself describing to them, as you might expect in the context of looking to rewrite a constitution, what a union is, and what it does, and how it’s supposed to operate,” Fehr said. “And at the end, I got to know and like enough of the guys. “If I can help them out for a few years, do a restructuring, get a staff in place which is going to be there for a long time and hopefully help them get a better collective bargaining agreement, it’s something I’d think I want to do, because I like them.” Fehr’s statements on two issues, checks to the head and concussions — like the one that has sidelined Sidney Crosby since Jan. 5 and will keep him out of the All-Star Game — and N.H.L. players’ participation in the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, seem in line with league management’s stances. “Obviously safety on the ice is an important thing and people have to constantly pay attention to it, and there are concussion working groups that have met and continue to meet to work these things out,” Fehr said. But, he added: “There are some sports in which the athletes have physical interactions with each other that cause injuries. For the most part, not entirely, that’s different than baseball; it’s similar to some other sports. And all I can tell you is everybody understands that, going in, people don’t take stuff personally.” About the 2014 Olympics, he said, “If all things are equal, meaning if you can find an appropriate way to allow participation in the Olympics that works with the realities of running a business, then hopefully we’ll be able to find a way to do that.” N.H.L. executives have been reluctant to commit to the Sochi Games, fearing that it may not result in the television ratings bonanza that the Vancouver Games generated. But most players, especially Europeans, have said they want to go to the Games. | Fehr Donald;Hockey Ice;National Hockey League |
ny0183992 | [
"world",
"middleeast"
] | 2007/12/13 | Three Blasts Kill at Least 27 in Iraq | BAGHDAD — At least 27 people died and 150 were wounded Wednesday when three car bombs ripped through a southern Iraqi city where the local authorities had recently taken over security responsibility from the British military and rival Shiite groups had been battling for control of oil and power. The triple bombing, in Amara, the capital of Maysan Province, was one of the deadliest attacks in Iraq in months and highlighted both the volatility of the south and the potential risks of turning over security to Iraqi forces in areas where tensions still run high. Iraqi security officials said that the blasts came in quick succession around 10 a.m., collapsing buildings, charring cars and filling hospital hallways with bloody victims who barely knew what hit them. Police reports on the death toll ranged from 27 to 41. “I saw human flesh flying here and there,” said Zahra Muhammad Hussein, 53, who was struck by the bomb’s blast while hailing a taxi. “It was a huge explosion. I lost consciousness and felt that the earth has swallowed me.” Witnesses said the first car bomb exploded in a parking garage on one of the city’s busiest streets. When crowds rushed to help the victims, the second and third bombs — in parked cars nearby — blew up, shattering glass in stores and sending a thick plume of smoke into the air. “I saw the explosion, and it was horrific,” said one witness, Muhammad Abdul-Hussein. “The first car exploded. Then five minutes after that, the second exploded, and as people gathered to help evacuate the casualties, there was a third.” British troops handed control of Maysan Province to Iraqis in April as part of the planned drawdown of foreign troops throughout the southern region. Despite the latest attack and the frequent violence throughout the region, Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki announced Wednesday that Iraqi forces, as planned, would take over responsibility for security from British forces in the nearby province of Basra this week. During a visit to Basra, Mr. Maliki said the Amara attack was a “desperate attempt” to distract the public from broader security improvements in Baghdad and elsewhere in Iraq. He called on Amara residents to suppress the urge for vengeance. Meanwhile, on Wednesday afternoon, Interior Ministry officials said they would fire the local police chief in Amara. It was not clear, however, who was responsible for the car bombs. Typically, Sunni extremist groups are blamed for dramatic car bombs here, but Amara is tightly controlled by Shiites. Sitting in an oil-rich province that borders Iran, about 200 miles southeast of Baghdad, it is the home of rival Shiite militias — the Mahdi Army, loyal to Moktada al-Sadr, and gunmen aligned with the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, which residents described as the city’s dominant political force. Iran has ties to both groups. Recent clashes between the forces have been concentrated in Basra and Diwaniya, two nearby southern cities, but brutal violence has erupted repeatedly in Amara since at least 2003. British military officials said this year that Iraqi forces would be able to keep a lid on violence, but the attacks on Wednesday suggested a high level of coordination, and a desire to kill as many people as possible. Immediately afterward, the local security forces locked down the city with a vehicle ban, as reports came in that at least one and possibly three other car bombs might be in the area. The police said they arrested a handful of suspects but did not give details on a possible motive. Abdul Karim Mahoon, a prominent local leader and former member of the Amara district council, said the attack might have involved a mix of local militants and foreign expertise. “They are trying to disturb the stability and security of our province,” he said, “because it has been safer than others.” The attacks came after an overall lull in violence in Iraq recently compared with the number of attacks in previous months and years. Violence also surfaced in several other parts of the country on Wednesday, leaving at least 19 people dead and dozens wounded. In Baghdad, a car bomb in a Christian neighborhood near the country’s main tax office killed at least five people and wounded 13, an Interior Ministry official said. The explosion blew out windows in three buildings and caused frantic mothers to race to the scene, wailing, because schoolboys often congregate in nearby shops. Ahmad al-Maliki, 24, a clerk who works in a fruit market, said that he saw a smoldering body on the sidewalk after the blast and an old man lying on the street with his clothes burned off. “The shock threw me to the ground behind a table, and that saved me,” said Mr. Maliki, pieces of glass and splintered wood clinging to his curly hair. Witnesses said the bomb appeared to have been aimed at a police checkpoint. The Baghdad police also found five unidentified bodies throughout the city and reported two shootings and a roadside bomb that, in all, wounded at least four people. To the north in Diyala Province, three unidentified bodies were found in and around Baquba, the provincial capital. A pair of gun battles in the city killed two civilians and wounded five, while the day’s most horrific attack in the province came just before dusk. At around 4:30 p.m., three masked gunmen forced their way into the Saadiya high school for boys, north of Baquba. Witnesses said they opened fire on the school’s headmaster, Khalil Ibraheem al-Khalidi, and a teacher, Khalid Salim; both were killed. Witnesses said that the headmaster and the teacher had been heard criticizing Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia — a homegrown Sunni Arab extremist group that American intelligence agencies have concluded is led by foreigners — and were probably killed for their views. Farther north in Kirkuk, where Kurds have been battling Sunni Arabs for control of the area’s oil, a roadside bomb killed at least one person and wounded two. | Iraq;Bombs and Explosives;Armament Defense and Military Forces |
ny0220076 | [
"world",
"europe"
] | 2010/02/04 | Europe Leans Toward Bluefin Trade Ban | PARIS — European officials are increasing pressure for an international ban on the commercial fishing of bluefin tuna, a threatened species whose fatty belly is prized for sushi. But they are facing a delicate balancing act as they try to weigh economic interests of a Mediterranean fishing industry, a sushi-loving Japan, and a species that some experts say is on the verge of extinction. In the latest move toward protecting the fish, France said Wednesday that it would back a ban starting late next year on international trade in bluefin, which are found in the Atlantic as well as the Mediterranean Sea. About 80 percent of the bluefin catch is exported to Japan. “The species is in difficulty,” Jean-Louis Borloo , the French ecology minister, told journalists in Paris on Wednesday. A ban, he added, is “the most powerful measure possible.” Bluefin stocks have plummeted as demand for sushi has risen and powerful industrial fishing boats known as purse seiners have come into use. The stocks are now below 15 percent of their historical level, a team of scientific experts from tuna-fishing nations concluded at a meeting in October in Madrid. In July, Monaco proposed that bluefin tuna be listed as an “Appendix 1” endangered species under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora . Such a listing would provide the same level of protection accorded pandas and some whales, effectively banning international trade in the fish. A panel of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization concluded in December that the species met the criteria for an Appendix 1 listing. Monaco’s proposal will be lodged officially when the 175 nations that are parties to the treaty meet next month in Doha, Qatar. Because most of the European Union , including Italy, has already lined up behind Monaco, France’s support should help bring the 27-nation body in line for a unified position in Doha. Spain, which currently holds the union’s presidency and is widely thought to oppose a ban, would have to present the union’s position. The incoming European Commission — the bloc’s executive arm — is expected to take up the issue as early as next week. The French government’s stance had been in doubt. France, along with the European Union, had initially applauded Monaco’s proposal, but it later joined several other tuna-fishing nations, including Italy and Spain, in objecting. President Nicolas Sarkozy has had to balance public support for a bluefin trade ban, as well as a public appeal from Prince Albert of Monaco, with the danger that angry fishermen might seek to embarrass his center-right party by blockading French ports before March regional elections. France’s backing for a ban comes with strings attached. Mr. Borloo and Bruno Le Maire, the French agriculture and fisheries minister, said support was conditional upon an 18-month delay in implementation, which they said was to obtain additional scientific data. The delay would allow two more fishing seasons to pass. They also said a ban should not affect sales of bluefin tuna caught by line and pole or by longline within Europe. Like Italy, France will also seek financial aid from the European Union to help the fishing industry. Sergi Tudela, head of the World Wildlife Fund’s Mediterranean fisheries program , said: “We’re disappointed with the delay. They’re saying that they need time to gather more scientific data, but there’s more than enough information on the table already. We’re asking them to drop that condition.” Still, the move is “positive,” he said. “France has understood that an Appendix 1 listing is the only way to save this fishery.” The fishing industry was quick to voice its disapproval. Mourad Kahoul, president of an association representing industrial fishing fleets in France, Italy and Spain, said that his group “is doing everything it can to change the government’s mind on this,” and that there were differing scientific views on the outlook for the fish. “What is not about to disappear are the boats, which cost 3 million euros a few years ago and which they now want us to scrap,” he said. “Well, why did they let us build them in the first place?” The United States fishing industry is “strongly opposed” to listing the fish under the endangered species convention, said Rich Ruais, executive director of the American Bluefin Tuna Association , who said the trade ban “would create a huge black market.” “In fact,” he said, “we believe a listing has the possibility of doing more damage than good.” Japan has not yet made its own position official, though it is widely expected to fight the proposal, as was the case in 1992 when Sweden sought to have the bluefin listed. The United States initially said it supported Monaco, but it has not made clear its position. | Tuna;Fishing Commercial;European Union;Endangered and Extinct Species;International Trade and World Market;Fish and Other Marine Life;Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species |
ny0006670 | [
"world",
"middleeast"
] | 2013/05/11 | U.N. Rights Chief Urges Faster Action to End Fighting in Syria | GENEVA — Navi Pillay, the top United Nations human rights official, called Friday for “much greater urgency” in efforts to end the conflict in Syria, saying massacres carried out in recent days should spur international action. “The increasingly brutal nature of the conflict makes international efforts to halt the bloodshed imperative,” Ms. Pillay, the high commissioner for human rights, said in a statement in Geneva. Efforts by the United States and Russia to convene an international conference on ending the two-year civil war announced this week are welcome, Ms. Pillay said, “but we need a much greater sense of urgency.” Ms. Pillay drew attention to images of piles of bodies, including infants and small children, that purport to show the killing of dozens of civilians by pro-government militiamen in the village of Bayda and elsewhere in the Baniyas area this month. She said she believed that war crimes and crimes against humanity had been committed. She also warned that a buildup of government forces and militia troops in the western Qusayr area near the border with Lebanon appeared to presage a government offensive and that residents were fleeing. “We’re worried, too,” said Rupert Colville, a spokesman for Ms. Pillay. “These kind of killings have not been a one-off; they’ve been repeated very savagely.” Ms. Pillay’s statement reflected concern that the tepid international response to reports of the Bayda massacre showed that outrage outside Syria was fading. “There needs to be a careful investigation of each and every incident like this,” Ms. Pillay said. “We should not reach the point in this conflict where people become numb to the atrocious killing of civilians.” United Nations investigators are receiving consistent testimony that government forces are targeting hospitals, bakeries, schools and other sources of life-sustaining support, and that they are shelling and rocketing civilian areas regardless of whether they have a minimal or heavy rebel presence, she said. “But the disgraceful disregard for the protection of civilians is not restricted to the government side,” she added. “The scope of violations by antigovernment armed groups has also increased alarmingly.” Opposition attacks in Damascus, the Syrian capital, have killed and wounded dozens of civilians, she said, and abductions by the radical Nusra Front appear to be increasing. The British prime minister, David Cameron, echoed some of Ms. Pillay’s sense of urgency after meeting with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia on Friday. “We urgently have to do more for the sake of people in Syria to break the vicious cycle that threatens to destroy Syria and that threatens to export violence and extremism around the world,” Mr. Cameron said after the talks in Sochi, Russia, the site of next year’s Winter Olympics. He suggested that there had been progress toward a reconciliation with Russia on how to secure an end to the bloodshed. “It’s no secret that we have had differing views on how best to handle the situation, but we share fundamental aims: to end the conflict, to stop Syria fragmenting, to let the Syrian people choose who governs them and to prevent the growth of violent extremism,” he said. He added, “The president and I have agreed that as permanent members of the U.N., we must help to drive this process, working with partners in the region and beyond, not just bringing the regime and opposition together at one negotiating table, but Britain, Russia, America and other countries helping shape a transitional government that all Syrians can trust to protect them.” But Mr. Putin said only that there was agreement on wanting “a swift end to the violence and the start of a peace process, and we both want to preserve Syria’s territorial integrity and sovereignty.” Russia’s emphasis on preserving Syria’s sovereignty has been a refrain in its opposition to military intervention in the Syrian conflict and its opposition to any Western-led effort to remove President Bashar al-Assad from power; Russia has instead insisted that the two sides negotiate a settlement. Mr. Putin allowed that at Mr. Cameron’s initiative, they had “discussed the possible scenarios that could bring about positive development of this process, and examined the possible joint steps we could take.” | Syria;Navi Pillay;Human Rights;Arab Spring;UN |
ny0187587 | [
"sports",
"cycling"
] | 2009/04/10 | French Agency Says Armstrong Initially Avoided Drug Tester | Lance Armstrong could face punishment for falling out of sight of a drug tester last month when warned not to do so, France’s anti-doping agency said Wednesday. Armstrong, the seven-time Tour de France winner, is accused of possibly violating the anti-doping agency’s rules during the test on March 17 when he was training in France. Armstrong — who has long been the subject of doping allegations, particularly in France — denies any wrongdoing. He also said that no banned substances were found in the samples taken that day. In a statement posted on its Web site Thursday, the French agency said that Armstrong “did not respect the obligation to remain under the direct and permanent observation” of the drug tester. It did not say, however, that Armstrong was guilty of breaking the rules. Pierre Bordry, the French anti-doping agency’s president, said the agency would make a decision on whether to bring a case against Armstrong. First, though, the details of the tester’s report would be reviewed by the anti-doping agency’s ruling committee. Under French law, the tester collected hair, urine and blood samples from Armstrong, but not before a 20-minute delay during which Armstrong took a shower while his assistant checked the tester’s credentials. Armstrong, in a statement released this week, called the accusation “outrageous.” He said that the drug tester noted no irregularities with the test on the official sample collection form. That form was signed by Armstrong and the tester, Armstrong said. “We asked if it was O.K. for me to run inside and shower while they made their calls and the tester said that was fine,” said Armstrong, who is in his first season back after a three-and-a-half-year hiatus from the sport. He added: “I did not try to evade or delay the testing process that day.” Pat McQuaid, president of the International Cycling Union, said in a telephone interview Thursday that Armstrong’s case was in its early stages and that the cycling union had nothing to do with it at this point. It was too soon to say whether Armstrong would be sanctioned, he said. McQuaid said, “it’s possible” that Armstrong could miss the Tour de France if it is proven that he broke the rules. “The anti-doping agency would have to review the paperwork and decide if they would start a disciplinary process against him,” McQuaid said. “If they do bring a case, we would then have to decide whether it applied internationally. For now, we just have to wait to see whether they open up a case.” Under international standards for sample collection, athletes must remain in the view of the drug testers at all times. That rule prevents an athlete from trying to manipulate his urine — perhaps by drinking a lot of water to dilute his sample — in order to try to beat a test. “At the end of the day, each case depends on its own facts,” David Howman, the director general of the World Anti-Doping Agency, said on Thursday. “You have to be clear that the athlete has heard the information about staying in the view of the tester. If he has clearly heard the warning and decides to walk away, then it would be a breach.” If it is proven that the athlete has clearly broken the rules, it could possibly lead to a two-year penalty, Howman said. | Armstrong Lance;Doping (Sports);Bicycles and Bicycling;World Anti-Doping Agency |
ny0040326 | [
"us",
"politics"
] | 2014/04/06 | Despite Support in Party, Democratic Governors Resist Legalizing Marijuana | LOS ANGELES — California voters strongly favor legalizing marijuana. The state Democratic Party adopted a platform last month urging California to follow Colorado and Washington in ending marijuana prohibition. The state’s lieutenant governor, Gavin Newsom, has called for legalizing the drug. But not Gov. Jerry Brown. “I think we ought to kind of watch and see how things go in Colorado,” Mr. Brown, a Democrat, said curtly when asked the question as he was presenting his state budget this year. At a time of rapidly evolving attitudes toward marijuana legalization — a slight majority of Americans now support legalizing the drug — Democratic governors across the country, Mr. Brown among them, find themselves uncomfortably at odds with their own base. Even with Democrats and younger voters leading the wave of the pro-legalization shift, these governors are standing back, supporting much more limited medical-marijuana proposals or invoking the kind of law-and-order and public-health arguments more commonly heard from Republicans. While 17 more states — most of them leaning Democratic — have seen bills introduced this year to follow Colorado and Washington in approving recreational marijuana, no sitting governor or member of the Senate has offered a full-out endorsement of legalization. Only Gov. Peter Shumlin, a Democrat in Vermont, which is struggling with a heroin problem, said he was open to the idea. Image Gov. John W. Hickenlooper of Colorado Credit Cliff Owen/Associated Press “Quite frankly, I don’t think we are ready, or want to go down that road,” Dannel P. Malloy, the Democratic governor of Connecticut, which has legalized medical marijuana and decriminalized possession of small amounts of marijuana, said in an interview. “Perhaps the best way to handle this is to watch those experiments that are underway. I don’t think it’s necessary, and I don’t think it’s appropriate.” The hesitance expressed by these governors reflects not only governing concerns but also, several analysts said, a historically rooted political wariness of being portrayed as soft on crime by Republicans. In particular, Mr. Brown, who is 75, lived through the culture wars of the 1960s, when Democrats suffered from being seen as permissive on issues like this. “Either they don’t care about it as passionately or they feel embarrassed or vulnerable. They fear the judgment,” said Ethan Nadelmann, the founder of the Drug Policy Alliance, an organization that favors decriminalization of marijuana. “The fear of being soft on drugs, soft on marijuana, soft on crime is woven into the DNA of American politicians, especially Democrats.” He described that sentiment as, “Do not let yourself be outflanked by Republicans when it comes to being tough on crime and tough on drugs. You will lose.” In Washington and Colorado, the Democratic governors had opposed legalization from the start, though each made clear that he would follow voters’ wishes in setting up the first legal recreational-marijuana marketplaces in the nation. “If it was up to me, being in the middle of it, and having read all this research and having some concern, I’d tell people just to exercise caution,” Gov. John W. Hickenlooper of Colorado said in a recent interview. Image Gov. Jerry Brown of California Credit Jae C. Hong/Associated Press In Colorado, where recreational marijuana went on sale Jan. 1, revenue figures released in February suggested that taxes on drug sales could bring in more than $100 million a year for the state, a figure that made other states take note. Washington has yet to let its first marijuana stores open — that is expected to happen later this spring — but Gov. Jay Inslee has made his position clear. “As a grandfather, I have the same concerns every grandfather has about misuse of any drug, including alcohol and marijuana,” he said in a telephone interview, adding, “All of us want to see our kids make smart decisions and not allow any drug to become injurious in our life. “I recognized the really rational decision that people made that criminalization efforts were not a successful public policy,” Mr. Inslee continued. “But frankly, I really don’t want to send a message to our kids that this is a route that is without risk.” Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York has said he would oppose outright legalization of marijuana but would support legalizing, to some extent, medical marijuana in the state, and might be open to decriminalizing the drug. In New Hampshire, Gov. Maggie Hassan, a Democrat, invoked her state’s struggle with heroin abuse in arguing against weakening marijuana laws. “Legalizing marijuana won’t help us address our substance use challenge,” she said in her state of the state address this year. “Experience and data suggests it will do just the opposite.” Image Gov. Jay Inslee of Washington Credit Tony Overman/The Olympian, via Associated Press Even in California, the first state to legalize medical marijuana and where marijuana advocates are moving to put a legalization initiative on the ballot in 2016, Mr. Brown has flashed a yellow light. “All of a sudden, if there’s advertising and legitimacy, how many people can get stoned and still have a great state or a great nation?” Mr. Brown said in an interview on “Meet the Press” last month. “The world’s pretty dangerous, very competitive. I think we need to stay alert, if not 24 hours a day, more than some of the potheads might be able to put together.” The resistance comes as public opinion on the issue is moving more rapidly than anyone might have anticipated. Nationally, 51 percent of adults support legalizing the drug, according to a New York Times/CBS News poll conducted in February, including 60 percent of Democrats, 54 percent of independents and 72 percent of young adults. Even 44 percent of Tea Party members said they wanted the drug legalized. In California, 60 percent of likely voters said they supported marijuana legalization in a poll conducted by the Public Policy Institute of California last year. In many ways, the shift in public sentiment toward the legalization of marijuana tracks the rapid change in views on same-sex marriage, again led by young adults and Democrats. But there is one key difference: Many elected Democratic officials have come to support same-sex marriage, and analysts said Democrats could pay a political cost for opposing it. Image Gov. Dannel P. Malloy of Connecticut Credit Cliff Owen/Associated Press “Very different than gay marriage,” Kevin A. Sabet, an opponent of legalization and a co-founder of Project SAM, Smart Approaches to Marijuana , said in an email. “People have strong feelings on gay marriage. It’s a civil/human rights/religious issue for both sides. Not so with pot.” There is no obvious political upside to supporting legalization, analysts said, and politicians, as a rule, tend to be risk averse. “You don’t hold these positions without having a sense of your own place in history,” said former Representative Patrick J. Kennedy, who joined Mr. Sabet in founding Project SAM, which strives to reduce marijuana use by emphasizing health risks. “They can honestly see that this is not a good move, that it’s going to have huge consequences, not all of which can be foretold.” That said, there is little evidence in most states that a politician would pay a price for supporting legalization, said Anna Greenberg, a Democratic pollster. “We’ve moved into a frame that’s not ideological, “ she said. “It’s about a system being broken, not working, and that legalization involves strict regulation that would allow the state to collect revenues. That makes a lot of sense to the kind of voters that electeds are most concerned about. If that’s the way it’s being discussed, it isn’t a liability for a politician.” At this point, the prospects for other elected officials jumping on the legalization bandwagon is likely to depend on what happens as the experiments in Washington and Colorado proceed. Among the questions are whether legalization will lead to more drug abuse by teenagers and how much it will fatten state tax coffers. “I don’t tell other governors what to do,” Mr. Hickenlooper said, “but when they asked me, I said, ‘If I was in your shoes, I would wait a couple of years and see whether there are unintended consequences, from what is admittedly a well-intentioned law.’” | Marijuana,Pot,Weed;Democrats;Governors;Polls;Legislation;US states;Jerry Brown |
ny0198294 | [
"business",
"media"
] | 2009/07/29 | Viacom Profit Drops 32% as Revenue Falls | Viacom, the media conglomerate controlled by Sumner M. Redstone, continues to be battered by a tough economy, with profits falling 32 percent in the second quarter. “Our second-quarter results reflect challenges that many companies are facing both within and outside our industry,” said Philippe P. Dauman, Viacom’s chief executive, in a conference call Tuesday morning with Wall Street analysts. “The ongoing impact of a weak global economy continues to impact both the advertising and retail markets.” While Viacom’s financial results can provide windows into many trends across the media industry — from DVD sales to video game demand to the health of the box office — most analysts who follow the company focus their attention on the vicissitudes of advertising sales at Viacom’s cable networks. Still, the company, whose properties include the Paramount film studio and the cable networks MTV, VH1, BET and Comedy Central, said it saw some measures of optimism in the advertising market, which has been hurt badly from both the weak economy and shifting viewer habits. The good news was that the rate of decline slowed. In the first quarter, domestic advertising was down 9 percent, and in the second quarter it slowed to 6 percent — a lower rate of decline than most analysts expected. At MTV, where improving the fortunes of that network has become a top priority companywide, ratings fell 14 percent in the second quarter. But over the last seven weeks, ratings are down a more modest 5 percent, compared with the same period last year. “There are definitely glimmers of positive trends,” said Anthony J. DiClemente, an analyst at Barclay’s Capital. Over all, second-quarter revenue was $3.3 billion, down 14 percent from the same period last year. Earnings were $277 million, down from $406 million a year ago. Excluding severance charges, the company earned 49 cents a share, a penny ahead of the consensus estimate among Wall Street analysts, according to Thomson Reuters. The company was also hit hard by falling consumer demand for its Rock Band video game and for DVDs. The company’s filmed entertainment unit, which includes Paramount, reported a 22 percent drop in revenue, to $1.38 billion, while operating income swung from $86 million in last year’s second quarter to a $25 million loss in the same quarter this year. This the company attributed to high marketing expenses for the movies “Star Trek” and “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.” “By the time the DVD comes out, those costs will already have been expensed,” said Mr. DiClemente. “So the profitability of Paramount should be substantially better in the second half.” | Viacom Inc;Company Reports |
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