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ny0086720 | [
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| 2015/07/07 | Germany Has Lessons for the South | The setting is Germany after the Second World War. The defeated ask this question of Roi Ottley, an African-American correspondent covering the occupation: “How wrong was the Führer in his hatred of the Jews when your white Americans encourage us to hate the blacks?” This was the paradox of the United States and Germany then — as Mr. Ottley put it, “The indecent inconsistency in a Jim Crow army occupying the Third Reich of Hitler.” But as the arguments over the Confederate battle flag remind us, two generations later, Germany and the American South have different stories to tell about defeated racist ideologies and about societies reinventing themselves. Germany has come to be regarded as a historically rare case of atonement and becoming its own opposite. The American South, meanwhile, retains significant pockets of nostalgia for the Confederacy — its flag still flutters above the South Carolina State House grounds, and its cause is often called “heritage.” Can the American South, still grappling with the legacy of slavery and segregation, learn something from Germany’s grappling with Nazism? I asked a few scholars who know both places well. Werner Sollors was a young boy in Frankfurt when the American G.I.s rolled in, and he was struck by the particular kindness and comportment of the African-American soldiers. He partially credits them for a career in which he became a literature professor at Harvard and a pale-skinned chair of its African-American studies department. Mr. Sollors, whose fine book on postwar Germany, “ The Temptation of Despair ,” told the Roi Ottley story, said a major difference between the Southern and German approaches is what became honorable after defeat. In the South, a failure to own up to the crimes of white supremacy left feelings of “heroism about a lost cause that you adhere to because it becomes part of your honor.” Visitors to Germany often remark that honor there is the other way around: It has become honorable to bring up the historical error; to speak of the importance of becoming the opposite of that error; to be more unsparing of your country than foreigners are, even if you were born in the 1980s. Part of what allowed Germans to get there, Mr. Sollors said, is their inclusive notion of “collective responsibility” rather than the blame-filled notion of “collective guilt.” Michael L. Meng , a historian of modern Europe at Clemson University in South Carolina, argues that the South must learn from Germany’s “self-critical memory culture.” He is co-teaching a new and innovative history course this fall that centers on a controversial campus building . The structure, Tillman Hall, is named for Benjamin Tillman, a 19th-century South Carolina politician who was a hate-mongering white supremacist even by the standards of 19th-century South Carolina politicians. The course will examine spaces like Tillman Hall comparatively, with a focus on the American South and Germany. Daniel E. Rogers , a historian of postwar Germany at the University of South Alabama, said a “German approach” for the South might look “to memorialize more openly.” But should those memorials to white supremacy’s victims exist alongside or supplant all the ones to white supremacy’s defenders? Jill Ogline Titus , associate director of the Civil War Institute at Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania, says the South could learn from Germany’s “‘counter-monuments’ that challenge the interpretation and authority of traditional bronze and granite memorials.” She mentioned the artist Shimon Attie’s projection of images of vanished Jewish life onto the facades of districts where Jews once lived. That example called to mind an idea from Bryan Stevenson , an Alabama lawyer and civil-rights activist, who has proposed holographic memorials that pop up and deliberately startle passers-by at sites where lynchings occurred. Many Americans boast, rightfully, of having saved the world from Nazism. Perhaps it is time for Germany’s example to help save America from certain dark parts of itself. | US;Southern US;South Carolina;American Civil War;World War II;Slavery;Holocaust and Nazis;Segregation |
ny0236486 | [
"business"
]
| 2010/06/05 | Lehman Executives Seek Dismissal of Investor Suit | Richard Fuld, the former chief executive of Lehman Brothers Holdings, asked a judge on Friday to toss out an investor lawsuit that accused him and other Lehman officials of failing to disclose a controversial accounting technique known as repo 105. In court papers filed in United States District Court, lawyers for Mr. Fuld and other Lehman officials argued that the investor class-action lawsuit did not have a basis for trying to turn claims that Lehman’s use of the accounting technique hid its true financial picture into securities law violations. The suit claims Lehman’s securities were artificially inflated by using the repo technique. In seeking to dismiss the lawsuit, the executives defended Lehman’s accounting and said that, while the bankruptcy court-appointed examiner found Lehman may have actionable claims against executives and auditors for undisclosed use of the repo 105 technique, the report did not conclude those claims also existed under securities laws. | Fuld Richard S Jr;Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc;Subprime Mortgage Crisis;Suits and Litigation |
ny0063656 | [
"sports",
"tennis"
]
| 2014/01/13 | Speed of Courts a Hot Topic at Australian Open | MELBOURNE, Australia — With the first Grand Slam of the year quickly approaching, one of the hottest topics among players has been just how quick play will be at the Australian Open. The top seed Rafael Nadal, a player at his most comfortable on slow clay, said he believed the blue hardcourts at Melbourne Park were considerably speedier than they have been in the past. “Completely different conditions than what I remembered of this tournament, faster conditions that I ever played here in Australia,” Nadal said, his tone indicating displeasure with the perceived change. Nadal, who played a marathon five-hour 53-minute match here against Novak Djokovic in 2012 in the longest Grand Slam final of all time , expressed confusion over why the Open would want to change the conditions that he believes produce the most epic and enjoyable matches. “I really don’t understand very well why they change because the last couple of years, Australian Open had amazing matching, long ones, good ones for the crowd,” he said Saturday. “I don’t know why the people who decide to make the conditions that fast. I am not sure for the show is the best thing. But they decide, and I’m just a player to try to be competitive from the beginning.” Most players disagreed with Nadal’s perception of a major shift. Djokovic, the defending men’s champion, said Sunday there was “not any major difference, anything significant that I would notice” from last year to this one. Andy Murray, a three-time finalist, echoed that sentiment a day earlier, saying conditions were “exactly the same.” The tournament director Craig Tiley told The Melbourne Age , however, that no changes have been made to the Plexicushion surface from last year, though Wilson changed its tennis balls last year to ones with a more tightly woven felt, which could allow for quicker play. Speculation that the play might be much faster here first came up during a warm-up event two weeks ago in Brisbane. The courts there are meant to mirror the conditions in Melbourne, and they played far more quickly than they had in years past. Court conditions were also quicker and slicker at the tournament last week in Sydney, allowing the grass court specialist Tsvetana Pironkova to have her best-ever week on hardcourts. She beat three top-10 players en route to her first career WTA title. Image Novak Djokovic of Serbia, the defending men’s champion, said there was “not any major difference” on the Melbourne courts from last year to this one. Credit Eugene Hoshiko/Associated Press When word first reached Nadal that conditions in Australia were believed to be quicker, he responded with mock indignation. I thought Craig Tiley was a good friend,” he deadpanned . Maria Sharapova, who reached the semifinals in Brisbane, said that she played there on “one of the fastest courts we’ve played on in a really long time,” but that courts in Melbourne were “a bit slower.” “I’m not sure why there’s not more consistency in terms of all the events having the same speed,” said Sharapova, the No. 2 seed at the Open, which begins Monday. “I guess it is what it is.” While playing in the faster conditions of Brisbane, Roger Federer bemoaned that no matter how the balls were changed, the gritty courts in Melbourne would fluff up the felt on the balls. “You can speed up the balls as much as you want, they’re going to be so fuzzed up after two games that it’s just going to be hard to hit winners and service winners,” he said. “If that’s what people want to see, just rallies, rallies, rallies all the time, then it’s good to have a slow court. If you want a bit more even ground for everybody, even the lower-ranked guys and more danger for the top guys, you go with a faster court. Maybe we’ll get more serve-and-volley back into the game or more of the unknown, which I think is nice.” Federer, the No. 6 seed at the Open, also pointed out that conditions in the late rounds in Melbourne were altered by having the semifinal and final rounds played at night, which he said had “slowed down conditions drastically over time.” The semifinals first moved to night sessions in 2000, and the first men’s night final was in 2005. “I think it’s quite incredible how things have slowed down over the years,“ Federer said of the tour in general. “I remember when I came up on tour with Lleyton things were so different,” he said, referring to Lleyton Hewitt, who turned pro in 1998, the same year as Federer. “We had to change our games around to be able to still compete today.” Murray offered a different critique of the newly renovated Margaret Court Arena besides the speed of the surface. Having practiced on it earlier that day, Murray determined that the court was “on a very big slope.” “The court is like that,” he said, tilting his arm to indicate alpine conditions. “It’s weird.” | Australian Open;Rafael Nadal;Novak Djokovic;Maria Sharapova;Andy Murray |
ny0257501 | [
"nyregion"
]
| 2011/01/27 | Rodney Alcala Indicted in 1970s Manhattan Murders | One victim, Cornelia Michel Crilley, was a Trans World Airlines flight attendant who was raped and strangled in her Upper East Side apartment in 1971; the other, Ellen Jane Hover, an aspiring orchestra conductor who disappeared one summer day in 1977 — and whose remains were found nearly a year later on the Rockefeller estate in Westchester County. The two women, both 23 at the time of their deaths, most likely did not know each other. But according to law enforcement officials, they had at least one connection: both were killed by Rodney Alcala, a photographer and one-time contestant on “The Dating Game” who is on death row in California for killing a 12-year-old girl and four women in the late 1970s. He has been in prison there since 1980. A grand jury in Manhattan has indicted Mr. Alcala, 67, on charges that he murdered Ms. Crilley and Ms. Hover, according to a law enforcement official familiar with the case. The Manhattan district attorney’s office would not comment on the indictment. Mr. Alcala may also have been involved in other killings, officials say. One of Ms. Hover’s relatives said she was gratified at the expected indictment. “For the longest time, it was a foregone conclusion that he would never be charged for her murder,” said Sheila Weller, a cousin of Ms. Hover. “This is a terrific surprise.” But Leon Borstein, who was Ms. Crilley’s boyfriend and said he was with the police when they discovered her body in her apartment, said he did not see the point of prosecuting a serial killer already on death row. “All it does is entertain him, and it doesn’t do anything for us,” Mr. Borstein said. “He gets to fly out to New York, meet with his lawyers, sit in a courtroom for days on end. It certainly alleviates the boredom of sitting in a jail cell.” For more than three decades, the killings of Ms. Crilley and Ms. Hover remained unsolved. It is unclear when detectives in New York became interested in Mr. Alcala — who lived in New York in the early 1970s, attended New York University under an alias and worked as a photographer — as a possible suspect. Law enforcement officials would not say. But a former boyfriend of Ms. Hover’s said in an interview that the police told him two weeks after her 1977 disappearance that a man with California connections might be involved. In 2003, New York police detectives investigating the Crilley murder went to California with a warrant to interview Mr. Alcala and get a dental impression from him, said Paul J. Browne, the department’s chief spokesman. Mr. Alcala, who was in prison for the murders in California, initially denied that he had ever visited New York. But after the police presented him with the warrant, he responded, “What took you so long?” Mr. Browne said. A forensic dentist later issued an opinion that a bite mark on Ms. Crilley’s body was consistent with Mr. Alcala’s impression, a law enforcement official said. While investigating Ms. Crilley’s murder, detectives with the Police Department’s Cold Case Squad learned that Mr. Alcala had used an alias, John Berger, when he was living in New York, Mr. Browne said. They later found that name in the file folder for Ms. Hover’s case, he said. Ms. Weller said her cousin had an appointment with the man to take pictures before she disappeared. Last year, the Manhattan district attorney, Cyrus R. Vance Jr., opened a cold case unit to review thousands of unsolved murders, and the cases of Ms. Crilley and Ms. Hover were among those the office reviewed. The district attorney’s office would not discuss its role in the investigation, but, speaking generally, Mr. Vance said in a statement, “Cold cases are not forgotten cases.” Later in 2010, after the police released dozens of photographs of young women that were found in a storage locker that Mr. Alcala kept in Seattle in 1979 to see if there were other victims, several women came forward claiming that a photographer named John Berger had taken their picture in New York in the 1970s. The trove also included items from the victims in the California cases, who were killed from 1977 to 1979. They were all sexually assaulted and strangled or beaten to death. Their cases were solved largely with DNA evidence , and, after a lengthy legal process in which murder convictions against Mr. Alcala were overturned twice, he was convicted there on a retrial in February 2010. Prosecutors presented evidence that Mr. Alcala would approach young women and ask to take their picture as a way to lure them. Mr. Alcala’s violent offenses date back more than four decades, the authorities said. In 1968, he kidnapped, beat and molested an 8-year-old girl in Los Angeles County, and was on the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s most-wanted list, the authorities said. He became a camp counselor in New Hampshire but was arrested after someone noticed his picture on a flier at the post office. He was turned over to the police in Los Angeles, and was convicted in 1972. He was paroled after 34 months. When not incarcerated, Mr. Alcala, whom the authorities have described as highly intelligent, assumed the life of a freewheeling bachelor. In 1978, he was “Bachelor No. 1” on an episode of “The Dating Game,” and the host described him as “a successful photographer who got his start when his father found him in the darkroom at the age of 13, fully developed,” according to a YouTube video of the show. “Between takes, you might find him sky-diving or motorcycling.” Wearing a brown bell-bottom suit and a shirt with a butterfly collar, the long-haired Mr. Alcala won the contest, charming the bachelorette with sexual innuendo. The woman later decided not to go on the date with him because she found him disturbing, according to several news reports. Mr. Borstein, Ms. Crilley’s boyfriend, said she was “funny and full of life,” with long brown hair and an infectious smile. The details of her murder are still fresh in his memory. He was working as a Brooklyn homicide prosecutor at the time, and he spent most nights with the police interviewing witnesses for his cases. When Ms. Crilley’s mother called to tell him her daughter was missing, he went with the police to her apartment. “They found her dead body inside,” he said. “They asked if I would identify the body, and I said no. I didn’t want to see her like that.” He said he did not know why the investigation had stalled for so many years; as Ms. Crilley’s boyfriend, he said, he became a suspect, and his friends in the Police Department did not share information with him. Ms. Hover’s disappearance drew the attention of the national press, in part because her father, once a Hollywood nightclub owner, rubbed elbows with celebrities. Her godfathers were Sammy Davis Jr. and Dean Martin. Her mother and stepfather hired a private detective to work on the case. Bruce Ditnes, who had dated Ms. Hover, recalled hanging up posters with her picture near her Midtown apartment in 101-degree weather after she was reported missing. He said she had long black hair down to her waist and “gorgeous brown eyes.” He said he was not surprised that she had caught Mr. Alcala’s eye. “Ellen would literally cause traffic accidents,” he said. “We would walk into restaurants, and people would spill things on themselves.” | Alcala Rodney;Serial Murders;Cornelia Michel Crilley;Ellen Jane Hover |
ny0048167 | [
"us"
]
| 2014/11/09 | Turnout Down in Texas, and Democrats Claim a Reason: Voter ID Law | Say this for the state’s new voter ID law — it gave Texas Democrats a patsy for the thumping they got on election night. Some Democrats blamed the law for keeping their voters at home last week. At the same time, another type of voting was growing — one that is historically more likely to result in election fraud. In his bid for re-election last week, Senator John Cornyn finished 27.2 percentage points ahead of his Democratic opponent, David Alameel. Attorney General Greg Abbott, a Republican who led every public poll conducted during the race for governor, proved those surveys right, finishing more than 20 percentage points ahead of the much-vaunted Wendy Davis, a Democrat. Mr. Abbott finished with more raw votes and a higher percentage of the total than Gov. Rick Perry in 2010. Ms. Davis finished with both a lower percentage of the vote than her 2010 counterpart, Bill White, a Democrat, and a lower vote count. The overall number of votes cast in this year’s election was less than in 2010 — by about 271,000. Although that appears to be part of a national trend, Texas Democrats blamed the state’s voter ID law, which they say discourages people from showing up. Texas turnout, already the worst in the country, dropped. The state’s population is larger than it was in 2010. More than 14 million Texans registered to vote, according to the secretary of state — up from 13.3 million in 2010. Turnout that year was 37.5 percent. Turnout this year (the numbers are unofficial) was 33.6 percent. The people who did not show up appear to be Democrats. The Republican numbers were up in the governor’s race, while the Democratic numbers were way down. At a post-election discussion last week, Gilberto Hinojosa, chairman of the Texas Democratic Party, suggested the voter ID law might be to blame for the decline, implying that Democrats are more numerous among non-voters than Republicans. His opposite on the Republican side — Steve Munisteri — guffawed at that, instead crediting his own party’s turnout efforts, the state’s recent voting history and the national trend against Democrats. Mr. Munisteri skeptically answered a question about whether Texans should be allowed to register and vote on the same day. He fears that would introduce an opportunity for fraud — the same concern cited by proponents of the voter ID law. Actual cases of the type of in-person voter fraud targeted by that law are scarce. And it will take some time to know whether the new law was to blame for the decline in voter turnout. A federal judge ruled the law unconstitutional last month, and the state is appealing that to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. The United States Supreme Court has allowed the state to leave the law in place while the appeal proceeds. Meanwhile, more than one in 10 early voters in the state’s top 15 counties did so by mail; 12.3 percent this year, according to the secretary of state, compared with 7.8 percent in the 2010 election. Voting patterns are different in presidential election years, but 6.4 percent of 2012’s early voters mailed in their ballots. The state does not track mail ballots in real time, leaving that duty to the counties, which will report the information in a few weeks. Both parties have bragged about their efforts to increase voting by mail, especially with voters older than 65. A new law allows those voters to request a mail ballot early in an election cycle and to automatically receive ballots for every other election in that cycle. They receive ballots for runoffs and special elections that they might not have even known about in previous years. As they argue over voter ID and whether the fraud that law is intended to stop even exists, the inquiries over mail ballots have barely begun, and do not offer much ammunition for those who wanted a different result. Mr. Abbott defeated Ms. Davis by 957,973 votes. Even if those missing 271,000 Texas voters — the ones who voted in 2010 but not this year — had shown up, and even if they had all voted for the Democrat, she still would not have defeated Mr. Abbott — or even matched Mr. White’s total in 2010. | Voting;Voter registration;Texas;Texas Tribune;Democrats |
ny0178471 | [
"nyregion"
]
| 2007/08/03 | With Starrett City Deal Nearly Dead, Developer Tries Again | Only days before the expiration of his $1.3 billion contract to buy a sprawling Brooklyn housing complex, David Bistricer is throwing the real estate equivalent of a Hail Mary pass. Federal and state officials have twice rejected his bid to buy the complex, Starrett City, a cluster of 46 buildings and 5,881 apartments wedged between Canarsie and East New York on Jamaica Bay. And along the way, Mr. Bistricer, an investor from Borough Park, says he has been publicly and unfairly vilified by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and the state attorney general, Andrew M. Cuomo. Now, with his deal for the nation’s largest federally subsidized project set to die on Tuesday, Mr. Bistricer has gone to the sidelines, sending in a new team to try to buy the project: the Provident Group, a nonprofit housing developer from Baton Rouge; and the New York City Central Labor Council. The groups say they would work with Mr. Bistricer, but unlike him, they say they would preserve the complex forever as a haven for moderate and middle-income families at a time when housing costs are escalating beyond the reach of many tenants. Mr. Bistricer, they add, would become a bit player, with a stake in the shopping center and any future development, but little power. But this last-chance gambit is likely to suffer the same fate as previous proposals, judging from the reaction of housing advocates and state and federal officials who were briefed on the plan this week in Washington and New York. Its sale must be approved by government officials. Deborah Van Amerongen, the state housing commissioner, said she was waiting to see the details, but both sides acknowledged that their meeting did not go well. “When it comes to Starrett City,” said Steve O’Halloran, a spokesman for the Department of Housing and Urban Development, “the devil is in the details.” Shaun Donovan, the city’s housing commissioner, said that the new proposal, like the previous two, seemed to be predicated on raising rents to market levels and subsidizing what he called an extravagant purchase price with large government subsidies. “That would not be acceptable to the city,” he said. For this deal to be successful, Mr. Bistricer, Provident and the unions need some sign of support from government officials over the next four days in order to persuade the owners, Starrett City Associates, to lower its sale price by as much as $200 million and grant a contract extension that would allow them to work out the details. “I don’t think this Hail Mary pass is going to get completed,” said one executive who has talked to the sellers. Steve E. Hicks, president of Provident, said that his company’s mission was to build and preserve affordable housing, not to make a profit. He said his team could be successful at Starrett City because they can issue tax-free bonds that would lower their costs. “We want to preserve Starrett City as an affordable, work-force housing property,” he said. “You won’t see us trying to sell it for a profit.” Executives working for the unions have said that this may be the last chance for a positive outcome. Otherwise, they suggested that Starrett City Associates might withdraw from state and federal housing programs and then sell to another buyer who would raise rents and oust the current tenants. Some politicians and advocates for low- and moderate-priced housing are reluctant to oppose the labor council, normally an ally. But New York Acorn, a community organizing group, continues to oppose the sale and held a demonstration with about 35 tenants on Wednesday at the office of Starrett City Associates. “This plan leaves tenants and taxpayers on the hook for substantial rent increases and reductions in services,” said Bertha Lewis, executive director of Acorn. “While this plan says nice things about housing middle-income families, it ignores the fact that the vast majority of Starrett City residents earn less than $40,000 per year or are senior citizens on fixed incomes,” she added. “This plan can’t work and should be rejected.” | Housing;Brooklyn (NYC);Sales |
ny0194062 | [
"business"
]
| 2009/11/16 | A Sweet Union for Liberty Global | A Sweet Union For Liberty Global John Malone, the American media mogul, has pulled off a piece of classic downturn deal-making. Mr. Malone’s Liberty Global agreed Friday to buy Unitymedia, Germany’s second-largest cable operator after Kabel Deutschland, for 3.5 billion euros ($5.2 billion). He’s taking over from the private equity owners, BC Partners of London and Apollo Management of New York. Rare for a leveraged-buyout exit, both sides are getting what they want. Mr. Malone has tried to get into German cable previously. Seven years ago, he bid for the Deutsche Telekom network from which Unitymedia eventually sprung. But regulators blocked the deal. Now he is getting a nice consolation prize. Germany’s broadband market is still relatively immature, with 58 percent penetration, yet offers operating margins north of 40 percent. The purchase price, including 1.5 billion euros of debt, is 7.4 times forecast earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization. The multiple falls to 6.6 times if the planned synergies come through. It is an unremarkable price — neatly in line with Telenet, the Belgian operator in which Liberty owns a 50 percent stake, and whose earnings margins are roughly equal to Unitymedia’s. That suggests Mr. Malone is paying little in the way of a takeover premium. But BC Partners and Apollo have not exactly been robbed. They will have a clean break. Without Mr. Malone, they would have had to go through with an initial public offering of the business. That would have required the usual offering discount, and would have delivered only a partial exit. Unitymedia may be a somewhat special case. Few private equity assets can claim to have so little leverage and offer so much growth. But Liberty’s swoop suggests the merger market may have reached that moment deal makers long for in a downturn, when prices recover enough that sellers are prepared to sell, but not so much that buyers are reluctant to buy. That moment may be short-lived. Freedom’s Twist Freedom Communications, the bankrupt publisher of The Orange County Register, has proposed a plan that would increase the interests of equity holders — including the heirs of its libertarian founder R. C. Hoiles — over those of some creditors. The move would not be just a distortion of the bankruptcy process. It would also seem to go against the tenets of personal freedom and responsibility on which Mr. Hoiles founded Freedom. The plan has been endorsed by the lead secured creditor, JPMorgan, but has been deemed “immoral and wicked” by Alan Bell, a former chief executive whose pension makes him an unsecured creditor pitted against his former employer. The unsecured bunch, which includes pensioners owed up to $100 million, would get just $5 million under the restructuring plan put forward by Freedom. That looks to be less than equity holders, including the Hoiles family and Blackstone and Providence Equity Partners, would walk away with. Secured lenders always make out best. They will receive 98 percent of Freedom’s equity when it exits from bankruptcy, which the plan says is worth from $90 million to $190 million. They will also receive a new $325 million loan, a package worth up to two-thirds of the $770 million they lent Freedom. What’s surprising in the Freedom case is that the current equity holders are set to receive the remaining stock, worth about $3 million at the midpoint of the range. They will also get warrants that entitle them to buy up to 10 percent of the company. Making certain simplifying assumptions, the warrants should theoretically be worth at least $5 million. Added up, that’s more than what’s going to unsecured creditors, which normally are right behind secured lenders in dividing the spoils of bust companies. It is hard to see why Freedom’s equity holders should get anything at all. It may be the result of something in its lending agreements, though the company and its lawyers won’t say. But in a free-market system — the kind that R. C. Hoiles advocated — a creditor should not be treated so poorly relative to a risk-taking stockholder. JOHN FOLEY and LAUREN SILVA LAUGHLIN | Mergers Acquisitions and Divestitures;Cable Television;Telephones and Telecommunications;Bankruptcies;Liberty Global Incorporated;Freedom Communications;Germany |
ny0221468 | [
"world",
"asia"
]
| 2010/02/23 | Suicide Attack Kills Hajji Zaman, Who Is Tied to bin Laden’s Escape | KABUL, Afghanistan — Hajji Zaman Ghamsharik, the Afghan warlord accused of helping Osama bin Laden escape from the Americans at Tora Bora , had so many enemies that his assassination on Monday came as no particular surprise. What was a surprise was the manner of Hajji Zaman’s death: by a suicide bomber wearing an explosive vest, who killed him and 14 others as they gathered at a ceremony to distribute land to returning refugees at a village in his tribal stomping grounds near the eastern city of Jalalabad. His enemies were not just the ideological kind. There was also a blood feud between him and the family of another warlord, which blamed Hajji Zaman for his assassination in 2002 . There were rivals to his large and powerful Khugiani tribe in Nangahar Province, and rivals within the tribe. And there were furious American Special Forces and C.I.A. operatives who believed he was a mercenary who took money to join the fight against Al Qaeda but then helping arrange Mr. bin Laden’s escape. Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan are usually quick to take responsibility for suicide bombings . Not in this case; when asked about Hajji Zaman’s killing, the usually garrulous Taliban spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, said he did not know who did it. The police in Nangarhar Province said the killing took place in the village of Dasht-e-Chamtala, about 10 miles west of Jalalabad, during a ceremony for local residents lured by land grants to return from camps for the displaced, according to a police official, Gen. Mohammad Ayob Salangi. At 3:45 p.m., the bomber entered the midst of a crowd of officials, including the returnees and repatriation department chief, Shams ul-Rahman Shams. In addition to the 15 killed, 20 people were wounded, many of them critically, the general said. “We don’t know exactly who the target was, but we think it was either Hajji Zaman Ghamsharik or the head of the refugee department,” said General Salangi. Mr. Shams, however, was only wounded so presumably not as close to the bomber. “He was a warlord, and he was fighting since 1980,” said Mirwais Yasini, a member of the Afghan Parliament from Nangarhar. “He was bitterly disliked by very many people. And then there were business interests too.” During the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, he was a mujahideen leader, and later fought both for and against the Taliban. When the Taliban regime collapsed, President Hamid Karzai appointed him military commander of Jalalabad and a large part of eastern Afghanistan, including Tora Bora. That put him at odds with another warlord in the area, Hajji Qadir, who later ousted him in Jalalabad. When Mr. bin Laden and his Qaeda followers took refuge in the Tora Bora mountains south of Jalalabad in late 2001, Hajji Zaman and another warlord, Hazrat Ali, offered the services of their armed followers to help the Americans flush them out. Instead, Mr. bin Laden and his group escaped. Many American officials were convinced they could not have done so without collusion from the Afghan warlords. Hajji Zaman “had a very adventurous life,” said Babrak Shinwari, another member of Parliament from Nangahar. “But there was always a lot of intertribal fighting, even fighting within his tribe, and he had a lot of enemies.” The uproar over Mr. bin Laden’s escape led to Hajji Zaman’s flight and exile to France and Pakistan for most of the next eight years. During that time, he was accused of engineering the assassination in Kabul of Hajji Qadir , who by then had become a vice president in Mr. Karzai’s government. Hajji Zaman’s brother was detained in connection with the case for several years but never convicted. Finally Hajji Zaman announced that he would return last year to take part in the election campaign as a Karzai supporter. When he crossed the Torkhum border from Pakistan, a huge motorcade and throngs of cheering supporters greeted for him. Many were from his Khugiani tribe, whose support Mr. Karzai was courting. Hajji Zaman was whisked to Kabul in a government helicopter. “He came back just a few months ago, it’s really tragic,” said Anwar al-Haq Ahadi, a former finance minister in Mr. Karzai’s government. “He was going to play quite a larger role in the future.” There are a number of former warlords in the Karzai government and in Parliament. Hazrat Ali, the other Tora Bora commander, is a member of Parliament. Recently, President Karzai has been hosting a tribal jirga, or council, to try to resolve the issue of whether Hajji Zaman had been responsible for the assassination of Hajji Qadir, but their families and tribal followers had been unable to reach the required consensus. Despite the cloud over his head, Hajji Zaman was apparently invited to the land distribution ceremony as a tribal elder. Several other tribal leaders were among the dead. Mr. Yasini said he did not necessarily believe that the assassination was motivated by ideology. “Now some suiciders can be bought and sold,” he said. “You go to the Taliban and pay them a lot of money, and the suicider never knows what the reason for his mission is.” | Afghanistan War (2001- );Terrorism;Zaman Hajji;bin Laden Osama;Taliban;Qadir Hajji Abdul |
ny0204667 | [
"business",
"media"
]
| 2009/01/27 | William Kristol’s Column in The Times Ends | William Kristol , the conservative columnist, and The New York Times have quietly ended their relationship after little more than a year, the newspaper said on Monday. A single sentence printed below Mr. Kristol’s weekly column in the Monday issue broke the news: “This is William Kristol’s last column.” His column itself made no reference to his departure, and the paper did not release a statement. Also Monday, The Washington Post announced that it had hired Mr. Kristol to write a monthly column and contribute to its opinion blog, PostPartisan. “It was mutual agreement,” Andrew Rosenthal, the editorial page editor, said of the change. “We discussed this before the election, and decided that we would end now.” As for whether The Times would find another conservative voice for its Op-Ed page, Mr. Rosenthal said: “Sadly, I can’t answer that question, except to say stay tuned. We have some interesting plans.” Mr. Kristol, the editor of The Weekly Standard magazine and a regular contributor to Fox News, is known for sharply partisan commentary. The newspaper’s decision to sign him to a one-year contract as a columnist drew intense criticism, particularly from the political left, as did many of the columns he wrote. In November, Mr. Kristol told Portfolio.com that “I’m ambivalent” about the prospect of continuing to write the Times column. “It’s been fun,” he said, adding, “It’s a lot of work.” | New York Times;Kristol William;Newspapers |
ny0203958 | [
"business"
]
| 2009/08/12 | Atticus Closes Funds Managed by Founder Timothy Barakett | The founder of Atticus Capital, a hedge fund management company, told investors on Tuesday that he would shut down the two funds he manages and return about $3 billion in assets. The executive, Timothy R. Barakett, said in a letter that that he planned to pursue philanthropic interests. The two funds being closed are the Atticus Global funds, the letter said. The firm will keep operating, Mr. Barakett said in the letter, and his partner, David Slager, will continue to run the Atticus European fund. | Hedge Funds;Atticus Capital;Barakett Timothy R. |
ny0123157 | [
"nyregion"
]
| 2012/09/30 | Rocky Salemmo, a Bowling Hustler With a Big Left Hook | FIVE frames into the match, Rocky Salemmo was taking a beating. He and a partner had challenged a pair of young guns at Showplace Entertainment Center on Staten Island to a doubles bowling match for $50 a man, and now Mr. Salemmo, 48, who was once known as one of the top action bowlers, or betting players, in New York City, trailed by 68 pins. But when Mr. Salemmo’s bowling ball fails, his mouth takes over. He began telling his opponents about the time he jumped out the bathroom window at a bowling alley to avoid losing four grand. The match stalled as Mr. Salemmo’s stories about the heyday of action bowling — think “Saturday Night Fever” meets “Bowling for Dollars” — in the 1970s and ’80s kept coming. Each night of the week, a different alley held sway as the top money-playing spot, where spectators and hangers-on made sizable bets on matches, with dice and card games on the side. Rocky got his first bowling ball at age 11 from his father, who died shortly afterward in a motorcycle crash on Hylan Boulevard. His mother worked the snack bar at Country Lanes on Staten Island, and Rocky played there constantly. During his early teens, he began tagging along with his cousin Lucy, a top money bowler. He fell in with money players with names like Snake, Mike the Crook and the Count. “We called him the Count because he only came out at night,” Mr. Salemmo said. Driving together to the lanes, they would hatch that night’s hustling schemes: the secret signal before purposely losing a match; the fake fight to make the group look drunk and beatable; and where to rendezvous if they ran out of money and had to flee a losing bet. Mr. Salemmo, who is of short stature and bowls lefty, throws a big hook that teeters on the edge of the left gutter before swooping back to the pins. His stories, too — delivered rapid-fire with a thick New York accent — are elliptical but somehow come back to the point: how bowling for bets has supported him for most of his adult life. He added that as well as he bowled, he was equally bad at gambling, and that he would promptly blow much of his winnings on bad bets on horse-racing and other sports. There are still the occasional matches, but the bowling wagering scene has largely faded in recent years, and Mr. Salemmo has begun driving a stretch limousine for his brother Joe, 47, who runs a limo and D.J. company. “Right now, I’m back to being a nobody, and that’s exactly where you want to be, as an action bowler,” said Mr. Salemmo, who lives in the Dongan Hills section of Staten Island with his mother and son, Rocky Jr., 22, a barber with a respectable bowling game himself. To attract bets, Mr. Salemmo said, it helps to look like a chump on the lanes. So he would join leagues and purposely play poorly to keep down his official scoring average. After that, he would show up at a new lane, act a little tipsy, maybe let his wad of money drop all over the floor and accept some challenges from low-stakes players. After weeks or months, he worked his way into high-stakes circles. “You never want to play the best guys, because if you beat them, no one will play you,” he said. “You make money beating the smaller guys and work your way up.” It was important to dress down and avoid expensive equipment, he said. An ordinary ball works well enough if you rough it with some sandpaper or soak it in acetone for more traction. Also, embedding fishing sinkers in the right spot helps to increase the hook. Slipping a bit of lip balm in the thumb hole of your opponent’s ball also might help your chances, he said. “Or you have your friend have the guy paged over the loudspeaker — or, better yet, have his wife’s name paged when his girlfriend is there,” Mr. Salemmo said. “Anything to get him mad. Then you got him.” Finally, Mr. Salemmo was ready to resume his match at Showplace, where he and his partner, Steve Chiraella, had stalled their opponents — two top local players, Sean McAuliffe, 25, and Kurt Borst, 27 — for 10 minutes now. The younger men went cold, and Mr. Salemmo surged for five strikes in a row to close out the match. “That’s how it’s done,” he said, grabbing the pile of bills. “Thank you, gentlemen.” | Bowling;Staten Island (NYC);Salemmo Rocky |
ny0046311 | [
"sports",
"football"
]
| 2014/02/22 | Giants Extend Coughlin’s Contract | The Giants said Friday that they had given Coach Tom Coughlin a one-year contract extension through the 2015 season. The agreement was expected because the Giants have a history of not allowing their coach to go into a season as a lame duck. Coughlin, 67, who has won two Super Bowls, and the Giants had wanted to get the deal done earlier, but it was delayed while he reshaped his offensive staff. The Giants missed the playoffs in the last two seasons and three of the last four. | Football;Giants;Tom Coughlin |
ny0093539 | [
"world",
"africa"
]
| 2015/08/12 | Police Officer With U.N. Force in Central African Republic Is Accused of Rape | UNITED NATIONS — In the latest allegation of child sexual abuse by peacekeepers in the Central African Republic, a United Nations police officer is accused of raping a 12-year-old girl in the capital, Bangui, during a nighttime house-to-house search, according to Amnesty International. The allegation came to light on Tuesday, when Amnesty International issued a public statement. The United Nations spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, confirmed it later in the day, adding that Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was “personally dismayed” by the charges. The United Nations mission staff in Bangui was informed of the allegations last week, when Amnesty researchers interviewed the child and her family and met with officials at the mission. The episode is said to have occurred Aug. 2 during a clash between armed men and peacekeepers who were searching for a criminal suspect. The mission is investigating the operation, in which one peacekeeper was killed and nine others injured, said Hamadoun Touré, a spokesman for the United Nations in Bangui. As for the rape allegation, Mr. Touré said no suspect had been identified and, therefore, no one had been arrested or suspended. The Central African Republic, one of the most fragile nations in the world, erupted in ethnic conflict in 2013. The United Nations mission there has been dogged by repeated allegations of sexual abuse in recent months. French soldiers who had been sent to protect civilians when the conflict first broke out were accused of sexually abusing boys in Bangui over a six-month period starting in December, 2013, allegedly offering them food in exchange for oral sex. France has said it is investigating, but has yet to prosecute anyone. Troops from Chad and Equatorial Guinea, representing the African Union, were also accused of sexually abusing children, and the United Nations was in turn accused of mishandling its inquiry into the charges. Then, earlier this year, United Nations peacekeepers from Burundi and Morocco were accused of sexual abuse. Both countries have told United Nations officials that they are investigating the conduct of their soldiers. The latest allegations involve police officers from Cameroon and Rwanda. During the operation, a 12-year-old girl who had been hiding in the bathroom of her house told an Amnesty researcher that a United Nations peacekeeper pulled her out, slapped her and tore off her clothes. “He threw me to the ground and lay down on top of me,” she told the Amnesty researcher, according to the statement issued by the group on Tuesday. “Whilst raping her, gunfire erupted outside and he fled the compound to rejoin the larger group of peacekeeping troops,” the Amnesty statement continued. A nurse who examined the child “found medical evidence consistent with sexual assault,” the statement said. Joanne Mariner, a senior crisis adviser with Amnesty, said that the child had yet to receive health or counseling services from the United Nations. (Mr. Touré said he did not know whether she had.) The Amnesty statement also accused the peacekeepers of indiscriminately firing at civilians in the area, killing a 16-year-old boy and his father. The rape suspect, if he is identified by United Nations investigators, can in principle be tried by the authorities in the Central African Republic, but only if a court in that country makes such a request and the police officer’s home country gives its consent. It is common practice for peacekeepers to be repatriated to their home countries for potential prosecution. They do not enjoy immunity for criminal acts while serving as peacekeepers. Rape clearly falls into the category of a prosecutable offense. Mr. Ban has repeatedly called for “zero tolerance” of sexual abuse in peacekeeping missions. He appointed an independent panel to review how the United Nations handled its inquiry into the allegations of abuse by French soldiers. The panel, led by a former justice of Canada’s Supreme Court, Marie Deschamps, is expected to deliver its findings this year. | Central African Republic;Rape;Child Abuse;UN;Amnesty International;Military;International relations;Ban Ki moon |
ny0002584 | [
"world",
"europe"
]
| 2013/03/12 | Hungary Tests the E.U.'s Norms | For Hungary, still seeking national accord on what constitutes democracy, and for Europe, still uncertain how to treat governments deemed to have strayed from European Union norms, Monday produced a symbolic moment in the annals of protecting civil rights. On a state visit to Germany, President Janos Ader of Hungary visited a prison in Berlin where East Germany’s dreaded secret police, the Stasi, held thousands of political prisoners, including some of the harshest critics of the now defunct Communist regime. Back in Hungary, lawmakers from Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s Fidesz party and its small ally, the Christian Democrats, passed a lengthy amendment to the Constitution that critics, including human rights activists, the Council of Europe, the E.U. and the United States, fear could undermine the judiciary, silence criticism and threaten the checks and balances of democratic government. “We are not yet North Korea, but this amendment is extremely alarming because it removes constitutional control and checks over the legislature,” said Peter Hack, a leading professor of constitutional law at ELTE University in Budapest. “It is a bald and dangerous power grab.” While even the government’s staunchest critics acknowledge that Hungary, an E.U. member, has put communism far behind it, thousands took to the streets of Budapest over the weekend to protest the changes, and the opposition Socialists boycotted the vote. Constitutional experts said that the amendment, passed in the 386-seat Parliament by 265 votes to 11, with 33 abstentions, will allow the government to reintroduce measures rejected by the constitutional court over the last 18 months. These include a law requiring students who received state scholarships to stay in Hungary or pay them back if they leave; a ban on political advertising in private media; and a law allowing local authorities, in the name of public order, to fine or jail homeless people living on the street. The passing of the amendment comes amid growing concerns that the center-right government of Mr. Orban, which has a two-thirds majority in Parliament and came to power in 2010, is trying to tighten its grip, including in the judiciary, the media, the central bank, education and even cultural life. It has laid bare the limits of the European Union in calling to account member states it fears have transgressed its democratic norms. On Monday, the European Commission president, José Manuel Barroso, and the head of the Council of Europe, Thorbjorn Jagland, issued a joint statement, saying that the amendments raised “concerns with respect to the principle of the rule of law, E.U. law and Council of Europe standards.” The United States has also sounded the alarm. Victoria Nuland, the State Department spokeswoman, said Thursday that the amendment “could threaten the principles of institutional independence and checks and balances that are the hallmark of democratic governance.” For some constitutional experts, the most egregious provision passed on Monday was an article stating that the constitutional court and the president, who signs legislation into law, are not allowed to examine the content of a constitutional amendment. Instead, they are limited to examining whether the procedure for passing the amendment complied with the law. Ferenc Kumin, a government spokesman, rejected the criticism, saying that the overhaul of Hungary’s Constitution was imperative to upgrade the outmoded previous charter, which was based on a Communist-era constitution rewritten in 1989 as a reformist government cast off Communist rule. Mr. Hack and other constitutional experts noted that only one paragraph from the Communist-era constitution remained in the 1989 constitution, and it stated that Budapest was the capital of Hungary. “We cannot have a rational discussion on the basis of critics questioning our democratic norms or based on nonsense arguments,” Mr. Kumin said. “We believe all of the contents of the amendment can be defended.” He added that the government had crafted the amendment to take into account some of the constitutional court’s criticism. Yet critics complain of encroaching centralization. On March 1, Mr. Orban appointed a close ally, Gyorgy Matolcsy, formerly the economics minister, to head the central bank, fanning fears that the bank would lose its independence. Mr. Orban had repeatedly clashed with the previous central bank governor Andras Simor, who was appointed by the Socialists, and had refused to heed the government’s call for a looser monetary policy. Mr. Orban’s government has also come under sharp criticism for revising Hungary’s media laws, including the creation of a powerful Media Council which, among other things, is responsible for allocating radio frequencies, and is stacked with Orban supporters, appointed for nine-year terms. At 49, Mr. Orban, an athletic father of five, is one of Central Europe's most powerful and charismatic politicians. He became famous in 1989 when, as a opposition leader, he called for the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Hungary, articulating the aspirations of the entire region. He served as prime minister from 1998 to 2002, lobbying for Hungary to join the European Union, and seeking to overturn the old communist order, before narrowly losing power to the Socialists and being consigned to opposition for eight years. Ever since his party won its stunning victory in 2010, analysts said he had shown a determination to do whatever was necessary to hold on to power, abetted by a weak opposition. A populist, he has tapped into Hungarian disillusionment with a lackluster economy by railing against the Union and the International Monetary Fund. “Orban is hungry for power,” said Andras Kosa, a journalist with the online version of HVG, a center-left weekly economic and political magazine. “The Fidesz government thinks it is best to rule as many sectors of Hungarian life as possible. They think they know what is best for everyone.” Dan Bilefsky reported from Budapest and Paris; Melissa Eddy contributed reporting from Berlin. | EU;Hungary;US;Constitution;Viktor Orban |
ny0191281 | [
"sports",
"football"
]
| 2009/02/03 | Steelers Turn the Page on Their Unlikely Super Bowl Tale | TAMPA, Fla. — As he stood on the sideline Sunday night, watching the Pittsburgh Steelers ’ offense channel his own for a few critical moments on its game-winning drive, Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner could think just one thing: let them make a mistake. “The only thing that goes through your mind is, Stop them,” Warner said in the quiet that followed the Steelers’ 27-23 victory. “You just want them to make a mistake. You’re just hoping they make a mistake or one of your guys makes a great play and seals the deal.” Pittsburgh receiver Santonio Holmes knows something about making mistakes. He was arrested twice in 2006, on domestic violence and disorderly-conduct charges, both of which were dropped. And in October he made a mistake that nearly derailed his season: He was charged with misdemeanor marijuana possession. The Steelers deactivated him, a decision Holmes did not appreciate. So by the time Holmes took his eyes off the ball with 48 seconds remaining in Super Bowl XLIII on Sunday night, allowing what appeared to be a certain winning touchdown to flutter away, redemption had already become a familiar theme. It was that way for the Steelers’ offense for most of the season, too. Harnessed to the N.F.L.’s toughest schedule, one of the toughest in decades, the team scraped along on the back of a superb defense. The offensive line was so maligned that even in the glow of victory Monday morning, Coach Mike Tomlin faced a question about what he planned to do about it. “I’m not surprised you put a negative spin on such a beautiful morning,” Tomlin said. There was not much else negative to say about the Steelers by Monday, though. Moments after Holmes nearly blew the Super Bowl, he won it with a dazzling catch in the back right corner of the end zone, his ninth catch in a game in which he earned most valuable player honors. His eyes stayed on the ball, his toes stayed inbounds and somehow quarterback Ben Roethlisberger — criticized plenty himself this season — found his target amid three defenders. The pass completed a 21-for-30 game for Roethlisberger and punctuated just how far he had come from the second-year quarterback who could barely get out of his team’s way when the Steelers won the Super Bowl three years ago. The season had come full circle: in training camp, Holmes declared that he wanted to be Roethlisberger’s go-to guy. When Roethlisberger needed one most, after the Steelers had blown a 13-point lead in the fourth quarter, Holmes produced, delivering the game-winner and a sixth Super Bowl championship to the Steelers. As he left the confetti-covered podium late Sunday night, Holmes put his arm around Commissioner Roger Goodell and thanked Roethlisberger for believing in him. “Having that faith coming from my quarterback, having him every Sunday saying, ‘Just stick with me no matter what goes on, we’ll make plays together,’ allows me to play freely,” said Holmes, who, perhaps to the silent relief of the Steelers, celebrated by watching “Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa” in his hotel room with his children. Not many believed the Steelers could survive their schedule to win a Super Bowl this season, particularly not with Roethlisberger taking a pounding and running back Willie Parker being hurt. And then the defense gave up the lead in Sunday night’s game. That seemed like Pittsburgh’s nightmare: a team built to hold leads by battering the opponent’s quarterback cedes the lead as the other team sparkles. But the Steelers possessed a remarkable steadiness all season as they made their way through opponents who were once considered Super Bowl contenders: the Giants, the Colts, the Chargers, the Cowboys, the Titans. When the Steelers were called for a holding penalty in the end zone, resulting in a safety, Tomlin shrugged. He had planned to take a safety intentionally on fourth down anyway, rather than risk a punt against the Cardinals’ superb punt-block team. And when Larry Fitzgerald scored on a 64-yard catch and sprint that gave the Cardinals their first and only lead with 2 minutes 47 seconds remaining, Tomlin said he figured it was good that Arizona had not taken too much time off the clock. The frenetic pace — there were four scores in the fourth quarter, producing a thrilling Super Bowl ending that rivaled even last year’s Giants victory over the New England Patriots — did not seem to trouble him. “We met the challenges that were laid before us in terms of the ’08 season,” Tomlin said Monday. “It’s awesome, it’s great, appreciate it, but if you’re a legitimate competitor, at the appropriate time you’ll ready yourself for the challenges that lie ahead in ’09, ’10 or what have you.” And so the page has already turned for the N.F.L. and the Steelers. When Tomlin goes back to work after a few days of taking his children to school and participating in Pittsburgh’s civic celebration, he will walk past the stuffed trophy case near his office, now bursting with a record six Lombardi trophies. Repeating is a difficult proposition in the N.F.L., although the Steelers will certainly be a preseason favorite. Their defense will remain largely intact after the defensive coordinator, Dick LeBeau, assured his players he was not retiring, and their offensive line will probably be tweaked to provide better pass protection for Roethlisberger. Still, quarterback Tom Brady will return in New England, making the Patriots top contenders again. Free agency and the draft will strengthen other teams. The Steelers face few of the potentially franchise-altering questions the Cardinals do, though. Will Warner retire? What will happen to the offense if Todd Haley, the coordinator, becomes the Kansas City Chiefs’ coach? Whither receiver Anquan Boldin and his contract dispute? Their underdog story was sweet for a month, but in finishing the regular season 9-7 and then finding their postseason stride, did the Cardinals finally cross the Rubicon to N.F.L. respectability and consistency, or will they slip back into the scrum of N.F.L. also-rans where they dwelled for so long? Those are the uncomfortable issues all teams but one face at the end of each season, and even Tomlin knows the Steelers’ moment of glory is fleeting. “That special group of men that was in that locker room last night that ended that game? That’s gone forever,” Tomlin said Monday. “It’ll be a new 53 men. A lot of the faces will be the same. But nothing stays the same in this game. A few will come and go. Those that remain, the roles will change; some will ascend, some will descend. That’s the nature of today’s N.F.L.” He added: “Repeating and defending Super Bowl champions in today’s N.F.L. is somewhat of a misnomer. When I walk down the hallway and look at the championships of the Steelers from the ’70s, it’s the same faces in the same positions in those photos in terms of the Steel Curtain and so forth. That’s not the reality in today’s N.F.L., to be quite honest with you.” As he prepared to head back to a hero’s welcome in Pittsburgh, there was time for just a little bit of crowing. When a reporter from Cleveland introduced himself as being from the city of one of the Steelers’ most bitter rivals, one that has never even been to a Super Bowl, Tomlin paused. “From Cleveland?” Tomlin said with a smirk, letting the Steelers’ superiority linger in the air as the reporter playfully asked that he not rub it in. “Huh.” For one more year, the sixth in the Steelers’ remarkable history, the bragging rights belong to them. | Pittsburgh Steelers;Super Bowl;Football;Holmes Santonio |
ny0262680 | [
"us"
]
| 2011/12/05 | Eddie Long, Beleaguered Church Leader, to Stop Preaching | LITHONIA, Ga. — At the height of his power, Bishop Eddie L. Long would pack tens of thousands of people into his megachurch in the suburbs of Atlanta . With his well-cut suits, passion for Bentleys, and dynamic, accessible style of preaching, he quickly climbed the list of the nation’s most powerful religious leaders. He built his ministry, which stretches to Kenya and other countries, on a strong message of conservative Christianity that included promises of prosperity and attacks on homosexuality. But life inside Bishop Long’s home had been crumbling. And on Sunday, members of his dwindling congregation heard news they had been bracing for. Their charismatic bishop, who in May settled with five young men who accused him of sexual coercion and who has fought a series of other legal battles, said he was temporarily stepping away from the pulpit to try to save his marriage. The announcement came after his wife, Vanessa Long, 53, filed for divorce Thursday. Friday, she recanted after “prayerful reflection” but later in the day changed her mind and said she did intend to end their marriage of 21 years. They have four children. “Vanessa and I are working together in seeking God’s will in our current circumstances,” Bishop Long, 58, said in a statement issued by the church, New Birth Missionary Baptist Church . During services on Sunday, he told congregants that he was still their senior pastor and would continue to provide spiritual direction, but that he needed time to take care of “some family business.” Members attending services pledged support and said they would stay until his return. “He needs to be with his family,” said Marilyn Arnold, a business manager. “It’s hard on his family. When he comes back, we’ll be here.” But not everyone remains a believer. Valencia Miller, a property manager in Lithonia, said she left the church after the young men who accused the bishop of sexual impropriety came forward. “A lot of us left. I mean, a lot,” she said in an interview Sunday. Like others, she hopes that Bishop Long turns this temporary break into a permanent one. “The church needs a cleansing,” she said. “I’m real disappointed. He was a man we all looked up to.” Bishop Long took over the congregation in 1987 when it had a few hundred members. He built a following of 25,000, according to the church’s Web site, and reached millions more on TV. Just after Easter, Bishop Long settled a lawsuit in which young men claimed that the pastor offered gifts, trips, and emotional and spiritual guidance that eventually led to sexual relations. One of the young men, Maurice Robinson, said in court records that his relationship with Bishop Long began when he was 15 and that on a trip to New Zealand the two engaged in sexual acts. Bishop Long initially vowed to fight the charges, proclaiming his innocence and comparing himself to David who fought Goliath. “I have five rocks and I haven’t thrown one yet,” he said when the charges were revealed. Details of the settlement were to be kept secret, but people with knowledge of the case have put it at several million dollars paid over a period of years. Some of the men have since spoken out, so lawyers for the church have tried to get part of the money returned, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. There have been other legal battles. Ten former members who attended church investment seminars are suing him, claiming he coerced them into investment deals that cost them their retirement savings. He recently reached a settlement in a lawsuit over a $2 million bank loan , much of which went unpaid after a real estate deal that went bad. In 2007, Bishop Long was one of a half-dozen ministers whose tax -exempt status was investigated by a Senate committee. Support for Bishop Long continues to shrink. Just before the sexual coercion settlement was announced, the Rev. Bernice King, the youngest daughter of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. , left the church. On Sunday, a small group of antigay, religious protesters stood outside the church urging Bishop Long to step down permanently. They said they planned to return every month until he left. “He has a serious moral character flaw,” said Isaac Richmond, 73, the minister at the Church of Human Development in Memphis . “It’s a moral question and he’s a religious figure. We don’t want that image as a role model for young men in the African-American community.” The Rev. Timothy McDonald, a Baptist minister in Atlanta and chairman of the group African-American Ministers in Action, said that attendance at the church had dropped to 4,000 from about 8,000 at one point this year. Still, he said, it remains a powerful force. “Even on his bad days, if he gets 4,000 or 5,000, he’s still larger than 94 or 95 percent of most churches,” he said. Frank Cook, a contract administrator who has been a member for 20 years, is not going anywhere. “It’s all about restoring, forgiving and loving,” he said in an interview on Sunday. “We love Bishop Long and we’re going to keep coming.” | Eddie L Long;Pastor;Atlanta;Baptists;New Birth Missionary Baptist Church;Rape;Child Abuse |
ny0284535 | [
"sports",
"tennis"
]
| 2016/09/05 | Caroline Wozniacki Advances to Quarterfinals With Win Over Madison Keys | After a season of struggles, Caroline Wozniacki said it was “crazy” to be back in the United States Open quarterfinals, given that she had reached that stage only twice this year, at much smaller tournaments. But after Wozniacki, No. 74 in the world, sealed her 6-3, 6-4 victory over No. 8-seeded Madison Keys on Sunday, she clarified that such feelings should not be interpreted as surprise. “I’m not surprised that I could make it this far, because I always believe in myself,” Wozniacki, 26, said. She added, “When I get on court, I always believe that I’ll win the match.” Wozniacki, who spent 67 weeks ranked No. 1 from 2010 into 2012, showed flashes of the tenacious, backstopping defense that took her to the top. Though she has been humbled, in terms of her ranking, by injury and inconsistent, uncertain play, Wozniacki said she still felt as if her peers continued to rate her highly. “Everybody knows how I play, and you always have a target on your back once you’ve gotten somewhere and reached something,” she said Sunday. “Everybody wants to beat you. No matter at this current moment what my ranking is, I always feel like I’m a target. I have to keep improving to beat everybody. I feel like I have been serving well this week, especially today, and returning well and really having good court coverage.” Wozniacki is not known for having an imposing serve, but she kept Keys off balance throughout their match with her accuracy and variety. An impressive 34 percent of Wozniacki’s serves went unreturned as Keys struggled with a normally strong part of her game. She created only one break-point opportunity. Keys, who had never faced Wozniacki, was struck by the pressure caused by her opponent’s talent and consistency. “Seeing it on TV is one thing, but I was feeling how deep she’s hitting the ball and feeling like I can’t get on the offense right away,” Keys said. “It’s totally different watching and playing.” Wozniacki’s coach and father, Piotr Wozniacki, told the Danish newspaper Ekstra Bladet that she had executed his game plan against Keys perfectly. “Keys could not get the rhythm because Caroline alternated soft and hard — but always reasonably quick and high to her backhand,” he said. “This was the recipe.” Image Anastasia Potapova returns a shot to Maria Mateas of the United States during her first round. Credit Steven Ryan/Getty Images Another ingredient in Wozniacki’s improved play has been home cooking. During the tournament, she has commuted from Manhattan to Queens from her Union Square apartment, where her mother is staying with her, handling the culinary and laundry responsibilities. “It’s nice just being able to sleep in your own bed,” Wozniacki said. “It’s a more relaxed feeling. Also, I have so many friends here, so every day I have been going out for lunch or dinners and just kind of enjoyed the city as well. I think that’s kind of recharged my batteries.” Wozniacki’s confidence seems not to have waned even as her ranking tumbled. “I don’t care,” she said, smiling. “I know it sounds bad, but honestly, at this point I’m like, I really don’t care what my ranking is. “Because if I’m not in the top five, I feel like it’s not where I want to be, so at that point, whether I’m 20th in the world or 100th in the world, it doesn’t matter because I’m going to play the same people anyway. So I’m just working my way through. “The main thing is that when I’m on court, I have to believe in myself. That’s what I care about — that I know that I can do it. I know I can beat anyone.” Wozniacki is now in the unusual position of playing late into the tournament. Next she faces another unexpected quarterfinalist, Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia, who upset No. 3-seeded Garbiñe Muguruza in the second round. Sevastova, ranked 48th in the world, reached her first major quarterfinal with a 6-4, 7-5 victory against No. 13-seeded Johanna Konta of Britain. Wozniacki ended Sevastova’s previous best run at a major, beating her in the fourth round of the 2011 Australian Open. No. 2-seeded Angelique Kerber kept in play her bid to overtake Serena Williams for the No. 1 ranking with a 6-3, 7-5 win over No. 14-seeded Petra Kvitova. With Kerber reaching the quarterfinals, Williams will need to at least reach the final to stay ahead of her. Kerber advanced Sunday evening with dogged consistency, hitting only eight unforced errors compared with 43 from the more aggressive, erratic Kvitova. Kerber next faces No. 7-seeded Roberta Vinci, who was a surprise runner-up here last year after stunning Williams in the semifinals. Vinci reached the quarterfinals with a 7-6 (5), 6-2 win over Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine. Vinci has struggled with an injured tendon in her left leg but remains optimistic. “I know it’s tough to repeat again the same results of last year, but I’m in the quarterfinal,” she said. | Tennis;US Open Tennis;Caroline Wozniacki;Madison Keys |
ny0185113 | [
"sports",
"football"
]
| 2009/03/17 | DeMaurice Smith, New Head of N.F.L. Union, Starts Work Right Away | DeMaurice Smith was so unfamiliar to N.F.L. players when they began the search for their new union executive director that a little more than 12 hours after his election, the union president Kevin Mawae joked that players were still trying to figure out how to pronounce Smith’s first name. But Smith had already moved past the introductions Monday and was about to tackle his job. He planned to call Commissioner Roger Goodell and he said he hoped that would serve as the start of negotiations toward a new collective bargaining agreement — the most critical item on Smith’s agenda. The 2009 season will be the final one played with a salary cap unless a new deal is negotiated before the start of the 2010 league year next spring. “There isn’t a day where I don’t hope for peace,” Smith said in a conference call Monday. “At the same time, there isn’t a day we won’t prepare for war. I hope our discussions with the owners are both early and fruitful. It’s my sincere hope we can come to an agreement extremely quickly so everybody knows this game can continue.” Smith staked out a populist position for negotiations almost immediately, linking well-compensated players with the hourly workers who direct traffic and sell hot dogs on game days as people who would lose out on paychecks if owners locked out players in 2011. But Smith also said he would not hesitate to draw Congress, which has oversight of the union, into a protracted labor fight. And he reiterated the oft-stated claim by his predecessor, Gene Upshaw, that if the salary cap was allowed to expire, the players would never accept it as part of another contract. Smith also said that he thought the union had a moral obligation to help retired players, a far more conciliatory tone than the one Upshaw used to strike. “We need to be one team, we need to have one locker room,” Smith said. “For the 16,000 people who used to play this game, the 10,000 people vested in our pension plan, we want them to be a part of our team. What I hope they know today is that there is never a time when they can’t have a direct conversation with me. “For whatever voice they have, I will meet with them when they want, I’ll talk with them when they want.” | Smith DeMaurice;Football;Labor;Wages and Salaries;National Football League |
ny0035882 | [
"business",
"media"
]
| 2014/03/29 | Charter Challenges Comcast-Time Warner Cable Deal | WASHINGTON — Charter Communications, which was rebuffed last year when it proposed a merger with Time Warner Cable, then lost out to Comcast in a bidding competition for the cable company, is urging the Time Warner Cable shareholders to reject the $45 billion deal with Comcast. In a proxy statement filed on Friday with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Charter said the risk of regulatory rejection of the merger, combined with what it characterized as probable delays and their associated costs to Time Warner Cable shareholders, made it in shareholders’ interest to turn down the merger. The deal was announced on Feb. 13. The board of Time Warner Cable also “refused to meaningfully engage with Charter” about a proposed offer, the company said. Charter said its fourth and best offer was “in the low $130s per share range,” including $83 a share in cash. Time Warner Cable agreed to merge with Comcast in an all-stock transaction that was worth about $141 a share based on Thursday’s closing stock prices. When the deal was announced, the companies estimated that it was worth $159 a share. “From the regulatory perspective, it is difficult to imagine a transaction that could concentrate the industry more than the proposed Comcast merger,” Charter said in its S.E.C. filing. “Notwithstanding the likelihood of a regulatory opposition to the deal, the merger agreement contains no regulatory breakup fee, giving Comcast no incentive to seek solutions,” the filing said, beyond the limited commitments Comcast made to divest itself of three million Time Warner customers and to extend to Time Warner assets the conditions it agreed to when it acquired NBC Universal in 2011. In a statement, Time Warner Cable said: “We are fully committed to our merger with Comcast, which we believe is in the best interests of shareholders.” A spokeswoman for Comcast declined to comment and deferred to Time Warner Cable. The Justice Department’s antitrust division has already begun an investigation of the merger. The Federal Communications Commission will also conduct an investigation to determine if the transaction is in “the public interest.” The inquiry will begin once Comcast files a public interest statement with the commission; that is expected in early April. The antitrust subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to begin its own investigation; the subcommittee will conduct a hearing on April 9 that will feature representatives from Comcast and from public interest groups that oppose the merger, among others. In its filing, Charter said it first floated the idea of a merger on May 22, at a meeting between Gregory Maffei, a Charter director and chief executive of Liberty Media, a large Charter shareholder, and Glenn Britt, then chief executive of Time Warner Cable. At about the same time, John C. Malone, the chairman of Liberty Media, spoke with the lead director of Time Warner Cable’s board to discuss a combination of Charter and Time Warner Cable. The two spoke again in February, after Charter and Time Warner Cable broke off negotiations, but they were unable to advance the talks. Four detailed offers followed from Charter over the next seven months. In January, Time Warner Cable’s board rejected Charter’s offer. Two days after Charter nominated a slate of directors to the board of Time Warner Cable in February, that company announced its deal with Comcast. In a separate filing with the S.E.C., Comcast said it first met with Time Warner Cable executives to discuss a merger on June 22. That was eight days after news of Charter’s offer was widely reported. Later, Comcast and Charter also talked about a possible joint bid for Time Warner Cable. Those talks continued through early February when, unable to reach an agreement, the two broke off discussions. | Mergers and Acquisitions;Charter Communications;Comcast;Time Warner Cable |
ny0052136 | [
"technology"
]
| 2014/10/12 | Behind League of Legends, E-Sports’s Main Attraction | When the company behind one of the world’s most popular video games, League of Legends, started organizing tournaments — noisy events where professional players compete under huge screens in arenas packed with fans — it had to design a championship trophy. That proved trickier than it sounds. A trophy should be grand and gleaming — that much seemed obvious. But nobody at Riot Games , which owns League of Legends, focused on a pretty basic question: How much should the trophy weigh? While there are many correct answers, it turns out that “about 70 pounds” isn’t one of them. Seventy pounds is roughly twice as heavy as hockey’s Stanley Cup, and hockey players, if we can generalize for a moment, tend to be brawnier than gamers. “It takes five people to hoist it,” said Dustin Beck, a vice president at Riot Games. He was sitting in the company’s offices in Santa Monica, Calif., and talking about what is officially known as the Summoner’s Cup, an oversize silver-plated chalice that looks like a faintly sinister “Game of Thrones” prop. “We thought we’d be able to send it back to Thomas Lyte” — the British company that fabricated it — “and they shaved like five pounds off. Still not enough.” Though the Summoner’s Cup may be too weighty to lift in victory, it is coveted by the several hundred professionals who play League of Legends full time. Image The Summoner’s Cup awaited the top team at the League of Legends World Championships, which are being held this month before cheering crowds in Busan, South Korea. Credit Jean Chung for The New York Times Dozens of those players are now in Seoul, at the fourth world championship. On Oct. 19, the finals will be held in a stadium built for soccer’s World Cup, with 40,000 fans expected and many times that number watching online. Last year, Riot Games says, 32 million people around the world saw a South Korean team win the Summoner’s Cup, along with a grand prize of $1 million, in the Staples Center in Los Angeles. That’s an audience larger than the one that tuned in to the last game of the N.B.A. finals that year. Since its debut in 2009, League of Legends has evolved from a small population of desktop-computer warriors into a full-scale phenomenon. In the process, it has become an e-sport . If you are not a male between the ages of 15 and 25, a group that Riot says accounts for 90 percent of all LoL players, the odds are good that you have never heard of e-sports, a catchall term for games that resemble conventional sports insofar as they have superstars, playoffs, fans, uniforms, comebacks and upsets. But all the action in e-sports occurs online, and the contestants hardly move. In the case of League of Legends, players work a keyboard and a mouse, wielding exotic weapons in a virtual forest of turrets and torches, apparently landscaped by refugees of “Lord of the Rings.” The standard match is a mercilessly kinetic and bewilderingly complex battle between two teams of five players; each team tries to destroy the other’s nexus, a gaudy purple structure that glows like a mood ring. Watch 10,000 League of Legends Games in 30 Seconds In League of Legends, one of the world’s most popular video games, teams of superpowered heroes fight to destroy their opponents’ bases. Though e-sports were around for about a decade before Riot Games was born, no company has jumped in with the same intensity. Riot controls every aspect of the professional league, right down to the music composed for live events. It runs tournaments worldwide, with its own slick broadcasting operation streaming to various Internet video sites, complete with color commentators and highlight reels — a kind of ESPN for gamers. The company also keeps a few hundred professional players on salary, ensuring that they can spend up to 14 hours a day practicing, the time required to compete at the highest level. Today, according to SuperData , a market research firm, League of Legends has more than eight times the number of active players as Dota 2, its closest rival in the genre known as multiplayer online battle arena. Yet despite ticket prices of $15 to $50 for seats at league events, the league itself is a money loser. The tournaments function as marketing to bring in new players and to inspire loyalty in regulars, says Marc Merrill, a Riot Games co-founder and the company president. The goal is to inspire enthusiasts, doing for LoL what LeBron James and other stars do for basketball. Which is just the first reason that Riot Games’ business model sounds insane, at least initially. The second is that the game is free to play and can be downloaded from the Internet, with no special hardware required. And players can’t buy extra power or skill for their online avatars, known as “champions” in LoL parlance. In other words, you could play League of Legends for years and never spend a nickel. What the company sells to anyone playing the game — and, for the moment, it sells them nothing else — are game enhancements and goodies that cost less than $10 apiece. This may not seem like a path to riches, but if the player base is big and riveted enough, it is. The company says there are now 67 million active monthly players around the world, and in August alone this crowd spent $122 million, according to SuperData. “Whenever I talk to executives at Riot, it’s like a mantra: ‘Revenue is second, the player experience is first,’ ” said Joost van Dreunen, chief executive of SuperData. “The paradox is that by putting revenue second, League will be one of the very few games to bring in $1 billion in 2014.” $2 Here, $7.50 There Riot Games’ offices are spread around three buildings in an industrial park, and in a handful of satellite offices around the world. About 1,500 people work at the company, most of them in the Santa Monica location. The place looks like a snack-filled haven for young slackers, with lots of employees in flip-flops and T-shirts, but attention to detail defines the company. One wall has a list of dos and don’ts for presenting Riot’s logo, a clenched fist. “The fist should never look like it’s passive, retreating or hanging on for dear life,” is among the don’ts. Another sign of mindfulness: The window shades along walls facing east are usually drawn, even on a recent sunny day. “Oh, yeah, security concern,” said Brandon Beck, the company’s chief executive, taking a seat in his office, illuminated mostly by overhead lights at 3:30 in the afternoon. “Occasionally we have confidential stuff on the walls here and we’ve had snoopers outside with, like, telescopic lenses.” Mr. Beck, who is a co-founder of the company with Mr. Merrill and is also Dustin Beck’s older brother, is a slight guy with a dark beard who rarely stops smiling. He and Mr. Merrill got to know each other through gaming circles while attending rival private high schools in the Los Angeles area. Image From left, Marc Merrill, a Riot Games co-founder; Dustin Beck, a vice president; and Brandon Beck, a co-founder and the chief executive. Credit David Walter Banks for The New York Times As teenagers, both were fans of online, text-based versions of Dungeons & Dragons, and both monopolized the phone lines in their homes back in the dial-up days of the Internet. As game graphics improved, the two moved on to so-called real-time strategy games like Starcraft and Warcraft II. Other games required expensive consoles like Xbox or PlayStation, and in many cases developers had little incentive to fine-tune or expand these games after an initial run of sales. That’s because they made money by offering a $60 sequel on disc or, in other cases, through subscriptions. “It was always disappointing when development teams would rush in to build the next game and neglect communities that were staying engaged with their game well after it launched,” Mr. Beck said. “We wanted a company that paid attention to players like us who wanted to play competitively and cooperatively.” If the ideal game didn’t exist, these two were going to help create it. Both attended the University of Southern California, and after a failed venture with another game maker, they decided to start a company of their own. In 2006, they moved into the cheapest space they could rent, a mechanical engineering lab in West Los Angeles, and opened Riot Games. Eventually, they won over about two dozen angel investors from Benchmark Capital and FirstMark Capital, then severely tried the patience of those investors. “We thought it would cost $3 million to build League of Legends,” Mr. Merrill said. “It ended up costing six times that.” When League of Legends went live, in October 2009, the free-to-play model was little loved in the United States, where it was associated with lame graphics and money cadging. (Players were constantly begged for dollars.) But in Asia, free-to-play companies were raking in so much cash that subscription games were unplugging, temporarily, so they could re-emerge later as giveaways. Four months after League of Legends was introduced, 20,000 people were playing it simultaneously. “Within 90 days you could see the bone structure of a hit,” said Mitch Lasky, then a board member and a Benchmark Capital investor. “It was doing small numbers at first, but if you knew where to look — how many people were coming in, how many games they played, revenue per average user — you could see the first couple hundred million in revenue.” Then as now, Riot collects money when players spend small sums — in the range of $2 to $7.50 — to acquire champions that they control during the game. They can also buy “skins,” which are modifications to those champions. Care for a Halloween-themed version of a champion named Vlad? How about a champion named French Maid Nidalee reimagined as a white tiger? They are for sale. Image The team Samsung White during the quarterfinal round of this year's League of Legends World Championships. Credit Jean Chung for The New York Times “People told us when we started that if you don’t charge up front, or if you’re not selling extra power or stats, it won’t work,” Mr. Merrill said. “But that fails to account for the coolness factor. If you’re really into cars, you don’t mind spending $50,000 to soup up your Honda. That’s the player we’re tapping into.” The active user base would grow so fast that Riot Games scrambled to expand the infrastructure and keep up with demand. In 2011, a majority stake in the company was acquired by the Chinese gaming giant Tencent for more than $350 million, according to a Bloomberg report. Riot’s e-sport initiative had yet to take off, but when the deal was announced, LoL had more than two million monthly active users and a fan base that skewed Asian. Today, 80 percent of players are in Asia, according to Riot, and in Korea there’s a nightly League of Legends TV show. Mr. Merrill and Mr. Beck had never owned the company, because, as Mr. Merrill put it, they weren’t very savvy deal makers when they started. But they say they have autonomy and a great relationship with Tencent. “They told us, ‘We want to buy you so that nobody else does and messes up the company,’ ” Mr. Merrill said. Blitzcranks and Power Fists At its most basic level, League of Legends is a game of capture the flag, though that is a bit like describing brain surgery as “a medical procedure.” Before play begins, the 10 members of two teams each select a champion, each with a distinct personality, back story and powers. Jinx, for example, is a blue-haired vixen who “likes to wreak havoc without a thought for the consequences, leaving a trail of mayhem and panic in her wake,” as it says on the League of Legends website. Jinx has a minigun named Pow-Pow and a rocket launcher named Fishbones, both of which inflict a very specific type of damage. So the first step to LoL expertise is memorizing the abilities of every champion — all 120 of them. And counting. League of Legends has been engineered to be as engrossing as possible; the company prefers the word “engaging” because it insists that “engrossing” has negative connotation. Part of that engineering involves constant tinkering. New champions are issued every month or so, and the powers of longstanding champions can be reduced (“nerfed” in LoL lingo) or enhanced (“buffed”) by Riot Games. Image Two teams fighting on Summoner's Rift, the first and most popular League of Legends battlefield. “There are regular updates to the game,” said Joedat Esfahani, a professional player who competes under the name Voyboy. “That forces everyone to rethink their strategy and figure out the optimal way to play. It’s a race to innovate. The best teams are the ones that are constantly evolving along with the game.” Riot likes to say LoL is easy to learn but impossible to master. That’s half right. Even the online tutorial that greets you after sign-up will make a neophyte break into a sweat. A woman’s voice explains the basics of LoL mechanics and iconography, a barrage of information that is hard to hear over the foreboding soundtrack. As you zoom around a verdant battleground called Summoner’s Rift as if strapped to an overhead camera, you’re supposed to read a lot of instruction text at the same time. If you don’t do this fast enough, you are ejected from the tutorial and admonished for being pokey. Speed matters. The eye-hand coordination is so tricky that, according to Riot, pros over 25 years old start to age out of the top rungs of the league. Those who manage to digest the language and arcana of LoL will swear that the following sentence, spoken by the panting narrator of a recent plays-of-the-week video, makes perfect sense: “She kites Blitzcrank through the creeps staying perfectly out of range to avoid the Power Fist and take him down as she flashes to make it a double.” Riot Games has bucked one of the most unbuckable trends of the digital age. Instead of chopping stuff into timesaving bits — turning information into listicles, à la BuzzFeed, or limiting videos to six seconds, à la Vine — League of Legends demands dozens of hours to attain even a basic level of competence. Given all the variables of play, it was only a matter of time before fans started developing moves that the game’s creators had never imagined. In game design circles, this is known as “emergent behavior.” Brandon Beck remembers when he first saw it in LoL, in a YouTube video in which a player made an improbable escape, then baited the enemy into a chase that led directly into the clutches of his teammates. “He was leveraging the mechanics of the game in ways that we didn’t even predict,” Mr. Beck said, still marveling. “We actually showed that play to everyone in the company at a weekly meeting we call show and tell, and everyone was left awe-struck.” A professional league wasn’t originally a core part of Riot’s business plan, though the co-founders thought from the start that they had created a game as fun to watch as any sport. The league became a focus in 2011, after Riot held its first championship tournament at DreamHack , a twice-a-year computer festival in Sweden. Several hundred thousand people watched online, via Twitch.tv, far surpassing the company’s expectations. Viewership has since soared, and the league has expanded. Next year, the company will stage multiple matches, every week, in more than a half-dozen countries. There are professional teams with their own managers, sponsors, sports psychologists and increasingly contentious relationships with their star players, many of whom earn six figures through salaries, endorsements and tournaments. Image The finals on October 19th will be held in a stadium built for soccer’s World Cup, with 40,000 fans expected and many times that number watching online. Credit Jean Chung for The New York Times “A lot of money is now funneled through e-sports,” said Steve Arhancet, who owns Team Curse, one of the most successful squads based in the United States. “When I negotiate a contract with one of my players now, it’s my lawyer talking to his lawyer. It wasn’t like that two years ago.” The Weather in Shurima In mid-September, six people met in a room at Riot Games. They were members of a corporate division, called Foundations, tasked with fleshing out the history of all the game’s champions, including the climate, landscape, architecture and dress of their place of origin. Little of that information has any effect on game play. The point of Foundations is to lend concreteness to the Legends universe, as it’s depicted for fans on the website and in promotional materials. A new champion, Azir, had just been unveiled. He comes from a place called Shurima, a once-grand empire in a sweltering desert. The Foundations team looked at Shurima images from the art department, projected on a large video screen. “The designs on the sword look great, but I want to think about leather,” said a team member, looking at the leather garb of a Shurima soldier. “In this environment, I think leather is not your friend.” “It’d be minimal,” someone else agreed. “You’d cook in it,” said another. While Foundations spends its days refining aesthetics and narratives, a separate group is devoted to policing online player etiquette. It’s a problem facing just about every video game publisher. When a few million males in their teens and 20s get together and try to slaughter one another online, in an anonymous setting, while able to chat via on-screen texts, slurs are inevitable. A few years ago, Riot Games trawled academia for hard-core gamers to lead a player behavior team. The company hired Jeffrey Lin, who was working on a Ph.D. in cognitive neuroscience at the University of Washington. He and his colleagues set up a kind of community policing system for flagging offensive conduct or speech and voting on whether the flagged player should receive a warning. Warned players who didn’t reform were banned for two weeks, or, if the infractions were numerous or bad enough, permanently. “Online society has developed without consequences,” Mr. Lin said. “If you were homophobic or used a racial slur, nobody punished you for it.” Mr. Lin says 75 percent of players who receive a warning immediately change their behavior. But the rate of recidivism was high enough that in July, he announced tougher sanctions via Twitter. Henceforth, he wrote, “players that show extreme toxicity,” which includes homophobic and racist language, as well as death threats, “will be instantly 14-day or permabanned.” The next day, Mr. Lin reported on Twitter that he had been inundated with racist tweets. While Riot Games is combating noxious talk, critics contend that it all but encourages a type of sexism. A website called League of Sexism critiques, among other things, female champions — who tend to be male fantasies of slim, busty women in extravagantly kinky outfits — and their images as presented in paintings, called splash art, that are posted to the LoL site. A Riot Games producer, Omar Kendall, addressed this issue at the Comic-Con convention in July, by saying, in effect, that the company was working on it. But the splash art for a champion named Shyvana, who has improbable proportions and a lot of bare skin, was posted just a few weeks ago, suggesting that this new body-type strategy isn’t exactly urgent. Or perhaps it’s just low on a list of priorities. Riot Games feels like a company in a full-out sprint. It is now enhancing the production values of its world championship, hoping to make more of the sort of corporate sponsorship deals that could transform the league from loss leader into moneymaker. Coca-Cola and Korean Air are currently on board. Image Team Samsung White, left, playing against Team SoloMid during the first quarterfinal match of the League of Legends World Championships. Team Samsung White won. Credit Jean Chung for The New York Times The company is also working on an online merchandise store, to open in 2015, which for the first time will sell official League of Legends items — T-shirts, sweaters and track jackets. One million pieces, in 40 to 50 categories, will be offered. When the store opens, Riot expects hundreds of thousands of clicks every second on the LoL site, roughly the traffic whenever champions are introduced. “That’s about what Target sees on its site on Black Friday,” said Dustin Beck, who is also in charge of the e-store. If the past is any indication, traffic on opening day will surpass even these ambitious expectations. At every step, Riot has underestimated the appeal of its game, from how fast it would catch on, to how much people would spend, to the rise of its e-sports league. It is a gaming company run by gamers who constantly ask, “What would I want from this game?” and then provide it, even if it won’t yield immediate profits. At its root, this means fretting over minutiae, like what soldiers wear in Shurima, the power of Jinx’s minigun and, of course, the weight of the Summoner’s Cup. No matter who wins next weekend in Seoul, rest assured that the thing will be sent back to Thomas Lyte again and forced to lose some weight. | Riot Games;Computer and Video Games;League of Legends |
ny0224925 | [
"sports",
"golf"
]
| 2010/10/05 | McDowell Lifts Europe to Ryder Cup Victory | NEWPORT, Wales — Moments after Graeme McDowell won the final Ryder Cup point on the 17th green on Monday, something that looked like a Celtic Mardi Gras parade broke out in the Usk Valley. Singing, laughing pockets of elation spread out across the greensward, up the slope next to the 18th green, and in front of the Twenty Ten clubhouse, and in the 18th fairway at Celtic Manor. Standing on the seat of a cart beneath the clubhouse balcony, with a bottle of wine in his hand and a cigar in his mouth, the 46-year-old Spaniard Miguel Ángel Jiménez, who had played a leading role in the Europeans’ 14 ½-13 ½ victory over the United States, basked in the victory, throwing kisses to the crowd and tossing them hats, gloves and shirts to show his appreciation. “I love the Ryder Cup because of everything, the passion of the players and the fans, it is amazing,” Jiménez said. “This is the best tournament in the world.” Such a celebration, and such statements after victories in a huge sporting event, are not unusual. But they were particularly genuine Monday. The culmination of this rainy week in Wales went beyond the usual elements of success, transcending the emotional return of the Ryder Cup to Europe and the inspired American effort to hold on to it for another two years. It was a restorative week for almost all concerned. For the Europeans, it was a reaffirmation of how far the PGA European Tour has come. For the Americans, it was a chance to show that they can form team bonds that are as powerful as those often attributed to the Europeans, something they demonstrated when they refused to allow Hunter Mahan to be vilified for his loss to McDowell on the 17th hole in the final match. For golf, it proved that the 12 best golfers in Europe can match the 12 best Americans on equal terms on a global stage fraught with emotion, pressure and passion and still part as friendly competitors. Backstage before the closing ceremonies on the first Monday in the event’s history, players from the two teams slapped one another on the back, embraced and exchanged congratulations and condolences. The European vice captain Sergio García hugged Stewart Cink; the American co-captain Paul Goydos had words of encouragement for Edoardo Molinari. Paul McGinley, the Irishman who made the winning putt in Europe’s victory at the Belfry in 2002, told the 21-year-old cup rookie Rickie Fowler, “You’ll have a very good record before you’re through.” On stage, the 12 men who had beaten the Americans rose to give the beaten team a standing ovation after the European captain Colin Montgomerie addressed the American captain, Corey Pavin, saying, “Corey, you are a credit to the profession of golf and your team are a credit to you.” The ovation for Montgomerie’s remark lasted more than 30 seconds, just slightly longer than the ovation Tiger Woods received after he finished his 4-and-3 win over Francesco Molinari, which included a hole-out from the fairway for eagle and a 50-foot birdie putt. Woods smiled then and later, when Fowler — who closed his match with Edoardo Molinari with three straight birdies to win half a point after he was four-down through 12 holes — said he had been inspired by Woods. “I felt the point that turned around in my match or got me pumped up again was, I saw Tiger make a putt on 13 from about 50 feet, kind of walked it in, and that kind of gave me a little extra life,” Fowler said as Woods chuckled. “I went on to win the hole with a par, and that kept me moving those last four where I made a little run.” There will be many more runs for Fowler, as there will be for Europe’s undisputed No. 1 golfer, Lee Westwood, 37, who showed why he has emerged as one of the game’s ambassadors when he was battling to maintain his lead over Steve Stricker, whom Pavin chose to lead off the team that was trailing Europe, 9 ½-6 ½, entering Monday. Westwood had a 40-footer for eagle on No. 11, a putt with about 6 feet of break, that hit the edge of the hole and spun out. Westwood and Stricker looked at each other and began laughing. Westwood walked over to Stricker and threw his arm around his shoulder, and they left the green laughing. So much for life and death, pointing fingers and laying blame. The entire American team made it quite clear it had no intention of letting Mahan bear the brunt of the defeat. Mahan needed to win the 17th and 18th holes from McDowell in order to win a half-point for the team, and thus retain the cup. With McDowell’s ball about 4 feet from the hole after two strokes, Mahan chunked his pitch from a few yards in front of the green to the fringe, some 20 feet away from the hole. When he failed to hole the par putt, the hole, the match and the Ryder Cup went to Europe. Mahan had requested the anchor position with that kind of opportunity in mind. When he broke down while answering a fairly innocuous question in the press center, his teammates, led by Phil Mickelson, leapt in. “We came within a half a point,” Mickelson said. “But we could look anywhere throughout those 28 points for that half a point. I look at the three matches that I played in, and had many opportunities to try to get that clinching point. We just fell a little bit shy. “Europe played some incredible golf all week, and our hats are off to them for their effort.” Mahan later called it “a great learning experience.” The same could be said for the entire American team. There were thousands of shots hit and many putts missed during the week, all by golfers trying to win for the team, not themselves. After coming so close and falling short, the American team that emerges in two years will have forged bonds that endure — like the Europeans who had a portrait of their ailing former leader and friend Seve Ballesteros in the team room all week. This is a lot like what the founder of the matches, Samuel Ryder, had in mind when he said in 1927 that he wanted the competition “to be a powerful force that influences the very best things in humanity.” There could be many worse things than restoring that as an overarching principle. | Ryder Cup (Golf);Wales |
ny0227718 | [
"business",
"global"
]
| 2010/07/05 | Mill Closing in China May Not Cut Emissions | GUANGZHOU, China — Workers at the vast Guangzhou Steel mill here poured molten metal for the Great Leap Forward in the late 1950s, fought street battles during the Cultural Revolution a decade later and made many of the steel reinforcing bars used to build China’s export factories over the next 30 years. But as part of a national energy-efficiency mandate, the historic mill is to be closed, starting in stages later this year. Government agencies in Guangdong Province, where Guangzhou is the capital, portray it as a tough but necessary measure intended to not only improve energy efficiency but also to reduce toxic air pollution from the mill. “Our province is forthrightly in step with the national aim to get rid of outdated production capacity,” said a recent statement to announce the shuttering of the mill. But closing Guangzhou’s famous mill may yield only modest benefits. And it is not necessarily a triumph of political will. Because of heavy investments in recent years to upgrade the current mill, it could meet the national target of a five-year 20 percent efficiency improvement by the end of this year, said Yang Yao Xing, the mill’s general secretary. Moreover, Guangzhou Steel is building a new mill with almost the same capacity in another city to replace the one here, Mr. Yang said. But it will use scarcely less energy than the old one. That is because the new mill will do more processing than the current mill, producing top-quality steel suitable for cars and appliances instead of the rough steel bars now made to reinforce concrete. China’s evolving consumer economy demands more high-quality steel, but producing it requires extra steps that require additional energy. Elsewhere, provincial and municipal governments, particularly small towns with few other employers, have been reluctant to close big, state-owned industrial enterprises like the one here. Plans last year to privatize and shrink two such mills farther north were postponed after angry workers beat to death an executive overseeing the sale of one of them and, at the other mill, imprisoned an executive in his office. But there has been little resistance to closing the mill here. It will be demolished partly to reduce pollution and partly because the city of Guangzhou has expanded around it — greatly raising the value of the riverfront land under the factory’s tree-lined lanes, ball fields and schools for workers and endless warehouses and conveyor belts. Mr. Yang said that workers who lost their jobs would receive a month’s pay for each year of service, plus some unemployment benefits. At a diner up the street from the factory, where a heaping plate of rice and roast duck still costs less than $1 and the walls are encrusted with thick, brown grease, factory workers voiced remarkably few complaints about the mill’s closing. Workers said they expected to receive promised severance because the factory’s land is so valuable and its closing has been widely announced in state-run media. | China;Energy Efficiency;Guangzhou (China);Factories and Manufacturing;Steel and Iron |
ny0037623 | [
"world",
"asia"
]
| 2014/03/15 | Japan Stands by Apology to Its Wartime Sex Slaves | TOKYO — Moving to defuse a heated diplomatic dispute over World War II-era history, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Friday that his government would not revise a landmark 1993 apology to women forced to work in Japanese military brothels. It was the first time since taking office more than a year ago that Mr. Abe has explicitly stated that his right-wing administration would uphold the official apology, known as the Kono Statement. That statement, issued by Yohei Kono, then the chief cabinet secretary, admitted that Japan’s military played at least an indirect role in forcing the so-called comfort women to provide sex to Japanese soldiers. “I am deeply pained to think of the comfort women who experienced immeasurable pain and suffering, a feeling I share equally with my predecessors,” Mr. Abe told Parliament. Referring to the Kono Statement, the prime minister said, “The Abe cabinet has no intention to review it.” Mr. Abe also stated that his administration would uphold a broader apology that the Japanese government issued in 1995 to all victims of Japan’s early 20th-century militarism. Previously, he had spoken in more general terms of the suffering that Japan had caused, and of continuing the position of previous governments on historical issues. Friday’s statements were among the firmest expressions yet by Mr. Abe that he will adhere to a more moderate line on the emotional historical issues dividing Asia, after concerns that his government may be embracing more apologetic views of Japan’s wartime past. The statements also showed Mr. Abe to be distancing himself from his views before becoming prime minister, when he publicly questioned whether Japan’s imperial military had actually coerced the women, a doubt shared by many Japanese nationalists. What was less clear was why he waited so long to reaffirm those apologies. Since Mr. Abe took office in December 2012, people close to him have described a constant tug of war in his administration between his moderate advisers, including many former elite civil servants, and his longtime supporters on the political far right, who want him to push back against what they call overly negative views of Japan’s wartime behavior. Japanese officials suggested that the statements might be part of an effort by Mr. Abe to mend relations with South Korea and to persuade President Park Geun-hye of South Korea to meet him this month on the sidelines of a multinational nuclear security summit meeting in the Netherlands. Ms. Park has so far refused to meet with Mr. Abe until he shows a more remorseful attitude toward Japan’s brutal colonization of the Korean Peninsula. Mr. Abe’s previous appeals to end what he calls masochistic views of Japan’s history had raised concerns among South Korea and other former victims of Japanese aggression that his administration would seek to whitewash his nation’s wartime atrocities. Even before he took office, American officials warned Mr. Abe that any perceived historical revisionism could isolate Japan at a time when the United States needed its largest Asian ally to help face the challenge of a resurgent China. Political analysts said they doubted Friday’s statements would be enough to appease Ms. Park, and that Mr. Abe’s real target may be the United States, with whom he has sought to build close ties. “Seoul continues to harbor the suspicion that the Abe government harbors revisionist views regarding Japan’s history of imperialism and colonial domination,” Thomas Berger, an expert on international relations at Boston University, said in an email. While Mr. Abe avoided provocative statements during the first year of his current administration, he and his followers have more recently seemed to revert to a more openly nationalistic agenda. This began in late December, when Mr. Abe visited a controversial Tokyo shrine to Japan’s war dead, including 14 executed Class A war criminals, just days after Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. urged him by phone not to go. Tensions over history with South Korea increased sharply last month, when the current chief cabinet secretary, Yoshihide Suga, said the Abe government would review the testimony of 16 women compelled to work in the military brothels that was used in compiling the 1993 apology. Mr. Suga was responding to growing calls from nationalist lawmakers to scrap the apology, which they say is based on insufficient evidence and unjustly defames the soldiers who died for Japan during the war. While most historians agree that Japan forced 80,000 to 200,000 women to work in a network of wartime brothels, some nationalist scholars in Japan say the women were just common prostitutes. Revising the apology would be certain to stir further outrage in South Korea, where many of the women came from, and which has called for Japan to make a stronger show of remorse while the last of the former brothel workers, now in their 80s and 90s, are still alive. On Friday, Mr. Abe appeared to be trying to set to rest concerns that he would change or even scrap the Kono Statement. Japanese officials also expressed confidence that his comments would allay concerns in Washington and elsewhere that Mr. Abe was sliding into a more emotionally right-wing agenda. “We must be humble in front of history,” Mr. Abe told lawmakers. “The issues of history should not be politicized or be turned into a diplomatic issue. Research on history should be entrusted to experts and historians.” | Japan;South Korea;War Crimes,Genocide,Crimes Against Humanity;Apologies;Prostitution;Shinzo Abe;World War II |
ny0172751 | [
"us",
"politics"
]
| 2007/11/23 | Where the Votes Are, So Are All Those Calories | Running for president is like entering a competitive eating contest and a beauty pageant all at once. Candidates are expected to eat local specialties often and with gusto, yet still look attractive and fit. So it is no wonder that many of this year’s candidates have what might be called food issues — the same kinds that plague the rest of us, especially at this time of year, but exacerbated by the brutal demands of campaign life. The Democratic contenders include Gov. Bill Richardson, a veteran of the Atkins and liquid diets who wears a double chin despite daily workouts. Senator Barack Obama, who was chubby as a child, refers to himself as skinny in speeches and barely touches fatty foods — except at events like the Iowa State Fair, where he ate caramel corn, pork and a corn dog for the cameras. At one campaign event, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton said she prayed to God to help her lose weight. On the Republican side, there is Mike Huckabee, a self-described “recovering food addict” who lost 110 pounds a few years ago. Rudolph W. Giuliani and Fred D. Thompson are on diets imposed by their wives. Mitt Romney is so vigilant about nutrition that he eats the same thing every day: his wife’s granola for breakfast, a chicken or turkey sandwich for lunch, and pasta, fish or chicken for dinner. And John McCain probably spoke for all the candidates when he arrived at a New Hampshire college for a speech on Sunday night and surveyed the snack foods set out backstage. “I’d love some spaghetti,” he said wistfully, as if a warm, comforting meal could somehow be conjured out of the air. The candidates are “for all intents and purposes out of control of their diets,” said Walter Scheib, former White House chef to the Clintons and the Bushes. Many big events on the preprimary calendar — the Harkin Steak Fry in Iowa; the Clyburn Fish Fry in South Carolina; the Iowa State Fair, an everything-fry — seem as likely to produce heart attacks as votes. Those wanting to be president must never, ever refuse or fumble the local specialties, lest they repeat the sins of John Kerry (dismissed as effete when he ordered a Philly cheese steak with Swiss in 2004) or Gerald R. Ford (on a 1976 swing through Texas, he bit into a tamale with the corn husk still on). Downing a regional delicacy with aplomb, Mr. Scheib said, tells voters: “I’m one of you. I’m part of this area. Vote for me.” “There are few things more personal than eating,” he said, “and if you reject someone’s food, you kind of reject them.” So this fall, Mr. Giuliani has visited what seems like every diner in New Hampshire. Mr. Romney, whose idea of a late-night fridge raid is a bowl of cereal, has been ordering milkshakes. Mrs. Clinton introduced calorie and fat counts on White House menus when she was first lady, but a few weeks ago in Tama, Iowa, she had a loose meat sandwich — a kind of Sloppy Joe, but without sauce — and fries. Food and drink have been central to American campaigns since colonial days, said Nancy Beck Young, a historian at the University of Houston. In 1758, running for office in Virginia, George Washington dispensed rum, beer and cider to voters. Andrew Jackson, considered the father of the modern organized presidential campaign, held barbecues in 1828, and William McKinley spent his 1896 “front porch” campaign sampling dishes that voters brought to his home in Canton, Ohio. But while the tradition of campaign consumption endures, physical standards have changed drastically, the portly presidents that Americans elected in the late 19th century giving way to thinner, fitter leaders. Candidates — and even their spouses — must keep the pounds off, or risk the sort of ridicule that Bill Clinton and Al Gore endured. Elizabeth Edwards once landed at an airport in the 2004 election campaign to find a sign that said “fatso” waiting for her. This time around, she has whittled herself by several dress sizes while campaigning, a change she attributes not to her breast cancer or treatment, but to the Special K protein bars, bananas, hundred-calorie snack packs and rice cakes she totes along. Mr. Huckabee also eats lightly, sticking largely to salads, protein bars and steamed vegetables. But if a campaign trip he took this month is any guide, his mind tends to wander into more dangerous nutritional territory. At a metal factory in Cedar Falls, Iowa, he stared as a worker punched out a flat disc. “Put a little pepperoni and cheese on that, and you’re made,” he observed. One machine, he said, looked like a grill for rib-eye steaks. Mr. Huckabee, once so overweight as governor of Arkansas that a chair collapsed under him at a meeting, said in an interview that obesity could put politicians at a disadvantage. “If you’re really overweight, some people just look at you and immediately sort of write you off,” he said. “They just assume you’re undisciplined.” No candidate wants to give that impression. An aide to Mr. Richardson, the heftiest of the hopefuls, emphasized that he exercised nearly every day. Mr. Huckabee, Mr. Edwards, Mr. Obama and Mr. Romney are all runners. Mr. Romney is so proud of his fitness that he demonstrated it in a campaign advertisement, pounding down a road in running shorts, his hair stuck to his sweaty forehead. So many candidates exercise so much, in fact, that they can end up working out together. A few weeks ago in Mason City, Iowa, Mr. Richardson and Mr. Edwards found themselves sharing the same small hotel gym, chatting about — what else? — the news and political advertisements on television as they bounced along, Mr. Richardson on the elliptical trainer and Mr. Edwards on the treadmill. Asked if the candidates’ weights had fluctuated since the start of the race, most campaigns said no or declined to reply. The campaign of the 6-foot-2 Mr. Romney, however, volunteered his weight, saying he was “still trim at 180 pounds.” For a group whose problem can often be too much food, the candidates can also be a surprisingly hungry bunch. At breakfast meetings, luncheons and dinner banquets, they are often too busy speaking, shaking hands and signing autographs to eat. “Very rarely do you get the occasion that you’re sitting down and eating a meal, and even if you are, you’re answering questions,” said Ryan Drajewicz, the assistant responsible for all moment-to-moment needs of Senator Christopher J. Dodd, another of the Democratic contenders. After all, no candidate wants to be caught with a full mouth at a crucial moment. Last week, Mr. Obama was ordering ice cream in Wapello, Iowa, when the woman serving him mentioned her husband’s death in Iraq and her subsequent trouble obtaining benefits. That left Mr. Obama in the awkward position of responding to a grieving widow and handling a dripping cone at the same time. (He set down the cone, and luckily, it was still intact when he picked it up again.) The candidates do most of their real eating behind the scenes, and aside from catered meals on private jets, it is a fairly grim culinary affair, an endless procession of grilled chicken on wilted iceberg lettuce and soggy French fries, gobbled between events and in moving vehicles, supplemented by emergency stashes of power bars. When the politicians do get to eat sit-down dinners privately, it is often at 9:30 or 10. No wonder Mr. Giuliani has sometimes seemed ravenous on the trail. At a stop in Greenfield, Iowa, this summer, he asked photographers to put down their cameras so he could eat undisturbed. And on a springtime stop at a pizzeria in Des Moines, he traveled from table to table of voters, filching some of their food as he went. Chewing on the remains of one slice, he approached another group of diners. “You ate all your food,” he said. “I have no food I can steal.” And with that, the would-be president of the United States moved on to the next table. | Presidential Election of 2008;Food;Elections;Weight;United States Politics and Government;Obesity;Presidential Elections (US) |
ny0116393 | [
"world",
"americas"
]
| 2012/10/18 | Chile: Extradition Request Approved in Case of Americans Killed | The Supreme Court in Chile approved an extradition request on Wednesday against a former American Navy officer indicted in the killings of two United States citizens in the aftermath of the 1973 coup. Retired Capt. Ray E. Davis was commander of the United States Military Group at the embassy in Santiago at the time and was indicted last November, along with a former Chilean intelligence officer, for the killings of Charles Horman, 31, and Frank Teruggi, 24. Judge Jorge Zepeda accused Captain Davis — whose wife said he has Alzheimer’s disease, according to The Associated Press — of providing Chilean intelligence officers information on the two men, who were killed in military custody. The case is still a “sensitive issue” for the United States, and its cooperation has been slow and partial, said Sergio Corvalán, the lawyer for the Horman and Teruggi families. The Horman case inspired the 1982 award-winning film “Missing” by director Costa Gavras. | Chile;Extradition;Murders and Attempted Murders;Davis Ray E |
ny0059798 | [
"technology",
"personaltech"
]
| 2014/08/07 | Unmasking the Mystery Mac Spell-Checker | Q. On my Mac, I use a variant of Gmail adopted by my former employer with only slight customized differences. I have searched in vain for a way to turn off the email spell-checking program because it ruins messages in foreign languages by changing many words unnecessarily. Is there a way to stop spell-check? A. The Gmail website itself does not have an automatic spell-checker built into its software, so it may be your web browser or operating system that is quietly doing the job. If you are collecting your Gmail messages by downloading them to the Mac OS X Mail program, spell-check settings there could be the culprit. If you are using Gmail on the web, check your browser’s settings first. In Apple’s Safari browser, go to the Edit menu to “Spelling and Grammar” and on the submenu there, see if the “Correct Spelling Automatically” option is selected. If it is, turn it off, along with any other spell-check features you do not wish to use. The Mail program that comes with Mac OS X keeps the same settings under its Edit menu as well. Other Mac-friendly browsers, like Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome , also have spell-check capability, but if words are getting changed automatically as you type your message text, it may be Mac OS X itself doing the deed. To see, go to the Apple menu and choose System Preferences, or click the System Preferences icon in the Mac’s Dock. In the System Preferences box, click “Language & Region” (in OS X 10.9) or “Languages & Text” (in OS X 10.8). In OS X 10.9, click "Keyboard Preferences" and then "Text"; on OS X 10.8, click the Text tab. Turn off the checkbox next to “Correct spelling automatically.” This same box also has a menu for picking a specific language for the spell-checker to use, and may be worth trying if you write most messages in another language. Scanning Old Photos In Bulk Q. What’s an easy way to get my shoeboxes of pictures scanned without spending much money so I can post those nostalgic memories and share the photos online? A. Scanning the photos yourself is one option; you can buy a decent flatbed photo scanner for less than $75. If you do not want to buy your own, you can usually rent a computer and scanner at places like FedEx Office . Your local public library may even have equipment you can use. A professional scanning service that converts photos to digital files may cost more, say, $60 for 200 scans, or 33 cents a photo depending on the pricing plan, but you get color correction and image restoration, too. Additionally, you get the convenience of mailing the pictures and getting them back with a disk of digitized photos. ScanDigital.com , ScanCafe.com , ScanMyPhotos.com and PhotoBin.com are some of the companies to consider. TIP OF THE WEEK In addition to keeping up with the food photos and status rants from friends, the average Facebook feed is also full of links to news articles and other web pages. For those who do not have time to read everything instantly, Facebook has introduced a new Save feature that bookmarks links for later. To mark a link in the News Feed for future reading, click or tap the menu arrow in the upper-right corner of the post and choose the Save option or, if one is visible, click the Save button in the bottom-right corner. Pages for companies, TV shows or celebrities can be marked by clicking the three-dot More menu on the cover photo and choosing Save. To later read all the stockpiled links , click the Saved icon in the left pane of the desktop version. On the mobile app, tap the Menu button and then select Saved. J. D. BIERSDORFER | Email;Spelling;Photography;Facebook;Computers and the Internet;Tech Industry |
ny0227607 | [
"sports",
"soccer"
]
| 2010/07/03 | Maradona Deserves Respect and an Apology | JOHANNESBURG Dear Diego: It is high time that we critics say sorry, and thank you. We misjudged your appointment as coach. We believed that Julio Grondona, the 78-year-old president of Argentina’s soccer federation, had lost all sense of reason in asking you, a fading icon without a coaching badge, to pick up a broken national team and lead it through this World Cup. Well, so much for so-called expertise. Whatever happens between Argentina and Germany in Cape Town on Saturday, your team has been the joy of this tournament. You have breathed life into an overly cautious era in the sport. Your players — Lionel Messi, of course, and Carlos Tévez, Gonzalo Higuaín and others — have blown away inhibition. The talent is obvious, even to us failed know-it-alls. The group of players you inherited was clearly unbalanced. You have more forwards than you need, and too few defenders of real quality. Even so, most certified coaches would set out to do what Brazil did during the course of the tournament — defend in greater numbers and attack only sporadically. Not so Maradona. You liberate the team, play to its strengths, attack, attack, attack. And when you give license the way you have to Messi, Tévez and company, you also liberate us. When your team rips apart the caution of opponents, we feel like children who all want to be attackers. Your antics on the sideline personify this. We are not fooled, Diego, by the gray suit and the polished shoes. We see through that formal attire to a man reliving his youth, a man of 49 who was the devil-may-care genius in 1986. A man who went to Germany for the last World Cup, dressed in a player’s jersey, cheerleading from the stands. That enthusiasm reminds us that soccer is a simple game. Your team has superior attacking skills, so let it play to its nature. It sounds, and looks, so obvious. Germany represents a real challenge, especially to your defense. Yet we’re not sure you care about any opposition. The further your team goes, the closer you get to stripping away the myth and mystique that team management is a science and that a manager can only succeed through years of study of the manual. I don’t imagine you reading any books on how to be successful in your game. Having been on the streets of the villa miseria Fiorito, the slum you grew up in outside Buenos Aires, I can understand that books are hogwash to you. A manual for anything written by outsiders would not have taken you out of that impoverished, but in some ways happy, place. Your skills did that. And even Englishmen who cursed the Hand of God goal you fisted in during the 1986 World Cup had to acknowledge the genius with which you outwitted six men to score a second in that game — the Goal of the Century. Genius, playing to your own rules. Still, when Grondona, the Argentine soccer federation president since before anyone had even heard of Maradona, turned to you as coach, we all flipped. How could this work? How could a player who burned himself out on drugs, alcohol and an apparent inability to cope with life beyond the final whistle be the guide and mentor to players who appeared lost and disillusioned by their own national federation? Better-placed critics, men who had led Argentina to its two World Cups, feared for their country and for you. Many agreed with Daniel Arcucci, a columnist for La Nación, who wrote last year, “Maybe Maradona is risking too much, as always in his life — even his status as a myth.” Arcucci wasn’t alone in that fear. None of us imagined what we are seeing now. History is against your team going all the way. You know, but probably do not care, that only two men have won the World Cup as a player and a coach. Mário Zagallo played for Brazil when it triumphed in 1958, and was the coach in 1970. Franz Beckenbauer captained Germany to the title in 1974, and was its manager in 1990. What you are attempting is closer to Beckenbauer than Zagallo. Beckenbauer had no background on the sideline, no piece of paper verifying him as a tried and tested coach. Instead he had, and has, the aura of his status as his country’s greatest living player. Zagallo was the opposite. An industrious winger in his time, steeped in the coaching ethos, he stepped in when Brazil’s federation fired João Saldanha weeks before the World Cup. Saldanha was your type of guy, Diego. He loved irreverence; he debunked the coaching stereotypes. He let great players play. He shared with them a love of just being the best that a man could be. You told us that your message to Messi was simply to say nobody ever told Maradona where to play, so you shouldn’t have to tell Messi where to play, either. Interesting, because we thought there might be friction between the man who was Argentina’s most magical player and the only man since who might challenge that designation. If that is another misconception, it’s time to say mea culpa, and mean it. | World Cup 2010 (Soccer);Soccer;Maradona Diego;Argentina |
ny0066821 | [
"nyregion"
]
| 2014/06/22 | Espaillat May Help Cement Group’s Political Clout | The manager of Best Barbers in the Bronx offers free political advice to his fellow Dominicans sitting for $12 haircuts: Vote for Adriano D. Espaillat. The way that Wilfredo de La Mota explains it to his customers, Mr. Espaillat’s campaign for the 13th Congressional District in northern Manhattan and the Bronx is an opportunity for Dominicans, a famously factionalized demographic in the city, to unite behind one of their own. Mr. Espaillat, who was born in the Dominican Republic, has been a state senator since 2011 and previously served in the Assembly. “Dominicans have to support Dominicans,” said Mr. de La Mota, 40, the son of a former politician in the Dominican Republic. “We have to be together so we can do better, or we’re not going to get powerful, and that’s really sad.” Mr. Espaillat is for the second time seeking to unseat Representative Charles B. Rangel, the 22-term Harlem Democrat, in a district that was once seen as the center of African-American political power in the city but has become predominantly Hispanic as a result of demographic shifts and redistricting. Mr. Espaillat came close in the 2012 Democratic primary , during his first challenge to Mr. Rangel, who has seen his power and popularity wane since he was censured in the House in 2010 for ethics violations . Mr. Espaillat lost by fewer than 1,100 votes and less than three percentage points in the 2012 primary. Now Mr. Espaillat is back for another try in the primary on Tuesday. If he wins, he would almost certainly prevail in the general election, to become the first Dominican-born member of Congress at a time when the city’s growing Dominican population is expanding beyond its traditional Manhattan strongholds of Washington Heights and Inwood, which are in the district. About 7.6 percent of the city’s 8.3 million residents — or 628,978 people — are of Dominican heritage, including those born in the Dominican Republic, according to an analysis of census data by Queens College. Of those, about 264,614 of them live in the Bronx — the highest concentration in any borough. These demographic changes have been magnified in the 13th Congressional District, which was redrawn in 2012 to include parts of the northwest Bronx. The new district has more Hispanic residents and fewer black residents than the old district, eroding what many saw as Mr. Rangel’s traditional power base. Image Mr. Espaillat, who was born in the Dominican Republic, is challenging Charles B. Rangel in a district that is now mostly Hispanic. Credit Ángel Franco/The New York Times Of the district’s roughly 741,000 residents, 54 percent are Hispanic, 27 percent are black, 13 percent are white and 4 percent are Asian, according to the Queens College analysis. Dominicans are the single largest group among the Hispanic residents, making up about 27 percent of all district residents, or more than double the percentage of the next largest group, Puerto Ricans at 13 percent, according to census data. Mr. Espaillat has been seen as the beneficiary of this ethnic shift. Mr. Rangel, who has assailed Mr. Espaillat’s record in Albany as lightweight, has even accused Mr. Espaillat of running only on the basis of his ethnic background. “What the heck has he done, besides saying he’s a Dominican?” Mr. Rangel asked in a debate on June 6. “He wants to be the Jackie Robinson of the Dominicans in the Congress,” he said, adding, “The fact is that Jackie Robinson was a star before he reached the major leagues, and he’s not a Jackie Robinson.” Though Mr. Espaillat’s supporters defend his record, many also acknowledge that they have rallied around Mr. Espaillat because of his background. There is a sense among some of these voters that Dominicans remain underrepresented in government more than two decades after the first Dominican was elected to an office in the city: Guillermo Linares, who won a City Council seat in 1991. “I am very proud of how far we have gone, but we should be further,” said Yudelka Tapia, 50, a Democratic district leader in the Bronx who is supporting Mr. Espaillat. Some political consultants agree that the Dominican community has struggled to wield political influence, even though it has long been seen as a potential challenger to the Puerto Ricans. “On paper, the Dominican community has been very influential for some time,” said George Arzt, a longtime Democratic political consultant whose firm has worked for Mr. Rangel. “But because of internal disputes among different factions, their power has been diminished.” Image Mr. Rangel has held his congressional seat for 22 terms. Credit Ángel Franco/The New York Times Many Dominican immigrants say they have sometimes been divided by political allegiances carried over from their homeland, where loyalty to political parties is so fierce that it is said that jobs and friendships have been lost over support for one or the other. Some immigrants even continue to vote in elections in the Dominican Republic. Other battles are rooted in New York. Mr. Espaillat has been seen at times as being locked in a bitter rivalry with Mr. Linares, beginning with Mr. Espaillat’s loss to Mr. Linares in the 1991 City Council race. In 1996, when Mr. Espaillat won a seat in the Assembly by defeating the incumbent, John Brian Murtaugh, Mr. Linares backed Mr. Murtaugh. More recently, Mr. Espaillat and Mr. Linares faced off in 2012 for Mr. Espaillat’s State Senate seat. Mr. Espaillat sought re-election after he lost his bid against Mr. Rangel, who was endorsed by Mr. Linares. In 2012, Mr. Linares’s daughter, Mayra, ran to replace him in the Assembly and Mr. Espaillat backed her rival in that race, Gabriela Rosa. Ms. Rosa, who is also Dominican, won the race. Some of Mr. Espaillat’s supporters have played down their Dominican loyalties and sought instead to emphasize his ties to the community. At the Little Apple Garden restaurant in Inwood, where two of Mr. Espaillat’s campaign posters are displayed in front, the manager, Espana Aristy, said Mr. Espaillat’s office had helped her cafe renew its lease and worked with local businesses to lower electricity bills. “It’s not about ethnicity; it’s about the things he has done,” Ms. Aristy said. “He supports the community. If I weren’t Dominican, I’d still vote for Espaillat.” Some voters and political consultants caution that Mr. Espaillat’s Hispanic support, while important, is but one factor in a complex race playing out in one of the city’s most diverse districts. Mr. Rangel, who is himself half Puerto Rican, has historically drawn support from Puerto Rican voters, particularly in East Harlem. But this year, Mr. Espaillat has received endorsements from two prominent Puerto Rican leaders, who both stood by Mr. Rangel in 2012: Ruben Diaz Jr., the Bronx borough president, and Melissa Mark-Viverito, the City Council speaker, whose district includes East Harlem. Mr. Rangel also faces another major challenger, Michael A. Walrond, Jr., a Harlem pastor. Standing in his barber shop in the Bronx, Mr. de La Mota said the challenge — and the hope — for Mr. Espaillat’s campaign is that it can unite the Dominican community to defeat Mr. Rangel, and give a greater voice to the needs of all immigrants, from jobs to affordable health care and better schools. Mr. de La Mota, who moved to the Bronx in 1989 from the Dominican Republic, said he had tried to vote in every election, big or small, since he became a citizen in 2000. He met Mr. Espaillat two years ago while shopping in Washington Heights, and said he recently caught a glimpse of the candidate through the window of his shop on University Avenue. Mr. de La Mota said he had been too busy to go out and shake Mr. Espaillat’s hand, but was not too busy to tell his customers to vote for him. | Adriano Espaillat;Charles Rangel;Dominican American;House races;Congressional elections;Manhattan;Bronx;New York |
ny0009389 | [
"business",
"global"
]
| 2013/02/02 | Message Mixed From Factories in China | BEIJING — Asian manufacturers face a challenging business climate in the coming months, surveys released Friday suggested, with China’s huge factory sector managing only a shallow rebound at the start of 2013 as feeble foreign demand dragged on sales. Two surveys of Chinese factory purchasing managers showed that industrial output in the world’s fastest-growing major economy rose in January but that the pace of the rebound in activity was uneven. China’s official purchasing managers’ index, or P.M.I., released by the government’s statistics bureau, showed that factory output had grown more slowly than expected in January, with a reading of 50.4 points, easing from 50.6 in December and below a forecast for a nine-month high of 50.9. The official P.M.I. has been above 50 points, the level that separates growth from contraction, since last August, though its failure to break above 51 indicates that the economic expansion it signals is moderate. The Chinese factory P.M.I. from the British bank HSBC, which is more focused on smaller, privately held businesses than its official counterpart, rose to a two-year high of 52.3. HSBC’s preliminary figure for the month, released Jan. 24, had put the measure at 51.9. Trade prospects in China, the world’s biggest exporter, appeared darker than those elsewhere. The manufacturing reports showed that export orders either grew marginally or shrank in January as shoppers in the United States and Europe, the two biggest buyers of Chinese goods, cut back spending. Domestic demand, on the other hand, was the main force behind China’s gentle economic rebound, driving growth in new orders in January to the highest in several months. The official P.M.I. showed growth in new orders at a nine-month high of 51.6, while the same measure in the HSBC survey climbed to a two-year high of 53.7. However, price pressures were shown to be building in China, with the both surveys indicating input prices at their highest since mid-2011. “January’s P.M.I. does raise some red flags about the state of the economy,” Alistair Thornton, an economist at IHS Global Insight in Beijing, said in reference to the Chinese economy. “Things look a little shaky.” The patchy nature of the recovery on Chinese factory floors was repeated in other P.M.I.’s released across Asia. Surveys showed that manufacturing output had slowed or declined in India and South Korea. Factories in Indonesia, the star emerging economy of the past year, experienced a decline in business in January for the first time in eight months, while manufacturers in Taiwan reported the fastest growth in 10 months. Indonesian manufacturers said they had received more orders from abroad, but output at factories there still declined for the first time since last May. The P.M.I. retreated to 49.7 in January from 50.7 in December as domestic demand in the Indonesian economy, Southeast Asia’s largest, dragged. “Strong export orders appear to have offset a moderation in domestic orders, which may have been partially impacted by the Jakarta floods,” said Su Sian Lim, an economist at HSBC, referring to widespread flooding in the Indonesian capital last month. In Taiwan, the P.M.I. reached a 10-month high of 51.5 as factories raised output markedly. In South Korea, factories reported their first growth in export orders in eight months, but the P.M.I. edged down to a seasonally adjusted 49.9 in January from 50.1 in December. The data released Friday showed that India was as vulnerable as China to an export slump, especially as demand from Europe crumbled. Growth in Indian factory output eased to a three-month low of 53.2 in January, retreating from the six-month high in December of 54.7 as new export orders slowed. “The growth momentum in the manufacturing sector eased in January as a slower expansion in new orders slowed output growth,” Leif Eskesen, an economist at HSBC, said of the Indian purchasing managers’ survey. | Economy;Manufacturing;China |
ny0201829 | [
"sports"
]
| 2009/09/12 | Semenya Drops Out of Race Amid Speculation About Her Sex | JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Caster Semenya , the world champion runner from South Africa, has withdrawn from a weekend race amid speculation about her sex. The South African Press Association quoted her coach, Michael Seme, as saying Semenya would not take part in the 4,000 meters at the national cross country championships in Pretoria on Saturday. He had said earlier this week that Semenya would run. Asked Friday why Semenya withdrew, Seme said she was “not feeling well.” Semenya won the 800 meters at the world track and field championships last month in Berlin. At that meet, international track officials said that Semenya, a muscular 18-year-old, needed to undergo sex-determination testing to confirm her further eligibility. News media in Australia, citing anonymous sources, have reported what they said were details of the international track federation’s findings. But the federation would not confirm or deny the reports Friday, saying only that its decision would be announced in November. Arne Ljungqvist, the former medical commission chairman for track’s world governing body, would not comment specifically on this case, but he cautioned that a person’s sex is not always easy to define. “There is no simple, single lab test that can tell if you are a man or a woman,” he said. “It is not black and white.” | Semenya Caster;Track and Field |
ny0222604 | [
"sports",
"football"
]
| 2010/11/27 | N.F.L. Losing Teams Accept and Deflect Blame | We interrupt the shopping frenzy of Black Friday to console the N.F.L. teams that lost on Thursday in varying degrees of ridiculousness, to whom it must feel like a very black Friday. In Dallas, it’s receiver Roy Williams taking the blame for the Cowboys’ blowing a late lead to New Orleans and tarnishing the new coach Jason Garrett’s claim on perfection. Williams, running toward what he thought would be a game-sealing touchdown, had the ball ripped from his grasp at the 11-yard line. Ouch. The Bengals used their Thanksgiving Day game to remind everyone that they are indeed the Bengals. Buried in the details of their 26-10 loss to the Jets was Coach Marvin Lewis’s failing to challenge a questionable call on a muffed punt that the Jets immediately turned into their second touchdown. Afterward, Lewis refuted the notion that he had not challenged because he couldn’t find his flag, but he did take the blame for the loss. “You can pin this one on me,” he said. The Lions decided they had no use for this blame-accepting trend. They did, however, extend their trend of being crushed in their annual Thanksgiving Day game (for the seventh straight year) and did so in spectacular fashion. They took an uplifting early lead, only to be outscored, 35-7, by the Patriots in the second half and spent the postgame period blaming their teammates . How’s that for holiday spirit! There were plenty of other distressing happenings around the N.F.L., with Vince Young apologizing to Tennessee Coach Jeff Fisher by text message for his now infamous tantrum, which came with the news that the Titans’ owner, Bud Adams, might have already decided to keep Young and to infuriate Fisher. The rest of the team, meanwhile, reeled over the news that offensive coordinator Mike Heimerdinger has cancer . He will coach this weekend before beginning chemotherapy on Monday. That real-life news brought a dose of humanity to the sports silliness, as did this piece shown by CBS during Thursday’s telecast: the story of the four people whose lives were changed because Chris Henry’s mother donated his organs after he died last year. College football takes the stage Friday with huge games involving Auburn, Oregon and Boise State . It will either give you reason to stay glued to your television and/or new reason to hate the Bowl Championship Series, not that you really needed one, especially after the Ohio State president, Gordon Gee, made his inane argument why teams like Boise State should not have a chance at the national title. Boise State’s president responded by calling Gee’s comments ridiculous, and Dan Wetzel argues on Yahoo.com that Gee was actually making a pretty convincing argument against the B.C.S. while attempting to defend it. In other sports, people are thinking hard about security these days. In the N.B.A., that means the Cavaliers hoping to keep mayhem to a minimum next week when LeBron James makes his first return visit with the Heat by barring fans from wearing anti-LeBron clothing. More serious security worries are being had in London, where the Formula One head, Bernie Ecclestone, was mugged outside headquarters, and where they are working under the assumption that the 2012 Olympics will be the target of a terrorist threat . And it can’t make anyone feel any better that Rio, host of the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics, is currently awash in violence between police and drug gangs. Now that makes for a truly black Friday. Follow Leading Off on Twitter: twitter.com/zinsernyt | Football;National Football League;Dallas Cowboys;Cincinnati Bengals;Detroit Lions;New York Jets;New England Patriots;Tennessee Titans |
ny0061466 | [
"world",
"middleeast"
]
| 2014/01/02 | Lebanon Arrests Leader of Qaeda-Linked Group, Reports Say | BEIRUT, Lebanon — The Lebanese military authorities have detained the Saudi leader of a Sunni militant group linked to Al Qaeda that claimed responsibility for a double suicide bomb attack on the Iranian Embassy in Beirut in November , according to Lebanese news media. The militant, Majid bin Muhammad al-Majid, is the head of the Abdullah Azzam Brigades, an offshoot of Al Qaeda. He was taken into custody just three days after Saudi Arabia pledged a $3 billion aid package to the Lebanese Army. The gift was widely seen as a Saudi attempt to counter the influence of Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shiite militia and political party that is allied with the Shiite government of Iran and with Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad. The detention, which American national security officials confirmed to news agencies, provoked an array of political responses in the region — the latest sign that the power struggle between Saudi Arabia and Iran, which is helping to drive the bloody war in Syria, is intensifying in neighboring Lebanon. An Iranian national security official, Alaeddin Boroujerdi, on Wednesday praised the Lebanese security forces for apprehending Mr. Majid, and blamed him for the embassy bombing. He also urged the Lebanese government to consider the fact that “the main element in the operation is of Saudi nationality,” Iran’s semiofficial Fars News Agency reported. While there was no immediate response from Saudi Arabia, there is little sympathy in its government for Mr. Majid, who is on its list of people most wanted for links with Al Qaeda. A Lebanese newspaper, Al Safir, wrote that he was “wanted by Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Egypt, Jordan and several other Western countries, mainly the United States.” The Abdullah Azzam Brigades, which has also claimed responsibility for attacks in Egypt and Jordan, was formed in the crucible of the Iraqi insurgency in cooperation with Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, the Qaeda franchise there. That was done on orders from Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Sunni militant who was subsequently killed by American troops, according to the Long War Journal, a website that follows counterterrorism efforts. While founded well before the conflict in Syria, the Abdullah Azzam Brigades has allied itself with extremists among the rebels fighting Mr. Assad there and has threatened more attacks if Hezbollah does not stop sending its fighters to support him. Recently, Mr. Majid was reported to have pledged allegiance to the Nusra Front, another Qaeda-linked group fighting in Syria. Iran and Hezbollah, its Lebanese ally and Lebanon’s most powerful political party, have backed Mr. Assad, while their Sunni Lebanese political rivals have supported the insurgency. Hezbollah has sent fighters to aid the government, and Lebanese Sunni militants have joined the rebels. The Iranian official, Mr. Boroujerdi, said that Lebanese security forces had arrested two people, including someone involved in “the assassination of the Hezbollah leader in Lebanon,” an apparent reference to the shooting death in December of Hassane Laqees , a senior Hezbollah militant. It was unclear whether he was blaming the Abdullah Azzam Brigades or Saudi Arabia for killing Mr. Laqees. Citing the killers’ professionalism, Hezbollah had blamed the hit on Israel rather than Sunni jihadist groups. Mr. Majid’s detention was potentially sensitive in a divided Lebanon, especially under a caretaker government that has been in place for months because of political stalemate. The army has tried to maintain its reputation as the only largely neutral security agency, even as it remains too weak to challenge Hezbollah’s independent militia, and Lebanese Sunnis increasingly see it as leaning toward the Shiite party. The war in Syria has been a fruitful recruiting tool and training ground for extremist Sunni militants in Lebanon, who have a longstanding presence but had been seen as fairly marginal before the Syrian conflict. Until recently, they had been mainly confined to pockets in Palestinian refugee camps outside the control of Lebanese authorities. Now, with the Syrian war radicalizing some groups and Lebanese militants crossing the porous border to fight on both sides of the conflict, extremist fighters and clerics have increased their presence and influence in border areas, camps and cities. Mr. Majid lived in one of the camps, Ein al-Hilwe, near the southern city of Sidon until recently, according to Munir al-Maqdah, a commander in the Palestinian Fatah movement in the camp. Mr. Maqdah said that security officials had informed Fatah that Mr. Majid had entered the camp and later left for Syria. While it is not known when Mr. Majid was detained, Hezbollah’s television channel Al Manar quoted Lebanese security officials as saying that an attack on a security checkpoint on Dec. 15 near Sidon and the Ein al-Hilwe camp was an attempt by militants to free him. The Iranian Embassy bombing was one of several attacks in recent months to heighten fears that the increasingly sectarian conflict in Syria is bringing violence to neighboring Lebanon, radicalizing the population and deepening Lebanon’s own political and sectarian divisions. In what have been seen as tit-for-tat attacks, car bombs have targeted Hezbollah-dominated neighborhoods in the southern suburbs of Beirut and Sunni mosques in the northern city of Tripoli. On Friday, a powerful car bomb killed Mohamad B. Chatah , a former Lebanese finance minister who was a major figure in the Future bloc, a political group that is Hezbollah’s main Sunni rival. | Lebanon;Abdullah Azzam Brigades;Al Qaeda;Hezbollah;Terrorism;Saudi Arabia;Iran;Majid bin Muhammad al- Majid |
ny0243630 | [
"sports"
]
| 2011/03/23 | High Jumper Vlasic to Compete in New York | The Croatian high jumper Blanka Vlasic, track and field’s athlete of the year in 2010, will compete at the Adidas Grand Prix on June 11 at Icahn Stadium on Randalls Island, organizers said. Also competing will be Tyson Gay , the American record-holder in the 100 meters; Jeremy Wariner , an Olympic gold medalist in the 400; and the Briton Jessica Ennis, the world heptathlon champion. | Track and Field;Vlasic Blanka;Gay Tyson;Wariner Jeremy;Adidas Grand Prix |
ny0213395 | [
"business"
]
| 2010/03/27 | A Bold U.S. Plan to Help Struggling Homeowners | Will it work this time? Once again, the federal government is adding to its arsenal of programs for troubled homeowners, seeking to help those who urgently need it while neither angering nor creating perverse incentives for those who do not. The new measures, announced by financial policy makers at the White House on Friday, are among the boldest to date. They are aimed not only at the seven million households that are behind on their mortgages but, in a significant expansion of aid that proved immediately controversial, the 11 million that simply owe more on their homes than they are worth. Some of these people, if the government plan works, will emerge with a house whose payments they can afford and whose new mortgage reflects its market value. Unlike many previous modification recipients, they would presumably be less likely to re-default, helping to stabilize a housing market that remains queasy. “We’re walking that delicate balance to make sure these solutions are sustainable and not temporary,” said David H. Stevens, commissioner of the Federal Housing Administration . It is a balancing act in numerous ways. If the plan falls short — and some experts were skeptical on Friday — the Obama administration could find itself having to start over yet again in six months or a year. “The housing market is the Vietnam War of the American financial system,” said Howard Glaser, a housing consultant. “The federal government is in so deep, they have to keep ramping up to find a way out.” The latest programs, together with foreclosure assistance efforts already in place, are aimed at helping as many as four million embattled owners keep their houses. But the measures, which will take as long as six months to put into practice, might easily fall victim to some of the conflicting interests that have bedeviled efforts to date. None of these programs have the force of law, and lenders have often seen no good reason to participate. To lubricate its efforts, the government plans to spread taxpayers’ money around liberally. For instance, it had previously planned to give homeowners that sell their homes rather than let them go into foreclosure a “relocation assistance” payment of $1,500. The plan announced on Friday increases that amount to $3,000. All told, the new measures are expected to cost about $50 billion. The White House was careful to stress that the money will come from funds already set aside for housing programs in the Troubled Asset Relief Program . There will be “no additional commitment of taxpayer dollars,” Michael S. Barr, an assistant secretary of the Treasury , said at the White House briefing. Here is what the $50 billion is supposed to buy: The simplest component of the plan involves assistance to unemployed homeowners. Mortgage companies will now be encouraged to reduce payments for at least three months and possibly six months while the homeowner pursues a new job. To be eligible, borrowers must submit proof they are receiving unemployment insurance . The new payments will be 31 percent or less of their monthly income. The missing money will be tacked onto the loan ’s principal. A second and more complicated program is a requirement that mortgage servicers consider writing off a portion of a borrower’s loan to get it down to a more manageable level. Borrowers in the government modification plan who owe more than 115 percent of the value of their home and are paying more than 31 percent of their monthly income toward the mortgage are eligible. The write-downs are to take three years, with the borrowers in essence being rewarded for making their payments on time. The third major new program strays the farthest from the government’s previous approach. Borrowers who owe more on their homes than they are worth will get a chance to cut their debt — providing the investor or bank who owns the loan agrees. Mr. Stevens of the F.H.A. said the program was “for responsible homeowners who through no fault of their own find themselves in a situation of negative equity.” There is no official requirement that these homeowners be in distress, but it would probably make the investor more receptive to a deal. Whether homeowners will scheme to get into the program is one of the big uncertainties. The investors will write down the loans to 97.75 percent of the appraised value of the property, at which point the F.H.A. will refinance them through new lenders. The F.H.A., which currently insures about six million homes, will insure the new loans as well. If the homeowner has a second mortgage, as many do, the total value of the new mortgage can be as much as 115 percent of the value of the property. The F.H.A. will spend up to $14 billion to provide incentives to the banks that service the primary loan as well as the owners of the secondary loans. Some of the money will also provide additional insurance on the new loans. Numerous parties will have to work together to make these deals fly. The primary loan might have been bundled into a pool and sold to investors during the housing boom. The investor must agree to cut the principal balance for a deal to work, and any bank holding a second mortgage on the property would have to go along, too. The only incentive for the first lien holder is a quick exit from a loan that might ultimately default. Payments for second lien holders will be made on a sliding scale. Early reaction to the refinance program among lending groups was less than enthusiastic. “The magnitude of this program will likely be measured in the tens of thousands rather than the hundreds of thousands of borrowers,” said Tom Deutsch, executive director of the American Securitization Forum. Both banks and investors belong to the forum. The Mortgage Bankers Association, which represents the banks that service the primary loans and own outright many of the secondary loans, warned that “each servicer will need to determine whether this is the best approach to help the individual borrower.” The new proposals irked many people, who flooded online forums Friday. Some said those in trouble deserved their fate. Others asked why the government was propping up housing prices when many renters still could not afford to buy a house. And some wondered about the message these rescue plans were sending to those who resisted the housing bubble. Dave Juliette, a software worker in Pittsburgh , is in the last group. He paid off his loan eight years ahead of schedule and now owns his house free and clear. “I’m a homeowner in a more genuine sense of the word than many of these people with mortgages,” Mr. Juliette said. “But I won’t be seeing a dime.” | Mortgage loan;Barack Obama;null;Foreclosure;Subprime Mortgage Crisis,2008 Financial Crisis;FHA |
ny0110565 | [
"nyregion"
]
| 2012/05/14 | In New York, Neglected Trees Prove Deadly | The sharp and sudden crack! broke the summer calm. Alexis Handwerker had been sitting on a bench beneath a towering elm in Stuyvesant Square Park in Manhattan — now she was pinned to the ground, bleeding, disoriented and smothered by leaves. One arm was rammed back unnaturally, broken. Panicked parkgoers struggled to free her from a huge tree limb that had plummeted 30 feet. “I don’t want to die,” she screamed. “I don’t want to die.” Ms. Handwerker, a 29-year-old social worker, survived the July 2007 accident with grievous injuries, and sued. Her lawyers pieced together evidence that untrained parks workers had missed signs that the elm was rotting — even though the 80-foot tree, one of the biggest in New York City , had sent limbs crashing down before. The city settled in February, paying $4 million. Ms. Handwerker’s suit is just one of at least 10 stemming from deaths or injuries caused by falling limbs and branches in New York City that were quietly resolved over the last 10 years, or are now winding their way through the courts. The city has paid millions of dollars in damage claims, with far more expected. It all comes at a time of steep cutbacks in the amount of money the city dedicates to tree care and safety. Lawyers and investigators hired by the victims have gathered parks records, taken sworn testimony from city officials and parks workers, and hired tree-care experts to review city procedures. The collected evidence, taken together with public records and interviews with outside experts and parks officials, depicts an overstretched and haphazard system of tree inspections and care, one in which the crucial job of spotting dangers can be left to untrained workers, and repairs and pruning are delayed to save money. At the center of many of the cases is a simple question: how much responsibility does the city have for protecting people who pass beneath its graceful elms, oaks and maples? Lawyers for the injured and dead have argued for more, while lawyers for the city have argued for less; in at least two recent cases, the city’s position has been rejected by appeals courts. City lawyers have aggressively fought several of the cases, denying blame in what they called tragic accidents. They argued that the city was not required to regularly conduct state-of-the-art inspections to determine whether trees were rotting or disease-ridden. New York effectively has two tree-care systems, one for Central Park, with its mix of private and public financing, and one for the rest of the city. But the suits demonstrated safety problems in each: ¶ In two of the most high-profile Central Park cases — the life-altering injury of a young Google engineer in 2009 and the death of a restaurant worker seven months later — workers noted signs of dangers in trees but did not move fast enough. In the case of the engineer, a park official thought he had been told that workers “got” the dangerous limb before it hurt anyone; in fact, they simply “got” an e-mail warning of the danger. ¶ Workers did not detect that the huge tree that hit Ms. Handwerker had rotted to the point that its giant trunk was “gooey.” ¶ The parks department’s monitoring of trees in high-hazard areas like public squares, playgrounds and picnic areas has not caught up with an increasingly sophisticated science of managing the well-recognized risks of aging trees. Tree-care experts say the testimony and records raise broad safety questions nationally. Preventive care of urban trees has been a budget casualty from Philadelphia to Chicago to San Jose . “It’s a problem here and everywhere,” said Douglas Still, the chief city forester in Providence, R.I. “Pruning programs are being cut, not increased.” Some tree-care experts fear cuts will bring more accidents — and damage payouts. “It’s an old adage — an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,” said Randall Swanson, a forestry professor at Paul Smith’s College in upstate New York. “Preventative measures can go a long way toward reducing the possibility of tree-related injuries.” A Stretched System There are roughly 2.5 million trees in the city’s parks and on its streets. Adrian Benepe , the parks commissioner, noted that his department administered care to more than 70,000 of those trees a year with procedures that he said “prioritize public safety” while preserving and expanding the urban forest. “Unfortunately,” he said, “nature is unpredictable and limbs can fall even from healthy and well-pruned trees. “The only absolute correction,” Mr. Benepe continued, “would be to have no trees at all, which would mean a city with much dirtier air, hotter temperatures, polluted water, and desertlike streets and public places — in short a city that would be neither healthful nor livable.” No one argues that trees in remote park areas need to be inspected regularly. But tree-care experts say that a science has evolved in recent years in the “risk management” of trees in high-traffic urban areas like walkways. It includes formulas, checklists and rating scores that measure factors like the potential for injuries or deaths from disease or structural weakness and that calculate the numbers of people who are typically in the “target” area — like under the canopy of a big tree. New York has not kept up. Parks employees are required to inspect trees in as many as 25 busy parks every two weeks, and the inspections are hardly thorough. Workers without special training look for dead limbs and other obvious risks as part of a 16-point inspection program that also requires them to evaluate play equipment, benches and fences; make sure animal waste and condoms are discarded; and check lawns and ornamental plantings. The parks department’s forestry division often sends trained arborists only after problems have been noted by the untrained employees. Trees on city streets get pruning about every 15 years instead of every seven years, which was the practice only a few years ago, said the department’s deputy commissioner, Liam Kavanagh. The budget to trim them has dropped to $1.45 million from $4.7 million in the last five years. Sosimo J. Fabian, of the city corporation counsel’s office, captured the city’s approach in the case of a Brooklyn grandmother killed by a falling limb on Avenue J in 2003. “It is an unfortunate event, but the City of New York did not cause it,” he told the jury. The struggle will only get more challenging: New York City is more than halfway to its goal of planting a million more trees. The total number of tree injuries is relatively small — in the five years ending in 2011, 51 people were injured, including two who were killed, on New York City streets and in parks. But evidence strongly suggests that the most devastating accidents could have been avoided. In the death of the Brooklyn grandmother, Hinda Segal, on Avenue J, jurors were told that city crews had been to the site eight times to remove a maple described as “half dead.” But in what Alan M. Greenberg, the lawyer for Mrs. Segal’s family, labeled “incompetence all the way through,” the city left another maple whose limbs hung over a bus stop. The tree suffered signs of rot, fungus, carpenter-ant infestation and decay, the jury was told. A cascade of the heavy branches struck and killed the woman. The city was ordered to pay $1.6 million, including $350,000 assessed by the jury for the eight seconds of panicked anguish Mrs. Segal suffered between the audible crack and the instant she slipped into unconsciousness . The appeals court said that “rational jurors could conclude that the defendant City of New York was negligent in failing to discover the defective condition of the tree involved in the accident, and to take reasonable steps to prevent harm.” Missed Warning Signs On a clear summer day in 2007, Sohaib Qureshi, soon to start his senior year at Life Sciences High School, went to Riverside Park in Manhattan to play catch with his younger brother. He was an athletic 17-year-old with dreams of a college basketball scholarship. Sohaib was reaching for the ball under the 24-foot limb of an oak when the crack came. He finally returned home months later in a wheelchair, with brain damage, hearing and vision loss, seizures and memory problems. The family has filed suit. His father, Waseem Qureshi, recently described how, when Sohaib meets someone new, he will introduce himself again and again because he forgets that he has just met his visitor. The scene of the accident was Riverside Park’s Crabapple Grove. Overhead, the suit says, was a rotting limb that city parks workers had failed to spot. “There is no future for him anymore,” Sohaib’s father said. Alexis Handwerker, the director of a drop-in center for teenagers, took her beagle to the dog run in Stuyvesant Square Park on East 15th Street on July 16, 2007. The sun was still up as it got close to 8 p.m. She gave the dog a treat and then took a seat on one of the benches under a 137-year-old elm. Tree-care experts hired by her lawyers said the tree showed clear signs of structural weakness, a type of growth sprouts on its limbs that can be a sign a tree is in distress, and wounds from pruning, not to mention a history of falling limbs. The limb that hit Ms. Handwerker was hollow from decay. The experts said that could have been detected by a parks worker with minimum training tapping it with an $8 mallet. One of the parks workers testified that when the tree was taken down soon after the accident, she put her hand in the huge trunk and “it was all gooey.” Parks workers questioned by Ms. Handwerker’s lawyer, Sal Spano, said that they did not know how to assess a sick tree: they mostly just looked for hanging branches. “It is a visual look from the ground,” testified one of them, Steven DiGiovanni. He said that he had no training at all in identification of tree disease and decay. Lawyers for the city sought to have Ms. Handwerker’s suit dismissed. They failed. On Feb. 15, they settled for $4 million. In Pelham Bay Park in the Bronx , in 2006, a rotting tree covered in fungus that may have been dead for 10 years smashed across a bike path and pinned a cyclist. The cyclist, Rodolfo Guevara, sued. His lawyer, Richard T. Sules, questioned a parks supervisor, Bill Sackel, in 2009. The supervisor described a lackadaisical system of checking trees, even those right next to a bike path. “We are a complaint-generated organization,” he testified. “So we only inspect any complaints that come in.” Miscommunications Experts agree that the tree monitoring and care within Central Park are more thorough: the Central Park Conservancy ’s more than $40 million budget provides for regular inspections by trained arborists. But in the highly publicized cases of the Google engineer and the restaurant worker, the expertise made no difference, because recommendations to take action were not acted on quickly enough. Suits have been filed in those cases, as well as in at least two others, including the death of an infant in her mother’s arms near the Central Park Zoo in 2010. The conservancy declined to discuss those cases in detail. But in a statement, its president, Doug Blonsky, said tree crews inspect and prune Central Park’s 21,500 trees regularly and noted that the park has 38 million visitors a year. He echoed the parks department’s defense that the only way to assure safety would be to remove all the trees. “We take every precaution to manage this unique public space proactively and responsibly,” Mr. Blonsky said. The Google engineer, Sasha Blair-Goldensohn, a fresh-faced father of two in hipster horn-rim glasses, has a computer-science Ph.D. from Columbia. On July 29, 2009, he went for a walk near 63rd Street, and a fungus-laden branch from an oak tree fell 37 feet. Mr. Blair-Goldensohn, then 33, suffered traumatic brain injuries, paralysis and damage to his lungs and spinal cord, according to his family’s suit. Should the city settle, or a jury find for Mr. Blair-Goldensohn, the cold calculus of damage awards suggests that the amount paid to a young, well-educated high earner would probably dwarf other tree-related payouts. Neither Mr. Blair-Goldensohn’s family nor lawyers would be interviewed, but testimony and evidence in their suit describes miscommunications and missed opportunities. On July 9, 2009 — 20 days before Mr. Blair-Goldensohn’s walk — a Central Park Conservancy official and trained arborist named Bill Berliner spotted a dead 15-foot limb on an oak that hung over the path at the park’s 63rd Street entrance. He wrote a report. Mr. Berliner sent a follow-up e-mail about the oak the next morning. “IA,” it said: immediate attention. One of the park’s top officials, Neil Calvanese, asked Russell Fredericks, the official who oversaw the park’s tree crew, “Did the tree crew get this?” “Yes, the tree crew got it,” was the answer. Mr. Calvanese, now the conservancy’s vice president for operations, testified that he thought Mr. Fredericks meant that the crew “got” the branch. He learned later Mr. Fredericks simply meant the tree crew got the e-mail. Josh Galiley, the tree crew supervisor who received the e-mail, testified that the crew was handling “several emergencies” and planned to get to the oak as soon as possible. Mr. Fredericks said the workers were busy with another task: they were making preparations to get the trees on the park’s edge ready for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, four months later. Weeks passed. On July 29, the branch was still there, 37 feet up, when Mr. Blair-Goldensohn went for his walk. A Fatal Delay Elmaz Qyra was a 46-year-old recent American citizen who had brought his family from Albania to Dyker Heights in Brooklyn in 1998. He worked as a busboy at the New York Athletic Club on Central Park South. Mr. Qyra’s wife, Naxhije, said through tears recently that, for some reason, they had not spoken on Feb. 25, 2010. Their teenage children were at school. She was at work as a dental assistant. So she can only guess that, after work on that snowy day, he went for a walk in the park because he felt peaceful there. The bit of country in the city reminded him, she said, of his parents’ modest farm. “He loved the trees, he loved the flowers, he loved everything about the park,” she said. A little after 3 p.m., Mr. Qyra’s walk took him beneath the Ghost Elm, so called for the eerie way it seemed to be bathed in light no matter the weather. He was on Literary Walk, a colonnade where visitors linger by the thousands in summer. Mr. Qyra had no idea, but the Ghost Elm’s days were already numbered. It was on a list to be removed. On Aug. 5 — just seven days after Mr. Blair-Goldensohn’s accident — a limb crashed down from the Ghost Elm and smashed a smaller tree to smithereens. Arborists knew that the shedding of the big limb signaled the end of the Ghost Elm. The trunk was swollen from what turned out to be a five-foot cavity. The Ghost Elm also had fungus that can be a sign of festering disease. The tree was “a potential safety problem,” Mr. Calvanese testified. Mr. Calvanese said parks officials had a “heightened awareness” of tree dangers after Mr. Blair-Goldensohn’s accident. He knew immediately that the Ghost Elm had to be removed. But it did not happen. Workers trimmed the Ghost Elm’s canopy but otherwise left it in place. Under questioning by Alan M. Shapey, Mrs. Qyra’s lawyer, Mr. Galiley, the Central Park tree crew chief, said the tree was not taken down right away partly to save money. A one-tree job “would cost several thousand dollars,” he said, while a contractor could be hired for as little as $800 a tree if several could be removed at the same time. So they waited. Summer turned into fall. In December, more than four months after its limb had crushed a tree on Literary Walk, someone put it on a removal list for an outside contractor to bid for the job. On Feb. 25, the Ghost Elm was still there. Elmaz Qyra, who loved the park in his adopted city, finished the lunch shift. He went into the park. He stepped onto the famous walkway. If there was a crack, it is impossible to know if he heard it. He was found on Literary Walk with his head split open by a 15-foot limb from the Ghost Elm. | Trees;Accidents and Safety;Lawsuit;NYC Parks and Recreation;Parks and Other Recreation Areas;Central Park Conservancy;Adrian Benepe;NYC;null |
ny0114757 | [
"science",
"space"
]
| 2012/11/30 | NASA Plays Down Mars Speculation | Curiosity, the NASA Mars rover, has not found the building blocks of life in that planet’s dirt, the agency said Thursday. “Rumors and speculation that there are major new findings from the mission at this early stage are incorrect,” NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., said in a statement. Tamping down expectations about a news conference scheduled for Monday, NASA said, “The instruments on the rover have not detected any definitive evidence of Martian organics.” Speculation was fueled last week when the mission’s project scientist told a reporter that data from Curiosity would be “one for the history books.” NASA later clarified that the scientist was speaking generally. | Mars (Planet);Curiosity (Mars Rover);Space;National Aeronautics and Space Administration |
ny0289637 | [
"us"
]
| 2016/01/27 | National World War I Memorial Proposal Is Unveiled | WASHINGTON — It is a war without any living veterans, fought on another continent and overshadowed by subsequent, more bloody American campaigns. But in this city of monuments and memorials, where millions of tourists come each year to pay tribute to the nation’s past, the absence of a major site commemorating those who fought in World War I has ignited a push to rekindle Americans’ collective memory. “World War I was frankly overwhelmed in the national consciousness by first the Depression, and then World War II, and the Cold War,” said Edwin L. Fountain, the vice chairman of a congressional committee responsible for commemorating the centennial of American involvement in the World War I, which began in April 1917. “At the same time, it was arguably the most significant event in our nation’s history other than maybe the Civil War.” That makes the omission all the more glaring, Mr. Fountain said. On Tuesday, the commission took a significant step toward filling that hole, unveiling proposed designs for a new, privately funded war memorial just yards from the White House grounds. The goal is to complete it for the 100th anniversary of Armistice Day in November 2018. There were 350 teams that last summer submitted proposals for the site, and after narrowing those to five in August, the commission announced that it had selected the design of Joseph Weishaar, a 25-year-old architect who graduated from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville in 2013. Mr. Weishaar, who works for Brininstool & Lynch in Chicago, developed the parklike design called “The Weight of Sacrifice” during his free time while he was an intern. Echoing elements of other memorials already on the Mall, Mr. Weishaar’s plans call for the creation of a raised central lawn propped up on three sides by walls bearing bas-relief images of American soldiers interspersed with quotations from war leaders, politicians and soldiers. At the center of the lawn — which Mr. Weishaar intends to be symbolically held up by the sacrifice illustrated on the walls — a sculpture will be the focal point. Mr. Weishaar worked with Sabin Howard, a New York sculptor, to develop the artwork included in his proposal. The memorial is not the first to honor those who fought in the war. There is a national World War I memorial and museum in Kansas City, Mo., and countless other memorials to local veterans are scattered across the country, including one in Washington near the Lincoln Memorial commemorating Washington residents who died in the war. Rather, the construction of a major new memorial in the capital reflects a change in American attitudes around remembrance, commission members said. Beginning with the construction of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on the Mall in the early 1980s, veterans, politicians and private citizens have lobbied for a national monument in Washington. The result has been something of a monument building spree here on the Mall, where monuments to veterans of the Korean War and World War II were dedicated in the 1990s and 2000s. Mr. Fountain, also the general counsel to the American Battle Monuments Commission, said the commission had originally hoped to locate its memorial there, too, but met resistance from federal officials under a law intended to limit new construction on the Mall. Instead, the memorial will transform Pershing Park, a 1.8 acre site along Pennsylvania Avenue between the White House grounds and the seat of city government. It is expected to cost $30 million to $35 million, which will be raised from private donors. Congress set aside the land in the 1950s to honor Gen. John J. Pershing, who commanded American forces in World War I. The current park, designed by the landscape architect M. Paul Friedberg, opened in 1981. Its focal point, a statue of Pershing, would be preserved under Mr. Weishaar’s proposal. Commission members and their staff cautioned that his designs would probably undergo significant changes as they wind through the regulatory process, because a half-dozen or more local and federal entities, like the National Park Service and the D.C. Office of Historic Preservation, have jurisdiction over the site and the design process. The announcement Tuesday drew quick criticism from Charles A. Birnbaum, the founder and president of the Cultural Landscape Foundation here, who has argued that the memorial would destroy a significant work of landscape architecture, which is probably eligible to be on the National Register of Historic Places. The National Park Service is reviewing the park’s historic preservation status. The review is expected to be completed this summer and could significantly curtail the commission’s ability to alter the site. Despite logistical hurdles, Rebakah Wilson, a 32-year-old Army veteran who served two tours of duty in Iraq and is now the commission’s director of operations, said the body had a clear sense of purpose: telling the story of those who served and died in World War I. “This generation no longer has a voice,” Ms. Wilson said, “and so we have to speak on behalf of it.” | Monuments and Memorials;World War I;Washington DC;National Park Service |
ny0050585 | [
"world",
"asia"
]
| 2014/10/17 | Pakistani Christian Woman’s Appeal of Death Sentence Is Rejected | LAHORE, Pakistan — The Lahore High Court of Appeals on Thursday upheld the death sentence of a Pakistani Christian woman in a high-profile blasphemy case and dismissed her appeal for acquittal. The defendant, Asia Bibi, 47, a farmworker, was sentenced to death in 2010 after being convicted of blasphemy. She has denied the accusations, which she said stemmed from a dispute with Muslim co-workers . Ms. Bibi now plans to appeal the decision in the country’s Supreme Court, said her lawyer, Naeem Shakir. But given huge backlogs at the court, analysts said it would probably be at least three years before the appeal would be taken up. The ruling was the latest chapter in a long ordeal for Ms. Bibi, whose case has focused international attention on how Pakistan’s blasphemy laws have become a weapon against religious minorities. It was also a factor in the 2011 assassination of Salman Taseer , the governor of Punjab Province who vociferously campaigned for Ms. Bibi’s release and for overhaul of the blasphemy codes. Religious conservatives were outraged by Mr. Taseer’s advocacy, and he was shot dead by his police security guard in Islamabad. Months later, his son Shahbaz Ali Taseer was kidnapped by Taliban militants and his whereabouts is still unknown. Meanwhile, Ms. Bibi has languished in prison, and successive governments have been reluctant to touch the issue. Death sentences have rarely been carried out in blasphemy cases, but that is in part because such allegations have frequently led to deadly vigilante attacks on the accused or their lawyers . The Lahore courtroom was packed with clerics and members of extremist groups who supported the prosecution, and they erupted in celebration upon hearing the two-judge panel’s decision to dismiss Ms. Bibi’s appeal. “Let us celebrate by distributing sweets!” said one cleric who was reciting verses from the Quran throughout the almost two-and-a-half-hour court proceeding. “I am very happy,” said Qari Salaam, a co-worker of Ms. Bibi’s and the main complainant in the case. “The judges have given a verdict on merit, and Asia deserved it.” He and other farmworkers accused Ms. Bibi of shouting insults against the Prophet Muhammad. But she and her family deny that, saying the workers decided to lash out at her because a manager had ordered her to bring water out to the workers, and they refused to drink from bowls she had touched. Joseph Francis from the Center for Legal Aid Assistance and Settlement, an group that works for minority rights, called the ruling a bad decision that had been forced by religious extremists. “The court had already made its mind to dismiss the appeal, and the presence of Muslim extremist groups in the court further undermined justice,” Mr. Francis said. Ms. Bibi’s husband, Ashiq Masih, expressed disappointment after the verdict. “We were hoping for some relief, but alas,” Mr. Masih said as he left the court. | Asia Bibi;Pakistan;Capital punishment;Lahore;Minorities;Salman Taseer |
ny0184106 | [
"nyregion"
]
| 2007/12/22 | A Life of Helping Becomes One in Need of Help | This was life, until Susan Barron crossed Second Avenue on a Saturday morning two and a half months ago: an apartment on the East Side of Manhattan, where she has lived for decades. A fat Scottish terrier that she doted on. A psychology practice treating people with physical disabilities, offering “scholarships” to patients who could not pay full fees. And she was a fixer — the friend who hunted down a kidney for someone in need of a transplant, mentor to a man starting his own therapy practice, regular volunteer on winter coat drives and at holiday soup kitchens. “That Jimmy Stewart character in ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ had nothing on her,” said one friend, a self-described cynic. Then came the morning of Oct. 6. A few minutes before 11, a deranged man stole five knives from a restaurant on Second Avenue, stabbed the cook, then ran into the street. Ms. Barron, on a walk with the dog, happened into his path at 35th Street. Screaming at her, the man chopped, hacked and stabbed her head and arms, straddling her after she fell to the street, picking up a new knife when he lost one from the force of his blows. The man, identified as Lee Coleman, was stopped only when an off-duty police officer shot him. To those who witnessed it, the violence seemed to be a crime of toxic passion; they could not fathom the truth, that one total stranger had simply and suddenly set upon killing another. They also could not imagine that Ms. Barron would live. She did. And now this is her life: 11 weeks in hospital beds under an assumed name; perhaps 13 separate surgeries, but she has lost exact count, because a few were repeats; a cellphone she uses only at night to save the minutes; a discreet session or two in the hospital lounge with one of her patients; instructions for friends to send the thank-you notes she cannot write herself; a 15-minute visit in an office with her dog, Velvet. One scar runs from her lip to her right ear, along a strikingly youthful face. She is 67. Sitting in a hospital lounge, she calmly takes inventory of what has been fixed, a finger tracing her lower lip, one of the lesser injuries. “I can’t smile,” Ms. Barron said. “I can’t make a kiss.” These are not matters for pity, but the backdrop, she says, to the singular wonder of her life. “The most amazing thing of all is my brain is working,” she said. “The rest of it — it’s all baby stuff.” In fact, her psychic resilience may actually be working against Ms. Barron as she gets ready to go home, where she will need help. Although the state provides some compensation to crime victims, they must prove that their lost earnings and expenses are a result of crimes in which they are entirely innocent. They must also show that they have no other way to pay for them. “The only allowance under statute for someone else to file the claim is incompetency,” said John Watson, the general counsel for the State Crime Victims Board, which administers compensation. For Ms. Barron — self-employed, living alone and hospitalized with grave injuries for three months — the paper chase has been daunting, though friends are helping. It could be months before any compensation reaches Ms. Barron, a discovery that galls her friends. She expects to be discharged in a few weeks, but is far from being ready to take care of herself. The services of a part-time aide could cost $1,500 to $2,000 a week, with little covered by insurance. She ran through a nest egg while fighting invasive breast cancer seven years ago, her friends said. At home, her food may have to be puréed, at least for a while: all her teeth were knocked out, and her gums so damaged that they had to be rebuilt with skin grafted from her thigh. She cannot cook or clean — her arms and hands were slashed, right shoulder broken, rotator cuff and tendons torn. Nor can she get around safely, because a blow to the right ear broke a crystal that threw off her sense of balance. “What’s the whole point of the crime victims board?” said Rhoda Beckman, a friend of Ms. Barron’s since childhood in Brooklyn. “To have this happen, after all this, seems so cruel and unfair.” Mr. Watson said he could not comment about individual cases, but said the requirements were set by state and federal laws. The pace, he said, depended on how “cooperative” the victims are. Valerie Angeli, a neighbor who was with Ms. Barron when she was attacked, has set up a Web site, www.FriendsofSusanB.com . Early in Ms. Barron’s hospital stay, she fretted that her patients would be upset by news pictures of the knives, Ms. Angeli said. She asked after the Jersey City firefighters who saw the attack and pressed aprons — snatched from the same restaurant where the knives had been taken — around the wounds that were pulsing with blood. “You’re always thinking about other people,” Ms. Angeli told Ms. Barron this week. “Sometimes I think about other people,” Ms. Barron corrected. “But I always think about myself.” Her determination, she says, is a matter of temperament, as much as professional training. “Part of wanting to stay alive is I want to do more,” Ms. Barron said. “I love being alive. I wanted very much to stay alive. I didn’t think I would. What my training taught me is that I have to talk about this, that it’s the only way you can heal from anything.” Once a day, maybe, she cries for five minutes. “Then I say, ‘I have to make this phone call,’ ‘I have to get someone to write this thank-you,’” she said. She misses her patients. She ran a support group for the parents of blind children all over the country, which met by teleconference. “One night,” she said, “I couldn’t take it anymore. I had to call in.” Won’t the complaints of her therapy patients seem trivial? “Why make a comparison?” she said. “Yes, I feel what happened to me is pretty terrible. People can complain about the smallest things, but that is their pain. Hopefully, they will never have something terrible happen to give them context.” | Crime and Criminals;Psychology and Psychologists;Manhattan (NYC) |
ny0135258 | [
"world",
"americas"
]
| 2008/04/19 | Oil Bill Protest Shuts Mexican Congress | MEXICO CITY — The scene inside the lower house of Congress here on Friday morning resembled a college political rally more than a legislative chamber. A giant tarp dragged over the dais was painted with the word “CLOSED.” Chairs blockaded entrances to the stage. Signs draped over the desks of congressional leaders called for a “national debate” on overhauling the state’s ailing oil monopoly, Petróleos Mexicanos, or Pemex for short. A group of left-leaning lawmakers in hard hats waved Mexican flags while the chairman of the energy committee, Alejandro Sánchez Comacho, chanted into a bullhorn. “You don’t sell Pemex,” he shouted. “You defend Pemex.” For eight days, leftist lawmakers have paralyzed both houses of Congress with a sit-in to stop a proposal by President Felipe Calderón that would revamp the oil monopoly and allow it greater freedom to hire private companies to build and operate refineries, find undersea oil fields and transport oil. The protests have been orchestrated by Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the populist leader who narrowly lost to Mr. Calderón in 2006. He and his followers argue that Mr. Calderón’s bill is a thinly disguised attempt to circumvent the Constitution and let foreign companies profit from Mexican oil. They have accused the government of trying to ram the bill through Congress and have demanded four months to explore the issue and, perhaps, hold a national referendum. Shutting down Congress through civil disobedience, they maintain, is a desperate measure to stop the bill, though they acknowledge they are paying a heavy political price because it is an illegal act. “We prefer to do this and see ourselves in this situation, in order to prevent what we consider to be a robbery,” said Javier González Garza, the legislative leader in the House of Deputies for the center-left Party of the Democratic Revolution. Mr. Calderón argues that Pemex lacks the money and technology to reverse its dropping production and must hire outside companies to become profitable. “Only someone who is afraid of ideas can oppose dialogue and the institutions that make possible dialogue and parley,” he said Friday in Villahermosa. Still, Mr. López Obrador’s ability to bring business in Congress to a halt has rattled the nation. “Andrés Manuel López Obrador succeeded once again in putting the powers of the union and the political system on the defensive,” began the editorial of the newspaper El Universal on Thursday. “Everyone appears to be at his mercy.” Intellectuals have lined up on both sides of the debate, with some denouncing the sit-ins as “kidnapping institutions” and others lauding the leftists as doing whatever it takes to prevent the foreign plunder of the nation’s oil. Pemex and the government have run advertisements defending the measure, while brigades of white-clad women who support Mr. López Obrador have staged demonstrations in front of the Senate. The question of what to do about Pemex elicits strong emotions. Oil has been a symbol of national pride and sovereignty here since 1938, when President Lázaro Cárdenas nationalized the oil industry and kicked out foreign companies. Since the 1980s, the government has taken most of Pemex’s revenues and spent them on operating expenses. Four-tenths of the federal budget comes from oil. That practice, along with a corrupt union, has put the company in the red, despite having $100 billion in revenues last year. Leftists say the government has purposely starved Pemex to lay the groundwork for insisting that it needs help from private companies. They say the contracts proposed under the bill violate the Constitution, which bans oil contracts with foreign companies. Conservatives retort that Pemex has been so badly mismanaged that the only way to save it is to hire outside, for-profit companies. But the merits of the overhaul have yet to be debated in Congress, since left-leaning lawmakers have seized the chambers. They say the president and his center-right National Action Party struck a deal with the center-left Institutional Revolutionary Party to push the bill through in three weeks, not enough time to examine it carefully. Leaders of those two parties do not deny they had a deal, but they say shutting down the chambers allows no debate at all and seems to be an attempt to cripple Mr. Calderón’s administration. A lengthy debate would only give Mr. López Obrador more time to stir up popular resentment against the bill, they say. “It seems that they want to go from holding the Senate chamber hostage to holding the president and the government hostage,” Manlio Fabio Beltrones, the Institutional Revolutionary Party’s Senate leader, said Thursday. “And you know what? That’s not healthy for anyone.” The foreign minister, Patricia Espinosa, complained that the protests had embarrassed the government; congressional leaders had to cancel an invitation to India’s president to address Congress this week. “Without a doubt it looks bad for the country,” she said. The left-wing coalition says it intends to keep up the blockade of the chambers until the legislative session ends this month or until it gets a vow of a lengthy debate and public hearings. In the meantime, the scene in the chambers looks like a slumber party. Protesting senators and deputies play cards and chess, tell yarns and sing songs until all hours of the night, before retiring in sleeping bags on the chamber floor. They take turns keeping vigil, sometimes leaving a single lawmaker to guard the fort. In the House of Deputies, as rumors circulated this week of an attempt to force them to leave, the leftists went so far as to chain the doors shut with padlocks. Some worry about a political backlash, but the oil is more important, they say. They cast their fight as one between average Mexicans and powerful business interests. “A fight between two great forces is taking place,” said Ricardo Cantú García, a Workers’ Party deputy from Nuevo León, who was guarding the dais on Friday. “We are not taking the chamber over because we like it, but because it was necessary.” | Mexico;Oil (Petroleum) and Gasoline;Law and Legislation;Nationalization of Industry;Petróleos Mexicanos |
ny0256613 | [
"sports",
"golf"
]
| 2011/08/08 | Jay Haas Wins on Senior Tour | Jay Haas birdied the final hole to win the 3M Championship by one shot over Tom Lehman , Kenny Perry and Peter Senior in Blaine, Minn. From 207 yards out, Haas put his second shot on the par-5 No. 18 about 25 feet from the hole and two-putted for his first Champions Tour victory in two years. Playing in the group of front of Haas, Lehman just missed his eagle putt from 50 feet. ¶ Scott Piercy squandered a three-stroke lead, then dodged more trouble down the stretch before making a 7-foot par putt on the final hole to win the Reno-Tahoe Open in Nevada by one stroke over Pat Perez. | Golf;Haas Jay;Perry Kenny;Lehman Tom |
ny0235409 | [
"sports",
"baseball"
]
| 2010/01/31 | Willie Mays, at 78, Decides to Tell His Story | On the night of April 29, 1961, at dinner in Milwaukee, Willie Mays ate some bad barbecue. He was up all night, sick to his stomach, and so wobbly the next afternoon he told Alvin Dark, the manager of the San Francisco Giants, to erase his name from the lineup. Lew Burdette was scheduled to pitch for the Braves. “I didn’t know if I could even swing,” Mays said recently on a brief trip to New York. “But during batting practice, a kid named Joey Amalfitano, he come up to me and says, ‘Try this bat.’ And everything I hit was going out of the ballpark. So I said, ‘O.K., I can play.’ ” Mays hit four home runs that day — “Two off Burdette, one off Seth Morehead, and one off a kid named Don McMahon,” he said — and he drove in eight runs, maybe the finest day at the plate in a career that has had few, if any, equals. The story of Mays’s bellyache and Amalfitano’s lucky bat is one of many juicy baseball tales in ”Willie Mays: The Life, The Legend” by James S. Hirsch, to be published in February by Scribner. An exhaustive accounting of Mays’s life, it is the first time Mays has cooperated with a biographer, and its imminent appearance has sent Mays on the promotional trail, an occasion for him to reminisce about his exploits and buff them. That day in Milwaukee, he said, he was robbed by Hank Aaron, who was not even playing his regular position. “I should’ve had five,” Mays said. “Aaron caught one ball that was going over the center-field fence.” Now 78, Mays is slightly stooped, and a somewhat rounder version of the streamlined, muscular athlete who hit 660 home runs in 22 major league seasons, thrilled millions with his fleet daring on the bases and acrobatics in center field and was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1979. He is 37 years beyond his playing career, which, after two decades with the Giants in New York and San Francisco, ended where it began; he played his final season and a half with the Mets. Although most fans recall his performance in those years as unhappily feeble, his final hit, a 12th-inning single up the middle against the Oakland Athletics in the 1973 World Series, put the Mets ahead in a game they hung on to win. Mays wears hearing aids. He has had trouble with his eyes lately, and his voice is a little growly, without the high-pitched glee that reporters described during the early years of his career, when he was known and beloved as the Say Hey Kid. Still, when he lights on a pleasing baseball memory, his eyes widen, his laugh becomes a whinny and years melt from his face. It is telling that just as the interview began, he reached for a Giants cap and put it on. Mays said he decided, at last, to cooperate with a biographer because so many people had reminded him of things they had done together or things he had done for them that he thought it worthwhile to let someone collect those stories. And Hirsch, an author of four previous books, including “Hurricane: The Miraculous Journey of Rubin Carter,” chronicled Mays’s myriad acts of generosity, many of them impulsive, most of them aimed at children. But as the book also makes clear, Mays’s life, in baseball and out, was dotted with difficulties. Like other blacks, he was a target of racism. He had persistent money woes, and especially in the second half of his career, persistent physical ones; loath to leave the lineup, he suffered from periodic exhaustion. His first marriage ended in a public divorce — “I never had what you call a private life,” he said — and his second wife, Mae, learned in 1997, at age 59, that she had Alzheimer’s disease. For years, he was subject to troubling accusations, especially from Jackie Robinson, that as a prominent black man, Mays did not do enough for the cause of civil rights. Famously unanalytical, unwilling to dwell on the unpleasant and a steadfast sidestepper of controversy, Mays remains wary of potentially loaded questions. On the issue of steroid use by ballplayers in general and his godson Barry Bonds, in particular, he professes ignorance. “I keep telling people, I don’t even know what that stuff is,” he said. “I played 22 years in baseball and I never tried to analyze things I don’t know about. I’m not a doctor.” Asked what it was like to be a black ballplayer in the 1950s, he plucked out a sunny memory of those days and spun it to suggest that although segregation was still in force in many places, it was actually a boon to him and the other black players. “Even though we didn’t stay with the team, there wasn’t no fuss raised,” Mays said. “In Chicago, we had to stay at a hotel on the South Side, but we didn’t have a curfew. We got double meal money. The other guys stayed at a hotel in the north, and it wasn’t far from the ballpark, so they had a bus take them. We had a car — myself, Monte Irvin, Ruben Gomez and a kid named Ray Noble.” (Noble, a Cuban-born catcher who played for the Giants from 1951 to ’53, was actually 12 years older than Mays.) “We’d go to the hotel, and they didn’t charge us,” he said. “They’d want us to go to the bar, and then all the people at the hotel would migrate to the bar, and I didn’t drink, but they gave me Cokes and things. It was no problem. I had a good time, man, a good time.” In his early years, Mays was looked after — some said coddled — by Manager Leo Durocher , whose celebrated truculence with opponents and umpires was matched by his paternal attitude toward his star center fielder. Mays called him Mr. Leo back then; today, he acknowledges Durocher, who died in 1991, as a father figure. “He always made sure I knew what suit to buy and how to dress,” Mays said. “He’d never holler at me. If he had something to say, he’d talk soft. When we were in California, I’d stay at his house, and when we went on the road, his kid was my roommate. Chris Durocher, he was about 7. We’d go on the road, and Leo would say, ‘You got him,’ so for two weeks, I can’t go nowhere, can’t do nothing. I think that was Leo’s way of looking after me.” Mays giggled as he recalled that he managed to make money on this arrangement. He ate at restaurants where the black players were welcome, and took Chris with him; when Chris reported to his father he had been on a steady diet of soul food, Durocher told Mays that he wanted his son to be able to eat steak. “And I said, ‘Well give me some steak money then,’ ” Mays said. “And Leo would whip out four or five hundred and stick it in my pocket. And we’d go somewhere, and I’d ask Chris, ‘You want a steak?’ and he’d say, ‘No, I’ll eat what you eat.’ I never told Leo.” Mays played in four World Series, the first one in his rookie year, 1951, after the Giants beat the Brooklyn Dodgers in a three-game playoff to capture the pennant, winning the final game on Bobby Thomson’s ninth-inning home run off Ralph Branca. Mays was on deck, and he was so focused on his own possible at-bat, he said, that it did not dawn on him that Thomson’s blast had ended the game. “I was concentrating on Branca, what he was throwing, what he might throw me,” Mays said. “When he hit the home run, I didn’t even move. “I remember all the guys running by me, running to home plate, and I’m saying, ‘What’s going on here?’ I was thinking, ‘I got to hit!’ ” The Giants lost the Series that year, to the Yankees, a circumstance they repeated in 1962. In the ninth inning of the seventh game, with the Giants behind, 1-0, Mays doubled with two out, sending Matty Alou to third. A hit would win the game. Willie McCovey, a left-handed pull hitter, lined the ball seemingly to right field, but it was caught by second baseman Bobby Richardson, playing deep and in the hole. “As soon as he hit it, I thought base hit,” Mays said. “I’m running all the way. But Bobby was playing out there.” Mays played on a World Series champion only once, in 1954, when the Giants swept the Cleveland Indians. In Game 1 came perhaps his signature moment, a play that came to be known as the Catch . In the top of the eighth, with the score tied, no one out and two on, the Indians’ Vic Wertz sent a towering drive toward deepest center field. With a man on second, Mays had been playing shallow to be able to cut off a run on a base hit, but running at full speed with his back to the plate, he chased down the ball and caught it as it passed directly over his head. Jack Brickhouse, announcing the game on television, said the catch “must have been an optical illusion to a lot of people.” For Mays, though, the Catch was no big deal. The throw was. “As I’m running, I’m thinking I’ve got to get this ball back to the infield because I’d scored many times from second base on balls like that,” Mays said. The instant the ball settled in his glove, he planted his foot and propelled himself into a whirl, flinging the ball on a line to second base. He held the runner at third, and the Indians never scored. The Giants won in 10 innings. “There was no doubt I was going to catch the ball,” Mays said, with a defiantly youthful smile nearly 60 years after the fact. “I already knew that.” | Mays Willie;Baseball;Athletics and Sports;Documentary Films and Programs |
ny0216432 | [
"world",
"middleeast"
]
| 2010/04/07 | For 2 Grieving Families, Video Reveals Grim Truth | BAGHDAD — The women of Saeed Chmagh’s family wept, but the men did not as they watched a video of him being shot to death by a gunner on an American Apache attack helicopter. “I saw the truth,” Samir Chmagh, 19, son of the dead man, said Tuesday in his family’s living room in Baghdad. “They saw clearly that they were journalists and that they were holding cameras. It was painful when we saw this movie.” It was a fog-of-war moment in July 2007 on the streets of Baghdad in which American troops gunned down men they identified as insurgents. The attack left 12 people dead, including Namir Noor-Eldeen, a 22-year-old Reuters photographer, and Mr. Chmagh, 40, a driver and assistant for the news agency. A video from the cockpit of an Apache helicopter was released on Monday by WikiLeaks.org , an online organization that said it had received the video from a whistle-blower in the military. The video has become an Internet sensation, with defenders saying the soldiers believed they were under threat and critics denouncing what they said were callous and bloodthirsty comments by the soldiers as they killed about a dozen people. A spokesman for United States Central Command, Lt. Cmdr. Bill Speaks, said on Tuesday that the Central Command, which oversees the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, was “looking into” the shootings, but stopped short of referring to it as an investigation. The only investigation so far has been one directed in 2007 by Maj. Gen. Vincent K. Brooks, who at the time was a brigadier general and the deputy commander of international forces in Baghdad and the surrounding areas. The inquiry concluded that the pilots had no reason to know that there were Reuters employees in the group on the street. No disciplinary action was taken. A senior American military official said that officials at Central Command saw the video for the first time on Monday, the day it was made public by WikiLeaks in a 38-minute version and a 17-minute edited version . The official, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the record about the matter, said that the 38-minute version “makes clear that the forces involved clearly believed they were engaging armed insurgents, and were not aware that there were unarmed civilians, let alone journalists, in that group of people.” The official also said that the video, a gun-camera tape, did not show that the helicopters were in support of ground forces, Company B, who had been under attack from small-arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades since early that day. The investigation reported that Company B, also referred to as Bravo Company, was about 300 feet from the group on the street that included the Reuters employees, and “since Bravo Company had been in near continuous contact since dawn, the pilots were looking primarily for armed insurgents.” But among many Iraqis, many of whom consider Americans to be occupiers who have often used excessive force, any explanation paled against deep anger. “At last the truth has been revealed, and I’m satisfied God revealed the truth,” Noor Eldeen, the photographer’s father, said in Mosul. “If such an incident took place in America, even if an animal were killed like this, what would they do?” Both families said they watched the video on Monday evening on Al Jazeera, the Arabic-language news network. “My question is, those highly skilled American pilots with all their high-tech information, could not distinguish between a camera and a missile?” said Nabel Noor-Eldeen, the photographer’s brother who is an archaeology professor at Mosul University. Reuters had unsuccessfully sought to obtain the footage through a Freedom of Information Act request. It depicts the raw reality of one deadly encounter in Iraq, chilling for many viewers both for the wrenching images of death and the dialogue of the pilots as they killed the men they called a threat. After the initial gunfire bursts, Mr. Chmagh is seen crawling on the side of the street, wounded. “Come on buddy, all you gotta do is pick up a weapon,” crackled the voice over the radio in an American Apache attack helicopter circling overhead. No weapon was in sight. A minibus arrived, with two children inside. As Mr. Chmagh was being helped in to the vehicle, the helicopter opened fire again. “Oh yeah, look at that, right through the windshield,” the voice on the radio said. Laughter is heard. The Committee to Protect Journalists , a nonprofit group based in New York that promotes press freedom and monitors violence against journalists around the world, said in a statement that the video “confirms our long-held view that a thorough and transparent investigation into this incident is urgently needed.” Since 2003, when the Iraq war began, 140 journalists have been killed, most who were singled out by other Iraqis because of their sectarian identity, the group said. The group has tracked 16 cases in which journalists were killed from fire by American forces, although in none of these cases is there evidence the journalists were intended to be targets. This list, however, does not include Mr. Chmagh, because he is considered a media support worker. “It’s the most deadly conflict ever recorded by C.P.J.,” said Joel Simon, the organization’s executive director. “It’s probably the most deadly ever, certainly more deadly than Vietnam.” For Mr. Noor-Eldeen’s family, the video seemed to bring closure for an event that had left many questions unanswered. “God has answered my prayer in revealing this tape to the world,” said the photographer’s father, who taught his son how to take pictures. “I would have sold my house and I all that I own in order to show this tape to the world.” | Iraq;Reuters Group Plc;Wikileaks |
ny0271451 | [
"technology"
]
| 2016/05/05 | In China, an iPhone May Not Necessarily Be a Phone | HONG KONG — In China, an iPhone can be found for a small fraction of the official price. It just might not be a phone. A Chinese company has won the right to sell its leather goods under the iPhone trademark after years of legal back-and-forth with Apple, according to an article in Chinese state news media. The case is yet another that centers on names that are well established in much of the world but that have had to fight for control in China, such as the basketball star Michael Jordan and the shoe brand New Balance. The Chinese company, Xintong Tiandi, applied for the iPhone trademark in China just after the first Apple smartphones came out, in 2007, according to an article by the state-run Legal Daily last week. Still, Xintong Tiandi’s trademark in China, for leather goods, was approved before Apple’s, which had applied for the rights in 2002, the article said. The website of Xintong Tiandi features a range of leather products, including pen cases, passport holders, handbags and wallets, all stamped with “iPhone.” None of the products are phones. In a news release issued last week, the company also featured photographs of its other products, like a leather iPad case labeled “iphone” next to a bottle of Rémy Martin Cognac. In the news release , the Chinese company said that the “huge victory brings esteem to Xintong Tiandi’s promise to protect the iPhone trademark,” before adding that it was willing to work with the American technology giant. Image The name iPhone has cachet in China, even if it’s on a passport case. The sentiment may not be shared, however. “Apple is disappointed the Beijing Higher People’s Court chose to allow Xintong to use the iPhone mark for leather goods when we have prevailed in several other cases against Xintong,” the Silicon Valley company said in a statement on Wednesday. “We intend to request a retrial with the Supreme People’s Court and will continue to vigorously protect our trademark rights.” While the Chinese company’s approach might be perplexing, it testifies to the power of Apple’s name recognition in the country. The iPhone brand signals middle- or even upper-class status in China, and many are expected to be willing to pay for a passport cover or other item labeled with the Apple product’s name as a way to show that they have made it. The iPhone ruling, in a high court in the Beijing municipality, is just one of a spate of high-profile trademark and piracy cases in China. The country’s huge number of factories, bolstered by a 100 million-strong class of migrant workers, has made China the workshop of the world, able, among other activities, to quickly pump out products that can make a company a quick profit on the impulse to imitate. Aiding them is a first-to-file trademark system that lets “unrelated third parties register trademarks which are copies or imitations of well-known brands,” according to a post last year from law firm DLA Piper. Among other high-profile cases, Michael Jordan lost the rights to the name he is known by in China, and New Balance paid $16 million in damages for what a court said was the illegal use of the Chinese name for the company, which a person had trademarked. Apple had previously faced a similar situation with the iPad. In 2012, the company was forced to pay $60 million for the rights to use the iPad trademark in China. Apple had bought the rights to the name in a number of countries, but after iPad tablet sales took off in China, a Chinese company said it had not secured the rights in that country. The case caps a tough couple of weeks for Apple. Last month, the company’s iTunes Movies and iBooks stores in China were ordered shut by a national regulator. The company also reported last week that sales in China had dropped, as it struggles to keep the loyalty and admiration of fickle Chinese consumers. | Apple;Xintong Tiandi;Trademarks;China;iPhone |
ny0251413 | [
"sports",
"baseball"
]
| 2011/02/23 | Derek Jeter Handles Hank Steinbrenner Comments | TAMPA, Fla. — Derek Jeter fielded the first question Tuesday morning with a smile, a laugh and a headshake, and he left the Yankees ’ clubhouse more than three hours later wearing the same amused look. In between, there was an entertaining rebuttal by Jeter to Hank Steinbrenner’s comments , a clarification by Steinbrenner and an overall sense of absurdity pervading what had been a reasonably placid spring — but might not be for much longer. The day after Steinbrenner, a Yankees co-chairman, seemed to take an indirect shot at Jeter, the team’s captain, by saying that some players were “too busy building mansions” and “not concentrating on winning” after their 2010 bid for a title repeat expired in the American League Championship Series, Jeter playfully deconstructed those remarks. He noted that Steinbrenner used the plural form of mansion and did not once explicitly mention him. “I look at the positive,” said Jeter, who recently moved into a 30,875-square-foot compound in the Davis Island section of Tampa. “My name didn’t come out of his mouth.” It did eventually, in a message delivered to Jeter and in an interview with reporters in Max’s Cafe, the cafeteria at Steinbrenner Field, where Steinbrenner defended his motivation but acknowledged a poor choice of words. He was adamant that he was not alluding to Jeter, saying that “you don’t win five rings by being complacent,” but he did not specify whom he was targeting. “It was a euphemism, that’s all it was,” Steinbrenner said. “It was a generalization, a euphemism. A bad choice for a euphemism, but it was a euphemism.” Told that Steinbrenner had absolved him, Jeter raised his eyebrows, chuckled and said, “You can’t really assume that it was me, and I guess I was right.” For someone who tries so hard to keep his private life precisely that, and often succeeds, Jeter has spent a significant amount of time this off-season discussing it. The criticism was more direct in November, when negotiations for a new contract grew contentious after the Yankees publicly acknowledged their concerns with his age (36) and long-term viability at shortstop. Jeter addressed those concerns in December after signing, but they arose during his news conference Sunday and again Tuesday, when he vowed that he was not distracted by his contract. Jeter repeatedly said he had “no problem” with the latest perceived salvo. “Owners can say whatever they want to say,” Jeter said. Alluding to George Steinbrenner, Hank’s father and a former Yankees owner, Jeter added: “That’s one of the things that you respected about the Boss when he was around. He has his opinion. Everyone didn’t always agree with it, but you respected his opinion because he’s the Boss. It’s the same thing with Hank and Hal.” His house has been an off-limits topic for some time, although Jeter seemed more bewildered than angry that it was thrust into the public discourse. He drifted between responding to Steinbrenner’s comments head-on and hypothetically, but he did point out that his home had been under construction for a while, including in 2009, when he batted .334 and the Yankees won the World Series. “I understand that contract stuff’s going to be news, I understand that,” Jeter said. “I understand that he said he didn’t feel as if we were hungry. I understand that’s a story. The house, I don’t understand. That’s funny, I think.” Jeter was referring to Steinbrenner’s claim that the Yankees lacked hunger last season, when they won 95 games in the regular season but lost in six games to the Texas Rangers in the A.L.C.S. He gently dismissed it by saying: “I think every time it seems like you don’t win, people say that you don’t have the hunger. We got beat by a team that was better than us in that series, that was the bottom line.” Asked Tuesday, Steinbrenner declined to explain why he felt that way. Manager Joe Girardi said he did not view Steinbrenner’s assessment as an indictment of his leadership or the team’s preparation, but added that it registered an impact with him. “Of course it does, because he’s my boss,” Girardi said. “He’s one of the family members that hired me to do a job. And like I said, he expressed his displeasure in the results last year, the same displeasure that all of us had.” Steinbrenner has been more visible this spring than his brother, Hal, the team’s managing general partner, which means that the bombast and impulsive declarations reminiscent of his father could become a fixture. Jeter said he had no reason to brace for any more comments. “I’m not moving,” Jeter said, “so we won’t be talking about this again.” INSIDE PITCH The chase for a rotation spot gets under way Saturday, when Bartolo Colon is scheduled to start the Grapefruit League opener against Philadelphia’s Cole Hamels. Joe Girardi said Ivan Nova, C. C. Sabathia, A. J. Burnett, Phil Hughes and Freddy Garcia would start the subsequent five games. | Baseball;New York Yankees;Steinbrenner Hank;Jeter Derek |
ny0045679 | [
"us"
]
| 2014/02/01 | Book Explores Ways Faith Is Kept, or Lost, Over Generations | Vern L. Bengtson came from a religious family — to put it mildly. “My dad was a minister of the Evangelical Covenant Church ,” Professor Bengtson, who teaches social work at the University of Southern California, said from his home in Santa Barbara this week. “He had nine brothers and sisters, and all were staunch Evangelical Covenant Church people. I had 33 cousins on my father’s side, all staunch Evangelical Covenant Church people.” In 1963, after college at a school sponsored by his historically Swedish denomination, Professor Bengtson entered graduate school at the University of Chicago. There, he was an oddity in two ways. All of a sudden, most of his peers were irreligious. And while he happily took cues from his parents, his classmates didn’t trust anyone over 30. To a graduate student, this state of being the odd man out suggested a research question: Why do some young people adopt their families’ views, while others, especially in the ’60s, strike out on their own? In 1969, shortly after being hired at U.S.C., Professor Bengtson began a study of 350 families, whom he interviewed regularly until 2008. In some families, he interviewed four generations. In all, his respondents were born in years spanning 1878 to 1989. Professor Bengtson’s project yielded more than 200 articles, many focused on aging and intergenerational conflict, topics on which he has become an expert. Now, at last, he is ready to draw some conclusions about religion, the issue that got him started. In “Families and Faith: How Religion Is Passed Down Across Generations” (Oxford; $29.95), written with two colleagues, Professor Bengtson argues that families do a pretty good job of passing religious faith to their children. More interesting, for those who fret about children leaving the fold — that is, clergy members and parents everywhere — Professor Bengtson has theories about why some children keep the faith while others leave. According to Professor Bengtson, parents have as much hold as ever on children’s souls. “Parent-youth similarity in religiosity has not declined over 35 years,” from 1970 to 2005, he writes. Denominational loyalty is down — kids feel free to ditch the Baptists for the Presbyterians — but younger generations are no less likely to inherit core beliefs, like biblical literalism, the importance of church attendance or, for that matter, atheism. As to why some children follow their parents, spiritually speaking, Professor Bengtson’s research confirmed some common-sense assumptions. For example, it helps if parents model religiosity: if you talk about church but never go, children sense hypocrisy. And intermarriage doesn’t help. If you’re Jewish (or Mormon, Catholic, etc.), and want your child to share your religion, it helps to marry someone of the same faith. But Professor Bengtson’s major conclusion is that family bonds matter. Displays of parental piety, like “teaching the right beliefs and practices” and “keeping strictly to the law,” can be for naught if the children don’t feel close to the parents. “Without emotional bonding,” these other factors are “not sufficient for transmission,” he writes. Professor Bengtson also found that one parent matters more than the other — and it’s Dad. “But what is really interesting,” he writes, “is that, for religious transmission, having a close bond with one’s father matters even more than a close relationship with one’s mother.” There are some interesting exceptions. Transmission of Judaism, for example, depends more on a close bond with one’s mother than with one’s father — perhaps because Judaism has traditionally held that the faith is inherited from the mother. Among Jews with a close maternal bond, 90 percent considered themselves Jewish, versus only 60 percent of those who weren’t close to their mothers. In general, however, “fervent faith cannot compensate for a distant dad.” Over and over in interviews, Professor Bengtson said, he found that “a father who is an exemplar, a pillar of the church, but doesn’t provide warmth and affirmation to his kid does not have kids who follow him in his faith.” Professor Bengtson’s own family hewed to the rule of the nurturing dad. “I had this great big jovial grandfather, who just exuded warmth,” Professor Bengtson said. “All of his 10 kids followed him in the faith. And it was true of his father, going back to Sweden, and it was true of my father. There’s this pattern of paternal warmth that seems to characterize the Bengtson family. And that may be why there are so many evangelical Bengtsons.” Professor Bengtson also found that grandparents have a strong influence on children’s religious development, and that freedom to leave can encourage children to stay. “Allowing children religious choice can encourage religious continuity,” he writes. Then there is the conclusion that the professor now exemplifies himself: “Don’t give up on the Prodigals” — those who drift away — “because many do return.” In graduate school and after, Professor Bengtson abandoned his faith. His despairing mother once wrote to him, “Vern, if I have to choose between you and my Jesus, I will choose Jesus.” Recently, however, too late for his mother to know, Professor Bengtson has found his way back to church. “By golly, I had this religious experience when I was about 67 years old,” said Professor Bengtson, now 72. Easter morning of 2009, he woke up and decided to check out “this Gothic-looking church down on State Street” in Santa Barbara. He entered church a bit late, after the service had started. “The organ was roaring,” he recalled, “the congregation was singing, the pillars were going up to heaven, the light was sifting down through the stained-glass windows. I was just overwhelmed. I found my way to a pew and started crying. ... I haven’t been the same since.” Professor Bengtson now sings in the church choir. His return — albeit to a progressive Episcopal church — has, he says, made him a better scholar. He now believes that some of his survey data are, while necessary, also “trivial — questionnaires asking, ‘Do you agree or disagree that the Bible is the divinely inspired word of God?’ ” Parents aren’t just trying to pass on to their children a checklist of beliefs, he said. Better than ever, he grasps “the kind of passion these parents had for wanting their children to achieve the peace and the joy and the hope and the inspiration they had found for themselves.” | Family;Christianity;Religion and Belief;Evangelical Covenant Church;Parenting;Motherhood;Fatherhood;Books |
ny0243007 | [
"business",
"energy-environment"
]
| 2011/03/31 | Building a Better Car Battery | TO reduce our vast appetite for oil, the government and auto industry are working together to encourage car buyers to think electric when they go car shopping. While industry watchers may debate how quickly consumers will make the transition to electric vehicles , they generally agree this transition will require big improvements to the batteries that power these cars. Even the White House agrees, acknowledging in a recent blog post , “The lack of affordable, highly functional batteries has been a particularly high barrier to the widespread adoption of electric vehicles.” In the near term, reducing the cost of the battery — and with it, the price of the vehicle — will come mostly from better manufacturing techniques and building more batteries. Improving durability and range will largely be the domain of researchers and scientists. The Italian scientist Alessandro Volta built the original battery in 1800. Volta filled a container with alternating pairs of zinc and copper plates, and separated each pair with a cardboard disk soaked in salt water. His battery produced a steady flow of electrical current through a chemical reaction that forced the zinc disk (negative anode) to release an electron and the copper disk (positive cathode) to catch it. Today’s electric car batteries no longer resemble Volta’s container, but they work on the same basic principles. And two centuries of gradual improvements in the overall chemistry, design and materials have led to the lithium -based battery that relies on a lithium ion to shuttle back and forth from the anode and cathode. Simply put, the lithium-ion battery offers a higher energy density than other previous battery systems, according to Venkat Srinivasan, manager of the Battery for Automotive Transportation Technologies Program , an Energy Department-supported program managed by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley. Compared with the nickel-metal hydride battery used in the Toyota Prius , for example, a lithium-ion battery of the same weight and volume would increase energy density two to three times, said Dr. Srinivasan. All the vehicles available with electricity as their primary power source, like the Nissan Leaf or Chevy Volt, use some form of lithium-ion chemistry in their batteries. And these batteries will be prevalent for at least the next decade or two with plenty of room for innovation, said Jeffrey P. Chamberlain, head of the Electrochemical Energy Storage group at the Argonne National Laboratory , a lab near Chicago sponsored by the Energy Department. Lithium is blended with other materials in the battery’s cathode. The materials used dictate the voltage of the cell and the amount of lithium the cathode can hold; raising both increases energy density, said Dr. Srinivasan. At Argonne, researchers are working with new mixes of nickel, manganese and cobalt for the cathode. Blending these in varying amounts and assembling them in different structures has been shown to double the cathode’s energy capacity. Argonne has begun to license patents for this material to different battery makers. The result, Mr. Chamberlain said, would be batteries “that squeeze more energy into a smaller package, are less expensive to make and last longer.” Similarly, researchers at Argonne and elsewhere are experimenting with silicon for the anode, replacing the carbon anode commonly used today. During the charging cycle, the anode collects lithium ions, then releases them during discharge when the battery is providing power to the electric motor. A pure silicon anode theoretically has the potential to increase the amount of energy it can hold tenfold. But efforts to reach this maximum have been thwarted by silicon’s tendency to expand as it collects the lithium ions. So researchers are blending silicon with materials like graphite, looking for a balance that will solve the physical challenges but still increase energy density, said Mr. Chamberlain. Even as these new advances move from the lab to the production line in coming decade, in the near term most cost reductions for the battery pack will come from lowering manufacturing costs, according to Alex A. Molinaroli, president of the Power Solutions group at Johnson Controls , a company building lithium-ion batteries for BMW, Daimler and Ford. Because lithium-ion is a relatively new technology for powering cars, “it will take time to understand how these batteries will perform with years of use,” said Mr. Molinaroli. And because the electric car battery is now part of the drive train, “these will have much higher performance and durability requirements compared to lead-acid starter batteries or the battery in your laptop,” he said. Lacking decades of road-test data from primarily electric cars, manufacturers must overbuild the batteries, adding in materials and safety features to ensure they meet the demands of the drive-train warranty, said Mr. Molinaroli. He estimated that this overcompensation accounts for 50 percent of the material used in the current battery packs. A common measure of the battery’s energy density is the number of kilowatt-hours of electricity it can produce given its weight. With the battery the costliest component of the car, automakers tend to be tight-lipped about actual prices, considering it competitive information. Even so, Mike Omotoso, an automotive power train forecaster for J. D. Power & Associates , estimated today’s cost at around $750 to $800 per kilowatt-hour. For electric vehicles to achieve parity with gasoline-powered cars, from a cost perspective, most analysts estimate that battery cost must come closer to $200 per kilowatt-hour. At Johnson Controls, the company expects price parity when battery costs achieve $200 per kilowatt-hour combined with gasoline prices that are consistently at or above $4 a gallon. Once you get to these levels, “you have a good business case, and as energy prices go up, this becomes a much more relevant conversation,” said Mary Ann Wright, vice president for global technology and innovation in the company’s Power Solutions group. Ms. Wright further estimates that this parity point is a decade away, but offers two caveats. “You have to consider that the gasoline engine will also become more fuel-efficient during this time,” she said. “This technology is not standing still.” And parity must be considered as the total cost of ownership over the life of the car. “So while the sticker price may always be higher, the electric vehicle will be less expensive to maintain and operate over the life of the car compared to a gasoline-powered car,” she said. Alessandro Volta’s invention earned him a royal title and a place on the 10,000-lire note, and set the stage for the modern electrical age. As continuing improvements enable electric cars to match price and performance with their gasoline-powered competitors, the impact could be no less profound. | Batteries;Electric Vehicles;Automobiles;Energy and Power |
ny0090325 | [
"world",
"asia"
]
| 2015/09/06 | Australian Leader, Opposing Gay Marriage, Faces Party and Family Opposition | SYDNEY, Australia — Even the prime minister’s sister is unhappy with him. About two-thirds of Australians support same-sex marriage , surveys have found. Many of them are members of Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s Liberal Party (which is conservative, despite the name) — including his sister, Christine Forster, who is on Sydney’s City Council and is gay. But Mr. Abbott has staked out an uncompromising position against it. And since the prime minister survived a leadership challenge early this year, the issue has been contributing to renewed discontent within his party. “I would like to get married,” said Ms. Forster, who has been engaged to her partner, Virginia Edwards, since 2013. “And at this point, I cannot.” Mr. Abbott, a conservative leader who is a polarizing figure at the best of times, is doing badly in the polls, two years after taking office. His position on same-sex marriage is only one factor, but it is one that analysts say goes to the core of his political vulnerability. “His issue is his inability to reach out beyond a core group of conservative voters,” said Jessica Elgood, a director at the polling firm Ipsos, who added that he had “very little appeal to women voters.” Last month, after a six-hour meeting, Mr. Abbott declared that lawmakers in his conservative coalition would have to stick to the party line and oppose a bill to legalize same-sex marriage. “There was strong support for the existing position, strong support for the position the coalition has held since 2004, that marriage is between a man and a woman,” Mr. Abbott said after the Aug. 11 meeting, at which the lawmakers decided not to allow a so-called conscience vote on the bill. Image Prime Minister Tony Abbott, a conservative leader, is doing badly in the polls two years after taking office. Credit William West/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Other prominent Liberal politicians were dismayed by the move. Malcolm Turnbull, a cabinet minister often mentioned as a potential party leader, said he would have voted for the marriage bill if a conscience vote had been allowed. The opposition Labor Party has seized on the issue, noting that it recently pledged to make same-sex marriage legal within 100 days if returned to power in the next elections. Last month, a former Labor prime minister, Julia Gillard , came out in support of same-sex marriage, drawing scorn from some who noted that she had opposed it while in office. Mr. Abbott, a Jesuit-educated Catholic who spent three years studying for the priesthood, has called same-sex marriage a “very deeply personal” issue and one “on which decent people can differ.” He has proposed that Australian voters decide the issue directly, in a referendum or a nonbinding plebiscite. He has been vague about how such a vote would be conducted, but he said that it would probably be held after the next elections. “I’m just saying that if there is to be change, it should be change that’s owned by the people, not just by the Parliament,” Mr. Abbott said in a radio interview. Critics have called that an attempt to dodge the issue, and Liberals and others have assailed him for preventing lawmakers in the party from voting as they see fit on the bill. Some Liberals were unhappy that Mr. Abbott included lawmakers from their smaller, more conservative coalition partner, the Nationals, in the Aug. 11 meeting, which they say skewed the result. (Even within the Nationals, there is dissent: A youth division of the party endorsed same-sex marriage last week.) Mr. Abbott noted that opposition to same-sex marriage was in the coalition’s platform when it won the 2013 elections. Allowing lawmakers to contradict that, he said, would have left supporters feeling cheated (or “dudded,” as Australians say). “The last thing you should do is dud the people who voted for you,” he said. For her part, Ms. Forster sees same-sex marriage as entirely consistent with the party’s conservative values. She called it “deeply disappointing” that Liberals were not allowed to vote their conscience on the issue. “Marriage is a special relationship, and that is why we have legislation around it,” she said. “It is the bedrock of our society. It creates family units. Small government, individual freedom and equality under law are core Liberal values.” The same-sex marriage bill, in fact, was drafted by a Liberal lawmaker, Warren Entsch, a 65-year-old former crocodile farmer and Harley-Davidson enthusiast who represents a rural constituency in far northern Queensland — roughly, the equivalent of the American South. He acknowledges being an unlikely champion of the cause. Like many who have come to accept nontraditional ideas about gender, Mr. Entsch said that knowing someone open about their identity made the difference. “As a young man growing up in rural Queensland, I had an experience where a friend of mine transitioned from male to female,” Mr. Entsch said in a statement. “Her courage in taking this step in the 1970s left a lasting impression on me.” Though his bill was doomed to failure, Mr. Entsch introduced it in Parliament on Aug. 17. An Ipsos survey conducted for Fairfax Media in August found that 69 percent of Australians favor making same-sex marriage legal, a finding that is broadly consistent with other recent polls. Rodney Croome, the founder and director of the lobby group Australian Marriage Equality, said Australian attitudes toward homosexuality began to shift in the 1980s and 1990s, when laws were introduced that barred discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, among other categories. “The movement of same-sex couples out of inner-city neighborhoods and into suburbia has also helped boost the public case for marriage equality,” Mr. Croome said. “People can see that the same-sex couple living just down the street should have the same rights as them.” Mr. Abbott faced a challenge to his leadership in February, soon after he startled the country in January by awarding an Australian knighthood to Prince Philip , the Duke of Edinburgh and husband of Queen Elizabeth II. More recently, he has been damaged by a scandal involving expenses claimed by his political allies, including a speaker of the lower house of Parliament who resigned after billing taxpayers for unnecessary helicopter trips. Ms. Forster said that she and her brother — from a close-knit family, by all accounts — have agreed to disagree about same-sex marriage. And she is confident that if the issue is indeed put to a public vote, the result will be a foregone conclusion. “The view the prime minister holds, that Tony holds, is increasingly one of a minority in Australia , and the majority will decide on this,” she said. | Australia;Same-Sex Marriage,Gay Marriage;Tony Abbott |
ny0279251 | [
"us"
]
| 2016/10/03 | Florida’s Changing Latino Population Veers From G.O.P. | MIAMI — For decades, being Latino in Florida almost always meant being Republican. Miami was the undisputed capital of Cuban exiles who had fled the Communist government — they were most of the state’s Latinos — and by the 1980s a large majority had registered with the Republican Party. ( Leer en español » ) But a glimpse at the state voter rolls these days, where the names Samuel Del Valle, Maria Flores and Oswaldo Muñoz all appear as Democrats or independents, makes clear how much has changed in one of the nation’s most important swing states, one that will be important for Hillary Clinton and Donald J. Trump in November. In March, Mr. Del Valle, newly arrived from Puerto Rico, stood in front of a voter registration table, staring at the four relatively unfamiliar choices in front of him: Florida Democratic Party, Republican Party of Florida, No Party Affiliation, Minor Party. Back home, major political parties go by different names and their differences hinge on the island’s status as an American commonwealth: Should Puerto Rico seek statehood, remain a commonwealth or opt for independence from the United States? But here, he had a new choice to make. “I chose Democrat,” said Mr. Del Valle, 34, who lives in St. Cloud, in the Orlando area, and who represents one big reason Florida’s Latinos are no longer a predictably Republican vote: the fast-growing Puerto Rican population. When Ms. Flores, the American-born daughter of Cuban refugees, arrived at her new junior high school in Miami from New Orleans three decades ago, the city’s Cubanía — its Cuban sensibility — jolted her. But she adapted quickly. Spanglish soon became her third language. She mastered the Cuban greeting — an air kiss doled out as abundantly as, well, air, even if you just met the person. Then, at 18, she participated in another Miami Cuban rite of passage: She registered to vote as a Republican. “My parents were Republican, and they were happy with it,” Ms. Flores said in her living room, the smell of rice and beans floating in from the kitchen. But in 2008, Ms. Flores, 43, a legal secretary and single mother, did what was once unthinkable. She re-registered as a Democrat, another sign Republican candidates can no longer count on Florida’s Latinos. From his offices in Doral, a suburb of Miami, Mr. Muñoz, an entrepreneur from Venezuela, commands an empire of newspapers and websites that stretches across Florida to Panama and Spain. Mr. Muñoz, 64, is one of the Latin American immigrants who have contributed to the diversity and growth of Doral, which is now 80 percent Latino. Many, like Mr. Muñoz, arrived with means, while others started with nothing, drawn by the pull of American opportunity. Image A beauty shop in Doral. Credit Ilana Panich-Linsman for The New York Times When he came here two decades ago, Doral was a warren of cargo warehouses. But as Venezuelans fled the economic depredations of a socialist president, Hugo Chávez, and his successor, Nicolás Maduro, Mr. Muñoz gained readers for his publications, which are known as El Venezolano . A restaurant serving arepas, Venezuela’s signature corn pancakes, became a social center of Doral. Cubans, Colombians and Dominicans also moved in, building walled, palm-lined golf course communities. More than 200 companies based their headquarters in Doral. And Mr. Muñoz sold lots of ads. In his columns, Mr. Muñoz rails against the leftist government that has reduced Venezuelans to hunger . But in regard to American politics, Mr. Muñoz, a naturalized citizen, is a registered independent who votes Democratic — yet another reason the vote in Florida may be so competitive. Ten years ago, Republicans had a registration edge among the state’s Latinos — 37 percent were Republicans, 33 percent were Democrats and 28 percent independents, according to official figures. This year, the party lags among Latinos, with 26 percent registered as Republicans, 37 percent as Democrats and 35 percent as independents. And the independents increasingly lean Democratic, particularly among new immigrants and Puerto Ricans. “The Hispanic vote in Florida was reliably conservative and now is becoming reliably Democrat,” said Fernand R. Amandi, a pollster who has extensively surveyed Latinos in this crucial swing state whose 29 electoral votes are very much up for grabs, and could determine the outcome of the presidential race. Still, much remains up in the air. Strong Latino candidates who are Republicans, like Senator Marco Rubio, still command loyal votes. And in Miami, Representative Carlos Curbelo, a Cuban-American Republican, and Joe Garcia, a Cuban-American Democrat, are in close duel in which Mr. Garcia is trying to retake the congressional seat Mr. Curbelo won from him two years ago. There are few places in America where Latino voting power is as fluid as in Florida. Here are three snapshots. Lured by Change MIAMI — Ms. Flores was never enamored of politics. But the more she heard her bosses, a group of lawyers, talk, the more she realized she had a kinship with Democrats on issues that affected her. As with so many people who switch parties, her decision was also driven by the top of the ticket, Barack Obama, in 2008. “I was a single mom with two kids, and he represented change, and helping people like me, and equality,” she said. She worried about getting laid off. She worried about how she could afford to get her son a car and pay for college. Yet, she said, the Republican Party didn’t speak to her. Instead, it fumed about abortion and religious rights and immigration. “It was ‘God says this and God says that,’” she said. Image Maria Flores, like many Cuban-Americans in Florida, first registered as a Republican. But Ms. Flores, 43, changed her registration several years ago after realizing she had a kinship with the Democrats on issues that affected her. Credit Ilana Panich-Linsman for The New York Times Image Rolando Bocos, left, 77, a Cuban-American, has little use for either party. His grandson, Alex Flores, right, 21, drifted toward the Democrats because of their stances on social issues. Credit Ilana Panich-Linsman for The New York Times Her father and son, in different ways, are moving in similar directions. Her father, Rolando Bocos, a former yacht builder who once served five years in a Cuban prison after the government charged his brother with carrying a weapon, is no Democrat. “I think they are Communists,” Mr. Bocos said. But now, he will not vote for Republicans, either. “It doesn’t matter Republican, Democrat, to me anymore,” said Mr. Bocos, 77. At his age, he said, “I’m only interested in Medicare and Social Security.” He said he would not vote this year. Ms. Flores’s 21-year-old son, Alex, a student at Florida International University, drifted toward the Democrats because of social issues — gay rights (his godfather and some of his cousins are gay), religious tolerance, female empowerment. “I knew which side fit my moral compass,” he said. Last year, he became president of the university’s College Democrats. Ms. Flores laughed at the unexpected turn in her life. “It’s funny that I came to Miami and became a Democrat.” The Exile Experience DORAL, Fla. — The transformation of Doral reflects the broader changes across South Florida. Cuban-Americans no longer dominate, but are now part of a Hispanic mix that includes a wave of immigrants from Latin America. Although many Venezuelans, Colombians and Brazilians have escaped leftist politics at home, once they become Americans they typically become Democrats. Image Oswaldo Muñoz, 64, an entrepreneur from Venezuela, owns Spanish-language newspapers and websites. In his columns, he rails against the leftist policies of the Venezuelan government, but he is a registered independent who votes Democratic. Credit Angel Valentin for The New York Times Their voting power is limited, but growing. Many immigrants in Doral have not been here long enough to become naturalized, so there are only about 20,000 registered voters among 56,000 residents. But the trend away from Republican dominance is clear: 29 percent are Democrats and 46 percent are registered as independents. Only 24 percent are Republicans. Mr. Muñoz said Cubans have welcomed Venezuelans to Miami, seeing in them a similar exile experience. The feeling is mutual. “We live close to their pain, so we understand it,” he said. But there are differences. Venezuelans reject anything that reminds them of Mr. Chávez’s authoritarian rule, but they still favor the expansive government role in health care and education that Democrats support. Many Venezuelans are suspicious of the back-room politics they see in the entrenched Miami Republican establishment. Unlike Cuban exiles, who benefit from special entry to the United States, Venezuelans — and other Latin immigrants — have no easy path. Some Doral residents are undocumented. “We are immigrants, and we will always be immigrants,” Mr. Muñoz said. This year’s race for mayor of Doral reflects the changes. The incumbent, Luigi Boria, is a self-made businessman from Venezuela. A registered independent, he is a Republican in practice and a conservative Christian pastor whose priority has been to promote and bring order to the city’s frenetic growth. Image Mayor Luigi Boria of Doral, right, is an independent whose politics are in line with Republicans. Credit Angel Valentin for The New York Times Image Sandra Ruiz, a Democrat and Mexican-American councilwoman in Doral, is challenging Mr. Boria. Credit Ilana Panich-Linsman for The New York Times He is facing a challenge from Sandra Ruiz, a Democrat and popular Mexican-American councilwoman who moved here years ago from San Diego. She zips around town in a car decorated with her photograph. Ms. Ruiz says Mr. Boria is too partial to developers and has failed to include lower-income residents in city programs. Even though Mr. Boria is a compatriot, Mr. Muñoz and his newspapers are supporting Ms. Ruiz. Warily recalling Mr. Chavez’s multiterm rule in Venezuela, he thinks one term for Mr. Boria is enough. But in Doral — as among Florida Latinos overall — the person pushing Latinos toward the Democrats this year is the Republican nominee, Mr. Trump. The owner of a golf course here, Mr. Trump persuaded Doral to host the Miss Universe beauty pageant in January 2015. The taxpayers ended up paying $1.1 million to Mr. Trump’s organization, Mr. Boria confirmed. But the exposure was a boon to local businesses, and Mr. Boria proposed giving Mr. Trump a key to the city. But when Mr. Trump began his campaign last year attacking Mexican immigrants as criminals, it cast a shadow on Doral. Ms. Ruiz was offended. “I felt Doral lost the city’s entire investment the moment he opened his mouth regarding Hispanics,” Ms. Ruiz said. Image The Trump National Doral. Credit Ilana Panich-Linsman for The New York Times The feeling of insult was heightened after Mr. Trump waged a relentless Twitter assault on Alicia Machado, a former Miss Universe who is Venezuelan, whose story was highlighted by Mrs. Clinton last week’s presidential debate. Mr. Trump called her “disgusting” because she had gained weight after her pageant victory. In an interview in Mr. Muñoz’s publications, Ms. Machado, who became an American citizen this year, exhorted Latino voters to learn from her experience: “We can’t risk having such a violent, bad-tempered, macho person as Trump as our president.” Mr. Muñoz explained that Mr. Trump, although a Republican, reminds him and many other Venezuelans of their leftist nemesis, Mr. Chávez. “It’s his arrogance, his intolerance, the way he insults people who disagree with him,” Mr. Muñoz said. Speaking His Language ST. CLOUD, Fla. — When Samuel Del Valle became a Democrat, he joined a huge influx of American citizens streaming into Central Florida — Puerto Ricans, who are helping reshape the party’s political identity. Their growing presence along the state’s Interstate 4 corridor is a chief reason Florida’s Latino vote has veered away from Republicans. For Mr. Del Valle, a teacher and college graduate, the choice this election season is easy. He liked the Clintons. He also liked President Obama. He even liked Jeb Bush, but Mr. Bush dropped out of the race. Ultimately, though, he knew enough about the Democratic Party to know it spoke his language, he said. “They are super on minorities, and women and gays,” said Mr. Del Valle as his wife, Verónica Rivera, unloaded boxes inside the small apartment they rented recently in St. Cloud. “They support the Arabs, the Indians, the Latinos — all of us are different and have different cultures.” Image Samuel Del Valle, 34, at home in St. Cloud with his family. “Democrats are saying things that I want to hear about Latinos,” he said. Credit Ilana Panich-Linsman for The New York Times For the Republican Party, though, the thousands of Puerto Ricans who have fled the island’s economic collapse remain within reach. Like many Latinos, they tend to hold conservative values; new to the mainland and without strong partisan preconceptions, they are open to Republican ideas in ways that Puerto Ricans in the North are not. With the right candidate, Puerto Ricans here are open to Republican courtship. Despite the Latino firestorm over Mr. Trump and his talk of border walls, Mr. Del Valle says he finds traces of redemption in him. “I like some Republican ideas,” he said. The party, he added, stands for patriotism, law and order, discipline in government and a strong military. These ideas are appealing to many Puerto Ricans who have confronted high murder rates and deep-rooted government corruption, but who also boast high levels of military service. “Trump does mention things that are true,” Mr. Del Valle said. “It’s a big border and people are coming illegally.” So far, though, that is not enough to sway Puerto Rican voters. Their growing alliance with Democrats is strongly rooted in the candidates’ words and attitudes, and the signals they send about whether Latinos are welcome here as equals. “I see myself as a Latino who wants to contribute to the United States,” Mr. Del Valle said. “And the Democrats are saying things that I want to hear about Latinos.” | 2016 Presidential Election;Hispanic Americans;Florida;Republicans;Democrats;Voter registration;Immigration;Cuban American;Puerto Ricans |
ny0065439 | [
"world",
"middleeast"
]
| 2014/06/26 | Small Blasts Across Cairo Disrupt Calm Since Election | CAIRO — Five small bombs exploded around Egypt’s capital within two hours on Wednesday, injuring six people in the first such attacks since the election of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi this month. Mr. Sisi, the former general who led the military ouster of President Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood last summer, had campaigned as the only one who could restore stability after a wave of protests and violence against the government in reaction to the takeover. Wednesday’s explosions, which punctured a period of relative calm before and after the election, were a reminder that the job is not done. No one was killed, and Egyptian officials described all five bombs as primitive. Four were detonated in subway stations in different neighborhoods in the northeast district of Cairo. The fifth exploded under a car in a square in the neighborhood of Heliopolis, outside a courthouse where 23 demonstrators who were arrested recently during a march calling for the right to hold street protests were headed to trial. The explosion in the square damaged several vehicles. But traffic on the subway lines soon returned to normal. Television coverage showed police dogs in the area, presumably sniffing for more bombs. The timing of the explosions suggested that they were coordinated, but no one claimed responsibility. The Interior Ministry immediately sought to blame the violence on the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamist group that backed Mr. Morsi and is still calling for his reinstatement. The new military-backed government has declared the Brotherhood a terrorist organization and outlawed it. On Wednesday, the Interior Ministry released pictures depicting what it called “the interruption of an attempt by the terrorist Muslim Brotherhood organization to smuggle equipment that is used in acts of violence.” Since the takeover last summer, the police have detained more than 16,000 people for protesting or otherwise opposing the new government. On Sunday, a Cairo court sentenced three journalists to at least seven years in prison on charges of “abetting and joining a terrorist organization,” which is understood to mean the Muslim Brotherhood. In a speech on Tuesday, President Sisi promised that the security and stability of Egypt was the responsibility of the Army and the police, “not just in Egypt, but in the whole region.” | Terrorism;Cairo;Egypt;Bombs |
ny0011853 | [
"sports",
"hockey"
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| 2013/11/03 | Vanek Reaches Milestone as Islanders Defeat Bruins | John Tavares, Andrew MacDonald and Thomas Vanek scored second-period goals, and Kevin Poulin made 26 saves for his first win of the season as the Islanders beat the visiting Boston Bruins, 3-1, on Saturday. Tavares knocked a loose puck past the backup goalie Chad Johnson at 6 minutes 15 seconds of the second period for his sixth goal of the season. The assist went to Vanek, the 29-year-old left wing acquired from Buffalo last week. MacDonald scored his first of the season at 13:13 to give the Islanders a 2-0 lead, but Boston’s Dougie Hamilton answered two minutes later. Vanek then scored his first goal with the Islanders, one-timing a perfect cross-ice pass from Kyle Okposo past Johnson from the left circle at 16:08. Vanek’s goal was the 255th of his career and his 500th point. FLYERS 1, DEVILS 0 Brayden Schenn deflected an Andrej Meszaros shot past Martin Brodeur in the first period, and Ray Emery made 14 saves to lead visiting Philadelphia. The last-place Flyers, coming off a 7-0 loss to Washington a night earlier, dominated long stretches of play against the Devils. The Devils came up empty on five power-play opportunities as Emery recorded his 15th career shutout. Brodeur finished with 20 saves. DUCKS 6, SABRES 3 Emerson Etem and Corey Perry each scored two goals to lift visiting Anaheim. Buffalo (2-13-1) continued the worst start in franchise history. PENGUINS 3, BLUE JACKETS 0 Deryk Engelland, Chris Kunitz and Jussi Jokinen scored, and the backup goaltender Jeff Zatkoff had 19 saves in his first N.H.L. win to lead visiting Pittsburgh to its fourth straight victory. LIGHTNING 4, BLUES 2 Brett Connolly and Valtteri Filppula had third-period goals for host Tampa Bay. Alex Killorn had a goal and two assists, and Steven Stamkos also scored for the Lightning, who are 5-0 against Western Conference teams. BLACKHAWKS 5 JETS 1 Brandon Bollig, Patrick Sharp and Nick Leddy scored in a stretch of less than five minutes in the second period as visiting Chicago extended its winning streak to three games. Corey Crawford stopped 26 shots to pick up his eighth win. CAPITALS 3, PANTHERS 2 Nicklas Backstrom scored in the first period and added the winning goal in a shootout to lead host Washington. Florida’s Tomas Fleishmann tied the score on a power-play goal with 2:38 remaining. CANUCKS 4, MAPLE LEAFS 0 Roberto Luongo had 21 saves for his second shutout of the season and Daniel Sedin, Zack Kassian, Chris Higgins and Dan Hamhuis scored for host Vancouver. | Ice hockey;Thomas Vanek;Islanders;Bruins;Flyers;Devils |
ny0253250 | [
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| 2011/10/19 | Report Faults Sleeping and Awake Controllers | Two airliners landed in error at Reagan National Airport on March 23 after the lone tower controller on a midnight shift fell asleep and regional officials reacted incorrectly, a federal investigation concluded. As air traffic managers tried to figure out why the tower was not responding, a regional controller left the pilots of the incoming flights with the erroneous impression that they could land using rules for airports with unmanned towers, the National Transportation Safety Board said in a report Tuesday. The planes landed safely. The board blamed the tower controller’s fatigue and the Federal Aviation Administration ’s scheduling practices for the incident. The F.A.A. has since revamped scheduling, assigned at least two controllers to every tower overnight and revised the guidelines for when a tower does not respond. | Airlines and Airplanes;Fatigue;Federal Aviation Administration;Reagan Ronald Washington National Airport;National Transportation Safety Board;Aviation Accidents and Safety;Air Traffic Control |
ny0219172 | [
"us"
]
| 2010/05/01 | Mine Blast That Killed 29 Prompts F.B.I. Inquiry | WASHINGTON — The F.B.I. has interviewed more than 20 employees of Massey Energy in a criminal investigation of the explosion that killed 29 of the company’s miners last month in West Virginia, according to two officials from the federal mine safety agency and the Department of Justice. The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation was under way, said that more interviews were planned in the next couple of weeks. Spokesmen for the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration and the F.B.I. declined to comment about their investigations. A statement released by Massey, which owns the Upper Big Branch mine, where the explosion occurred, said the company had no knowledge of criminal wrongdoing and was cooperating fully with the investigation. An Upper Big Branch miner who appeared before a federal grand jury within the past two weeks said investigators seemed especially interested in the mine’s ventilation system, specifically whether certain air-lock doors and a storage shaft known as the glory hole were properly sealed to control the flow of clean and contaminated air. Both issues were raised in a New York Times article last month about Massey’s safety practices. The miner, who asked for anonymity because he still worked for the Upper Big Branch mine and was not permitted to speak publicly, said he was contacted by federal prosecutors a week after the explosion, which mining experts believe was most likely caused by a dangerous buildup of methane and coal dust. The mine had been cited at least 44 times in the last two years for major methane violations. | Massey Energy Co;Mines and Mining;Accidents and Safety;West Virginia;Federal Bureau of Investigation |
ny0081860 | [
"world",
"europe"
]
| 2015/10/03 | Tajikistan: U.N. Agency Rebukes Government Over Crackdown on Opposition Party | A spokeswoman for the United Nations high commissioner for human rights reprimanded the Tajikistan government on Friday for its crackdown on what is widely considered the only genuine opposition party in the country. Tajik authorities banned the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan this week, with a local court labeling it a terrorist organization. Thirteen leading party members were arrested, accused of having links to armed violence that rattled the country and left more than 40 people dead. The party has maintained that it is not connected with the violence. “We call upon the Tajik authorities to ensure that any measures taken in the fight against ‘terrorism’ or ‘extremism’ are fully in line with international human rights law,” the spokeswoman, Ravina Shamdasani, said in a statement that was published online. Tajikistan is a former member of the Soviet Union. | Tajikistan;Human Rights;Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe |
ny0026879 | [
"sports",
"football"
]
| 2013/01/27 | Super Bowl — Archie Manning Is the ‘First Citizen’ of New Orleans | NEW ORLEANS — In 1971, when Archie Manning arrived in New Orleans to quarterback the Saints, he quickly became a spokesman for a local Chevrolet dealer and was given a shiny red Corvette. With little hesitation, he began whizzing around town in his new sports car. He was 22. He was an athlete. He was giddy. He was also, as it turned out, not particularly adept at judging distances. The problem with the Corvette was that its hood was elongated, stretching “like 10 feet out in front of the windshield,” he said. One day, while approaching a stop sign, he slammed into the car in front of him. The man in the other car threw open his door, clearly not happy. But then, abruptly, the man stopped. He stood, peering into the Corvette. And then he smiled. “Hey, Arch!” he called out, and then screamed, “Go Saints!” Then the man got back in his car and drove away. Sitting on his couch this month while recalling the story, Manning laughed. “Yep,” he said. “That was pretty much the beginning.” The beginning of Manning’s stardom, yes, but even more the beginning of a love, an affection, a relationship between a family and a city. There is, to be sure, widespread disappointment that neither Peyton nor Eli Manning will be playing in the Super Bowl next Sunday, but that does not mean there will not be a Manning quarterback drawing cheers and signing autographs and shaking hands all week. Archie, perhaps the most famous New Orleans quarterback of all, is here. He always has been. “He’s the first citizen of this city, that’s the only way I can say it,” James Carville, the political consultant and New Orleans resident, said in an interview. “He’s the one.” The city’s abiding love for Archie Manning is not complicated. New Orleanians embrace him because he passed here and ran here, but also because he stayed here. He was the quarterback for the Saints from 1971 to 1982, a sharp-jawed, redheaded constant in a period of perpetual coaching changes, unstable executive structure and, most memorably, an incredible run of really, really bad football. Image Archie Manning at his home in the Garden District. Credit William Widmer for The New York Times As the losses piled up, seemingly everyone left the organization at one point or another, except Archie . He stayed for the 2-12 team in 1975 and the 3-11 team in 1977. He saw 2-11-1 in 1972 and 1-15 in 1980. Then he saw three boys grow up. Then he saw Hurricane Katrina. Then he saw the recovery. “He had every reason to leave,” Carville said. “He could have. But he didn’t.” The Journey From Mississippi Technically, the Mannings are transplants. Archie was born in the Delta, in Drew, Miss., and his wife, Olivia, is from Philadelphia, Miss., about 140 miles southeast of Drew. New Orleans is also not the only city to claim the Mannings as local royalty. In Oxford, Miss., where Archie and Eli both starred at quarterback for Mississippi, the speed limit on campus is 18 miles an hour — in honor of Archie’s jersey number — and the speed limit on Manning Way, the road around the football stadium, is 10 m.p.h. — in honor of Eli’s. Given those connections, it is hardly surprising that Archie and Olivia initially planned to return to Mississippi. “That was always our intention,” Archie said. “It was just going to be temporary here.” Mississippi was in their blood. The Mannings met at Ole Miss, and married during their senior year. They moved to Louisiana after Archie was selected second over all in the 1971 N.F.L. draft. When Olivia came to New Orleans to look at houses, she did not cast a wide net. She looked in Metairie , and only Metairie, because that was the one area that she or Archie had heard anything about. “It’s where the Saints trained,” Archie said. “So that’s where we lived.” Their first apartment — “they called it a penthouse because we had a patio,” Archie said — was memorable because it was not far from Drago’s, a restaurant where charbroiled oysters are said to have been invented. Listening from the kitchen while Archie lovingly recalled the oysters, Olivia called out, “You’re really going down memory lane now, aren’t you?” A moment later though, she added, “They were really very good.” It did not take long for the Mannings to become attached to New Orleans. During his rookie minicamp, Archie went with several other players to the old Municipal Auditorium to see the local middleweight boxer Tony Licata. The players went out afterward, and the next morning, Saints Coach J. D. Roberts sat them down before practice. “Now listen,” Manning recalled Roberts saying gravely. “You know you’re not going to be making a habit of going down there, right?” Generally, Archie did not. But it was difficult to ignore the allure of New Orleans, particularly because the players were generally treated well. After the Saints upset Los Angeles in Archie’s first game, a large group retired to the French Quarter for a long dinner at the Rib Room. He says he is not quite sure where they went next, but there is a good chance the famed bar Pat O’Brien’s was involved. Image Two of the family’s favorite foods have been the barbecue shrimp at Pascal’s Manale and the messy po’boys at Domilise’s, above. Credit William Widmer for The New York Times “It wasn’t like people ever go to bed early around here,” Archie said laughing, and it did not take long for him and Olivia to fall in love with the overflowing options for art and music and the sort of food that makes the back of your tongue tingle. Near the top of their list was the barbecue shrimp at Pascal’s Manale restaurant, and the Mannings would gladly wait the 90 minutes it often took to get in there. “Except on Sunday night,” Archie said. “On Sunday night, after games, we got right in. On Wednesday, we waited like everyone else.” The only thing wrong was the football. This was not altogether unfamiliar territory — Manning is one of the most celebrated college players even though Ole Miss was only 15-7 over his last two seasons — yet the Saints’ play sank to particularly pungent depths. The Saints lost — a lot — and Archie never played on a team with a winning record. He also was hit — a lot — being sacked 340 times during his Saints career. It got so bad that fans often referred to the team as the Aints and wore bags on their heads at games. The Manning family nadir came when Olivia looked around during one particularly loud cavalcade of boos and realized that her oldest son, Cooper, then about 7 and sitting next to her, was joining the chorus. “Yeah, I did it,” Cooper said. “I booed. Everyone else was doing it and you know, it’s a copycat league.” He laughed and said, “I mean, 1-15 is 1-15!” Despite Archie’s being pummeled on a near-weekly basis, he and Olivia were becoming more attached to their new home. When Peyton was born in 1976, joining Cooper, who had arrived two years earlier, the Mannings discussed moving to a larger house. For a moment, they considered another place in the suburbs. Then, Olivia said to Archie, “There’s a million suburbs — there’s only one Uptown,” and the family ended up buying a charming camelback cottage on Seventh Street in the neighborhood. There, Peyton and Cooper shared a room upstairs that had originally been the master bedroom where they wrestled, played knee-high football and even created their own version of indoor tennis that featured “some of the longest points ever,” Cooper recalled, because the ball was soft and squishy like a balloon. The family became embedded in New Orleans. The children played in Audubon Park. Archie loved running on St. Charles Avenue. On special occasions, the family might go to Ruth’s Chris for dinner; on most Saturdays, they went for the messy po’boy sandwiches and Barq’s root beers at the famed Domilise’s. Even when Archie was traded to Houston in 1982, he essentially commuted, flying to New Orleans — “On Southwest, it was only $29!” he said — whenever he could. Sometimes, Olivia put Cooper or Peyton on a flight to go see their father play, and Archie had Oliver Luck, the father of the current Colts quarterback Andrew Luck but then just a rookie quarterback with the Oilers, take care of them. Often, after quarterback meetings were finished, Oliver took Peyton to McDonald’s. Then after the game, Archie would put his sons on a plane back home. Image Archie Manning’s historic home in the Garden District of New Orleans is a frequent tourist stop. From the porch, he used to fire passes to his sons. Credit William Widmer for The New York Times It was not ideal, but the family did not want to leave New Orleans. In 1984, after Archie had been traded to the Minnesota Vikings in the middle of the previous season, the family rented a house in Minnetonka. One morning in November, they woke to find several feet of snow covering the backyard. Olivia seemed unimpressed. She kept staring at a tiny pond that was in the back. “Where are all the ducks?” she said. “It’s cold, so I guess they flew south,” Archie answered with a shrug. Olivia nodded. “They went south?” she said. “Well, so am I.” That off-season, the Mannings returned to New Orleans for good. By the time Archie retired, Eli, who was born in 1981, was 4 and the family had moved into what would become known around New Orleans as “the Manning house.” Sitting in the middle of the Garden District, it is a historic home and remains a frequent stop on tours of the area. It has high ceilings, pretty flowers in the yard, a swimming pool and a view from the backyard of another stately New Orleans house that was once home to the musician Trent Reznor and is currently occupied by the actor John Goodman. When the three Manning boys were young, though, their home was mostly a place for sports. Most memorably for the boys, there was a game they called ’Mazing Catches — “No ‘a,’ ” Cooper said — which involved Archie standing on the porch and firing passes that were just out in front of the boys as they ran across the lawn. “If it was a little wet and you could dive and slide, that was the big play,” Eli said. “We were probably a little spoiled having a professional quarterback throwing to us.” Even though Archie was no longer playing, his popularity did not wane. He had moved into broadcasting, working as a game analyst on the Saints’ radio network and serving as a spokesman for several companies. Eli said he did not remember a time when his father did not have people coming up to him asking for autographs. “As a kid, it was just something that happened,” Eli said. “That was just what my dad did. It was normal, like — O.K., so, should I go up and ask my friends’ dads for their autographs, too?” When it came to sports, Archie’s general philosophy was to avoid being overbearing, and so he rarely coached his sons’ teams and, if he did, it was usually as an assistant. There was one time, though, when he was a head coach because there were not enough other fathers who volunteered. “It was basketball, and Peyton was little,” Archie said, shaking his head. “There was a draft; there were tryouts for all the kids and then the coaches put the teams together. But I couldn’t go to the tryout, so at the draft, I just drafted all my friends’ kids because I thought that would be nice for everyone to play together.” Image Audubon Park was a favorite spot for Archie Manning's sons, Cooper, Peyton and Eli. Credit William Widmer for The New York Times Archie sighed. “Well, we were terrible,” he said. “We were very bad. And Peyton got really mad at me. ‘Why did you draft these guys? What’s wrong with you?’ He was really competitive. And so that’s when I quit being a head coach.” A Proud Host Archie smiled as he reminisced about his sons growing up in New Orleans. The boys embraced the city, too, he said: Eli, the baby of the family, was known to sometimes go antiquing with his mother and as they got older, all three began stopping in at Domilise’s for po’boys on their own. Sometimes, Eli would even work a little for Miss Dot, the woman who ran the place. Even now, decades later, Peyton was mortified when Cooper texted him this season to inform him that there were no photographs on the wall of Peyton in a Denver Broncos uniform. “They’re in the mail right now,” he texted back almost immediately. “I think we all saw how much the city meant to our parents,” Eli said. “And there is no doubt that it translated to us. New Orleans is a part of us.” The family has spread over the years. Peyton went to Tennessee for college, then lived in Indianapolis and now Denver. Eli lives in New Jersey and keeps a place in Oxford for downtime during the off-season. After Hurricane Katrina, however, they immediately returned to New Orleans, teaming with the Red Cross to bring food and clothes and supplies to those affected by the storm. Their family house, where Archie and Olivia still live, escaped with only minor damage, though Cooper, who works as an energy trader, did have to deal with more significant repairs to his family’s home. In the years since the storm, Archie said, he and Olivia never considered leaving. “How could we?” he said, and he has reveled in seeing his grandchildren play on the same lawn where his sons did. Each summer, he and the boys run the Manning Passing Academy for aspiring quarterbacks and he has watched with pride as his adopted city has risen again. This week, as the city is overrun with football, Archie says he expects to be busy making appearances and signing autographs, and checking in on the way things are going at Manning’s, the restaurant he owns downtown. Carville even joked that if N.F.L. Commissioner Roger Goodell is looking for someone to protect him from all the angry Saints fans still furious over the discipline he imposed after the bounty scandal, all Goodell needs to do is walk around town with Archie. “That’s one way to stay safe,” Carville said, laughing. “Personal bodyguard, guaranteed.” Archie, of course, would be happy to do it. “We need to be good hosts,” he said earnestly, before rattling off the previous nine Super Bowls that have been played in New Orleans. He concluded, “The city is perfect for games like this.” Then he leaned back on the couch and began listing what he loves about New Orleans. The World War II museum. The energy. The food. The people. On and on he went. “It’s home,” he said finally, and he smiled. No, a Manning quarterback is not playing in the Super Bowl next Sunday, but that does not mean one is not here. The most famous Manning quarterback in New Orleans has always been the one who never left. | Archie Manning;New Orleans;Football;Super Bowl;Manning Passing Academy;Eli Manning;Peyton Manning;Cooper Manning;New Orleans Saints |
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| 2008/07/11 | A Longer Walk for a Latte? Plans to Shrink Starbucks Resonate in City | Are there too many Starbucks outlets in New York City? There are, most likely, too many nationwide. Last week, the coffeehouse chain announced that it would lay off more than 12,000 employees and close some 600 stores by next March — many of them because they were too close to another store and were siphoning off a quarter or more of the neighbor’s business. So what does that mean for New York, where the density of stores in parts of the city has come to border on the comic since the first Starbucks opened at 87th Street and Broadway in 1994? (As a character in the 2000 movie “Best in Show” said of her romance: “We met at Starbucks. Not at the same Starbucks, but we saw each other at different Starbucks across the street from each other.”) There are 235 stores in the five boroughs, 185 in Manhattan alone. This comes to about eight stores per square mile on the island. There are two within 250 feet of each other at Astor Place, two in Rockefeller Center (ground floor and subway level), two in Macy’s (mezzanine and third floor) and two down the corridor from each other at Pennsylvania Station. “It’s a little crazy,” said Amy Halperin, an artist from Maplewood, N.J., who was coming out of Starbucks Penn Station No. 1 holding a grande iced vanilla latte. Gesturing to Starbucks Penn Station No. 2 about 350 feet away, she said, “When they opened it, I was a little surprised.” But each Starbucks serves its own audience. Some people turn left when coming into the Penn Station hallway. Others turn right. Now each group has a Starbucks to serve it. John Skelly, sitting in one of the Starbucks outlets at Astor Place with his tall iced coffee, looked out through the window at the other. “They are popping up everywhere,” said Mr. Skelly, who works at the Public Theater nearby. “If it’s not a Starbucks, it’s a bank or a Duane Reade.” Some 250 feet away, Katherine Freeman, 21, sat in the other Starbucks and asked: “Are people so crazed for coffee that if one is too packed, they have to go across the street? They can’t wait another five minutes?” And Mary Malakh, sitting in the third-floor Starbucks at Macy’s with a tall cappuccino, rattled off the Starbucks stores in the immediate vicinity: “There is one on 33rd. There is one on 34th. There is one at Broadway and 37th. And there are two in here. And those are the only ones I know.” While Starbucks executives have not released a list of the stores to be closed, the company has said that “all major U.S. markets” will be affected, and has singled out California and Florida, which have been hit particularly hard by the mortgage crisis. But perhaps New York, much in the way its housing market has largely been able to withstand the downdrafts of national real estate trends, also has its own Starbucks economics. As Ms. Malakh pointed out, despite the high concentration of Starbucks stores she listed in or near Herald Square, “no matter which one you go to, they always have a huge line.” “New York has always been a unique market,” Taylor Clark, author of “Starbucked” (Little, Brown, 2007), said in an interview. “The ideal version of Starbucks, which involves a lot of walking traffic, is built for cities like New York: You’ve got such giant masses of people walking by, all of which need coffees, given the pace of life.” Lesly Madera, 18, who was drinking a grande caramel Frappuccino after his shift at one of the Astor Place stores, said that though it seemed “kind of crazy having so many Starbucks close together,” the company placed stores where “they were needed.” Mr. Madera, who said he intended to quit in two weeks, added that “Astor Place is overwhelmed by the numbers.” Starbucks executives have said that they were concerned less about the distance between stores than the number of customers that each store draws. And New York is the most tightly packed urban area in the country, with a caffeine-fueled lifestyle (though the appetite for $4 lattes may ebb if the economy deteriorates further). Mark Malkoff, a comedian who visited all 171 Starbucks outlets then in Manhattan in a 24-hour period for a short film last summer, observed in an interview: “There were five stores open 24 hours a day — that’s just so a New Yorker can wake up at 3 or 4 a.m. and say, ‘I need my fix,’ and they can go to Starbucks.” Notably, there are no other major coffee chains in New York City. No Caribou Coffee. No Tim Hortons. No Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf. No Peet’s Coffee. (Dunkin’ Donuts and McDonald’s, though not coffee chains, have both jumped into the latte market in New York.) Despite the concentration of stores in southern and central Manhattan, there is a lot of untapped territory elsewhere in the city. Starbucks is still expanding in Harlem and just opened its first store in Jackson Heights, Queens. There are only five stores in the Bronx. And New York does not have the record for the two closest Starbucks outlets, Mr. Clark said. Those two are in Portland, Ore., and are 15 to 20 feet apart. How is that possible? They are both in a mall, he said: one on the first floor and another directly above on the third, with only the second floor separating them. | Starbucks Corp;New York City |
ny0068498 | [
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| 2014/12/26 | Saints Voice Support for Their Defensive Coordinator | As the New Orleans Saints wrap up a rough season on defense, the coordinator Rob Ryan is facing some speculation that he will not be back with the team next year. Several of his players, though, are making his case to return. “I think Rob is one of the best defensive coordinators I’ve ever been around and played for,” linebacker Curtis Lofton said, adding: “We let him down this year, so that’s disappointing. He stayed the same old, same old.” New Orleans has given up nearly a touchdown more per game this season than in 2013, but cornerback Keenan Lewis said: “I don’t think the blame should go to the coaches at all. We’re the ones out there playing. We’ve got to find a way to get it stopped.” | Football;New Orleans Saints |
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| 2014/08/28 | Colombia: Assassin for Escobar Released | A man who confessed to hundreds of murders as the lead assassin for the drug kingpin Pablo Escobar has been freed from a maximum-security prison under heavy police guard. The assassin, John Jairo Velásquez, better known by the nickname Popeye, was paroled Tuesday evening despite protests from victims’ relatives. He had spent 22 years behind bars for plotting the murder of a presidential candidate, Luis Carlos Galan, during campaigning in 1989. Mr. Velásquez said he was considering relocating abroad because of the risk he might be killed, and he said he wanted to sell Hollywood the rights to the story of his life. | Murders;Pablo Escobar;John Jairo Velasquez;Colombia;Drug Abuse;Organized crime |
ny0262693 | [
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| 2011/12/05 | China Says Helping Europe Would Be Difficult | HONG KONG — The Chinese government over the weekend sought to tamp down international expectations that Beijing might use its large financial reserves to help ease the European debt crisis . The two government agencies that control the reserves face heavy restrictions on their use, Chinese government officials and economists said. “The argument that China should rescue Europe does not stand, as reserves are not managed that way,” China’s vice minister for foreign affairs, Fu Ying, said in comments prominently reported by the state news media over the weekend. Ms. Fu’s statements were significant because Chinese diplomats and political leaders had been less publicly hostile to the idea of helping Europe than Chinese economic policy makers, who had been strongly opposed. Her comments conspicuously echoed some of the arguments made for several months by Chinese economic policy makers. She said that the $3.2 trillion in bonds, bills and cash held by the central bank as official foreign reserves represented national savings that were not easily disbursed. “Foreign reserves are not domestic income or money that can be disposed of by the premier or finance minister,” she added, according to Xinhua, the state-run news agency. “Foreign reserves are akin to savings, and their liquidity should be ensured.” Lou Jiwei, chairman and chief executive of the China Investment Corporation, a $374 billion sovereign wealth fund that is managed independently of the foreign exchange reserves, has also tried to dispel speculation that it might buy a lot of European bonds. He suggested a week ago that his fund might invest in roads, bridges and other infrastructure projects in Europe, part of a broader Chinese interest in fixed assets, rather than helping countries finance their budget deficits. The Chinese central bank effectively borrowed the money from the Chinese public to buy the dollars, euros and other currencies in both funds. The central bank has required commercial banks to transfer one-fifth of their domestic deposits to it and has used that money to buy $1 billion or more a day of foreign currencies to slow the appreciation of the renminbi against the dollar. The central bank has also pressed commercial banks to buy central bank bills that pay very low rates of interest and has used the proceeds to buy dollars. These methods of financing foreign exchange reserves have left the central bank with significant domestic liabilities in renminbi to balance against whatever return it can earn on foreign bonds, making economic policy makers particularly wary of taking risks with foreign exchange reserves. The possibility that China might buy large amounts of European Union bonds has been raised repeatedly in the last year and a half by various officials from Greece, Italy and the European Union. These officials have sought to reassure financial markets that there will be demand for European government bonds, as a way to encourage investors to continue buying those bonds and thereby hold down the interest rates that European governments pay on their debt. The Chinese government has mostly discouraged this speculation. But Prime Minister Wen Jiabao raised hopes in Europe in mid-September when he said that China might be prepared to lend a hand if Europe were to label China a “market economy,” a designation that would make it difficult for European companies to file antidumping cases against low-priced Chinese exports. Mr. Wen did not offer details on how China might help. Ms. Fu’s remarks represented some of the strongest comments by a Chinese official since then to suggest that Beijing was in no hurry to lend a hand. In remarks at a conference held at the Foreign Ministry on Friday and then reported by the state media over the weekend, Ms. Fu did not explicitly rule out buying bonds that might be issued as part of a European bailout. She did say that China continued to consider Europe an important economic partner. But her caution suggested that China was not eager to increase its already sizable investment in the region; the foreign reserves include an estimated $1 trillion in euro-denominated assets, and experts on the Chinese central bank believe that much of it is invested in German government bonds. Two people close to Chinese policy makers said on Sunday that China was particularly wary of buying any bonds issued in connection with a European bailout as long as there were clear differences within the European Union on the shape of a bailout. They insisted on anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the subject publicly. One of the two said China would lend large sums to Europe only if there were clear guarantees by the strongest European countries, particularly Germany, to take direct responsibility for the repayment of that debt. But Germany has refused to accept that liability. If Germany did give its own repayment guarantee, there would be such heavy demand for the bonds from the Middle East and elsewhere that Chinese money might not even be needed, the person said. | European Sovereign Debt Crisis (2010- );China;European Union;Credit and Debt;Economic Conditions and Trends |
ny0067655 | [
"world",
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| 2014/12/18 | U.S. Frees Last of the ‘Cuban Five,’ Part of a 1990s Spy Ring | MIAMI — They were known as the Cuban Five, members of a spy ring that descended on South Florida in the 1990s and infiltrated exile groups and military installations. They, along with other members of the ring, tried to make themselves indispensable to the exile groups whose secrets they stole. One of the operatives worked at the Naval Air Station in Key West, while another worked undercover in Tampa. “They were very good,” said Ramón Saúl Sánchez, the founder of the Movimiento Democracia, one of the exile organizations that was infiltrated. “When you trust somebody who you honestly believe is struggling for the good of your people, and suddenly you see that person was actually an agent of the oppressor against your struggle, of course you feel betrayed.” Image Alan P. Gross, center, in his lawyer’s office in Washington after his release from Cuba. Credit Stephen Crowley/The New York Times Another operative, who managed to avoid being one of the Cuban Five by fleeing back to Cuba, had even married a local woman from his church. Once their cover was blown in 1998 and federal agents broke apart the ring, several members pleaded guilty to various charges, but the Cuban Five went to trial instead. They were convicted in 2001 and sentenced to long prison terms. In Cuba, they were known as the Five Heroes. Their photographs were displayed on billboards throughout the country and their case became a cause célèbre at home. As the years passed and courts in the United States reduced the sentences of some of the men, Cuban officials clamored for their return, arguing that the infiltrations had been necessary to monitor potential terrorist actions planned against Cuba from Florida. Various activists in the United States and abroad also began advocating their release. After two of the men served their terms and went back to Cuba, those efforts concentrated on the remaining three. Image Gerardo Hernandez Nordelo Credit Agence France-Presse — Getty Images On Wednesday, those men — Gerardo Hernández, 49; Antonio Guerrero, 56, an American citizen; and Ramón Labañino, 51 — were released and flown to Cuba as part of the sweeping and extraordinary shift in the relations between Washington and Havana. As part of that shift, Alan P. Gross, the American contractor detained in Cuba in December 2009 on accusations of being a spy, also returned home on Wednesday, landing at Andrews Air Force Base near Washington. “I’m free,” he told his two adult daughters in telephone calls from the plane, shortly before speaking with President Obama. It had been just hours since Mr. Gross, who spent most of the last five years locked in a cramped cell at a military hospital in Havana for at least 23 hours a day, had received word from his lawyer that he was to be released. “I’ll believe it when I see it,” Mr. Gross, 65, had said. Image Antonio Guerrero Rodriguez Credit Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Also released on Wednesday, according to a senior American official, was Rolando Sarraff Trujillo, a Cuban who had provided information that helped lead to the breakup of the spy ring and other Cuban espionage operations in the United States. His release was first reported by Newsweek.com. Multiple news accounts in recent years have identified Mr. Sarraff as a former Cuban intelligence officer who has been in prison in Cuba on espionage charges since 1995. The accounts named him as a possible candidate to be freed if the United States and Cuba were ever to agree to a spy swap. The news of the Cuban prisoners’ release was most significant in the case of Mr. Hernández, who had been serving two life sentences and was the only one of the group charged with conspiracy to commit murder. American investigators accused him of having previous knowledge of the Castro government’s plans to shoot down two exile organization planes that regularly flew missions near Cuba. The planes were shot down in 1996, killing four anti-Castro volunteers. “They did not have to give up Gerardo Hernández,” said Maggie Alejandre Khuly, whose brother, Armando Alejandre Jr., was one of the volunteers who was killed. “It’s very poor negotiations when something is stolen from you — Alan Gross — and to regain stolen property, you have to give up more in return. Cuba is getting everything. It doesn’t make sense.” Image Ramon Labanino Salazar Credit Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Richard C. Klugh, a Miami lawyer who represented the five spies, said that two of his clients, Mr. Hernandez and Mr. Guerrero, were suddenly transferred last week. “Gerardo was moved from an extremely violent, terrible prison to Butner, N.C., so there was some hope that was something going on,” Mr. Klugh said. “Gerardo is the one for whom this is the most emotional. He and his wife were essentially newlyweds and have been separated for 16 years, and it’s extremely emotional.” Mr. Guerrero, 56, who was born in South Florida and studied engineering in Ukraine, was scheduled to be released in 2017. Mr. Labañino, 51, is a native of Havana who studied economics at the University of Havana. Originally sentenced to life plus 18 years, he was resentenced to 30 years, and was expecting to be released in 2024. “I just spoke to them on the phone, and you cannot imagine the emotion,” Dimitri Dimis, a member of an international committee dedicated to obtaining the release of the men, said by telephone from Havana. “It’s amazing! We were just at the White House protesting in June. We had another one planned for 2015, and we will happily no longer have to plan any more protests.” How America’s Relationship With Cuba Will Change Some trade and travel restrictions will be eased. Others depend on congressional action. In 2009, Mr. Gross lived in Potomac, Md., and traveled to Cuba on a contract with the United States Agency for International Development for a project to improve Internet access for the Jewish community there. He took with him cellphones, wireless devices, computers and network equipment. On the final night of his fifth visit there that year, Mr. Gross was arrested and told he was being investigated for smuggling contraband. On Wednesday, he called Mr. Obama’s surprise announcement that the United States would restore full diplomatic relations with Cuba “a game-changer, which I fully support.” For Mr. Gross, a New York native who trained as a social worker and then traveled the world as an international development specialist, his release was the end of an ordeal that at times seemed hopeless. “It’s good to be home,” he said at a news conference in Washington, appearing gaunt but cheerful in khakis and a blue shirt. “It’s the best Hanukkah I’ll be celebrating in a long time.” In captivity, Mr. Gross lost more than 100 pounds, five teeth and most of the sight in his right eye, as well as some mobility, after being confined to an 8½-by-11-foot cell. He contemplated suicide, telling recent visitors that he would not celebrate his birthday next year in Cuba. | Cuba;Spying and Intelligence Agencies;Florida;Antonio Guerrero;Ramon Labanino;Gerardo Hernandez;Rolando Sarraf Trujillo;US;US Foreign Policy;Prison |
ny0234699 | [
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| 2010/01/28 | Louisiana Is Awarded $474 Million in Hospital Dispute | Ending one of the longest-running disputes left by Hurricane Katrina , a federal arbitration panel ruled Wednesday that Louisiana would receive $474.8 million — nearly all it had requested — to pay for the replacement of Charity Hospital in New Orleans, which has been closed since the storm. The ruling is a significant victory for state and city officials, and gives a major boost to plans to replace Charity, a state-owned hospital for the indigent, with a new $1.2 billion academic medical center in the Mid-City neighborhood. “This is a great week in Louisiana,” Gov. Bobby Jindal, a Republican, exulted in a statement. “First, the Saints’ victory, and now we finally get the funds we need to replace Charity Hospital.” The plan to build a new Charity has pitted economic development advocates, who hope to transform New Orleans into a biosciences center, against neighborhood preservationists, who oppose the planned destruction of historic houses in Mid-City. The preservationists argue that Charity’s 70-year-old art deco tower downtown could be reoccupied for less money, reinvigorating the central business district in the process. The state’s ability to afford the new center, which would be built adjacent to a Veterans Affairs hospital, had been linked to the outcome of the arbitration. An additional $300 million has been appropriated by the State Legislature, and the rest is expected to come from the sale of revenue bonds. State officials and the Federal Emergency Management Agency had been locked in a dispute for more than four years about whether Charity was so damaged that it had to be replaced, and how much Washington would owe. The state argued that Charity met the federal standard for replacement because damages caused by the 2005 storm amounted to more than half its value. State officials estimated the replacement cost at $491.9 million. FEMA had projected it would cost $126.1 million to repair Charity, and had offered $150 million to settle the dispute. With the sides making little headway, Senator Mary L. Landrieu, Democrat of Louisiana, inserted language in the stimulus bill last year to create a binding arbitration process. The arbitration panel, consisting of three judges from the Civilian Board of Contract Appeals, ruled quickly after a weeklong, closed-door hearing in Washington that ended on Jan. 15. The only victory for the emergency management agency was that the judges accepted its slightly lower estimate of the hospital’s replacement cost. In their ruling, the judges noted that the agency’s officials “were less experienced and less credible” than the consultants hired by the state to assess damage at Charity. While FEMA questioned whether some of the damage was storm-related, “the witnesses and record offered inadequate support to make the skepticism reasonable,” they wrote. The panel noted that some of Charity’s systems were operating “at a sub-optimal level” before the hurricane and that the state’s protection of the building after the storm “may not have been perfect.” But it indicated that its ruling had not been a close call. “It’s unfortunate that it took this long to get to this point, but we’re glad that we’re finally there,” said P. Raymond Lamonica, general counsel for the Louisiana State University System, which would own the newly constructed hospital. Jack Davis, president of Smart Growth for Louisiana, which opposes the new medical center, said the arbitration ruling should spur the state to rebuild the old Charity, which he said would be faster and less expensive to construct. Among other things, Mr. Davis said, it would save the time and cost of defending lawsuits that have challenged the new site on environmental grounds. “Sometime soon, it will dawn on the political leadership that they can’t do the big expensive L.S.U. plan,” he said, “and that they’re going to have to settle on $800 million of new hospital, using Charity.” | Hospitals;Hurricane Katrina;Federal Emergency Management Agency;New Orleans (La);Decisions and Verdicts;Louisiana;Disasters and Emergencies |
ny0065243 | [
"sports",
"baseball"
]
| 2014/06/10 | Infielder’s 9 R.B.I. Lift the Indians | Third baseman Lonnie Chisenhall had nine runs batted in and three home runs in a five-hit game, Michael Brantley scored five times and the visiting Cleveland Indians beat the Texas Rangers, 17-7, on Monday night. The only other nine-R.B.I. game in Cleveland history was by Chris James in a 20-6 victory for the Indians on May 4, 1991, against Oakland. Chisenhall had two-run homers in the second and fourth innings before hitting a three-run shot down the right-field line in the eighth to give the Indians a 17-6 lead. WHITE SOX 6, TIGERS 5 Jose Abreu hit a two-run homer in Chicago’s three-run fifth inning, and the host White Sox snapped a three-game losing streak with a victory over Detroit. ORIOLES 4, RED SOX 0 Bud Norris pitched eight innings of three-hit ball and Adam Jones hit one of host Baltimore’s three home runs in a victory over Boston. DODGERS 6, REDS 2 Scott Van Slyke drove in a career-high four runs with two homers off the struggling left-hander Tony Cingrani, and visiting Los Angeles pulled away from Cincinnati in a rare, comfortable win in their pitching-dominated series. BLUE JAYS 5, TWINS 4 Edwin Encarnacion hit a three-run homer in the first inning, Kevin Pillar singled home the winning run in the ninth and host Toronto beat Minnesota. PIRATES 6, CUBS 2 Andrew McCutchen hit his eighth homer and drove in three runs to lead host Pittsburgh past Chicago. McCutchen hit a two-run shot to right field in the third inning, then added a run-scoring double in the fifth. MARINERS 3, RAYS 0 Robinson Cano drove in two runs with a bases-loaded double, and visiting Seattle blanked Tampa Bay for the second straight game. YANKEES-ROYALS RAINED OUT The game between the Yankees and the Royals scheduled for Monday night in Kansas City, Mo., was postponed because of rain. No makeup date was immediately announced. | Baseball;Cleveland Indians;MLB;Lonnie Chisenhall;Texas Rangers |
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"us"
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| 2009/06/17 | Justices Face Unfinished Business on Gun Laws | A year ago, the United States Supreme Court issued a landmark decision establishing the constitutional right of Americans to own guns. But the justices did not explain what the practical effect of that ruling would be on city and state gun laws. Could a city still ban handguns? The justices said the District of Columbia could not, but only because it is a special federal district. The question of the constitutionality of existing city and state gun laws was left unanswered. That left a large vacuum for the lower courts to fill. Supporters of gun rights filed a flurry of lawsuits to strike down local gun restrictions, and now federal appeals courts have begun weighing in on this divisive issue, using very different reasoning. One court this month upheld Chicago’s ban on most handguns, while in April a California court disagreed on the constitutional issue. The differing opinions mean that the whole issue of city and state gun laws will probably head back to the Supreme Court for clarification, leading many legal experts to predict a further expansion of gun rights. The new cases are fallout from last year’s Supreme Court case, District of Columbia v. Heller , which struck down parts of Washington’s gun control ordinance, the strictest in the country, and stated for the first time that the Second Amendment gives individuals a right to keep and bear arms for personal use. But the court declined to say whether the Second Amendment in general applies to state and local governments. In January, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, in New York, in a ruling joined by Judge Sonia Sotomayor, declined to apply the Second Amendment to a New York law that banned the martial arts device known as chuka sticks, or nunchaku. The ban was allowed to stay in place. Then in April, a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit, in San Francisco, ruled that the Second Amendment did apply to the states, even though it allowed a California county to ban guns on government property like state fairgrounds. That case, Nordyke v. King , is being considered for a rehearing by the full Ninth Circuit. Those two conflicting cases set the stage for two other cases that were heard as one in the Seventh Circuit in Chicago, testing that city’s handgun ban. On June 2, a three-judge panel of the court, led by Chief Judge Frank H. Easterbrook, a well-known conservative, ruled that there was no basis for the court to apply the Second Amendment to the states. Such a decision, Judge Easterbrook wrote, should be made only by the Supreme Court, not at the appellate level. The right of states to make their own decisions on such matters, Judge Easterbrook wrote, “is an older and more deeply rooted tradition than is a right to carry any particular kind of weapon.” The lawyers for the plaintiffs, including the National Rifle Association , have asked the Supreme Court to take up the Chicago cases. A split among the federal appeals circuits, especially on constitutional issues, invites Supreme Court action, said Adam Winkler, a law professor at the University of California, Los Angeles. “Californians, Hawaiians and Oregonians have a Second Amendment right to bear arms, but New Yorkers, Illinoisans, and Wisconsinites don’t,” Professor Winkler said. “The Supreme Court will want to correct this sooner rather than later.” The process of applying amendments of the Bill of Rights to the states, known as incorporation, began after the Civil War but had its heyday in the activist Supreme Court of the Earl Warren era. Much of the Bill of Rights, including the First Amendment’s freedom of speech and some rights of criminal defendants, have been applied to the states, but other elements have not, including the Seventh Amendment right to a civil jury trial and the Second Amendment. Incorporation fell out of favor after the 1960s, but a new generation of largely liberal scholars of law and history have brought it back into the intellectual mainstream, said Akhil Reed Amar , a law professor at Yale University, who supports the process. “The precedents are now supportive of incorporation of nearly every provision of the Bill of Rights,” Professor Amar said. “Now what’s odd is that the Second Amendment doesn’t apply to the states.” Sanford Levinson, a law professor at the University of Texas, said he would be surprised if the Supreme Court accepted these gun cases, because some of the conservative justices on the court had scoffed at incorporation arguments in the past and might not want to set a precedent. Professor Amar, however, argued that the justices would not only take up the case but would also ultimately vote for incorporation of the Second Amendment. Even if the Second Amendment becomes the controlling law of every state and town, constitutional scholars say it is still unlikely that gun laws would be overturned wholesale. The Supreme Court’s Heller decision last year, notes Nelson Lund , a law professor at George Mason University, “clearly indicates that governments will still have wide latitude to regulate firearms.” Even the Ninth Circuit in California, while applying the Second Amendment to the states, still upheld the gun ordinance that gave rise to the lawsuit. Eugene Volokh , a law professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, said the view of the Ninth Circuit reflected what polls have said was, by and large, the view of the American people. “There is a right to bear arms,” Professor Volokh said, “but it’s not absolute.” | Gun Control;Second Amendment (US Constitution);Supreme Court |
ny0024611 | [
"world",
"asia"
]
| 2013/08/10 | Bodies of 3 Chinese Workers Found in a Kabul Apartment | KABUL, Afghanistan — Three Chinese workers were found dead under mysterious circumstances in an apartment in central Kabul on Friday, officials said, prompting the Chinese Embassy to urge the Afghan government to investigate to determine whether its citizens were specifically targeted. The police, who could offer only scant details of the killings late Friday, said an argument between the Chinese workers and several Afghans had led to the killings of two Chinese women, one Chinese man and an Afghan security guard. The head of criminal investigations for the Kabul police, Gen. Mohammad Zahir, said that the bodies were discovered Friday morning, but that it was unclear when they had been killed. He added that he believed that the women were prostitutes and that the deaths did not appear to be politically motivated. Two other Chinese living in the apartment are missing, he said. The Chinese authorities said in a statement on Friday that they were trying to determine the nature of the attacks, according to the China News Service, a state-run news agency. “The incident is still under investigation, and it remains unclear whether Chinese people were specifically targeted,” said the report, citing a statement from the embassy. The Chinese Embassy in Kabul did not answer repeated phone calls Friday night. It was difficult to learn more about the deaths, because much of Kabul is shut down for the Islamic holiday of Id al-Fitr, which celebrates the end of the holy month of fasting for Muslims. While Afghanistan is an ultraconservative Islamic country, prostitutes in the larger cities are not unheard-of. Brothels operate in hotels and within an informal network of residences, where prostitutes and clients are connected by cellphone. Often, women are put in touch with customers who meet them in residences and guesthouses, a method that has been far more difficult for the police to track. The ethnic origins of prostitutes here vary. Some are Afghan, others are Chinese, and many arrive from the former Soviet countries to the north, like Uzbekistan. Still, there was no evidence that the Chinese workers killed in the attack were involved in the sex trade. The owner of the apartment where they lived, Sher Ali, said he was unsure what the renters did. Mr. Ali said he had signed the rental agreement for $450 a month with a Chinese Muslim, a man the landlord thought to be pious. The landlord said that man had since been picked up for questioning by agents he believed to be with the Afghan intelligence service. “All I know is that the man I rented the apartment to was a good Muslim,” Mr. Ali said Friday night at the scene, in the neighborhood of Kolola Pushta, an informal business district. For China, the deaths are a sad reminder of the instability on its doorstep if security in Afghanistan deteriorates. Since last year, the Chinese government has signaled that it is paying greater attention to Afghanistan ahead of the withdrawal of NATO forces in 2014. While the country shares only a sliver of a border with Afghanistan, officials in Beijing worry about risks to broader regional stability that could ripple into Xinjiang, a western region of China where the largely Muslim Uighur population has chafed at Communist Party controls. Chinese businessmen, restaurant owners and investors are no strangers to turbulent parts of the world, and Afghanistan is no exception. In recent years, flights from China to Afghanistan have been crowded with fortune seekers looking to sell goods and services that remain scarce in Afghanistan. The neighborhood surrounding the apartment building where the Chinese workers were killed is filled with Chinese-run stores selling a wide range of building materials. But China’s larger promised investments in Afghanistan have been troubled. In 2008, two Chinese state-owned companies won the rights to the potentially huge Aynak copper mine in Afghanistan, but the start of production has been put off repeatedly because of threats from insurgents and the discovery of an ancient Buddhist archaeological site sitting atop the copper deposits. | Afghanistan;China;Afghanistan War;Prostitution |
ny0265056 | [
"world",
"asia"
]
| 2011/12/25 | Car Bomber Kills Soldiers in Northwest Pakistan | ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — A suicide car bomber drove a vehicle packed with explosives into a building used by paramilitary forces in northwestern Pakistan early on Saturday, killing at least six soldiers and wounding 11 others, police officials said. The attack took place near the town of Bannu, in the Bannu tribal region 25 miles east of North Waziristan. The paramilitary troops, known as Tochi Scouts, are deployed mainly in North Waziristan, the rugged mountainous region that is part of Pakistan’s tribal area and that has been a stronghold of militants. The attack broke a lull in the suicide attacks that have ravaged the country in recent years, and the Taliban were quick to claim responsibility. It was another reminder that an Islamist insurgency remains a viable threat even as Pakistan careens from an internal political crisis, with rumors of a possible military coup, to a diplomatic one with the United States over an errant airstrike. The suspension of terrorist attacks had been attributed to continuing peace talks between the Taliban and the government, though military officials have denied the existence of such talks. A Taliban spokesman, Ihsanullah Ihsan, said the bombing was to avenge the death of a Taliban commander, Taj Gul, killed in an American drone strike in South Waziristan in October. On Friday, at least 40 Taliban militants attacked a fort in the Mullazai area in South Waziristan. The militants killed one soldier and kidnapped 15, officials said. Mr. Ihsan said the abducted soldiers were taken to Taliban hide-outs in the tribal area. Relations between Pakistan and the United States have remained strained since a November border airstrike by American-led forces that killed 26 Pakistani soldiers. Pakistan has since blocked NATO supplies from crossing into neighboring Afghanistan. On Thursday, the Pentagon acknowledged making mistakes before and during the airstrikes. But it said the Pakistanis had also erred. Pakistan’s military called the inquiry “short on facts.” | Pakistan;Terrorism;Defense and Military Forces;Waziristan (Pakistan);Taliban |
ny0294534 | [
"us"
]
| 2016/06/13 | North Dakotans Reconsider a Corporate Farming Ban, and Their Values | WING, N.D. — The Wagner family farmstead in central North Dakota could have been lifted from a Grant Wood painting: bales of hay rest on a gently sloping hill, cattle graze near a bright blue pond, green tendrils of durum and sunflowers peek out of the dirt. The Wagners fear that all of this could someday be under threat from big, impersonal corporations. It is a concern that is expected to drive them, and other North Dakotans, to the polls on Tuesday to vote on a referendum that would make it possible for companies to buy up farms like theirs. Starting in 1932, North Dakota law barred nonfamily corporations from owning farmland or operating farms. But that changed in March of last year when the state Legislature passed a bill that would relax the corporate farming ban and Gov. Jack Dalrymple signed it into law . Citizens protested the new law, with the state’s farmers union at the forefront, which led to the referendum that voters will face on Tuesday. The law was set to take effect last August, but its fate rests on the outcome of the referendum. A vote for the measure would uphold the new law, which allows domestic corporations and limited liability companies to own and to operate dairy farms and swine production facilities on land that is no larger than 640 acres, or one square mile. A vote against the measure would repeal the new legislation and restore the law that had governed farm and dairy operations in the state for more than eight decades. Image Laurie Wagner, who lives on the family farm started by her husband’s grandparents in the 1930s, opposes the new law allowing corporations to own farms. Credit Tim Gruber for The New York Times While the debate is very much focused on maintaining the character of North Dakota, it also taps into widespread fears about the disappearance of family farms throughout the United States and the spread of big corporations and their farming methods into rural America. People like the Wagners who support the earlier law — one of the strictest in the country — say that it protects the environment and family farmers like them. “With corporate farming, they just don’t have the connections,” said Laurie Wagner, whose husband’s grandparents started the farm in the 1930s, as she walked around the property on Thursday. “They could buy up all the land, and it means nothing to them. They could make it impossible for people like us to compete.” The issue has sharply divided North Dakotans. On rural roads outside Bismarck, the capital, some fields and front yards are decorated with bright green signs declaring, “No to Corporate Farming.” Many people are suspicious of big business and eager to preserve the state’s long heritage of family-owned farms. Agriculture remains North Dakota’s dominant industry, with close to 30,000 family-operated farms and ranches. In 2012, North Dakota became the first state to enshrine the “right to farm” in its Constitution. “I think small towns and rural communities are at stake,” said State Representative Kenton Onstad, a Democrat and the minority leader. “I think the values of North Dakota are going to be given up and slowly erode.” Image The Heger family at their farm outside of Underwood, N.D. Credit Tim Gruber for The New York Times But those who support the ballot measure say that opponents are acting out of nostalgia and emotion. They argue that the farming and ranching business in North Dakota needs to evolve to stay competitive: Dairies and hog farms have declined in recent years, prompting many people to argue that the industries could use a boost. “We have this picture in our head of the Hollywood farm, with the dairy cows, a couple of pigs, a couple of chickens,” said Katie Heger, a family farmer who favors allowing corporate farming. “There are very few farms that are like that. Farming and ranching is a business. So if we’re looking at sustaining agriculture in the state of North Dakota, we need to look at how we can build business.” During last year’s debate, Governor Dalrymple, a Republican, said that he hoped changes to the farming law would encourage economic growth in the struggling dairy and swine industries. And he promised that the new legislation included safeguards to protect North Dakota’s family farms. “The bill includes strict limits on the use of the business structure and we do not consider it a threat to the farm sector of North Dakota as we know it,” he said at the time. The North Dakota Farmers Union, which opposed the bill, responded by gathering more than 20,000 signatures to force the measure onto the statewide ballot. The union has spent heavily on mailers and television ads in recent weeks and recruited more than 1,000 volunteers to make phone calls and knock on doors to drum up support. Image Left, the Hegers’ farm. Katie Heger supports the new law and said agriculture needed to evolve to survive. “We need to look at how we can build business,” she said. Credit Tim Gruber for The New York Times Mark Watne, the group’s president, said he believed that if the legislation went into effect, it could open the door to consolidation and the possibility that smaller farms could go out of business. Family farmers, he said, have an incentive to train the next generation, while corporations could choose profits over longevity. “We simply do not believe in our communities that the ownership of land in the hands of a corporate structure is in the interest of long-term agricultural production,” Mr. Watne said. State Senator Terry M. Wanzek, a farmer and rancher who sponsored the bill last year, said that opponents are driven by unwarranted fears of big business. “They think Monsanto or Walmart is going to come in and own everything,” Mr. Wanzek said. “I don’t see this as some big bad bogeyman who’s going to come in and take over the farm. If I felt in any way that it was going to threaten our heritage or our way of life on the farm to any great extent, I never would have supported it.” Some have argued that allowing family farmers to incorporate could give them more access to outside capital and investors for expansion, like other businesses in the state under corporate structure. Image State Senator Terry M. Wanzek’s farm outside Windsor, N.D. He was a sponsor of the bill last year. Credit Tim Gruber for The New York Times “The disadvantage with North Dakota’s law is that you can’t have any other partners once you’ve incorporated except for a very direct relative,” said State Senator Joe Miller, the chairman of the agriculture committee and a sponsor of the bill. “You’re hamstringing neighbors to be able to come together, or outside investment partners, maybe a friend who lives in California who wants to invest. There’s all kinds of different opportunities that one could explore, and that’s completely off the table right now.” The North Dakota Farm Bureau, a lobbying organization that has farmer members, has adopted an alternative tactic in case the new law is defeated that takes aim at the 1932 law banning corporate farming. Earlier this month, it filed a federal lawsuit seeking to overturn the law, arguing that it is discriminatory and unconstitutional. “The laws of our state, as they stand today, are forcing North Dakota’s farm families to make business management decisions that other businesses are not being forced to make,” Daryl Lies, the president of the Farm Bureau, said in a statement. David M. Saxowsky, a professor of agriculture at North Dakota State University, said that the debate speaks to a culture in North Dakota that places a heavy value on farmland. “We’re very proud of our resources, we think that our land is attractive to investors and we are very proud of our desire to be the business owner,” he said. “And for those reasons, we want to provide an environment in which smaller businesses owned by families can succeed.” Governor Dalrymple declined to be interviewed. In an emailed statement, he said, “It’s good that this will be decided by the people of North Dakota.” | Agriculture;North Dakota;Referendum;Family business;Dairy product;Legislation;Ranch;John Dalrymple |
ny0053140 | [
"business"
]
| 2014/07/27 | David Kenny of the Weather Company: Move Fast, but Know Where You’re Going | This interview with David Kenny, C.E.O. of the Weather Company, parent of the Weather Channel and Weather Underground, was conducted and condensed by Adam Bryant. Q. Tell me about some early lessons you learned. A. I grew up in Lansing, Mich. My dad was a TV repairman, but that work went away. Without an education, he became a janitor in my high school. He did it very well for 30 years, and my mom was a payroll clerk. But that led me, from the beginning, to think that you can’t ever count on your job — because the world changes and it can always go away — and that it’s important to be a lifelong learner. That really made me very curious about a lot of topics, and made me respect every job. Those were my basic values from the time I was 6. My leadership started with Boy Scouts. I’m an Eagle Scout, and I was always trying to get a group of people excited to do something. It taught me a lot about leadership through listening — you had to know where other people were coming from and then try to find some common thread to get everybody to camp on the lake in the winter to earn our Polar Bear Badge. What about leadership lessons early in your career? One came during my years at Bain, the consulting firm. I’m a big believer in velocity. You have to move fast because the world is moving fast. But some people felt that velocity was just chaos, because it didn’t have a purpose. So I learned to be clearer about what we were trying to accomplish. I still work on that. My mind goes really fast and sometimes I’ll know exactly where we want to go, but I don’t have everybody else seeing it. Speed without a purpose is chaos. Velocity is speed toward a purpose. The second thing I learned is that you inevitably get friction in a team, because different people have different goals. I used to think it was really bad, so I would try to solve it. But if the leader solves the friction, rather than the team members, it doesn’t really get solved. Since then, if there’s friction, I just put it right out on the table or send out an email: “You believe this. You believe that. Both can be true, but not at the same time. We have to agree on an answer.” If you’re transparent, people don’t feel that whatever decision is ultimately made was politically motivated. What were some early moves you made, in terms of culture, in your current role? From Day 1, I wanted to establish that it was a culture of respect and generosity and truthfulness, and that we were going to work together to solve problems. On my first day, I met all the employees at a quarterly ad sales meeting. The first presentation started — and this was January 2012 — and we had just come off a big quarter because of Hurricane Irene. The numbers were “on track” to keep growing. I said: “I just want to make sure we all communicate in the same language. So I’d like us to define what ‘on track’ means. To me, ‘on track’ means, ‘We are highly likely to hit those goals,’ and I heard nothing in the presentation that led to that conclusion.” I didn’t mean to embarrass anybody personally. I meant to change the tone. Your first hour really matters. We took a break, and people started changing their presentations for the rest of the day. It was their chance to say what they really think about what’s working and what’s not. I just wanted to be clear. Let’s always tell the truth. Let’s not shoot the messenger. This is all done with respect. And then let’s find a real answer. There had been a lot of spin and denial. Because this company had been so successful and profitable, it could cover these sins. We also, a few months later, wanted people to better understand the culture and the direction, because we’ve got a lot of moving parts. So we built this chart called the Compass. It said that the backbone of what we do is the world’s best weather. And we define that in four important ways — the best science, the best communication of safety, the best stories and the best services. So there were four S’s that people could remember. Then we had all the products that flow out of those, and how we make money from them. The Compass allowed everyone to know how we made decisions, and we could talk about it. If people know what we’re trying to do, they can get aligned around it. How do you hire? What questions do you ask? What are you curious about? What do you read? What do you do in your free time? What do you want to learn? How do you learn? What are you optimistic about? What are you looking forward to? I focus on optimism because I think nostalgia is the enemy of optimism. So people who spend too much time telling me about the great things they’ve done in the past are going to be nostalgic for those days. Are they O.K. being uncomfortable that they’re not the smartest person in the room? People will always give you the right answer if you ask it explicitly, so I ask them, “Who do you really respect?” And how many bad decisions have you made? People who don’t make bad decisions are indecisive and risk-averse. I love hiring people who’ve failed. We’ve got some great people here with some real flameouts. If they’ve done it once and they learned from it, they’re so much better because they took a risk. They’re much more humble, much more of a contributor to the culture, and they do great things because they learned. What advice do you typically give college students? The two lessons are embrace ambiguity and conquer ambiguity. So embrace the unknown. Try something new. Always be learning. You never want to feel like you’ve mastered it. Once you’ve embraced uncertainty, conquer it. Figure out how to turn it to your advantage. | David W Kenny;Weather;Management;Job Recruiting and Hiring |
ny0037034 | [
"world",
"africa"
]
| 2014/03/30 | Few Safe Places for Central African Republic’s Muslims | BODA, Central African Republic — There is only one neighborhood in Boda where Muslims are safe from the bullets and machetes of Christian militia fighters. Many who ventured out were killed, their throats slit or their cars showered with gunfire. Even the dead must obey: Muslim bodies are buried behind an old warehouse because the traditional Muslim cemetery is now off limits. Boda is home to one of the largest Muslim communities left in the Central African Republic. About 4,000 Muslims are trapped here, and they say they are suffering and just want to leave after months of being harassed by the militia. Throughout the country, others share their plight. One resident, Aliou Alidu, 18, stays inside the boundaries of Boda’s Muslim neighborhood even as his arms and legs throb from deep burns, he said. Days earlier, a Christian mob set his home on fire, and he survived only by crawling out a window. There is no pain medicine here. The only doctors live on the Christian side of town, and he is too afraid to go there. There used to be a man who could link the two neighborhoods — a Christian who had long ago converted to Islam. But he is now dead, and hopes that the communities may reconcile have faded. “For generations, our families lived together and even intermarried,” said Mahamat Awal, Boda’s mayor, who is among those stuck in this town 100 miles southwest of the capital, Bangui. “Now you want to kill us all?” Mr. Awal meets regularly with the French peacekeeping forces in town and members of the Christian militia. At each meeting the militiamen make their point clear: Every Muslim must leave the town, without exception. Nearly 300,000 people already have fled the sectarian violence that began in the Central African Republic in early December when anger erupted against the Muslim rebels who had overthrown the government. When international pressure forced the rebel government to step down in January, Christians turned on their Muslim neighbors, accusing them of having collaborated with the brutal rebel authorities. Despite the mass evacuations, the United Nations warned that about 15,000 Muslims remain blockaded “in an extremely dangerous and untenable situation” like the one in Boda. As a result, peacekeepers and humanitarian agencies face “terrible dilemmas such as choosing between unwillingly aiding the ‘cleansing’ of confined Muslim populations, or leaving them — against their will — in places where they are in real danger of being slaughtered en masse,” said Navi Pillay, the United Nations high commissioner for human rights, after a recent visit to the capital. In Bangui, where several thousand remain, Muslims say they do not step outside their neighborhoods, and even then some have been killed hundreds of yards away from the local mosque. And in the southwest, about 1,000 Muslims are still sheltering at a Catholic church, too scared even to let their children play soccer for fear that a stray ball could lead them outside where Christian militiamen could attack them. “People are desperately wanting to leave because they’re in fear for their lives, and they haven’t been able to leave initially because they couldn’t afford it, and now there’s no transport whatsoever,” said Joanne Mariner, a senior crisis adviser with Amnesty International. Ousmane Nana, his wife and his six children are among those in Boda who say they just want out no matter what. Born and reared in the town, Mr. Nana, 49, said he never felt fear until Jan. 29, when the Muslim rebels fled the town after months of brutal rule. That was the night a group of 30 people armed with rifles and machetes attacked him, shooting him and leaving deep gashes across his back. More than a month later, the bullet wound to his left arm is still healing. Now he waits for the day peacekeepers will evacuate Muslims from Boda and take him to Cameroon. | Central African Republic;Islam;Freedom of religion |
ny0175109 | [
"us"
]
| 2007/10/30 | Law on Young Offenders Causes Rhode Island Furor | It was conceived as a way to save money in the face of a $450 million deficit in Rhode Island ’s current budget: making 17-year-olds adults in the eyes of the law, shifting their cases to criminal from juvenile court and putting offenders in the state prison rather than the youth correctional center. The measure, which took effect July 1 and was expected to save $3.6 million a year, has ignited a firestorm, with children’s groups, the state public defender and others calling it bad policy that in any event is not a money-saver. “It’s a gross failure of responsibility,” said the state’s attorney general, Patrick C. Lynch. “It’s not saving money. It’s creating enormous questions and problems in the system, never mind ruining lives” of young offenders who are left with criminal records. Responding to the concerns, the legislature plans to take up a measure today that would essentially repeal the law. The bill is expected to pass, though Gov. Donald L. Carcieri, whose administration came up with the proposal to lower the age from 18, has not said whether he will veto it. Jeff Neal, a spokesman for the governor, a second-term Republican, said last night that Mr. Carcieri had not yet seen the legislation. The proposal to treat 17-year-olds as adults for criminal-justice purposes was the subject of a legislative hearing in March, where Attorney General Lynch, a Democrat whose office is elective, and others came out strongly against it. Opponents took little action after that, as many thought it would be killed in the overwhelmingly Democratic legislature. But it survived, and before long it became apparent that the new law could well cost money rather than save it. The State Department of Children, Youth and Families, which had proposed the idea, had assumed that 17-year-olds would be held among the general prison population, where incarceration costs $39,000 an inmate per year, 60 percent less than the $98,000 in the juvenile-offender system. But A. T. Wall II, director of the Rhode Island Department of Corrections, decided that for the sake of the young inmates’ protection, they would be held in maximum security, where the annual per-inmate cost is $104,000. As of last week, 46 17-year-olds had been held at the state prison since July 1, all in maximum security, said Tracey Z. Poole, a spokeswoman for the Department of Corrections. Mr. Neal, the governor’s spokesman, said the policy might nonetheless still save money, though not as much as expected. The reason, unspoken by Mr. Neal but confirmed by experts, is that relatively insignificant offenses committed by 17-year-olds are bringing dismissal by judges, the effect being savings in the court and corrections systems alike. “When there are really trivial offenses in the criminal system, they get ignored,” said Patrick Griffin, a senior research associate at the National Center for Juvenile Justice, in Pittsburgh. Beyond the fiscal issue are those involving public-records law, privacy and even bail. Seventeen-year-olds are not legally authorized to sign a contract in Rhode Island, and as a result cannot sign a bail form or a plea agreement without a parent present. “How do you plea a kid, or how do you post bail, when you’re not old enough to contract?” said John J. Hardiman, the state’s public defender. The new law also now makes the records of 17-year-olds public, unlike all juvenile records in the state, which are sealed. Attorney General Lynch believes the law unnecessary because he could previously elevate juvenile cases to the adult level if the suspect had committed prior offenses or the crime was particularly violent. He said he believed the measure was destroying the lives of young nonviolent offenders, as drug convictions make it harder to find jobs and housing and cause students to be ineligible for federal aid. “This isn’t about the murderers, rapists, robbers — they could all be waived,” Mr. Lynch said. “This is about if there’s one joint in a car with four kids and it’s not lit. Those charges aren’t what they used to be. The world has changed for 17-year-olds in Rhode Island.” Ten other states try people under 18 as adults, said Mr. Griffin, the juvenile justice researcher. But in Illinois and Wisconsin, there is a push to raise it back, he said. And Connecticut, which currently tries 16-year-olds as adults, is already set to raise the age to 18 as of 2010. In Rhode Island, Mr. Hardiman, the public defender, said judges’ concerns about the new law had caused many cases to be resolved before they even reach court. “They’re exercising discretion,” Mr. Hardiman said of the judges, “and I applaud them in trying to protect young people when the current sanctions are for someone much more mature than a 17-year-old kid.” Dennys George, 17, of Providence, agrees. He was arrested in early July on drug possession charges and spent three days in the state prison. The offense was his first, and he was sentenced to nothing more than five years’ probation. Still, he now has a record. “This is not helping young kids,” he said. “It’s going to affect them for the rest of his or her life. It’s affecting me. I haven’t gotten a job. I’m almost 18, and this is just the beginning.” | Prisons and Prisoners;Children and Youth;Law and Legislation;Rhode Island |
ny0171261 | [
"nyregion",
"thecity"
]
| 2007/11/18 | Needle and Thread and the Chinatown Night | A GOLDEN phoenix and a dragon kept watch over the wedding reception at the Golden Unicorn dim sum palace in Chinatown, their tiny light bulb eyes blinking like Christmas lights. It was 7:30 on a Saturday night in September, and just as I was tucking into the second dish of the 10-course banquet, the spaghetti strap on my black designer dress snapped and hung like a lo mein noodle. A friend suggested I check with the bridesmaids to see if any of them had an emergency safety pin. I looked at the stage, where the newly married couple were flanked by the wedding party and seemingly engrossed in the M.C.’s lengthy stand-up routine. Coming next were toasts and first dances that I was hesitant to interrupt. But when I imagined dancing to Shakira’s pop hit “Hips Don’t Lie” while holding up one side of my dress, I decided to take my chances with the Chinatown night. The lobby of the dim sum palace was an indoor shopping mall, its stores darkened for the night. The only people there were a middle-aged couple — a woman in a short-sleeved black blouse and slacks, and a man wearing a yellow work shirt and holding a broom and dustpan. They were conversing in Chinese. “Hello,” I said brightly, flashing my friendliest girl-from-Texas smile. “Do you know where I could find a safety pin?” When the woman didn’t seem to understand what I was saying, I moved closer and showed her my broken strap. A sympathetic smile spread across her face, and the two of them laughed. I was about to set off on my search when the woman said something in an excited voice. “She says if you want to wait here, she’ll go to her apartment and get you a pin,” the man explained. I shook my head. In a city with bodegas on every corner, surely I could find something within a few blocks. Walking the dark length of East Broadway, I thought of my mother back in Austin, where I grew up. She was always prepared for situations like this. A consummate seamstress, she had safety pins with her at all times, just in case. These days, I saw her only once or twice a year, and we spoke on the phone only every few months. More than 10 years ago, at age 16, I’d broken away from her brand of evangelical Christianity. Although my mother is a kind and thoughtful woman, we didn’t agree on how life should be lived. After I left for New York for my last two years of college, we deftly avoided discussing anything very serious. New York had made me highly self-sufficient. I hung my own shelves and paid the dry cleaner to hem my pants. The only things my mother could do for me were to bring my favorite tortillas when she came to visit, and to do the mending I always seemed to have with me when I visited her back in Texas. As I wandered the streets of Chinatown, it occurred to me that I could add this dress to the list of things to pack. The Golden Unicorn is in the far eastern part of Chinatown, an area where Duane Reade and Rite Aid have yet to replace the herbalists whose shelves are stocked with ginger and ginseng. At 9 p.m., most of the street was dark, except for the lights of an occasional restaurant. Finally I came across a small market space that housed several stalls. The words “safety pin” didn’t register with the man in the first booth until I thrust forward my shoulder, demonstrating what had happened to my expensive dress. He shook his head mournfully and called to the next stall, where a jeweler emptied out a box of metal findings, eventually locating a tiny brass safety pin. I WAS thanking the man profusely and trying to fasten the little clasp when the woman from the lobby of the Golden Unicorn appeared behind me. I watched, amazed, as she greeted everyone in the market area, and I realized that she must have come to check on me. Like a triumphant child, I showed her the safety pin. She nodded but kept walking to the back, toward a clothing stall. There the proprietress handed her a needle and a spool of black thread. Without a word, she returned, spit-threaded the needle like a pro, and set to work sewing up my strap. Maybe it was the Champagne from an earlier toast, but I suddenly felt as if this woman were family, perhaps a long-lost aunt. I imagined that this would be a tale we would both tell around our respective dinner tables in our respective languages: the clueless, strapless lo fan — foreigner — wandering around in the Chinatown night, and the fairy godmother who rescued her. I watched her sew, her grip firm, her gaze fixed. A little Chinese girl of about 6 stood looking up at us. “She’s really good, huh?” I said, looking down at the girl over my shoulder. She nodded silently, too shy to speak. “I’m so grateful,” I continued, happy someone could understand my gratitude. When the woman finished, she snipped the thread with her teeth and patted me on the arm. Not sure what to do, I started to open my bag to see if I had any money I could give her, but she waved her hands in refusal. So I simply hugged her, saying thank you over and over. Smiling, she waved me on my way. I briefly considered trying to find someone to interpret for us so I could get her name and address. I wanted to send a thank-you note as I’d been raised to do, to feel as if I could return the gift in some minor yet tangible way. But I had no choice but to accept this kindness. And when I went home to Texas a few weeks later, I had my usual bit of mending, a pair of pants with a torn belt loop, in my suitcase. | Women;Weddings and Engagements |
ny0232649 | [
"sports",
"golf"
]
| 2010/08/28 | Tiger Woods Crumbles in Barclays’ Second Round | PARAMUS, N.J. — With a birdie putt, Tiger Woods finished the first round at the Barclays on Thursday with a fist pump and a wave to the crowd. For a change, his name sat atop the leader board, and the golf world seemed to have finally righted itself. But on Friday, when his bogey putt dropped into the cup on the ninth green to end his second round, Woods stared at the ground and tipped his cap without lifting his gaze. Then he stepped a few paces to the side and practiced his putting motion, tapping an imaginary golf ball as one of his playing partners holed an actual one. For 28 holes at the Ridgewood Country Club, Woods looked like his old self, controlling his shots and even cracking a few smiles in the process. But after four bogeys on his last eight holes inflated his second round score to a two-over-par 73, he walked off the course with a blank stare, his game seemingly lost as quickly as he had found it the day before. Woods finished the round tied for 14th, sitting four strokes behind the leader , Jason Day, who posted his second four-under 67 in as many days. The co-leader with Woods after the first round, Vaughn Taylor, was a stroke back at seven under along with the local favorite Kevin Streelman, whose eight-under 63 was the best round of the tournament so far. Although the source of Woods’s struggles on the course this summer may not be entirely evident, there was no question about what bothered him Friday at the Barclays, the first of four events that make up the FedEx Cup playoffs. “I didn’t putt well at all,” Woods said. “I didn’t have the speed at all on the greens. I was leaving it way short or blowing it by the hole.” Day, a 22-year-old Australian, has battled a chronic sinus condition (or perhaps mononucleosis — “it’s still up in the air,” he said) all year, which has left him fatigued and cut into his practice time. But he contended at the P.G.A. Championship two weeks ago, and he ascended the leader board again here by playing steady, mostly error-free golf. He had a bogey-free round Thursday and stumbled Friday on only one hole, the par-three No. 15. He birdied five others, including three straight near the end of his round. “I just tried to stay as patient as possible, and it just kind of fell into my lap, which was really good,” Day said. Stewart Cink, Martin Laird and John Senden stood two strokes behind Day at six under, and 13 others were within two strokes of them. Ernie Els, the leader in the FedEx Cup standings, needed a birdie on his second-to-last hole to move to even par and avoid missing the cut. Phil Mickelson was not as lucky. After a round of one-over Thursday, Mickelson oscillated from bogey to birdie and back again as he moved through the course Friday morning. But a double bogey on his last hole moved him to four over, and he left the course without speaking to reporters. Although Mickelson’s downfall could be seen coming — he had only a single birdie Thursday on a day when the rain-soaked course was practically begging for them — Woods’s stumble was swift. Woods teed off the back nine around midday Friday under a cloudless sky and seemed poised to assert himself as the player to beat. And he wasted no time, birdieing the par-4 No. 11 and No. 18 to move to eight under. Day said he noticed Woods’s name on the leader board at that point and did not expect to see his name so far down later in the day. “I was very surprised because he’s Tiger Woods,” Day said. An explanation for Woods’s fall could have been found on the front nine, where Woods unraveled hole by hole. He overshot the green with his drive on the 190-yard No. 2, leading to his first bogey. Woods laid up on the 291-yard No. 5, then bogeyed that, too, drawing gasps as Woods missed a 21-inch tap-in. The confidence with which Woods walked the course Thursday was gone by that point, replaced with the kind of exasperated scowl that coats Woods’s face when his putter is defying him. On No. 6, when his shot from the fairway fell short and to the right of the green and into the rough — another bogey would follow — Woods stared at the ground and did not move for 10 seconds, his frustration palpable all the way behind the ropes. Over all, Woods hit 13 of 14 fairways, the same as in the first round, so that phase of his game appeared to have remained intact heading into the weekend. But he needed 33 putts, 6 more than the day before and three and a half more than the field average. (Streelman needed only 22 on Friday.) “It goes to show you,” Woods said. “I hit as good as I did yesterday. If I don’t make putts, I don’t hit scores.” But Woods sounded optimistic in spite of his putting woes. Heading into the Barclays, much was made of the possibility that Woods — despite having won the FedEx Cup in 2007 and 2009 — might not even advance beyond the Barclays. Woods’s first 27 holes at the Barclays seemed to allay those concerns. Woods was focused Friday on assessing his chances about something else: winning the tournament. “A good weekend, you play around here and post good numbers, you’ll move up the board,” Woods said. “The guys aren’t going to be tearing this place apart.” | Woods Tiger;Golf;Professional Golfers Assn;Taylor Vaughn |
ny0244604 | [
"nyregion"
]
| 2011/04/20 | Anything to Avoid Paying a Parking Fine | Of the many fevers that can grip the human animal, the desire to fix parking and traffic tickets has few equals for absurdity. A few years back, I heard tell of a person who, desperate to avoid the consequences of some traffic violation or another, sought advice from knowledgeable intermediaries. A friendly police officer counseled that the simplest way to make the case go away was to persuade the officer who wrote the ticket to lose the paperwork. However, that technique was effective only when the offense was still hot off the summons pad, before the details had been entered into the computer system. In this situation, it was weeks too late to pull that trick. The only way to end the matter — short of actual honesty — was for the officer to miss the court date. The driver would thus win by default. To arrange the officer’s absence, though, would involve delicate negotiations by a specialist. A police union delegate came on board. At a private meeting, the delegate suggested to the ticketing officer that he might have to call in sick on the day the traffic case was scheduled to be heard. No way, said the officer. By now, it seemed all hope was lost, but the delegate reported one bit of intelligence: the officer got his hair cut once a month at a certain barbershop in the neighborhood. So the barber was enlisted in the campaign. The next time the barber had the officer in the chair, he put the request to him nicely. The officer said he would see what he could do, he was making no promises, etc. Of course, all men want to stay on good terms with their barbers. When the moment of truth arrived, the officer somehow did not make it to court. Case dismissed — thanks to the cumulative efforts of no fewer than six people. Sometimes, it really does take a village. The satisfaction of beating a ticket hardly seems worth so much trouble, but that is often the way with other people’s passions. A grand jury in the Bronx is now on the trail of ticket-fixers, an investigation that is said to involve scores of police officers. On Tuesday, one of the police unions declared the whole matter a witch hunt, and invited officers to tell the union their stories of all the times that big-shot commanders and politicians made the same kinds of requests that the barber did. Honesty is rumored to be the best policy, but it is more often admired in the abstract, while its actual hold on police matters and all human affairs can be shaky. Patrol officers have claimed that they are pushed to under-report crimes, thus making precinct statistics look better. A union lawyer recently advised officers that they should not swear in criminal complaints that they personally witnessed a crime that they really just heard about from someone else. This may seem fairly obvious, but this kind of secondhand swearing was a rampant practice arranged by senior officials during the mass arrests made at the 2004 Republican National Convention. AS for fixing tickets, I got a lesson on this 30 years ago, as a young reporter in Union City, N.J., a little town just across the Hudson from Midtown. It is a tale worth revisiting. One day, someone dumped papers into the garbage opposite from City Hall. They consisted entirely of letters to Bill Musto, the mayor of Union City, from people in every walk of life, all asking him to fix their tickets. “Dear Bill,” began one letter typical of the lot. “What the hell is this ticket all about? Please take care of it.” “Here’s another,” a recidivist wrote. This batch of mayoral correspondence was discovered and carried back to the newsroom by a reporter with The Hudson Dispatch, Judson Hand. His article was published under a cheerful headline: “A Ticket? No Task, It. Just Drop It in Billy’s Basket.” A few days later, Mr. Musto, a political boss in Hudson County, called me to his office. He proceeded to shout for several minutes about the unfairness of suggesting he would in any way be connected to fixing tickets. He was outraged not by the suggestion of corruption — Mr. Musto would later go to prison for taking tens of thousands of dollars in bribes — but by the idea that he would be so stupid. “Why do you think I kept the parking fine at $2 all these years?” he asked, not waiting for an answer. “You think I’m going to fix a $2 ticket?” Come to think of it, no, but — — . “I pay them,” Mr. Musto said. | Fines (Penalties);Police;New York City |
ny0279361 | [
"world",
"europe"
]
| 2016/10/04 | Hammond Addresses ‘Brexit’ Turbulence With Hints of Policy Shift | BIRMINGHAM, England — Britain’s chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond, on Monday promised investment in infrastructure projects and pledged to step in to mitigate “turbulence” resulting from the country’s decision to withdraw from the European Union, a significant shift in British economic policy. The remarks came on the heels of a tough speech by Prime Minister Theresa May on Sunday, in which she suggested that she would put the right to control immigration into Britain at the center of negotiations for Britain’s exit from the bloc, even if doing so put the country’s access to European markets at risk. Mrs. May’s speech intensified worries in the financial markets about the economic impact of Britain’s decision to exit the European Union, a process known as Brexit. On Monday, the pound fell to its lowest level against the euro since 2013, reflecting concerns in the currency markets about the terms of the withdrawal, for which negotiations will start by the end of March. Addressing the annual convention of the Conservative Party on Monday, Mr. Hammond promised to make a success of the decision in the June referendum to quit the 28-nation bloc — a vote that transformed the political and economic landscape — but argued that there was no room for “complacency.” “Throughout the negotiating process, we are ready to take whatever steps are necessary to protect this economy from turbulence,” Mr. Hammond told delegates gathered in Birmingham. “And when the process is over, we are ready to provide support to British businesses as they adjust to life outside the E.U.” How ‘Brexit’ Could Change Business in Britain Britain has started the clock on leaving the European Union, and will be out of the bloc by March 2019. Here is how “Brexit” has affected business so far. He said that economic data since June had been encouraging, but he argued that, “fiscal policy may also have a role to play” in the coming months. Since becoming chancellor of the Exchequer in July, Mr. Hammond has lost little time in jettisoning the fiscal targets of his predecessor, George Osborne, whose six years in government were dominated by spending cuts and efforts to balance the budget. Mr. Osborne had aimed to restore government finances to a surplus by 2020. But that objective has now been discarded, with Mr. Hammond signaling his willingness to borrow for investment. In essence, Mr. Hammond’s job description appears to be to mitigate the possible negative impacts from the vote that many analysts expect, at least in the short to medium term. Those fears were compounded by Mrs. May’s speech on Sunday, which was widely interpreted as a sign that Britain’s membership in the European single market of around 500 million consumers would come to an end. Countries fully integrated into that market currently accept free movement of people across European borders, a right that Mrs. May has pledged to end. The economic costs of such a move could be significant. In an analysis, two economists at Berenberg Bank in London wrote that a “so-called hard Brexit, in which the U.K. places heavy restrictions on inflows of E.U. economic migrants, risks doing the most damage to the U.K. economy in the long run.” In such a situation, Holger Schmieding and Kallum Pickering of Berenberg wrote, the right of Britain-based banks to offer financial services across the bloc would most likely be lost and “a hard Brexit could also put free access to the E.U. market for goods at risk.” “Since a large proportion of U.K. voters who opted for the popular-Brexit vote may have done so for economic reasons such as low pay, poor job prospects etc.,” they added, “a hard Brexit would only worsen these circumstances and could eventually entail negative domestic political consequences.” In his speech, Mr. Hammond acknowledged that because of the referendum, “many businesses which trade with the E.U. are uncertain about what lies ahead.” He said that the country’s long-term fiscal plans, which are expected to be announced in November, would address the consequences of short-term uncertainty while recognizing “the need for investment to build an economy that works for everyone.” “Our stock of public infrastructure — like our roads, railways and flood defenses — languishes near the bottom of the developed-countries’ league table after decades of underinvestment,” Mr. Hammond said, promising “targeted public investment in high-value infrastructure.” That, he added, could create the “most outward-looking, most dynamic, most competitive, high-wage, high-skilled, low-tax economy in the world.” In a statement on Monday, Carolyn Fairbairn, director general of the Confederation of British Industry, the country’s biggest lobbying group for businesses, said the government was “right to adopt a more flexible approach to fiscal policy at this point, but it remains essential that public finances are sustainable over the economic cycle.” | Brexit;Budget;Philip Hammond;Great Britain;EU;Immigration;Referendum;Infrastructure,public works;Theresa May |
ny0255397 | [
"us",
"politics"
]
| 2011/09/07 | Romney Lays Out Plan to Revive Economy | NORTH LAS VEGAS, Nev. — Mitt Romney unveiled his plan to rejuvenate the American economy here Tuesday, offering a detailed outline that includes repealing President Obama ’s health care law, cutting the corporate tax rate, placing sanctions on China as a currency manipulator and immediately reducing taxes on savings and investment by the middle class — and promised to push many of these policies on his first day in the Oval Office. With his business background, Mr. Romney has portrayed himself as the presidential candidate best prepared to steer the nation at this time of economic distress, and his economic plan is a classic Republican blueprint that relies on tax cuts and reduced regulation — not stimulus — to jump-start the economy. Standing in front of a large banner that read “Day One, Job One,” Mr. Romney detailed the 10 actions he would take the first day of his presidency. Five are executive orders, and the other five are pieces of legislation, including the tax changes, he would send to Congress and request action on within 30 days. “The right course for America is to believe in growth,” Mr. Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, said at the McCandless International Trucks dealership here. “Growing our economy is the way to get people to work and to balance our national budget.” In the plan, whose stated goal is to “restore America to the path of robust economic growth necessary to create jobs,” he promised to immediately cut the corporate income tax rate, currently topping out at 35 percent, to 25 percent. Although he did not outline any specific proposals for closing loopholes or otherwise simplifying the tax code, he also promised to make permanent the tax cuts on individuals enacted under President George W. Bush and to eliminate taxes on dividends, interest and capital gains for anyone making less than $200,000 a year. In an effort to stimulate American exports, Mr. Romney said he would push free-trade agreements with Colombia , Panama and South Korea as well as officially place sanctions on China for keeping its currency artificially low, a move that makes Chinese imports cheap to American consumers and has led to trade imbalances. Mr. Romney also vowed to make it easier for American companies to drill for oil in the United States and to cut federal discretionary spending on anything other than security measures by 5 percent — or $20 billion. He said he would consolidate government training programs and order that any new regulations add no new costs to the economy. Mr. Romney’s speech came the day before a Republican debate — which will be the first time Mr. Romney will share the stage with Gov. Rick Perry of Texas , whom polls show as leading the pack of presidential hopefuls — and just two days before Mr. Obama is scheduled to deliver his own jobs plan to a joint session of Congress. On the campaign trail, Mr. Romney has focused on his business background and two decades in the private sector, and his plan is a stark rebuke of Mr. Obama’s economic leadership, criticizing a broad range of policies including restrictions on domestic energy production and the regulatory reach of the government. Earlier this year in Michigan , Mr. Romney used PowerPoint to outline his own health care plan, but he gave Tuesday’s proposals extemporaneously in what he dubbed a “conversation” — though his campaign did hand out a 160-page policy book filled with graphs, charts and proposals. The plan, they emphasized, was geared toward long-term solutions, not short-term fixes. As he spoke, Mr. Romney held up his iPhone to make an analogy about the changing world. “President Obama’s strategy is a pay-phone strategy,” he said, “and we’re a smartphone world.” Likening Mr. Obama to a man jamming quarters into a pay phone and not understanding why it is not working, he added, “It’s not connected anymore, Mr. President.” Though the Romney plan offers some standard Republican principles, like reducing corporate and individual tax rates and repealing the president’s health care and financial legislation, aides said Mr. Romney’s distinctive stamp could be seen on the proposal for a “Reagan Economic Zone,” which would open up trade with countries that agreed to offer greater protections to intellectual property, as well as for those placing sanctions on China and consolidating federal training programs and giving states authority to design and carry out training programs for unemployed workers. In a Web video released Tuesday, one of Mr. Romney’s opponents, Jon M. Huntsman Jr. , a former Utah governor, sharply criticized Mr. Romney’s record for job creation, calling it “one of the saddest records” and “sadly similar to that of Obama’s.” The Democratic National Committee also criticized Mr. Romney on the economy in an e-mail to reporters Tuesday morning, saying, “He has been following on the issue all year instead of leading.” Economists who reviewed Mr. Romney’s economic plan had different reactions. Steve Blitz, a senior economist for ITG Investment Research, said he doubted that cutting tax rates would stimulate much job creation. “I think you can go through the history of the U.S. economy and find that tax rates really aren’t the paramount reason why people do things or why the economy expands or contracts,” Mr. Blitz said. Other economists questioned the wisdom of placing sanctions on China, an important trade partner and the United States’ largest government lender. “I don’t think that’s the most constructive approach,” said Michael Spence, a Nobel Prize -winning economist and the author of “The Next Convergence: The Future of Economic Growth in a Multispeed World.” Mr. Spence said both the United States and China needed to figure out how to better align their interests and work cooperatively rather than antagonistically. “China would like nothing more than for us to miraculously recover,” Mr. Spence said. “That would be the best thing for their economy.” With House Republicans singling out regulations as “job killing,” Mr. Romney promised to “cut out any regulation that would “unduly burden the economy or job creation.” Mr. Romney made his name as a turnaround expert in private equity at Bain Capital, and he frequently promotes those years at campaign events. But while some of the companies he helped start or fix resulted in job growth, others ended in job losses and the firing of employees, a fact that dogged Mr. Romney when he unsuccessfully tried to defeat Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts in 1994. On Tuesday, Mr. Romney also announced his economic policy team. Its leader will be R. Glenn Hubbard, the dean of the Columbia Business School and former chairman of President Bush’s Council of Economic Advisers , who wrote a foreword to the economic policy book Mr. Romney released Tuesday. The group also includes N. Gregory Mankiw , who also headed Mr. Bush’s Council of Economic Advisers and is now an economics professor at Harvard; former Senator Jim Talent, Republican of Missouri , who now is a Heritage Foundation fellow; and former Representative Vin Weber, Republican of Minnesota , who was a co-chairman of former Gov. Tim Pawlenty ’s presidential campaign this year. | Mitt Romney;US Economy;2012 Presidential Election;Federal Taxes;Companies;Obamacare,Affordable Care Act |
ny0230185 | [
"world",
"europe"
]
| 2010/09/29 | Russia’s President Fires Moscow’s Mayor | MOSCOW — President Dmitri A. Medvedev has long endured questions about whether he truly rules Russia or is merely a figurehead manipulated by Vladimir V. Putin , the former — and possibly future — president. On Tuesday, Mr. Medvedev moved to quiet those doubts by ousting a heavyweight political rival, Moscow ’s longtime mayor, who had tried in recent weeks to cast Mr. Medvedev as a weakling unfit to run the Kremlin. Mr. Medvedev’s decision, perhaps the most consequential of his tenure, seemed intended to make clear to Russia’s political class that he was an assertive leader and a viable candidate for president in 2012. His authority has been increasingly undermined because Mr. Putin has pointedly refused to exclude seeking a return to the presidency himself. “Today, it looks like Medvedev is finally deploying the powers of his own presidency and, for the first time in two and half years, is demonstrating that he is the one who is the president,” said Leonid Radzikhovsky, a political commentator in Moscow. “This is how it is being perceived around the country. It is also a serious signal about his objectives in 2012.” But as is often the case in Russia, where top politicians’ intentions are difficult to divine, there is an alternate view of the fallout from the removal of the mayor, Yuri M. Luzhkov . Mr. Medvedev is instead described as having been damaged because it took him too long to dismiss Mr. Luzhkov, who dominated the Moscow government for nearly two decades. Some politicians have said they suspected that Mr. Medvedev did not act more resolutely because he had to lobby for Mr. Putin’s approval, and Mr. Putin has a better rapport with Mr. Luzhkov. In other words, in the end, Mr. Putin, the current prime minister, is still the boss. Leonid Gozman, a leader of the Right Cause , a liberal political party with ties to the Kremlin, said he was struck by the contrast between how Mr. Medvedev and President Obama had handled disparaging comments by subordinates. Mr. Obama immediately relieved Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal , commander of American forces in Afghanistan , of his duties. Mr. Luzhkov, whose remarks about Mr. Medvedev appeared in a newspaper commentary in early September, lingered almost a month. “One of the theories here — and it is just one of many theories — is that Putin used this to wound Medvedev, so that people would understand that without Putin’s say, nothing happens,” Mr. Gozman said. In fact, on Tuesday, Mr. Putin did little to quell the speculation about his motives. In comments after Mr. Luzhkov’s dismissal was announced, Mr. Putin praised the mayor before saying that he supported Mr. Medvedev’s decision. “Yuri Mikhailovich Luzhkov did a lot for the development of Moscow,” Mr. Putin said. He later added, “But it is clear that relations between the mayor of Moscow and the president were not working out.” Mr. Medvedev, who was on a state visit to China , did not offer any such kind words. “It is difficult to imagine a situation under which a governor and the president of Russia, as the chief executive, can continue to work together, when the president has lost confidence in the leader of a region,” Mr. Medvedev said. Legally, the Moscow mayor’s position is equal in rank to that of a regional governor. Mr. Putin, who was barred from running for a third consecutive term as president, has not said whether he will be a candidate in 2012. Both he and Mr. Medvedev have said they will consult about who will run, while indicating that they will not compete against each other. On Tuesday, Mr. Medvedev appointed a current deputy mayor of Moscow to head the city temporarily while he considers a replacement for Mr. Luzhkov. Mr. Luzhkov did not immediately issue a statement, but he did send a letter to Mr. Medvedev on Monday night that surfaced in the Russian news media on Tuesday. In the letter, he accused people around Mr. Medvedev of mounting a concerted attempt to defeat him. “Your administration, on its own or not, has brought this political situation to a deadlock,” Mr. Luzhkov wrote. He added that Mr. Medvedev was being told, “If you don’t fire Luzhkov, you are a weak leader.” The conflict between the president and mayor was unusual here, because such defiance rarely erupts in public. Mr. Luzhkov had been a towering figure in Russia in the two decades since the collapse of the Soviet Union, but his criticism of Mr. Medvedev — and his apparent effort to create a rift between Mr. Medvedev and Mr. Putin — rattled the tightly controlled government here. Frictions burst into the open in early September after Mr. Luzhkov published his official commentary suggesting that Mr. Medvedev had dithered over plans for a highway between Moscow and St. Petersburg , and also seeming to call for Mr. Putin to return to the presidency. At the same time, Mr. Luzhkov was being attacked for staying on vacation in August while Moscow was roasting in a heat wave and choking on smoke from nearby forest and peat fires . Mr. Luzhkov, 74, a gruff, plain-spoken politician with a fondness for keeping bees and wearing a Soviet worker’s cap, rose to office in 1992 and has spearheaded a makeover of the city that has turned it into a glittering symbol of Russia’s resurgence. Moscow has more than 10 million people, and its lively economy attracts job seekers not only from all over Russia, but from other former Soviet republics as well. Even so, Mr. Luzhkov has been derided for behaving like an autocrat, muzzling dissent and allowing corruption to flourish. During his tenure, his wife, Yelena Baturina, has obtained much of the construction business in Moscow, becoming one of the world’s richest women in the process. Moscow’s mayoralty was once an elective office, but when Mr. Putin was president he pushed through changes that made it an appointed post — part of his effort to consolidate authority in the Kremlin. The mayor, like other regional leaders, is expected to be a loyalist who staunchly supports the Kremlin and the ruling United Russia party. | Dmitri A Medvedev;Moscow;Yuri M Luzhkov;Russia;Politics;null |
ny0141077 | [
"business"
]
| 2008/02/25 | Fewer Youths Jump Behind the Wheel at 16 | DETROIT — For generations, driver’s licenses have been tickets to freedom for America’s 16-year-olds, prompting many to line up at motor vehicle offices the day they were eligible to apply. No longer. In the last decade, the proportion of 16-year-olds nationwide who hold driver’s licenses has dropped from nearly half to less than one-third, according to statistics from the Federal Highway Administration. Reasons vary, including tighter state laws governing when teenagers can drive, higher insurance costs and a shift from school-run driver education to expensive private driving academies. To that mix, experts also add parents who are willing to chauffeur their children to activities, and pastimes like surfing the Web that keep them indoors and glued to computers. Jaclyn Frederick, 17, of suburban Detroit, is a year past the age when she could get a Michigan license. She said she planned to apply for one eventually, but sees no rush. “Oh, I guess I just haven’t done it yet, you know?” said Jaclyn, a senior at Ferndale High School, in Ferndale, Mich. “I get rides and stuff, so I’m not worried about it. I’ll get around to it, maybe this summer sometime.” Until she does, she has company. The national rate of licensed 16-year-olds dropped to 29.8 percent in 2006 from 43.8 percent in 1998, according to the Federal Highway Administration. The falling rate of teenage drivers is perplexing to Michael T. Marsden, an expert on car culture and dean of St. Norbert College in De Pere, Wis. “It’s a big change in a major American ritual of driving as early as possible,” Mr. Marsden said. The way students learn has undergone a major change, too. Twenty-five years ago most teenagers took driver’s education in their local schools. But the number of school systems offering the program has plummeted to about 20 percent today, from 90 percent in the 1980s, said Allen R. Robinson, chief executive of the American Driver and Traffic Safety Education Association, which represents high school and commercial driver education instructors. “High schools are out of the business because of the cost,” said Henning Mortensen, owner of Bond Driving School in Sacramento. Commercial driving academies have stepped in to fill the gap. For example, in Louisiana, the number of private schools has grown to about 60 this year, from just two in 1993, said Sheila Vernado, a spokeswoman for the Driving School Association of the Americas, which represents owners of commercial driving agencies. In contrast to high schools, which offered driver’s education as a regular class or for a modest fee during the summer, driving schools charge higher rates. Mr. Mortensen, who has been in business since 1990, said his average program runs about $400. Insurance costs are also rising. Where parents used to be able to add their young drivers to their policies for a nominal charge, it now costs 80 percent to 100 percent more to add a 16-year-old to a family’s auto policy, said Raleigh Floyd, a spokesman for the Allstate Corporation in Northbrook, Ill. The highest rate is charged if the teenager owns a vehicle, he said. Over all, teenage drivers have the highest crash risk of any group. Car accidents account for one-third of all deaths of 16- to 18-year-olds, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Graduated driver-licensing laws, which delay awarding a full license until a teenager spends time with a parent or driving under certain conditions, are also keeping down the number of 16-year-olds on the road, said Frederik R. Mottola, executive director of the National Institute for Driver Behavior, which promotes driver education. “Now people are learning that the more repetition you can give the teens, the better,” Mr. Mottola said. These laws, in existence for about a decade, have helped reduce the number of fatal crashes involving 16-year-old drivers by about 11 percent, according to a 2006 study by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. That average increases to 20 percent for states with the strictest laws. Forty-nine states allow young drivers to obtain restricted licenses before, on or within a few months of their 16th birthday. (The age for a restricted license is as low as 14 in some states.) New Jersey requires a driver to be 17 years old. Sweeping changes to teenage driving laws in Illinois ranked the state among the nation’s most restrictive, said Melissa Savage, policy analyst for the National Conference of State Legislatures. The Illinois laws, in effect since January, set a weekend driving curfew of 11 p.m. (10 p.m. on weeknights) for drivers up to 17 years old. They also tripled the length of a learner’s permit from 3 to 9 months and increased the number of training hours behind the wheel to 6 hours from 1 hour of actual driving time. (Previously, computer simulation could substitute for the other five hours.) In Delaware, teenagers not fully licensed may not drive between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. Indeed, the fatal crash rate for 16-year-olds driving at night is twice as high as it is during the day, according to the National Transportation Safety Board. At the other end of the spectrum are states like North Dakota, which allows a learner’s permit at 14 and has no minimum supervised-driving requirements, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, which evaluates graduated licensing laws. Beyond the tighter regulations, some parents are just not encouraging lessons, said Naomi Drew, author of “Peaceful Parents, Peaceful Kids,” which studied family lifestyles. “The roads are angrier these days,” she said. “Parents are worried for their children’s safety.” One such parent is Teresa Sheffer, of Bethlehem, Ga. Her daughter, Kelsey, has had a permit for nearly two years, but is not yet fully licensed because of her mother’s safety concerns. Ms. Sheffer, a pediatric nurse, even paid a police officer to drive with Kelsey to previous accident sites and graphically explain what had happened. “This is in hope of instilling an element of fear,” Ms. Sheffer said. “Cars are lethal weapons, and I want to make sure she has the experience she needs, and knows what can happen when you don’t pay attention.” Kelsey, who will turn 17 in June, said she had lost the motivation to pursue her full license. For now, her mother is happy to shuttle her to swimming and cheerleader practice. “I’m disappointed, but if I had my license mom probably wouldn’t let me drive anyway,” Kelsey said. “But even if I did, I’d have to drive our minivan.” That prospect, she said, “is just totally not cool.” | Automobiles;Children and Youth;Accidents and Safety;Drivers Education;Federal Highway Administration;Detroit (Mich) |
ny0148817 | [
"us"
]
| 2008/09/16 | Big Storms Are Taking Heavy Toll on Midwest | ST. LOUIS — Communities across the Midwest were reeling Monday after heavy weekend storms across the region left at least 17 people dead, more than two million homes and businesses without power, and scores of roadways flooded. The storm, which combined remnants of Hurricane Ike with a slow-moving front in a wave of low pressure, produced wind gusts of up to 81 miles per hour, spurred five tornadoes in Michigan and dumped 4 to 10 inches of water on parts of Missouri, Illinois, Indiana and Michigan. Accumulated rainfall forced at least 200 Illinois residents into temporary shelters, and on Monday Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich declared seven counties in the northeastern portion of the state disaster areas. “We haven’t been able to conduct much damage assessment yet, we’ve mostly been in response mode,” said Patti Thompson, a spokeswoman for the Illinois Emergency Management Agency. “There’s been flash flooding in several parts of the state, especially in Chicago and the collar counties.” The storm produced little rain in Ohio, but its sustained winds of more than 40 m.p.h. snapped trees and power lines, leaving 1.9 million customers without power. The storm is also being blamed for five deaths in that state, including that of a woman who died when a tree struck her home, said Tamara McBride, a spokeswoman for the Ohio Emergency Management Agency. Indiana was also hard hit, with rains swelling rivers and winds damaging trees and buildings. On Monday, 150,000 people remained without power there, and a portion of Interstate 80/94 on the Indiana-Illinois border remained partly closed. “There have been so many local roads closed due to flooding that it would be very difficult to catalog,” said John Erickson, a spokesman for the Indiana Department of Homeland Security. Mr. Erickson said the state was still assessing the storm’s damage. “We’re taking a look at that right now, but we have to wait for the floodwaters to recede,” he said. The storm is blamed for six deaths in Indiana, Mr. Erickson said, including those of two adults who died after rescuing an infant from a culvert. In Missouri, which like other Midwestern states had already been hit hard by flooding this summer, officials blamed the storm for four deaths. Floodwaters shut down more than 40 state and county roads and left an estimated 100,000 people without power on Sunday. By Monday evening, 25,000 customers remained without power in St. Louis and southeastern Missouri, said a spokesman for the local utility, AmerenUE. Officials said there could be still more problems. “We’ve seen a lot of flash flooding down streams and gullies,” said Duane Nichols, deputy director for the state’s emergency management agency. “We don’t know where this is going to end up because some of the rivers aren’t scheduled to crest until later this week.” After pummeling the Gulf Coast, Hurricane Ike was downgraded to a tropical depression as it moved north toward Canada and combined with the slow-moving front to produce torrential rains and sustained winds of more than 40 m.p.h., said Daniel Cobb of the National Weather Service. While several fatalities associated with the storm were due to drowning, falling limbs and whole trees that snapped in the storm have also taken a heavy toll. Falling trees were blamed for four of the deaths in Indiana. At least two people in Ohio were similarly killed, as was a suburban St. Louis woman when she stepped outside her house to look at the storm. “They’re all dealing with fallen trees,” Mr. Erickson said. “In one case a person was killed after a tree fell on their car. It just shows you how severe the winds have been. It’s really incredible.” | Hurricane Ike;Hurricanes and Tropical Storms;Michigan;Floods;Weather |
ny0244412 | [
"nyregion"
]
| 2011/04/05 | Lion’s Head in Greenwich Village Is Dead, but Tales Live On | They’ve been shooting at Dermot McEvoy’s regiment for a while. Their aim is now getting distressingly good. One by one, at an ever-faster pace, old Lion’s Head regulars are dying. The Lion’s Head was a bar, a few steps down from Christopher Street in Greenwich Village. Some bars are special. This one was. For three decades before it, too, died, in 1996 , it was a haven for writers and other wastrels who went there to drink, of course, but also to joke and argue and swap stories, some of which may have had the added advantage of being true. Mr. McEvoy said Jimmy Breslin once told him that “there’s nothing better than going to a bar and lying to your friends.” The roster of the Lion’s Head fallen has grown rapidly these last few years: writers like Norman Mailer, Frank McCourt, David Markson, Wilfrid Sheed and, just the other week, Lanford Wilson; actors like Jack Warden and Val Avery; newspapermen like Vic Ziegel, Sidney Zion and Dennis Duggan. Add the folk singer Liam Clancy, the nightclub impresario Art D’Lugoff and the boxer José Torres. If the lineup seems top-heavy with men, well, that’s how it was. There are others. One is Paul Schiffman, a longtime bartender and sometime poet, who died in January . He was an often-irascible man, with a growl that made some wonder if he was trying to put the cur in curmudgeon. One day when he answered the phone, the person on the other end asked if the Head, as regulars called the place, had a happy hour. “Yeah,” Mr. Schiffman said, “8 o’clock. As soon as I’m off.” Then he slammed down the phone. At the rate the old regiment is fading, Mr. McEvoy decided he had no time to waste. A writer and a Lion’s Head regular himself, he has embarked on an oral history of the place. “People were coming to me saying, ‘You’ve got to do something,’ ” he said over pints of Guinness at another classic bar, the White Horse Tavern, on Hudson Street. Among those who prevailed upon him were Pete Hamill and George Kimball, a sportswriter. “I’m the youngest regular — I’m 60,” Mr. McEvoy said. “I figured with all these people dying, you leave it another year, you’re going to miss half of them again.” But why do this at all? “I feel I have some kind of an obligation to my friends and some kind of a moral obligation to the old bar and all those guys,” he said. An oral history relies on memories. Lion’s Head stories are endless. Mr. McEvoy is welcome to my own recollection of an evening in the 1960s when several women at the bar recalled their first sexual experiences. One said that hers was on the porch of a Fire Island bakery. Listening in, Normand Poirier, a great rewrite man for The New York Post, pronounced her as having been “de-floured.” Old yarns aside, what is it about some places that makes them stand out among New York’s vast number of watering holes? Elaine’s is an example. It now remains to be seen how it fares without its founder, Elaine Kaufman, who died in December. Mr. McEvoy, who was born in Dublin and “immigrated to Greenwich Village” when he was 4, had this view: “Joe Flaherty wrote in one of his books — and I love this description of it — that the best bars combine the best aspects of the womb and the coffin. It’s a very Irish way of looking at it.” ’Tis. Joe Flaherty, a splendid writer and a onetime longshoreman, could be very Irish. He died of cancer in 1983 at 47. As the end drew near, friends told his mother the score. Yes, she said as she absorbed the news, he comes from a long line of dead people. The Lion’s Head brought together musicians and artists, politicians and priests, Wall Street types and old lefties who in the 1930s fought the Fascists in Spain. “There were loads of rogues,” Mr. McEvoy said, “but I never met, on such a broad spectrum, such decent people.” The bar was an especially powerful magnet for writers and for those who toiled at newspapers like The Village Voice, mere yards away in the Head’s early years. Writing is “the loneliest profession,” Mr. McEvoy said. “You have this built-up thing where you start working early in the morning. By about 3 o’clock, you want to scream. That’s when people used to descend on the Lion’s Head in the afternoon.” “We had too much fun,” he said. “Every day, you would laugh in that place.” As for when he expects to finish his oral history, Mr. McEvoy has no deadline. “Except,” he said, “people’s lives.” | Lion's Head;Bars;Greenwich Village (NYC);McEvoy Dermot;Writing and Writers |
ny0144484 | [
"nyregion",
"thecity"
]
| 2008/10/26 | In Prospect Park, a Jogger’s Imagination Runs Wild | A FEW years ago, my wife and I moved into a large, friendly, oddly affordable apartment building half a block from Prospect Park in Brooklyn. Soon after we settled in, I began to run on the jogging loop around the park with some regularity, if not sustained enthusiasm. Three or four times a week during motivated moments, less often from December through March. Part of what keeps me going are the close-up views of the changing seasons. There are few better ways to see the first blooms of spring or encounter the early crunch of fall underfoot. But what I look forward to most on my runs is seeing the familiar faces stream past me on the path, or the profiles that fade back when I actually pass anyone. I’ve come to think of these people as characters in my own personal serialized fiction — Dickens, brought to you by Saucony. It’s an unusual experience to so frequently see the same strangers with whom I’ve exchanged plenty of painfully commiserating glances but not a single word. With the rock soundtrack booming from my headphones, I’ve begun to construct mini-narratives for some of my favorite characters. Their continuing stories are produced in 10-second bursts — the time it takes to notice them approaching up ahead and then to have them huff past, disappearing in a ripple of air. This being New York, many of the flushed faces I pass possess literary qualities. Others are intriguingly eccentric, or at least they appear that way when seen in such brief installments. Rushdie — named, of course, for his resemblance to Salman Rushdie, the author of “Midnight’s Children,” among many other books — is 54, divorced (it was mostly amicable), childless and dedicated to his work as a psychotherapist (we’re near Park Slope, after all, and he wears glasses and a sophisticated beard). He began running about two years ago, after his cardiologist noticed an irregular beat or two. He has taken to the necessary exercise with resigned determination. He looks into the middle distance as he strides, his navy T-shirt tucked neatly into matching shorts. Rushdie runs for his health, yes, but he also runs for his girlfriend, Astrid, a publicist at Simon & Schuster who sometimes pats his remaining paunch with affection. Perhaps her tacit reminders are helping: Rushdie has been looking fit. When I first spotted Skinny Ginsberg, he struck me as a sad soul. His big, brown, searching eyes peer out behind what may or may not be protective lenses meant for soldering. He wore rumpled sweatsuits, the sleeves pushed up to the elbows, revealing twiggy arms. Skinny Ginsberg is always alone. But one day he was accompanied by two, three, maybe even four friends: healthy, smart-looking friends with thick, vigorously unmaintained hair, like actors in a Woody Allen movie. It was suddenly so clear, I couldn’t believe I’d missed it. Skinny Ginsberg is the unlikely life of the party. To the writer Malcolm Gladwell, he’d be a connector. Skinny Ginsberg is king of his social empire, finding time to bring artists, intellectuals, entrepreneurs and impresarios together in what he’d call salons, if he didn’t think that word sounded pretentious — despite working too-long hours in some vague-sounding field like emerging markets. Skinny Ginsberg has been underestimated all his life — the last kid picked in street basketball games but the first to knock down that clutch jumper. Sure, he had a slight problem with amphetamines a decade or so ago, but that was just a function of his drive, his work ethic, the tiny terror that he might end up like his father, a pinched man, a high school principal in Paramus. But now, look at him. Admired by Rita, his wife of 27 years, and their sons, Charlie and Sebastian, he has surpassed the old man and can take comfort in that small fact as he unwinds nightly with Gordon Lightfoot MP3s, cable news and rum raisin ice cream. Big Tony is not so lucky. Big Tony has been bitten by life and has not yet bitten back. He may never get the chance. A talented outside linebacker at Baylor University in the late ’90s, Anthony Ulysses Ferndale once had pro football aspirations. A hyperextended left knee precipitated a junior year rife with injuries, however, and Big Tony was forced to reconsider his dreams. Turning lemons into lemonade, he recommitted to his coursework in biochemistry, graduating with honors three years ago. In the midst of the economic downturn, though, he was laid off from a great gig at an Upper East Side lab, and so Anthony is now on the hunt for a new job. IN the meantime, he comes to the park to clear his head and strengthen his knee. Because he can’t run, he has devised his own workout routine, which involves kicking two red rubber gym-class balls around the loop. Tony knocks one up ahead and then the other; somehow he’s able to keep them both more or less on track. I haven’t resolved what happens next in Big Tony’s story, but I sure hope it ends happily. There are minor characters, too, in these aerobic episodes. The Walking Girl, well, walks. Head down, sadly contemplating the pavement as she methodically circumnavigates the park, she is a model of consistency. There isn’t much one can count on in this world, but I can be certain that once a week or so, I will see the Walking Girl, and she will be walking, morosely kicking at pebbles. I will see her, that is, as long as Running Wild doesn’t deck me first. Running Wild takes the park clockwise — against the traffic. Most folks who go clockwise defer to the traffic-obeying counterclockwise jogger. Not so, Running Wild. She does not yield, does not slow down; she will, in fact, apparently flatten all comers, should that be required. If, ultimately, that is how I meet my fate — plowed down on the Prospect Park jogging path by a frenzied fitness maniac — I could take some last, gasping solace in this: At least I wasn’t done in by the hard-charging and all-too-often-shirtless Sweaty. | Jogging;Prospect Park (NYC);Exercise |
ny0094190 | [
"world",
"asia"
]
| 2015/01/02 | In Moments, New Year’s Revelry Became Fatal Crush in Shanghai | SHANGHAI — With a dazzling light show set to begin at midnight, a huge crowd of revelers had gathered for an outdoor New Year’s Eve in this city’s historic riverfront district. They began to grow unruly. “We were just trying to walk up the steps to see the light show, and then people at the top began pushing their way down,” said a 20-year-old man. “Then I heard someone scream, and people began to panic.” The man, who spoke while awaiting a friend at Shanghai No. 1 People’s Hospital, said, “We got crushed.” In an instant, a stampede trampled and asphyxiated dozens of people. So thick were the crowds here that ambulances struggled to reach the victims, who had been partying moments before and now lay suffering or lifeless, some with dirty footprints on their clothes. By Thursday afternoon, at least 36 people had died in the stampede and 47 were known to be injured, and the police conceded that they had been ill prepared. Even for China, the world’s most populous country, with a history of fatal stampedes and constant worries about crowd control, it was one of the worst public tragedies. It was made more so because the stampede happened during a celebration in a historic showcase area of Shanghai, its version of Times Square. Most of the victims were Chinese in their teens and 20s, who had hoped to ring in 2015 partying in the area, the Bund, the city’s famed riverfront promenade. The stampede was a reminder of the challenges the authorities face in managing China’s megacities. Like other metropolises around the world, Shanghai has made its New Year’s Eve celebration a signature event, with light shows and performances late into the night. This year’s big attraction was billed as a “5D Light Show” that was supposed to project colorful blazes onto the Bund. The light-show festivities included the city’s newest landmark, the 2,074-foot Shanghai Tower, one of the world’s tallest buildings. But at least one of the shows had been canceled ahead of the stampede, and word had not reached all the revelers. Many people who had been milling around the Bund on Wednesday night said the huge crowds simply overwhelmed the authorities and the event organizers in this city of 25 million. Among the dead were 25 women, aged 16 to 36, according to Xinhua, the official news agency. Besides the Chinese residents, the authorities said the casualties included one person from Taiwan and one from Malaysia. A video posted on youku.com appears to show an enormous mass of celebrators pushing and yelling and crushing young people under its weight. Some participants said the crowd may have been even larger than the 300,000 people who, according to an official count, had attended a year ago. Image In the aftermath, a woman, above, wept for the victims. Credit Greg Baker/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images After the stampede, and the ensuing chaos as ambulances tried to reach victims sprawled in what is usually a busy traffic intersection, the remaining light show was canceled. Police officers stood shoulder to shoulder to permit ambulance access. But many victims died before reaching a hospital, the authorities said. President Xi Jinping ordered an immediate investigation. And by afternoon, the police were even looking into reports that partygoers in a nearby building may have contributed by tossing fake $100 bills into the area. The police later ruled out that theory, saying that the phony currency had been tossed after the stampede. Still, they admitted having not anticipated such a problem. The Xinhua account said “the police expressed regret over their failure to effectively intervene when the tourist flow ‘increased irregularly’ at 11:30 p.m.” Stampedes are more than an occasional risk in China and are not confined to cities, according to examples cited by Xinhua. Last September, six students were killed because of a blocked stairway at a primary school in the southwestern province of Yunnan. Last January, 14 worshipers were crushed at a mosque in northwest China. Thirty-seven people were killed on a Beijing bridge in 2004 during a lantern festival. On Thursday afternoon, four Shanghai hospitals were treating the injured while friends and relatives waited. In the lobby of Changzheng Hospital, the mother of a 16-year-old stampede victim dropped to her knees when told that her daughter had not survived. “I can’t take it! I want to die,” the woman cried as her relatives tried to console her. “I don’t want to live. I can’t go on!” Image A man praying on Thursday at the site of a deadly stampede in Shanghai. Credit Ng Han Guan/Associated Press In China, New Year’s Eve celebrations are a relatively new affair, far less significant and theatrical than the annual Chinese New Year celebrations that take place according to the traditional calendar, usually in late January or early February. And yet, every year, the crowds that gather in major Chinese cities on Dec. 31 seem to get bigger. In Shanghai, the Bund is one of the most popular tourist spots, a strip of hulking, pre-World War II buildings built largely by the British. Now elegantly restored and illuminated at night, the buildings house banks, upscale restaurants, nightclubs and five-star hotels, including the Peace Hotel and the Waldorf-Astoria Shanghai. The city spent $732 million between 2007 and 2010 to renovate the Bund, expanding the promenade and making more room for tourists to delight in gazing at the historic buildings or across the Huangpu River toward the new financial district, filled with high-rise apartment buildings, office towers and oversize advertising displays. The makeover was so successful that much bigger crowds now tour the riverfront day and night, so numerous that some of the luxury shops have relocated. On Thursday, there were large crowds once again walking the Bund, but also police cars and vans in the area near Chen Yi Square. Some visitors placed bouquets near the statue of Chen Yi, a former military commander and onetime Shanghai mayor. At No. 18 on the Bund, police officers could be seen Thursday afternoon visiting the building where a party was held and fake $100 bills were handed out. Inside the building, and out on the street, crumpled bills could still be seen. Calls to the police and the building went unanswered. At Changzheng Hospital, there were tears and even scuffles as visitors demanded information about relatives. A man who declined to give his name said he was at the Bund on Wednesday evening with his 21-year-old cousin, who was crushed to death. The man was comforting that cousin’s older sister and describing what happened. “I was pushed down. I couldn’t breathe,” he said. “I felt I was going to die because I couldn’t breathe. But I couldn’t find my cousin. Now, I came to the hospital. I’ve been here since last night. But now we know my cousin died.” | Stampede;Shanghai;New Year;China;Fatalities,casualties |
ny0227387 | [
"nyregion"
]
| 2010/10/22 | Ranking Official to Investigate Police Misconduct in Brooklyn | The New York City Police Department has assigned a ranking official to look into a wide array of allegations of misconduct, including charges that crime complaints were ignored or manipulated, in the 81st Precinct in Brooklyn, according to two law enforcement officials with knowledge of the investigation. The examination is the third inquiry into allegations made by Officer Adrian P. Schoolcraft, 35, who first began reporting problems to the department’s Internal Affairs Bureau in August 2009. The first two investigations led the department to file noncriminal internal charges against five officers in the precinct last week, including its former commander, Deputy Inspector Steven Mauriello. The allegations have been a troubling issue for the department and for Raymond W. Kelly, the police commissioner. It is unclear why, after reviews by the department’s quality assurance division, which handles lower-level misconduct, and its Internal Affairs Bureau, officials had ordered another inquiry, the two officials said. Inspector Mauriello was charged with failing to record a grand larceny automobile theft and with impeding the internal investigation. The sergeants and officers were accused of failing to record a robbery complaint. The latest investigation is being led by Deputy Inspector Daniel Carione, who has been with the department since 1989 and formerly headed the Internal Affairs Bureau in Queens. Inspector Carione has already been reviewing the testimony given by officers in the precinct during the first two inquiries and is “asking the same questions again,” said one of the law enforcement officials. “He is interviewing police officers and sergeants and the lieutenants assigned to the 81st Precinct,” said the official. “He is doing a broad review of the prior investigations.” The official said he was also listening to audio recordings of station-house roll calls, and other conversations among precinct leaders, which were secretly made by Officer Schoolcraft, and which raised questions about police behavior, including supervisors imposing what sounded like ticket and arrest quotas on their officers. The department has insisted that it has not used quotas. One person briefed on the matter said the Police Department’s Internal Affairs Bureau has questioned more than two dozen officers in the precinct, which is anchored in Bedford-Stuyvesant. For the last several months, two officers a week have been questioned under oath on the 12th floor of 1 Police Plaza, the department’s headquarters in Lower Manhattan, where the office of the chief of internal affairs is located, the person said. The person, along with the two officials, agreed to speak only if they were not identified because of the sensitivity of the matter. Neither Inspector Carione nor his supervisor was available for comment Thursday evening, according to a detective who answered the phone at the Internal Affairs Bureau. Paul J. Browne, the department’s chief spokesman, declined to comment. Officer Schoolcraft has said he was the victim of retaliation after lodging his suspicions with the Internal Affairs Bureau; it was not immediately clear if the new inquiry would review those allegations. Jon Norinsberg, who is representing Officer Schoolcraft in a $50 million lawsuit against the department, said Internal Affairs has not tried to speak to his client since at least early November, after police forcibly removed him from his apartment on Halloween night and took him to a hospital for psychiatric evaluation. | Police;Police Brutality and Misconduct;Brooklyn (NYC);Crime and Criminals |
ny0141055 | [
"nyregion"
]
| 2008/02/25 | Fire Officials Tackle Challenges of High-Rise Blazes | In the smoky caldron of a high-rise fire, it is the firefighter’s worst nightmare: a door left ajar, a window that suddenly breaks under intense heat and a blast of wind. At its worst, the outcome is catastrophic. Known to firefighters as a blowtorch effect, the instant combination of fire and wind can blast fireballs across rooms and down corridors without warning, within seconds, and at temperatures that render hoses and protective clothing of little use. In New York City, at least 11 people, including four firefighters, have died as a direct result of those kinds of fires since 1980, and dozens of others have been badly burned. For firefighters, “it is like walking into the barrel of a loaded shotgun,” Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta said. Now, amid an expanding search across the nation for better ways to prevent or contain high-rise infernos, the Fire Department, federal fire experts and engineers from Polytechnic University in Brooklyn have taken over part of Governors Island, the 172-acre former Coast Guard installation off Lower Manhattan, for a week of pyrotechnics intended to test “alternative strategies and tactics for wind-driven events.” Firefighters from departments in Los Angeles; Chicago; Austin, Tex.; and several other cities across the country will be observing. By Friday, a seven-story brick apartment building will have been gutted by a daily series of fires that will be intentionally set. The building, one of several on the island that have been designated for demolition later this year, has been laced with fireproof wiring, sensors to record heat and pressure, and video cameras to analyze each blaze: the movement of air, fire and smoke and the impact of wind when it enters the mix. “We are turning this building into a very large laboratory instrument,” said Daniel Madrzykowski, a fire protection engineer with the National Institute of Standards and Technology, a division of the federal Department of Commerce, moments before the first of the intentionally set blazes roared through a seventh-floor apartment on Saturday. Six floors below, with the fire’s progress captured on video, technicians with laptop computers recorded temperature and pressure changes when the heat punctured windows, and as firefighters opened hallway or bulkhead doors to test sources of ventilation. Although the Governors Island tests involve a huge installation of advanced electronic gear, intended to help create computerized models of the interaction of wind and fire, the firefighting tools being tested may seem mundane: portable fans, fireproof blankets or curtains and spraying devices on poles. But top city fire officials maintain that the potential for such devices has been overlooked. “They add a dimension of safety that was never available before,” said Battalion Chief Gerald Tracy. He is one of the department’s most outspoken advocates of using fans to attack high-rise fires, by clearing smoke from corridors and stairs, creating thermal buffers against heat and potentially counteracting the force of wind racing through a broken window. “Fire departments around the country have been using fans in everyday fires for years, but nobody has looked at the extreme events,” he said. On Sunday, in the latest test blaze on Governors Island, Chief Tracy said, a single 27-inch gasoline-powered fan placed at the base of a seven-story stairwell kept the stairwell free of smoke and at temperatures of about 50 degrees, even when its door was opened to a seventh-floor corridor that was heated by fire to 1,700 degrees. Whatever the outcome, the testing of new methods to combat lethal fires is welcomed by veteran firefighters who have lived through close calls with the blowtorch effect. “To this day, I can’t believe nobody got killed,” said Lt. Stephen Sharp, one of six Queens firefighters who made their way into a burning sixth-floor apartment in the Edgemere neighborhood on Jan. 26, 2006. Following standard procedure, Lieutenant Sharp said, the group entered the apartment through an open door to the corridor, crawling through dense smoke and spraying a fire hose. Once inside, someone tried to close the door, to prevent cross-ventilation, but the door was stuck on a rug. Suddenly, a window blew out. “It was a fireball,” said Lieutenant Sharp, who was badly burned on his hands and face. “In a split second, it went from a normal fire to being unbearable.” A firefighter died in 1996 when a similar blowtorch blaze struck the same Edgemere building, which is buffeted by winds from Jamaica Bay. What is considered the city’s worst wind-driven blaze of recent decades happened on Dec. 18, 1998, when three firefighters died on the top floor of a 10-story home for the elderly on Vandalia Avenue, near Starrett City, in Brooklyn. The department’s most recent fatality occurred when Lt. John M. Martinson died fighting a blaze in a 14th-floor apartment in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, on Jan. 3. That fire remains under investigation. “The wind was certainly a factor,” said Chief Tracy, who said witnesses described flames blowing into the apartment through a window that had broken because of the heat. The Governors Island tests are being paid for with a $1 million federal grant to Polytechnic University, which will create computer models and study the data compiled in the week of fire demonstrations. Similar tests, on a smaller scale, have been performed in other cities. Chicago, where fire officials set test fires in a high-rise building on the South Side in 2006, has moved aggressively to incorporate fans into its firefighting arsenal. The largest fire fan in Chicago is five feet in diameter and is mounted on a hydraulic lift on the back of a truck. When directed into the ground-floor entrance of a high-rise, said Chicago fire officials, the fan has effectively cleared smoke, lowered temperatures and counteracted wind gusts in the upper floors of buildings of 30 or more stories. “Generally, we don’t use it as a tool to blow the fire out the window, although it will do that,” said Larry Langford, a spokesman for the Chicago Fire Department. “We use it more as a tool for ventilation, to clear gas, carbon monoxide and smoke.” Fire officials in New York said they had no plans to dispatch large truck-mounted fans around the city, but they are clearly encouraged by the promise of smaller fans that can be positioned in stairwells of burning buildings. “Axes and fire hoses have long been considered basic tools of firefighting,” Commissioner Scoppetta said. “Maybe fans will be, too.” The firefighters, analysts and engineers performing their tests during a reporter’s visit to Governors Island on Saturday were forced to contend with unwanted weather conditions over the harbor: There was little wind. That meant neither the experimental fireproof blankets and curtains nor the water-spraying poles were used. The blankets and curtains are meant to be draped over the outside of a high-rise window that has not yet broken but is threatened by heat and wind, or over a broken window that is allowing gusts to enter a burning apartment. The poles are intended to be hoisted outside windows and used by firefighters to direct water into a blazing apartment from a floor below. On Sunday, Chief Tracy said, the wind reached 20 miles an hour. He said the fire blankets and curtains proved effective in an initial test, but the poles demonstrated a need for further adjustment. Their water-spraying nozzles missed the mark, he said. Chief Tracy said the performance of a single portable fan in the stairwell, pushing back heat and smoke seven stories above, was most impressive. “It felt like winning the lottery,” he said. | Fires and Firefighters;Wind;Tests and Testing;Polytechnic University;Rescues;New York City;Governors Island (NYC) |
ny0145702 | [
"business"
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| 2008/10/14 | Nations Move on Plans to Shore Up Banks | PARIS — In a sweeping round of announcements from European capitals on Monday, Britain took effective control of two of the country’s largest banks, and leaders in Paris, Berlin, Madrid and elsewhere offered more than a trillion euros in loan guarantees and other support intended to restore trust between banks and thaw frozen credit markets. On both sides of the Atlantic, there was a sense of frenzied activity, with the Treasury Department calling a meeting Monday afternoon in Washington with top banking executives to lay out how the government plans to proceed with its $700 billion financial rescue plan . Although details of the administration’s rescue plan were still being worked out on Monday evening, it was clear that the White House was planning to expand the contours of the program by providing new protections and confidence-builders for the American banking system. The discussions, after a day in which the Wall Street markets staged a record-setting rebound, revolved around using up to $250 billion of the program’s $700 billion to pump money into the banks through government purchases of equity stakes. Another proposal would remove the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s ceiling on deposits that are insured. It was recently increased $250,000 from $100,000. The administration is expected to outline its plan on Tuesday morning. The Federal Reserve also announced on Monday an agreement with central banks in Europe to provide even greater access to funds in dollars, on top of the trillions of dollars in commitments it has already offered to guarantee loans to financial institutions and major corporations in the commercial paper market. The coordinated moves came after several weeks of finger-pointing amid worsening fears about Europe’s banks and plunging stock markets worldwide. The sense that governments were finally acting to get their arms around the crisis sparked a global rebound in stock markets. Asian bourses surged Monday morning, and exchanges across Europe followed, with gains of 8 percent to 11 percent. In New York stock markets were also booming, with the Dow Jones industrial average up nearly 600 points, or about 7 percent. “Sometimes it does take a crisis for people to agree that what is obvious and should have been done years ago can no longer be postponed,” the British prime minister, Gordon Brown, said in London in a speech calling for the adoption of a new Bretton Woods -style agreement among major countries. “We must now create the right new financial architecture for the global age.” And with the financial crisis now the leading issue in the American presidential contest, the Democratic contender, Barack Obama, laid out some fresh economic proposals to deal with the faltering economy, including tax credits for businesses that create jobs at home and a method to allow hard-pressed consumers to tap their retirement accounts without penalty. The British government, in a remarkable departure from two decades of movement away from state ownership by both Labour and Conservative governments, said it would acquire controlling stakes in the Royal Bank of Scotland and the newly combined bank of Lloyds TSB and HBOS in exchange for a $64 billion capital infusion. In Berlin, German leaders unveiled a 480 billion package consisting mostly of loan guarantees. It represented a U-turn from earlier German claims that the financial situation could be dealt with on a case-by-case basis. “We’re taking measures in order to prevent a repeat of what we’ve just experienced,” said Angela Merkel, the German chancellor. “These are sweeping steps, but they’re necessary to restore market confidence.” Unlike the British blueprint, however, the plan announced by Ms. Merkel does not call for Berlin to acquire direct stakes in German banks. Instead, the German approach offers 400 billion euros in guarantees for inter-bank loans and another 80 billion euros for direct injections of capital to restore weakened balance sheets and purchase the toxic, illiquid assets that have already forced several German banks to the brink of collapse. “This package is about stability and trust,” said Peer Steinbrück, the German finance minister. “I cannot exaggerate the crisis in the global financial system.” In Paris, where President Nicolas Sarkozy of France had convened gatherings of his European counterparts for two weekends in a row to help put together a coordinated response, the French government detailed its own 360 billion euro effort. The French government will create a fund that will raise money to guarantee debt for up to five years in a bid to make cash available to banks unwilling to lend to each other. The banks will then be able to obtain these funds in exchange for putting up their own collateral, including debt currently not accepted as collateral by the European Central Bank . In addition, a second state-sponsored company will provide up to 40 billion euros in direct capital injections to banks that request it, in exchange for handing over equity stakes. While the actions were coordinated between Paris, Berlin, London and other capitals, the set of moves did not represent the pan-European bailout initially favored by the French and Dutch but opposed by Germany. Instead, it was a common strategy with each country determining the magnitude and money of their effort, underscoring how much European leaders have struggled to come together in the face of the worst financial crisis since the Depression. Nevertheless, Mr. Sarkozy could not resist lauding what seemed like a vindication of his common approach, while suggesting that Europe had now leapt ahead of the United States in addressing the crisis. “Europe, a united Europe, has done more than the United States in total amounts,” Mr. Sarkozy said, though he failed to take account of the vastly larger sums the United States has committed outside its $700 billion bailout program. “The time of everyone for themselves is over.” In Washington, where fresh elements emerged about the bailout package, its newly tapped leader echoed Mr. Sarkozy’s sense of urgency. “A program as large and complex as this would normally take months — or even years — to establish,” said Neel Kashkari, a Treasury Department official who, like his boss, Henry Paulson Jr., is a veteran of Goldman Sachs. “We don’t have months or years.” “Achieving this goal will require multiple tools to help financial institutions remove illiquid assets from their balance sheets, and attract both private and public capital,” Mr. Kashkari said. “Our toolkit is being designed to help financial institutions of all sizes so they can grow stronger and provide crucial funding to our economy.” Mr. Kashkari said that the government had set up teams to determine the best ways to buy mortgage-backed securities, acquire equity stakes in banks, identify home loans that needed to be purchased, insure troubled assets, preserve homeownership, deal with executive compensation at banks that receive capital injections and assure compliance with regulatory laws. “We will complete the design of these tools and deploy them as soon as they are ready,” he said. Even as investors cheered, some experts questioned whether the plan would be big enough to stave of the broader economic worry: a prolonged Europe-wide recession. According to an analysis by Capital Economics in London, the bailout packages are roughly similar in economic impact: 3.3 percent of gross domestic product in Germany, 2.1 percent in France, and 2.9 percent in Britain. While Europe’s biggest economies led the way, Austria also made 100 billion euros available for recapitalizations and loan guarantees; Spain will insure up to 100 billion euros in bank debt; and the Netherlands threw 220 billion euros into the pot. “These amounts involved qualify as serious money by any yardstick,” said Holger Schmieding, chief European economist for Bank of America in London. Mr. Schmieding calculated that for Germany, France, the Netherlands and Austria — countries whose combined economies are just over half the size of the United States’ — state guarantees and capital injections reach 1.3 trillion euros. But despite the scale of the European efforts, the Capital report said, “we are skeptical as to whether they will on their own be enough to prevent the growth of bank lending from slowing sharply and causing a more prolonged slowdown.” Still, there were modest indications that the European plan was increasing the willingness of banks to lend to one another, a key goal. The three-month Libor rate fell to 4.75 percent Monday from 4.82 percent Friday . While it was not clear how long European governments will hold onto their newly acquired equity stakes, they already are moving to exert some control, especially who sits in the corner office and what they get paid. Mr. Sarkozy made clear that the vow to “not allow any financial establishment to go bankrupt” came with strings attached. If a bailout is required, he said, “management will be changed. There cannot be rescue without punishments of the errors.” In Britain, Mr. Brown announced limits on bonuses and dividends at the banks in which the government will have a stake. At the Royal Bank of Scotland, which will receive $34 billion in the British bailout, chief executive Fred Goodwin resigned, marking an end to the tenure of one of Britain’s boldest and best-paid executives. | Subprime Mortgage Crisis;Banks and Banking;European Central Bank;Bank of England;Federal Reserve System;Emergency Economic Stabilization Act (2008);Royal Bank of Scotland Plc |
ny0160578 | [
"business"
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| 2006/03/24 | G.M. Sells Big Stake in Loan Unit | DETROIT, March 23 - General Motors sold a 78 percent stake in its commercial mortgage business, one part of its vast financing division, to an investor group on Thursday, the latest move in the struggling automaker's efforts to raise cash. The deal includes $1.5 billion in cash and the repayment of about $7.3 billion in intercompany loans. The sale came a day after G.M. announced a landmark deal with the United Automobile Workers union that will offer buyouts to all 113,000 of its hourly workers in the United States. G.M. also will pay for buyouts of 13,000 workers at the Delphi Corporation, its former parts operation. The stake in the mortgage business, GMAC Commercial Holding, was sold to a group of investors that includes Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Company, Five Mile Capital Partners and Goldman Sachs Capital Partners. The mortgage company repaid $7.3 billion in loans to G.M.'s financing division, the General Motors Acceptance Corporation. The sale was for a bigger share of the unit than the 60 percent stake G.M. said it would sell to the group in August. The unit will be renamed Capmark Financial Group in the second quarter. The deal comes as G.M. is also negotiating with potential buyers the sale of a controlling interest in the rest of G.M.A.C. for an estimated $11 billion. That effort is taking longer than some analysts had initially expected, in part because G.M. wants to retain a large minority interest and some measure of control over the financing business, which has played a critical role in G.M.'s marketing and auto incentive programs by providing cheap auto loans. Efraim Levy, an equity analyst at Standard & Poor's, said the issue of control might make some buyers hesitant to bid for G.M.A.C. "If you want to buy control, you want to have control," Mr. Levy said. "And G.M. wants to make sure the strong relationship between G.M. and G.M.A.C. remains. It's kind of tough to accomplish" both. Mr. Levy contends that G.M. would be better off keeping G.M.A.C., which he called the "golden goose that is driving their profits" because the unit, which makes auto and home loans, has been a critical source of earnings as the auto business has lost market share to foreign rivals like Toyota. In 2005, G.M. as a whole lost $10.6 billion, with most of that in its North American auto business. The discovery of an accounting error prompted the company late last week to increase its reported loss for the year by about $2 billion and to delay its annual report. G.M., whose credit ratings were lowered to junk status last year, would like to sell G.M.A.C., in part to preserve the division's investment-grade ratings, which would allow it to continue borrowing money on Wall Street at far lower rates than the automaker can on its own. Shelly Lombard, an analyst with Gimme Credit, a research firm, said that the goal would best be achieved by a sale to a financial services giant like Bank of America, but that banks and other large lenders were wary of entering the kind of long-term partnership G.M. is seeking, given the company's shrinking auto business, mounting pension liabilities and other challenges. "G.M.A.C. is a huge entity," Ms. Lombard said, "and most of the buyers that would give them an automatic investment grade rating are not interested." So, instead, G.M. is entertaining bids from investor groups that are led by private equity firms and include financial institutions as passive partners, Ms. Lombard said. "It was too attractive an asset for private equity buyers not to make a run at it," she added. The agreement with the U.A.W. and Delphi should help allay some of the concerns of potential G.M.A.C. buyers, but the sale of the commercial lending unit will probably have little, if any, impact on the negotiations, analysts said. The deal announced yesterday leaves G.M.A.C. with about a 21 percent stake in its commercial mortgage business. G.M.A.C. also will invest an additional $250 million in Capmark's preferred stock and will have two seats on Capmark's 15-member board. G.M.A.C.'s chairman, Eric A. Feldstein, said in a statement that G.M.A.C. expected strong returns on its remaining investment, but added that the $8.8 billion would allow the finance unit to "deploy a significant amount of capital to other critical areas of our business." Capmark's chairman will be Dennis D. Dammerman, a former vice chairman of General Electric and a former chief executive of GE Capital. G.M. has sold interests in several subsidiaries in an effort to raise money to run its operations. The company also plans to close all or part of 12 plants and eliminate 30,000 jobs through 2008. Analysts estimate the employee buyout agreement, announced Wednesday, could cost G.M. up to $2 billion, depending on how many workers take part. | GENERAL MOTORS CORP;AUTOMOBILES;FINANCES |
ny0089907 | [
"business"
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| 2015/09/09 | Parents Spending Less on Back-to-School Season Despite Growing Lists of Supplies | As a young student, Tom McMahon never had to bring scissors to school. “I remember there was always a giant box of scissors,” said Mr. McMahon, now a 38-year-old father of three who teaches English in Mahopac, N.Y. “Now, we provide for scissors as parents and ask for scissors as teachers.” Millions of American children return to school this week, many carrying more construction paper, paper towels and markers than ever before. With many school district budgets as tight as ever, schools keep relying more on parents to pay for what may have been basic classroom items during their childhood. As the income inequality gap has widened, that has placed an extra burden on many families that are already struggling. “Under normal circumstances, school districts would pay for these basic necessities,” Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, said in an email. “But with steep funding cuts to education, parents and teachers are footing the bill, basically subsidizing public education for our children.” This year, the National Retail Federation expects parents to spend slightly less on apparel, electronics and school supplies than last year, which will not help major retailers who used to count far more on back-to-school sales. Retailers have worried that with the sales seasons more spread out over the summer, they can no longer rely on that traditional lift from back-to-school shopping. The sagging sales season does not bode well for companies already struggling this year, and many have already projected a flat or disappointing holiday season, too. In the last decade, the average amount families spent on school items grew 42 percent, according to the retail federation’s projections this summer . It estimated that families with children in grades K-12 would spend an average of $630 this year, about 6 percent less than in 2014. To take advantage of the longer-term trend in spending on school supplies, major retailers have become primary guides for required items, and sometimes for the not-so-essential items, too. Walmart, the nation’s largest retailer by sales, has posted more than 100,000 school supply lists from around the country on its website , up from 83,000 about the same time last year, according to a spokesman, John Forrest Ales. This year, Target created “School List Assist,” a new section of its website that displays the most commonly required K-8 supplies. And a host of companies, like School-Pak in Jackson, Wis., prepackage supply kits that can then be shipped directly to schools or parents around the country. Requirements vary widely by school and grade level. When Gene Schulist and his wife, Terri, started School-Pak in 1991, parents of a typical middle schooler may have spent about $35 to $40, he said. Now, they see lists as high as $150. Mr. Schulist said these lists had grown “horribly” long, and for years parents have been asked to supply items like tissues and copy paper, as well as many multiples of the same items, like pencils and dry erase markers. Even the purchase of items like construction paper, once a school staple, can fall on parents. “That was always supplied by the school,” said Mr. McMahon, the teacher in Mahopac. “Now every kid comes in with a ream of construction paper.” Not every family can afford to equip their children with a batch of new items each year. Of the more than one million K-12 students enrolled in New York City public schools last year, 74 percent came from “economically disadvantaged” households, meaning that they qualified for free or reduced-price lunches and other assistance programs, according to data from the education department. About 84,000 homeless students attended school in New York City during the 2013 school year, up 25 percent since 2010, according to the Institute for Children, Poverty and Homelessness . A majority of those students do not live in shelters, which means they often miss the benefits of backpack drives and other fund-raisers aimed at low-income families, said Linda Bazerjian, a spokeswoman for the group. Image Students at Friends Seminary School in Manhattan bought school planners on Tuesday. Credit Joshua Bright for The New York Times “These other kids sometimes fall off the radar, they’re kind of the hidden homeless, and so they’re not necessarily partaking in a lot of the resources,” Ms. Bazerjian said. The gap between rich and poor, private school and public school, can be evident in lists for school supplies, and who comes prepared. Mr. Schulist says that one of his school lists requires students to bring 100 pencils, which helps compensate for children whose families can afford no pencils at all. “I thought maybe they’d be building a little log house for Lincoln’s Birthday,” Mr. Schulist said. The burden can also fall on teachers. Yaneev Bentov, a 25-year-old instructor at the Bronx Global Learning Institute for Girls, a public charter school , emerged from the Staples store in Union Square on Monday with $100 worth of pens, markers and other products for his classroom. “Everything that’s in my bag right now are things I’ve opted to get,” Mr. Bentov said. “I’ve never found my main office or staff to be particularly generous with supplies.” Inside, shelves were running low on wet wipes, an item that parents say they have grown weary of buying year after year, along with other cleaning supplies like tissues, paper towels and hand sanitizer. One college-aged woman flipping through notebooks could be heard asking her parents for more money over the phone, an experience that was not unique that day. “We were just inside with her friend and her sister, who were calling her parents because the list was so expensive,” said Arikha Moses, who emerged from the store with her daughter, Alta McQuillen, who was about to start sixth grade at a private school in Manhattan. Ms. Moses recalled spending extra money on cleaning supplies when her daughter attended public school in the past. “We didn’t have to do it when I was young,” she said. “They say they’re chronically underfunded, so what are you going to do?” Thirty-one percent of school districts in New York have less state aid than they did in the 2009-10 school year, according to Carl Korn, a spokesman for the New York State United Teachers union. At the private Friends Seminary school on East 16th Street, the roughly $40,000 yearly tuition pays for individual iPad access for nearly every K-12 student, which school officials say helps cut down on some of the physical items students need. Jeff Bloch said his 11-year-old daughter Julia typically received more items from Friends Seminary than his 9-year-old son, who attends a special needs school on Roosevelt Island. “They want Kleenex, they want paper towels, they want a lot of stuff that her private school supplies,” Mr. Bloch said. Mr. McMahon, the teacher from Mahopac, said that, as a parent, he’d rather chip in extra each year than see schools cut back even more. “I would rather our school worry about saving programs and services than buying tissues,” he said. “It doesn’t make me happy, but it’s worth it.” | K-12 Education;Retail;Family;National Retail Federation;Parenting;Motherhood;Fatherhood;Children;American Federation of Teachers |
ny0175932 | [
"science"
]
| 2007/07/03 | Pain Management - Dr. William E. Hurwitz - Prescription Drugs | On April 14, 2005, the day Dr. William E. Hurwitz was sentenced to 25 years in prison, Karen Tandy called a news conference to celebrate the sentence and reassure other doctors. Ms. Tandy, head of the Drug Enforcement Administration, held up a plastic bag containing 1,600 opioid pills. “Dr. Hurwitz prescribed 1,600 pills to one person to take in a single day,” she announced. This bag showed that he was “no different from a cocaine or heroin dealer peddling poison on the street corner,” she said, and made it “immediately apparent” that he was not a legitimate doctor. “To the million doctors who legitimately prescribe narcotics to relieve patients’ pain and suffering,” Ms. Tandy said, “you have nothing to fear from Dr. Hurwitz’s prosecution.” Next week, Ms. Tandy will have another photo opportunity, when Dr. Hurwitz is again sentenced in federal court, after the reversal of his conviction and a retrial this year. But this time, Ms. Tandy may want to skip the show-and-tell. Counting pills is a prosecutor’s trick, not a proper gauge of medical practice, and the trick didn’t even work at the retrial. Dr. Hurwitz was cleared of most of the charges on which he was previously convicted, including the one involving the patient who received the prescription brandished by Ms. Tandy. The defense successfully argued that the patient was not a drug dealer and that Dr. Hurwitz never intended to give him 1,600 pills a day — that number was the result of a clerical error, not a plot to sell drugs. None of the jurors I interviewed considered Dr. Hurwitz anything like a street drug dealer, and they were appalled to learn after the trial that he had already served more time in prison than some of his patients who were caught reselling the drugs. The only lesson for doctors I can see in Ms. Tandy’s bag of pills is, “Be afraid.” No matter what you have learned in medical school, if you are prescribing opioids in doses that seems high to narcotics agents and prosecutors, you are at risk of a trial. And once you enter the courtroom, anything can happen. At the first trial, Dr. Hurwitz was convicted of writing prescriptions that caused bodily injury, crimes that carried a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years. At the retrial, the judge dismissed the charges for the very good reason that there was no proof the prescriptions actually caused the injuries. At the first trial, the 1,600-pill argument carried the day with the jury. The foreman cited that number in explaining to The Washington Post why, even though he was “not an expert,” he was sure Dr. Hurwitz was not a “legitimate” doctor, because the number of pills went “beyond the bounds of reason.” In Dr. Hurwitz’s retrial, the prosecution tried the same strategy by repeatedly mentioning the 1,600 pills and other high-dosage prescriptions. The defense presented reams of expert testimony that there was no recognized upper limit on the level of opioids that should be prescribed. Some chronic-pain patients need enormous amounts because they develop a tolerance. One of those patients was Patrick Snowden, the man who was prescribed the 1,600 pills. His mother wrote Dr. Hurwitz a letter praising him for giving her son his life back by enabling him to deal with the pain of a foot injured so badly that he had undergone nine operations and been advised to amputate it. There was no evidence that Mr. Snowden resold any of the pills prescribed by Dr. Hurwitz, including the famous 1,600 pills. According to the defense, that scary number was a one-time fluke resulting from a clerical error when Mr. Snowden was given two new prescriptions for pills of a lower strength because his pharmacy had run out of the usual pills. The defense maintained that Dr. Hurwitz never intended Mr. Snowden to take 1,600 pills in one day and that Mr. Snowden never did take them because he realized what his proper dosage was. The prosecution fixated on the pill counts of other patients, too, often to baffling effect, because the only thing that seemed to matter was the number of pills, not their strength. When an F.B.I. agent, Aaron Weeter, prepared an elaborate chart listing the number of pills received by Dr. Hurwitz’s patients, he was questioned about its usefulness by Larry Robbins, a defense lawyer. “Would you agree that, standing alone, we can learn nothing very important from the pill count alone?” Mr. Robbins asked. “I’m not qualified to answer the question,” Mr. Weeter replied. Mr. Robbins tried working through the math with him. Wouldn’t two 40-milligram pills be no more potent than a single 80-milligram pill? But the agent stood by his pill-count charts. After the trial, the jurors told me that the defense had persuaded them to ignore the pill counts. I suppose that this could be counted as a victory for science, but it is an isolated one, because the pill-count prosecution strategy has repeatedly worked in other cases. Richard Paey, a chronic-pain patient in Florida who uses a wheelchair, was sent to prison for drug trafficking after a prosecutor argued that he could not possibly have been taking 25 pills a day himself. Most other doctors could not hope to do as well in court as Dr. Hurwitz, who had unusual advantages at his second trial thanks to his prominence and the outrage over his conviction. He was supported by some of the leading pain experts and received a pro bono defense from two top criminal lawyers in Washington who led a legal team with more than 20 members. Paying for a defense like his would probably cost at least $3 million, beyond the means of most doctors in drug cases, because their assets are normally seized long before trial. Even though Dr. Hurwitz’s defense cleared him of most of the charges, the jurors still convicted him of drug trafficking in some cases because they decided that he had ignored signs that the patients were reselling the drugs. I think that the jurors wrongly interpreted the law and the facts of the case, but I can also understand why they had a hard time figuring out what constitutes legal medical practice. They were asked to render verdicts on dozens of prescriptions given to 19 patients — the equivalent of 19 different malpractice cases involving the treatment of pain and addiction, two of the most controversial areas of medicine. The jurors did not have the time or the expertise to sort through all the complexities. After the trial, when they learned more about the pain-medicine debate and found out that Dr. Hurwitz might still be sentenced to 10 or more years in prison, several jurors expressed regret to me. They said they hoped that he was sentenced to the two and a half years that he had already served. Even if Dr. Hurwitz does walk free next week, I wouldn’t take much solace in his victory if I were a doctor treating pain patients. I wouldn’t feel safe until doctors’ prescribing practices are judged by state medical boards, as they were until the D.E.A. and federal prosecutors started using criminal courts to regulate medicine. The members of those state medical boards don’t always make the right judgment, but at least they know that there is more to their job than counting pills. | Doctors;Drug Abuse and Traffic;Hurwitz William Eliot;Drugs (Pharmaceuticals);Pain-Relieving Drugs;Pain |
ny0018517 | [
"business"
]
| 2013/07/29 | Treasury Auctions Set for the Week of July 29 | The Treasury’s schedule of financing this week includes Monday’s regular weekly auction of new three- and six-month bills and an auction of four-week bills on Tuesday. At the close of the New York cash market on Friday, the rate on the outstanding three-month bill was 0.02 percent. The rate on the six-month issue was 0.06 percent, and the rate on the four-week issue was 0.02 percent. The following tax-exempt fixed-income issues are scheduled for pricing this week: TUESDAY Missouri, Regal Convention and Sports Complex Authority, $69 million of revenue bonds. Competitive. ONE DAY DURING THE WEEK Atlanta Development Authority, $116 million of revenue bonds. Bank of America, Merrill Lynch. Chula Vista Municipal Financing Authority, Los Angeles, $76.6 million of refunding bonds. De La Rosa and Company. Colorado, Health Facilities Authority, $75 million of hospital revenue bonds. J. P. Morgan Securities. County of Genesee, Michigan, $54 million of general obligation bonds. J. P. Morgan Securities. Indiana, Health Facility Financing Authority, $95 million of revenue bonds. Morgan Stanley. Lehigh County Authority, Pennsylvania, $292 million of capital appreciation bonds. Goldman Sachs. Los Alamos Unified School District, California, $52 million of general obligation bonds. George K. Baum. Massachusetts Development Finance Agency, $51 million of revenue bonds. Goldman Sachs. Milwaukee County Airports, Wisconsin, $50.1 million of revenue bonds. Bank of America, Merrill Lynch. Nebraska Investment Finance Authority, $100 million of revenue bonds. Morgan Stanley. Orange County, Calif., Transportation Authority, $124 million of road revenue refunding bonds. Barclays. Private Colleges and Universities Authority, Emory University, Georgia, $207 million of general obligation bonds. Barclays. Riverton City, Utah, $73 million of revenue bonds. George K. Baum. State of Oregon, $78 million of revenue bonds. Bank of America, Merrill Lynch. Wisconsin Health and Educational Facilities Authority, $115 million of revenue bonds. Bank of America, Merrill Lynch. | Stocks,Bonds;Debt;Tax Credits Tax Deductions Tax Exemptions;US states |
ny0104240 | [
"world",
"europe"
]
| 2012/03/21 | Jewish School Shooting in France | TOULOUSE, France — A day after an attack outside a Jewish school here killed a rabbi and three young children, the French authorities offered fresh details on Tuesday of an assault that has stunned the nation and terrorized the city, saying the lone gunman seemed to be filming his actions as he coolly shot his victims to death. Claude Guéant, the interior minister, told a French radio station that surveillance footage from the school’s security cameras showed what appeared to be a video camera strapped to the gunman’s chest — adding a lurid detail to the most deadly attack against Jews in France in 30 years. With the nation’s terrorism alert at its highest level — “scarlet” — the French authorities pursued a broad and high-profile search on Tuesday for the assailant, but Mr. Guéant said little was known about him. The attack has been linked to two earlier shootings of French paratroopers, with the police saying that the same gun, a .45-caliber automatic pistol, was used in all three assaults. The authorities have also said that the methods were the same — a man on a powerful motorbike, also the same in each instance, who killed and then fled. President Nicolas Sarkozy has called the shooting a “national tragedy” and ordered a minute’s silence at schools across France at 11 a.m. The bodies of at least three of Monday’s four victims were to be flown Tuesday to Israel for burial, said Nicole Yardeni, who leads the regional branch of the Crif, France’s most prominent Jewish association. Mr. Sarkozy will preside over a funeral service on Wednesday for the three soldiers killed in the earlier attacks. The “scarlet” alert level, one step short of a formal state of emergency, gives security forces wide powers that include the authority to close some public places like railroad stations and deploy mixed patrols of police officers and soldiers, news reports said. On Monday, Mr. Sarkozy also said he had sent gendarmes and riot police officers to guard all Jewish and Muslim schools and places of worship in the region until the killer is stopped. The local prosecutor, Michel Valet, said that a religious instructor, his two children and another child, the daughter of the school’s director, were killed in Monday’s attack and that a 17-year-old boy was seriously wounded. The killer “shot at everything he could see, children and adults, and some children were chased into the school,” Mr. Valet said. The suspect pursued his last victim, an 8-year-old girl, into the concrete courtyard, seizing and stopping her by her hair, said Ms. Yardeni, who viewed surveillance footage of the killing. His gun appeared to jam at that point, Ms. Yardeni said. Still holding the girl, the killer then changed weapons, from what police identified as a 9-millimeter pistol to the .45-caliber. He shot her in the head and left, never removing his motorcycle helmet. “It is unbearable that someone could dehumanize children to this point,” Ms. Yardeni said, choking back tears. Antiterrorism magistrates arrived from Paris to take charge of the investigation into all three shootings on Monday, officials said, working under the belief that a single person carried out the attacks. On Monday, the killer arrived and fled on a motorbike, following the same approach used in the two previous attacks. In those shootings, a man wearing a motorcycle helmet killed three French paratroopers and critically wounded another. The soldiers were all Arab or black, and appeared to have been targeted specifically, witnesses said. “We know that it is the same person, the same arm that killed the soldiers, the children and a teacher,” Mr. Sarkozy said Monday night. “We are faced with an individual who targets his victims specifically,” said Élisabeth Allannic, a spokeswoman for the Paris prosecutor’s office, which is handling the investigation. “He targets his victims for what they represent.” The interior minister, Mr. Guéant, said it was worrying that the gunman seemed to act with impunity and coldness, and that he clearly had a sophisticated knowledge of weapons. Immediately after the shooting Monday morning, leading politicians and Jewish community leaders descended on the school, Ozar Hatorah , a low-slung brick and stucco complex in a quiet warren of residential streets known as La Roseraie, or the Rose Garden, just outside downtown Toulouse. A tall, white corrugated metal wall fences the school off from the street; six bullet holes, numbered by the police, were visible in the wall. Officials identified the victims as Rabbi Jonathan Sandler, 30, a religious instructor at the school; his two sons, Arye, 6, and Gabriel , 3; and Miriam Monsonego, 8, who is the daughter of the school’s principal, Yaacov Monsonego. Rabbi Sandler came to Toulouse from Jerusalem with his family in July to teach at the school, a friend said. The Israeli Foreign Ministry said that the rabbi was a French citizen but that his wife was Israeli and that their children had dual nationality. Israel announced that in accordance with the wishes of the families, the victims would be flown to Israel on Tuesday for burial. Another student, 17, a boy, was said to be wounded and in critical condition at a hospital. “The community is in shock,” said Arié Bensemhoun, a Jewish leader in Toulouse. About 20,000 Jews live in Toulouse, Mr. Bensemhoun said, a tightknit network confronted with what he characterized as regular anti-Semitic violence and vandalism in recent years in this area of southwest France, where there are also many Muslim immigrants. Security cameras were installed at Ozar Hatorah about 10 years ago, after a string of anti-Semitic incidents, apparently linked to the second Palestinian intifada, recalled Alain Assraf, 53, whose children were students there at the time. About 550,000 Jews are estimated to live in France, the largest Jewish population in Europe . There has been no claim of responsibility for any of the murders, though there has been some speculation that the killings might be tied to the court-martial several years ago of a group neo-Nazi soldiers who had been members of the 17th Parachute Transport Regiment. Three of the four soldiers attacked in recent days were members of that unit. The shooting on Monday was the deadliest anti-Semitic attack in France since 1982, when the Chez Jo Goldenberg restaurant in Paris was bombed at lunchtime, killing 6 people and wounding 22. In 1980, a terrorist group attacked a Jewish synagogue on the Rue Copernic in Paris, killing 4 people and wounding about 40. The French authorities ordered heightened security and surveillance for all religious schools after the shooting. Mr. Sarkozy and his main rival for the presidency, François Hollande , both broke off their political campaigns to rush to the scene. On Monday evening, Mr. Sarkozy and Mr. Hollande joined numerous other political leaders and public officials at a memorial service at the Nazareth Synagogue in Paris. The congregation sang psalms, but the politicians did not speak. Ozar Hatorah is a Jewish society promoting religious education among young people, especially in the Middle East , northern Africa and among Sephardic Jews in France. The authorities have been hunting for the gunman since the soldiers were killed last week, and the military has told soldiers not to wear uniforms in public. The wave of killings has stunned and infuriated France, prompting tense speculation about its cause. Even before the shooting on Monday, there was discussion about a possible racial or ethnic component to the attacks. Speculation over the motives for the killings ranged from anger at Muslims fighting in Afghanistan — the unit of three of the soldiers has been deployed there — and anti-Semitism, to a hatred of immigrants. Leaders from across the globe condemned the killings, including representatives of the Vatican and the White House. The Israeli ambassador to France, Yossi Gal, also traveled to Toulouse from Paris on Monday. The front page of Tuesday’s Libération, the leftist daily national newspaper, showed only the names and ages of the seven victims, as well as the dates they were killed, against a black background. Le Figaro, the rightist daily newspaper, also devoted its front page to the killings on Tuesday, with a page-width headline reading, “France Horrified.” | Ozar Hatorah Toulouse France School;Toulouse;France;Judaism;School shooting |
ny0253576 | [
"us",
"politics"
]
| 2011/10/06 | Breyer and Scalia Testify at Senate Hearing | WASHINGTON — Justices Stephen G. Breyer and Antonin Scalia of the Supreme Court crossed Constitution Avenue on Wednesday to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee about the role of judges under the Constitution, offering unscripted responses on issues like conflicts of interest and cameras in the courtroom. Justices rarely appear before the Senate panel after their confirmation hearings. The last such occasion was when Justice Anthony M. Kennedy testified about judicial security and independence in 2007. Seizing on the unusual opportunity to question the justices, senators set the agenda question by question. Senator Richard J. Durbin, Democrat of Illinois, asked whether the Supreme Court should be required to follow the Judicial Conference Code of Conduct , which is currently used as “guidance.” “Every asset has to be listed in depth, and it’s all filed,” Justice Breyer said. “I don’t think that the life of the judge in terms of ethics is less restrictive than the life of any other member of the government.” The ethical conduct of the Supreme Court has been under growing scrutiny. Questions have been raised over Justice Clarence Thomas’s appearances before Republican-backed groups and his acceptance of favors from a contributor in Texas, Harlan Crow, as well as over his wife, Virginia Thomas, and her job as a conservative advocate. House Democrats sent a letter to House Judiciary Committee leaders last month, calling on the panel to review a bill introduced this year that would require justices to withdraw from cases in which they have a political or financial conflict. The letter also singled out Justices Scalia and Samuel Alito for appearing at political events. Justice Breyer said he had not seen a decision influenced by politics in his 17 years on the court. But he drew a line between politics and judicial philosophy. “By the time you have 40 or 50 years in any profession, you begin to formulate very, very general views,” he said. “What is America about? What are the people of America about? How in this country does law relate to the average human being? How should it? And it’s a good thing, not a bad thing that people’s outlook on that court is not always the same.” Testifying before an audience largely composed of high school, college and law students, the justices often struck a professorial note in their responses, acknowledging that it is difficult for Americans to understand the court. Justice Breyer offered a suggested reading list, mentioning the Federalist Papers and Alexis de Tocqueville. “In some ways, I feel like I’m back in my favorite seminars in law school,” said Senator Patrick J. Leahy, Democrat of Vermont, the committee chairman. Senator Jeff Sessions, Republican of Alabama, said Americans needed to know that the judges would adhere strictly to the Constitution. “The American people do care,” Mr. Sessions said. “They have a high opinion of the court. They believe that you should follow the law, and the greatest threat to the court, in my opinion, is if the American people believe that judges are consistently redefining the meaning of the law to advance their agenda.” The hearing coincided with the first week of the Supreme Court’s new term and the recent celebration of Constitution Day, which recognizes the anniversary of the signing of the Constitution in 1787. Justice Scalia expounded on what sets the United States apart from other countries: not the Bill of Rights, which “every banana republic has,” but the separation of powers. Americans “should learn to love the gridlock,” he said. “It’s there for a reason, so that the legislation that gets out will be good legislation.” | Constitution (US);Supreme Court;Senate Committee on the Judiciary;Ethics (Institutional);Scalia Antonin;Breyer Stephen G;United States Politics and Government;Conflicts of Interest |
ny0032633 | [
"sports",
"basketball"
]
| 2013/12/20 | Smith Puts On Air Show With 17 3-Point Shots | To embrace J. R. Smith is to take the bad with the good. When Smith helped lead the Knicks to the playoffs last season, few were complaining. But on Wednesday night the team and its fans saw what it is like when Smith is determined to keep shooting even when things have gone somewhat awry. As the Knicks struggled to beat the underwhelming Milwaukee Bucks, going to double overtime against the N.B.A.’s worst team, the one constant was Smith hoisting up the ball from 3-point range and missing so often that even the league’s biggest chuckers had to be wincing. Too often, Smith’s shots failed to fall, but nothing seemed to discourage him as he attempted a franchise-record 17 3-pointers, breaking the record of 16 held by Jamal Crawford, John Starks and Danilo Gallinari. Of his 17 shots, Smith made 5. In all he took 23 shots and made 7. In a series of Twitter messages Thursday, he made clear that Wednesday’s performance was simply part of who he is as a player, a sentiment that, if nothing else, was honest. In one message he said, “Lol 17 threes tho!” In a follow-up he said, “But trust me give me that chance again I’ll shoot it again!” For the night, Smith barely had more points (19) than 3-point attempts. Only nine times this season has an N.B.A. player attempted as many 3-pointers as Smith missed (12). His 3-pointers came from all over the floor, but he was especially bad from the top left side of the 3-point line, where he went 1 for 8. Normally it is an area of strength. Then again, in a season in which he has struggled mightily, those numbers fit in with the combined 7 for 34 he has shot from the right side of the 3-point arc and the 7 for 26 he has shot from the center. Last Friday, Smith, his shot selection questioned by Coach Mike Woodson, created a stir by attempting only one shot in a loss to the Boston Celtics. If that performance amounted to a one-game job action by Smith, his numbers on Wednesday suggested that he had moved on and was back to being his shot-happy self. Smith was dismissive of the comparison between the two games, saying on Twitter: “We lose an I take 1 shot y’all mad we win I take 23 shots y’all mad! Lol #OHWELL.” Last season, Smith, a guard, had a team-high 436 3-point attempts and made 155, for a .356 percentage. His strong overall play in the regular season propelled him to the Sixth Man of the Year award and a lucrative contract extension. This season has not gone nearly as well. He missed the first five games because of a drug suspension, and it is not clear if he is fully recovered from off-season knee surgery. His 3-point shooting percentage of .336 is his lowest since his rookie season, in 2004-5. As it was, his misfires on Wednesday were overshadowed by the inexplicable decision of one of his teammates, Andrea Bargnani, to hoist up a 3-point shot of his own near the end of the first overtime, even though the Knicks had a 2-point lead and the ball and a chance to run out the clock unless the Bucks fouled. Bargnani missed and the Bucks tied the score, but disaster was ultimately averted. Smith’s 17 3-point attempts were hardly out of line in a league currently in love with shooting from behind the arc. Last season a record number of 3-pointers were attempted and made. While the 3-pointer, a shot popularized in the now-defunct A.B.A. and adopted by the N.B.A. for the 1979-80 season, has a high reward, it also carries considerable risk, since it will be missed more often than shots attempted from closer. In baseball, strikeouts have lost some of their stigma as teams focus more on on-base percentage and home runs. Similarly, the N.B.A. no longer seems to pay much mind to missed 3-pointers. James Harden of the Houston Rockets, one of the league’s biggest stars, went 0 for 10 from 3-point range earlier this season and just kept rolling along. Still, even in a league where 3-pointers are commonplace, Smith’s 17 attempts were something of a rarity. A player has attempted that many in a game just 24 times since 1985-86. The last player to do so was, not surprisingly, Smith, who had 17 attempts for the Denver Nuggets on Dec. 23, 2009. The player before that was also Smith, on April 4, 2009. The big difference was that Smith hit 10 3-pointers in one game and 11 in the other. For all of Smith’s misses Wednesday, others have done worse. Damon Stoudamire of the Portland Trail Blazers once missed 16 3-pointers in a game. In that contest, a loss to the Golden State Warriors in 2004-5, Stoudamire attempted a record 21 3-pointers and hit just 5. Then there is Dennis Scott, who as a member of the 1996 Orlando Magic made Smith and Stoudamire look like Ray Allen, the league’s best 3-point shooter. In a win over the Nets, Scott, who shot 39.7 percent from 3-point range in his career, went just 2 for 17 from downtown. Scott’s performance, though, was an aberration in an era when 3-pointers were not nearly as prevalent as they are now. Smith might just take another 17 shots in a coming game, and if he can make 8 or 9 of them, instead of 5, and the Knicks win, he will be lauded as a sharpshooter and not criticized for being out of control. Such is life in the N.B.A. | Basketball;Knicks;J R Smith |
ny0158394 | [
"us"
]
| 2008/12/17 | Impeachment Inquiry Hits Bumps in Illinois; Federal Criminal Case Is an Issue | SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — An inquiry here into the impeachment of Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich met resistance on Tuesday, with federal prosecutors indicating that it might interfere with the criminal case against him and a lawyer for Mr. Blagojevich requesting that the proceedings not move forward without the lawyer in attendance. Members of the newly appointed House impeachment committee met for less than two hours before adjourning until Wednesday so the lawyer, Ed Genson, could arrive from Chicago and an agreement with prosecutors could be considered about how to proceed. “We’re prepared, we’re here,” said Representative Barbara Flynn Currie, a Chicago Democrat who is the chairwoman of the committee. “We’ll be ready to have at it all the way through, but whether as a matter of practical logistics — whether we can — depends very much on when we hear from the United States attorney.” Patrick J. Fitzgerald, the United States attorney who a week ago charged Mr. Blagojevich with conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud and bribery, has expressed reservations about the prospect that lawmakers may hear testimony from witnesses in the criminal case before a jury does, Ms. Currie said. At Mr. Fitzgerald’s request, Ms. Currie prepared a letter detailing what information her committee hoped to learn from federal prosecutors and which sorts of witnesses might be called. It was uncertain when Mr. Fitzgerald would answer; his spokesman declined to comment. Lawmakers were scheduled to continue their hearing on Wednesday morning, when Mr. Genson arrives, and could choose to focus their inquiry exclusively on matters related to Mr. Blagojevich’s governing to avoid clashing with the criminal case. Mr. Blagojevich, committee members said, was also invited to attend, but declined, remaining in Chicago. His spokesman, Lucio Guerrero, said the governor, a two-term Democrat, was looking at bills and clemency cases. Before adjourning, committee members one by one expressed their sadness over the scandal and their discomfort with the state’s finding itself in such a dismal circumstance. No Illinois governor has been impeached, but State Representative Monique D. Davis, a Chicago Democrat, said the impeachment inquiry needed to move forward to remove the cloud over the state. “It’s the Land of Lincoln,” Ms. Davis said. “It’s the land of Barack Obama.” Still, Republicans here said that despite all the calls for reform, the Democratic-controlled House and Senate were showing few signs that Illinois politics would change. The new impeachment committee includes more Democrats than Republicans (12 to 9), a circumstance that might allow Democrats to control what evidence was examined and what witnesses were called. And legislation to hold a special election to fill President-elect Obama’s now-empty Senate seat (rather than have that person picked by the governor, who, prosecutors say, was seeking money or a job in exchange for his selection) was never brought to a vote in the Senate on Tuesday. The House also did not take up the proposal before it adjourned on Monday night. Though some Democrats had joined Republicans last week in calling for a special election to remove all taint from the Senate succession, Democratic lawmakers grew leery of the idea because it raised the possibility that a Republican could win the seat. “It’s another shameful display that we’ve seen down here,” said Senator Matt Murphy, a Palatine Republican. “The question that voters have to ask — that the people of Illinois have to ask — is, ‘Do the guys running this state ever tire of disillusioning and disappointing them?’ ” Democrats said they were still trying to sort out how best to select a new senator. They complained that a special election would be expensive. Many seemed hopeful that Pat Quinn, the lieutenant governor and a Democrat, would soon become governor — through Mr. Blagojevich’s impeachment, resignation, criminal conviction or removal by the State Supreme Court — and could make the Senate appointment. | Blagojevich Rod R;Bribery;Impeachment;Illinois |
ny0119484 | [
"nyregion"
]
| 2012/07/29 | A Review of ‘Romare Bearden: Southern Recollections,’ at the Newark Museum | A photograph in the catalog for “ Romare Bearden : Southern Recollections” at the Newark Museum shows the artist standing in front of an enormous bookshelf in his studio in Lower Manhattan. It’s an incongruous image, in many ways, for an exhibition that celebrates, as the catalog says, the artist’s “deep and abiding connection to his birthplace, Charlotte, North Carolina, and to the South,” and which includes paintings and collages depicting cotton workers, landscapes and other scenes from his native Mecklenburg County, N.C. On another level, however, the photograph appropriately posits Bearden as a master at merging incongruities: New York intellectual culture with the rural South; the competing lineages of European Cubism and American social realism; and modernism with civil rights-era protest art. Bearden himself was a contradiction. Born into a middle-class, educated family, he chose subjects for many of his paintings and collages that represent a life of agrarian toil. An early trauma came in 1914, when the artist was 3. Walking one day a few blocks from his family’s grocery store, Bearden, who was light-skinned, with curly blond hair, was nearly snatched by a white mob from his darker-skinned father. Shortly after that, the family migrated north to Harlem, and Bearden’s South became, as he put it, “a homeland of my imagination.” One essay in the catalog argues that over the next 45 years, Bearden in his art “returned to family scenes that he could not possibly remember.” Beyond this North-South bifurcation, the earliest paintings here also reflect the extraordinary variety of artistic heritages Bearden was exposed to as a young man. Paintings like “Untitled (Harvesting Tobacco)” (circa 1940) and “Untitled (Husband and Wife)” (circa 1941) feature large, full-bodied figures like those of George Grosz , the German-born émigré painter who was Bearden’s mentor at the Art Students League in the early 1930s and who encouraged Bearden to look at Dutch and Flemish painting. “The Family” (circa 1941), with its horizontal orientation and multiple figures, is reminiscent of the Mexican muralists, who were influential in New York in the 1930s. “Presage” (1944) displays the fragmentation of forms that was the hallmark of Cubism. Bearden started working as a political cartoonist — it was Grosz who persuaded him to switch to “fine” art — and the paintings here were created around the same time that he wrote essays like “The Negro Artist and Modern Art” (1934) and “The Negro Artist’s Dilemma” (1946). But Bearden’s greatest contribution as an artist came in the area of collage, which was pioneered by Picasso and Georges Braque as a Cubist experiment, but expanded as a form of social and political critique by German Dadaists like Grosz, John Heartfield and Hannah Hoch. Collages like “Fish Fry” (1967) and “House in Cotton Field” (1968) show Bearden using European techniques — cutting out images from magazines and other sources and arranging them into complex compositions — to depict what he called the “homeland of my imagination.” The flat planes of bright color recall late Matisse, and the eerie stillness of his American fields resembles that of Joan Miró’s Surrealist Spanish landscapes. And the impact of Surrealism is present in “Untitled (Girl in a Pond)” (1972), which uses a technique attributed to Max Ernst: “frottage,” or placing a piece of paper over a surface and then rubbing it with pencil or crayon. It is impossible, however, to ignore the long shadow of Picasso over Bearden’s oeuvre, a source that may seem surprising at first, since Picasso was the ultimate modernist — hence, a paragon of white, European culture. And yet, Picasso was a southerner, a dark Spaniard who spent the bulk of his adult life in France — and, more important, revered African art. In his writings, Bearden mentioned the impact this had on African-American artists, that Europe’s “greatest” painter looked to African art to achieve his biggest breakthroughs. Bearden’s work is peppered with Picasso-isms: a guitar here, a bull there. But one collage, “Mother and Child” (circa 1976-77), makes the connection even more explicit, with a small cutout photograph of an African mask. What Bearden himself added to the idiom of collage was that he began in the 1960s to photograph and enlarge the cutout components of his works, or to create collages and then photograph them and enlarge the prints to nearly mural-size compositions. Often these collages were done in black and white, which added a stark, somber element to a body of work made during the social upheavals of the ’60s. (The works also recall a period of painting in the late ’40s when black and white was the favored palette for existentially minded postwar painters like Willem de Kooning , Jackson Pollock and Franz Kline .) “Evening, 9:10, 461 Lenox Avenue” (1964) takes a location in Harlem, rather than the South, as its title. The work was also made a year after Bearden founded a collective called Spiral, for African-American artists in Lower Manhattan, in response to the civil rights movement. “Mysteries” and “Train Whistle Blues No. 1” (both 1964) are also excellent examples of this black-and-white work and recall the 20th century’s most famous grisaille (shades of gray) — as well as protest — painting: Picasso’s mural-size “Guernica” (1937), made in response to a bombing during the Spanish Civil War. Even with the exhibition’s focus on Bearden’s complicated Southern heritage — one that was shared by millions of African-Americans who migrated north, and the inspiration for “The Migration Series” of paintings (1940-41) by Jacob Lawrence — you get a strong survey of the artist’s oeuvre and its arc. The only quibble one might have is a common one for solo or monographic shows: there is too much work here to absorb in one viewing. A single collage by Bearden contains a world of information, sources and references, and by the time you reach the end of this show, your eyes and brain are exhausted. | Art;New Jersey;Bearden Romare;Newark Museum |
ny0049729 | [
"sports",
"basketball"
]
| 2014/10/05 | At West Point, Knicks Seek Something Different: Discipline | WEST POINT, N.Y. — There was no shortage of material for the Knicks to digest during the first week of preseason practice. With Phil Jackson watching from his courtside perch, Coach Derek Fisher installed bits and pieces of the triangle offense, a work in progress if ever there was one. But even as the Knicks began to tackle advanced geometry, the coaching staff continued to highlight the basics. Consider a practice last week when the Knicks formed two lines so they could take part in a drill that some had not seen since high school: throwing chest passes. “It’s unbelievable how many small things we’ve been going over,” J. R. Smith said. “It’s all stuff we’ve heard. It’s just stuff we haven’t done in so long.” Fundamentals and discipline were two points of emphasis at West Point, which provided a meaningful backdrop for everything that Fisher and Jackson, the team president, hoped to accomplish. It is often perilous (and even foolish) to draw parallels between the military and professional sports teams. But the Knicks’ hierarchy felt there was a point to the players being here for training camp: osmosis. Perhaps an important lesson or two would seep in about efficiency, attention to detail and being part of a team. “It doesn’t take long to have this atmosphere permeate and become a part of who you are,” said Fisher, whose team spent its final day at West Point on Friday. On one level, it was hard not to interpret much of what the Knicks did here as an indictment of everything they did last season. It is worth remembering that they were not particularly good at the basics. They were not disciplined. In fact, there is a catalog of evidence: their end-of-game debacles, their defensive snafus, their inability to avoid reaching for opponents’ shoelaces. Fisher referred to all the games the Knicks lost by close margins last season. The team neither executed nor communicated, especially when it mattered most. “If you can get stops at the end of the game, more of those games go in your favor,” Fisher said. Fisher said he spent much of September mapping out the first week of practice. Part of it had to do with logistics. The Knicks were sharing the gym with Army’s basketball teams. Fisher also said he wanted to carve out time for the players to interact with the cadets. Last Wednesday, for example, the Knicks dined at the mess hall. Jason Smith, one of the team’s new centers, said watching 4,400 cadets eat lunch in 20 minutes left an impression, calling it “incredible.” Fisher said the team’s practice that afternoon was particularly sharp, and he did not think it was an accident. “Asking where they come from, what they’re about, what it takes to make it through this — man,” Smith said of his mess-hall experience. “I’m nervous for them.” From the outside looking in, it might have seemed like a strange mix. Jackson, after all, is known for being more counterculture than conformist. But it was his idea to move training camp to West Point, and from a basketball standpoint it made perfect sense: The triangle is all about order and structure. It also hinges on each player maintaining proper spacing — generally 15 to 18 feet — and becoming part of the whole. The metaphors, then, were impossible to miss. Clarence Gaines Jr., a basketball adviser for the team, offered a glimpse of practice by posting a series of photos on Twitter. One was of a dribbling drill, and another was of the two-line passing drill, which Gaines described as an ode to Tex Winter, an early innovator of the triangle and one of Jackson’s coaching mentors. “Fundamentals being taught & emphasized!” Gaines wrote for one post. In another, he cited how order and discipline were “important from start to finish.” For the players, the back-to-basics routine was almost refreshing. As Amar’e Stoudemire put it, “These fundamentals we’re learning, I feel like I can teach my son them.” Iman Shumpert recalled doing two-man passing drills in high school, and even some in college. But in his first three seasons with the Knicks? Not so much, he said. He found the refresher course to be useful. “When we start playing, those passes feel a lot crisper when you’re throwing them,” he said. “You’re more comfortable because you’ve worked at it for 10 to 15 minutes.” It is especially important in the triangle because the type of pass that is thrown — chest, bounce, hook, lob — is defined by the player’s location on the court and how he is being defended. It might seem like minutiae, but all those movements are choreographed. They mean something. “Honestly, I used to throw passes however I felt like throwing them,” Shumpert said. “I’d been playing ball for so long, however I could get it to them, I just wanted to get it in their hands. I never thought about it. But this year, they’re making you conscious of everything you’re doing. Everything is controlled, and everything is anticipated.” Fisher, meanwhile, appeared to have little trouble finding his voice. Cole Aldrich, a center who was a teammate of Fisher’s in Oklahoma City, said none of it came as a surprise. With the Thunder, Fisher was known to reach for the whiteboard during scrimmages and draw up plays. He was authoritative, even as a player. Said Shumpert, “It sort of seems like he’s done this all before.” And so it went for the Knicks during week one, a mix of new and old. It was, if nothing else, different. | Basketball;Knicks;West Point;Phil Jackson;Derek Fisher |
ny0127829 | [
"nyregion"
]
| 2012/06/03 | Gay or Stupid? One of These Is Still an Insult | Not too long ago, Lee Stern, a music educator, was accompanying his 11-year-old nephew in an elevator in his Chelsea apartment building. Mr. Stern is gay, and so is his brother, who adopted the boy with his partner and lives down the hall. A man got in the elevator, and after he left, the boy proclaimed, “He is so gay.” Mr. Stern inquired after the response, and his nephew explained that he’d reached his assumption based on a potent whiff of cologne. Mr. Stern responded that cologne had nothing to do with sexual orientation. After all, he and the boy’s fathers didn’t wear any, and they are gay. Then the child said: “No. I mean he is gay ,” Mr. Stern recounted. “He was talking about the muscles, the shorts. He was Chelsea,” Mr. Stern said, laughing. If the man were, in fact, just Jersey Shore , would the child’s initial conclusion have been an affront? Not according to an appellate court in Albany , which last week issued a ruling that in its judicial effect stripped the word “gay” of any derogatory connotation. It is now no longer considered slanderous in the State of New York to falsely call someone gay . Gay has, in the eyes of the court, as it has in the minds of sane people, lost currency as an accusation. Say I chose to live my life as a telenovela and decided to break up my best friend’s wedding by announcing in a rehearsal dinner toast that her husband was gay. That husband would now have as little ground for a lawsuit against me as if I had described him as blond, pigeon-toed, happy or merely mediocre at Texas Hold ’Em. In arriving at its decision, the court erased decades of rulings that treated inaccurate descriptions of sexual orientation as defamation. “These appellate division decisions are inconsistent with current public policy and should no longer be followed,” the unanimous decision, written by Justice Thomas Mercure, stated. What took so long? While the decision clearly reflects the ideas and opinions of an increasingly enlightened citizenry, it might also be said to speak to the evolving etymology of the term gay itself. During the past two decades, American adolescent vernacular has broadened the definition far beyond implications of sexual orientation. In a circle of 13-year-olds, “That’s so gay!” might translate to: “Only ding-dongs go to the movies on Saturday when anyone who is anyone goes to the movies on Wednesdays.” It might be gay to wear Pumas in a place where Converse high-tops are the rage, or gay of a teacher to assign a 10-page essay on “Buddenbrooks” three days before Christmas. Ten years ago, on an e-mail list dedicated to issues of linguistics, an extensive conversation got going over whether the word gay had morphed specifically into meaning “stupid.” The cumulative answer was, yes, it seemed so, and this was happening around the world, including in the United States . But in New York, where teenagers who have grown up with gay parents, friends, aunts and cousins are perhaps thicker on the ground than most places, perhaps we’ve entered a new phase, where gay has simply reverted to meaning homosexual, a term so unremarkable it is delivered with the easiest neutrality. Some unscientifically gathered evidence suggests that we might have. Last week, Emily Kerins, 14, a student at the Baccalaureate School for Global Education in Astoria, Queens , told my colleague Juliet Linderman that she’d grown offended by the indiscriminate use of the term gay. “If I were gay and someone used that word in a negative context, of course I’d be insulted,” she said. “I hear it all the time, every single day in class. The other day I raised my hand and answered a question wrong, and someone said, ‘You’re so gay.’ What does answering a question wrong have to do with my sexuality? It’s damaging to gay people to use the word like that. People don’t want to go through life being insulted and discriminated against. It’s wrong. I’d much rather call someone a loser. I used to say it when I was younger, but I stopped.” Outside St. Ann’s School in Brooklyn Heights on Friday, I encountered a similar sense of backlash. “A lot of kids say, ‘You’re really gay’ because they think that’s what an adult would do,” Agnes Guillo, a seventh grader, explained to me. “They think it’s an insult, and they think the insult will give them power.” A boy named Eden Stern-Rodriguez, 16, was there with a group of high school friends, all of whom stood adamantly against any extrapolated uses of the term gay whatsoever. “There are people who live in my house who are gay,” Eden told me, explaining that his mother’s best friend lived with his family and that if he ever referred to anyone as gay, it would be because they were, in fact, homosexual. Perhaps there’s a new synonym for lame and the older ones among us don’t yet know about it. And maybe it’s just “lame.” | Homosexuality;Discrimination;Decisions and Verdicts;New York;Defamation |
ny0001381 | [
"business",
"media"
]
| 2013/03/26 | Hachette Delaying Goodall Book With Borrowed Passages | After revelations that Jane Goodall’s forthcoming book “Seeds of Hope” contains passages copied from various Web sites, the Hachette Book Group has decided to delay its publication. The book was set to be published April 2. No new date has been set. Last week, The Washington Post reported that Ms. Goodall, the famed primatologist known for her work with chimpanzees, had included passages in “Seeds” taken from sites like Wikipedia. Ms. Goodall, who has written or co-written 20 other books, immediately apologized. In a written statement issued Friday, Hachette said that Ms. Goodall had agreed to delay the book’s release because she wanted to “correct any unintentional errors.” The book is not about chimpanzees, but about plants and their impact on humans. “It is important to me that the proper sources are credited, and I will be working diligently with my team to address all areas of concern,” Ms. Goodall said in the news release. | Jane Goodall;Books;Hachette Books |
ny0138108 | [
"us",
"politics"
]
| 2008/05/06 | Attack and Counterattack | Senator Barack Obama of Illinois and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York on Monday engaged in a rapid-fire exchange of confrontational advertisements on television stations in Indiana and North Carolina. Here are two from the barrage. Video in The Caucus PRODUCER Obama campaign media team THE SCRIPT A male narrator says: “A war that should never have been waged. An economy in turmoil. Record prices at the pump. America held hostage to foreign oil. And what does Hillary Clinton offer us? More of the same old negative politics. Her hometown newspaper says she’s taking the low road. Her attacks do nothing but harm. The same old Washington politics won’t fix our problems. We need honest answers and a president we can trust.” Mr. Obama says, “I’m Barack Obama, and I approve this message.” ON THE SCREEN The scenes switch between images of Mrs. Clinton speaking; a woman hugging a man who appears to be a returning soldier; and the defining symbols of the economic downturn, a gasoline station price board and a foreclosure sign. The spot includes on-screen captions, like “What Does Hillary Offer Us?” and “The Same Old Negative Politics,” and then excerpts from an April 23 editorial in The New York Times are quoted by the narrator. It finishes with an image of the White House at night and Mr. Obama at a rally. ACCURACY The Times published an editorial on April 23 titled “The Low Road to Victory.” It read, in part, “It is past time for Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton to acknowledge that the negativity, for which she is mostly responsible, does nothing but harm to her, her opponent, her party and the 2008 election.” But that editorial singled out Mr. Obama as well. “Mr. Obama is not blameless when it comes to the negative and vapid nature of this campaign,” it said. “He is increasingly rising to Mrs. Clinton’s bait, undercutting his own claims that he is offering a higher, more inclusive form of politics.” Video in The Caucus PRODUCER Clinton campaign media team THE SCRIPT An announcer says, “What’s happened to Barack Obama ?” A woman holding a baby says, “Right now, we’re living paycheck to paycheck.” The announcer says, “He’s attacking Hillary’s plan to give you a break on gas prices because he doesn’t have one.” A man standing outdoors says, “The price of gas is going up.” A waitress says, “It’s hard to fill up the tank.” The announcer says: “Hillary wants the oil companies to pay for the gas tax this summer so that you don’t have to. Barack Obama wants you to keep paying, $8 billion in all. Hillary’s the one who gets it.” The man says, “ Hillary Clinton is the candidate that’s going to fight for working people.” Mrs. Clinton says, “I’m Hillary Clinton, and I approve this message.” ON THE SCREEN The spot primarily features images of Mrs. Clinton as she mingles with voters and factory workers and of everyday voters speaking into the camera. It also includes several on-screen captions, like “What happened to Barack Obama?” and “Obama wants you to keep paying gas taxes, $8 billion in all.” ACCURACY Mr. Obama does have a long-term plan to address gasoline prices; it calls for higher fuel efficiency standards and increased efforts to develop alternative fuels. He has criticized Mrs. Clinton’s proposal for a suspension of the federal gasoline tax as a short-term fix that would not achieve its desired result. Various economists have said the elimination of the tax — at a cost of $8 billion — would not greatly reduce prices in part because increased demand would send them back up. SCORECARD Following a pattern, Mrs. Clinton last week introduced the first confrontational advertisements in Indiana and North Carolina, and Mr. Obama responded in kind. If the past can be a guide, the negativity threatens to drive up unfavorable opinions of Mrs. Clinton even as it threatens to take a toll on Mr. Obama, who has little choice but to respond. With better finances, Mr. Obama has been able to outgun Mrs. Clinton on television, spending $3.8 million to her $1.8 million for advertisements in Indiana and $2.5 million to her $1.4 million for ones in North Carolina, according to the Campaign Media Analysis Group. But Mrs. Clinton arguably gains the advantage every time she forces Mr. Obama to engage in a televised tit-for-tat that she can portray as a betrayal of his vow to practice a transcendent brand of politics. | Presidential Election of 2008;Political Advertising;Obama Barack;Clinton Hillary Rodham |
ny0034124 | [
"nyregion"
]
| 2013/12/01 | A Review of Bangkok Pavilion in Kings Park | For more than a decade, 25 Main Street has been Thai food central in Kings Park. Bangkok Pavilion , which opened in September, is the latest in a series of Thai restaurants there. This one looks like a keeper. It also looks a lot like its predecessors. The décor is dominated by wall plaques with typical Thai subjects: dancers with elaborate headdresses, elephants and the Buddha. The chairs have elephant-design brocade backs; floors are shiny wood; tables are topped with chocolate-colored cloths, white cloth napkins and a single rose in a small glass. The lighting is soft, provided by wall sconces. Diners enter this corner restaurant at the far end of the dining room and traipse through it to the hostess station in the bar area for seating or to pick up takeout orders. Waitresses are sweet, hardworking and speedy, but service can be staccato, with dishes often arriving one by one as they are completed in the kitchen. Image House specials include tamarind duck. Credit Barton Silverman/The New York Times Bangkok Pavilion’s main appeal is its food, which is a notch or two above the fare served previously in this spot. The chef and owner is Settapat Bunnak, a first-time restaurateur, who cooked at Thai restaurants in Manhattan. The best appetizer coming from his kitchen is the thunder shrimp: three jumbos wrapped in pastry (similar to egg roll wraps), deep fried and presented tepee-style atop a nest of crispy noodles, with a plum sauce for dipping on the side. We also liked the delicate and refreshing basil rolls — soft rice paper filled with vegetables, rice noodles and basil, and sauced with a honey-tamarind mix. Pot stickers, light steamed dumplings filled with vegetables and chicken, were bolstered by a soy-based sauce that included crunchy bits of fried garlic. Two Thai standards made the grade: tom yum shrimp soup, with two jumbo shrimp, numerous mushrooms and the citrus kick of lemon grass; and beef salad, with tender sliced steak over crisp romaine. The only appetizer strikeout was the grilled mussels, which had an unpleasantly strong taste. The most spectacular entree was the whole red snapper, a showstopper of deep-fried chunks of fish removed from the bone and replaced on the deep-fried frame of the fish. Tamarind duck — deep-fried, boneless duck in a ginger-tamarind sauce — had equal crunch and appeal. Image Appetizers include fresh basil rolls. Credit Barton Silverman/The New York Times A good pick for those watching calories was garlic and black pepper shrimp with stir-fried vegetables atop a bed of lettuce. Diners who like heat will enjoy the spicy basil sauce with one’s choice of meat. Ours had tender pork sautéed with onions, red peppers, zucchini and green peas. Slightly less spicy but equally tasty was a dish called eggplant basil, which was tossed with onion, peppers, chili and garlic in a basil sauce, again with a choice of meat (we had chicken). Pad Thai, that ubiquitous dish, made a good showing. The restaurant’s version of the rice noodle classic is less sweet than most and comes with ground peanuts and bean sprouts on the side for added crunch. Desserts are the usual offerings. The sliced mango paired with sticky rice had sweet, ripe fruit, but the fried bananas disappointed banana lovers. The dish consisted of a generous scoop of vanilla ice cream surrounded by five very thin slices of banana wrapped in pastry and fried: too much coating, too little fruit. That dessert was one of the very few missteps at Bangkok Pavilion. Most of the dishes are good enough to convert customers into regulars. | Restaurant;Kings Park NY;Long Island |
ny0115052 | [
"business",
"media"
]
| 2012/11/06 | Roger Wood, New York Post Editor, Dies at 87 | Roger Wood, who as the executive editor of The New York Post during the first decade of Rupert Murdoch’s ownership promoted a feisty, titillating portrayal of New York City that helped more than double the paper’s circulation, died on Friday at his home in Manhattan. He was 87. His family announced the death. The Post said the cause was cancer. Mr. Wood’s background was the newspaper wars of Fleet Street in London, and he brought a brash, flamboyant flair to The Post, America’s oldest continuously published daily newspaper. Front-page headlines combined concision and dark humor. An article about a teenager’s suicide inspired the headline “Boy Gulps Gas, Explodes.” When the crowd stampeded at a Who concert in Cincinnati, the headline read, “Eleven Dead and the Band Played On.” “Granny Executed in Her Pink Pajamas” spoke for itself. The most famous headline under Mr. Wood’s stewardship has become newspaper legend: “Headless Body in Topless Bar.” It summarized the grim tale of a mad killer who murdered the owner of a Queens bar in April 1983, then took the patrons hostage. Learning that one hostage was an undertaker, he ordered her to cut off the owner’s head, which he put in a box and took with him. In his book about The Post, “It’s Alive!: How America’s Oldest Newspaper Cheated Death and Why It Matters” (1996), the longtime Post editor Steven D. Cuozzo said the story epitomized the newspaper’s “taste for discovering the profound in the profane.” “Its appearance in the nation’s largest city,” he wrote, “blew down the restraints on coverage of unspeakable crime.” Mr. Wood covered both the grittiness and the glamour of New York in a no-holds-barred style that he contended other newspapers shied away from. He increased The Post’s arts coverage even as he turned up the burner on crime coverage. “Broadway and nuns raped in Washington Heights are part and parcel of the fabric of New York,” he told Mr. Cuozzo. “What the hell is Broadway if not part of New York?” Mr. Wood succeeded Edwin Bolwell as editor in July 1977, about six months after Mr. Murdoch bought The Post from Dorothy Schiff. He brought a demanding manner to the newsroom and worked closely with Mr. Murdoch in developing Page Six, the irreverent daily helping of gossip. Mr. Wood told The Associated Press in 2007 that when he was on vacation, Mr. Murdoch actually took over editing the paper. But Mr. Wood was in some ways bolder than Mr. Murdoch: he did not print the “Headless Body” headline until the day after Mr. Murdoch left town. The initial report of that crime, the day before, had run modestly inside. Mr. Wood’s efforts helped raise The Post’s circulation from 400,000 to nearly one million in the early 1980s. Much of the increase came after Mr. Murdoch added a morning edition in 1978. Mr. Wood was born in Antwerp, Belgium, on Oct. 4, 1925. He spoke no English until his family moved to Britain when he was 7. He served in the Royal Air Force in World War II and graduated from Oxford. He was head of a magazine group in Australia, publisher of Woman magazine in Britain and one of the youngest editors to run The Daily Express in London. He came to the United States in 1975 and edited The Star, a weekly tabloid owned by Mr. Murdoch, until moving to The Post. After leaving The Post, Mr. Wood was the editorial director for the American newspapers owned by Mr. Murdoch’s company, News America. Mr. Wood is survived by his wife of 42 years, Pat Miller; his twin brother, Victor; his son, Nicholas; and two grandchildren. Mr. Wood wore a shawl that might have belonged to a Dickens character. He called men “dear boy,” and women “lovely one.” When John Lennon was murdered in 1980, he called Clive Barnes, The Post’s theater and dance critic — because, Mr. Wood said, Mr. Barnes and Mr. Lennon knew each other — and said, “Something odd has happened.” He then asked Mr. Barnes to start dictating an obituary in five minutes. | Wood Roger;Newspapers;Deaths (Obituaries);New York Post |
ny0248225 | [
"sports",
"cycling"
]
| 2011/05/21 | Insider Information Could Harm Armstrong if He Is Indicted | For the second year in a row, to the day, the buzz at the Tour of California on Friday was about something other than the race. All the talk was again about Lance Armstrong and the former teammates who have publicly accused him of doping to win the Tour de France . Last year, it was Floyd Landis who overshadowed the event with his doping admission and his claim that Armstrong had been a part of systematic doping on the United States Postal Service team. This year, Tyler Hamilton became the distraction when he admitted to doping during his career, and said so in an interview broadcast Thursday on the “CBS Evening News.” He also said he saw Armstrong inject the blood-booster EPO during the 1999 Tour and to prepare for the 2000 and 2001 Tours. Now both Landis and Hamilton are cooperating with a federal investigation looking into the suspected doping in Armstrong’s past. Both have also tested positive for banned substances during their careers, served suspensions and have long denied ever doping — testifying to that before arbitration panels — before coming clean the week of this race. Armstrong said Landis and Hamilton, two of several former Armstrong teammates who are cooperating with federal authorities, lacked credibility. Some legal experts agree, to an extent. Those experts say the cyclists’ public record of telling lies won’t help their credibility in a criminal case, if Armstrong — the seven-time Tour winner who says he has never doped — is indicted. Prosecutors are looking to bring charges against Armstrong that may include fraud, corruption, drug trafficking and money laundering, said a person briefed on the investigation who is not authorized to speak publicly about the case. “Those witnesses are pretty dirty, but will they help the case? Yes, because you have to use insiders to make a case like this,” Laurie L. Levenson, a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, said. “Gang cases. Insider trading. Fraud. Enron. You name the case. When you use insiders, you have to make sure they are believable, and one way to do that is to corroborate their testimony.” She said that prosecutors would gather other witnesses, phone calls, documents, e-mails — anything they can — to corroborate the testimony of witnesses like Landis and Hamilton who may have a questionable past. What could also help the government’s case, she said, was that Hamilton has voluntarily surrendered the Olympic gold medal he won in the time trial at the 2004 Athens Games. That would increase his trustworthiness in the eyes of a jury, she said. The International Olympic Committee said on Friday that Hamilton gave his medal to the United States Anti-Doping Agency after admitting to doping during his cycling career. “The I.O.C. has taken note of Hamilton’s confession and will, of course, study any potential Games-related implications,” Emmanuelle Moreau, a spokeswoman for the I.O.C., wrote in an e-mail. Usada confirmed that it had received Hamilton’s medal. On Thursday, once Hamilton’s doping admission became public, Armstrong posted on Twitter a presumptive congratulatory note to his former teammate Viatcheslav Ekimov of Russia. “Congratulations to @eki_ekimov on his 3rd Olympic Gold Medal!!” Armstrong wrote of Ekimov’s possibly being elevated to gold medalist from silver medalist in the 2004 time trial. Hamilton’s initial blood sample from the Olympic time trial tested positive for a banned blood transfusion, but the I.O.C. lab mishandled the backup sample and could not verify the initial positive test. A month later, though, Hamilton tested positive for a blood transfusion during the Vuelta a España and was subsequently barred from the sport for two years. Like Landis, who fought his failed test from the 2006 Tour but eventually lost the case and his Tour title, Hamilton for years insisted he had never used performance-enhancing drugs or methods. Of his gold medal, he told The New York Times in 2004, “I earned it fair and square” and said cycling “is not a dirty sport.” Hamilton, a cycling coach in Colorado, is serving an eight-year ban from cycling after testing positive for the banned substance DHEA, which he said he ingested because it was in a herbal supplement he was taking to battle depression. He was also one of the witnesses to testify to a federal grand jury in Los Angeles investigating the Armstrong matter. He plans to reveal some of his testimony on Sunday in an interview on “60 Minutes.” Aside from Hamilton’s credibility problems, that interview will only add to the prosecutors’ problems, making their job even harder, some legal experts say. “The general rule for prosecutors, for all lawyers, is that the fewer times your witness recounts the narrative that he will be giving at trial, the better,” Daniel C. Richman, a law professor at Columbia, said. “Because there always will be the risks of inconsistencies.” | Doping (Sports);Armstrong Lance;Bicycles and Bicycling;Hamilton Tyler;Landis Floyd;Postal Service (US) |
ny0064275 | [
"nyregion"
]
| 2014/06/02 | With South Bronx Trail, a History and a Culture Will Be Clearly Marked | Casa Amadeo on Prospect Avenue, a Latin record store on the National Register of Historic Places, is perhaps the only place in the city where one can worship at a shrine dedicated to the Puerto Rican composer Rafael Hernández. On a recent Saturday, Miguel Angel Amadeo told the tale of his shop’s beginnings in East Harlem, its move to the Bronx and Mr. Amadeo’s reign as owner, cultural arbiter and link to politicians, salsa legends and historians since 1969. Dayra Rivas, 15, was among his listeners. She lives down the block, but it was only the second time she had stepped inside the store. Image People on the tour photograph a sculpture by John Ahearn and Rigoberto Torres on a wall at Intervale Avenue and Kelly Street. Credit Nicole Bengiveno/The New York Times “I pass this store every day and always see people inside but didn’t know about its history,” she said. “I get why people make a big deal about it now.” Her discovery came by way of a walking tour sponsored by the 80-year-old cultural institution Casita Maria , in conjunction with South Bronx community organizations and leaders out to unearth the deep musical and cultural history of the area. “There is this incredible cultural history in the Bronx that the larger world knows very little about,” said Elena Martinez, who led the meandering two-hour tour armed with notes and a tote bag of historical photographs. “People sort of know hip-hop, but there really is so much more,” she said. Ms. Martinez’s tour was a taste of what will soon be known as the South Bronx Culture Trail . Funded by an $80,000 grant from the New York Community Trust, a series of 10 permanent markers will be installed next year, creating a self-guided tour of the South Bronx not unlike the one Ms. Martinez has given for almost a decade now. The choices about the markers’ locations will be made by the South Bronx Culture Trail Advisory Council, whose membership is made up of about 30 artists and community leaders. Contenders for the first markers include, among other places, the major spots in a once-thriving club scene. In the ‘50s and ‘60s, jazz streamed from the trumpet of Dizzy Gillespie at Club 845 on Prospect Avenue, and the rhythms of mambo and salsa served up by Tito Rodríguez, Celia Cruz and others could be heard at the Tropicana and the Embassy Ballroom in Morrisania . A map curated by the Bronx Music Heritage Center , where Ms. Martinez, 45, is a co-artistic director, illustrates the concentration of these long-gone clubs. “Nowadays you come across young Latino and African-American kids around here who don’t know who Tito Puente or Duke Ellington was,” Ms. Martinez said. “That’s a shame.” Image Ms. Martinez shared a "before" photo under the Intervale Avenue subway station. Credit Nicole Bengiveno/The New York Times The trail also will highlight the former residences of notable natives like Sonia Sotomayor, the Supreme Court justice, and Colin Powell, the former secretary of state, who made their mark far beyond the borough, as well as those who stuck around, like Dr. Hetty Fox, whose play street on Lyman Place has quietly been a bastion for youth in the South Bronx for decades. “She gave me my first job,” said Mohammed Jalloh, 20, perched on a car, observing a crowd converged upon Ms. Fox, who spoke in front of her three-story house on 1370 Lyman Place. Unlike the “ Ghetto Tour, ” which was stopped after public outrage last year, Ms. Martinez’s tour the other day drew only curiosity in the neighborhoods it traversed as participants stopped to point their cameras, much like tourists in Times Square. Ms. Martinez did not use a megaphone, and often found her voice drowned out by street-corner conversations and the bachata and salsa music booming from car stereos. The tour halted at Charlotte Street, where a row of white-fenced houses with Puerto Rican flags has replaced a street scene once portrayed as a kind of battlefield in the films “Fort Apache, the Bronx” and “Wolfen,” both shot there and released in 1981. Seth Evans, 50, a high school English teacher from Westchester, liked what he was seeing. “It’s still scrappy here, there is still vitality,” he said. | The arts;South Bronx;Casita Maria;New York Community Trust |
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