TASK DEFINITION: Given a document, find the main entity about whom the author is writing. Write the full name if mentioned in the text. Note that URLs in the text have been replaced with [Link].
PROBLEM: Newspapers on Tuesday ran pictures of the urbane   U.S.-educated Foreign Minister Javad Zarif  laughing and hugging the commander of the guards  Major-General Mohammad Ali Jafari.
 Zarif  brief lawmakers on Wednesday about the expected U.S. action and about Iranâs plans for a response  according to members of parliament quoted in state media.
âIn the closed session  Zarif  emphasized that if the Americans take any steps against the nuclear deal that the Islamic Republic of Iran will give them a more crushing response â Shahbaz Hassanpour  a lawmaker representing the city of Sirjan  told the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA).
Lawmakers did not disclose the specific actions that  Zarif  had discussed as plans for Iranian retaliation.

SOLUTION: Javad Zarif

PROBLEM: Timeline of events in  Chris Kennedy 's involvement with the construction of Cleveland's Medical Mart.
Timeline of events in  Chris Kennedy 's involvement with the construction of Cleveland's Medical Mart.
As  Chris Kennedy  campaigns for governor   he âs talked about  his  business successes.  He âs pointed to  his  management of the Merchandise Mart  âone of the great economic engines of Illinois â and to  his  role developing skyscrapers on Wolf Point along the Chicago River.  Kennedy   however  has not highlighted one of  his  biggest projects to date â a nearly half-billion dollar public-private partnership to build a convention center and Medical Mart in Cleveland. Local politicians  led by a longtime family friend  gave  Kennedyâs  company a no-bid contract and pushed through a controversial sales tax hike to pay for it. As the project got off the ground   Kennedy  told Cleveland residents the one-stop medical superstore would remake the Rust Belt cityâs image into a âDisney World for doctorsâ and draw coveted medical conventions to town. Instead  the project was plagued by accusations of insider dealings  secrecy and failed promises.  Kennedy âs company made millions of dollars  while residents are stuck paying more on items they purchase. Four years after the 235 000-square-foot Medical Mart opened its doors   Kennedy  and  his  company have long since departed amid criticism they did little to foster the original goals of the struggling project. Now rebranded the Global Center for Health Innovation  the building sits eerily empty most days â the glassy high-tech showrooms of its few tenants unstaffed and deserted. Subsequent management companies have failed to bring in revenue-producing tenants or the flood of health care trade shows once promised.  Kennedy  said  he  was only trying to help Clevelandâs leaders achieve their goals of a new convention center and a revitalized downtown.  He  said  his  company took on a project when few were looking at the city  and the long-term business plan shifted after  he  left. âIt certainly wasnât a secretive contract. It certainly wasnât done without public scrutiny â  he  told the Chicago Tribune in a recent interview. âI donât know what generated more press coverage in Cleveland.â âHonestly  did we pull a fast one? Did we slide one by?â  Kennedy  added. âNo  I donât think any of that happened. I think everybody knew everything by the time we completed our deal. Thatâs what I believe.â Cuyahoga Countyâs current executive  Armond Budish  told reporters last month that he could call the Medical Mart building âan inherited albatross â but chooses to remain hopeful the development someday will succeed. Tim Hagan  a  Kennedy  family friend  spearheaded the push for the Medical Mart when he was a county commissioner a decade ago. Hagan said he stands by his decision to support  Kennedy âs project but acknowledged the development has fallen short. âThe point of what we were trying to do is make the convention facility â¦ more attractive for outside investments to come in for events â Hagan said over coffee in a recent interview in Cleveland. âHas it worked out â¦ as much as we thought it was going to work out  immediately? No  I donât think so.â Heywood Sanders is an urban planning and public policy scholar who is critical of convention centers as publicly funded economic development projects. He has studied the Medical Mart deal for years and said Cleveland was blinded by its own misplaced hopes and the  Kennedy  mystique. âDesperate cities do desperate things â said Sanders  a professor at the University of Texas at San Antonio. Sanders said no hard data existed showing that a Medical Mart would succeed or produce any economic benefits for Cleveland. âIt didnât make sense then  and it doesnât seem to make sense now.â David Heinzmann / Chicago Tribune Global Center for Health Innovation's glass and pre-fab concrete panel structure offers wide views of the Cleveland downtown mall and skyline from its atrium-style ground floor  shown on Oct. 10  2017. Global Center for Health Innovation's glass and pre-fab concrete panel structure offers wide views of the Cleveland downtown mall and skyline from its atrium-style ground floor  shown on Oct. 10  2017. (David Heinzmann / Chicago Tribune) Once a bustling industrial metropolis  Cleveland experienced a hard slide into Rust Belt decline during the 1970s and â80s. Its population and manufacturing base shrank as factories and mills closed down. One of the bright spots in the cityâs economic landscape appeared to be health care. The Cleveland Clinic grew over the past 40 years to be one of the most renowned hospital complexes in the world â rivaling the Mayo Clinic as a destination for affluent patients around the globe seeking out the best  most innovative care. The clinic campus sits several miles east of the cityâs downtown lakefront  which continued to decline over the years. Since the late â70s  some civic leaders held onto the belief that renovating the outdated underground convention center might be the key to making the city center a destination once again. The political and financial capital to make it happen never materialized. Investing public money in building convention facilities is often a divisive issue. Boosters often say if you build it  they will come; others say the investment rarely pays off. William Bowen  a professor of public administration at Cleveland State University  puts himself in the latter category. Convention center deals typically underperform their projections that spurred their construction  he said. âMost of the time  the valuation of the impact of whatâs built either doesnât happen  or â¦ they donât  as a rule  pay back the public coffers â Bowen said. âI think thatâs borne out by the majority of the research.â The hospitalâs involvement started to change the sense of possibility  and then  Kennedy âs involvement would put it over the hump  Hagan said. The consensus version of how the development came about begins with Dr. Toby Cosgrove  Cleveland Clinicâs longtime president. According to  Kennedy   Cosgrove wanted to leverage the clinicâs cachet to revitalize downtown Cleveland. Cosgrove declined multiple interview requests.  Kennedy  said a New York real estate executive who was Cosgroveâs patient recommended Merchandise Mart and  Kennedy .  Kennedy  said Cosgrove called  him  to discuss the potential for a mart geared toward medical professionals.  Kennedy  said in 2005  he  and another Merchandise Mart official met with Cosgrove and local and state economic officials at the clinic.  Kennedy  said  he  suggested the new medical mart be tied into rebuilding Clevelandâs aging convention center.
âWe had explained that marts really work best in conjunction with trade show facilities â  Kennedy  recalled. âAnd there may be an opportunity to rebuild the trade show hall. Cleveland  we knew  was looking at it  and he (Cosgrove) ought to look into tying those two things together.â  Kennedy  said  his  friend Hagan  then a county commissioner  had nothing to do with his entree to the Cleveland discussions. However  when he was in town for the Cosgrove meeting  he also met Hagan for a cup of coffee at a hotel near the hospital complex. By the time the deal came together two years later  Hagan and Cuyahoga County officials were in charge. âThey were trying to come up with a way to sell a convention center  and there was no money for a convention center â Sanders said. âIn this context   Chris Kennedy  was providing a degree of legitimacy and political cover and seeming market authority  to a project that had never happened before  anywhere  despite some efforts to try. Merchandise Mart had a remarkable role in trying to legitimize it.â Phil Velasquez / Chicago Tribune Interview with  Chris Kennedy  on Oct. 31  2017  at  his  campaign headquarters. Interview with  Chris Kennedy  on Oct. 31  2017  at  his  campaign headquarters. (Phil Velasquez / Chicago Tribune) (Phil Velasquez / Chicago Tribune)  Chris Kennedy  is the son of  the late Sen. Robert F. Kennedy  and nephew of the late President John F. Kennedy. While the  Kennedy  family has been based in New England and the corridors of power in Washington  much of the familyâs wealth was derived from their decadeslong ownership of Chicagoâs Merchandise Mart  which  Chris Kennedy  ran before and after the family sold the massive building for $625 million in 1998. Hagan had known the  Kennedy  family since the late 1970s  when his own politically connected family threw its support behind the candidacy of  Chris Kennedy âs uncle  then-Sen.  Edward Kennedy   D-Mass.  who was seeking the 1980 Democratic presidential nomination. Hagan was godfather to one of  Chris Kennedyâs  nieces  was a pallbearer for one of his uncles and served on the board of a  Kennedy  charitable foundation. Hagan said he had been a guest at the familyâs famed Cape Cod compound several times over the years.  Kennedy  told the Cleveland Plain Dealer newspaper in 2009 that Hagan was the reason Merchandise Mart undertook the project. âWho else could get us to come there?â  Kennedy  asked. âNobodyâs doing business in Cleveland.â Hagan and Kennedy both reject the notion of insider dealing  saying they never hid their friendship. There was never an effort to put the project out for bid  the men said  because no one else was seriously interested. It was the first time that an outside business firm had showed any interest in an idea that had for years been a local pipe dream  Hagan said. âWe had one legitimate proposal from the outside â the Merchandise Mart people â Hagan said. âI give  Chris Kennedy  credit for looking at  it  because no one else did.â David Heinzmann / Chicago Tribune Originally named the Medical Mart  the Global Center for Health Innovation's showrooms and meeting spaces sit mostly deserted in downtown Cleveland on Oct. 10  2017. Originally named the Medical Mart  the Global Center for Health Innovation's showrooms and meeting spaces sit mostly deserted in downtown Cleveland on Oct. 10  2017. (David Heinzmann / Chicago Tribune)  Kennedy âs ties to Hagan fueled criticism from the start  but it intensified when the details of the deal were made public. Cuyahoga County raised its sales tax and bore nearly all of the costs of developing the complex â both building the Medical Mart and renovating Clevelandâs aging  underground convention center. Merchandise Mart would receive an upfront $12 million developerâs fee and collect other fees expected to total $103 million over 20 years  according to the contract. âDid they get a good deal? I guess they did. I donât know â Hagan said. âI didnât negotiate the deal.â Hagan did  however  vote for the quarter-cent sales tax hike and the contract. No sooner had the development agreement been signed in spring 2009 than some in county government began to look for ways to fix it. Critics said the deal was so sweet for  Kennedy âs firm that  he  had little incentive to make the Medical Mart generate income. âThey had no skin in the game â Sanders said of Merchandise Mart. âThey clearly were getting paid as it went along. It became increasingly clear over the years that they werenât going to be able to make the whole thing work.â The project was soon behind schedule. Groundbreaking did not take place until January 2011. At the time  Merchandise Mart said it had letters of intent from 58 companies  hospitals and colleges that would fill the Medical Mart. âToo much demand is never a serious problem â  Kennedy  told local media. âWeâll work to accommodate everyone.â The Plain Dealer  however  reported that some of those Merchandise Mart listed as potential tenants were offered space for free  while others said they had no plans to move into the Medical Mart. Around the same time  Cuyahoga County went through a massive corruption scandal that resulted in a new form of government that diminished Haganâs influence. Hagan  who was not part of that scandal  left office in January 2011. Six months later   Kennedy  announced  he  was stepping down from the Merchandise Mart.  Kennedy  said  he  has paid little attention to the development since then. But if the project went wrong   he  said in a recent Tribune interview from  his  campaign offices  it was after  he  left.  He  said local leaders decided to try to charge higher rents to the health care tenants  he  had lined up for the mart. The idea was to give the space away for several years to bring in tenants who would create the âDisney-like experience â  he  said. âThat vision was largely abandoned after I left â  he  said. âThe tenant mix and the Medical Mart as a loss leader was abandoned.â Instead   he  said  they hired real estate companies to attempt to produce market rate revenue. As the Medical Mart struggled to find the kind of tenants originally envisioned  the projectâs mission changed to include local groups that would use the space for educational classes. News coverage pointed out that the health care industry had well-established practices for purchasing supplies and new technologies that did not fit into the Medical Mart concept. By the time the building opened in 2013  county leaders had grown impatient with Merchandise Martâs management. That December  the county parted ways with the Chicago company  negotiating a $3 million payment to end their long-term agreement. While that deal called for Merchandise Mart to kick in $20 million to build tenantsâ showrooms  the company departed before fulfilling the pledge  said Jeffrey Appelbaum  a Cleveland lawyer who advises the county and oversaw most of the project after the original development deal was adopted. He described the commitment of $20 million as âkind of softâ and geared toward being made near the end of the project  making it unclear when the company would actually have to contribute the money. When design changes in the convention center portion of the project drove the cost from $425 million to $465 million  Cuyahoga County asked Merchandise Mart to use some of the promised $20 million to cover the new increased costs  according to documents and county officials.

SOLUTION: Chris Kennedy

PROBLEM: In August  Trump told the North Koreans what to expect if they made any more threats against the United States: “They will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen.” That warning didn’t deter  Kim Jong-un  from conducting a nuclear detonation and additional missile tests  part of  his  quest for the capacity to execute a nuclear strike on the American mainland.
The other day  Sen. Lindsey Graham  R-S.C.  told The Atlantic that “there’s a three in 10 chance we use the military option” — a figure he raises to “70 percent” if there’s another test. Based on their conversations  he says Trump “has 100 percent made up his mind that he’s not gonna let Kim Jong-un” deploy “a missile and a nuclear warhead that can hit America effectively.”
 Kim  has shown no penchant for suicide. The only circumstance in which  he  would be likely to fire nuclear-armed missiles is if North Korea or  his  regime were under surprise attack — leaving  him  nothing to lose. In this case  the remedy wouldn’t cure the disease; it would cause the disease.
The hawks speculate that the North Korean despot would use these devices to intimidate us while forcing South Korea to accept reunification under  his  rule.  He  might figure that an American president would not risk the radioactive obliteration of Los Angeles or Washington to save a distant ally.
But for Kim  the risk of being wrong on that gamble would be annihilation. And if we want to remove any doubts in  his  mind  we could turn over some of our nukes to the South Korean government — which would have every reason to retaliate.

SOLUTION:
Kim Jong-un