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ny0089589 | [
"sports",
"soccer"
] | 2015/09/19 | Joe Morrone, Hall of Fame Soccer Coach at UConn, Dies at 79 | Joe Morrone, a Hall of Fame coach who led the University of Connecticut men’s soccer team to the 1981 national title, died on Wednesday at his home in Mansfield, Conn. He was 79. The cause was pancreatic cancer, the university said. Morrone guided the Huskies from 1969 to 1996. He previously coached at Middlebury College in Vermont from 1958 to 1968. His career record was 422-199-64. The Huskies were nationally ranked 16th or better 14 times from 1975 to 1996, and the university’s soccer stadium on its campus in Storrs was named for Morrone in 1997. His 1981 team defeated Alabama A&M, 2-1, in overtime to win the national championship. He led the Huskies to 15 other N.C.A.A. tournament berths, reaching the national semifinals in 1982 and 1983. “Coach Morrone laid the blueprint not only for soccer at UConn but as importantly for college soccer in the entire country,” the current UConn coach Ray Reid said, adding that Morrone was one of the first soccer coaches to actively recruit players. UConn won the national championship again in 2000, under Reid. Morrone was inducted into the National Soccer Coaches Association of America Hall of Fame in 2002. Joseph John Morrone was born on Oct. 20, 1935, in Worcester, Mass. He graduated from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where he played soccer, hockey and lacrosse. After retiring as a coach, Morrone was an associate professor in the UConn department of kinesiology, where he was a coordinator of the coaching and administration concentration. His wife, Elizabeth, died in 2007. He is survived by two sons, Joe and Bill; a daughter, Melissa Taintor; nine grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren. | Obituary;Soccer;University of Connecticut;Joe Morrone |
ny0145430 | [
"nyregion"
] | 2008/10/15 | Suspect in Therapist Death Is to Be Institutionalized | A judge ruled on Tuesday that a man accused of fatally slashing a psychotherapist on the Upper East Side was mentally unfit to stand trial, and ordered that he be sent to a state psychiatric institution. The ruling by Justice Charles H. Solomon of State Supreme Court in Manhattan came one week after two court-appointed psychiatrists found that the man, David Tarloff, had become so withdrawn that he would be unable to assist in his own defense. Mr. Tarloff, 40, is accused of first-degree murder in the death of the therapist, Dr. Kathryn Faughey , 56, who on Feb. 12 was stabbed repeatedly with knives and a meat cleaver in her office on East 79th Street. He is also accused of slashing and seriously wounding Dr. Kent D. Shinbach, a psychiatrist working in the same suite. Dr. Shinbach, who diagnosed Mr. Tarloff’s schizophrenia 17 years earlier, was his principal target, the police have said. Mr. Tarloff’s lawyer, Bryan Konoski, has said that his client “was clearly insane” at the time the attacks were committed. Mr. Tarloff walked into court on Tuesday with a full beard and frazzled hair, his hands cuffed behind his back. He did not make a sound during the court proceeding, which lasted about one minute. Since his arrest shortly after the killing, Mr. Tarloff’s mental health has been up and down, Mr. Konoski said. He added that at times, Mr. Tarloff was stable while medicated, but that his condition was now worse than ever. Mr. Tarloff has not been speaking with anyone — not even his father, who used to visit him periodically, according to one of the psychiatric reports filed with the court last week. The death of Mr. Tarloff’s mother during the summer might have pushed him into a deep depression, Mr. Konoski said. “Even if he were on his medications, I’m not sure if he’s fit at this point,” he added. The report said that Mr. Tarloff had not been taking his medication, and that he was on suicide watch. “It appears to the staff that the defendant has withdrawn more and more into his own world and that he has, in effect, given up,” Dr. Murray A. Gordon, one of the examining psychiatrists, wrote in his report. In June, a judge issued a ruling allowing doctors to force Mr. Tarloff to take his medication, but Mr. Konoski said he thought the order might have expired. The state institution where Mr. Tarloff is sent could get another judge to issue a force order, he said. Mr. Tarloff must remain institutionalized “until some time that he is fit to proceed,” Justice Solomon said. Of the 524 defendants in New York State found unfit for trial last year, 470 were eventually judged fit to proceed, according to the Office of Mental Health. In a 2005 article published in The New England Journal on Criminal and Civil Confinement, Dr. Debra A. Pinals, a psychiatry professor at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, said that nationally, “between 80 and 90 percent of defendants with mental illness will be able to be restored to competence." Mr. Tarloff will be examined periodically. If he is never found fit, he could spend the rest of his life in state psychiatric care. Mr. Konoski said that his client would probably be in the institution for at least 6 to 12 months before being evaluated. Owen Faughey, one of Dr. Faughey’s brothers, said outside the courtroom on Tuesday that he had wanted to see a different outcome. “It’s extremely frustrating,” he said. “He appears to be lucid when they give him his medication. We just want to see him stand trial and be sentenced.” | Tarloff David;Faughey Kathryn;Mental Health and Disorders;Therapy and Rehabilitation;Courts;Upper East Side (NYC) |
ny0188490 | [
"nyregion"
] | 2009/04/15 | The First Mass and Other Events | The culmination of the two-day installation rite comes on Wednesday, when Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan is officially installed and celebrates his first Mass as the leader of the Archdiocese of New York, before an audience that includes public officials and representatives of other faiths. Here are highlights of the day: Archbishop Dolan plans a 10 a.m. news conference at Cathedral High School, near the archdiocesan offices. About 1:30 p.m., a procession of cardinals, bishops, priests and other church officials will move from Madison Avenue along 51st Street and through the main doors of St. Patrick’s Cathedral. At the end will be Archbishop Dolan and the man he is succeeding, Cardinal Edward M. Egan. Inside the cathedral, Archbishop Pietro Sambi, the pope’s envoy to the United States, will read a letter from Pope Benedict XVI appointing Archbishop Dolan. The letter will then be stamped with the archdiocesan seal by Chancellor William Belford, making the installation official. Archbishop Dolan will be led to the cathedra, the archbishop’s chair. He will be greeted by other bishops from around New York State; representatives of the archdiocese’s clergy, religious orders and laity; and officials of other denominations and faiths. The Mass will follow, including prayers in several languages, and a homily by Archbishop Dolan. Music will be interspersed throughout the program, including performances by the New York Symphonic Brass, the cathedral choir and the tenor Ronan Tynan. At the end of Mass, the new archbishop will join a procession back through the main doors to Fifth Avenue. | Dolan Timothy M;Roman Catholic Church |
ny0009708 | [
"sports",
"basketball"
] | 2013/02/27 | Dennis Rodman Arrives in North Korea for Tour | Dennis Rodman may not come across as the most natural choice for a sports star turned American diplomat, but North Korea apparently begs to differ. Rodman has traveled to Pyongyang along with three Harlem Globetrotters and a documentary film crew for some basketball exhibitions and, the film company hopes, an audience with the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, who is said to be a devoted basketball fan. The group landed in Pyongyang on Tuesday, giving a round of interviews to journalists at the airport . “We got invited and we just came over to have some fun,” Rodman said. “Hopefully, everything will be O.K. and the kids will have a good time with the games.” The visit to North Korea, a country with a brutal dictatorship, comes at a particularly tense time in U.S.-North Korean diplomacy, with North Korea’s recent announcement of a nuclear test aggravating an already strained relationship. But one warm spot between the countries is apparently basketball, something the Vice media founder Shane Smith realized while filming two documentaries in North Korea recently. He visited the country’s national museum, the Hall of Trophies, where a Michael Jordan-signed basketball given to the former leader Kim Jong-il in 2000 by Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright is displayed prominently among national treasures. Kim Jong-il was obsessed with the Chicago Bulls dynasty of the 1990s, a fascination he apparently passed along to his son, the current leader. “It’s weird because when you go there, it’s all very anti-American,” Smith said. “North Korean kids are fed anti-American propaganda from pretty much the day they are born. But it’s O.K. to like American basketball.” So Smith hatched a plan to take some of those Bulls players to North Korea for one of the installments of a series Smith will host on HBO, called “Vice,” featuring news and footage from around the world, which will make its debut April 5. Smith did not go through the State Department but received permission through his previous contacts and the North Korean ambassador to the United Nations. Smith said he was sure that Kim Jong-un’s love of basketball was why the trip was approved. He quickly found that Jordan was not likely to be a willing ambassador. “But Dennis is up for anything and everything, ” Smith said. He then recruited the Globetrotters to round out a team, and they offered up Anthony Blakes, known as Buckets; Alex Weekes, known as Moose; and Will Bullard, known as Bull. Ryan Duffy, a Vice correspondent who is on the trip, will also join in on the games to fill out the team. “The Harlem Globetrotters are known worldwide as the Ambassadors of Goodwill, and we are proud to continue our storied heritage of entertaining families and breaking down social barriers worldwide,” the Globetrotters’ chief executive, Kurt Schneider, said in a statement. “Our aim is to entertain and inspire children everywhere. Every child deserves that opportunity.” According to the Globetrotters, team members have traveled to 122 countries in the team’s 87-year history. This one might be the oddest trip of all, given North Korea’s isolation. “It is a bizarre place,” Smith said. “And this is a bizarre idea.” It certainly qualified as a spectacle when the group arrived, even though Rodman was dressed rather conservatively — for him — in a sweat jacket and pants and an array of facial piercings. In North Korea, after all, men are not allowed to have so much as facial hair. The Globetrotters were more colorful in their bright red gear, with Weekes’s trademark Afro in its full expanse. The group plans to spend four to five days, visit a children’s sports camp and play some games with North Korean players. They tried to make a good first impression with the North Korean news media upon their arrival. “I’ve always loved Korea — North, South, doesn’t matter,” Bullard told reporters. “I’ve always loved Korea personally. We all do. We love every place that we go. They all accept us for who we are. We’re role models. We have great characteristics. It’s all family fun.” In a bit of unintentional hilarity, one of the reporters asked Rodman whether this was his first visit to North Korea. “It is my first time,” he said. “I think it’s most of these guys’ first time here.” Rodman quickly took to his Twitter account to talk about the trip, writing: “I’m not a politician. Kim Jung Un & North Korean people are basketball fans. I love everyone. Period. End of story.” On a less diplomatic note, he also wrote, “Maybe I’ll run into the Gangnam Style dude while I’m here,” apparently unaware the pop star Psy is South Korean. Smith said the group hoped for a meeting with Kim Jon-un but was not sure it would happen. Even without that, Smith said he could not wait to see the footage. He said that the opportunity to mix with North Koreans was rare, that his previous trips were supervised tours with only government-approved interview subjects. “I look at this as basketball diplomacy, the same way we had Ping-Pong diplomacy with China,” Smith said. “Once you get the Globetrotters involved, I mean, how can you not smile when you see the Harlem Globetrotters?” | Pyongyang;Dennis Rodman;Harlem Globetrotters;Vice Magazine;HBO;US Foreign Policy;Documentaries;Basketball;North Korea;Kim Jong-un |
ny0253188 | [
"business",
"media"
] | 2011/10/28 | New Show Steps Up Product Placement | A SERIES that is to have its premiere on Sunday on ESPN Deportes, the Spanish-language ESPN channel, is distinctive apart from being its first scripted show. The series, called “ El Diez ,” or “The Ten,” is also unusual because it will have blue-chip brands woven into the story line, which is centered on a young professional fútbol (soccer) player in Mexico City. The presence of the brands within the 10 episodes will be in addition to conventional commercials. The practice, known as branded entertainment or branded integration, is more extensive than so-called product placement because a brand buying its way into a show gets a prominent role rather than a bit part. Advertisers and agencies like branded entertainment because it counters the ability of viewers to avoid commercials; if they try skipping the branded portions of the show, they could miss salient plot points. The brands getting the biggest parts in “El Diez” are American Airlines, part of the AMR Corporation; Burger King, owned by Burger King Holdings; Chevrolet, sold by General Motors; Coors Light, brewed by MillerCoors; and Home Depot. Branded entertainment was once less common in television programs in Spanish than in English because most Spanish-language shows that ran in the United States were produced abroad. That is changing as more production takes place in this country or is overseen by American specialists in branded entertainment. “El Diez,” for instance, is produced by the Animus Group, a company in Miami that has worked on shows for networks like Fox Deportes, Telemundo and Univision. “This is our first,” said Juan Alfonso, vice president for international marketing and program development at ESPN International in Los Angeles, part of the ESPN division of the Walt Disney Company, “and if it goes well we plan to do more of it.” One benefit of integrating brands in “El Diez” is that “they help us to fund the production,” Mr. Alfonso said. Financial terms are not being disclosed. Another benefit is “realism,” he added, in that the appearances of actual brands “add authenticity” to the story about the young player, Chava, portrayed by Alfonso Herrera, an actor who was a member of a popular Mexican pop band, RBD . The team for which Chava plays is fictitious, “but everything surrounding it is real,” Mr. Alfonso said, to build viewer interest in the tale of “big-time professional soccer in Mexico.” “We didn’t want to have on a uniform the logo of a brand that doesn’t exist in Mexico,” he added. “It would kill the realism.” In one story line, the owner of a fútbol team “who woos Chava to play for his team gives him a Chevy Camaro,” Mr. Alfonso said. “It’s an underhanded tactic, but the kid falls in love with the car.” There are also scenes depicting a late-night visit to Burger King, a shopping trip to Home Depot and a phone call to American Airlines by a character who may be leaving for Miami. And, fútbol players being fútbol players, there are several opportunities to feature Coors Light cerveza (beer). “We like to jump on firsts because Coors Light is an innovative brand,” said Jackie Woodward, vice president for media and marketing services at MillerCoors in Chicago. “We already have a broad Mexican soccer platform for Coors Light,” she said, citing the brand’s sponsorship of the Primera División (First Division), the top level of the Mexican soccer league system administered by the Mexican Football Federation. “This gives us another touchpoint to make an impact,” she added. Viewers can also watch Chava visit a Web site about the Primera División, fanaticosdelfrio.com , that is sponsored by Coors Light. (The address translates to “fans of the cold,” and the Coors Light brand promise is centered on coldness.) Chava “goes online to Fanáticos del Frío and checks his status,” Ms. Woodward said, in a commingling of art and life. In addition to Chava’s Camaro, other Chevrolet models featured in “El Diez” include the Cruze, Equinox and Tahoe. All are sold in the United States and Mexico, which “is a significant market for Chevy,” said Steve Tihanyi, general director for branded entertainment at General Motors in Detroit. Branded entertainment proposals “come across my desk fairly often,” Mr. Tihanyi said. “What attracted us to this in particular was that it connects us with a diverse audience that’s important for the Chevrolet brand.” G.M. also liked that the brand integration seemed organic and not forced, he added, because “when things get too contrived, it’s going to turn people off.” Ms. Woodward, too, used “organic” to describe her ideal in branded entertainment. “We spend a lot of time thinking about what’s organic and natural for the viewer,” she said, favoring “activities our consumers would recognize in their own lives.” Mr. Alfonso said ESPN International wanted the integrations to “pass the smell test.” “We’re obsessive about it feeling natural,” he added. “If the audience feels they’re being sold to, we’re doing them a disservice.” “El Diez” is already on in Mexico, Mr. Alfonso said, “and we’re monitoring social media there very, very closely” to gauge viewer reaction. So far, he added, “we have been pleasantly surprised” at the positive response. Each episode of “El Diez” is 30 minutes long. Two episodes are to be shown on Sunday, from 8 to 9 p.m. Single episodes are planned for 9 p.m. on Nov. 6, 13, 20 and 27 and Dec. 4 and 11. For the finale, on Dec. 18, there are to be two episodes, at 9 and 9:30 p.m. | ESPN;Advertising and Marketing;Soccer;Spanish Language;Trademarks and Trade Names;Television;Elections;El Diez (TV Program);Diez El (TV Program) |
ny0247059 | [
"us"
] | 2011/05/02 | Plans Advance to Breach Birds Point, Mo., Levee | CHARLESTON, Mo. — As a huge storm settled over southeastern Missouri on Sunday, the Army Corps of Engineers began the overnight task of filling an 11,000-foot system of buried pipes with an explosive material to blow a two-mile-long gap in the Birds Point levee here. The breach would inundate about 130,000 acres of farmland to relieve pressure on the overburdened system of levees to the north. “We’ve been told to go, but we’ve got two more cells of lightning that need to move through here before we start to pump,” Jim Lloyd, the corps’ operations team leader, said as he walked through the wind and rain late Sunday afternoon. “We’re going to work through the night to get this loaded.” Mr. Lloyd, who had just left a briefing, emphasized that although Maj. Gen. Michael J. Walsh, who commands the Mississippi Valley Division of the corps, had ordered that the explosives be loaded, he had yet to give the final word to blast the levee. “He’ll still have to make the decision,” Mr. Lloyd said, adding that although the explosives were extremely stable and would not be primed, the lightning was “going to complicate our lives something fierce.” Earlier in the day, Missouri officials made a last-ditch effort to spare the levee when the state’s attorney general turned to the United States Supreme Court, asking it to overturn a day-old order from the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit that had allowed the corps to proceed with the operation. The state was later denied. But even as the legal fight played out, General Walsh was directing the two barges stationed at a nearby staging area to prepare to move into the final position from which crews could begin injecting the levees with 265 tons of explosives to blast the earthen structure. “It will be a heaving of soil — the levee will be excavated very rapidly,” said Nick Boone, a mechanical engineer who leads the corps’ blasting team. “On this upper end, it’s going to look like a waterfall. It’s an instant removal, and that’s the whole point — instant relief of the entire system.” Blowing the levee will serve as a fiery coda to an agonizing round of deliberations that has played out here over the past several days, as General Walsh has weighed the interests of about 200 people living in the floodway against the safety of Cairo, Ill., a struggling town of around 3,000 people that lies on a winnowed slip of land between the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. The move is expected to drop water levels upstream by roughly four feet. General Walsh has toured the affected region over the past several days, meeting with residents and studying data provided by his team of experts. All the while, the surging rivers have continued to rise. “ ‘Project Flood’ is upon us,” he said in a statement on Sunday. “It is testing the system like never before.” The problem is essentially one of drainage. With both rivers running high, they have backed up above the confluence, raising water levels upstream and causing major underseepage in Cairo, weakening the town’s defenses and prompting city officials there to call for a mandatory evacuation. “It’s a no-brainer, the ground’s softening,” said Mayor Judson Childs of Cairo, who on Monday leaves office to be replaced by a new mayor. “This could change from minute to minute.” On Sunday, Illinois state troopers went door to door rousting residents and patrolling the empty streets. A crew of inmates from the Tamms Correctional Center continued to fill sandbags at the north end of town, and emergency vehicles raced along Washington Avenue. Otherwise, the streets were largely empty as residents appeared to heed the evacuation order, fleeing town in a diminishing stream of cars. Pulling his truck onto Washington Avenue, Harry Williams said he had evacuated last night but returned to get some medicine for his father-in-law and check on his property. “I was worried about looters,” said Mr. Williams, who is staying with family north of town. “But it looks like they’re patrolling the town a lot better now.” A few blocks down the road, Sebastian Thomas, lounging in a plastic lawn chair outside a self-service car wash, said the only thing that would make him evacuate was “about six feet of water.” “I’m going to stay here to help these women and children,” said Mr. Thomas, who said that many of the people squatting in the city’s abandoned buildings might not be aware of the situation. “A lot of these people are drug addicts and don’t know they’ve got options to get out of town, so I’m going to stay here and help.” The rising water has cast a harsh light on relations in the region, where the interests of Missouri farmers have come into direct conflict with residents of this brutalized town of crumbling buildings, feral dogs and poverty. Once home to 15,000 people, Cairo was a cultural hub, home to a thriving river trade. In recent years, however, the city has struggled with major population loss, poverty and a deteriorating infrastructure. But while attention in recent days has focused on the conflict between Cairo and its agricultural neighbors to the south, corps members have repeatedly emphasized that they are concerned about the entire levee system. “What we’re looking at is what are the effects on the overall system,” said Col. Vernie L. Reichling, the corps’ commander for the Memphis District, adding, “The floodway was designed not just to protect Cairo but the entire region.” First conceived after the Great Flood of 1927, the Mississippi River and Tributaries Project is a system of levees, dams and floodways that protects a 35,000-square-mile stretch of land from Cairo in the north to the river’s Louisiana delta. The levee at Birds Point has been breached only once before, during the flood of 1937, when waters at Cairo reached 59.5 feet. That record was passed Sunday, as waters neared 60 feet, half a foot from their projected crest of 60.5 feet. To complicate matters, the National Weather Service is forecasting continued rains in the region, and corps analysts predict that the record crest could continue for more than five days, placing untold stress on the earthen levee and floodwall defenses that ring Cairo. During the 1937 flood, engineers used dynamite to blast the earthen retaining wall, lowering the water level at Cairo by roughly three feet. That figure gave little comfort to Bobby Byrne, who has grown corn, wheat and soy on his 550-acre spread in the flood zone all his life. “I don’t figure it’s going to do what they think it’s going to do,” said Mr. Byrne, 59, whose family has owned the farmland since the 1800s. “When they blew it in ’37, the river was back up in a day. It didn’t take pressure off anything.” | Levees and Dams;Floods;Army Corps of Engineers;Missouri;Ohio River;Mississippi River |
ny0234805 | [
"us"
] | 2010/01/17 | A Mess of a Primary to Inherit a Bigger Mess | Todd H. Stroger — the Cook County board president whose 2006 election may have matched last year’s election of President Hamid Karzai in Afghanistan as spectacle — may now belatedly pay the piper called democracy. Perhaps he should breathe a sigh of relief. There is no more dispiriting primary campaign than the one to run the bloated, inefficient, corrupt 23,509-employee and $3.2-billion-a-year social service agency and tax-collection behemoth known as Cook County government. If the winner wants to effect true change, he or she will need to make more enemies than the Taliban. Recall how Mr. Stroger benefited from skulduggery prompted by the stroke suffered by his predecessor, his late father, shortly before the 2006 Democratic primary. The bedridden father defeated Forrest Claypool, the rival commissioner who might have won had his close friend then-Senator Barack Obama endorsed him sooner than the day before the election. What ensued was a tragicomedy in which nobody knew whether the father was dead or alive, and if he would run, regardless. It was announced that he would not and the son was tapped in his place. Todd Stroger then won against a bombastic Republican, but he has since stumbled so badly, and exuded such executive weightlessness, that a Chicago television crew had problems recently finding anybody on the streets of his home Eighth Ward who would say something nice about him. Mr. Stroger does have his supporters, but voters are left with him and three others in the Democratic contest, each of whom shares one characteristic with Mr. Stroger: an inability to address the job at hand. There is Dorothy Brown, the county’s circuit court clerk, a hack who needs only to keep files in order but oversees an administrative mess so egregious you need a SWAT team from Organize-U to find a document in timely fashion. Plus, she has too quickly adopted the sordid legacy of Illinois graft, pressuring political donations from employees for her annual “birthday” celebration. Then there is Toni Preckwinkle, the South Side alderman who has by far the most intellectual voltage and common sense. Unfortunately, she also has the censorious air of that junior-high teacher you hated: always on your case, especially if you told a joke. Finally, we have Terry O’Brien, the Northwest Sider and head of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District, a longtime employee of no particular achievement who has labored in obscurity and ascended to anonymity. If the three blacks split the black vote, perhaps he sneaks in and then whips the inevitable Republican long shot. Whoever wins inherits a mess. The county board president has to operate in a world of multiple independent fiefs and tax-collecting bodies, including the sheriff, state’s attorney, assessor, recorder of deeds and real estate board of review. Employee expenses devour 80 percent of the budget and, while productivity appears woeful, union influence intimidates decision makers and federal judges maintain control over several areas. There is little desire to deal with a growing deficit, and everybody but Mr. Stroger wants to ditch his only true legacy, a 1-cent increase in the sales tax, raising it above a dime on the dollar. Half of that increase will vanish in July. The government deals with, and often mistreats, the poorest of the poor. The county jail, notorious for strip searches of women, would be the state’s largest mental hospital if only there was an adequate level of psychiatric care. The domestic-violence center has grossly mistreated women. And then there is my favorite, the juvenile detention center. “Over the past 20 years, Illinois has had one of the worst records for mental health care for children of any state in the nation, and Cook County government arguably has the worst record in Illinois,” Ron Davidson, director of the mental health policy program at the psychiatry department at the University of Illinois at Chicago, said Thursday in an interview. “County officials have knowingly allowed the juvenile detention center to become the state’s largest de facto dumping ground for emotionally traumatized kids, many of whom desperately need psychiatric treatment,” Dr. Davidson said. “We created a gulag for children, a destructive place where troubled youths suffered harm at the hands of an army of political patronage hacks.” Fortunately, the Chicago news media have uncovered many atrocities, even garbage dumps in the Forest Preserve. We are lucky, too, that an independent board now oversees the inept hospital system, which once forgot to bill Medicare , Medicaid and private insurers for $250 million in services. But no candidate appears to have the management savvy or the will to make enemies of virtually every entrenched group while seeking radical change. President Obama may have an easier time in Afghanistan. | Stroger Todd H;Elections;Chicago (Ill);Campaign Finance;Politics and Government |
ny0111632 | [
"world",
"europe"
] | 2012/02/28 | Anglicans Seek a Quiet Strength | LONDON — When the central heating broke down at a North London church midway through a snap of icy weather the other day, the vicar offered the faithful a choice: Attend another church for a cozier celebration, or display what he wryly called “muscular Christianity” by worshiping in a side chapel in their own, unheated church. Perhaps surprisingly, perhaps not, the muscular, if shivery, Christians seemed to outnumber those who headed for warmer pews — an indication, some might argue, that Britain ’s established state religion can draw on doughty reserves in the face of adversity. It might need to. In a broader debate that has preoccupied Christians and nonbelievers, some here have depicted a trend toward the exclusion of faith from public life, akin to the laïcité that offers such a stern and uncompromising separation of church and state in France. The dispute began with a court ruling that outlawed Christian prayers at the opening of a local council meeting in the West Country town of Bideford — a decision that prompted a Conservative government minister to say he would use other methods to overturn the ban. At roughly the same time, a survey conducted by a secular group found that almost a half of those identifying themselves as Christians had attended no church services over the past year — heated or not — other than those for weddings, funerals and baptisms. Many were not familiar with the Bible, the survey found, and the proportion of Britons identifying themselves as Christians had slipped from around three-quarters to just over a half. The combination of the two inspired an emotional debate. Queen Elizabeth II, who is both the titular head of the Anglican Church and Britain’s head of state, was moved to say that “the concept of our established church is occasionally misunderstood and, I believe, commonly underappreciated.” In advance for an official visit to the Vatican, Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, the first Muslim woman to sit in a British cabinet, spoke of the perils of a “militant secularization” that she called “deeply intolerant.” Others, like the blogger Ian Dunt, concluded that “those who demand a Christian country of Christian values are traitors to British culture.” “Britain’s historic quality is its association with individual freedom, not group-think.” For some, though, Anglicanism is almost a victim of its own passivity, an assumption, a corner of life untroubled by the will to survive in the face of perceptions of existential threat. That notion of private faith and personal redemption was thrown into sharp relief by the furor that seized Afghanistan after NATO forces at the United States’ biggest base in that country burned Korans. Nothing in the challenges facing Anglicanism — from dwindling congregations to the big issues of relating to the place of women and gays in the church — comes anywhere close to exciting the same passions. In its confrontations with the West, predating the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and magnified by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, militant Islam has come to resemble a tinderbox, capable of turning what Westerners would prefer to treat as brush fires into conflagrations — literally, in the case of the Koran burnings — fueled by an incendiary blend of religious sensitivity and a failure to comprehend the power of faith that outsiders ignore or deny at their peril. In the stations of Arab revolt in the Middle East and North Africa, moreover, Western strategists have fretted openly that the dismantling of the status quo — established in its broadest outlines as the Ottoman Empire crumbled almost a century ago — has helped fuse temporal and religious power in a way the West has either outlawed or forgotten, most evidently in the electoral successes of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. When the youthful warriors and insurgents of the Arab Spring brandish their Kalashnikov assault rifles in Syria or Libya, they cry “Allahu akbar” — “God is most great.” When Anglicans in Britain sing the hymn “Onward Christian soldiers/Marching as to war,” the echo of earthly battle is faint indeed. The crusades, in their bloodstained, proselytizing zeal, ended centuries ago. It is almost 500 years since Henry VIII broke with Rome in 1533. Passions have fizzled since Europe’s wars of religion in the 16th and 17th centuries following the Protestant Reformation. In the colonial era, it is true, Britain’s belief in its faith was so unshakeable that its Christian missionaries fanned out across the globe as the vanguard of commercial penetration and political expansionism. But the days of empire are long past. The so-called Troubles in Northern Ireland are receding in memory, certainly among Anglicans on the British mainland, since the predominantly Roman Catholic Irish Republican Army declared a truce in 1994. The struggle and persecution of the Balkan Wars find little resonance. Modern Anglicanism has no reference point of persecution and victimhood in the manner of Judaism and the Holocaust. But, as the newest controversy over secularism revealed, none of that means there is no passion to be kindled from this internalized faith and much of the recent debate seems to ignore the fine tuning of Britons’ bond with the divine. Faith here functions variously as a source of comfort, solace and reflection, a prelude to eternity, a readying for the hereafter, a guide to this world and a hope for the next, part theology, part tea-and-cakes community, part fund-raising fetes for the bell tower, combining habit, ritual and belief in variable quantities. But it is not a home for extremes. The columnist David Aaronovitch, who defined himself in a recent article as part Jewish by birth, atheist by conviction but Anglican by “aesthetic sympathy,” wrote in The Jewish Chronicle that the Church of England was “full of doubt and uncertainty and it’s clear that faiths — religious or not — are most dangerous when they are most certain.” “Blind faith is the enemy,” he said, “not religion” — a view that congregants in that chill side-chapel in north London would most likely have supported, too. | Great Britain;Religion and Belief;Anglican Churches |
ny0013208 | [
"world",
"middleeast"
] | 2013/11/21 | Raw Sewage and Anger Flood Gaza’s Streets as Electricity Runs Low | GAZA CITY — Raw sewage has flooded streets in a southern Gaza City neighborhood in recent days, threatening a health disaster, after a shortage of electricity and cheap diesel fuel from Egypt led the Hamas government to shut down Gaza’s lone power plant, causing a pump station to flood. Three more sewage stations in Gaza City and 10 others elsewhere in the Gaza Strip are close to overflowing, sanitation officials here said, and 3.5 million cubic feet of raw sewage is seeping into the Mediterranean Sea daily. The sanitation department may soon no longer be able to pump drinking water to Gaza homes. “Any day that passes without a solution has disastrous effects,” Farid Ashour, director of sanitation at the Gaza Coastal Municipalities Water Utility, said Tuesday in an interview. “We haven’t faced a situation as dangerous as this time.” The sewage crisis is the most acute of an array of problems since the Islamist Hamas movement that governs Gaza shut down the power plant on Nov. 1. Four months earlier Egypt’s new military-backed government closed the smuggling tunnels that were used to transport around one million liters (about 260,000 gallons) of diesel here each day. Hamas has refused to import Israeli diesel because of taxes imposed by the Palestinian Authority. Having gotten used to years of scheduled blackouts, generally eight hours without electricity two of every three days, Gaza’s 1.7 million residents are now facing daily power failures of 12 or even 18 hours. Businesses have cut back production, hospitals are rationing electricity to keep dialysis and cardiac support systems running, students are doing Internet research in the middle of the night and battery sales are brisk. Everywhere, the drone of generators mixes with the odor of kerosene lamps. Nema Hamad, who is 64 and has sleep apnea, struggles to keep from suffocating. Some nights, her sons run improvised lines from neighbors who have electricity to keep Ms. Hamad’s airway pressure mask working. Three times, they paid $100 for Ms. Hamad to sleep in a private hospital. Once, she woke up gasping for air when the electricity went off unexpectedly and ran into the street, desperately looking for oxygen. “This is not a life,” Ms. Hamad said as she sat on a mattress in dim candlelight. “Sometimes, I fear that it might be the last time I sleep.” The electricity shortage comes a year after eight days of intense cross-border violence that killed 167 Palestinians and six Israelis, and it is a profound sign of how Gaza’s situation has shifted since then. The past 12 months have been the quietest in a decade in terms of fire exchanged with Israel, though Israel’s air force struck a weapons facility and two tunnels on Tuesday night after reports of rocket fire near Gaza’s border earlier in the day. Israel has also eased some of its restrictions on the strip, but political changes in Egypt have left a siege of another sort. The number of trucks bringing goods, including fuel, into Gaza from Israel has increased 18 percent since the ouster in July of President Mohamed Morsi of Egypt, according to Gisha , an Israeli group that advocates freedom of movement. The number of Palestinians allowed to leave Gaza through Israel’s Erez crossing is up nearly 30 percent since July, Gisha records show, while exits through Egypt’s Rafah crossing — which has lately been closed as often as not — in October were a third of what they had been in January. Image A Palestinian man and boy navigate the streets of Gaza City, which are flooded with sewage. Credit Mohammed Salem/Reuters Closing the tunnels has left thousands of construction workers without work and other residents frustrated over scarce supplies and rising prices for groceries and electronics, cars and other consumer products. But the idling of the power plant, which by week’s end will have lasted longer than the record 21-day closing in 2008, has hit many people hard. Gaza requires 400 megawatts of electricity daily to keep the lights on full time, according to the Hamas-run power authority. For decades, it has bought 120 megawatts from Israel through direct cables. During the yearlong presidency of Mr. Morsi, whose Muslim Brotherhood spawned Hamas, Gaza received 30 megawatts directly from Egypt and enough diesel via the tunnels to provide 85 megawatts through its power plant. The plant, which opened in 2002, could produce up to 140 megawatts daily before Israel bombed it after the 2006 kidnapping of an Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit . It was idle for seven months then and has never returned to full capacity. But Hamas officials say the overall electricity shortage has worsened from about 40 percent before Mr. Morsi was ousted to 65 percent now, and will rise further as winter sets in. “You’re asking me why? Ask the world why instead,” Mayor Rafiq Mekki of Gaza City said as he toured sewage-filled streets around the flooded Zeitoun pumping station. “We are under siege, and ask the world which besieges us this question. We called on all international organizations to intervene, but no one cares so far.” Ihab Bessisso, a spokesman for the Palestinian Authority, said it had rescinded a longstanding tax exemption on fuel for Gaza because it was unfair to West Bank residents. Hamas has since refused the $1.62 per liter price, insisting on paying no more than 79 cents per liter, Mr. Bessisso said. Instead, it closed the plant. So Omar al-Khouli has cut in half the bread he makes at his bakery here, running a generator when the power goes out only to finish the batch in the oven. He plans to start closing the shop on mornings when there is no electricity. “I blame Israel, the Ramallah government and Hamas for the crisis,” said Mr. Khouli, referring to the headquarters of the Palestinian Authority. “They should work together and find a solution for this because it’s the people who are paying the price.” Some people have bought expensive Chinese-made inverters that provide enough current to light a lamp or two and recharge cellphones. Yasmeen Ayyoub, a psychology student at Gaza’s Islamic University , said that when power is out during the day, she is forced to study from midnight to 6 a.m. “at the expense of my sleeping hours.” And in the Sabra neighborhood, near the Zeitoun pumping station, which has flooded three times since Sunday, the stench of sewage hung over the pools of standing water in the streets. Mosquitoes abounded, and residents said their children were vomiting and had diarrhea. “Every day, we call the electricity company and they say, ‘It’s not our responsibility,’ ” complained Thabet Khatab, 56, a grocer, who was busy piling dirt in front of his house to prevent sewage from seeping inside a second time. “We call the municipality, but they say, ‘Bring diesel for us so we can run the generator in the pumping station.’ ” Mr. Khatab’s neighbor Nahla Quzat, a mother of eight, said, “They say there is no diesel for the generator, but the government’s cars don’t seem to be suffering from a lack of diesel.” | Gaza Strip;Electric power;Blackouts;Sewers Sewage;Hamas;Egypt;Shortages;Palestinians;Closings;Israel |
ny0195682 | [
"business",
"global"
] | 2009/10/02 | I.M.F. Upgrades Forecast for World Economies | FRANKFURT — The International Monetary Fund on Thursday forecast that the world economy would expand 3.1 percent next year, after a year in which much of the world struggled through a recession . In its World Economic Outlook, the fund’s prognosis was marginally better than its prediction in July that growth in 2010 would reach 2.5 percent. But it emphasized that the upswing was mainly a result of aggressive crisis management in the United States, Europe and Asia, not a self-sustaining recovery. “Premature exit from accommodative monetary and fiscal policies seems a significant risk, because the policy-induced rebound might be mistaken for the beginning of a strong recovery in private demand,” the fund wrote. It added that the “fragile global economy” was still vulnerable to other potential shocks, including a run-up in oil prices, a widespread outbreak of swine flu , global political events and protectionism . The forecast masked significant differences among regions, the monetary fund said. It predicted China’s economy would register 9 percent growth next year. But the United States can expect an expansion of 1.5 percent, and the 16-nation euro zone a 0.3 percent growth rate, weak performances for advanced industrial economies. The I.M.F. said the American economy would contract 2.7 percent for all of 2009, and the euro zone’s would shrink 4.2 percent. The forecasts come as the monetary fund acknowledged that the world was emerging from a difficult recession, helped by stimulus policies in the United States, Europe and China. “The global economy appears to be expanding again, pulled up by the strong performance of Asian economies and stabilization or modest recovery everywhere,” the fund wrote. The monetary fund emphasized what private sector economists have observed about the upswing, that it is driven mainly by a rebuilding of depleted inventories. But the fund also said there were “some signs of gradually stabilizing retail sales, returning consumer confidence and firmer housing markets.” But it also observed that rising joblessness remained a threat. “Unemployment rates are expected to remain at high levels over the medium term in a number of advanced economies,” it stated. | Economic Conditions and Trends;International Trade and World Market |
ny0014968 | [
"sports",
"baseball"
] | 2013/10/05 | Rookie’s Mistake Opens Door for Red Sox | BOSTON — After several innings had passed and the raw emotion and taunting chants had subsided, Dave Martinez felt it was time to find out what had happened. Five innings earlier, Wil Myers, a 22-year-old rookie outfielder for the Tampa Bay Rays, had ducked under a fly ball, allowing what should have been an easy out to drop in for a ground-rule double — the key moment in an embarrassing afternoon. Martinez, the Rays’ bench coach and a former outfielder who registered the first hit in club history, sidled up to Myers in the dugout and asked for details on the fly ball, which was hit by David Ortiz. Myers, straightforward and fully accountable, told him what he told a legion of reporters after the game. “I was under the ball and saw Des out of the corner of my eye and backed off,” Myers said, referring to center fielder Desmond Jennings. “It was a loud crowd today, and that was totally my fault.” During the course of the regular season, the Rays made the second-fewest errors in baseball, 59. Their sure-handedness was one of the primary reasons they reached this American League division series. But in the first game of their best-of-five series against the Red Sox at Fenway Park on Friday, their normally superb defense failed them badly, and Boston took advantage to win, 12-2 . Game 2 is Saturday, when the Rays hope their elite level of defense returns. “It happens once in a while,” Rays Manager Joe Maddon said. “Normally, when it happens in the regular season, I just say throw that one in the garbage can. And being that’s the first of five, let’s do the same thing now.” The win was the Red Sox’ first in the postseason since Game 6 of the 2008 American League Championship Series, also against the Rays. Tampa Bay came back the next day to win Game 7 and earn its only trip to the World Series. On Friday, Boston enjoyed a strong pitching performance from Jon Lester and pounced on the Rays’ mistakes, scoring five runs in the fourth inning thanks to several defensive gaffes, the misplay by Myers being the most glaring. With Dustin Pedroia on first base and nobody out in the fourth, Ortiz hit a fly ball to right field that was deep but playable. As Myers went back toward the Red Sox’ bullpen, he put out his right arm to signal to Jennings that he had the ball. But at the last instant, Myers put his hands down and took a step forward to get out of the way, assuming Jennings would make the play. Image Red Sox starter Jon Lester allowed only two runs and three hits in seven and two-thirds innings. Credit Charles Krupa/Associated Press But Jennings did not call Myers off the ball. Myers just thought he saw Jennings, and because the center fielder is the defensive captain in the outfield, Myers cleared out of the way. The ball bounced between them and into the bullpen for a ground-rule double. After the play, which opened the gates to five runs, Martinez told Myers to forget about it and stay focused on the game. But in the eighth inning, after checking with Jennings, Martinez went back to Myers and asked for a full account. “The stories stayed true,” Martinez said, “because I asked Desmond.” With Pedroia on third and Ortiz on second, the Rays’ nightmare inning was only beginning. Mike Napoli popped out to second, but Jonny Gomes hit another high fly ball, this one to left field. With the Green Monster looming behind him, left fielder Sean Rodriguez, who had homered in the second inning for the first run of the game, turned his back and ran away from the wall to catch the ball on the bounce. It hit the base of the wall, only inches from the ground. It was catchable, but instead it went for a two-run double, with Pedroia and Ortiz scoring. Now the crowd began to hound Myers, sarcastically chanting his name in his playoff debut. “It’s not easy for something like that to happen, especially in a situation like that,” Myers said. “It gave them the momentum. So it’s a tough situation for me to be in.” And it got worse as the Red Sox piled on more hits and runs, taking advantage of a passed ball and two more misplayed balls as the Rays were unable to make simple plays behind Matt Moore, their starter, who went 17-4 in the regular season. “He got six outs in that inning,” Maddon said. “Six legitimate outs he had to get to get through that inning.” Lester, meanwhile, allowed only three hits in his seven and two-thirds innings. Both Tampa Bay runs came on solo homers, by Rodriguez and Ben Zobrist. “That’s as powerful stuff as Jon’s had for us all year long,” Red Sox Manager John Farrell said. On Saturday, David Price, who spent Thursday riding a rental bike around Boston, faces John Lackey in Game 2. “I’ve learned one main thing regarding baseball,” Maddon said. “Twenty-four hours can make a huge difference. That’s just one game, baby. That’s just one. We’ll be back tomorrow, I promise you. We will not be affected mentally by tonight’s game. We’ll be ready to play.” | Baseball;Red Sox;Tampa Bay Rays;Wil Myers;Desmond Jennings;Joe Maddon;Dustin Pedroia;Playoffs |
ny0026324 | [
"world",
"middleeast"
] | 2013/01/03 | More Than 60,000 Have Died in Syrian Conflict, U.N. Says | GENEVA — More than 60,000 people have died in Syria’s 22-month-old civil war, the United Nations’ human rights chief, Navi Pillay, said on Wednesday, expressing dismay at the findings of an analysis that far exceeds previous estimates of casualties. “The number of casualties is much higher than we expected, and is truly shocking,” Ms. Pillay, the United Nations high commissioner for human rights, said in a statement that condemned the government of President Bashar al-Assad for the scale of the carnage and sharply admonished the United Nations Security Council for failing to act. "The failure of the international community, in particular the Security Council, to take concrete actions to stop the bloodletting, shames us all,” she said. An “exhaustive analysis” of casualties in Syria documented 59,648 killings between mid-March 2011 and the end of November, Ms. Pillay reported. “Given there has been no letup in the conflict since the end of November, we can assume that more than 60,000 people have been killed by the beginning of 2013,” she added. Ms. Pillay’s comments coincided with reports that an airstrike on a gas station in Damascus, the Syrian capital, on Wednesday may have killed dozens and injured many more, while heavy fighting around the northern city of Aleppo had forced closure of its international airport. The analysis of deaths in Syria, described by Ms. Pillay as the most detailed and wide ranging to date, was based on a study of seven data sets, including one from the Syrian government, conducted on behalf of the United Nations human rights office by Benetech , a nonprofit technology company whose three earlier analyses of Syrian casualties used fewer data sets. Image Men dug graves at a cemetery north of Aleppo, Syria, on Saturday. Credit Ahmed Jadallah/Reuters The analysis, which took five months to complete, drew from a combined list of 147,349 reported killings. Duplicate listings were excluded, as was any report that did not include at least the first and last name of the victim and the date and location of the death. In the end, the analysts came up with a unique record of 59,648 conflict-related deaths as of Nov. 30, 2012. Given that the total excluded reports with insufficient detail, the true toll could easily be higher. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a rebel group that tracks the war and is based in Britain, reported two days earlier that more than 45,000 people, mostly civilians, had been killed. The United Nations said its data could not distinguish between civilians and combatants, but, like the observatory, it concluded that the rate of killings had accelerated. The death toll had climbed from around 1,000 a month in the summer of 2011 to more than 5,000 a month since July, the report for the United Nations said. “This massive loss of life could have been avoided if the Syrian government had chosen to take a different path than one of ruthless suppression of what were initially peaceful and legitimate protests by unarmed civilians,” Ms. Pillay said. Most of the killings occurred in Homs (12,560), Damascus and its environs (10,862) and Idlib (7,686), with those three areas accounting for about half the total, followed by Aleppo, Dara’a and Hama. Around three-quarters of those killed were male, the analysis found. “Unless there is a quick resolution to the conflict, I fear thousands more will die or suffer terrible injuries as a result of those who harbor the obstinate belief that something can be achieved by more bloodshed, more torture and more mindless destruction,” Ms. Pillay said. Her comments echoed warnings in the past week by Lakhdar Brahimi , the United Nations and Arab League mediator for Syria, that Syria must achieve a political solution or face “hell,” with the danger that 100,000 people could die in 2013 if the conflict was not halted. Mr. Brahimi spoke after visits to Moscow and Damascus at the end of last month in his latest push to kick-start stalled negotiations on a transitional government based on the formula agreed to in Geneva in June 2012, but his efforts have attracted scant support from Syrian opposition groups. | Syria;UN;Arab Spring;Navi Pillay;Fatalities,casualties;UN Security Council;Bashar al-Assad |
ny0060726 | [
"us"
] | 2014/08/12 | Ohio: Moratorium on Capital Punishment Is Extended | A freeze on capital punishment in Ohio will continue through Jan. 15 after a federal judge extended a moratorium set to expire this week. The order issued by Judge Gregory L. Frost on Friday highlights the continuing problem faced by states in obtaining drugs to put inmates to death. It may also give Ohio more time to find sources for its preferred method — a single dose of compounded pentobarbital. At issue is a death penalty policy change that was announced in late April and that increases the amount of the sedative and painkiller the state uses. In January, unable to obtain compounded pentobarbital, Ohio switched to the sedative midazolam and the painkiller hydromorphone. On Jan. 16, a condemned man, Dennis McGuire, appeared to repeatedly gasp during the 26 minutes it took him to die. | Capital punishment;Ohio;Pharmaceuticals;Pain;Dennis B McGuire |
ny0247068 | [
"technology"
] | 2011/05/02 | Sites That Send Shoppers What They Might Like | When Emily McNish shopped for jewelry online, she was overwhelmed by the options while searching for “gold necklace” on e-commerce sites or Google. Then she found a Web site called JewelMint that she lets shop for her. JewelMint determined that Ms. McNish, 24, a university admissions counselor in Los Angeles, has “boho” style and likes big chunky jewelry. So on the first day of each month it offers her pieces that match her style. She has five days to choose a necklace, bracelet or ring. She pays $29.95 a month for that service. “It’s sort of like being part of a secret club,” Ms. McNish said. JewelMint is one of a new breed of e-commerce sites — which also include Send the Trend , ShoeDazzle , JustFabulous , Sole Society and the upcoming StyleMint — combining old-fashioned and new-fangled methods for luring customers. They present users with a limited selection of jewelry, shoes and accessories by coupling software algorithms that determine personal style with strategies culled from home shopping TV channels and CD-of-the-month clubs. The sites are the latest example of retailers inventing new ways to shop online. The recent flurry of innovation in e-commerce has also produced private sale sites like Gilt and daily deal sites like Groupon. Like those, these shopping clubs aim to filter the seemingly infinite options online and show a small selection, catered to an individual’s taste. JewelMint, Send the Trend and ShoeDazzle follow a similar recipe: a fashion celebrity designs or picks the styles (or just attaches his or her name to the project). Shoppers take a style quiz, confiding their go-to nail polish shades and whether they most covet the wardrobe of Nicole Richie or Reese Witherspoon. Each month, the site selects a handful of items and the shopper buys one for a set fee, skips the month, or forgets about it and gets charged that month’s fee, which can be applied to purchases over the next year. “When you type in anything to search on the Internet, it’s almost terrifying the tidal wave of information you get back,” said Kate Bosworth, the actress who is the celebrity face of JewelMint and one of its designers. “The idea of harnessing search for different, sought-after things on the Internet is really the new frontier.” Investors seem to agree. Send the Trend plans to announce Monday that it has raised $3 million from Battery Ventures and angel investors. ShoeDazzle, the first of these sites, has raised $20 million. BeachMint , the site behind JewelMint that plans to start others like StyleMint , which will sell T-shirts designed by Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, has raised $15 million. “The first generation of e-commerce was about taking care of your chores — that’s Amazon,” said Jeremy Liew, managing director at Lightspeed Venture Partners, an investor in ShoeDazzle. “That’s not what gets people excited in the real world about shopping. This is about making shopping fun again.” The shopping sites are the latest in a long line of Internet companies to try to use algorithms to determine personal taste. Pandora does it for music, Netflix does it for movies and eHarmony does it for dating. But the idea of applying a software algorithm to determine something as unique as someone’s personal style might seem anathema to dyed-in-the-wool fashion lovers. The sites say they can do it because they learn enough from the style quizzes people fill out and their activity on the sites, like whether they view or buy certain items or mark them as favorites. After a three-minute style quiz on ShoeDazzle that asks whether a shopper prefers Stella McCartney or Giorgio Armani and pumps or strappy sandals, the site proclaims, “If you were a shoe you’d be a calf-height embroidered-suede peep-toe bootie with a fringed cuff.” According to ShoeDazzle, that means she would like to buy steel-gray pumps with 4.5-inch heels or brown platform wedges with turquoise straps. Google, which applies algorithms to nearly everything, is borrowing a similar concept for its high-fashion e-commerce site, Boutiques.com . Users take a style quiz and, based on the results and a shopper’s activity on the site, Google shows items they might like, including selections chosen by celebrities. But the new shopping clubs add another element: monthly subscriptions. That gives them an excuse to send shoppers e-mail messages and pressure them to make a shopping decision on deadline as Gilt and Groupon do. The strategy eliminates much of the business risk of ordering inventory, said BeachMint’s founders, Josh Berman and Diego Berdakin, because customers are urged to make a purchase each month and the companies learn to predict which items shoppers will buy. Selling directly to consumers eliminates expenses too, the companies say. They generally design the items or hire private-label designers, find manufacturers to produce them and ship items themselves. “Getting a piece of jewelry at Macy’s or Nordstrom, it keeps getting marked up all the way down from the manufacturer to the licensee,” Mr. Berman said. “We go right to the consumer.” The items on the sites range from $30 to $50 a month. The retailers compare themselves to stores like H & M and Forever 21 — trendy and affordable, if not the highest quality. They do, however, have the added cachet of celebrity. In the case of JewelMint, Ms. Bosworth and her stylist Cher Coulter design the jewelry. Kim Kardashian, the reality star, is co-founder and chief fashion stylist of ShoeDazzle and its sky-high heels look like those she teeters on in paparazzi photos. Christian Siriano, the designer and “Project Runway” winner, picks the items that Send the Trend sells, and he designs a few himself. “People look at certain celebrities as style icons,” said Divya Gugnani, chief executive and co-founder of Send the Trend, “and they trust their ability to say this is hot, this is cool, this is fun.” | E-Commerce;Fashion and Apparel |
ny0186599 | [
"sports",
"ncaabasketball"
] | 2009/03/22 | Duke Tops Texas to Advance to Round of 16 | GREENSBORO, N.C. — Two years had passed without Duke visiting the N.C.A.A. tournament’s Round of 16, a lapse that has caused no small amount of consternation among the Blue Devils faithful who have come to expect championship runs every year. But after capturing the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament title, Duke had a No. 2 seed and momentum heading into this year’s event. And now it is back where it used to belong. The Blue Devils, facing a Texas team ranked as high as fifth in the country earlier this season, had to sweat out a gut-wrenching, back-and-forth final minute to get there. But Nolan Smith made two free throws with 47 seconds remaining to break a 69-69 tie and the Blue Devils held off Texas, 74-69, in a furious finish. The Blue Devils are in the Round of 16 once again. They will face the No. 3 seed, Villanova, on Thursday in Boston. Gerald Henderson had 24 points, including three crucial free throws in the final minute, to lead Duke (30-6). A. J. Abrams had 17 points for Texas (23-12). “For us, it’s not about how other people feel about how we should do in the tournament or anything,” Duke guard Jon Scheyer said. “We have our expectations, obviously, and for us, with these guys right next to me, it feels really good to get this win with them. “And obviously, we expected to win this. We wanted to, so in that regard, it feels really good.” Duke had appeared in control earlier, building a 64-54 lead with 7 minutes 9 seconds remaining. Texas battled back, with the reserve guard Varez Ward scoring 8 consecutive points as the Longhorns tied the score at 67-67 with 1:45 to go and set up the furious finish. Kyle Singler tapped in a Henderson miss to put Duke up by 2 with 1:17 left before Gary Johnson’s free throws tied the score again at 69-69 with 1:07 remaining. After the two free throws by Smith put Duke ahead, Henderson added another with 30.8 seconds to go for a 3-point advantage. With Texas trying to close the gap and the clock winding down, Scheyer made a critical play when he chased down a loose ball and, while heading out of bounds into the Texas bench, flung it high in the air toward the Duke basket. The freshman Elliot Williams tried to track it down and was fouled. Although he missed both free throws, the ball was tapped out to Henderson. He sealed the victory with two more free throws with 7.2 seconds remaining. “We’ve had good talent in our program during the last 25 years,” Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “But a few years ago with guys going pro or guys not coming because they went pro, all of a sudden we hit a period where we had all these young kids. Then people just put it on them that they’re supposed to win the N.C.A.A. championship or the A.C.C. They’re 18 and 19 years old. “I’ve been a part of a bunch of championships, A.C.C., Final Fours, a national championship. But to do it with this group feels great.” Duke had made the Round of 16 for nine consecutive years from 1998 to 2006, including a loss in the final in 1999, a championship in 2001 and another Final Four trip in 2004. But the last two years the Blue Devils had failed to advance past the first weekend of the tournament. Duke lost in the opening round in 2007, and fell in the second round last year. “Our standards have been so high because in the past we’ve had teams that won,” Henderson said. “Trying to uphold that standard, we’re not really going to worry as much about what people think about us. But the biggest thing is just to win.” | NCAA Basketball Tournament (Men);Duke University;College Athletics;Basketball;University of Texas |
ny0237627 | [
"world",
"asia"
] | 2010/06/07 | Relaxing Its Grip on Casinos to Play for a Winning Hand | SINGAPORE — Casinos would be allowed in Singapore only “over my dead body,” Lee Kuan Yew , the country’s founder and a fierce opponent of gambling, once said. The so-called minister mentor of a government led by his eldest son, Mr. Lee, 86, still casts a long shadow over this city-state. But two casinos, as grandiose and gaudy as anything in Las Vegas or Macao , have opened here recently — with his blessing. Through their sheer size and proximity to the city center, the casinos have already transformed Singapore’s landscape. It is too early to tell, though, whether they will succeed, as Singapore hopes, in transforming its image, culture and mind-set. The casinos are the most conspicuous symbols of the government’s more ambitious goal of loosening up this tightly regulated society and positioning it against international hubs like Dubai or even New York. At the same time, forced to operate under some of the world’s stiffest restrictions, they reflect Singapore’s enduring fears of loosening up too much and too fast. To discourage residents from gambling, the government collects casino entrance fees — $70 for a 24-hour period or $1,400 for a full year — from all Singaporeans and permanent residents. Almost 30,000 people, mostly recipients of public assistance or those who have filed for bankruptcy, are automatically barred from entering. While hoping to draw free-spending Chinese, Indonesians and other foreigners to the establishments, the government has imposed strict reporting regulations that make it difficult for the casinos to draw high rollers, who typically make up a disproportionate share of casino revenues. “We do agree that some of the rules may be a little unfriendly to the casino business, but we understand where it’s coming from and we understand why,” said Robin Goh, a spokesman for Resorts World Sentosa , a $4.7 billion, 121-acre retreat that opened in February. Mr. Goh added that there were “fears” that casino gambling “could bring about a lot of social ills to what has always been a kind of pristine, squeaky-clean image of Singapore.” Since its opening, the Malaysian-owned Resorts World Sentosa — which includes a Universal Studios theme park and buildings designed by the architect Michael Graves — has averaged an occupancy rate of 90 percent at its hotels on weekends and 80 percent on weekdays, Mr. Goh said. Tickets to Universal Studios have sold out on several weekends, he said. Mr. Goh declined to release details about the visitors to the casino itself. In permitting casino gambling, the government mandated that the casinos make up only a small part of what it calls “integrated resorts,” which also include conference centers, shops and cultural attractions. The floor space of the casinos at Sentosa and the other resort, Las Vegas Sands’s $5.5 billion Marina Bay Sands , make up only about 3 percent of the resorts’ total floor space. Gillian Koh, a researcher at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore, said the resorts were part of a larger strategy to change Singapore from “a trading post or manufacturing hub” to a “services hub” with its attendant amenities. “There were lots of arguments against it,” Ms. Koh said of casino gambling. “The government was against it; now we’re O.K. with it, because we know how to live with these things. It’s a signal of being innovative socially as well as in the industry sense of it.” For decades, Singapore adamantly rejected casino gambling, fearing the emergence of money-laundering, addiction, prostitution and other problems associated with large-scale gambling. But with casinos opening elsewhere in Asia to cater to newly rich Asians, Singapore engaged in an intense debate over casino gambling in 2005. Reversing himself, Mr. Lee strongly backed casino gambling, saying that it was critical to Singapore’s future. Rejecting casino gambling, he said, would send the signal that “we want to stay put, to remain the same old Singapore, a neat place and tidy place with no chewing gum.” His son, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong , said casinos would generate the kind of “buzz” found in London, Paris and New York. “Their development is also part of our bigger plan to reinvent our city-state and turn it into an exciting, livable global city,” the Singapore Tourism Board said in a written reply to a question about the resorts. So far, the news media here have reported that locals have accounted for a greater share of gamblers than had been expected; Sands, which opened in late April, attracted bad press when participants in the first conference held there complained of power failures and other problems. Whether the resorts eventually attract the sought-after buzz and foreigners, especially when they are fully running later this year, remains to be seen. “If I were to hazard a guess, I think that those who were banking on the holistic concept of integrated resorts to bring an increased and diverse number of tourists may be disappointed,” Derek da Cunha, the author of “ Singapore Places Its Bets, ” a book on the casinos’ impact on Singapore, said in an e-mail message. “Insofar as tourism is concerned, what we largely have now is casino tourism.” Casino revenues, experts say, could also be crimped by Singapore’s stringent restrictions. In Asia, especially in Macao, high rollers are usually shuffled from one casino to another by tour operators who guarantee their privacy. But the government here requires tour operators to disclose gamblers’ names and passport and tax identification numbers. The regulations have effectively forced the casinos to seek high rollers on their own by inviting big-betting guests from their casinos outside Singapore. Gambling, by far, is expected to make up the bulk of the resorts’ total revenues, as it does elsewhere in Asia. But casino gambling remains politically sensitive. The Tourism Board said that despite the restrictions, the resorts would compete against rivals elsewhere because of their “total attractiveness”; representatives of the resorts highlighted their nongambling operations. “It is important; it is not the only thing,” Tom Arasi, the chief executive of Marina Bay Sands, said about the significance of casino gambling for Singapore. “It’s important because it serves the market that wants to gamble, and now Singapore can offer that in a competitive sense. It’s done in a very uniquely Singapore way, but it’s there.” | Singapore;Casinos;Gambling;Lee Kuan Yew |
ny0191354 | [
"world",
"americas"
] | 2009/02/04 | Economic Decline Lifts the Prospects of a Vocal Populist | MEXICO CITY — As the year began, the dominant political figure of Mexico ’s left appeared to be heading swiftly toward irrelevance. But Andrés Manuel López Obrador is not dead yet. Only two years ago, Amlo, as he is known, was the driving force in Mexico’s polarized politics. After he narrowly lost the presidency and led months of street protests charging that it had been stolen from him, politics boiled down to one issue: who was for him and who was against. Last year, his hold on public attention began to falter. The public, the news media and many of his supporters had simply moved on, letting the turmoil of the 2006 election fade into history. But there are signs that the efforts of Mr. López Obrador, a former Mexico City mayor, to revive his political career may be gaining traction, as a deepening recession creates opportunities for his brand of economic populism. The question now is whether he can capitalize on that momentum to remake and expand the coalition that brought him to within a hair’s breadth of the presidency. At a rally last week in Mexico City’s immense central square, the Zócalo, Mr. López Obrador, 55, drew tens of thousands of supporters. Though the crowd paled beside the hundreds of thousands who attended his rallies at the peak of the 2006 presidential campaign, it was significantly larger than that at any of his rallies in the previous year. Unlike his campaign events, it was conducted without the benefit of his party’s machinery, which used to truck in supporters from around the country, demonstrating a substantial base of hard-core support. Saying that the economy will only get worse, Mr. López Obrador announced a campaign to press the government to cut wasteful spending, lower consumer prices and taxes, and do more for the poor. “Our movement must continue demanding a change in economic policy, which has demonstrated its failure,” he said. “The model must be changed. You cannot put new wine in old bottles.” The words clearly resonated with his poor and working-class base. “We think he really can change things, so that people have the right to decide,” said Aide Florentino, 27, a member of a small garment cooperative in the rural southern part of Mexico City. “It’s not important if López Obrador is the president,” said Víctor Baltasar, 49, who traveled to the rally from Guadalajara, where he is a supervisor for the city’s train system. “What’s important is that things change.” But rising anxiety over the economy may be broadening his appeal. Despite government measures aimed at stimulating the economy and buffering households against the worst effects of the crisis, there is a widespread clamor to do more, from constituencies as varied as business groups and poor peasants and fishermen. That demand could alter the political calculus. “Mexico is fundamentally a conservative country,” said Federico Estévez, a political analyst at the Autonomous Technological Institute of Mexico. “But in 2009, the cards are different.” Referring to the left, he said, “I think they’re holding a wild card or a couple of aces.” With the next presidential election three years off, Mr. López Obrador’s precise ambitions are unclear. He calls his new campaign a social movement and clearly aims to be a force to be reckoned with. But his relationship with his own party remains fraught. Last year he lost a battle with a rival faction over the presidency of the party, the Party of the Democratic Revolution, or P.R.D., and he no longer holds any official position in the party or in government. The low point came last fall, when most of the senators from his party broke with him to approve an important energy bill, as his supporters scuffled with police officers in an attempt to block the vote. To many who had backed his presidential bid, Mr. López Obrador’s street-brawling political style had become a liability. His campaign to overturn the results of the 2006 election, which he lost by only six-tenths of 1 percent of the total vote to Felipe Calderón , consisted of mass rallies and a tent city that shut major avenues in the capital for weeks. Refusing to concede, even after the country’s highest electoral court ruled in favor of Mr. Calderón, he held a grand public ceremony in which he had himself sworn in as the “legitimate president” of Mexico, a title he continues to claim. Such antics have damaged the party’s reputation, officials say. Jesús Ortega, the party president, who defeated Mr. López Obrador’s choice for the post, said the party’s polling showed that two-thirds of Mexicans identified the P.R.D. as disruptive. Moreover, the polls put the party in third place for midterm elections in July, when voters will elect all 500 members of Mexico’s lower house, the Chamber of Deputies. The party is currently projected to win 18 percent of the vote, half its showing in 2006. While Mr. López Obrador’s popularity catapulted it in 2006 from the third largest to the second largest party in Congress, the party now stands to lose many of the seats it picked up then. Mr. Ortega, while shying away from blaming Mr. López Obrador for the decline of the party, made it clear that he wanted to remake its image into that of a party closer to social democratic governing parties in Chile and Brazil, and that street blockades were not in the plans. “Protests against injustice should not affect citizens’ rights,” Mr. Ortega said. “We have to learn to fight within the limits of the law.” The party has begun running gauzy television spots asking voters for their forgiveness and declaring its willingness to work with other parties, a pointed contrast with Mr. López Obrador’s campaign of permanent harassment. Publicly at least, Mr. López Obrador and his party say they have worked through their differences. Analysts say neither one can afford a split. “If the left as a whole doesn’t recoup before the elections on the basis of economic issues alone,” Mr. Estévez said, “then they really have no chance of ever ruling.” Mr. López Obrador needs the structure and resources a large party provides, analysts said. And the party cannot jettison its most charismatic politician. “The P.R.D. realizes they can’t give him up,” said Daniel M. Lund, a pollster who has done work for Mr. López Obrador, but not since 2004. “If the P.R.D. breaks with López Obrador, they will go to single digits.” Where that leaves Mr. López Obrador’s movement is uncertain. Although 2012 is a long way off, none of the party’s current leaders have anywhere near his larger-than-life stature as a potential presidential contender. What is evident is that while talk of a comeback may be premature, so was writing him off. “He’s a charismatic, intuitive politician,” said Joy Langston, an analyst with the CIDE, a Mexico City research institution. “He not only knows how to win over the masses but also to govern in a way that continues his popularity. Amlo will never be completely finished.” | Mexico;Lopez Obrador Andres Manuel;Calderon Felipe;Party of the Democratic Revolution;Politics and Government;Economic Conditions and Trends |
ny0261826 | [
"world",
"middleeast"
] | 2011/06/24 | Iran Rift Deepens With Arrest of President’s Ally | A close ally of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran has been arrested, Iranian news agencies reported Thursday, a development that suggested the power struggle between the president and the country’s highest religious leader is deepening. Fars, a semiofficial state news agency, did not specify the reason for the arrest of the Ahmadinejad ally, Mohammed Sharif Malekzadeh, who resigned as deputy foreign minister this week, but a report by Mehr, another semiofficial agency, pointed to allegations of financial misdeeds. Mr. Malekzadeh is believed to be the most senior Ahmadinejad associate to be arrested — and one of the first to have his arrest reported in Iran’s press — as the rift between the president and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei , the nation’s spiritual leader and highest authority, has worsened. Mr. Ahmadinejad has been challenged on each of his cabinet appointments, including those of oil minister, sports minister and foreign minister. Mr. Malekzadeh stepped down on Tuesday after only three days in the face of a growing opposition from members of Parliament, who threatened to impeach the foreign minister, Ali Akbar Salehi, if he did not dismiss Mr. Malekzadeh. Some of the president’s allies, including Mr. Malekzadeh, have been accused of being part of a “deviant current” of disloyalty. As a result, many former allies have abandoned the president and proclaimed their allegiance to Ayatollah Khamenei . While such breaches are a common element of a political system that allows for two leaders — one spiritual, the other democratic — the current split has been unusually public since April, when Mr. Ahmadinejad and the supreme leader sparred over the fate of the country’s intelligence minister. The president fired the minister, only to watch as Ayatollah Khamenei reinstated him with a warning that Mr. Ahmadinejad, too, could be dismissed. Mr. Malekzadeh is also an ally of the president’s chief of staff, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, who is unpopular among the country’s most conservative clerics and is seen to be at the center of the political struggle. Last month, a hard-line newspaper called for Mr. Mashaei’s arrest, calling him a “very dangerous person who is propping up a new cult.” Political analysts cautioned that the rift was unlikely to devolve into a permanent rupture. “The president now knows he lacks institutional power to challenge the prerogatives of the supreme leader,” said Ray Takeyh, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and a former Iran adviser to the Obama administration. “And Khamenei appreciates that an impeachment crisis would prove destabilizing for the system. Thus, a weakened Ahmadinejad who stays in his lane is good for the supreme leader.” | Iran;Politics and Government;Suspensions Dismissals and Resignations;Ahmadinejad Mahmoud;Malekzadeh Mohammed Sharif;Khamenei Ali |
ny0145451 | [
"business"
] | 2008/10/15 | Banks’ Bailout Unlikely to Crimp Executive Pay | Under the bailout plan for the nation’s banks unveiled on Tuesday, no heads will roll, as they did in the United Kingdom. No banking executives are likely to go hungry, either. But their parting may not be quite as sweet. The Treasury’s plan seeks to take aim at the eight-figure pay packages given to Wall Street executives that have enraged so many Americans in the wake of the country’s financial collapse. Banks that get an equity infusion from the government will have to follow some general rules on paying their top five executives. They will be restricted from offering golden parachutes, as rich severance packages are called, and they will have to pay more taxes if an individual’s compensation exceeds $500,000. “The key will be how they implement it,” said Representative Barney Frank, Democrat of Massachusetts, who is chairman of the House Financial Services Committee and has long sought to restrict executive pay . He said he did not think the Treasury plan went far enough, but he praised it as attacking the “perverse incentives” that led to the crisis. Compensation experts say that the provisions, though politically prudent to appease public anger, will probably have little real impact on how financial executives are paid in coming years. They predict banks will simply pay higher taxes and will find other creative ways of paying their executives as they see fit. Some say there could even be a sudden surge in compensation as soon as the government program ends, in a few years, leading to eye-popping numbers down the road. “Congress’s record of regulating executive pay has been unblemished by success,” said Kevin J. Murphy, a finance professor at the University of Southern California, pointing to perverse outcomes of past efforts. When Congress limited the tax deductibility of cash salaries to $1 million, for example, it simply led to an explosion in stock options used as compensation and even higher total payouts. Like other experts, Professor Murphy expects the $500,000 cap to be largely ignored, with banks willing to accept the tax consequences. For many of the top executives, such a salary would simply not be competitive: “$500,000 was supposed to be a good week,” he said, adding that many of these executives would respond to such suggestions by leaving for jobs at unregulated banks or hedge funds. But what Treasury cannot easily achieve under its plan might be achieved temporarily by the weak economy, falling stock prices and frustrated boards who are pressured by shareholders disgusted over past excess, say some experts. “The market may take care of it just by default,” said Paul Hodgson, a senior analyst at the Corporate Library, a governance research group. The government’s sudden sweeping presence may prod some boards to take a harder line, said Charles M. Elson, a corporate governance expert at the University of Delaware. “Every board is going to be under tremendous pressure on compensation, by shareholders and by the government’s investment.” Some of those discussions have already begun among board members, said Ira T. Kay, a compensation specialist at Watson Wyatt Worldwide. “These rules will have a chilling effect on executive pay practices,” he said. Severance payments have begun to fall, he said, and he predicts there will be “much more downward pressure.” Of course, there have been past predictions that executive pay would be crimped, but that effect tended to be a more short-term reaction to weak business results, as companies and executives simply adapted. “Every prediction of the demise of C.E.O. pay has been overstated,” said Professor Murphy. After the dot-com bubble burst, for example, executives no longer made significant sums through stock options but turned instead to restricted stock. Compensation soon moved upward. The new Treasury rules, which still need to be clarified, also provide some broad guidelines, requiring the banks that get government capital to make sure their compensation packages do not reward excessive risk-taking and instituting a “claw-back” rule to force repayment of compensation that was based on results that later prove to be inaccurate. Exactly how some of these provisions will work is unclear, as well as how Treasury will eventually enforce them. Along with banks that get government capital, banks that participate in the government’s program to buy targeted assets will have limits on compensation. Banks that sell the government more than $300 million in assets will face significant taxes if they offer a golden parachute to a departing executive. Michael Useem, a professor at the Wharton School, said that while the Treasury proposals have shortcomings in addressing inflated pay packages, Congress had to do something. “The bigger concern is the need for strong political support of the bailout agenda,” he said. Banks ignore the provisions at their peril, he argued. “The spirit of the provision is quite clear,” he said. “If executives begin to not follow the spirit of the provisions, they will politically weaken support for what is being done.” | Emergency Economic Stabilization Act (2008);Executive Compensation;Subprime Mortgage Crisis |
ny0193888 | [
"world",
"europe"
] | 2009/11/27 | Report Says Police and Catholic Church Hid Abuse in Dublin | LONDON — The Roman Catholic Church and the police in Ireland systematically colluded in covering up decades of child sex abuse by priests in Dublin, according to a scathing report released Thursday. The cover-ups spanned the tenures of four Dublin archbishops and continued through to the mid-1990s and beyond, even after the church was beginning to admit to its failings and had professed that it was confronting abuse by its priests. But rather than helping the victims, the church was concerned only with “the maintenance of secrecy, the avoidance of scandal, the protection of the reputation of the church, and the preservation of its assets,” said the 700-page report, prepared by a group appointed by the Irish government and called the Commission of Investigation Into the Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin. In a statement, the current archbishop, Diarmuid Martin, acknowledged the “revolting story” of abuses that the report detailed, saying, “No words of apology will ever be sufficient.” He added, “The report highlights devastating failings of the past.” The report is the latest in a series of damning revelations about the church. In May, a report chronicled the sexual, emotional and physical abuse of orphans and foster children over 60 years in a network of church-run residential schools meant to care for the vulnerable and the disadvantaged. Although that report portrayed a church that seemed institutionally broken, with guilt spread among many, the new one attaches particular blame to those at the top. It reserved particular criticism for the police and for four archbishops of Dublin: John Charles McQuaid, who died in 1973; Dermot Ryan, who died in 1984; Kevin McNamara, who died in 1987; and Cardinal Desmond Connell, who retired in 2004. The report said those four knew of the abuse, but did little about it. The report, which took three years to prepare, focused on the way complaints about abuse by priests had been handled. It looked into the cases of 46 priests who had been the subject of scores of complaints from about 320 children from 1975 to 2004. Of the 46 priests, 11 have pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting children or have been convicted of that crime. The rest are dead or have not been prosecuted. The report said the Irish police allowed the church to act with impunity and often referred abuse complaints back to the archdiocese for internal investigations. The police said Thursday that they regretted their failure to act. “Because of acts or omissions, individuals who sought assistance did not always receive the level of response or protection which any citizen in trouble is entitled to expect,” Ireland’s police commissioner, Fachtna Murphy, said, adding he was “deeply sorry.” Cardinal Connell apologized in a statement, expressing “bitter regret that failures on my part contributed to the suffering of victims in any form.” The report details examples of priests who were blatant, notorious abusers, but who were allowed to continue without punishment or censure. One priest admitted to abusing more than 100 children. Another said he had abused, on average, a child every two weeks for 25 years. One parish priest whose case was examined in the report, the Rev. James McNamee, was locally infamous for his behavior over more than 30 years. Early in Father McNamee’s career, an altar boy said he had seen the priest “bathing with naked adolescent boys and placing the boys on his shoulders”; a parishioner said he had seen the priest exercising in the nude with boys in his backyard. Numerous complaints against Father McNamee were looked into at various times, and various officials expressed concern, but no action was taken, by either the priests or the nuns who worked with him, the Catholic officials who fielded dozens of allegations, or the police. Father McNamee died in 2002, professing that he had done nothing wrong. The Irish government vowed to make amends to the victims. The justice minister, Dermot Ahern, promised that “the persons who committed these dreadful crimes — no matter when they happened — will continue to be pursued.” | Roman Catholic Church;Priests;Ireland;Sex Crimes;Children and Youth;Police;Crime and Criminals |
ny0286563 | [
"world",
"middleeast"
] | 2016/09/14 | Shimon Peres, Former Prime Minister of Israel, Suffers a Stroke | JERUSALEM — Shimon Peres, the Israeli former prime minister and president who shared a Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to resolve the long-running conflict with the Palestinians, remained hospitalized on Wednesday after suffering what his doctor called a “massive stroke.” Mr. Peres, 93, was sedated and put on a respirator on Tuesday when he was brought to the Israeli hospital, where he suffered the stroke after complaining of a headache. After an all-night vigil in the hospital, with expressions of sympathy pouring in from around the world, his doctor said Wednesday morning that Mr. Peres was in critical but stable condition and was not in immediate danger of death, although his chances of recovery remained uncertain. “It’s very emotional, as you can imagine,” the doctor, Rafi Walden, who is also Mr. Peres’s son-in-law, told reporters on a conference call. “We are very close to him, and obviously we are very moved and touched by his condition, but also very moved by the reaction of the public.” Dr. Walden said that there was no “imminent threat to his life” and that “the chances of survival are pretty good.” But he added, “the degree of his neurological recovery, nobody can say at this early stage of the disease.” After discussions about surgery, that option has been ruled out for now. When doctors eased the sedation temporarily, Mr. Peres was responsive, squeezing Dr. Walden’s hand at his direction. Doctors put Mr. Peres back to sleep to give his brain a chance to recover, and they will transfer him to the neurosurgical intensive care unit at Chaim Sheba Medical Center at Tel HaShomer, but they will allow the sedation to wear off again briefly on Wednesday afternoon to test his reactions. “This is a difficult time for the family, obviously, but Mr. Peres is not only a great leader but a great teacher of optimism,” Dr. Walden said. “We are trying to adopt the optimism he taught us all those years.” Video Shimon Peres, the Israeli former prime minister and president who suffered a stroke this week, was in critical but stable condition on Wednesday, his doctors said. Credit Credit Sebastian Scheiner/Associated Press Mr. Peres, one of the last living founders of the modern state of Israel, served in most senior major government positions and played a central role through much of the country’s history as both warrior and peacemaker. He remains an influential figure in Israel and abroad, maintaining an active schedule through the Peres Center for Peace , a nonprofit organization that promotes reconciliation, tolerance and innovation. Word of his latest health problems prompted expressions of concern in Israel. “I wish former president Shimon Peres a speedy recovery,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wrote on Twitter . “Shimon, we love you and the entire people wish for you recovery.” The prime minister’s office said in a separate statement that Mr. Netanyahu had spoken with the hospital director to check on Mr. Peres’s condition. Mr. Peres was among the leaders who helped found Israel in 1948 and steered it through a rocky beginning in a hostile region. He served in the pre-independence military organization known as Haganah and worked for David Ben-Gurion , the first prime minister of Israel. He was an important player in developing Israel’s military, including its nuclear program, and he served in multiple governments as defense minister and foreign minister. He served as prime minister twice, from 1984 to 1986, and after the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin in 1995. He shared the Nobel Peace Prize with Mr. Rabin and Yasir Arafat, the leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization, for the Oslo accords that were first signed in 1993. Mr. Peres became ill on the 23rd anniversary of the ceremony hosted by President Bill Clinton on the South Lawn of the White House. Mr. Peres later served as president of Israel, a more ceremonial post, from 2007 to 2014. Mr. Peres suffered a small heart attack this year and had a pacemaker implanted a week ago to deal with an irregular heart beat. He was working as usual on Tuesday, filming a video urging Israelis to buy Israeli products. “Not only because it is more patriotic, but because it is simply better,” he said on Facebook . “Can you imagine a meal without an Israeli salad? Can you set your table without Israeli fruit on it?” Dr. Walden said Mr. Peres had given an hourlong speech on Tuesday but had complained afterward of “a vague headache” and was brought to the hospital. After arriving, he suffered what the doctor called “a massive stroke” on the right side of his brain. | Shimon Peres;Israel;Nobel Prize;Yitzhak Rabin;Yasir Arafat |
ny0120465 | [
"business",
"media"
] | 2012/07/30 | Nabisco Honey Maid Promotes Its New Products | NABISCO HONEY MAID dominates the graham cracker category, with a 49.4 percent share, according to the SymphonyIRI Group, but Kraft Foods has done little advertising in recent years to assert that dominance. The brand has not run television commercials since the 1990s and has tended to promote itself, if at all, with store displays that place it alongside marshmallows and chocolate bars, the other ingredients in s’mores, the gooey cookout concoction. Now the brand is embarking on a major marketing effort, with new products and an advertising campaign that promotes Honey Maid as a stand-alone snack for children. A new line of filled crackers, Grahamfuls, has peanut butter, banana vanilla crème or a peanut butter and chocolate combination sandwiched between crackers. To encourage their being added to lunchboxes and soccer bags, each serving is individually wrapped. Also new are Honey Maid Angry Birds, which have the familiar graham cracker flavor in the shape of the video game’s avian characters. Katie Butler, the senior brand manager for Honey Maid, said that while the brand had in recent years promoted graham crackers as ingredients for things like s’mores and pie crusts, most consumers have been eating them without accompaniment. According to Kraft research, 65 percent of consumers eat graham crackers right from the box, compared with 25 percent who top them with spreads and 10 percent who use them in recipes. “We recognized a bigger opportunity in year-round snacking, and to do that we had to be top-of-mind for moms and kids,” Ms. Butler said. At the same time as the cracker assumes different forms, the brand also wants to reinforce what Ms. Butler called its “rich history of being a wholesome snack for kids,” and to promote it as a healthier option than many cookies. In recent years the brand has both increased the whole grain content and removed corn syrup from its recipe. “What we really want to emphasize,” Ms. Butler said, “is that we’re now a snacking brand that’s providing wholesome fuel to kids.” Sylvester Graham, a Presbyterian minister, rose to prominence as a health reformer in the 1830s; his followers were known as Grahamites. In books and in lectures, Graham denounced the processed white flour that already was a staple of regional bakeries in his day, and advocated making bread instead with a coarse, nutrient-rich, whole wheat flour that would come to be called graham flour. Graham’s “Treatise on Bread, and Bread-Making” in 1837 established his hearty loaf as central to what he called the Graham System, which embraced vegetarianism and eschewed coffee, tea, spices and condiments. Graham considered a primary benefit of his diet to be the curbing of carnal urges. Food that fell outside his regimen increased “the concupiscent excitability and sensuality of the genital organs,” Graham wrote. Accounts vary on whether graham crackers were first made by Graham or one of his adherents, but they probably were first produced in the 1830s. By the time that bakeries throughout the country coalesced as the National Biscuit Company (now Nabisco) in 1898, many had already been producing graham crackers for decades, according to Kraft Foods, which owns Nabisco. Honey Maid graham crackers were introduced in 1925 by the Pacific Coast Biscuit Company of Seattle, which would be acquired five years later by the National Biscuit Company. What was innovative at the time, as the name underscored, was that they were sweetened with honey, whereas the norm had been to use molasses. Kraft, in fact, still produces a graham cracker sweetened with molasses , under the Nabisco (but not the Honey Maid) name, and it accounts for 5.4 percent of the category, according to the SymphonyIRI Group. A new commercial for Grahamfuls scheduled to be introduced Monday begins with a whimsical stop-action film in which a robot that is trying to extract the snacks from the surface of the moon with a pickax is reprimanded by a park ranger. The concept turns out to be not just meant to appeal to children, but also to come from a child. The ranger and robot tug at either end of a Grahamful until it splits open, and a voice-over says, “There are simpler ways of showing you that new Honey Maid Grahamfuls have peanut butter and chocolate filling, but we helped Wyatt make his crazy idea instead.” A wider shot then shows the 11-year-old boy hovering over the lunarscape, as “Wyatt Jebef, Filmmaker,” appears on the screen. “New Honey Maid Grahamfuls,” the voice-over continues. “No matter what you’re into, we can help fuel you to get it made.” The commercial, by Droga5 of Manhattan, is aimed primarily at those aged 6 to 12 and will run during children’s programming on networks including Nickelodeon. Ted Royer, an executive creative director at Droga5, said that while professional stop-action filmmakers were principally responsible for fabricating the characters, the starting point was sketches from the youngster. Future commercials also will highlight the creativity of children, Mr. Royer said, adding that the agency may seek a girl who is a budding fashion designer to collaborate with in a coming spot. “We want kids to think, ‘That’s pretty cool that they helped bring that to life,’ ” Mr. Royer said. “And that’s a message that we hope parents will find respectful and appealing, because what parent doesn’t want to see their child’s efforts come to fruition?” | Kraft Foods Inc.;Snack Foods;Advertising and Marketing;Crackers;Television |
ny0018528 | [
"business",
"media"
] | 2013/07/29 | Jackson’s Earning Potential Is at the Heart of a Wrongful-Death Suit | He is one of the top-grossing artists in music. His influence is heard all over the Top 10, his songs have inspired two hit Cirque du Soleil shows, and Jay Z raps about him obsessively as the ultimate symbol of success. Four years after his death, Michael Jackson still rules the music business. Jackson’s importance to music and his continuing earning potential have been on display in a courtroom in Los Angeles this summer as members of his family battle with the promoter of his final concerts over who was responsible for his death, a question that may be worth more than $1 billion. The darker part of Jackson’s legacy is also on display: the drug dependence, financial fecklessness, accusations of sexual abuse and the inescapability of his family, which first propelled him to stardom as a child and now continues to live off his fortune. To judge by the market, that history is largely forgiven, if not forgotten. Forbes estimated that the estate made $145 million last year through a range of music and merchandising deals; the only living musician to come close, according to the magazine, was Dr. Dre with $110 million, mostly from the sale of his company Beats Electronics. Cirque du Soleil’s tribute, “Michael Jackson The Immortal World Tour,” has sold more than $300 million in tickets since it opened two years ago, and last month an elaborate new Cirque show, “Michael Jackson One,” opened in Las Vegas. Projects like these keep money pouring into the estate even as Jackson’s album sales have slowed from a peak after his death. Since 2009, the estate is estimated to have earned at least $600 million. “Time is an elixir,” said Stephen G. Hill, the president of music programming and specials at BET Networks. “We’ve already seen in four years that what is really celebrated about him is his music, and his place among the greatest entertainers of all time.” The wrongful death suit against the concert promoter A.E.G. Live, brought by Jackson’s 83-year-old mother, Katherine, hinges on the narrow question of whether Jackson or the company was responsible for hiring Dr. Conrad Murray, who administered the anesthetic that killed Jackson in June 2009. Dr. Murray is serving a four-year prison sentence for involuntary manslaughter. Mrs. Jackson, who with Jackson’s three young children is suing A.E.G. Live, gave emotional if sometimes confused testimony last week, as her lawyers’ last witness before the defense began making its case. “They watched him waste away,” Mrs. Jackson cried from the stand, encapsulating her lawyers’ argument that A.E.G. Live ignored Jackson’s health and pressured Dr. Murray to do whatever it took to get him on stage. But the trial, now entering its 14th week, also shows Jackson’s exceptional role in the music industry. As with everything he did, his comeback was planned on a huge and risky scale. Even though Jackson had not toured widely in more than decade, some $30 million was spent to mount 50 shows in London, with rough plans for a world tour to follow. Hours before his death, the show’s insurers were still seeking details about Jackson’s health, prompted by news reports that he suffered from a variety of illnesses including lupus, cancer and anorexia, according to an e-mail shown in court. Image “Michael Jackson One,” an elaborate Cirque du Soleil production inspired by the singer’s music, opened last month in Las Vegas. Credit Isaac Brekken/Getty Images Lawyers at the trial have delved, often in numbing detail, into the minutiae of the music business to try to assess Jackson’s earning potential. Last week, nearly an hour of combative questioning was devoted to the seating capacity of the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif. A major question, beyond the culpability of A.E.G. Live in Jackson’s death, is how much money the entertainer might have made had he lived. That amount has been hotly disputed in court. Arthur Erk, an accountant called by the Jacksons, gave a future earnings estimate of $1.5 billion, but his analysis and methodology — Mr. Erk said that much of his information came from the Web site Wikipedia — were attacked by lawyers for A.E.G. Live. Like plenty of other artists, Jackson turned to touring by necessity, said Stan Soocher, an associate professor at the University of Colorado, Denver, and the editor of the journal Entertainment Law and Finance. “The steep decline of income from sound recording sales in recent years has enormously increased the pressure on major artists to look to concerts for high levels of income,” Mr. Soocher said, “and to perhaps take a greater risk in doing shows even if they are not at peak physical or mental health.” Although Jackson did not live long enough to make the comeback, his death has had the same effect as the aims of the planned tour: propping up his shaky finances and restoring his place in the wider culture. On their latest albums, Jay Z and Kanye West both invoke Jackson as a shorthand for fame, with Jay Z comparing himself to the phenomenon of Jackson’s album “Thriller” and even the spectacle of Jackson’s rhinestone-covered socks. YouTube is filled with mash-ups of Jackson’s songs and current hits by Daft Punk , Justin Timberlake and Lady Gaga . At the time of his death, Jackson was more than $500 million in debt and faced the loss of his financial lifeline: a 50 percent stake in Sony/ATV Music Publishing, which controls most of the Beatles catalog. His future earning potential was clouded by controversies, especially two prominent accusations of child molesting. The first was settled in the 1990s, and a California jury acquitted Jackson of the second in 2005. John Meglen, an executive at A.E.G. Live, a sports and entertainment company controlled by the billionaire Philip F. Anschutz, testified last week that the company had chosen London for the concerts in part because Jackson’s reputation in North America was still stained by this “historical stuff.” Conflicting evidence has been used by both sides to show that one or the other was responsible for hiring Dr. Murray. The Jacksons point out that A.E.G. Live negotiated the doctor’s contract in detail, including his $150,000-a-month retainer; the company contends that Jackson chose the doctor and that the payment was an only advance. Endless testimony has also focused on Jackson’s drug use. Mitchell A. Kamin, an entertainment industry litigator who is not involved in the case, echoed the opinion of other legal experts that the Jacksons had made progress at trial, but that A.E.G. Live could turn things around by sticking to the core assertion that it had no control over Dr. Murray. “If you’re A.E.G., you want to paint a completely different picture,” Mr. Kamin said. “You want to own up to what you have to: that he wanted a doctor and we agreed to pay for one because it would facilitate his ability to honor his contractual agreement to us, be able to perform and make a lot of money for himself.” For a figure who has been scrutinized as much as Jackson, whose death has already been the subject of the nationally televised criminal trial of Dr. Murray (the judge in the current civil case has barred cameras from the courtroom), the release of yet more unsavory details has had little effect on his legend and the popularity of his music. Mr. Hill, of BET Networks, described the case as short-term grist for a celebrity-driven news cycle. “Two years from now,” he said, “there will be a whole new generation of 4-year-olds singing Michael Jackson songs.” | Michael Jackson;AEG Live;Wills and Estates;Music |
ny0142839 | [
"sports",
"football"
] | 2008/11/24 | Jets Hand Titans Their First Defeat | NASHVILLE — They sprinted through the tunnel toward the victorious visitors’ locker room. Quarterback Brett Favre and cornerback Ty Law, two of the oldest players on the Jets , bounded up the ramp like children in a footrace instead of golden oldies with 32 years of combined N.F.L. experience. Favre wound up the most canonized right arm in football and unleashed a stinging slap to Law’s backside. And with that, the Jets commenced their euphoric locker room celebration, having dominated the Tennessee Titans , 34-13, on Sunday in front of 69,143 fans at LP Field who suddenly remembered what it is like to lose. “I don’t know what their record was,” linebacker Eric Barton shouted. “But today, they’re 0-1.” The Jets won their fifth straight game. With five weeks left, they are 8-3 and tied for second place in the American Football Conference with the Pittsburgh Steelers, who own the tie breaker. They have also won seven of eight games for the first time since 1998. The lopsided victory over the Titans (10-1) followed a narrow escape by the Jets against their longtime division tormentors, the New England Patriots, 10 days earlier, also on the road. The last time the Jets won consecutive games of comparable significance was 2002, when they beat the Patriots in Foxborough, Mass., and clobbered Favre and the Green Bay Packers in their home finale. That team won a playoff game. This team would love to do the same. “People may have doubted if we’re for real, but we’re rolling right now,” linebacker Calvin Pace said. “Everything is coming together exactly like you draw it up. I can’t explain how rare it is for things to happen like that.” Several Jets have never experienced anything like their current run. It did not happen for Pace at Wake Forest or in five seasons with the Arizona Cardinals. For cornerback Darrelle Revis, the last time he was on a team that won five straight was in high school in Pennsylvania. Still, the Jets find themselves with back-to-back road victories in games many thought they would lose. They won them with the same formula: stop the run and run the ball; force mistakes and minimize them. They also find themselves in contention for a bye in the first round of the playoffs. “I’ve never been on a team that has been on this kind of roll,” linebacker David Bowens said. “It’s euphoric. It’s like we have an attitude that it doesn’t even matter who we’re playing.” The players do not recognize the Jets team that lost in overtime to Oakland on Oct. 19. From that low point came the rise — an ugly win against Kansas City, a convincing victory at Buffalo, the most lopsided win in team history against St. Louis at home, then the two road wins. Bowens said that the Jets refused to point fingers after losing to the Raiders, that they went into “self-correct mode.” He could not pinpoint what set off the turnaround, only that it happened. Nose tackle Kris Jenkins said: “Early in the season, when we saw some of the losses that we had, and some of the ways that we were playing, we knew that we had the potential to compete on another level. We just needed to believe in ourselves and do it.” Even after winning four in a row and taking over first place in the A.F.C. East by beating their division nemesis, the Jets traveled to Tennessee for what many predicted would be a reality check, a reminder of how far they had come but also how far they had to go. They needed the perfect start, and it came just as they envisioned it. The Jets’ defense forced the Titans to punt on their first possession. The offense took over deep in its territory against a defense that had allowed the fewest points in the N.F.L. But the Jets moved downfield as if on a moving walkway. Favre completed all six of his passes on the drive, for 72 yards. The capper was a 10-yard screen pass to Thomas Jones, who scooted between linemen Alan Faneca and D’Brickashaw Ferguson for his 11th touchdown of the season. Favre ran off the field, slapping helmets and backsides with enthusiasm, looking more like 29 years old than 39. His first incompletion did not come until his ninth pass. “That first drive was really a tone-setter,” Favre said. “Not that we couldn’t have gone on to win the ballgame had we not scored, but it sure sent a message that we were capable of scoring against this defense.” The Titans had won 13 games in a row, including three at the end of last season. But they had showed cracks the week before, against the Jacksonville Jaguars, falling into a 14-3 hole only to rally. This game was billed as a playoff preview between A.F.C. heavyweights, but there were concerns that the Jets could not take a punch from the likes of Tennessee. The question lingered: were they as tough as the Titans? The Jets answered that, at least in part, on the Titans’ second offensive drive. On a third-down play, the Titans sent LenDale White, their burly bruiser of a running back, up the middle. Jenkins and Mike DeVito made the stop. Fist pumps broke out among the Jets on the sideline. Jenkins is the team’s master chef, and at that moment, he smelled an upset cooking. The Jets’ defense rescued the offense from two turnovers — a Favre interception and a fumble by Leon Washington — by forcing the Titans to punt. Both players later atoned for their mistakes. With the Jets leading by 13-3 in the third quarter and the ball at the Titans’ 2, Favre dropped back and scanned the end zone, looking left, then right, like a bobblehead doll. He fired the ball toward the back of the end zone, in the proximity of receiver Laveranues Coles, who had three defenders near him. Coles said he knew Favre would find him if he beat the safety. And when he did, the ball stuck to his hands. The crowd went silent as Coles landed on his back. He raised his arms into something of a V, which is exactly what the Jets got. “He rifled it in there,” Coles said. “The guys finally deserve something to be happy about. Last year was one of our all-time lows.” The Jets used short passes to neutralize the Titans’ destructive pass rush. Washington scored two touchdowns in the fourth quarter, including one of 61 yards. Afterward, the Jets strutted around the locker room like kings of the N.F.L., which they were, if only for a week. Winning brings out the looseness in teams, and these Jets are a loose bunch. Revis showed up for the game wearing a suit and glasses with black frames. He entered as Clark Kent but left as Superman. Are the Jets the best team in the A.F.C.? “If you want to say that, say that,” Revis said. “I’m not going to.” Fullback Tony Richardson said: “The thing I like about this team is nobody is getting ahead of themselves. No one is talking about the playoffs or anything like that. We’re focused on the now. We haven’t done anything — yet.” | Tennessee Titans;New York Jets;Football |
ny0267200 | [
"technology"
] | 2016/03/08 | U.S. Restricts Sales to ZTE, Saying It Breached Sanctions | HONG KONG — ZTE is one of China’s few truly international electronics firms. Yet American companies will now need special permission to sell to it. The company, which makes smartphones, was found to have violated American sanctions against Iran by selling United States-made goods to the country, according to a Commerce Department statement on Monday. As a result, ZTE will be blocked from buying any technology from American companies without a special license. ZTE planned to “illicitly re-export controlled items to Iran in violation of U.S export laws,” the Commerce Department said. The sanctions against Iran, many of which were recently lifted , were intended to restrict Iran’s nuclear work. The export controls against ZTE are unusual because such actions are rarely taken against such large companies. The action underscores how important the push is by the United States to gain China’s cooperation in embargoes intended to combat nuclear proliferation. The export controls are also risky because they could easily prompt a backlash from Beijing. Technology has become a sticking point in Chinese-American relations. Washington has accused Chinese government-sponsored hackers of stealing American trade secrets. On Tuesday, the Commerce Ministry of China criticized the American restrictions. In a statement posted on its website , the ministry said: “The U.S. move will severely affect normal operations of Chinese companies. China will continue negotiating with the U.S. side on this issue.” Recent scrutiny in the United States has also scuttled some Chinese investments in American tech companies. ZTE’s much larger domestic competitor, Huawei, is effectively banned from selling its telecom network equipment in the United States. Beijing has fought back by increasing scrutiny of American companies’ operations in China. It fined Qualcomm for antitrust violations and raided Microsoft’s offices as part of a continuing investigation. Chinese state news media has complained bitterly about revelations from the former National Security Agency contractor Edward J. Snowden about American spying and has called for a domestic purge of United States technology. Although analysts said that the export controls against ZTE were most likely aimed at nuclear proliferation rather than being a new jab in heightened technology trade tensions, China’s interpretation of the action was an open question. “Depending on how both sides read it, this could be a specific case, or it could get overheated and extended,” said Scott Kennedy, a scholar at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a nonprofit research group. Trading of ZTE’s shares was suspended Monday before the announcement. News of the export controls was first reported by Reuters. ZTE said in a statement Tuesday morning that it was “fully committed to compliance with the laws and regulations in the jurisdictions in which it operates. ZTE has been cooperating, will continue to cooperate and communicate with all U.S. agencies as required.” ZTE’s status within China is likely to make the export controls big news there. Though not well known in the United States, ZTE is an international champion of the Chinese high-tech industry, with a market capitalization of around $10 billion. After China’s first lady, Peng Liyuan, aroused online criticism by using an Apple iPhone during a 2013 trip to Mexico, she switched to a ZTE phone for a public trip in 2014. In Monday’s statement, the Commerce Department provided two internal ZTE documents to back up the claims that the company was violating sanctions. One, from 2011, signed by several senior ZTE executives, discussed the risks of United States export controls and noted that ZTE had “ongoing projects in all five major embargoed countries — Iran, Sudan, North Korea, Syria and Cuba.” It also said that the Iran project was the “biggest risk.” In the other document, ZTE mapped out the way it could circumvent American export controls in a complex flow chart, including using a “shell” company structure. The new export controls are likely to make business difficult for ZTE. Though the company sells its own branded smartphones and telecom infrastructure equipment, it buys components from American tech companies, using, for example, Qualcomm chips in some of its phones. Given the complexity of the electronics supply chain and the mass production of specific devices, it will probably prove costly for ZTE to shuffle the design and sourcing for its products. Daniel H. Rosen, a partner at the research firm Rhodium Group, said that given ZTE’s behavior, it would have “required an extraordinary degree of confidence building” between the United States and China to avoid the current situation. “That does not appear to have taken place,” he said. | ZTE;China;Iran;Commerce Department;Embargoes Sanctions;International trade |
ny0070896 | [
"technology"
] | 2015/03/29 | In Silicon Valley, Auto Racing Becomes a Favorite Hobby for Tech Elites | When you get past the noise and the smell, the unbearable heat, the G-force, the surprising physical exertion and, always, the constant threat of injury or death — auto racing, like much else, comes down to math. There is an optimal path around a racetrack, a geometric arc of least resistance. It is the driver’s job to find this sweet spot of physics and stick to it, lap after lap, as consistently as a microprocessor crunching through an algorithm. For tech people — who are accustomed to finding and manipulating hidden math — hitting the arc can be a moment of particular pleasure. “When you’re really in the zone in a racecar, it’s almost meditative,” said Jeff Huber, who has been driving racecars for more than a decade. “You’re working on this pursuit of perfection, of getting the braking point just right, the braking pressure just right, finding the limit of adhesion when you’re going around the corner. There’s this balance that you’re feeling and managing all the time, of just barely being in control, right at that perfect limit.” Mr. Huber is an engineer and executive at Google. He once led the company’s mapping division, and he now works on secret projects at Google X, the company’s far-out research lab. He is also among a novel posse in the Silicon Valley, a small but growing group of guys from across the industry who get together on weekends to drive really fast around a track. Over the last year or so, racing seems to have become the Valley’s “it” hobby. There are informal groups of drivers at Apple, Facebook and Google who get together to rent out local tracks. As a reporter who covers the industry, I’ve received three separate invitations from sources in the past few months. “By the way, are you into cars?” they’ll say. “Ever gone out on a track?” There is sometimes a clubby surreptitiousness to the request, most likely because auto racing carries signifiers that hit on Silicon Valley’s most tender worries about itself. Racing is a rich person’s pastime in a region where the denizens are increasingly criticized for, and embarrassed of, their ballooning wealth. It is an activity dominated by men in a culture that is legendarily inaccessible to women. And though on Friday, the venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers prevailed in a gender discrimination case brought against it by Ellen Pao, the unsavory details that emerged in the case underscored gender disparities in the tech business. The maleness of the sport may be of particular concern as it becomes a more popular pastime that, like golf, has the convenient auxiliary benefit of lubricating the gears of business. Enthusiasts say that taking a potential employee, customer, investor or founder of a hot start-up out to a day at the track makes for a connection that exerts a hold even when you’re off the track. It’s a connection that, for now, not many women are making. Jeff Bonforte, Yahoo’s senior vice president for communications products, saw the potential for racing’s utility in business a few years ago, when he was the chief executive of Xobni, a start-up that made corporate email services. Mr. Bonforte races his car, a Porsche Cayman R, at the track several times a year. After renting out a local track for the day, Mr. Bonforte once invited a product manager from Sprint, the chief executive of a major electronics company and “a really influential entrepreneur” to come racing with him. A few hours on the track turned that electronics company C.E.O. into “my buddy,” he said. Mr. Bonforte also hit it off that day with the executive from Sprint, Fared Adib. The relationship eventually blossomed into a deal between Sprint and Xobni that continued after Yahoo purchased Mr. Bonforte’s company. Today, thanks to that initial spark on the racetrack, Yahoo is developing some of the core software in several models of Sprint’s smartphones. The connection built on a racetrack proves lasting, Mr. Bonforte said, “because you just bond instantly with everyone else who’s doing it. Whoever you’re with at the moment, your brain is so happy that it washes over you, and the happiness lends itself to anyone else who is with you.” Image The Yahoo senior vice president Jeff Bonforte, wearing a hat, talks with Rob Nimkoff, a racecar driver, in the Aston Martin Racing pit at the Daytona International Speedway. Credit Peter DiCampo for The New York Times One morning in late January, Mr. Bonforte, a handful of professional racecar drivers and about a dozen members of a pit crew were crowded into a tiny tent just off the pit lane of the Daytona International Speedway. It was the day before the starting flag for the Rolex 24, an endurance race that begins the International Motor Sports Association’s racing season. Sports-car racing — as opposed to the Indianapolis 500 or Nascar racing — is generally the domain of upper-crust European carmakers like Porsche, BMW, Ferrari, Maserati and Aston Martin. Mr. Bonforte was on hand to cheer on the Racer’s Group-Aston Martin Racing, a franchise in which he and several other tech luminaries have made investments. T.R.G.-A.M.R. is run by Kevin Buckler, a fast-talking former professional driver who that morning sat in a set of bleachers in the pit. Mr. Buckler’s team fields drivers in more than a dozen races a year, and he calls strategy in each of them. But racing is only half of his business. He also owns a winery in Petaluma, north of San Francisco, and he has sought out connections with the tech industry in order to turn racing into the new great nexus for business networking, or what Mr. Buckler calls “relationship marketing.” “These Silicon Valley companies tell me that they’ve got skyboxes at the Raiders, the Giants, the 49ers for their clients, but they can’t fill them,” Mr. Buckler explained when he wasn’t barking calls over a headset to his drivers. “We let you invite your customers to Laguna Seca Raceway for a morning, where they’ll get professional instruction driving Aston Martin racecars, and then we wrap up with a nice dinner or wine tasting,” he said. “Well, they’re full, everyone wants to go.” Mr. Buckler says he holds several such driving events every year for tech companies hoping to attract customers and employees, banks and venture capital firms looking for wealthy clients, and entrepreneurs hoping to make new contacts. He also hosts many more events at which people don’t drive fast cars but instead sit on the sidelines and watch professionals do it. A few of Mr. Buckler’s corporate sponsors told me that networking through racing had resulted in many deals. Kyle Smith, a wealth management adviser at the firm Masters Private Client Group, once set up an event with Mr. Buckler at Sebring International Raceway, in central Florida. She was hoping to impress several current and potential clients, and she says it worked. “Our guests were made to feel part of the team,” Ms. Smith told me in an email, describing how they all donned racing fire suits and stood in the pits while Mr. Buckler held a strategy session with his team. After the event, one of the firm’s clients signed over about $30 million for Masters PCG to manage. Another event yielded a $10 million client, Ms. Smith said. The networking opportunities were on full display at Daytona. Alongside a row of mechanic’s bays in which rocket-shaped racecars sat in various sad states of disassembly, Mr. Buckler’s people had set up a few cocktail tables and a wine-and-cheese spread. Representatives from the team’s sponsors — among them an industrial lighting company and a firm that makes online software — were mingling with their guests and customers. It’s not likely that much business gets done at the track. That was more probable on a yacht where the V.I.P.s would later convene for dinner. At the track, noise levels can reach a stomach-churning 100 decibels. Bowls of earplugs are on offer everywhere you look. Among the concessions in the pit that morning was a large bottle of Advil, half empty. Sociologists have recently begun to chart a diminution of American car culture . People in the United States are driving less than they used to, the rate of car ownership per household is declining, and young people are not as interested as they once were in getting driver’s licenses. There are many explanations, including the last recession, but one theory involves the rise of digital technology. A 2012 study by the United States Public Interest Research Group found a sharp decrease in the number of miles driven by people under 34; one of its key explanations was the fact that driving isn’t very conducive to goofing off on your phone. The tech industry now seems bent on attacking the car industry head-on, with Google, Uber, Tesla and reportedly even Apple each working on projects that could radically change the structure of the business. There are some Silicon Valley executives known for their expensive tastes in vehicles. Jonathan Ive, Apple’s design chief, for example, is chauffeured to work in a Bentley Mulsanne, a car that sells for more than $300,000. But aside from their disproportionate number of $90,000 Tesla Model S cars, which are one of the few socially acceptable displays of wealth in the industry, the parking lots of Silicon Valley’s tech giants are generally indistinguishable from the parking lots of most blue-state office parks. Mark Zuckerberg, for example, drives a Volkswagen GTI. It’s not unusual to hear techies profess their disinterest in cars. “I moved to Manhattan so I wouldn’t have to drive, and when I moved to California, I held out against driving to work as long as I could,” said Joshua Schachter, an entrepreneur who once sold a company to Yahoo, has worked at Google and is now an angel investor. But Mr. Schachter races in a Mazda Miata tuned for the track. He recently received a certification that will allow him to participate in higher-end competitions. He also sometimes drives around in a McLaren that cost him several hundred thousand dollars. His newfound interest in cars and racing, he said, was in some ways connected to his interest in tech. Image The Aston Martin Racing crew works on the team’s car at the Daytona track. Credit Peter DiCampo for The New York Times “It’s a fiddly technological skill that you can always improve on,” he said. “The same kind of guy who might be upgrading the video card on their computer for better performance might also be upgrading their car.” There’s also the visceral thrill. “When you make software, it’s an unreal product,” he said. “Building something physical is attractive in different ways.” Then there’s the fact that cars are becoming much more like computers. Racecars now carry something like an automotive Fitbit, sophisticated sensors that precisely measure just about everything that’s happening on the track, from G-force to where drivers are braking and accelerating. All this data can be tracked and analyzed, turning racing into a sport of empiricism as much as of instinct. “The car gives very good feedback,” Mr. Schachter said. “When you’re doing better there’s a clear, easy number that shows you.” At some point during every conversation I had with a tech guy who is interested in racing, there would come an awkward moment in which he would ask me not to paint him as an extravagant, sexist cretin. Mr. Schachter told me, “Try to tone down the rich guy hobby thing.” Mr. Bonforte said that many of his friends preferred to stay silent about racing because “the things that make us smell like the 1 percent, we’re very nervous about.” He added that while he has invited several women to come to the track, none had accepted his offer. The rise of a new boys’ club in Silicon Valley — one that was apparently leading to new deals and other business prizes — was “a totally valid concern,” he said, though he did not have any obvious ideas for addressing it. Mr. Buckler, meanwhile, believes that there’s nothing about racing that should put women off. He has hired a woman, Christina Nielsen, for his professional team, and he argued that as the sport grew in popularity, more women would become interested. On price, the racers gingerly pointed out that while driving sports cars can be expensive, it’s less extravagant than many assume. “I don’t want to be cavalier about the cost,” said Mr. Bonforte, whose Porsche Cayman carries a sales price of more than $50,000. “There are some people who really get into this and spend a fair amount of money. But I started doing this when I had little money. And honestly, if I were into golf, I would spend five times more.” Mr. Schachter pointed out that the most popular car for racing enthusiasts is a Mazda Miata, older models of which sell for less than $5,000. Renting a car for a day on the track costs a few hundred. Stan Chudnovsky, the head of product management on Facebook’s messaging app, pointed to another way that racing could be cheap: Renting a fast car for a day on the racetrack can sate one’s desire to buy one for the garage. “You don’t want to be the guy who actually buys a Ferrari, and then everyone is looking at you like, ‘I can’t believe you did that,’ ” Mr. Chudnovsky said. “At the same time, you don’t want to not know what it is to drive one. It gives you the ability to experience the best that cars can offer without actually owning all those cars.” In other words, racing is like Uber, but for rich guys. | Car Racing;Computers and the Internet;Tech Industry;Silicon Valley |
ny0132814 | [
"world",
"europe"
] | 2012/12/15 | Russian Police Open New Case Against Aleksei Navalny | MOSCOW — The police opened a new criminal investigation on Friday against Aleksei Navalny , the street protest leader and anticorruption activist, who is already being questioned in two other cases. The new charges became public the day before a planned opposition rally, which Mr. Navalny said in an interview he would lead despite the announcement. The organizing committee for the rally, which Mr. Navalny heads, had asked to gather at Lubyanka Square, in front of the headquarters of the Federal Security Service, the successor to the K.G.B. When it became clear on Thursday that the city would deny a parade permit, Mr. Navalny called for supporters to come out anyway. On Friday, the Investigative Committee, a prosecutorial agency, posted a statement on its Web site announcing the new investigation. Prosecutors described a Rube Goldberg-like plan by Mr. Navalny and his brother, Oleg A. Navalny, who is a post office employee and had not been a public figure until now, to steal money in business deals between 2008 and 2011. The statement said the two overcharged for the services of a private courier company operating between Moscow and the city of Yaroslavl. It said that Oleg obtained a contract from a commercial enterprise, which was not specified other than to note it was partially foreign-owned, to ship parcels along this route. He worked through a company registered by Aleksei in 2008. Over three years, this company billed the client for 55 million rubles, or almost $1.8 million, the statement said. Investigators subsequently appraised the shipping cost for this quantity of parcels over this distance at 31 million rubles, or about $1 million, and said the brothers had knowingly overcharged for the service. The investigators said a portion of the profits, 19 million rubles, or almost $619,000, was subsequently laundered through a wicker basket weaving enterprise owned by their parents. “Hey you in the Investigative Committee! Have you gone crazy?” Mr. Navalny wrote in a Twitter post after reading the statement on Friday morning. In an interview, he denied wrongdoing and said the link to the planned protest on Saturday was obvious. “I did not steal your packages, you goats,” he wrote in another Twitter post. The police on Friday searched Mr. Navalny’s office, the office of his brother at the postal service and the basket factory owned by his parents. Mr. Navalny has been under investigation since 2010. The police are looking into whether he gave bad advice to a timber company several years earlier, when he worked as an adviser to a regional governor. That case is pending; the maximum sentence is 10 years in prison. It is unclear what sentence he could receive under the new charges. Mr. Navalny has also been questioned as a witness in an investigation into violence at a protest on Bolotnaya Square in March. This month, protesters had wanted to lay flowers on a stone in Lubyanka Square commemorating victims of secret police repression. After weeks of talks, the city offered a permit for a rally in a different location and a day later, on Sunday. Previous large protests in Moscow had been permitted, even as masses of riot police officers and Interior Ministry troops staged in buses on nearby streets, hinting at the prospect of a showdown. On Friday, the Moscow Police Department said in a statement carried by Interfax that it would prevent any “unsanctioned gatherings.” The police have been issuing specially marked yellow vests to journalists who intend to cover the protest, suggesting anybody without one risks arrest. | Russia;Aleksei Navalny;Oleg A Navalny;null |
ny0140550 | [
"sports",
"ncaabasketball"
] | 2008/02/24 | A College Basketball Fan Finds Order Courtside | Ned Hirsch has made more court appearances than most other lawyers over the past 38 years. Hirsch, a 54-year-old college basketball fan whose law practice is in Garden City, N.Y., has seen 222 N.C.A.A. Division I men’s teams, a run that began with a 1970 National Invitation Tournament game at Madison Square Garden. “ Bobby Knight ’s Army team beat Cincinnati,” Hirsch said. “It was a great game.” Later, Hirsch began keeping a checklist of all the Division I teams he had seen play. Eventually, he decided he would see them all. For the past 10 years, he has traveled around the country to postseason tournaments to see several teams at the same site in a short time. “As I progress through my quest, it becomes more and more difficult to complete it,” he said. “Each year, new teams are added to Division I basketball, so I’m not sure I will ever complete my goal.” He is still giving it the old college try, although the number has risen to 341 teams. Next month, he will travel to Cleveland for the Mid-American Conference tournament at Quicken Loans Arena. He has seen Kent State, Western Michigan, Eastern Michigan and Central Michigan, but has yet to check off Akron, Ohio, Miami of Ohio, Buffalo, Bowling Green, Northern Illinois, Toledo and Ball State. “I’ll pick up eight more schools in Cleveland,” said Hirsch, his voice rising in excitement. “That’s a gold mine for me.” A student of the game long before he graduated from Virginia and received a law degree from Syracuse, Hirsch has attended many N.C.A.A. tournament games, as well as preseason and postseason N.I.T. games. He has been to the Jimmy V Classic, the Holiday Festival at the Garden and the Coaches vs. Cancer tournament. The postseason conference tournaments Hirsch has attended are the Big East in Providence, R.I., and at Madison Square Garden; the Atlantic 10 in Philadelphia; the Northeast in Trenton; the Mountain West in Las Vegas; the Big Ten in Chicago; the Sun Belt in Mobile, Ala.; the Southern in Charleston, S.C.; the Missouri Valley in St. Louis; the Atlantic Sun in Nashville; and last year, the Big West in Anaheim, Calif. “College basketball is one of the most exciting sports in the world,” said Hirsch, who owns season tickets to the Yankees and the Jets. “Most of the kids know they will not be turning pro, so they are out there playing for the love of the game.” Next year, Hirsch plans to attend the West Coast Conference tournament. From that league, he has yet to see Pepperdine, Loyola Marymount, San Diego, Santa Clara and Portland. Hirsch will probably head there with his friend Mark Masin, who has traveled with him to 7 of his last 10 postseason tournaments and will make the Cleveland trip. “The breadth of Ned’s knowledge of college basketball and sports in general is amazing,” said Masin, 55, the president of a company in Oyster Bay, N.Y., that supplies communications equipment to the military. “When it comes to watching these games, Ned is very set in his ways. We have to be there for the warm-ups, and we don’t leave until after the final buzzer.” Between games, Hirsch and Masin do as much sightseeing as they can. On their trip to Las Vegas, they toured the Hoover Dam. In Mobile, they visited the U.S.S. Alabama. They went to Fort Sumter, near Charleston, and the Jack Daniel’s Distillery, near Nashville. In Cleveland, they plan to visit the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum . Hirsch, who is married with two daughters — his wife, Marcia, is a Court of Claims judge — has a strategy for scoring hard-to-get tickets to conference tournaments. He calls the member college that is farthest from the site and whose team has the worst regular-season record because that college will probably not sell its allotment of tickets. Looking back across miles of hardwood, Hirsch said that his favorite team was the 1975-76 Indiana squad led by Quinn Buckner, Scott May and Kent Benson that went 32-0, and that his favorite college players were Julius Erving, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan and Carmelo Anthony. “I have also seen some of the most prominent coaches of our time,” he said, listing Dean Smith and Jim Valvano along with Knight. There is one college basketball event he has not attended. “I’ve been to a Super Bowl and the World Series, but never a Final Four,” he said. “I’m dying to go. I’ll get there. I know I’ll get there.” | NCAA Basketball Tournament;Basketball;College Athletics;Knight Bob;Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum;Colleges and Universities |
ny0131591 | [
"nyregion"
] | 2012/12/17 | Developmental Disabilities Have Not Deterred Jamaican Immigrant | Raphia Smith has a lot on her plate. She looks fashionable, with cropped, bleached-blond hair and a tank top that reads “Sexy” in glittery italics. She likes photography and listens to hip-hop and reggae, but Ms. Smith, 21, does not have the freedom to go out and do the things a young woman her age typically might. Until recently, she was earning minimum wage as a part-time receptionist, which is hardly enough to support a family — though that is what she has been determined to do. When that job did not work out, she soon began training in customer service. But she has difficulty learning; her developmental disabilities have stifled her progress in school and professional life. Ms. Smith had been living with her mother and three siblings, ages 7 to 17, in a modest apartment in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, until a few weeks ago. They were forced to move after their landlord evicted them for falling thousands of dollars behind on rent. They are staying with relatives in the Bronx while looking for another place to live. Since Ms. Smith arrived in the United States from Jamaica in 2002 with her mother, Annmarie Greaves, 39, and two younger sisters, life at home has been unstable. The family has moved many times and at one point stayed with Ms. Greaves’s father in New Jersey. While there, Ms. Greaves, then pregnant with her fourth child, said her father became physically abusive. She was left with no choice, she said, but to move her family into a shelter. Because of the moves, Ms. Smith’s attendance at a North Jersey high school during that time was inconsistent. She struggled in class, especially with math, because of her difficulties learning — difficulties that were never fully brought to the school’s attention. So that Ms. Smith could have some stability, she went to stay with her uncle and grandmother in the Bronx, where she attended a visual arts high school. After graduating in 2011, Ms. Smith was referred by New York City’s Education Department to Public School 373K , a transitional school in Brooklyn. She completed a five-month program in culinary studies through the school in the summer, with the help of AHRC New York City , an agency that assists people with disabilities. Ms. Smith is passionate about cooking but said her dream was to be a waitress. “We learned how a restaurant works and learned how to safely handle food,” she said in a soft voice. She might be outwardly shy, her gaze mostly fixed on the floor, but her confidence in the kitchen, her family said, more than makes up for it. She helps buy the groceries and cooks for her younger brother and her sisters, drawing inspiration from her former Brooklyn neighborhood’s Caribbean community. AHRC will help Ms. Smith find a job in the service industry when she is ready, but for now she will continue her training as a customer service representative for the organization. “I like it,” she said. “I like the people.” Ms. Smith added that it felt good to finally earn a paycheck. And although her initial efforts to become a full-time receptionist at AHRC failed, she did not give up. Ms. Smith began the customer service training last week. Ms. Greaves has been unable to work since 2008, when she slipped on some ice and broke a foot, preventing her from remaining in her job as a custodian with American Airlines. She received workers’ compensation for a time, but it was not enough to keep her family afloat. After having two operations and borrowing heavily from her family and friends, Ms. Greaves found herself engulfed in debt and months of unpaid rent. At the moment, the family’s monthly income includes $1,050 from a city housing support program, $168 from the city’s Human Resources Administration, and $677 in Social Security survivor’s benefits, to which Ms. Smith’s brother, Maleek, 7, became entitled after his father died. Despite their problems, the women try to stay positive. Ms. Greaves, like her oldest daughter, refuses to let their financial troubles dampen the family’s optimism and spirit. “There is nothing like family,” she said, “because if anything goes wrong outside there, you can always run back to the family.” It is those values that keep Ms. Smith motivated. She knows the pressure of the role she has assumed in helping to support the household — she held back tears as she revealed the sadness she said she sometimes felt. Since coming to the United States, the family has obtained green cards, but with limited income, the cost of applying for citizenship was beyond their means. And with Ms. Smith’s green card set to expire last month, putting her ability to work in jeopardy, they had to act quickly. Colette Samuel, a caseworker at Brooklyn Community Services , one of the agencies supported by The New York Times Neediest Cases Fund, stepped in during the summer to help. With Ms. Samuel’s assistance, Ms. Smith and her mother received grants of $680 each from the fund in July to apply for a change of status from permanent resident to United States citizen. The family hopes to find another apartment soon, and caseworkers at the Brooklyn agency are helping with the search. For now, Ms. Smith holds on to her desire for a full-time job and is diligently building her résumé. | New York Times Neediest Cases Fund;Brooklyn Community Services;AHRC New York City;Philanthropy |
ny0235618 | [
"sports",
"ncaabasketball"
] | 2010/01/01 | Georgetown Shakes Rust and Holds Off St. John’s | Chris Wright scored 21 points as No. 13 Georgetown beat St. John’s, 66-59, in Washington on Thursday night in the Big East opener for both teams. Georgetown (10-1), playing just its third game since Dec. 12, looked rusty at times. The Hoyas built a 12-point first-half lead but repeatedly allowed St. John’s (10-3) back into the game. The Red Storm took a 51-50 lead on Dwight Hardy’s 3-pointer with 9 minutes 31 seconds to play. After Wright converted a 3-point play to give Georgetown a 53-51 lead, Hardy hit another 3-pointer to make it 54-53. Julian Vaughn dunked, Greg Monroe made one of two free throws and a layup and Jason Clark sank a layup to make it 60-54 with 5:12 left. The Red Storm had a chance to tie in the final minutes, but Hardy missed a 3-pointer with 3:20 to go and Sean Evans was called for an offensive foul with 2:42 left. St. John’s, which shot just 39 percent, was led by Hardy’s 14 points. The Red Storm, which has one winning season in Norm Roberts’s first five years as coach, had lost just twice in its first 12 games — by 9 points to Duke and by 5 points to Cornell. DUKE 114, PENN 55 Nolan Smith scored 23 points and Kyle Singer 20 to help the seventh-ranked Blue Devils (11-1) crush Pennsylvania at home in their final tuneup before opening their Atlantic Coast Conference schedule against Clemson this weekend. The loss was the most lopsided ever for the Quakers (0-9), who are 0-2 since Glen Miller was fired and Jerome Allen took over. Jack Eggleston scored 13 points to lead Penn. TENNESSEE 66, MEMPHIS 59 Wayne Chism had 15 points and 9 rebounds, and 14th-ranked Tennessee (10-2) outrebounded host Memphis, 47-28. Doneal Mack led Memphis (9-3) with 15 points before fouling out with 3:32 left. WISCONSIN 65, OHIO STATE 43 Trevon Hughes scored 16 points to help No. 23 Wisconsin knock off No. 15 Ohio State in the teams’ Big Ten opener. Wisconsin (11-2) won easily at home despite a quiet first half from its leading scorer, Jon Leuer, who played only four minutes in the first half after picking up two fouls and committing an early turnover. Leuer was back after halftime, when he scored all 11 of his points. William Buford scored 14 points to lead Ohio State (10-3) but appeared to injure his leg in the second half. FLORIDA ST. 81, ALA. A&M 34 Deividas Dulkys matched his career high with 19 points and Xavier Gibson added a career-high 17 for No. 22 Florida State at home. The Seminoles (12-2) allowed their fewest points since they beat Memphis, 35-34, on March 2, 1979. Alabama A&M (3-5) committed 22 turnovers. Women NOTRE DAME 74, VANDERBILT 69 Lindsay Schrader had 18 points and 14 rebounds and Skylar Diggins added 15 points to lead No. 3 Notre Dame (12-0) at home over No. 18 Vanderbilt. The Commodores (11-2) led most of the first half and cut the lead to 72-69 on a Jessica Mooney jumper with seven seconds left, but Schrader was fouled on the inbounds pass and made a pair of free throws. OHIO ST. 86, NORTHWESTERN 60 Sarah Schulze and Samantha Prahalis each scored 16 points as No. 6 Ohio State (15-1, 3-0 Big Ten) gave Coach Jim Foster his 700th victory. Northwestern is 11-3, 2-1. N. CAROLINA 104, E. TENN. ST. 65 Italee Lucas scored 17 for No. 7 North Carolina (11-1) at home against East Tennessee State. DUKE 70, TEMPLE 62 Karima Christmas had career highs of 23 points and 14 rebounds to lead No. 8 Duke (11-2) over host Temple. | College Athletics;Basketball;Duke University;University of Pennsylvania |
ny0072286 | [
"sports",
"basketball"
] | 2015/03/01 | Free Throws Haunt Rajon Rondo | Illustrating just how bad Rajon Rondo has been from the free-throw line this season can prove difficult. His struggle to get along with Coach Rick Carlisle after a midseason trade to the Dallas Mavericks gets most of the attention, but when a former All-Star is missing nearly 70 percent of his shots from a spot on the floor known as the charity stripe, a closer look is in order. Connecting on just 19 of his 61 free-throw attempts (31.1 percent), Rondo would be on pace for the worst season ever if he had enough attempts to qualify. Never a good free-throw shooter — his career mark coming into the season was 62.1 percent — Rondo has begun to make Shaquille O’Neal look like Mark Price. There were signs early on that something was amiss. After a November loss in which he missed two free throws with a little more than a minute to play in a tie game, contributing to a loss for the Celtics, Rondo was at a loss to explain his struggles. “I don’t have a clue, really — still trying to figure it out,” he said. “I continue to work on my game, and especially get some more free throws up.” Less than a month later, with his free-throw percentage at 33.3 percent, he was traded to Dallas, and things have somehow gotten even worse. Since the trade, he is 7 for 25 (28 percent) from the line. Chris Dudley, who set the record for free-throw futility by shooting 31.9 percent in 1989-90, will not be challenged, as it will be nearly impossible for Rondo to get enough attempts to qualify. But Olden Polynice, who holds the record for players with 80 or more attempts, may be getting nervous. In 1998-99, Polynice hit 30.9 percent of his shots, which is a depth Rondo could sink to if his shooting continues to deteriorate. What makes Rondo’s struggles unique, however, is that he is a guard. Big men like Dudley, Polynice, O’Neal, Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell have often struggled from the line, but their smaller counterparts have rarely had as much trouble. Only six guards have ever attempted 80 free throws in a season and made fewer than 50 percent of them, and only one of those players, Johnny High of the 1982-83 Phoenix Suns, did it in the past 40 years. The record low for a guard was set by Alfred McGuire of the Knicks, who hit 43.6 percent (58 for 133) in 1953-54, a full 12.5 percentage points better than Rondo this season. With so many percentages now a part of the league’s vernacular — field goal, 3-point, true shooting, effective field goal — it is easy to lose perspective on what qualifies as bad. Perhaps the best way to illustrate how awful Rondo’s shooting has been is to compare him with DeAndre Jordan, the Los Angeles Clippers center widely regarded as one of the worst free-throw shooters in N.B.A. history. Jordan, whose career mark of 42.2 percent is far below O’Neal’s relatively productive 52.7 percent, is up to his old tricks this season, shooting just 40.9 percent from the line through Friday. But if he were to miss his next 89 free throws in a row, he would still have the edge over Rondo, 31.2 to 31.1. | Basketball;Rajon Rondo;Mavericks |
ny0131382 | [
"business"
] | 2012/12/29 | U.S. Recovery Fares Well in a 5-Year Comparison | Five years ago, the world economy seemed to be doing fine. But it wasn’t. The fourth quarter of 2007 was the peak for the American economy. It began a mild recession in early 2008 that turned into a severe one by late in the year, when the credit crisis spread to most of the world. A few countries escaped recession, but virtually no one was able to avoid severe bear markets in stocks. The accompanying charts look at changes in gross domestic product and stock markets around the world since the end of 2007. In some countries, including the largest developing economies in Asia, the G.D.P. charts show no indication that bad things ever happened. China’s G.D.P. growth slowed a bit, and may be slowing more now, but it never came close to recession. By the third quarter of 2012 China’s gross domestic product, measured in local currency and adjusted for inflation, was 50 percent larger than it had been at the end of 2007. The economies of India and Indonesia had each grown by 30 percent. At the other end of the spectrum, some major economies are smaller now than they were then, with little indication that they will completely recover any time soon. The Italian and Spanish economies, hurt by their inability to compete with Germany in export markets, continue to decline. Spain’s economy is smaller than it was in 2005, while Italy’s has fallen below 2003 levels. Both would be doing better if they were able to devalue their currencies against Germany’s, but they cannot because they share the euro. Not being in the euro has been critical to the success of some European countries. Poland’s economy has grown by about 15 percent, measured in local currency, as the value of the zloty fell sharply in late 2008 and has yet to fully recover against the euro. That has made its exports more competitive. While some developing economies have showed good growth over the last five years, their stock markets have not done well. In early 2008, China’s market broke sharply lower, leading to fears that a world recession might begin there. Nothing like that happened, but the stock market has yet to fully recover. The United States has perhaps the best combined record of major developed economies. Its G.D.P. is 2.5 percent larger than it was at the end of 2007 — a smaller gain than was shown in Australia, Canada or Germany — but its stock market is closer to recovering all the lost ground than the markets in any of those countries. MSCI, a research company that compiles stock indexes based on all major stocks in each country, reports that its All Country World Index is now 16 percent lower than it was five years ago. World G.D.P. — counting all 56 countries for which data through the third quarter of 2012 is available — has fully recovered, largely because of strength in large emerging economies. Both those figures are calculated in dollars, but individual country charts are based on performance measured in local currencies. | Economic Conditions and Trends;United States Economy |
ny0049538 | [
"sports",
"baseball"
] | 2014/10/03 | Dodgers' Clayton Kershaw to Face Cardinals' Adam Wainwright in a Division Series Opener | LOS ANGELES — Clayton Kershaw had nearly completed his no-hitter in June when the plate umpire, Greg Gibson, noticed something wrong. Kershaw seemed to be breathing heavily, perhaps about to be overcome by the moment. When a foul ball offered a quick break in the action, Gibson gave Kershaw advice. “Take a deep breath, Clayton,” Gibson said, as recalled by Los Angeles Dodgers catcher A. J. Ellis. “You’ve got this.” Gibson had seen Kershaw at his worst; he was also the plate umpire in Game 6 of the last National League Championship Series, in St. Louis, when the Cardinals battered Kershaw for seven runs en route to the World Series. The no-hitter was Kershaw’s masterpiece, the high point of a season that made him the first pitcher to lead the majors in earned run average four years in a row. Now Kershaw has another chance at the Cardinals. He will face them again on Friday in Game 1 of a division series at Dodger Stadium, matched up with their ace, Adam Wainwright, who went 20-9 with a 2.38 E.R.A. Kershaw (21-3, 1.77) is a lock for his third N.L. Cy Young Award, and Wainwright is a strong bet to be runner-up a third time. “To be a fan, it would be a great game to watch,” Wainwright said. “And I am a fan of baseball, but I have a much bigger job to do tomorrow. I’ll be very focused.” Marquee postseason matchups sometimes become classics, like the Cardinals’ division series finale in 2011, when Chris Carpenter beat Roy Halladay, 1-0, in Philadelphia. More often, perhaps, they fizzle. When Roger Clemens and Dwight Gooden met in Game 2 of the 1986 World Series, neither lasted past five innings. In Game 1 of the 2010 World Series, Tim Lincecum and Cliff Lee were gone before the end of the sixth. Image The Dodgers' Clayton Kershaw is a 21-game winner who led the majors in earned run average. Credit Chris Gardner/Getty Images It could be roasting at Dodger Stadium on Friday, with the temperature expected to be about 95 degrees by midafternoon. That could affect the pitchers’ stamina — but then again, with the first pitch scheduled for 3:37 p.m. local time, the shadows could make hitting even tougher. “Once they get settled in and get in their rhythm, they cause you all kinds of problems, just because of the assortment of pitches,” Dodgers Manager Don Mattingly said. “And when they start getting their feel and their touch, they just keep you in the rocking chair all day long and make it tough on you. Shadows just add to it.” Kershaw and Wainwright are different kinds of masters from Greg Maddux and Mariano Rivera, who seemed to hitters like they should have been much easier to handle than they were. Kershaw and Wainwright are tall and physically imposing, with some of the nastiest individual pitches in the game. Expect an unofficial playoff record for knees buckled by curveballs. “The most impressive part about Clayton is that hitters, especially right-handed hitters, know what he’s going to do,” Dodgers starter Dan Haren said. “They know exactly how he’s going to pitch them. He’s going to pound them in with fastballs, he’s going to throw sliders, and he’s going to throw curveballs — sliders down and in, curveballs once in a while. And there’s nothing they can do about it.” If anyone can handle Kershaw, it might be the Cardinals. In 17 starts against them, including the postseason, Kershaw is 5-7 with a 3.72 E.R.A. Matt Carpenter, who won an 11-pitch duel against him in Game 6 last October with a double, dismissed that track record, saying Kershaw would make adjustments. The Cardinals struggled to hit far lesser pitchers this season — they scored the fewest runs of any team in the playoff field, hit the fewest home runs in the N.L. and rarely apply pressure on the bases. “We never really, as a group, found our stride,” Carpenter said. “We found a way to win games and win our division, but I think this offense hasn’t played up to its potential. We all believe our best baseball is still to come.” Cardinals Manager Mike Matheny said the same thing, adding that, while his team respects Kershaw, it would not be intimidated. The Cardinals make an odd fit as an underdog — they have won two titles and four pennants since the Dodgers’ last World Series appearance, in 1988 — but Matheny portrayed them that way. Image Wainwright celebrating a Cardinals double play. “Every time we needed a big game, he gave it to us,” a teammate said of Wainwright. Credit Danny Moloshok/Associated Press “A lot of people have written off our chances in a lot of different regards,” he said. “And this is a team that’s responded to that very well all season long.” When the Cardinals humbled Kershaw last October — they also beat him, 1-0, in Game 2 — they used the rookie starter Michael Wacha, who will pitch in relief now after fighting shoulder trouble this season. As long as their offense can scratch out a run, the Cardinals may have an even better chance now with Wainwright, who won all five of his starts in September and finished with 21 scoreless innings. Wainwright insisted he was not bothered by Kershaw’s unquestioned status as the best in the game, but a teammate thought otherwise. “I know he’s fired up,” outfielder Matt Holliday said. “While he recognizes Clayton’s excellence and dominance, I think he does feel, sometimes, he maybe doesn’t get what he deserves, as far as recognition goes. Every time we needed a big game, he gave it to us.” Kershaw could not do that for the Dodgers last October, with their season on the line. He had pitched on short rest in their division series, and logged 259 innings in all. Now he enters the postseason with a lighter workload, after missing April with a muscle strain near his shoulder. Yet Kershaw said he feels the same as he did at this time last fall, and seemed amused by the theory that his failure in St. Louis would inspire him now. “I had some successes in the postseason last year, some good starts, and then had the one bad one at the end of the season,” Kershaw said. “So you can use both of those, I guess. “But as far as motivation, I don’t need any extra motivation. I’m trying to win a World Series here. That’s plenty.” | Baseball;Clayton Kershaw;Adam Wainwright;National League;Playoffs;St. Louis Cardinals;Dodgers |
ny0160801 | [
"sports",
"sportsspecial"
] | 2006/03/22 | The Cheers Heard Around the World | SAN DIEGO - WHAT did we learn from the first World Baseball Classic? Among many other things, that we cannot wait for the second one. It will not be played until 2009, which is too bad but probably necessary because sometimes you can get too much of a good thing. Make no mistake. This was a good thing. If the Classic's critics in baseball and the news media have not seen the errors of their views, they are hopeless Neanderthals who should curl up with a book of statistics and go crazy. They latched on to any excuse they could -- risk of injuries and timing of the event being the most frequently used -- but in the end those excuses were just their way of saying: Who needs this? Well, baseball needs it, and we who enjoy baseball need it. The Classic was years overdue, at least 10 years at that. Commissioner Bud Selig has promoted the tournament, as he should, but it was he and his fellow owners who dragged their feet in getting the event off the ground. More than 20 years ago, the players union wanted to promote international play and proposed an international tournament. In 1985, the players' labor leaders finally got the owners to put the idea of a joint venture on international play into the collective bargaining agreement. In the next 10 years, though, the owners and the players did nothing jointly. Three years of owner collusion against free agents and the 1994 labor negotiations that produced a lengthy strike interfered. But once a new labor agreement was forged in 1996, the two sides began working toward what we have seen the past three weeks. Unfortunately, some owners and general managers still do not like the idea, George Steinbrenner chiefly among them. Talk about Neanderthals. Although no one was keeping count, it appears that three major leaguers emerged from the Classic with injuries -- Johnny Damon of the Yankees with shoulder tendinitis, which he might have developed had he stayed in Tampa, Fla.; Derrek Lee of the Chicago Cubs, who bruised his shoulder making a diving catch of a foul bunt; and Luis Ayala of the Washington Nationals, who sustained a season-ending elbow injury while pitching (maybe he shouldn't have been because he had bone chips removed from the elbow last October). We can feel sorry for Ayala and the Nationals, but their experience is a small price to pay for the positive elements of the event. Next time, officials can exercise more caution about recovering pitchers. Those officials will discuss the timing of the next Classic, but it almost certainly will not be moved to July or November, maybe just pushed back in March a little. They could also discuss staging the first two rounds in March, then waiting until what is now the break for the All-Star Game for the semifinals and final. It is highly unlikely that players will be so quick in the future to decline invitations to play in the Classic. I wonder how Hideki Matsui really feels now that his countrymen, led by Ichiro Suzuki, have won the first Classic. By refusing to play, Matsui insulted his country and his country's baseball legend, the team's manager, Sadaharu Oh. On the Petco Park field after Japan's 10-6 victory, Suzuki, who had five hits in the last two games batting third instead of leading off, said in English, a language he rarely uses publicly: "Unbelievable. Most impressed with my baseball." Translation: It was his most enjoyable day in baseball. If the Yankees win the World Series, maybe Matsui can experience that feeling. "I didn't even think about the upcoming regular season," Suzuki said through an interpreter, reverting to Japanese. "It's not an ideal thing for a player to think, but I didn't really care if I would get injured in this game. That's how much I really wanted to win this one." The championship game was a little raggedy but compelling. Scrapping all the way to climb out of a 4-0 first-inning hole, the Cubans closed the gap to 6-5 before their relief corps collapsed in a four-run ninth. As disappointing as it was for them to get that close to being the best in the world, the players who call themselves amateurs because they do not make major league salaries demonstrated a considerable amount of class. As their conquerors celebrated wildly around the pitcher's mound, Fidel's vanquished forces emerged from their dugout, walked onto the field in a single orderly line, waited patiently until the celebrating Japanese players realized they were there and congratulated them. A few players from each team then posed for pictures together. A few minutes later, Cuba's manager, Higinio Velez, showed his class at a news conference when asked about the United States team. "We have high respect for major leaguers in the U.S., we admire them, we follow them, we see how they play," he said. "We have great respect for them, and what they got and what they get and what they still have is something that they obtained through sacrifice, through their sweat. "Nothing they get is for free. More than 95 percent of the major leaguers in the U.S. come from the very low classes, from the humble classes, so what they do is with their effort, with their sweat, their sacrifice and with their love for baseball." There might have been a touch of propaganda there -- the mention of the low and humble classes as well as the exaggerated figure of 95 percent -- but Velez was gracious in defeat. Cuba and South Korea were the most impressive teams in the tournament, Cuba because it showed that it could beat the best professional players as well as amateurs and South Korea because it had a terrific 6-0 run until it encountered Japan for the third time. The United States, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela and Puerto Rico were all stocked with major league stars but did not win, in this opinion, because those players are geared to begin playing serious baseball April 1. Cuba, in contrast, is in the middle of its 90-game November-to-April season. But the tournament did not suffer from the premature elimination of highly regarded teams. It was liberally sprinkled with outstanding games, South Korea's 2-1 victory over Japan in the second round perhaps being the best. My only regret is having to wait three more years. | BASEBALL;WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC |
ny0007038 | [
"us",
"politics"
] | 2013/05/17 | Energized G.O.P. Weighs How Far to Go in Inquiries | WASHINGTON — The investigations ensnaring the White House have unified the Republican Party, energized a political base shattered by election losses and given common purpose to lawmakers divided over a legislative agenda. The most pressing question for Congressional Republicans is no longer how to finesse changes to immigration law or gun control, but how far they can push their cases against President Obama without inciting a backlash of the sort that has left them staggering in the past. With the House set on Friday to convene the first of its hearings into the targeting of conservative groups by the Internal Revenue Service, the lessons learned from the impeachment of President Bill Clinton, which cost Republicans in elections in 1998, have been on display in recent days. Republicans took obvious pains to balance their investigatory zeal with a promise to stay committed to a legislative agenda. In a television appearance Wednesday, Representative Darrell Issa, the often aggressive California Republican who is leading multiple inquiries, struck a notably calm tone and promised to work with Mr. Obama. Just hours earlier, Mr. Issa had a nasty exchange with Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. during a House Judiciary Committee hearing. Speaker John A. Boehner of Ohio struck a similar theme Thursday. “Our job is to legislate, and we’re trying to legislate things that will help create jobs in our country,” Mr. Boehner said. “But we also have a responsibility, under the Constitution, to provide oversight of the executive branch of government.” In private, House lawmakers say, the speaker — a member of the leadership in the Clinton era — has also urged caution. Representative Jason Chaffetz, Republican of Utah, who has led the charge on the Obama administration’s handling of the attacks in Benghazi, Libya, said the speaker had urged him to move slowly and methodically — contrary, he acknowledged, to his inclinations. And House leaders have shown “great reluctance” to allow House committees to issue subpoenas, even as rank-and-file members and the conservative political base have been demanding them, Mr. Chaffetz said. Representative Charles Boustany Jr., Republican of Louisiana and a key driver in an investigation of the I.R.S. by the Ways and Means Committee, said, “I’m being very cautious not to overplay my hand.” Working against those methodical plans, however, are the personal passions of the rank and file. Mr. Chaffetz on Thursday repeated his refusal to take the impeachment of the president “off the table.” Representative Michele Bachmann, the Republican firebrand from Minnesota, joined in. “As I have been home in my district in the Sixth District of Minnesota,” Mrs. Bachmann said, “there isn’t a weekend that hasn’t gone by that someone says to me: ‘Michele, what in the world are you all waiting for in Congress? Why aren’t you impeaching the president? He’s been making unconstitutional actions since he came into office.’ ” Republicans say they are mainly determined to get at the truth, and they question efforts to put their intensifying pursuit of the administration in political terms. Even the most ardent conservatives have adopted a tone of sobriety. “It’s not like we’re trying to hurry or trying to slow it down. We’re just trying to proceed at the speed that gets to the truth,” said Representative Jim Jordan, Republican of Ohio, who was one of the first lawmakers to dig into the I.R.S. controversy. But Republicans privately acknowledge political benefits like rekindling the fervor of the Tea Party — a key ingredient in 2010 Congressional victories — particularly given the fact that the I.R.S. was subjecting those very groups to special scrutiny. “Few things can get the conservative base as fired up as being targeted by an agency in the government of a president they already strongly dislike,” said Brad Dayspring, a spokesman for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which is already using the I.R.S. case against some Senate Democrats who are up for re-election. As of now, Republican strategists say they do not expect voters to flood the polls in November 2014 to vote against the president’s party over Benghazi, the seizure of phone logs of Associated Press reporters, or even the political intrusion by the I.R.S. Instead, they say, Republicans will use the controversies to undermine Mr. Obama’s credibility, question his competence and diminish his political capital. The cases also help them tar the health care law, gun control efforts and Mr. Obama’s regulatory agenda as just more examples of government overreach. At the outset of his second term, President George W. Bush was able to prosecute the Iraq war with little political interference, despite its unpopularity. It was Hurricane Katrina in August 2005 that cemented a reputation for incompetence that dogged the Bush administration to its end. Republicans are working off the same playbook. “It’s a little perplexing to have the president continue to say he just learns of these things from the news media, when the president is the head of our government,” said Representative Greg Walden of Oregon, the chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee. At the very least, the Republicans’ conservative base — demoralized by broad election losses last November — is rising in a chorus of outrage. And the Republican targets continue to proliferate, with no end in sight for the hearings and investigations, which are only now getting off the ground. “This is just the beginning,” Mr. Boustany said. “I want to emphasize that. We have a lot of work left to do in getting to the root of this.” The deadly attacks on the American diplomatic mission in Benghazi remain the subject of investigations by several Congressional committees. Questions are only starting on the Justice Department’s broad seizure of telephone records of The A.P. And Republicans are crying scandal over other matters that have yet to reach the same level of attention, including a request for money that Kathleen Sebelius, the health and human services secretary, made to private insurers to promote the president’s health care law. A group of House and Senate Republicans on Thursday called on the Government Accountability Office to investigate Ms. Sebelius’s fund-raising efforts. “I can’t remember a time when there’s been this many controversial issues come to light all at the same time,” Mr. Walden, the Oregon Republican, said. Mr. Boehner, in suggesting that officials should be jailed in the I.R.S. investigation, has led the condemnations with his own loud baritone. “Nothing dissolves the bonds between the people and their government like the arrogance of power here in Washington,” he said. “That’s what the American people are seeing today from the Obama administration, remarkable arrogance.” To veteran lawmakers, the sudden proliferation of investigations cannot help but raise the ghost of 1998. After seizing control of Congress in 1995, Republicans opened investigations into the White House Travel Office, allegations of malfeasance around the Whitewater Development Corporation, and claims of campaign finance improprieties in the 1996 presidential campaign. Representative Dan Burton, Republican of Indiana, famously shot a melon in trying to prove that the White House lawyer Vincent W. Foster Jr. did not commit suicide. But it was the impeachment of Mr. Clinton that cost Republicans seats in the House, cost Newt Gingrich his job as House speaker, and ultimately lifted a moribund Democratic president from the political depths. Mr. Gingrich said in an interview that the parallel could be taken only so far. Impeachment, he said, was about perjury, not sexual indiscretion, but that was lost on most Americans — much to the fault of the House Republicans. “If we had been calmer and more focused, we would have done better and had a better argument for the American people,” he said. This time, the questions around the I.R.S., the A.P. subpoena, Benghazi and Ms. Sebelius arise not from Mr. Obama personally, but from the actions of his administration, and they go at the very least to Mr. Obama’s ability to govern. At worst, Mr. Gingrich said, investigations will move toward whether senior White House officials knew of improper or even illegal acts and chose to cover them up in an election year. “It’s always the cover-up that kills you,” he said. | Republicans;Barack Obama;US Politics;House of Representatives;Congress;Darrell E Issa;Jason Chaffetz;John Boehner;US;Charles W Boustany Jr |
ny0022261 | [
"sports",
"baseball"
] | 2013/09/07 | Johnny Logan, Shortstop for World Champion Milwaukee Braves, Dies at 86 | Johnny Logan, a feisty shortstop who helped the Braves win Milwaukee’s only World Series, in 1957, died on Aug. 9 at a hospital near his home in Milwaukee. He was 86. His death was announced in a post on Major League Baseball’s Web site , which said he had kidney ailments in recent years. Logan played from 1951 until 1961 on a Braves team that included Hank Aaron, Eddie Mathews and Warren Spahn. He batted .268 with 93 home runs and 547 runs batted in during his 13-year career. He led the league with 37 doubles in 1955 and was named to the National League All-Star team four times. He hit the first home run of the 1957 World Series against the Yankees, in the second game. Milwaukee won the series, 4-3. Image Johnny Logan in 1959. Credit Associated Press Though he was only 5 feet 11 inches and 175 pounds, Logan rarely backed down on the field. In 1957, he charged the mound after the Brooklyn Dodgers’ Don Drysdale, who stood 6-5, narrowly missed his head with a pitch. John Logan Jr. was born on March 23, 1927, in Endicott, N.Y. He lettered in football, baseball, basketball and track at Union-Endicott High School and graduated in 1945. Logan played baseball for the Army toward the end of World War II and was honorably discharged in 1946. He attended an extension college of Syracuse University until 1947, when he signed a minor league contract with the Boston Braves (the team moved to Milwaukee in 1953 and later to Atlanta). He married Dorothy Ahlmeyer in 1953. She died in 1989. His survivors include three sons, Jimmy, John Daniel and Jeff. Logan was traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1961 and retired from the major leagues in 1963. He played with the Nankai Hawks in Japan in 1964, then returned to Milwaukee, where he eventually worked as a local scout for the Milwaukee Brewers. An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated the year that Logan charged mound against Don Drysdale. It was 1957, not 1959. | Johnny Logan;World Series;Milwaukee Braves;Obituary;Baseball |
ny0173889 | [
"business"
] | 2007/10/27 | Kerkorian to Offer $1.4 Billion for 16% of Tesoro, an Oil Refiner | Tracinda, the company controlled by Kirk Kerkorian , plans a $1.4 billion tender offer to acquire a 16 percent stake in Tesoro, a United States refiner whose profit jumped tenfold in the last four years as gasoline demand and prices climbed. The offer is $64 each for 21.9 million shares of Tesoro, which is based in San Antonio, Tracinda said. The price is 12 percent higher than yesterday’s close. Tesoro had its biggest share gain in almost five years. Mr. Kerkorian, a 90-year-old billionaire, will become Tesoro’s largest shareholder, with a 20 percent stake. Analysts said the offer was a vote of confidence in Tesoro’s management, led by its chief executive, Bruce A. Smith, rather than a prelude to a takeover. “This offer is indicative of the view that among the independent refiners, Tesoro’s management team has been executing very well and that the fundamentals of the refining industry in the U.S. remain strong,” said Ann L. Kohler, an analyst at Caris & Company. “Clearly, Mr. Kerkorian views this company as undervalued, and he expects it to go higher than the $64 price in the future.” Tesoro shares rose $7.28, or 13 percent, to $64.48 on the New York Stock Exchange. The gain was Tesoro’s biggest since December 2002. Mr. Kerkorian is offering a premium price because “it’s hard to be quiet when you’re buying this many shares,” said Daniel T. Scalzi, chief executive at the research firm Matrix USA in New York. “What he’s saying by paying this premium is, ‘Let’s get this over with, and I’ll pay up for it.’” Mr. Kerkorian will probably push Tesoro to funnel more of its cash flow into dividends and share buybacks, especially once debt from the company’s May acquisition of a Royal Dutch Shell refinery near Los Angeles is paid off, said Roger Read, an analyst at Natixis Bleichroeder in Houston. | Kerkorian Kirk;Mergers Acquisitions and Divestitures;Oil (Petroleum) and Gasoline;Tesoro;Tracinda |
ny0004403 | [
"world",
"europe"
] | 2013/04/19 | Greek Foremen Sought in Attack on Migrant Workers | ATHENS — The police in the southern Peloponnese region of Greece on Thursday were seeking three supervisors of a strawberry farm accused of firing on a large group of Bangladeshi workers who had demanded unpaid wages, wounding 28. The episode occurred near the small town of Nea Manolada on Wednesday. The police said that an argument erupted between the supervisors and about 200 migrant fruit pickers over six months’ pay. Witnesses said the foremen drew guns and began firing at the crowd. It was not the first such violence in Nea Manolada. Situated in the midst of a vast rural plain, the town has been the scene in recent years of several attacks on migrant workers, thousands of whom work for low wages picking fruit in the region’s farms, often living in cramped, dirty shacks. Politicians across the political spectrum condemned the latest attack. Of the 28 migrants wounded Wednesday, seven were still in the hospital on Thursday, one with serious injuries. “None of the injuries sustained were life-threatening, but we are still treating this as a very, very serious incident,” said Haralambos Sfetsos, a spokesman for the regional police. Image A Bangladeshi worker in his tent in the Greek town of Nea Manolada after the shooting episode on Wednesday. Credit Giorgos Moutafis/Reuters The three foremen, all Greeks, are 21, 27 and 39, the police said. They remained at large on Thursday. A 38-year-old man accused of giving refuge to two of the foremen at his home overnight was arrested on a charge of harboring suspected criminals. The owner of the farm, a 57-year-old man who was not present at the time of the shooting, was arrested Wednesday on a charge of being a moral accomplice to attempted manslaughter, the police said. Ethnic overtones are common in the labor strife that has troubled Nea Manolada. In 2008, migrant fruit pickers in the village went on strike to protest their treatment by employers. Last summer, a 30-year-old Egyptian sustained multiple injuries when two Greek men were said to have jammed his head in a car window before dragging him along a country road. The 39-year-old foreman being sought in the shootings of the Bangladeshi workers was charged in that attack and is awaiting trial. The latest episode was condemned by all Greek political parties. “Greece cannot accept the economic exploitation of hundreds or even thousands of our fellow human beings and the wretched conditions in which they are made to live, let alone their attempted murder,” the minister of public order, Nikos Dendias, said in a statement. He was to visit the site on Friday. The main leftist opposition party, Syriza , spoke of a “barbaric, racist attack.” The assault was denounced even by the right-wing Golden Dawn party, whose members and supporters have been frequently linked to an increase in violence against immigrants. But the party condemned Greeks who illegally employ foreign workers, “depriving thousands of Greek families of their daily bread.” The development prompted outrage on Twitter, with many people calling for a boycott of strawberries from Nea Manolada and from the broader region known for its use of cheap migrant labor. | Greece;Migrant Labor;Bangladesh;Wages and salaries;Economy;Murders |
ny0147305 | [
"sports",
"baseball"
] | 2008/07/08 | Looking Toward Postseason, the Brewers Trade for C. C. Sabathia | After the Milwaukee Brewers made a bold move by acquiring C. C. Sabathia from the Cleveland Indians on Monday, one team official mentioned the imminent “C. C. surge.” He was referring to sales of tickets and souvenirs, but the Brewers hope the biggest C. C. surge will come in victories and perhaps in their first playoff appearance since 1982. More than three weeks before the July 31 nonwaiver trading deadline, the Brewers traded four minor leaguers for Sabathia, the 2007 American League Cy Young award winner. Sabathia, who went 19-7 last year, was 6-8 with a 3.83 earned run average in 18 starts for the struggling Indians this season. But Sabathia’s statistics are deceiving because he started slowly and has received scant run support. By obtaining Sabathia, Milwaukee has turned the National League Central, which was already crowded at the top, into baseball’s most compelling division. The first-place Cubs lead the Cardinals by three and a half games and the Brewers by four. Before the Brewers lost, 4-3, to Colorado on Monday, they were ahead of St. Louis by a percentage point for the wild-card lead. “We just felt that we needed to go for it at this point,” Brewers General Manager Doug Melvin said at a news conference. “We feel that this is a year that gives us a chance.” The trade has reverberations beyond the N.L. Central. With Milwaukeeand St. Louis tussling for the wild card, it seems probable that twoplayoff teams will hail from the Central division. That means clubslike the Mets, the Dodgers, the Marlins and the Diamondbacks, who areall vying for first, might have to win their divisions to play gamesin October. For the Brewers, this move was about trying to erase their postseason futility. With Sabathia, a left-hander, joining Ben Sheets in the rotation, the Brewers have a tandem that could be as effective as any in the major leagues. Sabathia, who turns 28 this month, will make his debut against the Colorado Rockies on Tuesday at Miller Park. “I’m just going to try to come in here and fit in,” Sabathia said. “Go out and have fun and try to win ballgames.” In adding Sabathia, the Brewers beat out the Phillies, who were also willing to make the trade without requiring a window to negotiate a contract extension. The Yankees had discussions with the Indians, but were unwilling to make a deal unless they could sign Sabathia beyond 2008. The Yankees will probably be serious players in trying to sign him when he becomes a free agent after the season. Sabathia could ask for an extension that is close to what the Mets gave Johan Santana (six years, $137.5 million), so the chances that he will remain with the Brewers are slim. Melvin was realistic about the future and said, “Most trades in July are going to be rentals.” Sabathia rejected a four-year, $72 million proposal from Cleveland in the spring. Melvin knew Sabathia might be with Milwaukee only briefly, so he wanted to trade for him as soon as possible. Milwaukee can now start Sabathia twice before the All-Star break. He was 5-3 with a 1.93 E.R.A. in his last 11 starts. “We’re trying to get four starts out of him before the break,” Melvin said playfully. “But we’ll settle for two.” The Brewers dealt Matt LaPorta, a Class AA outfielder who is considered their top prospect; Zach Jackson, a Class AAA left-hander; and Rob Bryson, a Class A right-hander, to the Indians. A player to be named could be Taylor Green, a third baseman who was Milwaukee’s minor league player of the year in 2007. LaPorta, a first-round draft pick last year, was hitting .288 with 20 homers and 66 runs batted in 84 games for Huntsville. “If we didn’t have a very deep farm system, we couldn’t really think about this,” Mark Attanasio, the Brewers’ principal owner, said at the news conference. “Let’s face it: this is still a calculated risk.” Rick Schlesinger, the executive vice president for business operations, compared Sabathia’s acquisition to the team’s trade for pitcher Don Sutton in 1982. Sutton went 4-1 and helped the Brewers reach the World Series. “We’re expecting, I call it, a C. C. surge because the phones have been ringing off the hook this morning already,” Schlesinger said. Melvin said that after he spoke with Mark Shapiro, the Indians’ general manager, about two or three weeks ago, he told Attanasio that there was a chance the Brewers could snag Sabathia. The Brewers figured a package that included their best prospect would be enough; the Indians eventually agreed. Melvin said LaPorta handled the news professionally and “wants us to win the World Series.” With Sabathia, the Brewers have a much better chance. The C. C. surge is just beginning. | Baseball;Milwaukee Brewers;Sabathia C C;Cleveland Indians |
ny0079350 | [
"sports",
"basketball"
] | 2015/02/16 | As N.B.A.’s D-League Celebrates the Future, Older Players Savor Their Invitations | The N.B.A. Development League staged its annual All-Star Game at Barclays Center on Sunday afternoon, pitting the Western Conference Prospects against the Eastern Conference Futures. If the team names were not indication enough that the event was geared around the twin concepts of youth and potential, two supplemental activities — a 3-point shootout before the game and a dunk contest at halftime — were billed by the league as the Dream Factory. For young players from teams like the Santa Cruz Warriors and the Canton Charge — the unsung, the unknown, the undrafted — the events presented a rare opportunity to share the bright lights of All-Star weekend with their N.B.A. brethren, and perhaps even impress a few of the big-league scouts and front-office types who were sitting courtside. And then there was Damien Wilkins, who, at 35, started for the Futures — “How ironic is that?” he asked — and was the only person in the building who had played four seasons with the Seattle SuperSonics. Wilkins, a small forward, is spending the latest phase of his peripatetic career with the Iowa Energy, busing from city to city while logging nearly 39 minutes a game in basketball outposts like Grand Rapids, Mich., and Erie, Pa. “Ultimately,” he said, “my goal is to get back to the N.B.A. I want that more than anything, man.” On Sunday, Wilkins assumed his familiar role as D-League elder statesman and was unwilling to cede the stage. He cluttered the box score by launching 15 shots in 21 minutes and scored 13 points in the Futures’ 129-94 victory over the Prospects. Image Andre Emmett, 32, center, with Tim Frazier (10), scored 28 points and was named the game’s M.V.P. Credit Michelle V. Agins/The New York Times “When they approached me about this, there was no doubt I was coming,” Wilkins said. “It’s a testament to what I’ve been doing in the D-League this season. I wanted to come here to represent myself, my family, my team — and try to put on a good show.” His basketball odyssey has included stints with the Sonics, the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Atlanta Hawks, the Detroit Pistons, the Philadelphia 76ers, the Beijing Ducks of the Chinese Basketball Association and, most recently, the Indios de Mayagüez of Puerto Rico’s Baloncesto Superior Nacional. Wilkins has been a teammate of Kevin Durant and Stephon Marbury. He has competed in the N.B.A. playoffs. He has made a handsome living. But he tends not to view basketball in the past tense, which he made clear when he referred to the D-League All-Star Game as the “opportunity of a lifetime” — and actually seemed to mean it. “You can’t take this for granted,” he said. “It’s not my right to be here. It’s a privilege. A lot of guys would like to be here.” Above all, the afternoon was a showcase for players on the margins. Jarell Eddie, a 23-year-old guard with the Austin Spurs, defeated Seth Curry of the Erie BayHawks in the final of the 3-point competition. (Curry’s brother, Stephen, won the N.B.A. version of the event on Saturday.) And in the dunk contest, Jarvis Threatt of the Rio Grande Valley Vipers posted two perfect scores to edge Thanasis Antetokounmpo of the Westchester Knicks. Threatt, 21, went between his legs on his final attempt and then stole one of the judge’s cards to give himself a 10. The game itself had more of a vintage feel. Andre Emmett, a 32-year-old journeyman with the Fort Wayne Mad Ants, shot 10 of 14 from the field, including 4 of 6 from 3-point range, to finish with 28 points. He was named the game’s most valuable player. Emmett said he wanted another crack at the N.B.A. “You never know,” said Emmett, who appeared in eight games with the Memphis Grizzlies in 2004-5 and in six games with the Nets in 2011-12. “Just be patient and keep grinding and pray something good comes of it.” Image Wilkins making a dunk in the second half. Credit Michelle V. Agins/The New York Times Emmett kept using the word “business” — as in, the game was business for him, and that mentality was shared by pretty much everyone involved. Both teams played defense, which is generally absent from the All-Star code of conduct. But these players were vying for something — for N.B.A. contracts — or at least that was the hope. “Every time you’re able to step out on the court, it’s a chance for somebody to see you,” said Tim Frazier, 24, a point guard with the Maine Red Claws. So far this season, 25 D-League players have been signed by N.B.A. teams, tangible proof to players like Frazier that the dream is not so distant. And then there are veterans like Wilkins, one of 12 players in Sunday’s game with N.B.A. experience and a shared desire to return. “I think I can come in and fill a role,” said Wilkins, who is averaging 20.8 points and 6.3 rebounds with the Energy, the D-League affiliate of the Grizzlies. On Sunday, Wilkins leaked out for a series of fast-break dunks that were distinctly old-school: two hands, authoritative, no frills. At this stage of his professional life, Wilkins knows that 2 points are 2 points, that the aesthetics make no difference. And while he could be making more money overseas, he said he viewed the D-League as his most effective path to the N.B.A. “I want for those people to see the improvements I’ve made as a player, and to show that I can still help a team win,” he said. “That’s all I want.” His dream is a timeless one, even if his career has an expiration date. For one day, back on a big stage, he tried to preserve both. | Basketball;National Basketball Assn Development League;Damien Wilkins;Barclays Center Brooklyn NY;All-star game;Seth Curry |
ny0251938 | [
"sports",
"basketball"
] | 2011/02/25 | In Anthony Trade, Knicks Get Former M.V.P. in Chauncey Billups | Greenburgh, N.Y. He stepped to the foul line and the building boomed, with a sing-songy chant typically reserved for men wearing pinstripes. The chorus was joyful, boisterous: “Chaun-cey Bill-ups” — clap, clap, clap-clap-clap. For a few seconds Wednesday night, Madison Square Garden sounded like Yankee Stadium, with Chauncey Billups in the role of Derek Jeter. It was a moving moment for an overlooked new arrival, but Billups’s expression never changed. He swished his free throws, got his high-fives and soaked in his first Knicks victory . It was a warm moment, a satisfying moment. But this was not the script Billups had written for this late stage of a distinguished N.B.A. career. It was supposed to end in Denver, with his hometown Nuggets, at a booming Pepsi Center. Billups would peel off the No. 4 jersey one last time, slip into a suit and move into the front office, a Nugget for life. “That was the plan,” Billups said with a light smile Thursday. “But as you know, plans don’t always go that way.” This alternate ending is jarring, but full of promise. On one side of the court, Billups has Carmelo Anthony , his teammate of three seasons, ready to drive and shoot. On the other, Amar’e Stoudemire, poised to soar. The Knicks are surging, New York is buzzing and Billups — a former N.B.A. finals most valuable player — is blessed with orchestrating a revival. There might not be a better choice for the job. Billups is older (34) and wiser than his superstar teammates, well-traveled (seven stops in 14 seasons) and unfailingly unflappable. He drove an unheralded Detroit Pistons team to the championship in 2004 and got them within minutes of another title in 2005. When Billups returned home in November 2008 (via a trade, his fourth) the Nuggets were just another middling playoff team, with a string of five straight first-round flameouts, despite Anthony’s ample talent. Six months later, they were in the Western Conference finals. “A natural leader,” Anthony said of Billups. “A guy with a winning mentality.” Billups knows reclamation projects, because he is one. Drafted third over all by the Celtics in 1997, Billups spent his first five N.B.A. seasons bouncing around North America, from Boston to Toronto to Denver to Minnesota. When he signed with the Pistons in 2002, Billups was 26 and an afterthought among point guards. He was not particularly flashy or crafty, neither a big-time scorer nor a high-assist playmaker. It was not until Joe Dumars, the Pistons’ president, assembled an entire lineup of overlooked, underappreciated young veterans — Richard Hamilton and Tayshaun Prince, Ben Wallace and Rasheed Wallace — that Billups blossomed into the clutch-shooting, playmaking leader who commands unparalleled respect across the league. Billups made five straight All-Star appearances from 2006 to 2010, and played in 96 postseason games. Yet he was a virtual afterthought in the blockbuster deal that brought Anthony to the Knicks. Commentators and fans wondered whether the Knicks gave up too much for Anthony, rarely stopping to consider the value of a 34-year-old point guard known as Mr. Big Shot. “It’s crazy, man,” Billups said with a chuckle. “People forget sometimes. But don’t worry about it. I like that. I like being that guy. That’s how I thrive. That’s what I do. I’ll show them, man. It’s cool.” This will forever be known as the Carmelo trade, but Billups is no one’s throw-in. He had 21 points, 8 assists and 6 rebounds in his Knicks debut, with just two turnovers in the Knicks’ victory over Milwaukee. He is a little slower now, but just as clever. Twice on Wednesday, Billups raced up the court in transition, then hit the brakes and drew contact from his pursuing defender for a shooting foul. “If he’s lost anything, I don’t see it,” the Knicks’ president, Donnie Walsh, said. A more subtle sign of Billups’s value came late in the game, during a stoppage of play. Coach Mike D’Antoni had called over Toney Douglas, the second-year guard, to correct a defensive mistake. Billups followed and animatedly instructed Douglas for the next 30 seconds. “And it worked,” Douglas said. “He’s a leader, a great veteran.” Although eight years older, Billups is still a shade better than Raymond Felton, the point guard he replaced. With his big-game experience and high basketball I.Q., Billups is the leader the Knicks have been lacking for the last decade. Stoudemire leads with his passion and talent. But Billups will command the room, hold teammates accountable and provide a steady dose of perspective. He is the oldest player in the rotation by six years and the only one with a championship ring. As the Knicks make a push for their first playoff appearance in seven years — with a revamped roster, two offense-dominating stars and just 27 games to make it all mesh — Billups will carry the greatest burden. “He’s the key to it,” said D’Antoni, who coached Billups on the United States national team. The move from Denver to Manhattan this week was difficult. Billups thought he had moved home for good. “The only emotional thing for me was my family, leaving my little girls at home and my wife,” he said. Professionally, Billups is embracing the challenge, however long it lasts. His contract has one year left, at $14.2 million, but it can be bought out for $3 million, a move that would open up salary-cap room. Or the Knicks could hold on to him until 2012, when they hope to pursue Chris Paul or Deron Williams. Billups is hoping for clarity soon. His heart may be in Denver, but his passion is now streaked in orange and blue, and there could be no better place to close out a storied career. “You look at the excitement, you look at the youth, the athleticism, the guys that we have,” Billups said. “And what we can do this year and even next year going forward, man, why not?” | Billups Chauncey;Anthony Carmelo;New York Knicks;Stoudemire Amare;Basketball |
ny0000631 | [
"world",
"africa"
] | 2013/03/27 | BRICS to Form Development Bank | JOHANNESBURG — A group of five emerging world economic powers met in Africa for the first time Tuesday, gathering in South Africa for a summit meeting at which they plan to announce the creation of a new development bank, a direct challenge to the dominance of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. The leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, all members of the so-called BRICS Group of developing nations, have agreed to create the bank to focus on infrastructure and development in emerging markets. The countries are also planning to discuss pooling their foreign reserves as a bulwark against currency crises, part of a growing effort by emerging economic powers to build institutions and forums that are alternatives to Western-dominated ones. “Up until now, it has been a loose arrangement of five countries meeting once a year,” said Abdullah Verachia, director of the Frontier Advisory Group, which focuses on emerging markets. “It is going to be the first real institution we have seen.” But the alliance faces serious questions about whether the member countries have enough in common and enough shared goals to function effectively as a counterweight to the West. “Despite the political rhetoric around partnerships, there is a huge amount of competition between the countries,” Mr. Verachia said. For all the talk of solidarity among emerging giants, the group’s concrete achievements have been few since its first full meeting, in Russia in 2009. This is partly because its members are deeply divided on some basic issues and are in many ways rivals, not allies, in the global economy. They have widely divergent economies, disparate foreign policy aims and different forms of government. India, Brazil and South Africa have strong democratic traditions, while Russia and China are autocratic. The bloc even struggles to agree on overhauling international institutions. India, Brazil and South Africa want permanent seats on the United Nations Security Council, for example, but China, which already has one, has shown little interest in shaking up the status quo. The developing countries in the bloc hardly invest in one another, preferring their neighbors and the developed world’s major economies, according to a report released Monday by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development . Just 2.5 percent of foreign investment by BRICS countries goes to other countries in the group, the report said, while more than 40 percent of their foreign investment goes to the developed world’s largest economies, the European Union, the United States and Japan. Africa, home to several of the world’s fastest-growing economies, drew less than 5 percent of total investment from BRICS nations, the report said. France and the United States still have the highest rate of foreign investment in Africa. Despite China’s reputation for heavy investment in Africa, Malaysia has actually invested $2 billion more in Africa than China has. Still, 15 African heads of state were invited to the summit meeting in South Africa as observers, a sign of the continent’s increasing importance as an investment destination for all of the BRICS countries. China is in many ways a major competitor of its fellow BRICS member, South Africa. South African manufacturers, retail chains, cellphone service providers, mining operations and tourism companies have bet heavily on African economic growth and in some ways go head-to-head against Chinese companies on the continent. South Africa is playing host for the first time since becoming the newest member of what had been known previously as BRIC. Many analysts have questioned South Africa’s inclusion in the group because its economy is tiny compared with the other members, ranking 28th in the world, and its growth rates in recent years have been anemic. In an interview last year with a South African newspaper, Jim O’Neill, the Goldman Sachs executive who coined the term BRIC, said South Africa did not belong in the group. “South Africa has too small an economy,” Mr. O’Neill told the newspaper, The Mail & Guardian. “There are not many similarities with the other four countries in terms of the numbers. In fact, South Africa’s inclusion has somewhat weakened the group’s power.” But South Africa’s sluggish growth has become the rule, not the exception, among the onetime powerhouse nations. India’s hopes of reaching double-digit growth have ebbed. Brazil’s surging economy, credited with pulling millions out of poverty, has cooled drastically. Even China’s growth has slowed. And once welcome, Chinese investment in Africa is viewed with increasing suspicion. On a visit to Beijing last year , President Jacob Zuma of South Africa warned that Chinese trade ties in Africa were following a troubling pattern. “Africa’s commitment to China’s development has been demonstrated by supply of raw materials, other products and technology transfer,” Mr. Zuma said. “This trade pattern is unsustainable in the long term. Africa’s past economic experience with Europe dictates a need to be cautious when entering into partnerships with other economies.” Mr. Zuma appeared to have a change of heart before the summit meeting, saying Monday that China does not approach Africa with a colonial attitude. But other African leaders are not so sure. Lamido Sanusi, governor of Nigeria’s central bank, wrote in an opinion article published in The Financial Times this month that China’s approach to Africa is in many ways as exploitative as the West’s has been. “China is no longer a fellow underdeveloped economy — it is the world’s second-biggest, capable of the same forms of exploitation as the West,” he wrote. “It is a significant contributor to Africa’s deindustrialization and underdevelopment.” | Third World;Banking and Finance;South Africa;Brazil;Russia;India;China;International trade;IMF;World Bank |
ny0047814 | [
"nyregion"
] | 2014/11/26 | A Passion for Writing, About War and Love, Is Celebrated Decades Later | A mailman by day, John J. Donaldson wrote by night in his Long Island home, where he had “sacred space, a tenth of a Levittown living room,” said Peter S. Donaldson, his eldest son. “Everyone knew this corner. You didn’t touch the notepads, the pencils. Dad would be there all hours typing, working on drafts.” One day in the 1950s, Mr. Donaldson drove into the city with the manuscript of a novel, “Behold the Man,” based loosely on the life of J. Robert Oppenheimer , an American nuclear scientist hounded for his leftist political sympathies. A prominent literary agent believed it was strong enough to be published. She was wrong. After months of rejections, Mr. Donaldson hauled a garbage can onto the lawn. “He threw this thick manuscript in there, lit a match and threw it in,” said Christa Stalberg Donaldson, his daughter. It wasn’t obscurity that upended him, said Greg Donaldson, his other son: “It’s O.K. not to be recognized, but much worse to be almost-recognized. He became a mailman so he could write.” Mr. Donaldson, who died last month at 95, kept carrying mail and writing. Not only novels — a few of which survive as manuscripts, not ashes — but also stories and poems that include verses written from the battlefields of Europe during World War II and published in The Times of London, drawing critical attention from W. H. Auden . Greg Donaldson , a journalist and associate professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, salvaged many of the poems. They were privately published in January and a signing party was given for Mr. Donaldson in California, where he spent his last years. In “On Stumbling Over a Frozen Body Between Two Crumbled Buildings,” Mr. Donaldson wrote of how “my boot against your huddled body/summarizes swiftly” all the injuries of the dead man, and concludes that he himself can keep going: it is requiem enough that I remind myself that you were what you were I do not mark the former function of every winter bitten object at my feet Maybe it is improbable that a book party would be held for decades-old poems. But there is much to celebrate in the work, and a long streak of the improbable in the life. Born in Harlem in 1919 to Mary Dolan, who was then unmarried, John Donaldson learned at age 15 that he was living with a stepfather, and that he was apparently the biological offspring of his mother and a prominent Catholic priest. “He writes that it was like a clear drop fell on him, and he suddenly saw everything,” Greg Donaldson said. The family had, by then, moved to Atlantic City, and he took up long-distance running. As a senior, he met Constance Stalberg, and they married in 1942, before he went overseas to serve with the Army’s 509th Military Police Battalion. He held down checkpoints, seeing soldiers on their way to the front and sometimes back. In “Conversation at a Crossroad,” he describes an attempt at chitchat with a returning soldier, only to find that his questions boomeranged: what’s it like back here? do you feel like a doorman at the gates of hell — do you press a little ticker when the tanks go in? On Christmas Day 1944, a truck with 10 soldiers turned over in a canal in Belgium. An able swimmer, Private Donaldson pulled out eight of them. He often spoke about that episode, Greg Donaldson said, recalling the grasping hands of the two men who died in the mud: “He wasn’t berating himself. He was always examining that moment.” For risking his life, Private Donaldson was awarded the Soldier’s Medal , a prestigious Army decoration. Awaiting the D-Day invasion, he had an affair in England, which he disclosed in a letter to his wife, at home with their first child. “My mother’s first letter back to him was full of fury,” said Peter Donaldson, the Ford Foundation professor of humanities at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology . “The story goes that she was so upset, she left me at the grocery store in a carriage.” They reconciled. “My father was a dashing character, she was attractive,” Greg Donaldson said. “They were lovers. At my Little League, they would come to games and hold hands, arms around each other.” Their mother was an authority on English poetry, said Christa Donaldson, a psychologist in California. “My mother edited the novels,” she said. “She would say: ‘You don’t describe women’s clothing right. You’ve got to listen to a woman.’ They would fight about it.” “They were well-matched combatants,” Peter Donaldson said. In “Catacomb,” their father wrote: love is a lion we will meet in the pit in the morning Before the Donaldsons had a television, they recited poems at night. Peter can speak his father’s lines 60 years later: “Spring/is the over-scented cart between the mourners/and the hearse.” A family favorite describes Walt Whitman, tenderly nursing “the man form” of an injured soldier. unhesitant complete ashamed only at the wound rim “It makes us shiver,” Peter Donaldson said. No wonder. | John J. Donaldson;Writer;Long Island;Poetry |
ny0094347 | [
"us"
] | 2015/01/18 | Restroom Ordinance Is Just One More Sign of a City’s Acceptance | WEST HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — This city was one of the first in the nation to pass a same-sex marriage law. It was one of the first communities viewed as a haven for gay people: When the city was incorporated in 1984, a majority of the City Council members were openly gay, helping earn West Hollywood the nickname the “Gay Camelot.” Even today, it has rainbow-colored crosswalks. Now, West Hollywood has joined the vanguard of places that are taking steps to make transgender people feel more welcome. Last week, an ordinance took effect that abolished the traditional designation of “men” or “women” on single-stall public restrooms, a bow to the requests of the sizable community of transgender people, who do not believe they fall into either category. Restaurants and other places with public restrooms will not have to make any changes if the bathrooms have multiple stalls, but all single-stall public restrooms have to be labeled “gender neutral”; businesses have 60 days to comply, but can do so by simply placing a gender-neutral sign on any single-stall restroom. “Gender-specific restrooms can be unwelcoming and potentially unsafe for many people whose gender identity falls outside of traditional gender norms,” according to a news release issued by the government of West Hollywood, a city widely known as WeHo. “Shifting from gender-specific single-stall restrooms to gender-neutral ones is a simple and low-cost way to help ensure that facilities in the city of West Hollywood are welcoming and open to all people, regardless of the way one presents or identifies their gender identity.” In this case, the city was not entirely a groundbreaker: Washington, D.C., passed similar legislation in 2006, and in the past two years several other communities — including Philadelphia; Austin, Tex.; and Multnomah County, Ore., where Portland is — have passed laws requiring gender-neutral bathrooms. This sweep of legislation reflects the growing prominence and visibility of transgender people. Amazon Studios’s streaming show “Transparent” has received widespread critical acclaim, and the lead actor, Jeffrey Tambor, won a Golden Globe last Sunday for his performance as a man who identifies as a woman. Image Abbe Land, a West Hollywood Council member, pushed through the gender-neutral restroom ordinance. Credit Kendrick Brinson for The New York Times When it came to the restroom designations, “It felt like, oh my goodness, this is something that is important to do, to be inclusive and to also be a leader,” said Abbe Land, the city councilor in West Hollywood who led the effort. “We hope the rest of the country will adopt similar ordinances.” Before passing the ordinance, city leaders consulted with business leaders who expressed concern about the costs the requirement could place on restaurants. This level of cooperation stands in contrast to the City Council’s 2011 decision to ban sales of fur clothing, which angered many local retailers. “The chamber’s concern was that it would not be onerous on businesses in terms of costly remodels,” said Keith Kaplan, a vice chairman of the West Hollywood Chamber of Commerce. “We worked with the city to develop plans that provide safe and comfortable facilities for the transgender community,” he added. The City Council unanimously approved the law amid debate over how to balance the city’s historically gay character with changing demographics and mainstream acceptance of gay culture in Los Angeles at large. Last year, this debate manifested itself when John Duran, a Council member who is openly gay, pushed to have a rainbow flag removed from atop City Hall, arguing that it might make heterosexual residents feel undervalued. After vociferous protests, the city flag was redesigned to include a rainbow color scheme, in a compromise. For many businesses in West Hollywood, the restroom ordinance simply reflects facts on the ground. “With a busy restaurant, it has been common practice for the past 15 years for people to use whichever single-stall restroom is available,” said Mark Farrell, manager of Marix, a Tex-Mex restaurant that has been in business for 30 years. “When there’s an empty single stall and 10 guys waiting, well, it’s something that just kind of happened.” Gender-neutral restroom laws vary slightly from one city to another; none of them currently require modifying existing restrooms, beyond signage, though most require all future construction plans, via building codes, to create a certain number of gender-neutral facilities. “This is a very minor change that creates very significant progress because everybody needs safe and reliable access to the restroom,” said Alison Gill, senior legislative counsel for the Human Rights Campaign, a group that focuses on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights. | Bathrooms;Transgender,Gender Dysphoria;West Hollywood California;Gay and Lesbian LGBT;Legislation;Signage |
ny0235338 | [
"sports",
"football"
] | 2010/01/09 | Packers Quarterback Aaron Rodgers Wins Over Brett Favre’s Fans | GREEN BAY, Wis. — Walk into the Packers Pro Shop at Lambeau Field, past the golf shirts on the left and the long-sleeve tops on the right, and the first prominent Packers jersey comes into sight: Aaron Rodgers’s No. 12, mounted on a torso dummy. “It’s our No. 1 seller, and the No. 1 Packers jersey in the league,” said Kate Hogan, the team’s director of retail operations. That distinction used to belong to Brett Favre . Two seasons after Favre’s rancorous departure from the Packers, a departure that divided fans and made General Manager Ted Thompson a villain to some, the shop still carries a long rack of his No. 4s in Packer green, gold and white. They remain among the top 10 sellers, Hogan said, but the shop displays them in the back. Rodgers , 26, has done what so many other young quarterbacks could not. He played well enough to win the hearts of fans who were emotionally attached to the legend he replaced. Back-to-back 4,000-yard seasons and this year’s Pro Bowl selection established Rodgers as a star, especially after he led the Packers (11-5) to a 7-1 finish and their first playoff berth since Favre left. Even Green Bay’s mayor, James J. Schmitt, owns a Rodgers jersey. “I think everyone was very confident that when he played, he’d do well,” said Tom Clements, Rodgers’s position coach since 2006, the year after Green Bay drafted Rodgers in the first round. “It’s a credit to him that he’s done as well as he has, as well as the teammates he plays with. But we’re certainly not surprised.” On Sunday, in a National Football Conference wild-card game at Arizona (10-6), Rodgers will take another important step. He will become the first quarterback other than Favre to start a playoff game for the Packers since Lynn Dickey in the 1982 season. “I expect him to perform in a similar fashion as he’s performed during the year,” Clements said. It will not be Rodgers’s playoff debut. After the 2007 season, he relieved Favre for the final series of a 42-20 rout of Seattle and did not attempt a pass. Favre played his final game as a Packer the next week, a 23-20 overtime loss to the Giants in the N.F.C. championship game. Rodgers said he understood the higher level of scrutiny that the postseason brings, and he said he relished it. “Obviously, the quarterback is going to be judged, fair or unfair, by his success in the playoffs,” Rodgers said. “You remember the quarterbacks — Terry Bradshaw, Joe Montana, Tom Brady — who have won three or four Super Bowls. Obviously, that’s not my main focus. But at some point, you’d love to be mentioned in the same breath as those guys like that, who have won multiple Super Bowls. But you stay focused at the task at hand.” That approach, and the unruffled way Rodgers handled the chaotic weeks before Favre’s trade to the Jets in 2008, endeared him to teammates like center Scott Wells, who snapped to Favre from 2004 through 2007. “He plays one of the more stressful positions in sports, for a well-known team, in a small-town environment where all eyes are on you,” Wells said. “He’s done an excellent job of handling that, from being drafted No. 1, to the off-season fiasco with Brett, to where he is right now.” This season, with Rodgers throwing for 30 touchdowns, the Packers scored a franchise-record 461 points. Rodgers also led the N.F.L. in third-down passing efficiency, with the highest rating (133.5) since Kurt Warner in 1999 (137.3). Warner is now the Cardinals’ quarterback. Rodgers and New England’s Tom Brady are the only quarterbacks with 100 or more attempts this season who were not intercepted on third down. That Rodgers made it through in one piece may be a miracle. The Packers’ offensive line, ravaged by injuries, gave up 41 sacks in Green Bay’s first nine games. Signing right tackle Mark Tauscher, a former Packer, helped stabilize the line, and Rodgers was sacked only nine times over the final seven games. “I spent a lot of time in the training room in Weeks 1 through 9 on Mondays and Tuesdays,” Rodgers said. “As much as I love those guys, and those guys do a great job, it’s nice to not have to see them as much on Mondays and Tuesdays.” The offensive line’s improvement, and the transformation of the defense from a ragged 4-3 to a stout 3-4 under the new coordinator Dom Capers, turned the Packers into the N.F.L.’s hottest team in the second half. A 37-36 defeat at Pittsburgh on Dec. 20 was Green Bay’s only loss after Nov. 8. Green Bay led the league in run defense for the first time in franchise history (it finished 26th out of 32 teams in 2008), and the defense’s No. 2 overall ranking was the highest since the 1996 Super Bowl championship season. Cornerback Charles Woodson (nine interceptions) and safety Nick Collins (six) combined for 15 of Green Bay’s league-leading 40 takeaways. The Favre legacy remains. His namesake steakhouse is still doing business several blocks from Lambeau Field , and burger-craving visitors to the Lambeau atrium can still buy one at Brett Favre’s Two Minute Grill. But Favre is long gone, now with Minnesota, which may yet face Green Bay in the playoffs. The Packers are Aaron Rodgers’s team now. “Brett was the quarterback here for 16 years,” said Wells, the center. “To a lot of people, he was the team. I could see people having a problem disassociating. But I think people have come around now. This season has been a big help.” | Football;Rodgers Aaron;Green Bay Packers;Favre Brett;Clements Tom;Capers Dom;Tauscher Mark |
ny0147220 | [
"sports",
"ncaafootball"
] | 2008/07/30 | West Virginia’s Old-School Coach, Bill Stewart, Has Some New Plans | NEWPORT, R.I. — As West Virginia prepared to play Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl last season, the interim coach Bill Stewart taught his team about the legend of the Superstition Mountains. There has been talk for many years that in the peaks east of Phoenix, there is a hidden treasure trove in the Lost Dutchman’s gold mine. Stewart preached to his Mountaineers players, who were reeling from the news that Coach Rich Rodriguez was leaving for Michigan, that if they worked hard and stayed focused in Arizona, they would find gold of their own. And hours after Stewart led West Virginia to a 48-28 victory, a tale emerged from the desert that sounded like a fable. Athletic Director Ed Pastilong called Stewart to his hotel suite at 2 a.m. and offered him West Virginia’s head coaching job. Stewart immediately accepted and became one of college football’s most intriguing and divisive hires of the off-season. The Mountaineers had hired a vagabond assistant whose only college head-coaching experience was a three-year stint at Virginia Military Institute, where he went 8-25. “People are going to call you what they’re going to call you,” Stewart said. “It’s my job to prove them wrong.” With West Virginia picked first in the Big East Conference by the news media, and with Pat White, a Heisman Trophy front-runner, back at quarterback, the Mountaineers will soon find out if a coaching star was born that night or if Stewart’s victory turns out to be fool’s gold. More Ned Flanders than Woody Hayes, Stewart is clearly one of the more fascinating characters to emerge recently in college football. During an interview over breakfast Tuesday at Big East media day, Stewart talked straight from the set of “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” by starting sentences with phrases like, “Ah, gee,” “dadgum,” “good golly” and “gee whiz.” “It’s too good to be true,” said Pastilong, explaining why so many people may be skeptical of Stewart’s hiring. “It’s what the fans want, it’s what the student-athletes want, it’s what the public and media want. He’s a real gentleman who loves his profession. It’s almost like this can’t be real. But it is real.” Stewart is a character out of an era with milkmen, doctor’s house calls and sock hops thrown into a cutthroat position in a football-crazed state. With the entire state crushed by Rodriguez’s departure, the homegrown and homespun Stewart emerged as the perfect antidote to West Virginia’s bruised ego. As Rodriguez and West Virginia battled through a messy and costly divorce, Stewart appeared everywhere from booster functions to the Strawberry Festival in Buckhannon, W.Va. The son of a pipe fitter from New Martinsville, W.Va., Stewart taught American history and coached high school football in Sisterville, W.Va. He has moved seven times in 10 years to assistant jobs at Navy, North Carolina and Arizona State. He also coached in Montreal and Winnipeg in the Canadian Football League. Perhaps the most telling portrait of Stewart as a head coach comes with how he assembled his staff. He is making just $800,000, $1 million less than Rodriguez, and is the lowest-paid coach in the Big East. He encouraged the university to use the money it saved on him and received from Rodriguez’s buyout to secure top assistants. Included in the spending spree was Doc Holliday, known as one of the country’s top recruiting coordinators, who was hired away from Florida for $400,000. The defensive coordinator Jeff Casteel received a raise of more than $100,000, to $275,000 a year, and the new offensive coordinator Jeff Mullen and the offensive line coach David Johnson will each make $225,000. “I’m not sure that money thing is that important to him,” Holliday said in a telephone interview, referring to Stewart. “The thing with him is to surround himself with the best people he could. It says a heck of a lot about him.” The dividends have already paid off in recruiting, with 13 commitments, including the heralded quarterback Tajh Boyd from Hampton, Va., and wide receiver Logan Heastie from Chesapeake, Va. They are considered among the elite players at their positions. As for this season, Stewart plans on keeping White healthy by spreading the ball around more. White left the games last season against South Florida and Pittsburgh with injuries, and those were the Mountaineers’ only losses. Stewart said he was going to be sure that the precocious sophomore tailback Noel Devine touched the ball 25 times a game. (Stewart marveled that Devine, who weighs 175 pounds, can bench-press 405 pounds.) Stewart said that White would pass the ball 18 to 25 times a game, after averaging 16.6 passes last season. “We’ve got to do that to open up this offense,” Stewart said. Stewart marveled at White’s progression in the off-season, saying he was making his second and third reads better on passing routes. White, too, seems happier, saying he felt that the previous offense did not give him a chance to showcase his passing. “I didn’t have the opportunity to look at more than one side of the field,” White said. He added about last season’s offensive staff, “They limited us in the passing game, period.” With September trips to East Carolina and Colorado and a home date with Auburn in October, White and Stewart will find out quickly if the changes work. And only then, may West Virginians find out if they really did strike gold near the Superstition Mountains. | Stewart Bill;West Virginia University;Football;Coaches and Managers;College Athletics |
ny0196966 | [
"nyregion"
] | 2009/10/01 | James Sutera, Waterfront Detective, Is Charged With Perjury | In a case that sparked a sweeping corruption investigation of the Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor , a detective with the commission was indicted Wednesday on perjury charges, accused of lying to officials about whether he cheated on a promotional test. The detective, James Sutera, had twice failed the written test to become a detective in the commission’s police division, each time scoring in the 50s, far below the minimum passing grade of 70. He passed on his third attempt with a score of 98. The dramatic turnaround was one of the unusual circumstances that prompted a two-year investigation by the New York State inspector general. Prompted by two whistleblowers in the police division, the investigation concluded with a scathing report that found that the commission — a bistate agency that is led by a New York and a New Jersey commissioner and was created to rid the ports of mob influence — had itself become so riddled with corruption that it potentially threatened security. According to a news release issued by the Manhattan district attorney, Robert M. Morgenthau, Mr. Sutera had been given the answers to the test by the New Jersey commissioner at the time, Michael J. Madonna, and later offered to provide it to a co-worker. However, when confronted last February, Mr. Sutera denied under oath that he had been given a copy of the test beforehand, according to the release. Mr. Sutera, 28, pleaded not guilty to three counts of felony perjury at his arraignment Wednesday in State Supreme Court in Manhattan. Each count carries a maximum sentence of seven years in prison. He is currently suspended. | Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor;Cheating;Police Department (NYC);Ethics |
ny0040519 | [
"nyregion"
] | 2014/04/23 | Panel Orders Four to Testify in George Washington Bridge Inquiry | A New Jersey legislative committee has ordered current and former aides to Gov. Chris Christie and two officials at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to testify in the committee’s investigation of politically motivated lane closings leading to traffic jams last year near the George Washington Bridge. Lawmakers announced on Tuesday that they had issued subpoenas to a former Christie aide, Christina Genovese Renna; the current press secretary, Michael Drewniak; the Port Authority commissioner, William Schuber; and the agency’s executive director, Patrick J. Foye. Mr. Foye testified before a different legislative panel last year on the September lane closings, which were orchestrated by a former official at his agency, along with a former Christie aide. The agency runs the bridge. The traffic jams were apparently political retribution against Mayor Mark Sokolich of Fort Lee, but it is not clear why he was targeted. (Mr. Christie is a Republican, and Mr. Sokolich is a Democrat.) The United States attorney’s office in New Jersey has also been investigating. A law firm hired by Mr. Christie’s office issued a taxpayer-funded report last month finding that the governor and his current top aides had no involvement in the lane closings. Mr. Christie has denied any involvement. Democrats in the Legislature have questioned the thoroughness and impartiality of that report and have pressed ahead with their investigation. Before the release of the law firm’s report, they released thousands of pages of communications about the traffic delays. “The documents we’ve assembled answer certain questions but raise other questions,” said Assemblyman John S. Wisniewski, a Democrat who is a co-chairman of the panel. “The best way to get the answers is to begin asking people under oath.” The four who were subpoenaed were told to appear in May. | Port Authority;Christina Genovese Renna;Michael Drewniak;Patrick J Foye;George Washington Bridge;Fort Lee NJ;William P Schuber |
ny0201075 | [
"technology"
] | 2009/09/21 | Patent Auctions Offer Protections to Inventors | The world can be a rough place for independent inventors. They can often find themselves in court, battling big corporations, spending piles of money on lawyers and leaving it up to judges and juries to determine the value of their hard-won patents. That could be changing. Wrangling over patents is beginning to move out of the courtroom and into the marketplace. A flurry of new companies and investment groups has sprung up to buy, sell, broker, license and auction patents. And venture capital and private equity is starting to pour into the field. The arrival of these new business-minded players, according to patent experts and economists, could lead to a robust marketplace for patents, where value is determined not so much by court judgments but by buyers and sellers, perhaps, someday, like eBay. And patents, after all, are ideas. Any market mechanisms that speed up the process of figuring out what a patent is worth should hasten the flow of ideas into the economy, accelerating the pace of innovation, policy experts say. “What you want is a market that can promote innovation and reduce the huge costs of litigation,” said Robert P. Merges, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley and a director of the Berkeley Center for Law and Technology. “And that market is starting to take shape.” A classic small-inventor firm, Zoltar Satellite Alarm Systems, is planning to sample that market by auctioning off its patents next month. Professor Merges and other patent experts point to it as an intriguing case to watch. To date, the Zoltar story has been one of innovation, persistence and litigation. One founder of the company, Dr. Daniel Schlager, got his inspiration nearly two decades ago, crouched in medevac helicopters flying over Northern California. Locating people in distress was often difficult and costly, in time and lives. What was needed, he figured, was some sort of personal alarm device that transmitted a person’s location. He sought out an old high-school classmate, William Baringer, a computer scientist and telecommunications expert. Using global positioning technology seemed promising, even though it was clunky and expensive at the time. They came up with a solution, and filed their first patent application in 1994 for a “personal alarm” device that used GPS technology. A year later, Zoltar was founded, and it filed for a patent on personal alarms with navigational receivers in cellphones that was granted in 1997. Zoltar’s prospects got a lift after the Federal Communications Commission in 1996 required most wireless phones to be able to identify their location during 911 calls by 2001. The move opened a large potential market for Zoltar. The two men designed and built prototypes, hired a patent licensing expert and showed their technology to cellphone equipment makers in the late 1990s in the hopes of licensing it. “It’s an industry with huge companies who crosslicense patents with each other and tell little guys to take a hike,” said Robert Megantz, a former general manager of licensing for Dolby and the consultant who worked with Zoltar in the late 1990s. Eventually, Zoltar’s founders say, their ideas and designs started to turn up in big companies’ products. They raised money, mostly from friends and family, hired lawyers and went to court. In 2001, Zoltar sued Qualcomm, the cellphone chip-set maker. After three years, a jury found that Zoltar’s patents were valid, but that Qualcomm was not infringing on them. The two sides settled in 2006. In 2005, Zoltar sued several handset makers including Motorola, LG and Samsung, and settlements were reached with all of them by 2007. By now, Zoltar has spent millions in legal fees, and collected millions in settlements. The company is ahead financially, Dr. Schlager said, but some of its 60 investors have not been paid back. Mr. Baringer remains a full-time consultant engineer, and Dr. Schlager is still an emergency-room physician, though he does not practice full time. Today, the fast-growing makers of smartphones like Research in Motion, Apple, HTC and Nokia have no agreements with Zoltar. Dr. Schlager said he did not plan to sue them. Instead Zoltar will sell its patents in an auction, hoping for a faster, simpler and less risky payoff. “We felt this was the way to go,” Dr. Schlager said. “It’s an option that wasn’t available a few years ago.” The auction will be run by Pluritas, a patent broker based in San Francisco. Robert Aronoff, its managing director, says Zoltar has strong, court-tested patents that apply to a huge industry, at a time when there is an increasingly brisk market for intellectual property. “They are entering into this vastly changed marketplace with a hot property,” he said. Whether the patents will prove to be a hot property is not clear. “They were certainly innovative over the years, but I do think there is a question here if the industry and technology has passed them by,” said Professor Merges of Berkeley. Mr. Baringer insists this is not the case. “We continue to see our designs and concepts implemented every day” in smartphones, he said. In an auction, of course, the patents’ value will be judged by bidders, which could be handset makers, but also patent-buying groups like Intellectual Ventures and Rational Patent Exchange and Allied Security Trust, a nonprofit organization. Other players in the emerging patent marketplace are specialized investment banks, brokers and licensing companies including Acacia Technologies, Altitude Capital Partners, Intertrust, IPotential, Ocean Tomo, Rembrandt IP Management and Thinkfire. Venture capitalists are also interested in this field — Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, for example, is backing Rational Patent Exchange, a company that buys reservoirs of patents in crucial fields and charges fees to corporate “members,” who participate as a defensive tactic to limit potential patent litigation costs. The long-term vision at Rational, said Randy Komisar, a partner at Kleiner, is to become a marketplace or clearinghouse, perhaps the way Ascap is for copyrighted music, collecting fees and distributing payments to artists. “The goal is to be a place where the patentholder is fairly compensated, but the corporate users have access to technology with minimal transaction costs,” Mr. Komisar said. “It has the potential to make innovation more efficient and less risky for both sides.” But some patent experts question how far the marketplace model can be extended to patents. They note that patents are typically trickier to value than financial investments like stocks or bonds. “Yes, you can move in the direction of trading markets for patents, but these are complicated assets that are individualized and hard to value,” said Josh Lerner, an economist at the Harvard business school. “They are more like works of art than stocks.” | Inventions and Patents;Auctions;Copyrights and Copyright Violations;Small Business |
ny0073178 | [
"business"
] | 2015/03/25 | Wall St. Stars Join Silicon Valley Gold Rush | One of the country’s largest banks, Morgan Stanley, is losing its chief financial officer to Google in the most visible example yet of the flow of talent from Wall Street to Silicon Valley. Ruth Porat, Morgan Stanley’s chief financial officer since 2010, has been one of the most powerful women in a financial industry that has struggled to promote and hold on to its female executives. She is going to Silicon Valley while it is facing its own issues about gender balance. Ms. Porat is following in the steps of other big names from the bastions of East Coast power who have recently decamped to the ascendant technology industry on the West Coast. The former White House spokesman Jay Carney said last month that he was joining Amazon.com , and the former Obama aide David Plouffe joined Uber last year. But Silicon Valley has been drawing much of its most valuable new talent from Wall Street. A top banker at Goldman Sachs, Anthony J. Noto, moved west last year to become the chief financial officer at Twitter. Less than a decade ago, Wall Street firms were the premier destination for young college graduates and talented executives. More recently, though, the financial industry has been struggling to keep growing as it faces a raft of new regulations and a lack of public confidence as a result of the financial crisis. Silicon Valley, on the other hand, is experiencing a period of blockbuster growth that has created dozens of billion-dollar start-ups practically overnight. “Smart people go to where they feel there is the most growth,” said Robert Reffkin, who left Goldman in 2012 after seven years to found a start-up, Compass , that is focused on real estate. At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a top source of young recruits, only 10 percent of undergraduates went into finance in 2014, compared with the 31 percent who took jobs on Wall Street in 2006, before the financial crisis. Software companies, meanwhile, hired 28 percent of M.I.T. graduates in 2014, compared with 10 percent in 2006. Similar trends have been evident at the other top training grounds that have long fed the upper ranks of Wall Street. At Harvard Business School, for example, the percentage of graduates going into finance dropped to 33 percent last year from 42 percent in 2006, while the numbers going into technology jumped to 17 percent from 7 percent. Wall Street is certainly not hurting for talent. It remains the top destination at many business schools and is still one of the most selective industries for hiring. Last summer, Morgan Stanley had 90,000 applicants for roughly 1,000 entry-level summer jobs. Ms. Porat’s move, meanwhile, is one in a long list of instances in which Wall Street has served as a training ground for the leadership ranks of other industries. Most famously, Goldman has produced two Treasury secretaries during the last two decades. Ms. Porat was on the short list of people being considered for deputy Treasury secretary in 2013, but she eventually asked for her name to be withdrawn. In the last few years, though, Silicon Valley has strengthened its case as the new center of economic gravity in the United States. Established companies like Google and Apple have grown rapidly at the same time that start-ups like Uber and Twitter have flourished. Mr. Reffkin said that when he was at Goldman, as chief of staff to the bank’s president, “it became clear that we are in the middle of a software revolution.” “I want to be a part of that,” he added. The economic strength of the technology industry adds to the lifestyle differences — including a relaxed dress code, better weather and a more freewheeling culture — that have long attracted young employees to start-ups. Compare that with Wall Street, where new legislation has increased the emphasis on hierarchical decision-making and standardized processes. “Just the thought of walking into a tall building in a suit or high heels and going to meetings where you’re discussing a regulated industry where it’s increasingly difficult to innovate — most of the people I talk to don’t find that prospect appealing,” said Martha Josephson, a partner in the Palo Alto, Calif., office of Egon Zehnder, an executive recruiting firm. As the movement between industries has taken hold, it has often built on itself. When Marissa Mayer became Yahoo’s chief executive in 2012, she hired Jacqueline D. Reses, a former Goldman banker, as the company’s chief development officer. Ms. Reses’s job, in essence, was to help Yahoo recruit new talent and to find promising companies to buy and team up with. She has led Yahoo’s dozens of acquisitions, including the $1.1 billion purchase of Tumblr and the $640 million purchase of Brightroll. Naturally, she brought in many of her own to help. “I have hired people out of Wall Street, primarily because it was a peer group that I was very familiar with,” Ms. Reses said. The most noticeable departures from Wall Street have been the high-level banking executives like Ms. Porat and Mr. Noto, who have taken their financial expertise to companies that were started by programmers. But the more troubling trend for Wall Street banks is the lower-ranking programmers who are opting to head west at a time when banks are more dependent than ever on software and technology. At Goldman, for instance, the number of high-level programmers-cum-bankers — what the firm calls “strats” — has risen 43 percent since 2009. These are the employees who are most likely to be lured away by a Facebook or Google. The start-ups, meanwhile, are not just stealing talent from Wall Street. Many of them are also trying to build companies like the payment processors Square and Stripe, which could eventually siphon business from the financial industry. In the near term as chief financial officer, though, Ms. Porat is inheriting a tricky position as Google’s principal liaison with its shareholders and analysts. Google has expanded into an array of speculative investments like self-driving cars, biotechnology and space travel. That wanderlust has made the company’s investors nervous, especially because Google continues to generate close to 90 percent of its revenue from advertising. Growth in Google’s primary business has flattened out at about 20 percent a year for the last few years, while its financial results have failed to meet analysts’ expectations for five consecutive quarters. And the company’s dominance of the search business is expected to erode as more Internet traffic shifts to mobile devices. For now, at least, analysts are optimistic that Ms. Porat’s Wall Street background will make her more receptive to their concerns. Google shares finished up 2 percent on Tuesday after Ms. Porat’s appointment was announced. Ms. Porat will be the first woman in Google’s senior ranks, and the fourth in the company’s 20-member senior leadership team, which includes Susan Wojcicki, chief executive of YouTube, Lorraine Twohill, Google’s senior vice president and chief marketing officer, and Rachel Whetstone, senior vice president for policy and communications. Several of the most prominent women in technology are former Google executives, including Ms. Mayer; Sheryl Sandberg, chief operating officer at Facebook; and Megan J. Smith, chief technology officer of the United States. Ms. Porat, 57, who started at Morgan Stanley in 1987, will be succeeded by Jonathan Pruzan, who has been overseeing Morgan Stanley’s work advising other financial institutions. | Google;Morgan Stanley;Ruth M Porat;Banking and Finance;Silicon Valley;Goldman Sachs Group;Amazon;Uber;MIT;Yahoo! |
ny0067674 | [
"nyregion"
] | 2014/12/27 | For Many People, Dec. 26 Is Also a Day of Celebration | Dec. 25. There are songs about that date, a day about which children dream, toward which Advent calendars point and on which a holiday is celebrated in a tinsel-spangled rapture. Poor Dec. 26. For much of New York City it is a calendar day tinged with notoriety by Christmas present exchange lines, and the fact that many must, on that day, begrudgingly return to work. This year, President Obama made the unusual announcement that for federal employees, Dec. 26 would be a day off, even though it is not a national holiday. But the president was only making official what many New Yorkers do already. There are many in this diverse city for whom Dec. 26 is a holiday. Their reverence for what is a “day after” for Yuletide revelers offers a model of how to avoid the after-Christmas doldrums that ensue as pine needles desiccate and tumbleweeds of wrapping paper strew living-room floors. Dec. 26 is the first night of Kwanzaa , a seven-day holiday, born in part from African harvest traditions, that was established by a professor named Maulana Karenga in 1966, to celebrate and foster unity among American blacks. On the night of Dec. 26, Sekou Branch, the director of programing at the Afrikan Poetry Theatre in Jamaica, Queens, passes around the traditional unity cup with his children. Each person sips from it and announces ways in which he or she will strive to connect more deeply with community, and themselves. Image At the Cock and Bull, a British gastro pub in Manhattan, Will Cooney of England watched a soccer match on Friday, which in England was Boxing Day, a day to give to the poor. Credit Andrea Mohin/The New York Times The holiday’s values speak particularly loudly this year, in a city simmering over fraught police relations, Mr. Branch said. “Nothing beats out Christmas, with the promotion of it, but this is a time when the principles of Kwanzaa could really come in handy.” For British New Yorkers, Dec. 26 is Boxing Day, a day to give to the poor, and for many, to continue sitting around the house in pajamas. Far from the United Kingdom, some spend the day eating comfort foods like steak and ale pie at the Cock and Bull, a British gastro pub in Midtown Manhattan, said Kevin Hynes, who owns the pub with his wife, Rasa. Mr. Hynes is actually from Ireland, where Dec. 26 is known as the Feast of St. Stephen, or St. Stephen’s Day, traditionally celebrated there with leisurely family outings. Stuck in his Manhattan restaurant on Friday, Mr. Hynes, who comes from a line of pub owners, said he did not mind — even back home his family worked on St. Stephen’s Day. “It’s probably why my parents had 10 kids,” he said. “So they could put us all to work on the day after Christmas.” In Lithuania, where his wife is from, Dec. 26 is a day spent making house calls — unannounced — to relatives you did not see the day before. Living here, she said, she has scrapped that tradition. “In New York, you have to look at your calendar and look at your friend’s calendar, and arrange a date two weeks in advance,” she said. The date has been historically auspicious in other ways, whether or not those occasions are celebrated. In 1893, Mao Zedong was born on Dec. 26. Mao spearheaded the revolution and was the first Communist leader of the People’s Republic of China. At Revolution Books in Chelsea, which sells works by Mao, Raymond Lotta, a writer who was serving as spokesman for the shop, said, “I can’t comment on anything happening at the bookstore.” Mr. Lotta declined to answer any questions, but praised Mao’s accomplishments. For some Bulgarians, the day can be celebrated as a version of Father’s Day. But that holiday was off the radar of Stefka Kovatcheva, the vocal coach of Gergana , the Bulgarian Children’s Chorus and School in Manhattan. Instead, she was spending the day as much of the city does. “Today is my celebration to rest,” she said. “Of doing nothing.” | Christmas;NYC;Holidays;Kwanzaa;Boxing Day |
ny0175992 | [
"business",
"media"
] | 2007/07/02 | Universal in Dispute With Apple Over iTunes | Steven P. Jobs , the co-founder and chief executive of Apple , is an emerging force in the mobile phone business, thanks to the snaking lines of gadget fans who queued up last week to buy the iPhone . But now he faces a headache in an industry Apple already dominates — digital music. The Universal Music Group of Vivendi, the world’s biggest music corporation, last week notified Apple that it will not renew its annual contract to sell music through iTunes, according to executives briefed on the issue who asked for anonymity because negotiations between the companies are confidential. Instead, Universal said that it would market music to Apple at will, a move that could allow Universal to remove its songs from the iTunes service on short notice if the two sides do not agree on pricing or other terms in the future, these executives said. Universal’s roster of artists includes stars like U2, Akon and Amy Winehouse. Representatives for Universal and Apple declined to comment. The move, which comes after a standoff in negotiations, is likely to be regarded in the music industry as a boiling over of the long-simmering tensions between Mr. Jobs and the major record labels. With the shift, Universal appears to be aiming to regain a bit of leverage — although at the risk of provoking a showdown with Mr. Jobs. In the four years since iTunes popularized the sale of music online, many in the music business have become discouraged by what they consider to be the near-monopoly that Mr. Jobs has held in the digital sector — the one part of the music business that is showing significant growth. In particular, Mr. Jobs’s stance on song pricing and the iPod ’s lack of compatibility with music services other than iTunes have become points of contention. By refusing to enter a long-term deal, Universal may continue to press for more favorable terms from Apple or even explore deals to sell its catalog exclusively through other channels. If Universal were to pull its catalog from iTunes, Mr. Jobs would lose access to record labels that collectively account for one out of every three new releases sold in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan data. But if Apple were to decide not to carry Universal’s recordings, the music company would likely sustain a serious blow: sales of digital music through iTunes and other sources accounted for more than 15 percent of Universal’s worldwide revenue in the first quarter, or more than $200 million. (Vivendi does not break out revenue from Apple alone). If push came to shove and Universal decided to remove its catalog from iTunes, it might not necessarily instigate a broader insurrection against Apple. The second-biggest corporation, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, recently decided to sign a new one-year contract making its catalog available to iTunes, according to executives briefed on the deal. A spokeswoman for the company, a joint venture of Sony and Bertelsmann, declined to comment. Some industry observers have cautioned against taking on Mr. Jobs directly. “When your customers are iPod addicts, who are you striking back against?,” said Ken Hertz, an entertainment lawyer who represents artists like Beyoncé and the Black Eyed Peas. “The record companies now have to figure out how to stimulate competition without alienating Steve Jobs, and they need to do that while Steve Jobs still has an incentive to keep them at the table.” But other music industry executives say the major labels must take a harder line with Apple at some point if they are to recalibrate the relationship. In particular, they say, it is unfair for Mr. Jobs to exert tight control over prices and other terms while profiting from the iPod. Mr. Jobs, in February, noted that less than 3 percent of the music on the average iPod was bought from iTunes, leading music executives to speculate that the devices in many instances are used to store pirated songs. (Of course, users can also fill their players with songs copied from their own CD collections.) Apple has now sold more than 100 million iPods, and the device’s ties to iTunes have helped make Apple the leading seller of digital music by a wide margin. The iTunes service accounts for 76 percent of digital music sales, and the contract talks come as it is on the rise — Apple recently surpassed Amazon.com to become the third-biggest seller of music over all, behind Wal-Mart and Best Buy, according to data from the market research firm NPD. All of that has transformed Apple into a prominent gatekeeper, wielding influence as a tastemaker by highlighting selected artists on iTunes storefront, and as an architect of the underlying business dynamics. Apple has stuck to a pricing system that charges a flat 99 cents for a song since iTunes started four years ago (except for the recent introduction of songs without copy protection, which carry a higher price). Mr. Jobs has long argued that a uniform system and low prices will invite new consumers and reduce piracy. But some music executives have been chafing at the flat rate that Apple has insisted upon in its contracts with the big record labels, and they have been pressing publicly or privately for the right to charge Apple more for popular songs to capitalize on demand or, in the event of special promotions, to charge less. Edgar Bronfman Jr., the chairman of Warner Music Group, reinforced that idea at a recent investor conference, saying “we believe that not every song, not every artist, not every album, is created equal.” In the backdrop of the pricing dispute is an investigation by European regulators who are studying the roles of the music companies and Apple in setting prices in certain international markets. At the same time, Mr. Jobs has refused the industry’s calls for Apple to license its proprietary copy restriction software to other manufacturers. Music executives want the software to be shared so that services other than iTunes can sell music that can be played on the iPod, and so that other devices can play songs bought from iTunes. Mr. Jobs has argued that sharing the software with other companies would increase the likelihood that its protections would be cracked by hackers, among other problems. Instead, he asked the music companies to drop their insistence on copy protection altogether. So far, only one of the four music companies, EMI, has made a deal to sell unrestricted music through iTunes. | Apple Inc;Universal Music Group;iTunes;Jobs Steven P;Computers and the Internet;Recordings and Downloads (Audio);iPhone;Art |
ny0026003 | [
"sports",
"football"
] | 2013/08/13 | Giants Look for Consistent Offense After Preseason Game Shows Holes | EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — After practice Monday, Giants Coach Tom Coughlin quickly pointed out that there were only nine workout days remaining before the regular season. “Can you imagine that?” he asked. “Nine practices. It’s ridiculous.” There is rarely enough practice time to satisfy Coughlin, but his distress indicated that he thought this Giants group still had a sizable distance to cover before it passed his eye test for Week 1. As they did last season, the Giants expect to rely on their offensive explosiveness, and Saturday’s preseason opener, an 18-13 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers, certainly presented a few optimistic flashes of potential. It also exposed some noticeable pitfalls, particularly among the running backs, both in blocking and in holding onto the ball. There was Andre Brown’s second-quarter fumble, a particular irritant for Coughlin. After David Wilson lost a fumble in the opener last season, he stayed in Coughlin’s doghouse for months. And there were some missed connections, sloppy blocks and offensive sluggishness, all of which is to be expected in early August, but nonetheless did not leave the offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride particularly cheery after he reviewed the video. “As a coach, you’re never happy,” Gilbride said, by way of laying out a disclaimer to reporters Monday. “I thought we were very inconsistent,” Gilbride added. “When they started moving, we didn’t react nearly as quickly as you need to, to be an efficient, consistent offense. That was disappointing.” Consistency was something that dogged the Giants throughout last season, and tellingly they finished in the middle of the pack in the N.F.L. in passing yards (12th), rushing yards (14th) and total yards (14th). One thing they did excel at was making big plays, particularly passing the ball, and Saturday’s game showed that their potential in that department still exists. Quarterback Eli Manning connected with wide receiver Victor Cruz for a 57-yard touchdown to give the Giants a 10-3 lead in the first quarter — a lightning strike in a rather ho-hum performance by Manning. Image A preseason opener on Saturday showed Coach Tom Coughlin the Giants’ weak spots,. Credit Don Wright/Associated Press “We’re working on our timing,” Cruz said. “I’ve been working on my routes, crisp and clean, and that was just another step towards that.” Likewise, Gilbride said he had been impressed with the second-year receiver Rueben Randle, who has looked good as the third option this training camp. Gilbride said he felt Randle was “light years” ahead of where he was last year. “His work ethic, his leadership has been phenomenal, and he’s always had great hands,” Gilbride said, adding, “I’ll be very surprised if he doesn’t continue to play at a high level.” On paper, the Giants’ receiving corps — including a handful of young tight ends — appears as dangerous as any in Gilbride’s tenure. Manning said he could overlook the fits and starts of Saturday’s game and feel confident in how the team should be capable of moving the football during the regular season. “Your best game of the year is not supposed to be the first preseason game,” Manning said. “There’s going to be a lot of areas where you have new guys, and there’s things you can improve.” The biggest offensive hurdle figures to be replacing the veteran running back Ahmad Bradshaw with Wilson and Brown, two young players still adjusting to the rigors of the league. Wilson has shown bursts in practice, but managed just 16 yards on five carries Saturday. As a team, the Giants rushed for 84 yards on 33 carries. After the game, Coughlin grumbled mostly about his team’s inability to move the ball on the ground consistently, as well as the offensive line’s performance picking up the Steelers’ blitz packages and the unit’s two turnovers. But with three more preseason games and nine practices remaining, the Giants believe there is time to iron out the wrinkles. “I’m happy with the guys we have,” Gilbride said. “You just hope you stay healthy and anybody that’s coming back from injury comes back all the way. If we do that, we should have a good group.” EXTRA POINTS Safety Antrel Rolle was carted off the practice field Monday after rolling his right ankle in pass coverage during a drill. Coach Tom Coughlin said Rolle would undergo a magnetic resonance imaging test to determine the extent of his injury. The Giants were already practicing without cornerback Corey Webster, who has a groin strain. ... Justin Pugh (concussion) and Justin Tuck (back) returned to practice after missing time last week. Pugh said his head had cleared and he expected to be ready to play in Sunday’s preseason game against Indianapolis. | Football;Giants;Tom Coughlin;Kevin Gilbride |
ny0198133 | [
"business",
"media"
] | 2009/07/27 | Gannett Cuts Jobs, Then Cuts Severance Pay | Last December, when the Gannett newspaper chain laid off thousands of workers, Jenny Poon was not one of them. Now she wishes she had been. Ms. Poon, an art director at The Arizona Republic, lost her job this month in the latest wave of layoffs, as the Gannett Company , like other corporations, shed jobs to keep up with falling revenue. But rather than pay severance, as it did in previous rounds, Gannett is paying what is called supplemental unemployment benefits, which allows the company to shift part of the cost onto the states. The company says that for most employees the result will be about the same — that in fact, many will get a little more, and a few could get much more. But employees are discovering that some of them, like Ms. Poon, stand to get a lot less than they would have under the old severance packages, and some will get nothing. Ms. Poon, 26, has a graphic design business that generates a little income, which will lower her state unemployment benefits and may be enough to wipe them out entirely. She is awaiting the state’s ruling to learn which. And if she is not eligible for payments from the state, she will receive nothing from Gannett. Other former Republic employees who had part-time second jobs say those jobs now mean missing out on thousands of dollars from the company. “I don’t blame them for cutting and trying to save money because things are bad, but there ought to be a decent severance,” Ms. Poon said. “This way it punishes people for trying to find work.” Gannett, a largely nonunion company, is under no obligation to make severance or any other payments to most of the people it lays off, and it is not alone in looking for ways to spend less on employees as it weathers the downturn; many newspaper companies, including The New York Times Company, have cut wages and benefits. As for supplemental unemployment programs like Gannett’s, “they exist but they’re pretty rare,” said Andrew Stettner, deputy director of the National Employment Law Project. Several major publishers, including the Tribune Company, the McClatchy Company and the Times Company, said they have never used one and pay standard severance instead. Robin Pence, a Gannett spokeswoman, said the 1,400 people laid off this month should not think of the program as severance. “The purpose of this is to supplement your unemployment while you’re getting a job,” she said. “It’s a transitional pay, not severance.” That distinction is lost on employees who say that the practical effect of being paid — or not — is the same, no matter how the program is labeled. In this month’s layoffs, as in previous rounds, affected employees can keep receiving the equivalent of their salaries for a number of weeks equal to their years of service; for instance, a 10-year employee would continue to be paid for 10 weeks. But in this round, the company told workers to file for state unemployment, which in Arizona and some other states means filing again every week. If they qualify for state payments, they can apply for supplemental benefits to Total Management Solutions, a company hired by Gannett to run the program, and receive the difference between their former salaries and their state unemployment checks. The company said it did not know how much it would save, compared with paying severance, or how many employees would be adversely affected. It said most employees would get a little more than they would have from severance, because unemployment benefits are exempt from Social Security and Medicare taxes. The move raised the minimum benefit from two weeks’ pay to three. And laid-off employees with more than 26 years’ service — Gannett said it did not know how many there were — could get significantly more than they would have from severance, because the maximum benefit was raised from 26 weeks to 36. Gannett operates hundreds of newspapers in many states, but the benefit restrictions are a particular concern in Arizona, whose unemployment benefits are among the nation’s lowest, capped at $265 a week. The Arizona Department of Economic Security says that unemployment beneficiaries become ineligible if they bring in more in a week than their maximum weekly unemployment check. And for former Gannett workers, any interruption in unemployment eligibility means no further payments from the company. “If you take part-time work or freelance work, even for a week, you get nothing from Gannett,” said Dave Lumia, 52, who was an assistant sports editor at The Republic. “It certainly doesn’t encourage me to go out and look for work.” Mr. Lumia, who worked at the paper for 13 years, said his wife lost her job in December, and they are weighing whether they can afford to help their daughter pay for college this fall. Jennifer Johnson, who was laid off from her job as an editor on The Republic’s Page 1 team, quickly found a new post, working for the Arizona Democratic Party. But that means she will not receive nine of the 10 weeks’ pay she would have gotten, she said. Labor lawyers say that in a small number of states — including New York, where Gannett has several newspapers — there is another way that people could receive much less than they would have under the company’s former severance plans. In those states, people who lose their jobs can receive full severance payments and full state unemployment benefits simultaneously. But Gannett’s new program makes that impossible. | Gannett Co;Layoffs and Job Reductions;Newspapers;Unemployment Insurance;Unemployment;Wages and Salaries |
ny0274994 | [
"business",
"international"
] | 2016/02/16 | Mario Draghi Plays Up Health of Eurozone Banking System | The president of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi, says that some eurozone banks “face challenges” but that the system is more resilient because of stronger oversight after the global financial crisis. Mr. Draghi said on Monday that thanks to new supervision at the European Union level, banks were in a position to reduce the amount of bad loans burdening their finances “in an orderly manner over the next few years.” He made his comments at a meeting of the European Parliament’s Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee in Brussels, a week after significant swings in the stock prices of major European banks, including Deutsche Bank and Société Générale. Mr. Draghi said some banks faced challenges from litigation and restructuring costs as well as from soured investments. “Clearly, some parts of the banking sector in the euro area still face a number of challenges,” he said. Seeking to identify loans that had little hope of being repaid, the European Central Bank carried out a wide-ranging check of bank finances in 2014. Mr. Draghi said the check had forced banks to take steps to strengthen their finances. Still, Europe moved more slowly than the United States to clean up bank finances after the financial crisis. Banks are critical to the economy because they supply the credit needed for companies to expand. The recent sharp drops in stock prices reflect fears that banks might be exposed to risks from countries and companies that have an outsize dependence on the production of commodities. Prices have dropped because of fears about the health of the global economy. Mr. Draghi said the situation was amplified by perceptions that banks might have difficulty adjusting to an economy with lower growth and interest rates. Low interest rates, in part a result of central bank policies, have squeezed bank earnings by narrowing the difference between the rate at which they borrow and the rate at which they lend. The European Central Bank is expected to discuss whether to expand its stimulus measures at its next meeting on March 10. Mr. Draghi said there were “a variety of instruments” that the central bank could employ if policy makers decided more stimulus measures were needed. It could increase its 60 billion euros in monthly bond purchases with newly printed money, a step aimed at driving down already low interest rates and raising inflation that remains too low at 0.4 percent. He expressed some frustration with the extent to which governments had not used budget policy to help the economy at a time of economic weakness — or had not taken pro-growth steps to cut regulation. He urged governments that were in better shape financially to spend more on public investment, which would help growth, and to avoid excessive taxation. Monetary policy from the central bank has been “the only truly stimulative policy over the past four years,” he said. | Mario Draghi;Banking and Finance;Europe;European Central Bank;Euro Crisis;European Parliament;EU;Interest rate;International trade |
ny0142079 | [
"business",
"media"
] | 2008/11/19 | Gamer Gets Sports Star Treatment From Dr Pepper | DR PEPPER plans to announce on Wednesday that, for the first time, it is promoting a professional athlete on bottles that it will distribute nationally. But the shaggy-haired athlete on the label is not a traditional sports star: he’s a 21-year-old who has a three-year, $250,000 contract to play video games. Dr Pepper is featuring the Halo 3 player Tom Taylor, who goes by Tsquared, on the labels, which will appear on about 175 million 20-ounce bottles from January to April. It may seem a strange promotion for a national brand like Dr Pepper. But video games are hugely popular with young men, who are playing them instead of watching television and reading magazines. Marketers are trying to advertise their products to this group by sponsoring tournaments or placing advertisements within the games themselves. (The Obama presidential campaign, for example, put ads on virtual billboards in the game Burnout Paradise.) Mr. Taylor may not have the name recognition of, say, Derek Jeter, but he resembles him in other ways: he has a contract with the sports association Major League Gaming, puts in up to 15 hours a day practicing his Halo 3 skills, has an endorsement deal with Dr Pepper and has a high profile among gamers. “It’s not like I’m Tom Cruise or Usher walking down the street or anything like that, but it’s gotten to the point where you have to look your best when you go out,” Mr. Taylor said. “I carry a Sharpie around, like Peyton Manning,” With the new labels, Dr Pepper is trying to grab the attention of gaming fans, who at Major League Gaming are largely men in their teenage years and early 20s. “We think there’s an opportunity to bring more people into the Dr Pepper franchise,” said Terry Hockens, brand manager for Dr Pepper. Dr Pepper struck the deal with Major League Gaming, a New York City company that organizes teams and competitions. This year, the league has 50 professional teams, each specializing in one of five multiplayer games, including Halo 3 and Call of Duty 4. The teams compete in six tournaments throughout the year (amateurs can play at some), and a typical tournament draws 12,000 to 15,000 spectators over three days, according to the league. Fans can watch the competitions online at MLGPro.com . They can also track each team’s performance at M.L.G.’s sister site, GameBattles.com , which has 2.5 million registered users. Brands like Dr Pepper, Stride gum, Old Spice and Panasonic have signed on as league sponsors, which means they have signs and booths at events, promotion on the league’s Web site and permission to use its logos in their marketing. “The successful marketing of major stars is what sports leagues have always been about,” said Matthew Bromberg, the chief executive of Major League Gaming. “What’s really going on here is for tens of millions of young men, the aspiration to be a pro gamer is the new dream of sports stardom,” he said. The Dr Pepper label promotion is the biggest retail program for the league, Mr. Bromberg said. The promotion lets consumers enter bottle-cap codes online to win points in tournaments and chances to win prizes like T-shirts and televisions. The labels featuring Mr. Taylor will appear on regular and diet 20-ounce bottles. About 80 percent of the total number of Dr Pepper bottles on sale during the promotion will feature the special labels, Ms. Hockens said. Dr Pepper has had other label promotions, including one for “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” this year, and has run regional sports-themed promotions, like one for the Dallas Cowboys. However, this is the first sports promotion with national distribution. Dr Pepper began its league sponsorship this year. “Initially, we were looking for a new way to reach our target audience, and we knew that gaming as a genre was extremely important to our target audience,” said Richard Lyons, the manager of the interactive team at Dr Pepper. League executives suggested that Dr Pepper sponsor not only the organization but also a team, and Dr Pepper marketers liked the four members of the team Str8 Rippin, including Mr. Taylor. “They really are rock stars in their own little world,” Mr. Lyons said. Interestingly, the league itself does very little promotion: no online ads, no television ads, no print ads. Still, said Billy Pidgeon, a games industry analyst for the market research firm IDC, the group “has the highest visibility” of any online gaming league in the United States. Competitors include the World Cyber Games, with sponsors including Samsung and Xbox 360, and the Electronic Sports League. | Advertising and Marketing;Athletics and Sports;Computer and Video Games |
ny0173562 | [
"world",
"middleeast"
] | 2007/10/05 | Investigator Said to Find Case Against Marine Weak | BAGHDAD, Oct. 4 — A military investigator has recommended dropping murder charges against a Marine infantryman charged with killing 17 apparently unarmed Iraqis in the volatile city of Haditha nearly two years ago, a defense lawyer in the case said Thursday. Instead, the investigator recommended that if the case proceeded to court-martial, the marine, Staff Sgt. Frank D. Wuterich, be charged only with negligent homicide for the deaths of seven women and children killed in a home assaulted by a Marine squad after a roadside bomb struck its convoy, said Mark Zaid, a lawyer for Sergeant Wuterich. The investigator recommended that no charges be filed against Sergeant Wuterich in the deaths of the other 10 Iraqis he was originally accused of killing. The investigator, Lt. Col. Paul J. Ware, a Marine lawyer, has sent his recommendation to the commanding general of the First Marine Expeditionary Force, who will decide whether to try the case by court-martial. Colonel Ware has presided over hearings for all three enlisted men charged with murder in the Haditha episode and last summer recommended dropping all charges against the previous two, Lance Cpls. Justin L. Sharratt and Stephen B. Tatum, citing a lack of evidence. Colonel Ware said those killings should be viewed in the context of combat against an enemy that ruthlessly employs civilians as cover. He also warned that murder charges against marines could harm the morale of troops still in Iraq. The commanding general, James N. Mattis, has dismissed the charges against one of the lance corporals but has not yet ruled on the other case. In his 37-page report on Sergeant Wuterich’s case, Colonel Ware again struck a skeptical tone about the evidence presented by prosecutors, said someone who had reviewed the document, and seemed inclined to give the accused infantryman the benefit of the doubt. Colonel Ware found testimony from the main prosecution witness, Sgt. Sanick Dela Cruz, to be “wholly incredible.” “The case against Staff Sergeant Wuterich, that he committed murder, is simply not strong enough to prove beyond a reasonable doubt,” Colonel Ware wrote, according to a person who read the report and quoted portions of it to a reporter. Prosecuting the Haditha case has posed special challenges because the killings were not comprehensively investigated when they first occurred. Months later, when details came to light, there were no bodies to examine and no Iraqi witnesses to testify. On Nov. 17, 2005, Sergeant Wuterich, then a 25-year-old squad leader, was the senior enlisted man in a group of marines that attacked four homes after the roadside bombing of their convoy. Over several hours, the marines killed 24 people, including five men in a car that pulled up near the scene of the explosion, and about 10 women and children in the nearby homes. In an interview with “60 Minutes” broadcast this year, Sergeant Wuterich, of Meriden, Conn., acknowledged killing the five men from the car because, he said, they had run away, disobeying shouted orders to stand still. Sergeant Dela Cruz had testified that he saw Sergeant Wuterich kill the five men while their hands were up. Inside the homes where many Iraqis were killed, including the seven women and children Sergeant Wuterich was accused of killing, marines used grenades and rifles to clear the structures of enemy fighters. No weapons were found in the homes. In the report, Colonel Ware said he believed that a jury would probably decline to convict Sergeant Wuterich of any crime other than dereliction of duty, for failing to ensure that his men followed the rules of engagement when they fired their weapons, according to a person who has read the document. “I believe after reviewing all the evidence no trier of fact can conclude that Staff Sgt. Wuterich formed the criminal intent to kill,” Colonel Ware wrote, the person who reviewed the report said. “The evidence is contradictory, the forensic analysis is limited, and almost all the witnesses have an obvious bias or prejudice.” Several officers were earlier charged with dereliction of duty for failing to properly investigate the episode. Investigators recommended dropping all charges against a battalion lawyer, and last month prosecutors dropped all charges against the commander of Company K, Third Battalion, First Marines . The case against a battalion commander was recommended to proceed to court-martial. | Haditha (Iraq);Murders and Attempted Murders;Decisions and Verdicts;Wuterich Frank D;United States Armament and Defense;Courts-Martial;Marine Corps |
ny0203920 | [
"sports",
"football"
] | 2009/08/15 | Q. & A. on Michael Vick | How will he be used? Vick’s versatility made him attractive to the Eagles. They ran the Wildcat sporadically last season, but with few passes. Vick’s unpredictability — he could be sent out as a receiver — will expand the Wildcat and keep defenses on their heels. When can he be ready? Vick has been working out with a trainer since being released from prison two months ago. The Eagles signed him without a tryout, and the next month — when Vick can practice and play in two preseason games — will be critical for getting him back into football shape. Has he lost a step? That is the $1.6 million question, and it is going to be answered during practice in the next few days. Vick ran for more than 1,000 yards in 2006, his last season, but there is no point of reference for what he is attempting. His nearly two-year incarceration limited his ability to train. The Eagles took a leap of faith, hoping that his most devastating weapon, his legs, were intact. Does the wait for full reinstatement help or hurt? It probably helps. Vick not only has to learn a playbook and get into game shape, but he also has to get used to a new life, complete with plenty of people who do not think he should be playing in the N.F.L. That is a lot, given that he will probably be back by mid-October. JUDY BATTISTA | Football;Vick Michael;Philadelphia Eagles |
ny0231456 | [
"business",
"global"
] | 2010/09/23 | Rumors Swirl of a Daimler-Fiat Truck Deal | FRANKFURT — The German car and truck maker Daimler, responding to a report in an Italian newspaper, said Wednesday that it was not in talks to acquire the non-car business of Fiat of Italy. But some analysts speculated that Daimler, based in Stuttgart, might be interested in a partnership with the Italian conglomerate’s Iveco truck division. Daimler is already the world’s largest maker of heavy trucks, sold under the Mercedes brand as well as Freightliner in the United States and Fuso in Asia. Fiat’s Iveco unit might help Daimler expand in emerging markets like India, where the company’s vehicles are too expensive to sell in large numbers. An alliance with Iveco would be more likely than an outright acquisition, which would raise antitrust issues in Europe. Sven Kreitmair, a credit analyst at UniCredit in Munich who follows Daimler, noted that the company had often used partnerships as a way of addressing specialized markets. For, example Daimler is cooperating with Renault-Nissan in engines and other components for small cars and light trucks, and the two companies own 3 percent stakes in each other. “Certainly something like this could make sense” in trucks, Mr. Kreitmair said. Fiat’s shareholders last week approved a proposal to separate its passenger car business from the rest of the company, which also includes Case New Holland farm and construction vehicles and La Stampa, the daily newspaper in Turin, where Fiat is based. Analysts said it was very unlikely that Daimler would want to acquire the other Fiat businesses. The Italian newspaper La Repubblica reported that Daimler offered Fiat €9 billion, or about $12 billion, for the assets over the summer. The talks went no further because Fiat wanted €10.5 billion, the newspaper said. Daimler already has partnerships with companies like Foton Motor in China that it could use to serve emerging markets, said Ferdinand Dudenhöffer, a professor at the University of Duisburg-Essen who follows the car industry, “Why do they need an Italian partner as well?” Mr. Dudenhöffer said. “The integration costs would be too high. It doesn’t make sense.” “Iveco needs a partner long term,” he added. “I can’t imagine that Mercedes or Daimler would be the ideal partner.” A Daimler spokesman, Florian Martens, did not deny that the company may have held talks with Fiat in the past, saying only, “There are no talks with Fiat on this topic.” In a statement, Fiat said it was continually reviewing opportunities to cooperate with other companies in the industry. One reason to split up Fiat was to allow more flexibility for such opportunities, Fiat said without mentioning Daimler. Chancellor Angela Merkel’s cabinet approved legislation Wednesday making it more difficult to mount stealth takeovers like Porsche’s acquisition of a major stake in Volkswagen in 2008. The move, two years in the making, is intended to plug gaps in disclosure rules for stock options, including swaps held by investors building a position in companies. The provision helped Porsche’s bid to build a majority stake in Volkswagen and Schaeffler Group’s attempt to control Continental. Both campaigns ultimately backfired. Trade groups representing the German finance industry said the government measure would probably benefit investment strategies by increasing transparency and would not necessarily hamper takeovers. At present, disclosure applies only to common shares. “It’s hard to argue against the basic logic of the legislation,” said Frank Dornseifer, managing director of the BVAI Alternative Investment Federation. Widening disclosure rules “amplifies insight for all market players and not just for executives at companies whose shares are being bought invisibly.” | Fiat SpA;Trucks and Trucking;Mergers Acquisitions and Divestitures |
ny0293286 | [
"us"
] | 2016/06/10 | Idaho Town Is Rattled Months After Reports of a Brutal Assault | DIETRICH, Idaho — Anonymous phone callers from distant area codes have unleashed tirades of invective on the residents of this tiny rural town. Strangers cruise its paved and dirt roads, seeming to drive through just for a look. And come fall, Dean Grissom’s 7- and 11-year-old grandchildren will be going to another school. “Their parents think the kids aren’t safe,” said Mr. Grissom, 57, who works for the Idaho Fish and Game agency. He said that sending the children to classes in Shoshone, eight miles away, was unnecessary in his view, but that he understood the parents’ fears. A town he loves has been damaged. There is a lot of debate here about what happened at the town’s only school on Oct. 23 after a football practice: an assault, a racist attack, bullying, a failure of supervision by school officials, or some combination. Hardly anyone disputes, though, that this town of 350 people has been shaken to the core. State and local prosecutors say that several white football players bullied and brutally assaulted a mentally disabled black teammate in a locker room that October day, shoving a coat hanger into his rectum while other boys held his arms. Two of the players accused in the attack were charged as adults with felony sexual assault and could face life in prison if convicted. A third teammate has been charged as a juvenile. A preliminary hearing on the criminal charges is scheduled for Friday. In addition, a $10 million federal civil suit was filed last month by the boy’s adoptive parents, Tim and Shelly McDaniel, who are white. In it, they accused the school district and its administrators, trustees, employees and volunteers of failing in their legal duty to protect the McDaniels’ son, who they say endured months of racist taunts, humiliation and physical abuse. After the locker-room attack, the boy required treatment at two hospitals for rectal injuries. Image Tim McDaniel at home in Dietrich, Idaho, last weekend with some of the 20 children he and his wife have adopted. Credit Kim Raff for The New York Times “The school district and individual defendants acted with deliberate indifference to the harassment, humiliation, mental and physical abuse and mistreatment of the plaintiff by students of the district and thereby permitted and caused him to be bullied, beaten and raped,” the lawsuit said. In big ways and small, the repercussions of both the crime and the family’s response are already rippling out, no matter what happens in court or at the school, which has 245 students in grades K-12. Mr. McDaniel, 60, who has taught science at the school for 21 years, put the family’s house up for sale last month and is looking for work elsewhere. The cars and trucks that sometimes slowly cruise by out front, he said, and the funny looks he gets around town have unnerved him and his wife, who is 51. On July 1, a state law allowing Idahoans to carry a concealed weapon without a permit will take effect, and Mr. McDaniel said he planned to be armed after that. “If I could be gone today, I’d be gone,” he said, sitting outside in the yard on a recent afternoon as dogs wandered about near chicken and goat pens. The McDaniels stood out here in rural Idaho even before the locker-room episode. Over the years, they have adopted 20 children of various races — white, Hispanic and black — many of them with physical, mental or emotional troubles, including autism and fetal alcohol syndrome. A few years ago, Mr. McDaniel raised hackles by teaching sex education in his science classes with illustrations that some critics said were too graphic, and one of his daughters led a campaign on Facebook to save his job. The legal terrain to come is a minefield in itself, education law experts said. Courts have generally recognized that school officials cannot be everywhere all the time, and have not typically held teachers, administrators or coaches legally responsible for occasional bullying. But that deference can fade when race, religion or disability is involved, said John Dayton, a professor of education law at the University of Georgia. In those cases, courts have sometimes tilted hard the other way, he said, if they find that a clearly vulnerable group or category of students was not sufficiently protected. Other education experts said the central question raised by the McDaniels’ lawsuit — whether school officials should be held responsible for failing to stop a culture of bullying before it escalates to violence — had become harder to answer as new and different ways of bullying have proliferated. “The expectation of supervision has increased,” said Ann E. Blankenship, an assistant professor of educational leadership at the University of Southern Mississippi. Technology, she added, “opens the door to bullying opportunities 24 hours a day.” Image One of the McDaniels’ children, Sadisha, in the family’s yard in Dietrich. The family put their home up for sale last month. Credit Kim Raff for The New York Times Don Heiken, Dietrich’s mayor, has publicly called on the school to fire people involved in the football program, who he said must have been aware that bullying, if not outright racism, was getting worse. The boy, according to his parents’ suit, was stripped of his pants on the bus after one football game, while other students took photos. He was “continuously” subjected, the suit said, to “wedgies” — his underwear yanked sharply upward, sometimes so violently that he came home with torn shorts. “They had to have known,” Mr. Heiken said in an interview. It probably did not help, Mr. McDaniel said, that in a school where sports are hugely important, his son was unskilled at football. Unable to remember the plays, the boy was called offsides — crossing the scrimmage line before the ball was snapped — six or seven times in a row in a single game, his father said. Dietrich itself, about 35 miles from Twin Falls and about 60 miles from the resort community of Sun Valley, is changing and growing, which has become part of the discussion about what happened here. The population has doubled in the last couple of decades and is expected to double again even faster, according to a planning presentation made recently to the town council. Lynn Johnson, 78, said “outsiders,” as he called the wave of newcomers, were changing the town where he has lived for the past 42 years, and not always for the better. Both of the students charged as adults in the case — Tanner Ray Ward, 17, and John R. K. Howard, 18 — were relatively new to the community, for example. The defendant being tried as a juvenile has not been named in court documents. “Neither of them boys are from Dietrich,” said Mr. Johnson, who drove a school bus and did maintenance work for the school for 17 years. “It wouldn’t have happened without them.” A lawyer for Mr. Ward declined to comment, and a lawyer for Mr. Howard did not respond to phone messages. The school superintendent and principal, both defendants in the civil suit, did not respond to emails and phone messages. Mr. Grissom, who lives just a few blocks from the school, said that he knew and admired the McDaniel family, and that he thought that admiration was shared in much of the town. That they would move away was one more piece of the damage, he said. “People look at this and say a lot of people are prejudiced here,” Mr. Grissom said. “They’re not.” | Rape;Abuse of the Disabled;K-12 Education;Race and Ethnicity;Idaho |
ny0153467 | [
"business"
] | 2008/01/18 | Lehman Cuts Back in Mortgages | Lehman Brothers Holdings , the investment bank, said on Thursday that it would cease wholesale mortgage lending in the United States because of the continued housing slump, a move that includes 1,300 job cuts and a $40 million charge. The investment bank had set up a wholesale lending business to purchase loans made by others and then package them into bonds. But as the bottom dropped out of the subprime mortgage market, the business brought steep losses for Wall Street’s biggest banks. Lehman has eliminated about 2,500 jobs already from its mortgage business, folding most of the operations into its Aurora Loan Services unit. “While it was necessary for us to structure our mortgage origination businesses in the U.S. to reflect the change in industry dynamics, we deeply regret the impact this action has on our people,” Theodore P. Janulis, global head of mortgage capital for Lehman Brothers, said in a statement. Aurora, which makes loans to customers with higher credit ratings than subprime borrowers, will continue providing mortgage loans to consumers. But the unit’s business directly from consumers is limited since Aurora does not have retail mortgage locations. The cuts will lead to the consolidation of operation centers in California, Florida and New Jersey. Defaults and delinquencies on risky subprime mortgages grew at an alarming rate last year, causing losses in mortgage-backed bonds and other investments. Lehman, the nation’s largest underwriter of mortgage-backed bonds, has been mostly unscathed by the credit crisis. Lehman Brothers beat Wall Street expectations when it reported fourth-quarter results in December. Investment management fees and equity trading offset a $3.5 billion write-down from mortgage-related losses. Lehman shares fell $3.40 Thursday to close at $54.66. | Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc;Mortgages;Layoffs and Job Reductions;Stocks and Bonds |
ny0059083 | [
"world",
"asia"
] | 2014/08/29 | Indian Student Said to Have Joined ISIS Is Reported Dead | MUMBAI, India — An Indian engineering student who suddenly left for Iraq with three friends this spring, and who was believed to have joined the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, has been reported dead, a man whose nephew was part of the group said Thursday. The student, Arif Majeed, 22, left his home in Kalyan, outside Mumbai, in May, telling his family he was going to study, and next contacted them from Iraq, where he and his friends slipped away from a religious tour group and traveled to Mosul, a city now dominated by Sunni militants. The case has drawn the attention of the authorities because it is one of the first documented instances of young Indians being recruited online by an international jihadist group. Iftekhar Khan, whose nephew Fahad Tanvir Sheikh was one of the three men who left with Mr. Majeed, said the news of Mr. Majeed’s death was conveyed in a phone call by another of the group who made the journey to Iraq, Shaheen Farooqui Tanki. “Arif’s father requested Shaheen’s family to ask about their son Arif. A few days later, Shaheen called again and said Arif had died. He didn’t know how but he was crying,” Mr. Khan said. Several Indian newspapers reported that Mr. Majeed had been killed in an explosion, possibly as a result of an airstrike. Mr. Tanki’s family gave Mr. Majeed’s father the news after evening prayers on Tuesday. “Imagine the state of a father who does not even get to see his son’s body,” Mr. Khan said. In a letter left behind for his family, Mr. Majeed, who was Muslim, asked for forgiveness and said that he would next see them in heaven. He said he was glad to leave India, which he described as “a sinful country.” A n announcement , in Urdu, Arabic, English and Hindi, on a website often used by ISIS , said Mr. Majeed, shown holding a weapon, had been martyred in Iraq. It said that Mr. Majeed, who went by the name Abu Ali Al Hindi, had participated in the fight for the Mosul Dam and married a Palestinian woman from Gaza. The information could not be independently confirmed. “This website is false. Anyone can make a website and send a wrong message,” Mr. Khan said. “Our boys were peaceful.” | Arif Majeed;India;ISIS,ISIL,Islamic State;Islam;Iraq |
ny0080015 | [
"sports",
"olympics"
] | 2015/02/07 | Photos: Hardly a City Frozen in Time | A year after the Sochi Olympics, the flags of the competing nations continue to flutter in the breeze rolling in from the Black Sea, and oversize cuddly mascots still roam the vast expanse of the Olympic Park’s central plaza, the heart of Russia’s monumental Olympic effort. Common to the postscript of every Olympics, and especially these Games — the most expensive in history and the focus of new questions over who will ultimately cover their immense costs — is the difficult task of moving beyond past glories and finding new sports challenges. Sochi’s most obvious innovation is a Formula One track that now meanders through the Olympic site. In October, it hosted Russia’s first Grand Prix, won by the world champion Lewis Hamilton. The Olympic Park is changing in other ways, too. A tennis academy has been established in Adler Arena, where speedskaters once raced — though the ice can be restored in little more than a week when needed. And the Fisht stadium, which hosted the opening and closing ceremonies, is being renovated for Russia’s next grand parade on the world’s sports stage, the 2018 World Cup. The other stadiums are adapting to a new, if irregular, existence. The Ice Cube, once home to curling, has started holding concerts. And the Bolshoy Ice Dome has turned into Russia’s principal hockey arena. In late December, the national team triumphed in the international Channel One Cup, giving Russian hockey fans the victory that proved so elusive at the Olympics. Up in the mountains, even as the hugely expensive ski jump and bobsled tracks lay quiet, workers were continuing construction on vacation villas in Krasnaya Polyana, part of continuing efforts to make a world-class resort. But as the season started late last year, ski guides and businesses were still waiting for both snow and tourists, hoping that the sudden devaluation of the ruble would divert Russian skiers from the Alps to the Caucasus. | 2014 Winter Olympics;Sochi |
ny0271797 | [
"nyregion"
] | 2016/05/27 | Atlantic City Rescue Plan Approved by New Jersey Lawmakers | New Jersey lawmakers on Thursday approved a package of measures meant to help Atlantic City avert bankruptcy and a state takeover as the seaside resort stands on the verge of running out of money. The legislation would not spare the city, which faces mounting debt and has endured several casino closings, from making deep spending cuts, including slashing services and reducing the size of its work force. Nonetheless, some local officials have embraced the measures, which require Gov. Chris Christie’s approval, as offering a chance to resolve the city’s problems before the state steps in. “This plan gives Atlantic City the opportunity to do the job itself to prevent bankruptcy and make desperately needed financial reforms,” Stephen M. Sweeney, a Democrat who is the State Senate president, said in a statement. “We must have a workable plan that is implemented and followed that will reduce spending, reform government operations so that city services are maintained and the taxpayers of Atlantic City and New Jersey are better protected.” Mr. Christie, a Republican, has accused Atlantic City officials of being fiscally irresponsible and has pushed for state intervention. Speaking on a radio show on Wednesday, he did not explicitly offer his support for the legislation, but said that “everything that the Senate president and I asked for is there.” A spokesman said on Thursday that the governor was reviewing the legislation. The measures approved on Thursday would give Atlantic City five months to come up with a balanced budget for 2017 and a five-year plan that puts the city on a path toward financial recovery. The city would receive a loan from the state as well as payments from casinos in lieu of property taxes. The casino money would amount to $120 million in the first year and increase by at least 2 percent a year over the next nine years, lawmakers said. The payments, according to a statement issued by Senator Sweeney’s office, would “end the tax appeals that have choked off” a stable flow of money from the casinos to the city. The legislation requires the city to identify spending cuts, as well as ways to increase revenue and reduce debt. The city would be able to use early retirement programs to shrink its work force, lawmakers said. The city would also have to make required payments to the local school district and to Atlantic County. If Atlantic City officials failed to come up with the plan called for in the legislation, or if the city did not meet its obligations, the state would have the authority to rein in the city’s finances. Image Gov. Chris Christie; the Senate president, Stephen M. Sweeney, left; and Mayor Don Guardian of Atlantic City in January. Credit Kevin R. Wexler/The Record, via Associated Press “It actually is what the Assembly was looking for — something that would give Atlantic City the ability to be able to reach a state of healthiness,” the State Assembly speaker, Vincent Prieto, a Democrat, said in a statement. “It doesn’t trample on collective bargaining on day one. It keeps the self-governance.” The legislation was criticized by some lawmakers, who do not believe the city should be given time to find a solution. “I see this as enabling that mismanagement to continue,” said Senator Gerald Cardinale, a Republican. “The losers,” he added, “are the taxpayers from the rest of the state.” Atlantic City, whose boardwalk and casinos made it a jewel of the Jersey Shore, has lost some of its luster in recent years. Four of its 12 casinos closed in 2014, eliminating thousands of jobs and shrinking the tax base. As the city reckoned with the severity of its financial situation, officials considered shutting down nonessential services. Though that move was avoided after public employees agreed to defer their paychecks for four weeks, the prospect that money would soon run out still loomed. Though the city has so far avoided bankruptcy, some analysts expressed concern over whether officials would be able to meet the demands necessary to stave off the state’s intervention. Marc H. Pfeiffer, assistant director of the Bloustein Center for Local Government Research at Rutgers University, said the legislation, particularly the payments from the casinos, would be helpful. “All that stuff has significant value,” Mr. Pfeiffer said, adding, “The question is, is that enough?” Marty Small Sr., the president of the City Council, said officials would focus on trying to develop the required plan over the coming months. “We have a shot,” he said. “All you can ask for in life is an opportunity, and we take the opportunity seriously.” Mr. Small said that maintaining local control was essential because without it, residents would have no influence in setting a financial course for their city. “It’s going to be brutal for the work force, and there’s going to be cuts — there’s no other way to put it,” he said. “It’s going to be tough, but that’s what we were elected to do. We have to right the ship.” | New Jersey;Atlantic City;Chris Christie;Bankruptcy;Casino;State legislature;Budget |
ny0050977 | [
"science"
] | 2014/10/21 | Plants’ Two-Way Protection Plan | Carnivores eat herbivores, and herbivores eat plants. So how do plants manage to thrive? Either by growing prickly thorns or by putting down roots in areas where carnivores are more likely to roam, researchers report in the current issue of the journal Science. The scientists studied acacia trees in Kenya and the antelopes called impalas that eat them, along with the predators that eat the antelopes. The impalas feast on two species of acacia trees in the savanna. One is full of thorns; the other is not. Impalas generally prefer to eat the less thorny plants, said an author of the study, Adam T. Ford, an ecologist at the University of British Columbia. When Dr. Ford removed thorns from the thorny variety and attached them to branches from the less thorny variety, the antelopes changed their preference. “It’s the thorns that ultimately dictate what the impala want to eat,” he said. The researchers also attached GPS collars to impalas and two of their predators, leopards and African wild dogs. They found that the predators tended to lurk in bushier areas, where the nonthorny acacias thrive. So for the impalas, there is a trade-off. They can venture into a dangerous area full of their preferred food or they can spend time in safe areas and eat the acacias they don’t like as well. “And from the plant’s perspective,” Dr. Ford said, “it appears that growing thorns is as efficient a way to protect yourself as having predators around.” SINDYA N. BHANOO | Flowers and Plants;Science Journal;Trees;Kenya |
ny0080001 | [
"world",
"europe"
] | 2015/02/07 | British Court Says Spying on Data Was Illegal | LONDON — The court that oversees intelligence agencies in Britain ruled on Friday that the electronic mass surveillance of cellphone and other online communications data had been conducted unlawfully. The legal decision, the first time the court has ruled against the British intelligence services since the tribunal was created in 2000, relates to information that was shared between British security agencies and the National Security Agency of the United States before December 2014. Although privacy campaigners claimed the decision as a victory, many experts said the British and American intelligence agencies would continue to share information obtained with electronic surveillance, even if they had to slightly alter their techniques to comply with human rights law. “It’s a real landmark case,” said Ian Brown, a professor of information security and privacy at the University of Oxford. “This will not stop intelligence agencies from sharing information. But it’s unlikely they will be able to conduct large-scale uncontrolled intelligence activities without more oversight.” Over the past decade, British and American intelligence agencies have used a program known as Prism — first revealed by the former N.S.A. contractor Edward J. Snowden — and others like it to gain access to individuals’ Internet communications without their knowledge. The British court found, however, that Government Communications Headquarters, a British intelligence agency known as GCHQ, had unlawfully retrieved information gathered from American surveillance programs before the end of 2014. The agency, the court said, had broken European human rights law because there was not enough oversight regarding the way in which the information had been collected from American agencies. “For far too long, intelligence agencies like GCHQ and N.S.A. have acted like they are above the law,” said Eric King, deputy director of Privacy International, one of several privacy advocacy groups that brought the case. “Over the past decade, GCHQ and the N.S.A. have been engaged in an illegal mass surveillance sharing program that has affected millions of people around the world.” The same court, however, ruled last year that American and British intelligence agencies could continue to lawfully share information because the oversight of the data-collection program had been brought into compliance with European law. The British intelligence agency, however, dismissed the claims from the privacy advocates, saying that the court’s ruling would allow the vast surveillance techniques to continue. “We are pleased that the court has once again ruled that the U.K.’s bulk interception regime is fully lawful,” the agency said on Friday in a statement, referring to the December ruling that allowed the surveillance programs to continue. “By its nature, much of GCHQ’s work must remain secret. But we are working with the rest of government to improve public understanding about what we do.” A number of privacy advocates and rights groups, including Amnesty International, filed the case against the British intelligence agency in 2013 after information about the covert surveillance programs were first revealed by Mr. Snowden. During the court’s hearings, many of the GCHQ’s techniques, including malware that allowed the British government to turn on computer microphones and cameras without the owners’ knowledge, were first made public. The privacy groups have appealed the British court’s December ruling, which allowed for American and British intelligence agencies to continue sharing surveillance materials. The appeal, which will be heard by the end of the year at the earliest, has been sent to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France. The ruling means that individuals, both in Britain and potentially abroad, who believe they may have been targeted before December 2014 can petition the court to see what information the British intelligence agency may have collected on them. | Government Surveillance;Great Britain;NSA;Edward Snowden;Europe;US |
ny0271525 | [
"nyregion"
] | 2016/05/02 | Counterculture Figures Gather to Honor Coca Crystal, One of Their Own | The first person to eulogize Coca Crystal — the writer, cable television show host, political agitator, feminist, mother and frequent smoker of marijuana on camera — at a memorial service in an East Village poetry club on Sunday was an actress playing Ms. Crystal, who died in March at 68. The actress, Danielle Quisenberry, wore a wig to evoke Ms. Crystal’s mop of dark hair, a jean jacket and an African print skirt that reached the ground. Channeling Ms. Crystal’s loose-limbed, splashy stage presence, Ms. Quisenberry surveyed the crowd that had packed the club. “The good news is we’re here,” she said. “The bad news is we’ll never be here again. This is our very last show, live from the Nuyorican Cafe.” Ms. Crystal’s ashes sat nearby, in a black box atop a bar stool on the stage. “I want you to describe something that we did together, in three words or less,” Ms. Quisenberry said. “Fed a horse,” someone shouted. “Climbed a volcano.” “Man from space.” “Oh, I want to talk about that later,” Ms. Quisenberry said. “Three words or less, darlings!” “Refused to vote.” “Traveled across America.” “Yes, we did indeedy do.” Ms. Crystal was born Jacqueline Diamond in 1947 and grew up in Mamaroneck, N.Y. Her father, Jack, owned J. Diamond Furs. She was “the black sheep daughter of a Westchester furrier who dropped out and never bothered to drop back in,” according to a vintage news report shared at the memorial. She died of respiratory failure, after suffering from complications of lung cancer. In New York, in the early 1970s, she became a concierge, writer and all-around gatekeeper of the alternative newspaper The East Village Other. Later, she wrote for publications like The Ace, using an orange typewriter she said she had grabbed during a riot at Columbia University. She wrote about serenading a burglar, and finding herself on a hijacked flight to Cuba (“I was one of the only people who had a good time”). In 1977, she began hosting her own public-access cable television show, “ If I Can’t Dance, You Can Keep Your Revolution ,” which ran until 1995. Asked by a reporter what it was about, Ms. Crystal said, “About an hour!” In a highlight reel shown at the service on Sunday, Ms. Crystal could be seen on the program’s bare-bones set, mugging in front of a droopy burlap sign and talking casually with guests, including the singer and musical archivist Herbert Khaury, known as Tiny Tim; Deborah Harry and Chris Stein of the band Blondie; the singer Tuli Kupferberg of the Fugs; and Abbie Hoffman, the Yippie provocateur. “Coca Crystal, TV star,” as she often called herself, would stretch out on the floor, or sit cross-legged in cowboy boots. She once extracted a joint from a pot of daisies on her Wednesday night show (“For all you know, I’m smoking felt,” she told viewers) and smudged her forehead with ashes from a pipe, while declaring it “Hash Wednesday.” She often offered her guests a toke. She was dismissive of television characters who glamorized the lifestyle of single young women, like Mary Tyler Moore. “They’re always walking around in $800 outfits,” she said. “I can’t even go to a restaurant.” As for her place in the counterculture, she said, “I’m an institution.” At the service, ex-Yippies, hippies and beatniks filled the windowless room, their hair long since gone gray. Poems were read, folk songs sung. T-shirts and stickers bearing the name of the Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders were the only sign that it was 2016. The audience included Leslie Bacon, once accused of plotting with the Weathermen; Sylvia Topp, Mr. Kupferberg’s wife; and Bob Fass of the radio station WBAI. Ed Sanders, a writer who was also in the Fugs, read a poem while playing a three-string strumstick. He talked about helping Ms. Crystal write books about her life during her long battle with lung cancer. Some knew Ms. Crystal from the days of the Emma Goldman Brigade, a feminist group that staged protests, including releasing rats at a banquet at the Waldorf Astoria honoring Pat Nixon, the wife of President Richard M. Nixon. Jill Seiden, who said she was the one who had released the rats, described meeting Ms. Crystal during an organizing session for May Day in 1971. “She stood up and did a parody of everyone: ‘I’d like to propose an amendment to the motion to amend the amendment,’” she recalled. “She was exuberant, rebellious, fun.” Others remembered Ms. Crystal from her writing days. Charlie Frick, a photojournalist, introduced himself as a “boy reporter from The East Village Other.” “I was still in high school, I was pushing a broom,” he said. “She was the den mother.” He said that after she lost the ability to speak, she was still writing in the hospital. One man sat in silence. He had been a frequent guest on Ms. Crystal’s show and perhaps the star of her life, Gustav Che Finkelstein, or Gus, the son she adopted from her sister in 1975. Mr. Sanders of the Fugs said he had once praised Ms. Crystal for giving up her career to take care of Gus, who is mentally and physically disabled. He said she had softly rebuked him. “She felt it gave her a career — having a loving presence,” he said. “They say we were all looking for salvation in those days, and that was her salvation.” During the service, Gus, now 45, stepped up and handed Ms. Quisenberry a bouquet of orange flowers. | Coca Crystal;Writer;East Village Manhattan;TV |
ny0256599 | [
"business"
] | 2011/08/08 | A Second Recession Could Be Much Worse Than the First | If the economy falls back into recession , as many economists are now warning, the bloodletting could be a lot more painful than the last time around. Given the tumult of the Great Recession, this may be hard to believe. But the economy is much weaker than it was at the outset of the last recession in December 2007, with most major measures of economic health — including jobs, incomes, output and industrial production — worse today than they were back then. And growth has been so weak that almost no ground has been recouped, even though a recovery technically started in June 2009. “It would be disastrous if we entered into a recession at this stage, given that we haven’t yet made up for the last recession,” said Conrad DeQuadros, senior economist at RDQ Economics. When the last downturn hit, the credit bubble left Americans with lots of fat to cut, but a new one would force families to cut from the bone. Making things worse, policy makers used most of the economic tools at their disposal to combat the last recession, and have few options available. Anxiety and uncertainty have increased in the last few days after the decision by Standard & Poor’s to downgrade the country’s credit rating and as Europe continues its desperate attempt to stem its debt crisis . President Obama acknowledged the challenge in his Saturday radio and Internet address, saying the country’s “urgent mission” now was to expand the economy and create jobs. And Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner said in an interview on CNBC on Sunday that the United States had “a lot of work to do” because of its “long-term and unsustainable fiscal position.” But he added, “I have enormous confidence in the basic regenerative capacity of the American economy and the American people.” Still, the numbers are daunting. In the four years since the recession began, the civilian working-age population has grown by about 3 percent. If the economy were healthy, the number of jobs would have grown at least the same amount. Instead, the number of jobs has shrunk. Today the economy has 5 percent fewer jobs — or 6.8 million — than it had before the last recession began. The unemployment rate was 5 percent then, compared with 9.1 percent today. Even those Americans who are working are generally working less; the typical private sector worker has a shorter workweek today than four years ago. Employers shed all the extra work shifts and weak or extraneous employees that they could during the last recession. As shown by unusually strong productivity gains, companies are now squeezing as much work as they can from their newly “lean and mean” work forces. Should a recession return, it is not clear how many additional workers businesses could lay off and still manage to function. With fewer jobs and fewer hours logged, there is less income for households to spend, creating a huge obstacle for a consumer-driven economy. Adjusted for inflation, personal income is down 4 percent, not counting payments from the government for things like unemployment benefits. Income levels are low, and moving in the wrong direction: private wage and salary income actually fell in June, the last month for which data was available. Consumer spending, along with housing, usually drives a recovery. But with incomes so weak, spending is only barely where it was when the recession began. If the economy were healthy, total consumer spending would be higher because of population growth. And with construction nearly nonexistent and home prices down 24 percent since December 2007, the country does not have a buffer in housing to fall back on. Of all the major economic indicators, industrial production — as tracked by the Federal Reserve — is by far the worst off. The Fed’s index of this activity is nearly 8 percent below its level in December 2007. Likewise, and perhaps most worrisome, is the track record for the country’s overall output. According to newly revised data from the Commerce Department, the economy is smaller today than it was when the recession began, despite (or rather, because of) the feeble growth in the last couple of years. If the economy were healthy, it would be much bigger than it was four years ago. Economists refer to the difference between where the economy is and where it could be if it met its full potential as the “output gap.” Menzie Chinn, an economics professor at the University of Wisconsin, has estimated that the economy was about 7 percent smaller than its potential at the beginning of this year. Unlike during the first downturn, there would be few policy remedies available if the economy were to revert back into recession. Interest rates cannot be pushed down further — they are already at zero. The Fed has already flooded the financial markets with money by buying billions in mortgage securities and Treasury bonds , and economists do not even agree on whether those purchases substantially helped the economy. So the Fed may not see much upside to going through another politically controversial round of buying. “There are only so many times the Fed can pull this same rabbit out of its hat,” said Torsten Slok, the chief international economist at Deutsche Bank. Congress had some room — financially and politically — to engage in fiscal stimulus during the last recession. But at the end of 2007, the federal debt was 64.4 percent of the economy. Today, it is estimated at around 100 percent of gross domestic product, a share not seen since the aftermath of World War II, and there is little chance of lawmakers reaching consensus on additional stimulus that would increase the debt. “There is no approachable precedent, at least in the postwar era, for what happens when an economy with 9 percent unemployment falls back into recession,” said Nigel Gault, chief United States economist at IHS Global Insight. “The one precedent you might consider is 1937, when there was also a premature withdrawal of fiscal stimulus, and the economy fell into another recession more painful than the first.” There is at least one factor, though, that could make a second downturn feel milder than the first: corporate profits. Corporate profits are at record highs and, adjusted for inflation, were 22 percent greater in the first quarter of this year than they were in the last quarter of 2007. Nervous about the future of the economy, corporations are reluctant to make big investments like hiring. As a result, they are sitting on a lot of cash. While this may not be much comfort to the nation’s 13.9 million unemployed workers, it may be to their employed counterparts. “In the financial crisis, when markets were freezing up, the first response was, ‘I’ve got to get some cash,’ ” said Neal Soss, the chief economist at Credit Suisse. “The fastest way to get cash is to not have a weekly payroll, so that’s why we saw such big layoffs.” Corporate cash reserves today, he said, could act as a buffer to layoffs if demand drops. “There are arguments that another recession would be worse, and there are arguments in the other direction,” Mr. Soss said. “We just don’t know at this juncture. But ultimately it’s a question you don’t want to know the answer to.” | United States Economy;Economic Conditions and Trends;Recession and Depression;Labor and Jobs |
ny0023404 | [
"sports",
"baseball"
] | 2013/09/22 | Batting Averages, Too, Tend to Climb Higher in Colorado | Michael Cuddyer has never hit .300 in a major league season. A .271 career batter coming into 2013, Cuddyer, an outfielder for the Colorado Rockies, hit a career-high .284 in 2006 with Minnesota. The last time he hit higher than .300 in a full season on any level was 2001, when as a 22-year-old he hit .301 for Class AA New Britain. If you include his 4-for-18 performance in a brief call-up to the majors that season, his average drops to .298. All of that makes it curious that Cuddyer, at 34 and in his 13th season, led a tight race for the National League batting title, with a .331 average entering Saturday’s games. Cuddyer is not the most surprising player in recent baseball history to lead the N.L. in hitting. In 12 seasons, and nearly 5,000 plate appearances, he was well established as a power hitter with a modest average, but his ascension to the top of the batting leaders is no more shocking than that of Derrek Lee, a Chicago Cubs first baseman, who led the N.L. with a .335 average in 2005 after hitting .266 in his first eight seasons. What makes a potential batting title for Cuddyer interesting is that he is playing for the Rockies. Once known for home runs helped by Denver’s thin air — and known as the Blake Street Bombers — the Rockies have actually been far more dominant in terms of batting titles, and that is something that no humidor has been able to change. Image Michael Cuddyer is in the thick of a tight race for the N.L. batting title. Credit David Zalubowski/Associated Press Andres Galarraga, the first player to sign with the Rockies, got things started right by posting an N.L.-leading .370 average in 1993, the franchise’s inaugural season. He hit .243 for St. Louis the season before. Including Galarraga, a Colorado batter has hit .330 or higher 16 times, leading to seven batting titles. The Rockies lead the majors in those categories since their inception. The Yankees come closest with a player batting .330 or better 11 times; no other team is in double digits. In terms of batters who could be accused of taking advantage of Coors Field, Cuddyer fits between Jeffrey Hammonds, who had a home/road split of .399/.275 in 2000, and Larry Walker, Todd Helton and Matt Holliday, all of whom were excellent hitters in any park. Helped along by a .378 batting average on balls in play, Cuddyer was hitting .347 at Coors Field entering the weekend and .318 on the road. The difference is not surprising because Coors Field has been the most conducive park in the majors for hits in 2013, according to ESPN’s park factor ratings , just as it was in each of the last five seasons. For all the talk of humidors and revamped pitching staffs making Colorado no longer a hitter’s haven, no major league park is better for raising batting averages. Cuddyer has also benefited from a relatively weak field. He has a small lead over Atlanta’s Chris Johnson — another surprising name among the leaders — but his .331 average would have led the league in only 15 of the previous 137 seasons. A stumble through July and August, when Cuddyer hit .287 in 167 at-bats, nearly sank his chances, but he recovered in September, hitting .404 in his first 15 games. If the race comes down to the wire, Cuddyer will have to take care of business on the road, as the Rockies finish the season with a three-game series in Los Angeles. A Cuddyer batting title would come with many caveats, but statistical outliers are part of what makes examining baseball’s record books fun. With a strong final week, Cuddyer could join Tony Gwynn, Rogers Hornsby and Honus Wagner on the list of N.L. batting champions, and that is worth paying attention to. | Baseball;Rockies;Todd Helton;Larry Walker;Matt Holliday;Michael Cuddyer;Andres Galarraga |
ny0275409 | [
"world",
"africa"
] | 2016/02/19 | As Uganda Votes, Polling Stations Open Hours Late and a Candidate Is Arrested | KAMPALA, Uganda — Ugandans went to the polls on Thursday to choose presidential and parliamentary candidates in an election riddled with irregularities even before voting began. Polling stations in some parts of the capital, Kampala, did not open until after noon — nearly six hours late, and three hours before their scheduled closing time. Some did not open at all. At one polling station, voters waited seven hours for ballots to arrive, and when they did, they were for parliamentary candidates only. And the leading opposition candidate for president, Kizza Besigye, was arrested after trying to get into a police command center in the Naguru neighborhood of Kampala, the police said. Mr. Besigye’s party, the Forum for Democratic Change, alleged that the command center was a “vote-rigging center.” “He was with people knocking on gates and banging cars,” said an assistant police commissioner, Polly Namaye. Mr. Besigye was later released, his lawyer said. The long delays and irregularities threatened to exacerbate tensions that had risen days before the election. Two people were killed Monday in riots, and Mr. Besigye was twice arrested while trying to hold rallies. Video Kizza Besigye, the main opposition candidate in the Ugandan presidential election, criticized the country’s electoral process, claiming it is neither free nor fair. Credit Credit Dai Kurokawa/European Pressphoto Agency Thursday’s vote in Uganda had been billed as the “D-Day” of presidential elections, the fifth under President Yoweri Museveni, 71, who has led Uganda for 30 years, longer than 75 percent of Ugandans have been alive. Ugandan law prohibits presidential candidates older than 75, so unless the law is changed, this is the last year Mr. Museveni can run. Mr. Museveni is perceived by many Ugandans to be trying to groom his son — Brig. Muhoozi Kainerugaba, 41, the head of Uganda’s special forces — to succeed him, and the political jockeying in response created the strongest field of opposition candidates yet. Amama Mbabazi, Mr. Museveni’s former second in command, defected last year after a reported falling out and joined Mr. Besigye in challenging the president on Thursday. Uganda’s police recruited more than 100,000 volunteer Crime Preventers, who were given paramilitary training to help control crowds, arrest suspects, guard ballot boxes and gather intelligence. Many openly say they are working for the incumbent. Most Ugandans assume that Mr. Museveni will be declared the winner: He has ample genuine support, bolstered by Uganda’s history of vote manipulation. “Fair in the countrysides; logistical nightmares in Kampala,” said Chris Kaheru, the director of the Citizen’s Coalition for Electoral Democracy in Uganda, a watchdog group. The thrust of Mr. Museveni’s opposition comes from urban and elite voters, and “restrictions on social media networks slowed down the flow of info,” Mr. Kaheru said. In Kampala’s Kibuli neighborhood, a hotbed of opposition support, ballots did not arrive until nearly 1 p.m. Voting was extended until 7 p.m., but even by then, many had still not been able to vote. “I arrived early!” said Musa Muburak, 24, a shop manager and supporter of Mr. Besigye. “When I came back, they said it was too late!” Image Kizza Besigye, center, Uganda’s opposition leader voted in his home town of Rukungiri, on Thursday. Credit Agence France-Presse — Getty Images In the nearby neighborhood of Ggaba, hundreds of people waited seven hours for one polling place to open before voting papers arrived, The Associated Press reported. When the voters found out the ballots were only those for choosing members of Parliament, not the president, they overpowered the police, grabbed the ballot boxes and threw them all over a field. The police fired tear gas, and polling officers fled before votes were cast. Widespread outages of social media services, including WhatsApp and Twitter, were also reported Thursday. Uganda’s electoral commission announced Thursday night that more than a dozen polling stations in Kampala would reopen on Friday. Results are not expected until Saturday. Mr. Museveni’s National Resistance Movement party rejected notions that delays in voting had favored him. A party spokesman, Mike Sebalu, said, “Delays don’t discriminate.” “We should be winning,” he said. “We didn’t have any worries about anyone, because we didn’t see ourselves as competing with them.” Nevertheless, early returns from neighborhoods around Kampala indicated solid victories for Mr. Besigye. At the polling site in Kibuli, Mr. Besigye had 216 votes to Mr. Museveni’s 66. But Kampala is not representative of Uganda over all, and most here say Mr. Museveni will win another five-year term. | Uganda;Yoweri Museveni;Kizza Besigye;Africa;Election;Voting;Forum for Democratic Change;Kampala Uganda;Legislature;National Resistance Movement |
ny0103767 | [
"sports",
"ncaabasketball"
] | 2012/03/16 | No. 16 L.I.U. Has a Super Fan in Its Corner | Moments after Long Island University clinched its second consecutive N.C.A.A. tournament berth last week, the associate athletic director Greg Fox glanced toward press row. He spotted Richard Kurlander, the producer for the team’s radio broadcasts, wearing his headset, tears streaming down his cheeks. For as long as Fox can remember, Kurlander has been L.I.U.’s ubiquitous super fan, as much a fixture on the university’s Brooklyn campus as the Luntey Commons student center. Every game, Kurlander dutifully sets up the radio equipment, tunes the levels and adjusts the microphones. And when the game begins, Kurlander, who has been blind since birth, closes his eyes and pays attention. “He’s like an institution here,” Fox said. “It wouldn’t feel right if he wasn’t part of our broadcasts and part of our games. It’s a lot more than just producing basketball games.” When 16th-seeded L.I.U. faces No. 1 seed Michigan State in the N.C.A.A. tournament in Columbus, Ohio, on Friday night, Kurlander, 60, will be listening. He knows the feel of the team’s jerseys, the smell of its arena, the plays the Blackbirds like to run, even the plays they should run better. “Here’s a guy that’s never seen one of our games but he can tell you everything about us,” L.I.U. Coach Jim Ferry said. “He’s a die-hard — he’s got passion for the game, for this university and these kids. I think he’s an inspiration.” For every L.I.U. home game, Kurlander, cane in hand, leaves his apartment in the Bay Ridge section of Brooklyn to make the 25-minute journey to the Wellness Center. He takes the R train to DeKalb station, exits and makes the right turn onto Fleet Street, greets the security guard and settles into his courtside seat. Kurlander is responsible for setting up the black Marti GX500 remote mixer , plugging in the three headsets, adjusting the tuners and the volume, and calling in to the broadcast’s host at Red Zone Media. He memorized the numbers and the knobs by feel. “For a guy that has limitations, you don’t even know they’re there,” said Ray Martel, the team’s play-by-play announcer. “He’s sitting next to you and he sees the game through the way I’m calling it. He’s invaluable.” Kurlander grew up in Queens, graduated from L.I.U. in 1973 and then earned his master’s in education from the university in 1975. As a student, he wandered into the radio station, WLIU, and learned how to run the board. He wanted to be a disc jockey, “but my voice wasn’t good enough,” Kurlander said. His full-time job is as a suspension authorizer for special education with the city’s Department of Education, where he has worked the past 29 years. A bus drops him off in front of his first-floor office at 400 First Avenue in Manhattan every weekday morning. Kurlander has lived on his own in Bay Ridge since 1987. He was always a regular at Blackbirds games, but in 2001 the team began streaming games over the Internet and Kurlander volunteered to engineer. “They didn’t have anybody to do it, I told them I knew how to do it, so they let me do it,” he said. Kurlander listens to L.I.U. road games, dozens of other games a week that do not involve the Blackbirds, calls other teams to get scores and statistics — a nod to a practice from the days before the Internet — and frequents other L.I.U. athletic events like volleyball and softball games that have no radio broadcasts. “I just listen to the P.A. announcer,” Kurlander said. When Joey Wahler was a student broadcaster at Seton Hall in the early 1990s, he remembers Kurlander calling press row to ask to be put on hold, which allowed him to listen to the broadcast. “We’d be, like, at the Carrier Dome setting up to do a Seton Hall-Syracuse game,” said Wahler, who went on to become the voice of L.I.U. from 2006 to 2011. “It got to a point where you knew if the phone rang it must be Ritchie calling in and wanting to be put on hold so he could listen.” Fox recalls seeing Kurlander at one of the Blackbirds’ Northeast Conference tournament games at Sovereign Bank Arena in Trenton and having no idea how he got there. “There was an ice storm that night,” Fox said. “And there was Richie.” Perhaps to compensate for his lack of sight, Kurlander’s hearing is superb and his memory impeccable. He is strikingly involved with the action on the court. Wahler recalled a game in the 1990s when an L.I.U. player missed a deep 3-pointer. “Ritchie jumped from his seat and shouted: ‘Come on, Jason! That’s way out of your range!’ ” Wahler said. On Friday night, he might do the same thing. Whether the Blackbirds win or lose, Kurlander will be hanging on every word. “It’s that sense of community for him,” said Noah Coslov, who called L.I.U. games from 2004 to 2006. “As long as he’s been there, they’ve embraced him. That’s something everyone searches for in life — you want that feeling of acceptance. Those people are his family there.” | NCAA Basketball Championships (Men);Basketball (College);Long Island University;Kurlander Richard;Fox Greg;Ferry Jim;Michigan State University |
ny0014889 | [
"nyregion"
] | 2013/10/05 | Metro-North to Resume Full Service on Monday | The Metro-North Railroad is expected to return its New Haven line to full service by Monday, transit officials said, nearly two weeks after a power loss in Mount Vernon, N.Y., upended commutes for tens of thousands of travelers across the Northeast. Consolidated Edison, which operated the feeder cable whose failure on Sept. 25 prompted the disruption , said on Friday that it had connected and energized a separate, 138,000-volt feeder to the rail line, clearing the way for service to return. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority said it would conduct tests on the line over the weekend, but barring any setbacks, the railroad is expected to resume normal operations in time for the Monday morning rush. Since last week, the authority has relied in part on a makeshift network of diesel trains and buses to provide limited service on the line, which is Metro-North’s busiest. The feeder cable that will power the rail was taken offline deliberately last month as part of equipment upgrades for Metro-North, and was originally not scheduled to be available until mid-October. In recent days, though, the utility said it hoped to restore the feeder by Monday. According to a preliminary review by Con Edison , the failure of the second feeder last week was most likely related to the utility’s work disconnecting the first. Lawmakers have called for state and federal investigations into the case, and any findings could be of significant financial consequence to both the utility and the transportation authority. On Tuesday, the authority’s board approved a plan to offer credits to New Haven line riders with weekly or monthly tickets. At least one board member has suggested that Con Ed should reimburse the authority for lost revenue if the utility is found liable. | Metro North;Con Edison;MTA;New Haven CT;Delays;Railroads |
ny0288395 | [
"us"
] | 2016/08/01 | Pacific Northwest Weighs Response to Risks Posed by Oil Trains | MOSIER, Ore. — The Chinook salmon that Randy Settler and other Yakama tribal fishermen are pulling from the Columbia River are large and plentiful this summer, part of one of the biggest spawning runs since the 1960s. It is a sign, they say, of the river’s revitalization, through pollution regulations and ambitious fish hatchery programs. But barely four miles upstream from the fishermen’s nets, state workers are still cleaning up after a major oil train derailment in June. About 47,000 gallons of heavy Bakken crude bound from North Dakota spilled when 16 Union Pacific cars accordioned off the tracks. All of it, Oregon environmental officials said, might have gone into the river but for a stroke of luck that carried the oil instead into a water treatment plant a few hundred feet from the riverbank. That juxtaposition — the rebounding river coming a hair’s breadth from disaster — has resonated across the Pacific Northwest and brought about a day of reckoning. From ballot boxes to the governors’ desks in Oregon and Washington, a corner of the nation that seemed poised only a few years ago to become a new energy hub is now gripped by a debate over whether transporting volatile, hazardous crude oil by rail through cities and environmentally delicate areas can ever be made safe enough. “Communities around this state have awoken,” said Oregon’s governor, Kate Brown, a Democrat. Washington’s governor, Jay Inslee, who is also a Democrat, said he thinks that all oil transit should be halted until more stringent track inspection rules can be put into place. “Can it be transported into the Pacific Northwest safely?” he said. “That answer now is no.” The volume of oil being shipped by rail across most of the rest of the nation has plummeted, as low oil prices and more pipeline capacity have reduced the need for trains. The number of rail cars carrying petroleum is down about 40 percent from the peak in 2014, according to the Association of American Railroads. Image Workers drilled wells to help clean up the aftermath of the Union Pacific oil train derailment in June near Mosier, Ore. Credit Leah Nash for The New York Times But here along the Columbia River gorge, about 60 miles east of Portland, the trains have continued to rumble through Oregon and Washington in numbers near their peak. Even with lower oil prices, railroad industry experts said, crude heading by rail to refineries in the Pacific Northwest has a shorter distance to travel from North Dakota, making the route cost effective. In the tense environment since the derailment, the idea that the Northwest is now bearing a disproportionate burden of energy transport risk has accelerated local efforts to stop the trains or make them safer. Last month, the City Council in Vancouver, Wash., where one of the biggest oil terminals in the nation is under review, voted to ban any similar proposals from even being considered in the future. In Spokane, Wash., a city built by the railroad industry and one through which almost all oil trains pass, voters will decide in November whether to outlaw that transit. The City Council voted to put the proposal on the ballot, mandating a $261 fine for every rail car carrying oil or coal, even though the railroads have said they would file a lawsuit to overturn the statute as a violation of interstate commerce. Both of Oregon’s United States senators have proposed the legislation, called The Mosier Act , that would require the Department of Transportation to reduce levels of volatile gases in crude oil and give greater teeth and resources to crash investigators. Image Chinook salmon caught by tribal fishermen on the Columbia River. Credit Leah Nash for The New York Times Greater transparency in oil shipments is also on the horizon. Railroads have generally refused to divulge specific oil train schedules, citing security concerns, but starting in October, details about every oil train through Washington will have to be shared with state officials, who will then distribute reports to emergency management agencies through a secure system. The information will be shared with the public on a quarterly basis, starting in December. Mr. Inslee, who is running for re-election, as is Ms. Brown in Oregon, will have the authority under state law to decide whether the oil terminal in Vancouver will go forward, a question that could reach his desk this fall. He said that he is keeping an open mind and awaiting the recommendation from the state Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council , which wrapped up a month of hearings on the terminal this week. Some environmental groups are already calling the Vancouver project all but dead, saying that an approval by Mr. Inslee would run counter to the governor’s often-expressed convictions about climate change — not to mention the book he wrote on the virtues of renewable energy — and would also mean imposing a project on a city that has said it does not want it. Washington’s attorney general, Bob Ferguson, announced his opposition to the terminal on Friday, the last day of the hearings. “For the railroads, the politics have turned for the worse,” said Clark Williams-Derry of the Sightline Institute, an environmental research and advocacy group in Seattle. Railroads and oil companies said they have responded to public concerns and that oil transport can be safe. Image A train route along the Columbia River. Trains carrying oil in Washington and Oregon have nearly reached their peak. Credit Leah Nash for The New York Times A spokesman for Union Pacific, Aaron Hunt, said in an email that lag bolts — a track-fastening system that failed in Mosier, according to the preliminary federal investigation — are being replaced with more secure rail spikes and that the railroad had enhanced its inspection processes. Dan Riley, a spokesman for Tesoro Petroleum, a partner in the Vancouver terminal project, said that the company has been a leader in shifting to newer, more secure tank cars and that the attention since the Mosier accident will only accelerate those safety enhancements. “It’s an opportunity to improve the entire system,” he said in an interview. But railroads have also resisted rules that might have mitigated the Mosier accident and other derailments around the country, said Sarah E. Feinberg, the administrator at the Federal Railroad Administration, specifically outfitting trains with modern braking systems, called electronically controlled pneumatic braking . “These trains are basically operating with a braking system from the Civil War era, and we have said to the railroads, ‘You must upgrade,’” she said. “And we get a tremendous amount of pushback from the industry: It’s too expensive, it’s too complicated, it’s logistically complicated.” Tribal fishermen like Mr. Settler, 61, who has been piloting boats on the Columbia River since he was 9, said he fears that for the river, the worst is not over. State officials said recently that oil from the spill had seeped into the groundwater, which connects with the river. In any case, Mr. Settler said, it is clear to him that human failure and inadequate track maintenance, not bad luck, caused the crash. “They knew it was a high-risk area,” Mr. Settler said on his boat on a recent morning off Mosier’s shoreline. “But it didn’t stop the trains from coming.” | Oil spill;Train wreck;Pacific Northwestern States;Water pollution;Kate Brown;Federal Railroad Administration;Tesoro;Union Pacific Railroad;Columbia River;Oregon |
ny0095979 | [
"us"
] | 2015/01/06 | Judge Lifts Ban, and Gay Weddings Begin in Florida | MIAMI — Ending a drawn-out battle over same-sex marriage in Florida, Miami-Dade on Monday became the first county in the state to allow gay couples to wed after a state judge lifted a temporary ban on the nuptials. The rest of the state was to begin legalizing same-sex marriage just after midnight, as Florida becomes the 36th state to allow gay couples to wed. (The District of Columbia also permits same-sex marriages.) Mass wedding ceremonies were scheduled in counties across Florida beginning on Tuesday as couples rush to make their relationships legally binding. Group weddings are planned in Fort Lauderdale, Key West, Miami Beach and Orlando. As gay couples began to wed, Jeb Bush, the state’s former governor and long an opponent of same-sex marriages, struck an unexpectedly conciliatory tone on Monday, saying in a statement that “regardless of our disagreements, we have to respect the rule of law.” Mr. Bush did not indicate any enthusiasm for challenging the ruling Monday. His comments instead suggested a tacit acceptance of the new legal status for gay married couples, or at least an acknowledgment that there is little he can do to block it. “I hope that we can show respect for the good people on all sides of the gay and lesbian marriage issue — including couples making lifetime commitments to each other who are seeking greater legal protections and those of us who believe marriage is a sacrament and want to safeguard religious liberty,” he said. Miami-Dade was the first county to proceed because the judge’s ruling Monday was part of a state lawsuit, separate from a broader federal lawsuit. The judge, Sarah Zabel, of the Miami-Dade Circuit Court, declared the prohibition on same-sex marriage unconstitutional in July but had kept the ban in place pending appeals. On Monday morning, in response to a federal ruling last week in Florida, she lifted that temporary ban. Three hours later, Judge Zabel officially married two of the six couples who had sued the county over the same-sex marriage ban. The wedding took place at Miami’s civil courthouse, where the couples exchanged rings. “Our son is finally going to have a family that is not a second-class citizen,” said Karla Arguello, who married Catherina Pareto. “He has a family like everybody else’s.” Harvey Ruvin, Miami-Dade’s clerk of courts, began to issue wedding licenses shortly after Judge Zabel’s ruling. “All of our offices are now fully prepared to follow the judge’s order, and everyone will be treated equally,” he said in a statement. Other clerks of courts were to follow suit Tuesday across Florida, the nation’s third-largest state and one of the country’s most sought-after destinations for gay men and lesbians. The temporary ban on same-sex marriage issued by Judge Robert L. Hinkle of Federal District Court in Tallahassee, in a separate case, was to expire at midnight on Monday. On Aug. 21, Judge Hinkle ruled that the state’s same-sex marriage ban was unconstitutional as part of a federal lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida on behalf of same-sex couples and a gay-rights group. Judge Hinkle gave Attorney General Pam Bondi until Monday to file an appeal, temporarily suspending his decision, but her attempts to extend the deadline failed. After two weeks of confusion over whether the ruling applied to only one county in Florida, Judge Hinkle clarified his order on Thursday, saying that the “constitution” requires that clerks in all of the state’s 67 counties issue marriage licenses. Florida county clerks said they would abide by the law and issue licenses, but some clerks, including for Duval County, home to Jacksonville, announced last week that they would end ceremonial courthouse weddings so as not to force staff members who object to same-sex marriage to participate in such ceremonies. The clerk of courts in Duval County, Ronnie Fussell, told The Florida Times-Union that marriage should be “between a man and a woman.” “Personally, it would go against my belief to perform a ceremony that is other than that,” Mr. Fussell said. | Same-Sex Marriage,Gay Marriage;Florida;Lawsuits;Sarah Zabel |
ny0211112 | [
"world",
"europe"
] | 2017/01/18 | Germany’s Extreme Right Challenges Guilt Over Nazi Past | DRESDEN, Germany — At a chandelier-lit beer hall on Tuesday evening, the lean blond man’s voice boomed out over a crowd of hundreds — some middle-aged and working-class, but with a contingent of polished young professionals. “The AfD is the last revolutionary, the last peaceful chance for our fatherland,” declared the man, Björn Höcke, referring to the political party Alternative for Germany, and employing a reverential term for Germany, one of several nationalist buzzwords usually shunned in the country’s politics. “Jawohl!” a few shouted. “Yes!” When Mr. Höcke (pronounced HOOK-ay) lamented that “German history is handled as rotten and made to look ridiculous” — a subtle but clear reference to guilt for the Holocaust and other Nazi war crimes — the crowd responded by chanting, “Deutschland, Deutschland.” His speech at the rally in Dresden on Tuesday touched off a wave of national alarm by challenging Germany’s national atonement for the Holocaust and for its Nazi crimes. His comments drew broad criticism for their venom and because Mr. Höcke, a rising star in the AfD, has found growing success with his messages of extreme nationalism. Shouting to be heard over cheering supporters, many of whom stood, Mr. Höcke challenged the collective national guilt over the war that has restrained German politics for three generations. At times he used language that seemed to hint at lamenting Nazi Germany’s defeat. Germans were “the only people in the world to plant a monument of shame in the heart of its capital,” he said, referring to a memorial to murdered Jews in Berlin. He added that Germans had the “mentality of a totally vanquished people.” Mr. Höcke, who began his speech by triumphantly raising his arms over his head, represents the rightward flank of Alternative for Germany, an already far-right party. But his speech and the crowd’s energetic reception of his words offer a glimpse of the relatively new party’s threat to German politics . He is on the fringe, but that fringe is growing in numbers and in willingness to defy the usual restraints, to the rising alarm of Germany’s establishment leaders, who on Wednesday denounced his comments. Sigmar Gabriel, leader of the Social Democrats and the country’s vice chancellor, shot back in a Facebook post showing a banner splashed across an image of Mr. Höcke standing at a lectern, reading: “To remember the millions of victims of the Nazis is no weakness. Baiting the helpless to promote yourself is weakness.” The chairman of the Green Party for the state of Saxony, Jürgen Kasek, on Twitter called for the speech to be checked for possible violations of anti-incitement laws. He accused Mr. Höcke of saying things that violated the spirit of the Constitution “in the style of national socialism.” The Central Council of Jews in Germany, in a statement, called the comments “deeply deplorable and fully unacceptable.” Charlotte Knobloch, a former president of the council, told the newspaper Stimme Heilbronner that Mr. Höcke’s speech was “unbearable agitation,” and she warned that “the AfD is poisoning the political culture and social debate in Germany.” Mr. Höcke’s comments even drew a rebuke from the chairwoman of Alternative for Germany, Frauke Petry, who said they were out of line and “straining” the party. Ms. Petry and Mr. Höcke have been locked in a power struggle for months over how far to the right to position the party, which was originally founded on an anti-euro platform. The party is polling at nearly 15 percent, ahead of some mainstream parties, for this fall’s national election. Its rapid rise demonstrates that German nationalist politics can find a foothold in unexpected places, for example among educated young people like those at Tuesday’s rally. Those 20-somethings, many in coat and tie, looked clean-cut and primly trendy. Most of the men wore their hair buzzed close on the sides and long and floppy on top, separated by a severe side parting that seemed unmistakably evocative of Hitler’s. Mainstream parties in Germany have long eschewed charisma-driven politics — in the style of personality-centered movements — and have avoided shows of overt nationalism. But that leaves an opening: A populist party like Alternative for Germany can indulge those ideas just enough to excite its supporters without scaring off larger groups of voters. The Alternative for Germany supporters who were gathered in Dresden, the capital of Saxony, seemed animated in a way that is unusual when it comes to modern politics in Germany. Most Germans rarely feel allowed to get excited about their political beliefs or, just as sensitive an issue, about their national identity. The atmosphere lent the evening a feeling of thrilling transgression, as if the act of cheering half-forbidden ideas was as important, or perhaps more so, than the ideas themselves. Image Mr. Höcke, with his back to the camera, met some supporters who attended the Alternative for Germany rally on Tuesday. Credit Shane Thomas McMillan Julian M. Wälder, a 21-year-old law student, said he had initially joined the youth league of the Christian Democratic Union, the center-right party to which Chancellor Angela Merkel belongs. But the party did not feel like “real politics,” he said. Alternative for Germany, Mr. Wälder said, finally felt genuine. This is a core part of the party’s message: While other parties are all the same, only Alternative for Germany really expresses the popular will. Mr. Wälder and other young attendees seemed tense — the location of the gathering was kept secret until that morning in a failed attempt to avoid the anti-fascist protesters who often gather outside the semiregular rallies — but they were jovial. The rally on Tuesday felt, if not like a watershed, then a glimpse of a wider, more gradual change. Calls for asserting a strong national identity are not pernicious on their own — all nations have identities, after all — but they remain somewhat taboo in Germany. And that taboo is precisely the point. Only the fringes would be brazen enough to champion a nationalist identity. But that risks letting those fringes define its contours. Mr. Höcke, for instance, disavowed a famous 1985 speech by Richard von Weizsacker , then the president of Germany, that called for the Allied victory to be seen as the liberation of the German people, not as their defeat. Mr. Höcke called Mr. Weizsacker’s address “a speech against his own people, and not for his own people.” Since 2015, when Germany received nearly a million asylum seekers, Alternative for Germany has sought to portray national identity as under threat from migration and multiculturalism. Establishment parties and other enemies, Mr. Höcke told the crowd, “are liquidating our beloved German fatherland, like a piece of soap under warm running water. But we, we beloved friends, we patriots, we will close this open tap, and we will win back our Germany, piece by piece.” Yascha Mounk, a lecturer at Harvard and a fellow at the Transatlantic Academy of the German Marshall Fund, said Germany had a style of government that could leave an especially wide opening for fringe parties. Because the German parties tend to govern in a grand, cross-ideological coalition, voters often see little change when parties shift in and out. Europe’s Rising Far Right: A Guide to the Most Prominent Parties Amid a migrant crisis and discontent with the European Union, many far-right parties have achieved electoral success. Here are eight of the most noteworthy. Politics in Germany usually play out in quiet, polite negotiations among members of the coalition, rather than in dramatic, public clashes between competing parties. The coalition blocks fringe parties like Alternative for Germany, which can then paint mainstream politics as an elite conspiracy to impose unpopular policies and to shut down real debate. The crowd, at one point, chanted a line Mr. Wälder has also used: “We are the outsiders.” It was a jarring moment, as many of the “outsiders” were young, white and wore suits and ties — seemingly the definition of an insider in Germany. Because these young Germans say that the political establishment has denied them sufficient pride in their national identity, they feel as if they are being oppressed, even though they have every right and live in a country that has one of Europe’s best-performing economies. But young and old supporters of Alternative for Germany seemed to find something at Tuesday’s rally that is not common among far-right politics: a sense of impending victory. Not in the sense that they would oust Ms. Merkel’s government this fall — she is likely to retain power — but in the belief that their movement would quickly shape and perhaps one day overcome a system that they see as denying them their German pride. Mr. Mounk said that the rise of extremist voices may have been inevitable, given the failure of mainstream parties to satisfy the desires for national self-esteem and for charismatic politics. That left an opening for Mr. Höcke to deliver a message “beyond the usual gripes about being too ashamed of being German,” Mr. Mounk added, “implying, though never quite stating outright, that defeat in 1945 was a bad thing.” Mr. Höcke concluded his speech on Tuesday with a rallying call. “Beloved friends, we must do little less than make history, so that there will be for us Germans, us Europeans, a future,” he said, as the audience stood, cheered and chanted his name. He added, “We can make history, and we are doing it.” | Germany;Alternative for Germany;Politics;Holocaust and Nazis;Bjorn Hocke |
ny0234384 | [
"nyregion"
] | 2010/01/27 | Offer to Take Over St. Vincent’s Hospital Stirs Outcry | One of New York City’s largest hospital systems has made an offer to take over the financially struggling St. Vincent’s Hospital in Greenwich Village, provoking opposition from elected officials who fear the loss of critical medical services, especially emergency care, for tens of thousands of patients who could be sent elsewhere. The proposal by the hospital system, Continuum Health Partners , to take over St. Vincent’s and turn it into an outpatient center would mean the loss of the city’s last Catholic general hospital, at least in the form in which it has been known for more than 160 years. St. Vincent’s treats a disproportionate number of poor, homeless and uninsured patients, who could be forced to go elsewhere for emergency and inpatient care, perhaps to the city-run Bellevue Hospital Center across town. St. Vincent’s acquired significance for many New Yorkers in the days after Sept. 11, 2001, when it became a gathering place for people searching for loved ones. It has been looking for a financial lifesaver to help it stem millions of dollars a month in losses and to stave off the possibility of a second bankruptcy after emerging from its first in 2007. The Continuum proposal would turn the hospital into a walk-in health-care center that would maintain some emergency services but would no longer take 911 ambulance calls, the most serious cases. It also envisions maintaining St. Vincent’s well-known H.I.V. and psychiatric services. If the deal goes through, Continuum could get tens of thousands of new patients. Depending on how the deal is structured, Continuum could take over St. Vincent’s valuable real estate, which could potentially be sold. There would be no exchange of money; Continuum would take on the hospital’s debt, said to be around $700 million, and try to restructure it with financial support from the state and creditors. The proposal would not include other St. Vincent’s facilities around the metropolitan area, or its nursing homes and its psychiatric and substance abuse hospital in Westchester County. A decision to sell is up to the board of St. Vincent’s, but the hospital is under pressure from creditors and the state to find a solution to its problems. Henry J. Amoroso, the president and chief executive of St. Vincent’s, sent a one-page memorandum to hospital physicians and staff members Tuesday confirming that the hospital had received a letter of interest from Continuum. Mr. Amoroso said he was writing in response to a report in The New York Post on Tuesday outlining some aspects of the proposal. Mr. Amoroso said the hospital was in “serious discussion” with GE Capital and TD Bank, which hold some of its debt, “about how best to restructure the burdensome debt that we were left with when we emerged from bankruptcy.” He said the hospital’s board was still trying to find “the best solution to allow St. Vincent’s to remain an acute-care hospital.” Community reaction was strong. A united front of West Side politicians, including Christine C. Quinn, the City Council speaker; Scott M. Stringer, the Manhattan borough president; and Representative Jerrold L. Nadler, sent a letter to Dr. Richard F. Daines, the state health commissioner, saying that the proposed conversion was “unacceptable.” They pointed out that it would leave much of the West Side without a hospital. Likely destinations for patients of St. Vincent’s, which has several buildings clustered around Avenue of the Americas, Seventh Avenue and 11th and 12th Streets, are St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center, with components on West 59th and West 114th Streets, and Beth Israel Medical Center, on First Avenue and 16th Street, both owned by Continuum. Others are Bellevue, a few blocks north of Beth Israel, and New York Downtown Hospital, near the Brooklyn Bridge. Ms. Quinn suggested that a state-sponsored bailout or restructuring might be in order. “No one’s cavalier about the seriousness of St. Vincent’s financial house,” she said in an interview. “But what we need is to come together and find a solution that keeps it open, not one that basically abdicates the state’s responsibility to have full-service health care infrastructure for the West Side of Manhattan.” In a statement, Continuum said that it had been invited by St. Vincent’s to make a proposal to preserve the hospital in some form as “an alternative to financial liquidation.” It added that if St. Vincent’s rejected the proposal and tried to continue on its own, “they have our full support.” The State Health Department also issued a statement Tuesday painting a dire picture of St. Vincent’s financial condition and saying that Dr. Daines had been trying to help broker a deal that would “ensure that residents of the West Side of Manhattan continue to have access to quality health care services.” But the department said that St. Vincent’s “is not competitive within its market.” The hospital has been losing $5 million to $10 million a month, according to the state. Hospitals across the city have suffered from what they say are low reimbursement rates from the government and private insurers; large numbers of poor patients; and, more recently, the recession, coupled with state health-care cuts. In what some health-care officials characterized as a last-ditch effort, St. Vincent’s has been hoping to stay in business by building a new hospital, which would free up a large part of its property to be sold for about $310 million to the Rudin Organization, which would develop housing. The plans would require significant rezoning. Continuum’s proposal casts doubt on the future of those development plans, said Andrew Berman, executive director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation. Ana Marengo, a spokeswoman for the city’s Health and Hospital Corporation, said that Bellevue officials believed they would be able to handle their share of emergency and trauma patients from St. Vincent’s. She said Bellevue would have a harder time absorbing psychiatric patients, but Continuum’s proposal would keep psychiatric services running at the St. Vincent’s location. Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan of New York said in a statement that it would be “sad and disappointing” if St. Vincent’s closed. Although the archdiocese does not have a role in the hospital, it said it was monitoring the situation and recognized how hard it was to run a hospital. The hospital is sponsored by the Sisters of Charity, the Catholic order that founded the hospital in 1849, and the Diocese of Brooklyn, a consequence of a merger with Catholic hospitals in Brooklyn and Queens more than a decade ago. If the hospital were sold, the bishop of Brooklyn and the Sisters of Charity would have to decide whether to ratify the decision, said Msgr. Kieran Harrington, a spokesman for Bishop Nicholas A. DiMarzio. Monsignor Harrington said it “would be premature to comment now” on what the bishop planned to do. | St Vincent's Hospital;Hospitals;Emergency Medical Treatment;Continuum Health Partners;Greenwich Village (NYC) |
ny0129675 | [
"sports"
] | 2012/06/08 | St. John’s Prepares for N.C.A.A. Super Regional | There were times when Jeremy Baltz second-guessed why he chose to play baseball at St. John’s. Why he opted for a background of bus stops and bodegas, not palm trees. Why he declined the contract offered by his favorite team, the Yankees, when it drafted him out of high school. Why he believed in a coach who views practicing in the snow as a rite of passage. The reasons, he said, crystallized Tuesday, during the first practice for the Red Storm’s first N.C.A.A. super regional appearance, against Arizona on Friday in Tucson. As storm clouds threatened overhead, a team manager interrupted to announce good news: Baltz had been drafted again. “I’m blessed; it’s a great honor,” said Baltz, who was selected by the San Diego Padres in the second round. But he quickly added, “I’m not done here yet.” Last weekend, for the first time since 1980, St. John’s advanced past the tournament’s regional round. The team was led by Baltz, a tall, sturdy, scruffy-bearded outfielder from Vestal, N.Y., who committed to the Red Storm before his junior season in high school. Other programs — with bigger names and sunnier climates — showed interest, and Baltz had an offer from the Yankees, who selected him in the 47th round of the 2009 draft. But Baltz stuck with St. John’s for one overriding reason. “You’ve got to represent your home state,” Baltz said. “We can play up here in New York.” One of 26 players on the Red Storm’s 35-man roster from the tristate area of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, Baltz epitomizes what Coach Ed Blankmeyer usually looks for in recruits: someone hard-nosed and homegrown, tough enough to play through harsh conditions and humble enough to rake the infield dirt after practice. “We want these guys to be hungry,” Blankmeyer said. “That’s what we focus on: be hungry; be tough; compete hard.” Like with most baseball programs in the Northeast, there are obvious limitations at St. John’s. In the early months of the season, when the field is typically frozen or covered in snow, the team lays bases on the university’s turf lacrosse field. Two years ago, St. John’s had only one full outdoor practice before playing its season opener, and that practice was at a high school in Clearwater, Fla. “It gets tough, but that adds to our toughness,” Baltz said. “We’re playing when it snows. We’re always out here.” On Sunday, the Red Storm — who inhabit the 3,500-seat Jack Kaiser Stadium, situated between asphalt parking lots and Utopia Parkway in Queens — beat North Carolina in its $25.5 million complex, prompting Blankmeyer to sound like Gene Hackman’s character in “Hoosiers.” “They would love to have a facility like that; what kid wouldn’t?” Blankmeyer said. “But this field is just like the field in North Carolina. Maybe not as nice, but the bases are the same distance; the mound is the same distance.” The Red Storm (40-21) were eliminated in the regionals last year by East Carolina, and the year before that by Virginia. Despite losing three key players — including shortstop Joe Panik, a first-round draft selection of the San Francisco Giants in 2011 — the team had high expectations before this season. The entire starting rotation was returning, headlined by the ace Kyle Hansen. St. John’s got off to a rough start, however, dropping 9 of its first 13 games. After losing three in a row to Liberty in early March, the Red Storm held a team meeting in a hotel conference room. “We knew we were too good to be playing as bad as we were,” Baltz said. “We were just clearing the air. It didn’t matter if you were a freshman or a senior; everybody stood up and said what’s on their mind.” Players viewed that as a turning point. The Red Storm won their next nine games and went on to win their seventh Big East title, a record. St. John’s finished fifth in the league in team earned run average (3.82) and second in opposing batting average (.248). Offensively, it led the conference in walks and was second in runs scored, hits and stolen bases. “This program is known for playing hard-nosed baseball,” said Blankmeyer, in his 17th season. “And we got back to our identity.” After beating East Carolina, 11-3, in the first game of the regional, St. John’s trailed top-seeded North Carolina, 4-2, in the ninth inning of its second game. Baltz led off the inning with a double, followed by a single by Sean O’Hare. Two batters later, Danny Bethea — a junior catcher with only two homers all season — lifted a 0-1 pitch over the left-field fence for a game-ending home run that will echo in St. John’s baseball lore for a long time. “That was the biggest hit of probably my whole baseball career,” Bethea said. “It didn’t seem real,” shortstop Matt Wessinger said. “The way that homer went down — they were stunned,” Blankmeyer said of North Carolina. After the dogpile at home plate, St. John’s rode the momentum to a 9-5 win over the Tar Heels the next day. Baltz was named the regional’s most valuable player despite driving in only two runs, indicative of the team’s balanced lineup. On Tuesday, Baltz tried keeping his mind off his professional future. His mother, Ann, and his girlfriend watched the draft’s second day unfold from a nearby hotel room. When Baltz’s name was announced — 68th over all — they raced to campus, stopping at a mall to buy a Padres hat. But Baltz kept his red cap on. San Diego, and its palm trees, can wait. | Baltz Jeremy;St John's University;NCAA Baseball Championships;Baseball;College World Series |
ny0060297 | [
"world",
"middleeast"
] | 2014/08/01 | Cease-Fire in Gaza Conflict Takes Effect as Talks Are Set | NEW DELHI — A 72-hour humanitarian cease-fire in the Gaza conflict negotiated by the United States and the United Nations took effect Friday morning, a diplomatic bolt-from-the-blue that will suspend the bloody 24-day military campaign and set the stage for arduous negotiations between Israel and Hamas over a more lasting truce. The announcement of the break in the fighting, made in the middle of the night in India with no warning by Secretary of State John Kerry, and also announced by Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in New York, attested to the complexity of the negotiations. But it appeared to be more significant than a shorter cease-fire that fell apart. This time, Israeli and Palestinian negotiators will head to Cairo for formal talks on how to end the conflict, which has resulted in the deaths of more than 1,400 Palestinians and 64 on the Israeli side. “During this time, the forces on the ground will remain in place,” said the announcement, which means that Israeli troops can continue destroying the labyrinth of tunnels in Gaza that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said are the prime target of the operation. “We urge all parties to act with restraint until this humanitarian cease-fire begins, and to fully abide by their commitments during the cease-fire,” Mr. Kerry and Mr. Ban said in the statement. William J. Burns, the deputy secretary of state, is heading to Cairo to add more seniority and experience to the U.S. team and is expected to arrive on Saturday. Mr. Burns, a former U.S. ambassador to Jordan and Russia, is one of the State Department’s most experienced diplomats and also led the back channel discussions with Iran that preceded the talks in Vienna over Tehran’s nuclear program. Video Secretary of State John Kerry announced a 72 hour cease-fire in the Gaza conflict Thursday. Jonathan Schwartz, a State Department legal expert who has worked on the Middle East peace talks, is also joining the American team in Cairo. The Palestinians are expected to arrive in Cairo on Friday, and the Israelis will arrive on Saturday night after the Jewish Sabbath. Given the time it may take to organize the Cairo talks, American officials have already begun to float the possibility of extending the 72-hour truce to give the negotiations time to bear fruit, a senior State Department official said. But that has not yet been agreed. The announcement amounted to a striking reversal of fortune for Mr. Kerry, whose efforts to broker a seven-day cease-fire a week ago were rebuffed by the Israeli cabinet, though it did accept a 12-hour humanitarian pause last week and even renewed it for another day until Hamas balked. Mr. Kerry came under a hailstorm of criticism across the Israeli political spectrum and from supporters of Israel in the United States for pushing a deal which many Israelis said was tilted in favor of Hamas. But Mr. Kerry kept at it, American and United Nations officials said, even as he was making the first visit of a senior American official to India since the election of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Mr. Kerry made dozens of phone calls to the Israelis and Palestinians, as well as to Egypt, which has hosted envoys of both sides, and Qatar and Turkey, which have ties to Hamas. Mr. Kerry alluded to his efforts on Thursday, thanking the Indian foreign minister for allowing him to interrupt his discussions here for “a number of must-do phone calls.” A State Department official estimated that Mr. Kerry had made 100 calls in the past week. In Gaza, a Pattern of Conflict Similarities and differences in the last three major conflicts between Israel and Hamas. “It’s the package deal that Kerry has been working on for two weeks,” said Martin S. Indyk, who served until recently as special envoy for Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. “Both sides have accepted it and the follow-on negotiations, and both sides seem to prefer that to continuing the conflict. This one should hold.” Despite the heated commentary from Israeli pundits, the tone of Mr. Kerry’s phone calls with Mr. Netanyahu appears to have been businesslike. There were signs this week that Mr. Netanyahu was open to a cease-fire arrangement that would allow Israeli forces to continue their operation to seal the tunnels. Nailing down the truce was tortuous, officials said. Each time one party proposed a change, it had to be presented to the other. In the case of Hamas, Mr. Kerry had to communicate through Qatari and Turkish officials, who are the key backers of Hamas. The agreement was not completed until 2 a.m. on Friday in New Delhi, an hour before it was announced, officials said. The cease-fire will take effect at 8 a.m. local time in Gaza and Israel. Speaking to reporters in New Delhi, Mr. Kerry described the agreement as a “lull of opportunity” and said that there were no guarantees that the truce would be extended. “It is up to the parties, all of them, to take advantage,” he said. Under the truce, Israeli forces would be allowed to continue sealing the tunnels Hamas has constructed to sneak into Israel. But offensive operations would cease and Israeli forces would not take any more ground. The United Nations would help determine the current Israeli lines. Image An explosion in Gaza City on Thursday. Credit Majed Hamdan/Associated Press During this period, the Palestinians would receive food and medicine and tend to their wounded. The United States had already announced $47 million for humanitarian relief . The 72-hour period was chosen, senior State Department officials said, because it was long enough to begin negotiations without committing each side to an indefinite truce. It also is about the amount of time that Israel has said it needs to complete its mission of destroying tunnels from Gaza into its territory. As soon as the cease-fire is underway, talks would begin in Cairo. American officials said that Egypt would be issuing the formal invitations for those talks and said that the negotiations might begin as early as Friday. Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority, will pick the Palestinian delegation, which will include members of Hamas. Frank Lowenstein, a senior aide to Mr. Kerry on Middle East matters, will head to Cairo along with other officials to represent the United States at the talks. The exact choreography of the negotiations will be determined by the Egyptians. Israel and the United States do not recognize Hamas. So Israeli and American officials will not be sitting down at the same table with Hamas officials, though they could do so with other Palestinian delegates. Image Israeli soldiers near the Gaza border on Thursday. Credit Uriel Sinai for The New York Times “This is not a time for congratulations,” a somber Mr. Kerry said. “We hope that this moment of opportunity will be grasped by the parties, but nobody can force them to do that.” The substance of the negotiations will be no less tricky than the choreography. Israel and Hamas have both said they will not be satisfied with a “quiet-for-quiet” deal like those that ended violence in 2012 and 2009. Hamas, and the broader Palestinian leadership, is demanding a lifting of all Israeli restrictions on import, export, farming and fishing, as well as an opening of the border crossings — which depends not only on Israel but on Egypt. Mr. Netanyahu has increasingly emphasized the need to demilitarize Gaza — a process that some say can be accomplished only by Israel effectively reoccupying Gaza — and will be looking for an international mechanism to guarantee that Hamas’ rocket stockpile will not be replenished and that it will not be able to dig new tunnels into Israel. Mr. Abbas may have his own set of demands, like the release of long-serving prisoners in Israeli jails who were supposed to be freed as part of the American-brokered peace talks that collapsed in April. Hamas has also asked for the release of some 50 men, who were freed in a 2011 exchange for an abducted Israel soldier and rearrested during an Israeli crackdown in June. Mr. Kerry’s aides are hoping that a new round of negotiations might be opened either as part of the Gaza-Israel deal or soon after. But it is hard to see how the last three weeks of intense combat will make Mr. Netanyahu, Mr. Abbas or their publics more trusting of each other or more open to painful concessions. The Toll in Gaza and Israel, Day by Day The daily tally of rocket attacks, airstrikes and deaths in the conflict between Israel and Hamas. Indeed, the news came as the conflict in Gaza appeared to be intensifying. On Thursday, Israel called up additional reservists and Mr. Netanyahu rejected calls for a cease-fire until Israeli forces finished destroying tunnels used by Hamas. “I won’t agree to any proposal that will not enable the Israeli military to finish this important task, for the sake of Israel’s security,” Mr. Netanyahu said. But Israel was coming under mounting international pressure, especially after artillery shells slammed into a school filled with evacuees on Wednesday, killing at least 20 people. United Nations officials said its investigation showed that the shells had been fired by Israeli forces. “I condemn in the strongest possible terms this serious violation of international law by Israeli forces,” said Pierre Krähenbühl, the commissioner-general of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, which operates the school. The White House on Thursday came closer than it had since the conflict began to criticizing Israel’s actions, saying it did not dispute the United Nations’ conclusion that Israel was responsible for the shelling. “What we are simply asking the Israelis to do — in fact, urging the Israelis to do — is to do more to live up to the standards that they have set for their own military operations to protect the lives of innocent civilians,” the press secretary, Josh Earnest, told reporters. Mr. Earnest called the strike on the school “totally unacceptable and totally indefensible.” | Israel;Gaza Strip;Palestinians;Hamas;Civilian casualties;Benjamin Netanyahu |
ny0060852 | [
"world",
"middleeast"
] | 2014/08/13 | After Human Rights Watch Report, Egypt Says Group Broke Law | CAIRO — The government on Tuesday accused the nonprofit group Human Rights Watch of breaking the law, violating Egypt’s sovereignty and insulting the judiciary after it issued a report criticizing top officials for the repeated mass shootings of Islamist demonstrators last summer. The allegations echo charges that Egypt has used to jail or sentence dozens of activists, aid workers, journalists and opposition figures in an escalating crackdown on political dissent. Human Rights Watch “does not enjoy any legal status that may allow it to operate in Egypt,” the government said in a statement responding to the report. “Conducting investigations, collecting evidence and interviewing witnesses without any legal backing are activities that constitute a flagrant violation of state sovereignty under international law,” the statement added. It called the report a “flagrant intervention in the work of the national investigative and judicial authorities, and an attempt to impinge upon the independence and integrity of the Egyptian judiciary.” The government also said that Human Rights Watch had issued the report “in parallel with dubious moves by the terrorist organization and its supporters” — a reference to the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamist group that sponsored Mohamed Morsi, the ousted Egyptian president — “with a view to carrying out further acts of violence and terrorism against the Egyptian state and innocent civilians.” In Egypt, such allegations can mean jail time for an organization’s staff members. The Egyptian authorities lodged similar accusations of unauthorized operations and espionage in late 2011 against dozens of employees of nonprofit groups, including the United States government-funded organizations Freedom House, the National Democratic Institute and the International Republican Institute. Dozens of their Egyptian employees were given suspended sentences of a year in prison, and their foreign employees, who fled, were sentenced in absentia to five years each. Image The Egyptian government drew criticism for its actions against protesters like these on Aug. 14, 2013, in Cairo. Credit Mohammed Abdel Moneim/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Several political figures have been jailed while under investigation for insulting the judiciary. A prominent liberal intellectual, Amr Hamzawy, has been barred from traveling while under investigation for the same charges. As with other rights groups, the Egyptian authorities have long declined to affirm or reject a licensing application from Human Rights Watch, preserving an implicit threat of legal action against the group or its employees. But the government has simultaneously allowed the group to operate freely, even consulting with the group’s staff here. In the report that set off the allegations, Human Rights Watch said President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi might be guilty of crimes against humanity for authorizing the repeated mass shootings of Islamist demonstrations after he led the military takeover last summer that ousted Mr. Morsi. In the four months after the takeover, security forces killed more than 1,100 protesters in six mass shootings, including the breakup of a huge sit-in on Aug. 14, 2013 . Human Rights Watch found that security forces killed at least 800 demonstrators that day and probably more than 1,000, in what the group called a vastly disproportionate use of lethal force authorized by top government officials, including Mr. Sisi. He was then the defense minister and the government’s chief decision maker. Two senior Human Rights Watch executives were turned away at the Cairo airport when they arrived to deliver the report this week. A third employee then left the country before its release to avoid retribution. The group said Tuesday that the Egyptian authorities had declined requests for comment before the report’s release. “The government seems to be suggesting that H.R.W.’s investigation and visit to Egypt is part of a Muslim Brotherhood terrorist plot, which is farcical on its face,” Sarah Leah Whitson, the group’s executive director for the region, said in an email. She called the charges “absurd, unsubstantiated allegations, and a naked effort to intimidate us.” | Egypt;Human Rights Watch;Civil Unrest;Abdel Fattah el-Sisi |
ny0071039 | [
"sports",
"cycling"
] | 2015/03/16 | Australian Wins Paris-Nice | Richie Porte of Australia overcame tricky conditions to win the Paris-Nice race for a second time with the fastest performance in Sunday’s final time-trial stage. Porte trailed the overnight leader, Tony Gallopin, by 36 seconds going into the 9.5-kilometer race against the clock from Nice to Col d’Eze. | Biking;Richie Porte;Road Cycling;Tony Gallopin |
ny0286795 | [
"business",
"media"
] | 2016/08/03 | Redstone’s Granddaughter Joins a Suit Against Him | Claiming that she has been disinherited out of $6 million and potentially $1 billion more, the granddaughter of the mogul Sumner M. Redstone has joined the lawsuit challenging his mental competence, asserting that he has been unduly influenced by his daughter. Keryn Redstone, Mr. Redstone’s 34-year-old granddaughter, filed court documents in Massachusetts on Tuesday, officially aligning herself with Mr. Redstone’s two longtime confidants who were ousted from the trust that will control his companies after he dies or is declared incompetent. The beneficiaries of that trust, now valued at more than $5 billion, include Keryn Redstone and Mr. Redstone’s four other grandchildren. The development increases the tension in an already intense corporate and family battle that includes court fights in three states. Earlier this year, Keryn Redstone stood in opposition to her aunt, Shari Redstone, when she aligned with Manuela Herzer, a former companion and onetime romantic partner of Mr. Redstone, in a separate suit challenging his competency. It is not clear how the development could affect the on-again, off-again attempts to settle the legal battles over the 93-year-old Mr. Redstone’s $40 billion media empire, which are being fought in Massachusetts, California and Delaware. While the other parties in the dispute could reach an agreement separate from Keryn Redstone, she now is a plaintiff in the Massachusetts suit and her involvement could make settlement discussions more difficult. Hanging in the balance is not only the Redstone family fortunes but also the fate of Mr. Redstone’s business empire. Through the private theater chain company National Amusements, Mr. Redstone controls about 80 percent of the voting stock in Viacom and CBS, two of the world’s largest entertainment companies. Keryn Redstone is insisting that she will not settle without the inclusion of a deal for Ms. Herzer, according to a person with knowledge of her thinking. Last year, Mr. Redstone revoked plans to leave Ms. Herzer $50 million and his $20 million Los Angeles mansion. So far, attempts to resolve the tangled dispute out of court have failed. Just last week, settlement talks between National Amusements and Viacom executives fell apart after a Massachusetts judge scheduled an October trial on the matter, according to three people briefed on the discussions. Inside the Battle for Sumner Redstone’s $40 Billion Media Empire War has spread across the empire of Sumner Redstone, one of the entertainment industry’s most tenacious titans. At stake are the fortunes of his family and confidants, as well as the fate of Viacom and CBS. The potential deal included plans for Philippe P. Dauman to leave his position as chief executive as Viacom and for Thomas E. Dooley, Viacom’s chief operating officer, to step in as the interim chief executive of the company, these people said. It also included changes to the Viacom board. Exactly what prompted the discussions to fall apart is not clear. Yet the prospect of the dispute going to trial in multiple states could draw the various parties back to the negotiating table. Figuring out a settlement would preserve the privacy and the dignity of Mr. Redstone, whose health is failing. It also would prevent the airing of the sometimes bitter relationship between Mr. Redstone and his daughter, with whom he has recently reconciled. And it could provide a path for Mr. Dauman to exit the company less contentiously and still well compensated. In the suit filed on Tuesday, Keryn Redstone depicts her aunt as a ruthless villain who kidnapped her ailing father Mr. Redstone and used him as a puppet to take control of his media empire. Along the way, Keryn Redstone was replaced as a trustee. Keryn Redstone states that the recent appointment of new trustees puts her inheritance at stake, as they will act at the behest of Shari Redstone instead of following her grandfather’s succession plans. “It will only be a matter of time, if it has not already occurred, that Shari carries out her longtime vendetta against Keryn and eliminates her as a beneficiary, or substantially reduces her inheritance, under the trust,” lawyers for Keryn Redstone said in the suit. The suit also suit claims that Shari Redstone manipulated her father into writing Keryn Redstone out of his personal trust and removing her $6 million bequest. A spokeswoman for Shari Redstone did not immediately respond to a request for comment. | Sumner M Redstone;Lawsuits;National Amusements;Viacom;Keryn Redstone |
ny0079099 | [
"nyregion"
] | 2015/02/27 | Appellate Ruling Supports a Police Whistle-Blower in New York | In a free-speech case that could bolster whistle-blowers, a federal appeals court ruled on Thursday in favor of a New York City police officer who said his commanders retaliated against him after he complained to them about what he believed to be a quota system that resulted in unjustified stops and arrests. The officer, Craig Matthews, had argued that his First Amendment right to free speech was violated by his superiors’ retaliatory actions, and the three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit sided with him, overturning a lower-court ruling that Officer Matthews’s statements were part of his work duties and therefore were not protected speech. In an opinion , Judge John M. Walker Jr. said Officer Matthews spoke as a citizen, not a public employee, when he expressed concern to supervisors about pressure officers in his Bronx precinct felt to comply with a quota system that mandated the numbers of arrests, summonses and stop-and-frisk encounters expected of officers. Officer Matthews, a 17-year veteran who was assigned to the 42nd Precinct, said that after speaking to his supervisors about his concerns, he was given undesirable assignments and poor performance reviews and was denied overtime and leave. The panel’s decision in his favor was unanimous, with Judges Peter W. Hall and J. Garvan Murtha joining in the opinion. It relied in part on the judges’ reading of the New York Police Department’s Patrol Guide. While officers are obligated to report official misconduct by fellow officers, the appellate judges determined that Officer Matthews’s comments to his superiors did not fall under that obligation. Rather, the judges found, Officer Matthews was raising broader policy concerns, as any concerned citizen might. And in going to the commanders, he was using a channel available to any citizen through public precinct community meetings, Judge Walker found. “Matthews’s speech addressed a precinctwide policy,” the judge wrote. “Such policy-oriented speech was neither part of his job description nor part of the practical reality of his everyday work.” That, the judges said, brought his statements under the shield of the First Amendment. Christopher T. Dunn, the associate legal director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, which represented Officer Matthews , said in a statement that the decision “protects the ability of police officers to speak out against this kind of misconduct.” “New York City’s finest should be applauded when they expose abuse, not abused and retaliated against,” Mr. Dunn added. He said the case would now return to the District Court for trial. But the decision could present a challenge for the Police Department, particularly its commanders, as they try to determine what sort of challenges are permissible and which are not. Roy T. Richter, president of the Captains Endowment Association, which represents many supervisors, said in a statement that the court decision altered the lines of authority inherent in any police department. “I am puzzled by this decision,” Mr. Richter said, “because it mischaracterizes the relationship between a commanding officer and a uniformed member under their direction as one more associated with a concerned citizen rather than the paramilitary structure currently in place.” But Patrick J. Lynch, the president of the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, the largest police union, said he supported the court ruling. “New York City police officers have the same right and obligation to speak out against unjust or unfair policies as any other citizen,” Mr. Lynch said in a statement. “This decision comes at an important time because despite management’s claim that they want quality not quantity, illegal quotas for police activities are, unfortunately, alive and well in the N.Y.P.D.” Nicholas Paolucci, a spokesman for the Law Department, said the city would review the decision, but he declined to comment further. | Whistleblower;NYPD;Craig Matthews;Search and seizure |
ny0284991 | [
"world",
"middleeast"
] | 2016/09/29 | Obama and Bill Clinton to Travel to Israel to Honor Shimon Peres | JERUSALEM — World leaders made plans to converge on Israel to pay tribute to Shimon Peres , the Nobel Prize-winning former prime minister who died on Wednesday, focusing renewed attention on his quest for peace in a fractured land that fell well short of his dreams . Presidents, prime ministers and a prince accepted invitations to the funeral on Friday for Mr. Peres, who transformed himself from a polarizing figure to perhaps Israel’s most renowned elder statesman. Mr. Peres, 93, who slipped away just over two weeks after what his doctor called “ a massive stroke ,” emerged as a symbol of what might have been, after the peace accords he helped broker in the 1990s failed to bring lasting change. The United States will send a delegation including President Obama , former President Bill Clinton and Secretary of State John Kerry , the Israeli Foreign Ministry said. Video Israelis and Palestinians shared their thoughts on the legacy of the former prime minister and president of Israel. But the ministry mistakenly reported that Hillary Clinton , the Democratic nominee for president and a former secretary of state, would attend. With just weeks until the election, Mrs. Clinton’s campaign said she would not attend. Mr. Obama, who has been at odds with the current Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu , over the logjammed peace process , made clear that he saw the moment as an opportunity to prod Israel to fulfill Mr. Peres’s legacy. “I can think of no greater tribute to his life than to renew our commitment to the peace that we know is possible,” Mr. Obama said in a statement . Some Israeli analysts said they expected Mr. Obama to use the occasion to make a new pitch for a peace settlement that would grant statehood to the Palestinians, but they doubted that Mr. Peres’s death would change the dynamic. Video A look at the life and career of Mr. Peres, a former Israeli prime minister and president, featuring commentary from Clyde Haberman, a former Jerusalem bureau chief for The New York Times. Credit Credit Todd Heisler/The New York Times “Just by appearing here, he’ll probably want to make a speech that will mention the two-state solution,” said Zalman Shoval, a two-time Israeli ambassador to the United States and a member of Mr. Netanyahu’s Likud party. “On whom will this have an impact is another question. On the Israeli public? I don’t think so. On the Palestinians? They have their own problems.” Mr. Peres’s body will lie in state on Thursday at the Knesset, the Israeli Parliament, and a funeral will be held the next day at Mount Herzl, the national cemetery. Israeli government ministers stood for a moment of silence at a special cabinet meeting on Wednesday. A portrait of Mr. Peres, with a black band across one corner, was in the background. Mr. Netanyahu, a former political opponent of Mr. Peres who unseated him as prime minister in 1996 , opened the meeting with the words, “This is the first day of the state of Israel without Shimon Peres.” Shimon Peres’s Reflections on War, Peace and Life The former prime minister and president of Israel was a fountain of seemingly effortless bons mots and poetic musings. He added: “I admired him. I loved him.” But Mr. Peres was seen as a more complicated figure among Palestinians , who remembered his role in advancing settlements in the West Bank and ordering a brief but intense military campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon in 1996 that led to civilian deaths . “Peres was an unrepentant war criminal and should be memorialized as such,” said Diana Buttu, a former adviser to the Palestinian leadership in the West Bank. Mahmoud Abbas , the president of the Palestinian Authority, which controls the West Bank, sent a letter of condolence to the Peres family, saying Mr. Peres had been a “brave” partner in peace and had invested intensively in trying to realize the promise of the Oslo Accords of 1993 until his final moments. But leaders of Hamas, the more militant Palestinian group that controls Gaza and is considered a terrorist organization by Israel, the United States and other nations, alternately celebrated Mr. Peres’s death or complained that it allowed him to escape justice. The Life of Shimon Peres 12 Photos View Slide Show › Image Lynsey Addario for The New York Times “He is a criminal who committed massacres against the Palestinian people and justified wars in Gaza,” Hazem Qasem, a spokesman for Hamas, said by telephone. “He is one of the founding leaders of the Israeli occupation that caused the displacement of millions of Palestinians.” While Mr. Peres was a divisive figure for much of his long career, he came to enjoy support and admiration across the Israeli political spectrum by his final years. Mr. Netanyahu visited Mr. Peres in the hospital during the last two weeks, as did the opposition leader Isaac Herzog. Mr. Clinton called the hospital for updates. Pope Francis prayed for his recovery. Mr. Obama, who awarded Mr. Peres the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012, called the former prime minister’s family after his death to convey his sympathies. Image Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, center, at a special cabinet meeting in Jerusalem on Wednesday. Credit Pool photo by Ronen Zvulun In an unusually long and personal statement, Mr. Obama described their first meeting, while he was a United States senator, and he described their conversations in detail. “Shimon was the essence of Israel itself,” he said. “A light has gone out, but the hope he gave us will burn forever,” he added. “Shimon Peres was a soldier for Israel, for the Jewish people, for justice, for peace and for the belief that we can be true to our best selves — to the very end of our time on earth and in the legacy that we leave to others.” Tony Blair, the former British prime minister who has worked for years on Middle East peace issues, described Mr. Peres as “someone I loved deeply” and as a mentor. “His intellect, his way with words that was eloquent beyond description, his command of the world and how it was changing were extraordinary,” he said. In Germany, Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier recalled that Mr. Peres became in 1986 the first Israeli prime minister to visit Berlin , then divided, and that he had described the Israeli-German partnership in evocative and emotional terms in a speech to the German Parliament in 2010. Germany, Mr. Steinmeier added, “mourns a courageous and wise voice, who was a constant motivation” to do more. Mr. Peres was surrounded by his children when he died. “My father used to say, and I quote, ‘You are only as great as the cause you serve,’ ” Chemi Peres, his son, told reporters afterward. “He had no interest other than serving the people of Israel in whom he had great faith and whom he loved dearly until his final breath.” | Shimon Peres;Benjamin Netanyahu;Palestinians;Israel |
ny0157865 | [
"business",
"economy"
] | 2008/12/02 | Officials Warn That Economy Will Remain Weak | The federal government’s top fiscal-policy officials warned on Monday that the economy will probably remain weak, at least for the near future, but they expressed optimism for the long haul and said Washington would continue to deal aggressively with the crisis. Addressing critics of the Federal Reserve’s response to the crisis, the central bank’s chairman, Ben S. Bernanke , defended the Fed’s actions on Monday, calling them “exceptionally rapid and proactive” measures that had helped stabilize the economy. Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr., meanwhile, acknowledged that “the journey ahead will continue to be a difficult one.” But he said he was confident that “we are pursuing the right strategy to stabilize the financial system and support the flow of credit into our economy.” In a speech in Austin, Tex., Mr. Bernanke warned that the economy would “probably remain weak for a time,” with particular problems ahead for exports and household spending. He called for broad new regulations that would allow the Fed more flexibility in assisting institutions considered “critical” to the health of the economy. But, in response to a question, he said that the current economic conditions — even with the recession now official — bear “no comparison in terms of severity” to the 1930s, a period that Mr. Bernanke has studied extensively. Mr. Paulson, speaking at the Fortune 500 Forum in Washington, said there was “no single action the federal government can take” to ease the crisis. But he reiterated his pledge to be flexible as well as aggressive. “We are actively engaged in developing additional programs to strengthen our financial system so that lending flows into our economy,” he said. And he once again prodded banks, which collectively have benefited from Washington’s efforts to shore up the financial system, to do their part to get credit flowing freely again. “We expect banks to increase their lending as a result of these efforts, and it is important that they do so,” Mr. Paulson said. Mr. Bernanke acknowledged the limitations of the Fed’s conventional policy-setting tool, the interest rate, and suggested that future actions by the Fed would focus on providing liquidity to the financial system by directly buying securities and acting as a backstop for the credit markets. He also indicated that the Fed was prepared to cut rates again in December. It was his first major policy speech since the end of October. The four weeks since then have brought a federal bailout of Citigroup, billions more in financing for the troubled insurance giant American International Group and another frightening swoon in the stock markets. The Dow Jones industrial average was down more than 400 points in the hour before the chairman delivered his remarks. In his comments, Mr. Bernanke acknowledged the limits of the Fed’s actions from the last few months. “Judging the effectiveness of the Federal Reserve’s liquidity programs is difficult,” he said, noting that credit markets had not yet returned to normal despite the enormous amount of liquidity poured into the system. “But,” he said, “I am confident that market functioning would have been more seriously impaired in the absence of our actions.” Mr. Bernanke described the Fed’s actions as necessary to stabilize the economy in a time of crisis. He said that concerns about “moral hazard” stemming from the bailouts should be addressed after the initial shocks from the crisis had begun to fade, and noted that the long-term goal was for banks and other financial institutions to stand again on their own two feet. “The government should intervene in markets only in exceptional circumstances,” he said. “However, in my view, the failure of a major financial institution at a time when financial markets already quite fragile poses too great a threat to financial and economic stability to be ignored. In such cases, intervention is necessary to protect the public interest.” “Once financial conditions become more normal, the extraordinary provision of liquidity by the Federal Reserve will no longer be needed,” he said. He acknowledged the process of returning to self-sufficiency was “likely to take some time,” and called for the government to develop a regulatory infrastructure that would help prevent the collapse of major nonbank institutions, like A.I.G. Mr. Bernanke’s outlook for the economy, like Mr. Paulson’s, was grim, at least for the short term. “The likely duration of the financial turmoil is difficult to judge,” he said. “But even if the functioning of financial markets continues to improve, economic conditions will probably remain weak for a time.” He said that “cumulating job losses, weak consumer confidence, and a lack of credit availability” would depress consumer spending, traditionally the engine of American economic growth, and noted that exports were “not likely to be as great a source of strength for U.S. economic activity in coming quarters as they had been earlier this year.” Higher prices for energy and consumer products have receded, he said. “Inflation appears set to decline significantly over the next year toward levels consistent with price stability.” “To avoid inflation in the long run and to allow short-term interest rates ultimately to return to normal levels, the Fed’s balance sheet will eventually have to be brought back to a more sustainable level,” he said, adding that the Federal Open Market Committee “will ensure that that is done in a timely way. However, that is an issue for the future; for now, the goal of policy must be to support financial markets and the economy.” | Subprime Mortgage Crisis;Bernanke Ben S;Economic Conditions and Trends |
ny0087151 | [
"world",
"europe"
] | 2015/07/08 | Thieves Grab Bomb Parts at French Military Base | PARIS — Thieves were able to penetrate a French military base in the south of France and escape with bomb-making matériel, despite heightened security in the wake of a terrorist attack at a gas and chemical factory last month. In announcing the theft on Tuesday, the French Defense Ministry would not list the types or quantities of stolen matériel. But officials, who said the loss was discovered on Monday, did not dispute news reports that said at least 150 detonators and about 40 grenades, as well as an unknown amount of explosives, had been taken. The ministry said two investigations had been opened: one into the theft itself and how it happened and the other into the security measures at similar sites throughout France, according to a statement. Security was supposed to be tightened after an attack on an American-owned chemical plant near Lyon on June 26 by a man believed to have connections to Islamic extremists. The man, Yassine Salhi , 35, decapitated his boss before setting off an explosion, the authorities said, and he was arrested. The stolen explosives, which look like plastic bricks, and the detonators that were reported to have been stolen from the military base can be put together to make a bomb when attached to an electrical wire, said Jean-Vincent Brisset, a retired air force brigadier general who now is an analyst at the Institute for Strategic and International Relations. “It’s more than easy, it’s almost ready-made,” he said, adding, “When you have the two parts, the plastic brick and the detonator, it’s two minutes to make a bomb.” The base at Miramas, which is north of Marseille, is the largest depot in the Provence region, said Frédéric Vigouroux, the mayor of Miramas. Two layers of electric fence surround the base, which is under 24-hour surveillance, according to local news reports, so it was not immediately clear how someone was able to enter without being detected. “Usually there are people patrolling the walls,” Mr. Brisset said. “We have very few problems at our sites.” He added: “It’s very surprising.” A spokesman for the Defense Ministry, Col. Gilles Jaron, confirmed there were regular patrols of the base, where about 160 people work, both military and civilians. Mr. Brisset said it was likely that whoever planned and carried out the theft had inside information, because otherwise the people would not have known where to enter and what to look for. The base is used to supply flights taking off for foreign locations where the French Army is fighting, such as Mali and, in the past, Afghanistan, said Mr. Vigouroux and Mr. Brisset. The materials would be attractive to many people, experts said, including terrorists, criminals and people who wanted to sell them on the black market. | France;Military Bases;Bombs;Robbery;Miramas |
ny0076166 | [
"nyregion"
] | 2015/05/29 | Council Members Complain, and Summer School Money Is Restored | While Mayor Bill de Blasio fights in Albany to maintain his control over New York’s school system, his schools chancellor on Thursday got a cool reception from an audience that is usually much friendlier to the administration: the City Council . The issue: 17,000 slots in summer programs for middle school students that the administration had cut at the last minute, in some cases after parents had enrolled their children. The money saved — nearly $28 million — was to be redirected to the city’s lowest-performing schools, where the administration is under pressure to show improvement. But on Thursday, when the chancellor, Carmen Fariña , appeared at a hearing on the Education Department’s budget, council members said that was not a good enough reason to deprive other children of opportunities, and by the end of the day, the administration said it had decided to restore the summer program money. “Where we made a commitment to a school, and they made plans,” Councilman Brad Lander from Brooklyn said during the hearing, “we surely should not yank those resources back and move them around, even if, to be fair, we’re giving them to a more low-income community.” (While the city’s lowest-performing schools serve mostly low-income students, some of the summer programs that were cut are based in public housing projects.) Some of Mr. Lander’s colleagues were more emphatic. Julissa Ferreras , the chairwoman of the Finance Committee, said that by not making the cuts until late in the process, the administration had undermined the Council’s role, as well as the comity that had existed between the two branches of city government. (The budget, yet to be made final by the Council and mayor, is for the fiscal year that begins July 1.) “We were supposed to be eliminating the budget dance,” Councilwoman Ferreras said. “We were supposed to be eliminating these moments of contention because we’re in this together.” “We are not happy,” she added. “It’s an understatement, actually.” While Ms. Fariña was testifying in the Council chambers, supporters of the summer programs, parents and children gathered on the steps of City Hall, holding signs with messages like, “Keep Your Promise,” and “We Want Summer Camp, Not Bummer Camp.” Several council members left the hearing to appear at the rally. “What do we do when we make a promise?” Mr. Lander asked the demonstrators. “Keep it!” they yelled. A few hours later, administration officials announced that “after hearing from parents and kids,” the summer slots would be paid for after all, though they did not promise to do so next year and they did not say where the money would come from. | NYC;NYC Department of Education;Bill de Blasio;New York City Council;Carmen Farina;Summer school;Budget |
ny0162621 | [
"nyregion"
] | 2006/02/11 | 95 Pounds Heavier, Angry Son Faces Mother Who Starved Him | CAMDEN, Feb. 10 - Bruce Jackson rose in a packed courtroom here on Friday, 95 pounds heavier and 15 inches taller than he was 27 months ago when he was found rummaging through a neighbor's garbage can looking for food. He looked directly at his adoptive mother, who was about to be sentenced to seven years in prison for starving him and his three younger brothers in a case that drew national attention to the failures of New Jersey's child welfare system. "You would make us eat pancake batter, dried-up grits and oatmeal, uncooked Cream of Wheat, and raw potatoes instead of cooked food," Mr. Jackson, now 21, told her and the crowded courtroom. "You didn't take us to any doctor's appointments. You wouldn't let us watch TV or play with our toys. You wouldn't let us take a shower when we were dirty." He read from a piece of paper in a calm and determined voice. "You yelled at us, cursed at us, hit us with brooms, rulers, sticks, shoes and belt buckles; I still have the marks to prove it," he reminded Vanessa Jackson, 50, who took him in as a foster child when he was 7 and later adopted him. "I want to see Ms. Jackson go to jail for life," he said. "You were mean to me my whole life so you deserve the same thing you did to me for the rest of your life. You took my childhood." In a wrenching, angry series of statements that brought onlookers to tears, Mr. Jackson and his brothers described publicly for the first time the horror of their life in Mrs. Jackson's Collingswood, N.J., home. Prosecutors said they were at a loss as to why the boys were starved and abused while five other children were allowed to live normal lives. "If we knew why these kinds of things happen, we would be able to put ourselves in the shoes of defendants, in the shoes of mass murderers, in the shoes of people who do horrible things to young children," said Vincent P. Sarubbi, the Camden County prosecutor. "We'd have to become them, and that's why it's impossible in some circumstances to truly understand what may motivate people." Ms. Jackson sat impassively in her chair, staring straight ahead, as the boys recounted their life with her and her husband, Raymond, who died in late 2004: their sparse diets of raw food, how they were beaten with brooms and belts and forced to stand on the occasions when they were allowed to eat. They never saw a doctor or dentist, and were never allowed to bathe. Bruce Jackson said his teeth became so rotten they had to be removed. Mr. Jackson's brothers, who now live with adoptive or foster families, were present in the courtroom, but their testimony was presented on videotape played on a monitor in the courtroom. They spared none of the details of what was visited upon them in Ms. Jackson's home. Nor did they hold back their anger. "When my new mom asked me what I thought, I told her that Ms. Vanessa could die for all I care," said Keith Jackson, 16. "I thought she should have gotten jail for life or the electric chair because she starved us and almost killed us. And she can't repay us." Tyrone Jackson, now 12, recalled how he once threw up a dinner of white rice because he had been forced to go so long without food. "Man, I just wanted to kill you, I was so angry," he said. He ended his statement with a smile, telling her, "Good luck, and have fun in jail." None of the children looked remotely as they did the last time Vanessa Jackson saw them. Keith, who was 4 feet tall and weighed about 41 pounds when the boys were found in October 2003, is now 5 feet 2 and 126 pounds. Tyrone, who was 3 feet 3 and 28 pounds, is now 4 feet 4 and 66 pounds. Michael, now, 11, was about 3 feet tall and 23 pounds; he is now 4 feet 3 and weighs 63 pounds. The most striking gains have been made by Bruce Jackson, who lives on his own in a residential complex. He is now 5 feet 3 and weighs 140 pounds. A subtext of the hearing was the failure of the state's child welfare system, which underwent a shake-up largely because of the children's case. The state all but admitted its errors last year when it agreed to pay $12.5 million to settle a lawsuit brought on behalf of the children. Ms. Jackson's daughter Vernee was among her four biological children who spoke in her behalf. She said that the case had torn her family apart, and that her mother did not deserve to go to jail. She and her mother sobbed briefly before Vanessa Jackson regained her composure and resumed her stoic stare. The Rev. Harry L. Thomas, the pastor of the Medford, N.J., church that the family attended and who has remained steadfast in his support of Ms. Jackson, also testified for her. "I've known these people as very loving people," Mr. Thomas said, "people who have a heart for children and they have a heart for God." But Judge Robert G. Millenky of State Superior Court was unmoved. He said Ms. Jackson deserved the maximum seven-year term because her conduct "fits the description of cruel activity." "You had boys who clearly needed help," the judge said. "To do nothing in the face of serious problems demonstrates an absolute failure to recognize fundamental obligations." He also faulted the child welfare agency, but deflected the attempts by Ms. Jackson's lawyer, Alan D. Bowman, to blame the system for the children's plight. "They in no way, provide an excuse for the decision made with regard to these children." Several of the brothers' foster and adoptive parents also addressed the court. Keith's adopted mother, whose identity was not given to protect the child's privacy, described how the boys had to be hospitalized when they first came to live with her because "their stomachs were so small and not used to having substantive food in them." She sobbed as she recalled how Tyrone, presented with a choice for breakfast, asked for tap water and dry oatmeal, and how the children would hoard food and "eat so much so fast the other kids would be afraid of not getting anything to eat. I assured them that there would always be enough food for them all." She noted the progress that the boys had made through therapy and the help of social workers. "They are overcomers instead of being overcome," she said. "Victorious, not victims." | NEW JERSEY;JACKSON TYRONE;JACKSON VANESSA;JACKSON BRUCE;JACKSON MICHAEL;JACKSON KEITH;FOSTER CARE;SENTENCES (CRIMINAL);CHILD ABUSE AND NEGLECT;ADOPTIONS |
ny0184121 | [
"us"
] | 2007/12/22 | As Cars Hit More Animals on Roads, Toll Rises | BOZEMAN, Mont. — On a dark highway near Anchorage, Specialist Steven Cavanaugh of the Army, who had survived 300 missions in Iraq, was critically injured in December when his vehicle hit a moose. Specialist Cavanaugh died Dec. 6. In the early morning darkness in Lincoln, Mont., in October, a pickup slammed into a 830-pound grizzly bear. The driver survived, but the bear was among seven grizzlies — a record for one year — killed by vehicles this year statewide. Wildlife-related crashes are a growing problem on rural roads around the country. The accidents increased 50 percent from 1990 to 2004, based on the most recent federal data, according to the Western Transportation Institute at Montana State University here. The basic problem is that rural roads are being traveled by more and more people, many of them living in far-flung subdivisions. Each year, about 200 people are killed in as many as two million wildlife-related crashes at a cost of more than $8 billion, the institute estimated in a report prepared for the National Academies of Science. Ninety percent of the accidents occur on rural two-lane roads, and the most common animal involved is a deer. “I knew it was a big bear, but I didn’t know it was a grizzly,” said Steve Sandru, the driver who hit the bear near Lincoln on the way to his job as a logger. “A grizzly was the last thing I expected to see.” The human death toll has risen from 111 in 1995 to around 200 in 2005, the most recent year for which figures are available. Officials say better designed highways would help lower the number. “If you reduce wildlife-vehicle collisions, you would in all likelihood reduce fatalities,” said Rob Ament, research director for the Western Transportation Institute. “The priority would be to treat the hot spots, the areas with the most accidents.” In addition to the loss of life, the accidents can be expensive. The average cost of a deer collision is $8,000, including repair, towing and cleaning up the carcass, while hitting an elk averages $18,000. If the driver strikes a much larger moose, expenses average about $30,000. The total cost of the accidents to insurance companies exceeds $1 billion a year, the institute estimates. Pennsylvania has the most vehicle-wildlife crashes. Drivers there struck nearly 97,000 deer in the last half of 2005 and first half of 2006, according to estimates by State Farm, the insurance company. In the report prepared for the Transportation Research Board of the National Academies of Science, the Montana institute said the number of wildlife crashes was far greater than federal statistics suggested — about 300,000 crashes involving wildlife are reported to the authorities a year — because many of the accidents are reported only to insurance companies. In recent years, the institute estimates based on insurance industry data, the number of crashes ranged from one million to two million. Marcel Huijser, a researcher in Missoula, Mont., who prepared the report for the Montana institute, said underreporting of the accidents hindered efforts to prevent them. Mr. Huijser added, “If you build a wildlife crossing in the wrong location, they won’t use it or use it to the extent you want them to.” In a separate report delivered to Congress in November , the institute recommended ways to reduce wildlife-related accidents, including the construction of underpasses and overpasses with fences to keep wildlife off highways and directed toward safer crossings. Other methods include culling animals in places where accidents are numerous and “break-the-beam” systems, in which animals are fitted with collars that set off flashing lights when they approach a road. Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada, has been a large laboratory for studying measures to prevent such collisions, which had been frequent on a four-lane highway that runs through the park in the heart of the wildlife-rich Canadian Rockies. Officials there have built 24 underpasses and overpasses, and the changes have reduced collisions by more than 80 percent, park officials said. Researchers in Montana are conducting similar experiments along a stretch of Interstate 90 near Bozeman. They have built fences and an underpass to allow animals safe passage. If they could duplicate the results in Banff, said Mr. Ament of the Western Transportation Institute, few animals and people would die and there would be substantial monetary savings as well. “Wildlife accidents on Bozeman Pass cost the public a million a year” in crash costs, Mr. Ament said. “With an 80 percent reduction, that would be $800,000 in savings a year.” The accidents can also take a toll on precarious wildlife populations. The report prepared for Congress found that vehicle collisions were a major source of mortality for 21 federally endangered or threatened species, like the red wolf, kit fox, Key deer and Florida panther. “It’s a new and dubious record,” Chris Servheen, grizzly bear recovery coordinator for the federal Fish and Wildlife Service, said of the seven grizzlies killed this year on Montana roads. “There are more bears and everybody drives faster, and so roads are more of a problem.” While the accidents are not threatening the bears’ long-term survival, Mr. Servheen said, they do threaten the species’ ability to expand its range. The animal deaths can also be traumatic for many people. In November, a truck driver plowed through a herd of bighorn sheep on Highway 200 near Thompson Falls, Mont. The sheep often congregate there because they eat a salty de-icer the highway department sprays on a treacherous stretch of road. More than 350 wild sheep have been killed here since 1985. Despite numerous warning signs with flashing lights, witnesses say the truck’s brake lights never came on as it drove through the herd, killing five adult ewes and two lambs. The driver was not injured. An investigator with the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks is looking into the accident to see if charges are warranted. “A lot of people in Thompson Falls take pride in these sheep and are pretty upset,” said Bruce Sterling, a wildlife biologist with the state in Thompson Falls. | Animals;Roads and Traffic;Accidents and Safety;Deer;Rural Areas;United States |
ny0165763 | [
"nyregion"
] | 2006/09/08 | Newark: Songwriters Union Official Admits Theft | A Brooklyn woman who worked as the royalties manager for the Songwriters Guild of America pleaded guilty in Federal District Court yesterday to stealing $1.2 million from the guild, officials said. The manager, Marsha Aiken, 54, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to steal the money and told the authorities that from August 2001 through June 2005 she issued checks to her daughter and nephew from the guild, said Christopher J. Christie, the United States attorney in New Jersey . Ms. Aiken’s daughter, Nicole Williams, 27, and her nephew, Anthony Ray, 33, of Providence, R.I., pleaded guilty to the same charge last week. Ms. Aiken is free on bail and faces up to five years in prison at sentencing, scheduled for December. | Robberies and Thefts;Music;New Jersey |
ny0002997 | [
"world",
"asia"
] | 2013/03/25 | Chinese Universities Drop English Requirement | Chinese universities drop English exam requirement Some top universities in China are no longer requiring an English test as part of their recruitment exams, according to a report by Xinhua, the state news agency. At some universities, engineering and science applicants now are required to take only mathematics and physics examinations, while arts applicants will need to take only tests in Chinese and mathematics, Xinhua reported March 16, the same day that many universities held their own recruitment examinations. Those tests take place about three months before official national college entrance exams. A Tsinghua enrollment officer, Yu Han, told Xinhua that the English requirement had been removed to favor students who excelled in their specific fields of study, and to lighten students’ workloads. — CALVIN YANG Japan considers using Toefl to screen students The governing party is considering using the Test of English as a Foreign Language, commonly known as Toefl, as a way to screen applicants at universities across Japan, according to the Japanese new media. Newspapers like The Yomiuri Shimbun and Sankei Shimbun reported that the majority Liberal Democratic Party is considering introducing Toefl, which is administered by ETS, a nonprofit group based in the United States, as a criterion for university admissions. They would take the place of the current English-language examination system, which has been criticized for focusing too much on grammar and rote memorization. The idea comes on the heels of similar initiatives. In March, the National Personnel Authority said it would adopt an English test as part of the recruitment process for elite government officials, starting in 2015. Officials of the Liberal Democratic Party would not confirm the news reports about Toefl but said that the party would propose changes as part of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s initiative to improve education. — MIKI TANIKAWA Charity to study potential of chess in primary schools The Education Endowment Foundation, which provides financial support for British students from low-income families, said last week that it would set aside a grant of a £689,000, or $1.05 million, for a charity to study the effectiveness of a structured chess program in primary schools. Six thousand 10-year-olds from 100 primary schools in Bristol, Liverpool and Manchester will participate in the 30-week study, in which they will learn how to play the game, as well as develop problem-solving skills through chess. A trial that was conducted by a British charity, Chess in Schools and Communities, will compare the progress of students who take up chess with that of students who do not. The foundation is also organizing the funding of seven other new projects, including a joint initiative with the University of Oxford to test ways to enhance mathematical reasoning and the understanding of spelling rules in children. A total of £4.3 million has been set aside for the eight projects, which will involve more than 30,000 students in 380 British schools. — CALVIN YANG | Education;College;China;English language;Bilingual education |
ny0152165 | [
"sports",
"olympics"
] | 2008/08/08 | Olympic Message to Some in Beijing Is ‘Please Leave’ | BEIJING — Li Tianchao is an itinerant worker who has spent his adult life toiling long hours, living in bleak worksite dormitories and chasing the next construction job from boomtown to boomtown. A no-nonsense, weatherworn man, he is not quick to grouse. But as he waited for a train to take him back to his hometown north of the capital, Mr. Li, 50, could not help but feel wistful. “The Olympics have finally come to China, and I won’t even be here,” he said, lounging on a woven plastic sack stuffed with his possessions. He glanced up at the “Participate in the Olympics, Enjoy the Fun” banner above his head and shrugged. Like thousands of others who packed Beijing’s main train station on Thursday, Mr. Li was prompted to leave town by a lack of work and an unwritten government policy encouraging migrant workers to clear out until the dignitaries and journalists have gone home. As the city readied itself for the pageantry and the fireworks of Friday night’s opening ceremonies, its main train station was packed with truck drivers, food vendors and factory workers whose jobs had been sacrificed to the Olympics juggernaut. The atmosphere was a mix of expectation and boredom, but also disappointment and regret. Construction has been banned since July 20; factories with noxious emissions were closed all across the city. The scores of unfinished buildings that dot the skyline, their facades cloaked in Olympian banners, are a testament to the boom interrupted. No one knows for sure how many of Beijing’s 17 million residents are migrants, but there are thought to be around 4 million. And no one disputes that their sweat has been essential to giving the city its stylish new mien. He Yanjun and his wife, Pang Chunlian, said that for two years they had earned a decent living installing tiles in the homes of Beijing’s newly moneyed class. Like many workers, they slept on the job site until the house was nearly complete, then moved into another shell. “It’s a rough life, but Beijing has been good to us,” said Mr. He, 43, who said he had abandoned the economic stagnation of rural Sichuan Province nearly a decade ago. “If you work hard here you can do well.” When the work dried up last month, they rented an apartment and tried to stick it out. The jobs never came, and the rent was steep, so on Thursday the couple packed their cutting board, the electric cooking burner and a vase of plastic flowers and joined the throngs at the station. Their destination: Jiangxi Province, 24 hours away, where a relative said there was ample opportunity. Mr. He and Ms. Pang said they might come back next year, depending on whether Beijing’s construction revives after the Olympic Games. “We can only hope,” Mr. He said. Some people said they were leaving out of fear. Li Ping, a 33-year-old seamstress from Sichuan, said co-workers at her suitcase factory insisted that anyone who remained in Beijing without a residency permit would face a steep fine. She said she had scrambled to apply for the coveted document but was too late. “I should have paid attention sooner,” she said. Her boss, unsympathetic, docked her a month’s pay, or about $140. He told her that by skipping town, she was violating her contract, even if she had never signed one. “I should be happy for the Olympics, but I’m angry,” she said. “These bosses can be so evil. I don’t think I will be coming back.” A few rows away, Wang Yongsheng and his wife, Ma Ernu, sat in the waiting room’s orange plastic chairs looking dazed. Two weeks earlier, the couple had come to the capital from their home in Inner Mongolia in the hopes of finding treatment for Ms. Ma’s worsening kidney disease. The couple, retired farmers, said they could not find decent medical care back home. But after spending all their money and being waved away from several hospitals, they realized their timing could not have been worse. “The doctors told us they were all too busy preparing for the Olympics,” said Ms. Ma, whose skin was discolored and covered with marble-size cysts. “The whole country is very distracted by the Olympics.” She smiled as if to say she understood. Not everyone was leaving Beijing with regret. Wang Cheng and Xiao Xinyan said they were initially annoyed to find themselves suddenly unemployed. But facing a month of idleness, the couple, both 22, decided to seize the moment and get married. Next week, a few days after they arrive home in Shandong Province, they look forward to giving a party for family and friends. But what about missing the Olympics excitement? Mr. Wang, a construction worker, pondered, then said he was actually relieved to leave Beijing. “Besides,” he added, “we’ll get a better view by watching the Games on television.” | Beijing (China);Olympic Games (2008);Migrant and Foreign Workers |
ny0220896 | [
"nyregion"
] | 2010/02/26 | Lawyer Challenges a Paterson Claim in Abuse Case | The lawyer for the woman who had sought court protection from one of Gov. David A. Paterson ’s top aides disputed on Thursday the governor’s claim that it was the woman who had initiated a telephone conversation with Mr. Paterson the day before she was due back in court. On Wednesday, Mr. Paterson said the woman, who had accused his aide of choking and otherwise assaulting her in their Bronx apartment last fall, called him on Feb. 7 merely to reassure him that she was not the source of rumors circulating about the governor’s private life. But Lawrence B. Saftler, the lawyer for the woman, contradicted both those claims Thursday. Mr. Saftler said that the woman was called, unbidden, by a female intermediary on behalf of Mr. Paterson on Feb. 7 and told that the governor wanted her to call him, which she did. Mr. Saftler said the conversation had nothing to do with rumors about the governor’s private life. He said, as he had on Wednesday, that the conversation lasted about a minute, that Mr. Paterson had asked if the woman was all right, and concluded by saying, “If you need me, I’m here for you.” The woman, who had been pursuing an order of protection against Mr. Paterson’s aide, David W. Johnson , for more than three months, did not appear in court on Feb. 8, the day after her conversation with the governor. The woman, who has asked not to be named for fear of retaliation, had gone to court on three occasions, seeking a protective order against Mr. Johnson and complaining under oath that she had been repeatedly harassed by the State Police not to press charges or seek the court-ordered protection. Mr. Paterson has asked Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo to investigate whether Mr. Johnson or the State Police improperly sought to influence the woman into dropping the case. The governor also suspended Mr. Johnson without pay pending the outcome of the investigation. The State Police superintendent, Harry Corbitt, has acknowledged that a trooper from the governor’s executive detail visited the woman in the hours after the alleged assault. Mr. Corbitt said that the police were not trying to pressure the woman but were apprising her of her “options” to seek counseling. He said he did not know if other troopers had contacted the woman, and Mr. Paterson has asked Mr. Corbitt to investigate his department. Mr. Saftler said that the woman would not speak publicly about the matter but would cooperate fully with any investigation. “I would like to note to the public and the press that my client is an alleged victim of domestic violence,” Mr. Saftler said. “My understanding is that there has been an official investigation requested of this matter. We will cooperate with the authorities at this time or at any time they so request. We have no further comments pending that investigation. I ask that you respect the privacy of my client.” | Domestic Violence;Paterson David A;Johnson David W;New York State |
ny0198924 | [
"sports",
"cycling"
] | 2009/07/07 | Sensing Move in the Wind, Armstrong Makes Sure He’s Part of It | LA GRANDE-MOTTE, France — With the wind whirling and whirring across a vast marshland during the Tour de France on Monday, Lance Armstrong did what he thought was natural. He pedaled to the front of the peloton just before the course, and the day’s stage, took a turn. For Armstrong, the seven-time Tour winner riding for Astana, it was the right move at the right time. “I was just trying to stay up front, stay out of trouble, and then it happened,” he said later. “Good positioning, experience and a little bit of good luck.” The riders began the day in Marseille and traveled 122 miles (196.5 kilometers) through an area just off the Mediterranean Sea called the Camargue , where ranchers raise famed white horses and fighting bulls. Not long after Armstrong made his way to the front, the peloton turned a corner with about 19 miles, or 30 kilometers, left in the stage. Clustered in front, the entire Team Columbia-HTC squad accelerated through that curve, sweeping up Armstrong and about 19 others and splitting the peloton. Left behind, the rest of the riders never caught up. Mark Cavendish of the Columbia team went on to win his second consecutive stage because of his team’s help. But Armstrong also benefited. He was the only race favorite in that lead group, making him the only race favorite in the group when it crossed the finish line. “You know what the wind is doing, and you see that a turn is coming up, so it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that you have to go to the front,” Armstrong said. Armstrong’s teammate Alberto Contador was among the top riders dropped when Team Columbia made its move, as was Denis Menchov, the winner of this year’s Giro d’Italia. Other contenders, like Cadel Evans and Andy Schleck, also finished 41 seconds behind the lead group. Armstrong moved to third place in the overall standings from 10th in his first Tour since winning in 2005. He is 40 seconds behind Fabian Cancellara of Switzerland, the Saxo Bank rider who remained in the leader’s yellow jersey. Columbia’s Tony Martin of Germany is second over all, 33 seconds back. Contador is 59 seconds back, falling to fourth place from second. “It’s not normal that all of the favorites are surprised,” said Johan Bruyneel, the Astana team manager. “The wind direction was really strange. All of a sudden, the wind changed and we had that split.” Christophe Le Mevel, a French rider on the Francaise des Jeux team, blamed Contador for letting Columbia and the rest of the group get away. He said Contador failed to stick closely to the rider ahead of him when the peloton was making the critical turn. Contador did not address who caused the split or why it happened. “Everyone can extract their own conclusions,” Contador said of the Astana team’s tactics. “Anyway, the Tour is not going to be decided with what has happened today. This only has been another situation of the race.” After two long days with temperatures in the mid-80s to low 90s, the riders now face yet another tough stage: the team time trial in Montpellier . George Hincapie of the Columbia team said his squad would have a chance to win the trial, even though he and his colleagues pushed hard Monday. He said every team would be just as exhausted after Columbia’s big move during Stage 3. The move was not planned, Hincapie said, but it turned out to be necessary if the team wanted Cavendish to win. Hincapie said that he and his teammates had been riding up front for much of the afternoon, and that no other team was willing to help them chase down an earlier, smaller breakaway. So Columbia’s riders decided to do the job themselves. Hincapie, one of Armstrong’s good friends and former teammates, said that the more experienced riders should have foreseen the possible move and positioned themselves near the front the way Armstrong did. “It’s not necessarily a turning point in the race,” Hincapie said of Armstrong’s performance. “But it’s good sign that he’s back.” NOTES Astana was fined 65 euros (about $90) for being late to sign in for Monday’s stage despite considerable traffic at the port of Marseille near the start. Riders must usually sign in at least 20 minutes before the race, but the team missed that cutoff. “Today, and as usual, the Astana team arrived late at the prestage registration, in contempt of the crowd, who has once again not seen Lance Armstrong,” said Jean-Francois Pescheux, the Tour’s competitions director, according to Reuters. | Tour de France (Bicycle Race);Armstrong Lance;Bicycles and Bicycling |
ny0268680 | [
"technology"
] | 2016/04/20 | Virtual Reality Lures Media Companies to a New Frontier | Media and entertainment companies want to help shape the next entertainment platform: virtual reality. Over the last several months, companies including Condé Nast and Vice Media have delved into the technology as a new frontier for storytelling and a potential outlet for selling ads . They have forged partnerships with companies that make virtual reality headsets and software makers that broadcast events in virtual reality, and are trying to figure out how best to create virtual reality content. Some media and entertainment companies are also starting to invest in virtual reality companies themselves. HBO was recently the lead investor in an addition to a funding round for Otoy, a Los Angeles-based special effects start-up. Otoy, whose LightStage facial rendering technology, used in films like “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” has won an Academy Award, has also gotten into virtual reality. Discovery Communications and Liberty Media participated in the funding, which raised as much as $37 million and was an extension of financing that took place in 2014, according to VC Experts, a venture capital research firm. “Not a single media company isn’t thinking about what happens when the rectangle goes away,” said Jules Urbach, 41, the founder of Otoy, referring to a future when videos are experienced in virtual reality rather than watched on screens. “Everyone needs a strategy.” Otoy, whose name is short for “online toy,” lets people capture virtual reality video, process it and then distribute it to viewers with its technology. Otoy also makes a virtual reality player that is free to download; the company wants to become the open standard for virtual reality distribution. “Think of them as the cloud system similar to what Pixar would use to create incredible graphics,” said Matt Miesnieks, whose firm Super Ventures invests in virtual and augmented reality start-ups. Otoy could eventually become a platform, like an Amazon Web Services for graphics, he said. Michael Lombardo, HBO’s president for programming, said most video created for virtual reality currently “leans toward marketing stunts or promotional opportunities,” but that could change when companies like Otoy become more integrated into the process of creating programming. With the additional funding, Otoy’s valuation of more than $300 million did not change from 2014, according to VC Experts, which added that the start-up had raised a total of $101 million. Otoy, founded in 2009 as a company whose software is used to make 3-D graphics, declined to comment on financial details. Its previous investors include Ari Emanuel, co-chief executive of William Morris Endeavor, and the enterprise software company Autodesk. The investment in Otoy is just one of several financing deals that media companies have participated in with virtual reality companies. In September, Disney led a $65 million investment in Jaunt, a virtual reality camera maker that also has software for editing and distributing the video. Comcast and Time Warner participated in a $30.5 million funding round in November for NextVR, which uses virtual reality to broadcast live events. In January, Legendary Entertainment invested an undisclosed amount in 3BlackDot , a social media platform for virtual reality. Of the 133 virtual and augmented reality investments made in 2015, media companies participated in six, according to the venture capital research firm CB Insights. Other media companies are diving into virtual reality in other ways. Vice worked with the director Chris Milk to create a virtual reality journalism project about protests in New York and a refugee camp in Jordan. Condé Nast is developing a virtual reality series about a dynastic family with a special gene that gives them the power to become invisible. The New York Times Company has created short documentary content in virtual reality and worked with Google to distribute its VR device, Google Cardboard, to subscribers. Discovery Communications introduced a service last August called Discovery VR, which is available via Apple and Android apps, as well as through other outlets. Discovery VR has more than 75 virtual reality experiences about such topics as sharks, gold mining and surfing. The app has been downloaded nearly 600,000 times and has been viewed more than 23 million times, according to the company. Suzanne Kolb, executive vice president of Discovery Digital Networks, said the deal with Otoy should give Discovery a front-row seat to new technological developments and ways to tell stories. “It is an evolving space,” she said. | Virtual reality;advertising,marketing;HBO;Otoy;Mass media |
ny0146322 | [
"nyregion"
] | 2008/07/27 | One Last Grande Peppermint Mocha Whatever, With a Shot of Nostalgia | They came to say farewell and remember the good times, to share last handshakes and hugs and, once again, to drink in the atmosphere and perhaps a final Ethos Water or Iced Peppermint White Chocolate Mocha, Venti® size. After everything, it was over — or would be, on Sunday. The handwriting was on the wall (actually the door) at the Forest Promenade strip mall on Staten Island where a sign announced the grim news: “Our Sincerest Apologies, This Starbucks Will Be Closing on July 27.” It had been a good run, patrons reminisced last week, going back to the store’s early days, when George W. Bush was president of the United States and Michael R. Bloomberg was mayor of New York. A gallon of gas was $2.60. “Rent” and “Mamma Mia!” were on Broadway. But history’s die was cast. It was the end of an era for the disrespected little mocha mecca under the sign of the mermaid, Starbucks location No. 11280, that opened on Sept. 15, 2006. “Kind of sad,” was how Victoria Guzman, 25, a visiting nurse, summed up her emotions as she handed a Grande Caramel Frappuccino® to her friend Christina Cortes, and sipped one of her own. Kara Schodowski remembered the early days. She was a girl of 18 then, working at the nearby Mandee clothing store. She discovered that she liked the hot coffee from Starbucks and cold coffee from Dunkin’ Donuts across the parking lot. Why? “I have no idea,” said Ms. Schodowski, still a clerk at Mandee and now 20 years old. Petty Officer Fannie Wilks, taking a break from her Coast Guard duties at Fort Wadsworth to pick up an Iced Vanilla Latte, also waxed nostalgic. Nobody did coffee like the baristas, as the company calls its workers, at the Forest Promenade Starbucks. When it came to the amount of syrup in her favorite drink, “a lot of stores have it confused,” said Petty Officer Wilks, a housing and color guard supervisor. “A hot Vanilla Latte gets a different number of pumps — they say it’s five, others do six.” But now that her Starbucks was closing, what would she do? “I guess I’ll have to go to the one on Richmond,” she said, “but it’s at least another five minutes.” (The baristas were not talking — except to tell a reporter and photographer to get out.) All across the country, cappuccino and latte drinkers are bemoaning the closing of their neighborhood coffee shops, including about 600 others also named Starbucks. The one tucked unobtrusively into Forest Promenade, in the Graniteville neighborhood near the Bayonne Bridge, is the first of those in New York City to go. The company that owns the cafe said it would try to move its employees to other jobs; it happens to own eight other stores on Staten Island and 224 more across the city. But the closing still did not sit well with Cynthia Salas and Stephen Modica, who dropped by on Thursday to stake out a regular window table facing a Payless ShoeSource to sip their drinks to the cool jazz of Dizzy Gillespie and the folk-pop of Turin Brakes, the musical numbers announced on an overhead flat-screen TV. “I do the Chai Lattes, he does the coffee,” said Ms. Salas, a jill of all trades who supervises construction, teaches holistic health and sells books and gym equipment on Craigslist, meeting buyers in the Forest Promenade Starbucks where, she said, “we can negotiate and use the bathroom.” She and Mr. Modica, a New York City Transit bus employee, said it was a comfortable shop, and even a coffee lover visiting for the first time could be forgiven for feeling strangely at home. A lowered ceiling inset with lights gave off a warm glow, illuminating the pastry cabinet with Odwalla and Naked juices, marshmallow squares and iced sugar cookies, and sandwiches of tomato and mozzarella on ciabatta, turkey and pesto on baguette, and tarragon chicken salad. And yet, Ms. Salas said, this cafe had a special feel. “It’s more comfortable, there’s more space,” she said. “This one is a little different.” Indeed, a faux fireplace mantel stood in a corner, on which sat two candles embedded in coffee beans — a manager’s inspiration that had won company approval. But the couple faulted the shop for not calling more attention to itself. Ms. Salas complained that it did not have a drive-through window although it flanked the heavily traveled Martin Luther King Expressway, Route 440. Nor was there a mention of Starbucks on the strip mall’s sign. “They don’t advertise properly,” she said. But the company says nothing was likely to draw enough traffic to make the location pay. Before leaving, Ms. Salas and Mr. Modica sought a final keepsake, perusing the entertainment rack stacked with DVDs of “The Kite Runner” and highlights of the 2006-7 seasons of “ Saturday Night Live .” They settled on a CD, “Bella Luna,” a compilation of Italian songs including “O Sole Mio” by Mario Lanza and “Come On-a My House” by Rosemary Clooney. “Back to my roots,” Mr. Modica said. Some who stopped in were stunned to learn of the imminent closing. “Oh, really? Oh, my God!” said Andres Carmona, 32, a trucker who had made a point of stopping at the store when traveling from his home in Queens to routes in New Jersey. It had become a tradition, Mr. Carmona said — ever since he started drinking coffee about two years ago. | Coffee;Starbucks Corp;Retail Stores and Trade |
ny0260648 | [
"sports",
"baseball"
] | 2011/06/16 | Verlander Fills the Seats by Keeping the Bases Empty | DETROIT — In the sixth full season of his major league career, Justin Verlander is the Detroit Tigers ’ biggest drawing card, providing a reason for fans to climb into their cars and drive hundreds of miles from across the state and other parts of the Midwest to watch him on the mound. Those who showed up on Tuesday night to watch Verlander pitch against the Cleveland Indians must have felt as if they won the lottery. A 28-year-old right-hander, Verlander did not surrender a hit through the first seven innings as he moved toward the third no-hitter of his career. It would have been his second in the last five weeks, having already pulled off the feat against the Blue Jays in Toronto on May 7. As Tuesday’s game progressed, the crowd of 28,128 roared at every strike. The fans gave Verlander two standing ovations in the eighth inning, first when the Indians’ Orlando Cabrera broke up the no-hitter with a single and then when the inning ended. Verlander ended up with a two-hit shutout, his 91st victory as a Tiger, against 55 losses. One fan who was there for the first game Verlander pitched for Detroit — the back end of a day-night doubleheader on July 4, 2005 — was Brian McCallum, who was there again on Tuesday, having donned a Tigers cap and sweatshirt, fetched his baseball glove and gone over to Comerica Park from the downtown headquarters of General Motors. McCallum said he remembered that first game in 2005 and how much Verlander, a 6-foot-5 graduate of Old Dominion, had impressed him even then. “He had an arm,” McCallum said. “You could see he had the stuff.” McCallum said he went to Tuesday’s game specifically to watch Verlander, as did Bill and Cindy Swick, who are from Clarkston, Mich., about an hour’s drive from Detroit. “He’s our best pitcher, so we came down,” Cindy Swick said. Driving even farther to watch Verlander were Matt Bischoff of tiny Turner, Mich. — population 139 — and his girlfriend, Alecia Cook. They traveled 160 miles to watch Verlander, a three-time All-Star, improve to 8-3 and lower his earned run average to 2.66. Before the game, they were standing inside a stadium gift shop, where Bischoff told Cook to pick out a Verlander jersey, which costs $135. “He’s going to be a Tiger for a while, so that’s the one to get,” he said. Chad Lagenburg, of nearby Troy, Mich., went one step further: “He’s going to be the greatest Tiger pitcher of all time.” Lagenburg was standing near the stadium’s old-fashioned carousel, wearing a white jersey with that, sure enough, had Verlander’s name stitched across the shoulders. For Lagenburg, Bischoff and many other fans, Verlander already has taken his place with great Tigers pitchers of the past, a group that includes Denny McLain, the 31-game winner in 1968; Mark Fidrych, the beloved eccentric whose career ended almost as fast as it caught fire in 1976; and Jack Morris, a five-time All-Star who helped lead the Tigers to their last World Series title, in 1984. In overall ability, Verlander seems closest to Morris, Bischoff said. “He’s always in the game,” Bischoff said. That he is. Going into Wednesday’s games, Verlander had pitched the most innings in baseball this season, 1112/3. He had three complete games among his 15 starts, which tied him for second behind Philadelphia’s Roy Halladay and Tampa Bay’s James Shields. Verlander’s concentration is one of his hallmarks. His delivery is straightforward, with a fastball that tops out at nearly 100 miles per hour even late in the game — and Verlander is often around late in the game. Through it all he shows little emotion, unlike the Tigers’ closer, Jose Valverde, who dances when he gets the final out. All of this then has endeared Verlander to Tigers fans, who turn up in bigger numbers on nights when he pitches than when he doesn’t. In the seven home games started by Verlander this season, Detroit has averaged 26,981 fans; in the 27 without him, the team has averaged 21,844. “It’s all about baseball with him,” said Cindy James of Westland, Mich., who was also in the park on Tuesday night and said she attended her first Tigers game 50 years ago, when she was 6 years old. “He’s a Hall of Famer; that’s where he’s headed,” added James, who has seen enough games to speak with authority. “He has four pitches, and when they’re working, he’s unstoppable.” But Verlander has been stopped in the past by the Tigers’ inconsistency, both this season, when they have bounced between winning and losing streaks, and in previous years, when they failed to make the playoffs. In fact, Verlander and the Tigers have only been through one October together, in 2006, when Detroit beat the Yankees but lost to the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series. His near no-hitter on Tuesday night pushed the Tigers into first place and allowed the many Verlander admirers to imagine a 2011 season in which he will keep piling up shutouts, complete games, near no-hitters and maybe even enough wins to give him the first 20-win season of his career. All while coming across as a consummate working man. “He does what he gets paid to do: throw the baseball,” said Joel Eory of Brownstown Township, Mich., a mere 22 miles from Detroit. That makes it easy for Eory to keep coming back to watch Verlander. If the Tigers can stay competitive, he will have plenty of company. | Baseball;Detroit Tigers;Verlander Justin |
ny0116688 | [
"nyregion"
] | 2012/10/16 | Tom Allon, in Mayoral Bid, Switches to Republican Party | The field of likely Democratic candidates for New York City mayor narrowed by one on Monday when Tom Allon , a newspaper publisher waging a long-shot bid, announced that he would switch to the Republican Party to increase his odds of making it to the 2013 general election ballot. Mr. Allon, a longtime Democrat who is the president and chief executive of Manhattan Media , had been struggling to raise money or gain traction in a crowded Democratic field that is likely to include Bill de Blasio, the public advocate; John C. Liu, the city comptroller; Christine C. Quinn, the City Council speaker; Scott M. Stringer, the Manhattan borough president; and William C. Thompson Jr., a former city comptroller. In a news conference outside the American Museum of Natural History in his Upper West Side neighborhood, Mr. Allon derided the Democrats running for mayor as pandering to the left and said the city needed another “centrist” and “pragmatic” nonpolitician in the mold of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. “New York’s one-party-dominated system is now plagued with systemic corruption,” Mr. Allon said, standing next to the statue of another party-defying politician, Theodore Roosevelt . “The upcoming Democratic mayoral primary will be a circus dominated by special interests and career politicians.” Mr. Allon is not the only Democrat to switch parties to run for mayor. George T. McDonald, who is the founder and president of the Doe Fund , switched parties and jumped into the race a few weeks ago, meaning Mr. Allon would most likely face a primary to win the Republican nomination. In 2000, Mr. Bloomberg switched from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party to run for mayor the next year; in 2007, he left the Republican Party to become an independent . Mr. Allon said he would seek to run a “fusion” candidacy as a candidate of both the Republican Party and the fading Liberal Party , which has already said it will support him. He noted that he had voted for Mr. Bloomberg and former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani. But he also said that he could not recall voting for a Republican in a national election, and declined to say whom he would back for president in November. | Allon Tom;Elections Mayors;New York City |
ny0039906 | [
"business",
"media"
] | 2014/04/09 | Magazines Coordinate Their Content in Version of TV’s Crossover Episodes | Crossover episodes of television series are a popular method to stimulate ratings, as viewers are encouraged to watch cast members from one show turn up on another. Crossovers date to the early days of the medium and there was one as recently as March 26, when cast members from two TV Land series, “Hot in Cleveland” and “The Soul Man,” exchanged appearances on each other’s programs. Now, two magazines are seeking to emulate the crossover concept. The May issues of Food Network Magazine and HGTV Magazine will feature coordinated front covers and three-page gatefolds, or cover foldouts; a video clip , which can be watched through YouTube or the Blippar and Digimarc Discover apps; and articles that share the idea of throwing a colorful spring party. The premise is that Food Network Magazine is supplying tasty cookies and cupcakes for the fete while HGTV Magazine provides the décor. The print version of the television crossover has a sponsor, Pure Leaf tea, which will run a three-page advertorial, carrying the headline “For the Love of Entertaining,” on the other side of the gatefolds of both magazines. The advertorial will be accompanied by adjacent one-page regular ads for Pure Leaf, part of a current campaign, created by Anomaly in New York, owned by MDC Partners, with the theme “For the love of leaves.” Image The May 2014 issues of HGTV Magazine and Food Network Magazine, in which staffs of the two publications teamed up on content and on promoting Pure Leaf Tea. Pure Leaf is estimated to be spending more than $1 million on the project, which was developed by the creative services and marketing departments of the magazines with OMD, the media buying agency for Pure Leaf. The two magazines are paying for special “It’s a Party” displays of the issues at Barnes & Nobles stores and at Gateway newsstands around the country. Like the TV Land crossovers last month, made simpler because both series are on the same cable channel, both magazines hosting the crossover party share a parent: They are part of a joint venture of the Hearst Magazines division of the Hearst Corporation and Scripps Networks Interactive. Coincidentally, Pure Leaf is a product of a joint venture between PepsiCo and Unilever, known as the Pepsi Lipton Tea Partnership. The crossover is another example of how magazines are seeking to innovate for marketers and readers as they compete for advertising dollars and eyeballs with new media like online video as well as traditional rivals like television. In fact, the project emerged from a meeting by Hearst Magazines on Oct. 15 that was intended as a print version of a television upfront presentation, wooing advertisers by offering them opportunities to be part of new initiatives on the news and business sides of the company. Image HGTV Magazine “When Michael Clinton said we were putting together a ‘magfront,’ each one of us was asked to come up with a big idea,” said Daniel Fuchs, publisher and chief revenue officer at HGTV Magazine, referring to the president for marketing and publishing director at Hearst Magazines. During the meeting, according to Mr. Fuchs and Vicki Wellington, vice president, publisher and chief revenue officer at Food Network Magazine, the editor in chief at Food Network Magazine, Maile Carpenter, “put it out there that they were looking to work with HGTV Magazine on a dual cover.” “OMD reached out to Vicki and me and said they had a client interested and could we make it work in the springtime,” Mr. Fuchs said, when the project would be a good fit with the Pure Leaf marketing calendar. “It seemed natural, food and home, working so well together.” Ms. Carpenter and Sara Peterson, editor in chief at HGTV Magazine, said they were pleased with the project because, as Ms. Peterson put it, “it started with an editorial idea,” adding, “That was very important to us, from the beginning.” Image Food Network Magazine Still, Ms. Carpenter and Ms. Wellington said, all the coordination required was no easy task. Ms. Wellington said: “The challenge was, how do you marry all three brands? There were numerous, numerous cycles of this, iteration after iteration. It had to be right.” Executives on the advertising side of the project said they, too, liked the outcome. “The brands that are winning are the ones engaging the consumer to build a relationship,” said Eric Whitehouse, director for marketing at the Pepsi Lipton partnership. “We want to deliver a lot of lifestyle-oriented communications around the Pure Leaf brand to break through.” PepsiCo lists Pure Leaf as among six new brands on track to reach at least $100 million in annual American retail sales. “We loved the idea from the first time we heard it,” said Brad Valeri, group director for strategy at OMD in New York, part of the Omnicom Group, because the magazines are “two of the most vital magazines in the print space” — regularly raising their rate bases, the circulations guaranteed to advertisers — and the project is “very much on message for our objectives for Pure Leaf for 2014, talking to our consumers’ passion points.” The project “goes beyond” generating awareness of the Pure Leaf brand, he added, “to tell the brand story, that real tea taste comes from tea brewed from real tea.” The editors in chief and publishers of the magazines hope to try another crossover. “We’re bullish about what we expect to hear,” Ms. Wellington said. | advertising,marketing;Magazine;HGTV Magazine;Food Network Magazine |
ny0010135 | [
"business"
] | 2013/02/10 | How Economics Has Benefited From Immigration | ALL the recent talk in Washington about reforming immigration policy brings to mind Pat Paulsen, the comedian who, every four years, conducted faux campaigns for president. “All the problems we face in the United States today,” Mr. Paulsen would say, “can be traced to an unenlightened immigration policy on the part of the American Indian.” That quip contains a deep truth. Almost all Americans today are beneficiaries of a policy that welcomed our ancestors when they arrived at the border. As an economist, I am often surprised at the hostility that some segments of the population express toward immigration. Most members of my profession are far more receptive to it, and for three main reasons. First, many economists, especially conservative ones, have a libertarian streak. Ever since Adam Smith taught us about the wonders of free markets and the magic of the invisible hand, we have been loath to prohibit mutually advantageous trades between consenting adults. If an American farmer wants to hire a worker to pick fruits and vegetables, the fact that the worker happens to have been born in Mexico does not seem a compelling reason to stop the transaction. Second, many economists, especially liberal ones, have an egalitarian streak. They follow the philosopher John Rawls’s theory of justice in believing that policy should be particularly attuned to its impact on the least fortunate. When thinking about immigration, there is little doubt that the least fortunate, and the ones with the most at stake in the outcome, are the poor workers who yearn to come to the United States to make a better life for themselves and their families. Third, economists of all stripes recognize that our own profession has benefited greatly from an influx of talent from abroad. In just the last few weeks, the economics department at Harvard, where I am chairman, has brought in six candidates to be considered for two assistant professor positions. Of the six, three are Americans, one is German, one is Argentine, and one is a New Zealander. The jobs will be offered to those deemed to have most promise as teachers and scholars, regardless of nationality. The competition from foreign-born economists makes it harder for American economists to get the best positions. But it would be hypocritical for American economists to argue against such competition, as we have long preached that nations are better off over all when they pursue a policy of free and open trade. This principle applies not only to manufactured goods like textiles and aircraft but also to labor services, including lectures on economics. The system of higher education in the United States is the world’s best in large part because it has long taken a global approach to hiring. The best students from abroad often come to the United States to earn their Ph.D.’s, and the best of these often stay here and join the faculties of American institutions. In my own department at Harvard, we have professors who were born in Canada, England, France, Italy, Spain, Austria, Poland, India and South Africa. THIS competition from abroad may reduce the salaries of American-born economists like me, but it has improved the university, much to our students’ benefit. For one thing, such competition keeps down the university’s labor costs. Many parents are shocked at how high college tuition is, but it could be worse. The willingness of universities to tap foreign talent also means that our students can learn from the worlds’ best minds. America’s superb system of higher education has been an engine of growth for the entire economy, thanks in part to the immigration of scholars from abroad. I understand that not all workers in the United States will embrace foreign-born competitors with the same equanimity as a Harvard professor. That is especially true of those with fewer skills and opportunities. Over the last several decades, for the most part, the wages of workers without any higher education have stagnated, while the wages of those with advanced degrees have risen. The main forces driving these trends are technological change, which tends to increase the demand for skilled workers relative to unskilled workers, and, to a lesser extent, international trade. But the immigration of unskilled workers from abroad may be a contributing factor, and one that is all too obvious when these immigrants vie for the same jobs as unskilled workers born in the United States. The best solution to wage stagnation is to promote educational attainment among Americans. That’s easier said than done, but the task is imperative nonetheless. We won’t substantially help unskilled workers who are already here by denying the American dream to others who wish to pursue it. In the end, even as an economist committed to rational policy analysis, I have to acknowledge that the immigration debate also has a visceral, emotional element. In my case, that is shaped by family history. I am the grandson of four immigrants from Ukraine, who arrived in the United States about a century ago. None of them had more than a fourth-grade education, and none could speak English when they set foot on their new homeland. Yet they found work, made a living and raised families. They lived modest lives, but their children did better than they did, and their grandchildren did better still. Lucky for me, the American Indian did not pursue the enlightened immigration policy suggested by Mr. Paulsen. | Economics;Immigration;US Economy;College;Jobs;Foreign students in the US |
ny0138820 | [
"sports",
"football"
] | 2008/02/03 | Two Personalities: One for Game Day, One for Every Other Day | Glendale, Ariz. For the past six days, Giants and Patriots players have indulged the news media. They have been affable and engaging, even though we know that Randy Moss spoke for most players when in response to a question he said that he was accommodating because he would be fined if he was not. Antonio Pierce, the veteran Giants linebacker, has been especially accessible. But between dawn Sunday and the pregame meal, Giants and Patriots players will make the transition into football players. I have always been fascinated by the pro football version of double consciousness, the concept of simultaneously living in two worlds described by W. E. B. DuBois. The football player lives in the civilian world: father, husband, friend and regular person. Then there is the world defined by game day, when regular people become transformed and operate in a world of fast-paced mayhem where nearly everything goes. This is the world Clem Daniels, the tough former running back for the Oakland Raiders, once described as “the closest thing we have to hand-to-hand combat” in a civilized society. “You have to have two personalities,” Daniels, 70, said Friday from his home in Oakland, Calif. “One for football, one for your daily life.” During the week before Super Bowl XLII, I spoke to a few players about the violence of their sport and the psychological transition they make to accommodate it. Giants linebacker Kawika Mitchell referred to his game-day transformation as putting on a disguise. “Once you get on the field and put the helmet on, it’s like a whole other animal,” Mitchell said. “Really, I like to think of it like my mask, not really as a superhero or anything like that. Once I put that mask on, I don’t know, it’s like controlled violence.” Not everyone accepts the premise that pro football is violent. Patriots tight end Kyle Brady described violence as young people shooting and killing each other. “Violence is people running an airplane into a building and killing thousands of people,” he added. Football, Brady said, is “a game of physical collision, and it takes a certain degree of physical and mental toughness.” “I think really what’s necessary in this game is not an attitude of violence as much as a focus intensity,” he said. But even Brady said he had to flip an emotional switch on Sundays. “When you start putting the uniform on and preparing for the game, just have a real focused intensity,” he said. “As soon as the game is over, you want to shake those guys’ hands, and you don’t feel a sense of ill will toward them.” Football players are required to flip the emotional switch before and after a game and are required to make a number of switches during the course of a game as players negotiate a minefield of predicaments: success, disappointment, clutch situations that require peak performance under pressure. Four Giants described different approaches to turning on their switches. Offensive tackle Kareem McKenzie said: “Football is a violent sport. It is a sport of: ‘Who gives up first? What can you do to make your opponent give up or not want to play?’ “On game day, you are totally focused on the day itself. You play different situations in your mind, things you that you may have had trouble with so that if you see the same keys in the game, you’re prepared for it and you know your reaction to it. Football is not a thinking man’s game. By the time the game kicks off Sunday, all the thinking’s done. You’ve got to react the best you can.” Guard Chris Snee said: “You go through the week mild-mannered, and then comes Saturday night, when you have the team meeting and watch the tape. You start to get fired up. “There’s something about the game-day experience, when you pull in, the tailgaters, just knowing you’re going into a physical altercation — it’s just a switch that you have to turn on.” Pierce added: “When you’re talking about turning the switch on, it happens when you start strapping the helmets on and putting those pads on and everything like that. Something clicks — it’s hard to describe. I guess that’s why there are only few people who can play this sport.” Guard Rich Seubert said: “On game day, you’ve got to change. You’ve got to be mean, you’ve got to be nasty, you’ve got to be physical. You can’t go out there being a nice guy. The whole game is dirty — it’s a dirty business.” After the game, Seubert said “you take that shower, you go home, see your kids, your wife.” “You’ve got a week to heal up,” he said. “Once the game is over, you’re a different person.” I asked Dr. Roland A. Carlstedt, chairman of the American Board of Sport Psychology, about this on off switch. What is it? Where is it? He said the “the switch” is located in the frontal lobe of the brain. Carlstedt has developed a battery of psychological tests to predict the performance of athletes in critical competitive moments. From seminal research on more than 1,500 athletes, he has developed a battery of tests that he says can identify which athletes have the psychological makeup — the switching capacity — to succeed or fail under pressure. He has developed a standard called a worst athlete’s profile and an ideal athlete’s profile. Worst profile players do not respond well to pressure and are prone to hyper-aggression. “These athletes take a long time to calm down,” he said. “They may then jump offside, miss the snap count because they are still in an aggressive-violent mode. “As stress increases, athletes with that profile are more likely to exhibit behavior and performance that’s going to hurt the team: they’re not going to come through when they have to.” Carlstedt has written a book dealing with athletes’ turning their competitive switches on and off called “Critical Moments During Competition.” Speaking Friday from New York, Carlstedt said: “Players burdened with the worst profile and associated dysfunctional frontal lobe activity may not come down after a controversial play and may direct their aggression toward an inciting player or event. “This often carries over to the next play, with performance likely to suffer.” In these players, the “switch” back — regaining composure — does not always occur. “Individuals with low temper thresholds, who are prone to violence and impulsivity, frequently have underdeveloped frontal lobes and are more likely to get in trouble,” Carlstedt said. Pierce said he wasn’t sure about brain lobes and personality profiles. All he knew was that he soon would be making the transition from “nice” mode. “I really don’t switch modes until right before we go out there for pregame,” he said. “I start to build a hatred for the other team. You put things in your head that make you really want to go out there and play this game in a violent nature.” Clearly, the switches are on. | New York Giants;Super Bowl;New England Patriots;Pierce Antonio;Mitchell Kawika;Brady Kyle |
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