Archbishop Pietro Sambi, Vatican Envoy, Dies at 73

Abstract: Archbishop Pietro Sambi, a career Vatican diplomat who represented the Roman Catholic Church for more than four decades in diplomatically delicate postings around the globe and served as the papal ambassador to the United States since 2005, died on Wednesday in Baltimore. He was 73. The cause was complications of lung surgery he underwent two weeks ago, Vatican Radio said. Archbishop Sambi, a gregarious, silver-haired Italian priest fluent in English, French and Spanish, was one of Pope Benedict XVI’s first appointments after Benedict succeeded Pope John Paul II in 2005. In 2008, when the new pope made his first trip to the United States, Archbishop Sambi became the point man in defending the pope’s controversial decision not to visit Boston, the nexus of the sexual abuse crisis among priests in the United States. Abuse victims and Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley of Boston were urging a visit, but church officials privately feared there was too much danger of public protests. At the same time, Archbishop Sambi helped arrange a private meeting between a select group of victims and the pope at the official papal ambassador’s residence in Washington a few days before the end of his trip. One victim at the meeting was said to have told the pope that he needed to do more about the “cancer in your flock.” Jason Berry, an author who was one of the first journalists to report on sexual abuse in the church, said Archbishop Sambi’s sensitivity to the needs of ordinary people had made him a rare Vatican prelate. In his recent book on church finances, “Render Unto Rome,” Mr. Berry portrayed the archbishop as one of the few high-ranking church officials in the United States who had tried to stop dioceses from closing parishes to pay for sexual abuse court settlements. But Terence McKiernan, president of BishopAccountability.org , which archives documents from the abuse scandal, said that in recent years Archbishop Sambi had lobbied the Vatican behind the scenes to appoint a number of bishops whom the group considers hostile to victims’ rights. In a statement, Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan of New York, the president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, said Archbishop Sambi had possessed both “a keen sense of diplomacy cultivated through many years of service in the Vatican diplomatic corps, especially in Israel, and a pastoral sensitivity cultivated through his many years as a faithful and devoted priest.” Pietro Sambi was born on June 27, 1938, in Sogliano al Rubicone, in central Italy. His father was a schoolteacher. After he was ordained a priest in 1964, he studied theology and canon law in Rome and joined the Vatican diplomatic service in 1969. He served in Cameroon, Cuba and Algeria before his appointment as charge d'affaires to Nicaragua in 1979, soon after the overthrow of the repressive government of Anastasio Somoza and the installation of the leftist Sandinista government led by Daniel Ortega. Ambassador Sambi was often cast as a mediator between the many Catholic priests who held prominent offices in the Sandinista government and the Catholic bishops of Nicaragua, who opposed the priests’ participation in the apparatus of a socialist state. He became an archbishop in 1985 and served for the next dozen years in Burundi and Indonesia. Archbishop Sambi became Vatican ambassador to Israel and apostolic delegate to Jerusalem in 1998. He was deeply involved in arranging Pope John Paul II’s historic 2000 visit to Jerusalem, the first time any pope had visited the Western Wall and the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum. In 2007, when he was already ambassador to the United States, he stirred controversy with remarks in which he accused Israel of dragging its feet in carrying out a 1993 treaty with the Vatican over church properties and the treatment of Catholic Arabs in Jerusalem. The Vatican distanced itself from his comments.

Roman Catholic Church
Priests
Sambi Pietro
Deaths (Obituaries)


Goodell Says He Will Hear Brady Appeal

Abstract: Tom Brady formally appealed his four-game suspension on Thursday for his reported role in the deflation of footballs before the A.F.C. championship game in January against the Indianapolis Colts. Commissioner Roger Goodell said Thursday night that he would hear the appeal. “Commissioner Goodell will hear the appeal of Tom Brady’s suspension in accordance with the process agreed upon with the N.F.L. Players Association in the 2011 collective bargaining agreement,” Greg Aiello, an N.F.L. spokesman, told The Associated Press. Citing previous overturned punishments, the players’ union had urged Goodell to appoint a neutral party to hear the appeal. “Given the N.F.L.’s history of inconsistency and arbitrary decisions in disciplinary matters, it is only fair that a neutral arbitrator hear this appeal,” the union said in a statement. If the league and its investigators are truly confident in its case, the union said, “they should be confident enough to present their case before someone who is truly independent.” The appeal must be heard within 10 days. Brady also hired Jeffrey L. Kessler, an antitrust lawyer, to help in his defense. Kessler has worked successfully on behalf of athletes in several cases involving the N.F.L., the N.B.A. and the N.C.A.A. By rule, Brady’s appeal deals solely with his suspension and does not address the penalties given to the Patriots. The N.F.L. fined the Patriots, the defending Super Bowl champions, $1 million and stripped them of two draft picks, including their first-round choice in 2016. It was unclear whether the Patriots would appeal those penalties.

Tom Brady
Football
Roger Goodell
Patriots
Fines
Cheating


Demise of Same-Sex Weddings Disheartens Businesses

Abstract: SAN FRANCISCO — A week before Election Day, Christopher Burnett’s floral shop filled an order for one of the many same-sex weddings he has worked in the last five months: eight corsages, a dozen boutonnieres and two bouquets for the two brides, each with three dozen roses. Now, Mr. Burnett said, since Tuesday’s voter approval of Proposition 8, which amended the state’s Constitution to recognize only marriages between men and women, that type of business is gone. “I have done a gay wedding every week,” he said. “And so it’s very disheartening, because other business is very slow.” Even as opponents of the measure officially conceded defeat on Thursday, California business owners — particularly those in the marriage business — were trying to determine how many wedding cakes would now go unsold and how many tuxedos unrented. Arturo Cobos, a manager at Kard Zone in the city’s traditionally gay Castro neighborhood, said he had done “big sales” of same-sex wedding cards and other trinkets since marriages began in June, but had recently stopped stocking new goods. “We were afraid that they would pass Proposition 8,” Mr. Cobos said, “and that’s exactly what happened.” In Palm Springs, another gay-friendly city, Mayor Steve Pougnet said he had performed 115 same-sex weddings since June, when such ceremonies began, some of which had as many as 180 guests. By contrast, this week the city has canceled eight planned ceremonies. “That’s a huge economic impact, which is gone in these difficult economic times,” said Mr. Pougnet, who is openly gay and married his partner in September. Another mayor, Gavin Newsom of San Francisco, was blunt. “It’s a great day for Massachusetts,” Mr. Newsom said, referring to one of only two remaining states to allow same-sex marriage . The other, Connecticut, legalized such unions in October. The approval of Proposition 8 comes even as the state is suffering through another bout of bad economic news. On Thursday, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who opposed Proposition 8, in part on economic grounds, announced that the state’s budget deficit had already swelled to $11.2 billion for the coming year, and called the Legislature back into session and proposed higher taxes to address the budget problems. David Paisley, a San Francisco-based marketing executive with a specialty in gay tourism, said California had four of the nation’s top 10 destinations for gay travelers: San Francisco, Palm Springs, Los Angeles and San Diego. Mr. Paisley said that it was too early to speculate on the exact economic impact of Proposition 8, but that some public relations damage might have already been done. “California has always been perceived on the vanguard of gay-friendly destinations,” he said. “Well, when a ballot measure passes says it’s not, it’s terrible publicity for gay and lesbian tourism.” Frank Schubert, the campaign manager for Protect Marriage, the leading group behind Proposition 8, said any potential impact, or the specter of bad press, was overstated. “This is an issue of restoring the institution of marriage as it always existed,” said Mr. Schubert, noting that same-sex marriage had only briefly been legal. “I can’t imagine that returning to the history of 4,000 years before that is going to cause an economic upheaval.” In June, the Williams Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles, which studies sexual orientation and the law, estimated that legalizing same-sex ceremonies in the state would result in about $63.8 million in government tax and fee revenue over three years. Several civil rights and gay rights groups said Thursday that they had asked the State Supreme Court, which legalized same-sex marriage in May, to bar the carrying out of Proposition 8, which went into effect as soon as the result of the referendum was known. San Francisco tourism officials, meanwhile, said they would continue to push the city as a destination for “commitment ceremonies and other celebrations of partnership.” All of which gave a small measure of hope to merchants like Mr. Burnett, who said he would miss the extra work. “Unless,” he said, “we get gay marriages back.”

Marriages
California
Referendums
Homosexuality
Weddings and Engagements
Economic Conditions and Trends


Suit Says Jesuit Leaders Ignored Warnings on Abusive Priest

Abstract: Jesuit leaders in Chicago largely ignored or kept secret numerous reports, spanning four decades, that a prominent priest was sexually abusing teenage boys, lawyers for victims charged on Monday in a motion for punitive damages in a Chicago court. Included in the motion were more than 65 recently obtained church documents and depositions that, the lawyers said, demonstrated “a reckless disregard for the safety of others in the face of repeated reports of sexual misconduct” on the part of Chicago Jesuit leaders. The former priest, Donald J. McGuire, now 80, was convicted on several counts of sex abuse in state and federal courts in 2006 and 2008, and is serving a 25-year federal sentence. The newly public documents date from the early 1960s, when a concerned Austrian priest, in imperfect English, first observed in a letter to Chicago Jesuits that Father McGuire, newly ordained and studying in Europe, had “much relations with several boys.” The reports extend into the last decade, when Father McGuire reportedly ignored admonitions to stop traveling with young assistants, molesting one as late as 2003, as law enforcement was closing in. The legal motion argues that Father McGuire’s superiors in Chicago turned “a blind eye to his criminal actions.” The current case started with a civil suit brought by six men who say they were victims. Three have since settled with the Jesuits, but three others, identified as John Doe 117, John Doe 118 and John Doe 129, are still pursuing the suit against the Chicago Province of the Society of Jesus and Mr. McGuire. Most of the newly released documents were obtained in the discovery process for the suit: letters and memos the church was required to produce from its files, and transcripts of depositions. The motion filed on Monday asks the Cook County Circuit Court to take the unusual step of considering additional, punitive damages, given what the motion says is the evidence of a long trail of credible warnings about the priest’s behavior and ineffective responses by church officials. Terence McKiernan, president of BishopAccountability.org , a victim advocacy group that has long monitored the church’s response to sexual abuse charges, said that the series of warnings given to Jesuit leaders by parents and fellow priests was unusually long and clear. “I have never seen such detailed and frequent notice received by the priest’s superiors, so many ‘directives’ regarding the priest’s future behavior, and so much evidence presented to his superiors that those directives were being violated, without the priest being removed from ministry,” Mr. McKiernan said. His group has posted a history of the case and many of the key documents . Mariah E. Moran, a lawyer for the Chicago Province, said she could not comment on the motion because she had not had a chance to study it, and a spokesman for the province did not respond to requests for comment. In depositions and settlement meetings over the last three years, senior Jesuit officials have said that until recent years they had not heard firm-enough evidence of sexual abuse to justify stronger action against Father McGuire. Last week, the Jesuits’ Oregon Province agreed to pay $166 million to hundreds of victims of sexual abuse, which occurred decades ago at remote Indian boarding schools. The two cases shed rare light on how religious orders have dealt with charges of sexual abuse, as opposed to the Catholic dioceses and bishops at the center of most recent scandals. The Jesuits are the world’s largest Roman Catholic religious order. The motion filed on Monday charges that the church misled prosecutors in 2006, with its lawyers claiming that they had little information about the priest — despite the lengthy record of complaints. The case has been acutely troublesome for the Jesuits, an order known for its scholarship and its elite high schools and universities. Father McGuire was by all accounts a mesmerizing teacher, and after he was barred by some Jesuit schools in the 1960s and 1970s for suspicious behavior, including having students share his bedroom, he went on to became a popular leader of eight-day spiritual retreats around the country and the world. For about two decades, starting in the early 1980s, he was a spiritual adviser to Mother Teresa, who put him in charge of retreats for the nuns in her worldwide order, Missionaries of Charity. Several times each year, in India, the United States, Russia and other countries, he led retreats for the sisters. In these travels he routinely took along a teenage boy as an assistant, saying he needed help administering his diabetes treatment. In complaints voiced by some parents and priests at the time, and in later depositions, those assistants said their duties often included sleeping in the same bed as Father McGuire, showering and reading pornography together, providing intimate massages and watching him masturbate. The Jesuits have their own administrative structure, with a leader in Rome and regional provinces in the United States, although they also operate with permission from local bishops. On his return from Europe in the 1960s, Father McGuire was assigned to live and teach at Loyola Academy , a high school in Wilmette, Ill. Two boys stayed with him in his room for about two years each, where he constantly abused them, according to the 2006 trial. In 1969 the second of those boys, then 15, ran away and described the abuse to his parish priest, who contacted the Jesuit president of the academy. The school responded by removing Father McGuire, but, according to a letter released on Monday, publicly described his departure as a “sabbatical.” In 1991, in another of the many warnings revealed on Monday, the director of a retreat house in California reported to the Chicago Province’s leader that Father McGuire was traveling with a teenage boy from Alaska and sharing a bed with him, and that the boy’s mother had expressed her concern that “her son has in some way changed.” That year, the Chicago Province’s leader, the Rev. Robert A. Wild, imposed the first set of “guidelines” on Father McGuire. In written instructions he said: “I ask that you not travel on any overnight trip with any boy or girl under the age of 18 and preferably even under the age of 21.” But Father McGuire was left to police himself, and Father Wild said in a 2009 deposition that he had regarded the case as “a serious matter” but also “ambiguous.” The province sent Father McGuire in 1993 for a psychiatric examination and six months at a treatment center — but in the week before he was to report for the evaluation, he was allowed to conduct a retreat in Phoenix, where he molested another boy, the documents indicate. As late as 1998, the new documents show, the Chicago provincial wrote a letter of “good standing” for Father McGuire to allow him to minister in a diocese, stating that “there is nothing to our knowledge in his background which would restrict any ministry with minors.” As the reports of abuse accumulated, the Chicago leaders issued one set of restrictions after another on Father McGuire, finally, in 2002, saying he could minister only to nuns in the Chicago region. But none of these directives were enforced, the court motion asserts. Father McGuire was formally removed from the priesthood in February 2008 after a conviction in Wisconsin and after a federal indictment had been issued in Illinois.

Priests
Society of Jesus
McGuire Donald J
Roman Catholic Church
Child Abuse and Neglect
Sex Crimes
Chicago (Ill)


Archer Daniels Tops Forecasts

Abstract: The Archer Daniels Midland Company, a major agricultural processor, reported higher-than-expected quarterly profit yesterday, overcoming weakness in the ethanol business and sending its shares up as much as 9 percent. Earnings rose on strength in sweeteners, starches, oilseed processing and grain merchandising. Those results offset a 48 percent drop in profit from bioproducts, which include ethanol. Profits have plummeted at ethanol plants around the country because of higher prices for corn and lower prices for ethanol, an alternative fuel made from corn. Net income in A.D.M.’s first fiscal quarter, which ended Sept. 30, rose to $441 million, or 68 cents a share, from $403 million, or 61 cents a share, a year earlier. Excluding special items, earnings were 71 cents a share, beating analysts’ average forecast of 59 cents, according to Reuters Estimates. Revenue rose 36 percent to $12.83 billion. Analysts on average had expected $10.65 billion.

Archer Daniels Midland Incorporated
Company Reports


Holding Bouquet, Queens Man Kills Ex-Wife and Himself

Abstract: An armed man holding a bouquet of flowers walked into a Queens pharmacy on Thursday and shot and killed his ex-wife — who had an order of protection against him — and then went home and killed himself, the authorities said. They said that the shooter, Alex Figueroa, 38, opened fire about 3:40 p.m. inside Crescent Chemists, a small pharmacy in a row of stores on 34th Avenue near 24th Street in Long Island City. They said that Mr. Figueroa walked in carrying the flowers and started arguing with his ex-wife, Guimmia Villia, 32, a mother of two, before pulling out a gun and shooting her in the head in front of co-workers. He then fled. Ms. Villia died a short time later at Mount Sinai Hospital Queens, the police said. Officers searching for Mr. Figueroa went to his home, at 14-01 26th Avenue in Long Island City, where they found him dead, also shot in the head. Records indicate that Ms. Villia and her ex-husband had a troubled history together. In December 2009, Mr. Figueroa was charged in a domestic violence case against her, but it was dismissed this year and the file sealed, the authorities said. Ms. Villia had a limited order of protection against Mr. Figueroa that expired on Jan. 25. She also had a full order of protection against him, stemming from a domestic violence case in Nassau County, that was set to expire in April, a law enforcement official said. The details of that case were unclear Thursday night, the official said. In New York criminal law, a full order of protection generally requires the defendant to stay away from the person and not try to communicate.

Domestic Violence
Murders and Attempted Murders
Suicides and Suicide Attempts
Long Island City (NYC)
Villia Guimmia


U.N. Vote on Palestinian State Could Force Israel's Hand

Abstract: JERUSALEM — With revolutionary fervor sweeping the Middle East, Israel is under mounting pressure to make a far-reaching offer to the Palestinians or face a United Nations vote welcoming the State of Palestine as a member whose territory includes all of the West Bank , Gaza and East Jerusalem. The Palestinian Authority has been steadily building support for such a resolution in September, a move that could place Israel into a diplomatic vise. Israel would be occupying land belonging to a fellow United Nations member, land it has controlled and settled for more than four decades and some of which it expects to keep in any two-state solution. “We are facing a diplomatic-political tsunami that the majority of the public is unaware of and that will peak in September,” said Ehud Barak, Israel’s defense minister, at a conference in Tel Aviv last month. “It is a very dangerous situation, one that requires action.” He added, “Paralysis, rhetoric, inaction will deepen the isolation of Israel.” With aides to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thrashing out proposals to the Palestinians, President Shimon Peres is due at the White House on Tuesday to meet with President Obama and explore ways out of the bind. The United States is still uncertain how to move the process forward, according to diplomats here. Israel’s offer is expected to include transfer of some West Bank territory outside its settlements to Palestinian control and may suggest a regional component — an international conference to serve as a response to the Arab League peace initiatives. But Palestinian leaders, emboldened by support for their statehood bid, dismiss the expected offer as insufficient and continue to demand an end to settlement building before talks can begin. “We want to generate pressure on Israel to make it feel isolated and help it understand that there can be no talks without a stop to settlements,” said Nabil Shaath, who leads the foreign affairs department of Fatah, the main party of the Palestinian Authority. “Without that, our goal is membership in the United Nations General Assembly in September.” Israeli, Palestinian and Western officials interviewed on the current impasse, most of them requesting anonymity, expressed an unusual degree of pessimism about a peaceful resolution. All agreed that the turmoil across the Middle East had prompted opposing responses from Israel and much of the world. Israel, seeing the prospect of even more hostile governments as its neighbors, is insisting on caution and time before taking any significant steps. It also wants to build in extensive long-term security guarantees in any two-state solution, but those inevitably infringe the sovereignty of a Palestinian state. The international community tends to draw the opposite conclusion. Foreign Secretary William Hague of Britain, for example, said last week that one of the most important lessons to be learned from the Arab Spring was that “legitimate aspirations cannot be ignored and must be addressed.” He added, referring to Israeli-Palestinian talks, “It cannot be in anyone’s interests if the new order of the region is determined at a time of minimum hope in the peace process.” The Palestinian focus on September stems not only from the fact that the General Assembly holds its annual meeting then. It is also because Prime Minister Salam Fayyad announced in September 2009 that his government would be ready for independent statehood in two years and that Mr. Obama said last September that he expected the framework for an independent Palestinian state to be declared in a year. Mr. Obama did not indicate what the borders of that state would be, assuming they would be determined through direct negotiations. But with Israeli-Palestinian talks broken off months ago and the Middle East in the process of profound change, many argue that outside pressure is needed. Germany, France and Britain say negotiations should be based on the 1967 lines with equivalent land swaps, exactly what the Netanyahu government rejects because it says it predetermines the outcome. “Does the world think it is going to force Israel to declare the 1967 lines and giving up Jerusalem as a basis for negotiation?” asked a top Israeli official who spoke on condition of anonymity. “That will never happen.” While the Obama administration has referred in the past to the 1967 lines as a basis for talks, it has not decided whether to back the European Union, the United Nations and Russia — the other members of the so-called quartet — in declaring them the starting point, diplomats said. The quartet meets on April 15 in Berlin. Israel, which has settled hundreds of thousands of Jews inside the West Bank and East Jerusalem, acknowledges that it will have to withdraw from much of the land it now occupies there. But it hopes to hold onto the largest settlement blocs and much of East Jerusalem as well as the border to the east with Jordan and does not want to enter into talks with the other side’s position as the starting point. That was true even before its closest ally in the Arab world, President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, was driven from power, helping fuel protest movements that now roil other countries, including Jordan, which has its own peace agreement with Israel. “Whatever we put forward has to be grounded in security arrangements because of what is going on regionally,” said Zalman Shoval, one of a handful of Netanyahu aides drawing up the Israeli proposal that may be delivered as a speech to the United States Congress in May. “We are facing the rebirth of the eastern front as Iran grows strong. We have to secure the Jordan Valley. And no Israeli government is going to move tens of thousands of Israelis from their homes quickly.” Those Israelis live in West Bank settlements, the source of much of the disagreement not only with the Palestinians but with the world. Not a single government supports Israel’s settlements. The Palestinians say the settlements are proof that the Israelis do not really want a Palestinian state to arise since they are built on land that should go to that state. “All these years, the main obstacle to peace has been the settlements,” Nimer Hammad, a political adviser to President Abbas, said. “They always say, ‘but you never made it a condition of negotiations before.’ And we say, ‘that was a mistake.’ ” The Israelis counter that the real problem is Palestinian refusal to accept openly a Jewish state here and ongoing anti-Israeli incitement and praise of violence on Palestinian airwaves. Another central obstacle to the establishment of a State of Palestine has been the division between the West Bank and Gaza, the first run by the Palestinian Authority and the second by Hamas. Lately, President Abbas has sought to bridge the gap, asking to go to Gaza to seek reconciliation through an agreed interim government that would set up parliamentary and presidential elections. But Hamas, worried it would lose such elections and hopeful that the regional turmoil could work in its favor — that Egypt, for example, might be taken over by its ally, the Muslim Brotherhood — has reacted coolly. Efforts are still under way to restart peace talks but if, as expected, negotiations do not resume, come September the Palestinian Authority seems set to go ahead with plans to ask the General Assembly to accept it as a member. Diplomats involved in the issue say most countries — more than 100 — are expected to vote yes, meaning it will pass. What happens then? Some Palestinian leaders say relations with Israel would change. “We will re-examine our commitments toward Israel, especially our security commitments,” suggested Hanna Amireh, who is on the 18-member ruling board of the Palestine Liberation Organization, referring to cooperation between Palestinian and Israeli troops. “The main sense about Israel is that we are fed up.” Mr. Shaath said Israel would then be in daily violation of the rights of a fellow member state and diplomatic and legal consequences could follow, all of which would be painful for Israel. In the Haaretz newspaper on Thursday, Ari Shavit, who is a political centrist, drew a comparison between 2011 and the biggest military setback Israel ever faced, the 1973 war. He wrote that “2011 is going to be a diplomatic 1973,” because a Palestinian state will be recognized internationally. “Every military base in the West Bank will be contravening the sovereignty of an independent U.N. member state.” He added, “A diplomatic siege from without and a civil uprising from within will grip Israel in a stranglehold.”

Palestinians
Israel
United Nations
West Bank
East Jerusalem
Palestinian Authority
Politics and Government
Israeli Settlements
Gaza Strip


Carp Invasion May Prompt Changes to Waterways

Abstract: The battle over closing Chicago-area outlets into Lake Michigan is not only about preventing Asian carp from decimating the $7 billion Great Lakes fishing industry, experts said. It has also prompted efforts to re-engineer a century-old waterway system that Joel Brammeier, president of the Alliance for the Great Lakes , has compared to “having left Michigan Avenue a dirt road while we built up a modern city around it.” Michigan and four other states have filed suit in federal court demanding the closure of locks that connect rivers and channels to the lake. Closing arguments in the case are scheduled for Monday. The Illinois Chamber of Commerce has countered that Asian carp pose no imminent ecological threat and shutting the locks would mean billions in losses for tour boats, shipping and other industries. Urban planners and environmental groups said there is another way to deal with the Asian carp threat: separate the Great Lakes and Mississippi River basins, which were joined a century ago by the man-made reversal of the Chicago River and the building of canals. Separation could also involve overhauling Chicago’s outdated wastewater-treatment system and reduce the city’s controversial diversion of two billion gallons of water a day out of Lake Michigan into the Chicago River. The Army Corps of Engineers is among the groups studying ways to achieve what is formally called “ecological or hydrological separation” of the Great Lakes and Mississippi River basins. The Natural Resources Defense Council, the Great Lakes Commission , the Great Lakes & St. Lawrence Cities Initiative and others are conducting their own studies on separating the two great drainage basins. Thom Cmar, staff attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council, said its study, which will be released this week, shows that separation is a series of engineering challenges, but they are all solvable problems. “It’s a matter of unpacking all the issues that need to be addressed and finding the political will and resources to address them,” he said. Environmental experts have proposed building concrete walls or other means to separate the Calumet River from the Cal-Sag Channel and the Chicago River from the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal. One barrier might be erected in Bridgeport, where the Chicago River meets the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal. Both the Calumet and Chicago Rivers might also be “re-reversed” to flow into Lake Michigan and halt the diversion of Great Lakes water. The Metropolitan Planning Council and the Natural Resources Defense Council, among other groups, said a break near Bridgeport could still allow tour and recreational boats to move freely north of that point between the Chicago River and Lake Michigan through the locks at Navy Pier. Barges carrying coal, gravel, grain and other low-value bulk commodities could still ply most of the waterway system. Cargo could be transferred to railcars or trucks at the separation point, which the planners said could create hundreds of jobs. In a study commissioned by the State of Michigan, John Taylor, a transportation specialist at Wayne State University, put the cost of transferring goods at $70 million a year. That could ruin river shipping, said Mark Biel, president of Unlock Our Jobs , a coalition of industry groups that use the waterway. Commodities shipped by barge have a low profit margin, and extra transportation costs would probably make them unsellable, Mr. Biel said. Other opponents of separation — including the Port of Indiana — agree that even if the canals remain open, cutting off access to Lake Michigan will change the economics of trade enough to seriously harm businesses from corn starch refineries to steel mills to chemical plants. They also said they are afraid it could set a precedent that would allow closure of the St. Lawrence Seaway, which connects the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean. Ballast water from ocean-going ships has been a source of invasive species, and environmental groups have proposed closing the seaway unless strict ballast-treatment regulations are imposed. “If you can shut down the Chicago waterway over Asian carp, you could shut down the St. Lawrence Seaway over an invasive species,” Mr. Biel said. Mr. Brammeier, president of the Alliance for Great Lakes, disputed that notion. “These are completely different situations except that they both involve protecting the status quo,” he said. “The only thing that will paralyze the shipping industry is its unwillingness to talk about improvements.” The Port of Indiana recently released a study that said the O’Brien Lock in southeast Chicago accounted for $1.9 billion a year in economic activity in Indiana. Jody Peacock, the port spokesman, said separation of Chicago-area waterways from the Mississippi would cost Indiana steel mills and Midwestern farmers access to significant portions of their markets. But Mr. Taylor, of Wayne State, said the study exaggerated the probable impact of a separation, noting that the approximately 5,000 barges that move through the O’Brien Lock each year represent only about 1 percent of the lock activity in Illinois and barges carry only 2 percent of the region’s outbound steel. “There are costs involved, but there are also benefits,” Mr. Taylor said. “For most companies, we don’t believe the cost increases are enough to make them shut down.” Michigan’s lawsuit, filed in July, was prompted by findings of eDNA — bits of biological material from Asian carp — in Calumet Harbor and other spots near the lake. The suit called for the locks at Navy Pier and on the Calumet River to be closed immediately to prevent the carp from establishing a viable population in the lake. But lock closure is not considered a long-term option: closed locks still allow water — and potentially eggs and juvenile fish — to pass through screens. Lawyers for the Army Corps of Engineers have disputed the idea that eDNA findings show that the corps’ existing electric barriers on the sanitary and ship canal have failed to block Asian carp. Separation supporters said the corps will likely eventually oppose separation as not feasible and instead favor “acoustic bubble” curtains, low-oxygen zones and other ways to kill or block species. Jo-Ellen Darcy, assistant secretary of the Army (Civil Works), said the corps would consider all options. “We need to look not only at the aquatic and ecological impact, but also the impact on the economy and the people who depend on this waterway for a living,” she said. Restoring the original flow of the Chicago River could mean several of the area’s northern wastewater-treatment plants would need to be improved. There are stricter water-quality standards for Lake Michigan than the Chicago River and canal system, where the wastewater currently goes, so re-reversing the river to flow back into Lake Michigan would entail a higher level of treatment. “As the city grows we’re going to need more water,” said Josh Ellis, a water expert with the Metropolitan Planning Council. “If we clean our water after we use it and return it to Lake Michigan like everyone else does, then we can use more.”


Yes, a Giant Can Sprint

Abstract: FOR investors, the idea that a German industrial giant could also be a nimble stock market star might seem far-fetched, if not outright delusional. Indeed, the very concept of anything nimble and industrial might seem an oxymoron, whether Teutonic or American. But Siemens, the 161-year-old conglomerate based in Munich, has been disproving the skeptics in the last 12 months, while vastly outperforming the shares of its American archrival General Electric as well as the broader market indexes. Despite a recent drop amid the global stock market swoon, the shares of Siemens traded in the United States are up 34 percent since January 2007. And over the last five years, the stock has nearly tripled. Of course, Siemens has a lot of catching up to do. Like G.E. before John F. Welch Jr. took over more than two decades ago and remade it, Siemens was always respected for its industrial expertise but dogged by bloated payrolls and thin profit margins. Simply put, investors regarded it as too big a battleship to turn around. And resistance in Germany from powerful unions as well as political leaders made the kind of job cuts that Mr. Welch made at G.E. in the 1980s virtually impossible. But a restructuring effort by top executives in the past two years has been gathering steam, raising profit margins even as demand for Siemens’s industrial products and medical diagnostic systems has stayed strong. “Siemens has decided it wants to focus on three areas: energy, health care, and automation and industrial systems,” says Simon Smith, an analyst at Citigroup in London. At the same time, Mr. Smith says, the company simplified its management structure while exiting lower-margin businesses like automobile components. “I think they’re moving to a leaner, more flexible business model,” he adds. In a strange twist, investors are also benefiting from a management shakeup last year brought on by allegations by German authorities that Siemens paid nearly $2 billion in bribes to win contracts around the world. (The company has settled part of the German case and is working to settle a related one in the United States.) As a result of the flap, Siemens brought in a new chairman, Gerhard Cromme, as well as a new chief executive, Peter Löscher, to clean up its reputation and its too-cozy way of doing business. It also marked the first time in the history of the company that the chairman and chief executive were both outsiders, “and they had no legacy to defend,” says Joe Kaeser, the chief financial officer and a member of the company’s managing board. “That’s never been the case before.” MR. LÖSCHER, in fact, is putting his money where his mouth is. On Jan. 28, Siemens announced that he had purchased 50,000 Siemens shares with his own cash. The rest of the company’s top management also bought shares. While it’s practically expected in the United States that the top brass own stock, the move was “unique in German corporate history,” Mr. Kaeser said. “It’s a sign that the board really believes in its strategy,” he added. Mr. Löscher took over in July and outlined in November his plan to bolster margins and profits, a plan that has won praise from analysts. That latest restructuring program “has made the unthinkable believable,” Mr. Smith raved in a recent report. “It has long been discussed what Siemens could become if it were to achieve profitability comparable to its best-in-class competitors, but this may soon become a reality.” He rates the stock a buy. Last year, global sales of Siemens totaled $96.6 billion, with its United States operations contributing $19.8 billion of that. One of the company’s strongest divisions is its automation unit. Customers for these systems include big automotive and mining companies and food and beverage makers, as well as chemical and pharmaceutical manufacturers, all seeking to improve efficiency via automation. In fact, equipment bought from Siemens processes 90 percent of letter mail in the United States for the Postal Service. The biggest risk to the company’s shares would be a global recession, especially if emerging markets like China, India and Brazil followed the lead of the slowing American economy. But with the company trading at only about 11 times estimated 2009 earnings, according to Andreas Willi of JPMorgan, its relatively reasonable valuation should offer some downside protection. Mr. Willi, whose price target on Siemens is 40 percent higher than the stock’s current level, says investors are eager for April, when Siemens plans to announce further cost cuts. “These conglomerates need a radical catalyst to change,” he says. “Ironically, they needed this corruption issue to accelerate the change, and it has. We’ve had more change in governance and structure in the last 12 months than in the last 20 years.”

Germany
Siemens AG
Stocks and Bonds
Schwartz Nelson D
Executives and Management
Munich (Germany)


Business Travel Is Rising, but Not Necessarily the Travel Budget

Abstract: WHILE continuing economic uncertainty around the world has rattled business confidence, it has not stopped companies — from the smallest widget-maker to the largest financial institution — from sending their battle-tested travelers back on the road this year. Still, business travelers face a changed world. Corporate travelers are locked between a vexing economic recovery and rising travel costs. They face higher fares, steeper fees and new challenges to navigate, even as their corporations insist that employees stretch travel dollars more than ever. Air travel drops corporate travelers into a land of a thousand perils. Airline mergers in recent years have reduced competition. Many flights have been canceled, forcing more passengers to connect at big and increasingly crowded hubs. With higher demand and higher costs, airlines have increased ticket prices, both in coach and in business class. Hotels, too, have raised rates, and are increasingly following the airline business in charging extra fees for a variety of services, including in-room Wi-Fi and access to business centers. Business travel is still growing this year, but corporations are being more cautious with their travel spending and enforcing greater adherence to travel policies. “More businesspeople are traveling, but companies are being tighter with their budgets,” said Henry H. Harteveldt, a travel industry analyst and a founder of the Atmosphere Research Group. “Travelers increasingly have to justify their trips, and trips have to be approved by more managers. They have to perform the equivalent of a return-on-investment analysis before they book.” Yet frustrated as corporate travelers may be, they have never been better armed for the hazards of life on the road. Mobile technology provides them with up-to-date information and immediate access to a broad range of resources unimaginable just a few years ago. They can make or change plane, hotel or dinner reservations on the fly and perform a thousand other tasks, from boarding check-in to room checkout, all from digital devices. This access to mobile technology promises in coming years to further change the travel experience and how businesses manage it, corporate travel experts said. “You can’t say enough about mobile technology and how an expanding and incredible amount of information is provided and available to travelers through their mobile devices and apps,” said Jay Campbell, the editorial director of the BTN Group, which publishes Business Travel News, Travel Procurement magazine, and The Beat, a specialized newsletter, all aimed at corporate travel managers. The last decade has been tough for business travel. Business trips have dropped by 22 percent since 2000, according to a study by the Global Business Travel Association. Yet travel spending has increased by 3.6 percent during that period, largely because travel has gotten more expensive. The association says that business travelers are making fewer trips and opting to stay fewer nights while maximizing their time in one place. “Travel managers have to do more with less,” the association said in its latest market survey report. A report by American Express, released last year, found that American businesses probably cut back on corporate travel a lot more than was necessary in the downturn of 2007 through 2009. And these cutbacks, the report said, probably worsened the recession and “likely hampered business recovery in 2010 and beyond.” Since then, the recovery has been held back by a series of factors, including the Japanese tsunami and nuclear meltdown, the European debt crisis , renewed geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and Persian Gulf and a global rise in energy prices. IHS Global Insight, an economic consulting firm, recently revised its forecast for global economic growth, saying it now expected the world economy to expand by 2.8 percent this year, up from the 2.7 percent rate it predicted in March. Global growth is expected to strengthen to 3.6 percent next year, the firm said, and reach 4.3 percent in 2014. But the forecast optimistically assumes a rebound in China and other emerging markets, a pickup in growth in the United States and the end to the recession in the euro zone. After a timid uptick in 2010, business travel rebounded strongly last year. Airlines welcomed the return of business passengers, who account for the bulk of their revenue and helped the industry return to profitability. And they have fought as fiercely as ever for the company traveler’s loyalty by refurbishing their planes with new seats in business class, renovated business lounges and improved service on board. The International Air Transport Association said premium, or noncoach, travel rose by 6.3 percent in February, for instance, extending a trend that started last year. “The performance of premium markets is once more being supported by improvements in the business environment, with both trade activity and business confidence increasing in recent months,” the association said. “Better economic results in the U.S., for example, are supporting traffic across the North Atlantic as well as having positive impacts on trade partners, with revived demand for Asian consumer exports.” Michael W. McCormick, executive director of the Global Business Travel Association, said he expected travel spending by American businesses to grow this year to $260 billion, mostly thanks to domestic growth, while international spending remained relatively flat. That figure compares with $251 billion last year, and $234 billion in 2010. But in a reflection of the mixed outlook for business travel, corporations are expected to take fewer trips in 2012 and 2013, according to the group. In 2010, American businesspeople took a total of 437 million trips. That figure rose to 445 million trips in 2011. But it is expected to drop to 440.4 million this year and 438.5 million next year as a result of fewer domestic trips. (International trips are still expected to grow, according to the forecast.) “Full recovery in business travel spending will require a more sustainable economic environment, rather than the two-steps-forward-one-step-back pattern that has prevailed,” the business travel association said in a recent report released with Visa. Mr. McCormick said growth in business travel was stable, though slow. “Last year we were in recovery mode, but everybody was looking for the next bad thing to happen,” he said. “I don’t see this kind of concern anymore. Now, it’s steady as she goes.” Travelers are also spending more on each of their trips. The average amount spent in 2000 was $422, and it grew to $564 by 2011. Two-thirds of that increase was because of inflation, and a third was a result of real increases in expenditures. But every dollar invested in business travel has historically brought in $20 in extra profits to American businesses. “We’re seeing road warriors taking fewer trips but making the most of them, making more stops and spending more on the road,” Mr. McCormick said. “The productivity explosion is a huge factor, and it’s being brought on by better travel management, better technology and making the most of their time on the road.” At the same time, travelers are facing a world of rising prices. The surge in oil costs this year is once more forcing airlines to raise fares, analysts said. The industry’s recent mergers have also pared competition in some markets and allowed airlines to charge more. The airline industry’s financial outlook remains fragile. High oil prices are the biggest threat to the sector’s profitability. They are forecast to average $115 a barrel this year, the International Air Transport Association said, and a new spike in prices could easily wipe out the industry’s tenuous gains. With slow economic growth, and very low profit margins for the airlines, “it will not take much of a shock to push the industry into the red for 2012,” Tony Tyler, the director general and chief executive of the International Air Transport Association, said in a speech last month. In 2011, average fares on domestic flights rose 10 percent, to $254, according to the American Express Business Travel Monitor. And prices keep on rising. Domestic fares averaged $261 in February, the latest month for which that data is available, compared with $250 in the same month last year, according to American Express. Hotel rooms are also going up: domestic nightly rates rose 3 percent on average, to $155, in February compared with last year. International fares are soaring, too. Corporate fares for international flights from the United States averaged $2,240 in the first quarter this year, up from a recession low of $1,651 in the first quarter of 2009 and nearly double the rate of $1,190 for the same period in 2007, according to Travel G.P.A., which collects travel reservation data from 45,000 companies worldwide and produces scorecards on how well corporations maximize their travel spending. “Travel budgets this year will be similar to last year’s as companies focus on growing their businesses and get their travelers on the road,” said Lane Dubin, a vice president and general manager for American Express Business Travel. “But prices are up. And this creates a dilemma. Companies need to be increasingly strategic about how they manage their travel.” The Travel Price Index, which includes the key travel components of the Consumer Price Index , measures travel inflation. It had strong growth in 2011, gaining 4 percent from the previous year, reflecting the price rises seen throughout the industry last year. The trend should moderate this year, although travel prices are still expected to rise by 2.2 percent. This price inflation is forcing companies to tighten travel policies, said Rock Blanco, the president of Travel G.P.A. Mr. Blanco said businesses did not pay much attention to travel policy enforcement from 2008 to 2011 because business travel slowed as the economy slowed. But with the return of business travel, companies know they must loosen the purse strings again, even as they are more focused on saving. As a result, they are making sure employees adhere to company policies in booking air travel, which can mean buying tickets at least 14 days in advance, accepting the lowest fare even if it means a longer trip or a connecting flight and booking a lower grade of hotel or car rental . Savings can be substantial, Mr. Blanco said. For instance, travel managers are increasingly asking employees to move down one hotel category, from the so-called Upper Upscale Hotel Tier, which includes brands like DoubleTree, Embassy Suites, Hilton and Hyatt Regency, to the Upscale Hotel Tier, which includes the brands Courtyard, Homewood Suites, Radisson and Residence Inn. A midsize company with an annual travel budget of $5 million, including $1.1 million on hotels, could save $150,000 a year if just 5 percent of its hotel bookings were downgraded by one notch, Mr. Blanco said. “If companies can get their employees to be more compliant, they can really maximize their savings,” he said. “For a while, policy enforcement had lost its way. But it is back in vogue now.” Hotel chains have recognized the opportunity, said Mr. Harteveldt, the travel analyst. Holiday Inn, for instance, has completed a top-to-bottom refurbishment of its properties, with business travelers in mind. Likewise, Courtyard by Marriott and Hilton Garden Inn have undertaken redesigns recently, Mr. Harteveldt said. “All this means that travelers can pretty much get a four-star experience in a three-star hotel,” he said. “Of course it all depends on the kind of travel, and some of these hotels are probably better for a one-night stay than a three-night stay.” A recent report by Business Travel News found that 70 percent of 168 travel buyers surveyed from December 2011 to February 2012 said they had reviewed or tightened their expense policies. Three in five of businesses surveyed said they had introduced an online expense reimbursement system, according to Business Travel News, and more than half of the respondents had increased expense report auditing. Corporations insist that each travel dollar has to go further these days, said Ron DiLeo, the executive director of the Association of Corporate Travel Executives. “That’s always been the biggest topic of conversation: each dollar, each euro, each yen gets scrutinized,” he said. “If you are a wasteful business traveler, you will not be working at your company for a very long time.” But while emphasizing greater frugality, companies must adapt to new mobile technology and applications for travelers that are making their policies seem dated. New applications and Web sites like Kayak, FlightTrack, GateGuru, OpenTable and TripIt Pro help travelers manage their trips, find deals and look for the best place to dine or the cheapest fare to fly. Corporations must learn how to embrace such innovations, not fight them, Mr. DiLeo said. Some are, notably Google, which allows employees to bank any savings they find on airfare or hotel rates and use them to upgrade a trip or spend an extra night. Mr. Campbell, the BTN Group’s editorial director, said there was a generational divide at play. “The baby boomers who are still managing the travel departments of many companies don’t feel they quite understand how the younger generation want or don’t want to be connected with their company programs,” he said. Mr. DiLeo said: “You can’t stop travelers using their apps or device of choice. You have to accept they do it and help them manage it.”

Business Travel
Recession and Depression
Airlines and Airplanes
Economic Conditions and Trends
International Trade and World Market


NATO to Start Training Afghan Police

Abstract: BRUSSELS — NATO , criticized by the United States for not doing enough in Afghanistan , will start training the Afghan police in the coming weeks, the alliance’s new leader said. The move by NATO, which said in April that it would take on such a role but did not provide details until now, is aimed at “transferring the lead responsibility for security to the Afghans themselves,” Anders Fogh Rasmussen , NATO’s new secretary general , said in an interview at NATO headquarters in Brussels on Monday. “The training mission is absolutely crucial.” The effort is a major shift for NATO, which had kept clear of civilian training missions, fearing they would undermine its military role. NATO said it would also increase training of the Afghan National Army. Mr. Rasmussen said the training was also part of an attempt to make NATO’s contributions more helpful to the United States, which supplies the lion’s share of troops and resources in Afghanistan. NATO has 35,000 troops there, while the United States has 65,000. “From the long-term perspective, it is essential to ensure the right military balance inside NATO in order to make sure that the Americans will still consider NATO a military alliance which is relevant for them,” Mr. Rasmussen said. “We should acknowledge and recognize the huge efforts the Americans are making and in exchange, we need to ensure that the European side of NATO also makes a balanced effort.” NATO’s decision comes as the Obama administration is in the midst of a major review of its efforts in Afghanistan. A three-star American general, who will be appointed this month, will command the police and army training missions. The United States will pay most of the bill for 2009, which will total $7 billion. NATO diplomats said the cost for 2010 would be about $17 billion. Mr. Rasmussen, who spent last week in Washington meeting President Obama and senior Defense and State Department officials, said the current goal was to increase the number of Afghan soldiers to 130,000 by 2011 from about 93,000 today, and the Afghan police force to 84,500 from about 77,000 now. Although no NATO country has called on the alliance to set a date for ending its mission in Afghanistan, there is a consensus building up in European capitals that the sooner the Afghan security forces are trained the sooner NATO troops can be withdrawn. Mr. Rasmussen, the former prime minister of Denmark who took over the job of secretary general in August, would not say how many trainers NATO would request from its 28 members. He said NATO was waiting for the full assessment by Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the American commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, who has been in discussions with Washington over questions of broad military strategy.

Afghanistan
North Atlantic Treaty Organization
Afghanistan War (2001- )
Defense and Military Forces
Rasmussen Anders Fogh


Mumbai’s Longest Night, With an Abyss of Terror

Abstract: MUMBAI, India — For Amit and Varsha Thadani, Wednesday night in the Crystal Ballroom of the Taj Mahal Palace & Tower Hotel was supposed to be a night they would treasure forever: the lavish start of a life together, with a wedding reception for over 200 family and friends. It may be an anniversary they will dread forever. About 9:45 p.m., as they had just finished dressing for their party in a second-floor room in the Heritage wing of the hotel, they heard the first crackle of gunfire, followed by commotion outside their room and instructions from the hotel front desk to stay put. They did stay put, for more than seven hours, much of it huddling on the floor of their bathroom, trying to keep themselves calm. Their phones rang constantly, with updates and questions. At one point, Mrs. Thadani confessed, she stopped answering. She did not want to talk to anyone. There was more gunfire, along with two loud explosions, one of which flung open their door and windows. Next door, they heard gunmen shoot a female guest and then her screams. “We could sense she was being dragged around,” Mrs. Thadani recalled. In the Crystal Ballroom, friends had begun trickling in. They, too, were startled by gunfire. Could it be firecrackers? one wondered. A window shattered, sending everyone scampering under tables, and then eventually, led by hotel staff members, into a private, less accessible set of rooms. Ballroom by ballroom, restaurant by restaurant, guests were ushered into what was thought to be a safer cavity of the hotel, a private club called The Chambers. At the Golden Dragon restaurant on the ground floor, a woman could see through the frosted glass the gunmen parade through the lobby of the hotel and open fire, any which way. She had come to celebrate her husband’s birthday, along with both sets of parents. They, too, were led through kitchens and staff stairwells into safer quarters, where they huddled until nearly 4 a.m. She and her parents slipped out through the back staff exit, but with so many cellphones trilling, they drew the attention of the gunmen inside the hotel. They began firing at those trying to flee. Her husband and his parents got left behind. Eight hours later, in the shadow of the hotel, she stood waiting for them to come out. Her husband did not answer his cellphone. She was still dressed in her black dinner blouse. The chaos at the Taj was just one part of the abyss of terror that swallowed the city. At Leopold Cafe, a restaurant popular with foreigners, a Belgian tourist, here to indulge his love of Bollywood, described the sudden awareness of deathly peril and the desperate actions of the staff members to protect their foreigner customers. The tourist, Ronny Quireyns, 44, was seated in the air-conditioned upstairs with friends — film extras just coming from a shoot — on Wednesday night. A little before 10 p.m., they heard a loud blast outside; they immediately thought of a bomb, but the noise seemed too faint. But then they heard a series of sharp bangs from downstairs, he said. “A member of the staff rushed upstairs and said there were people shooting downstairs,” Mr. Quireyns said. The waiters pulled the cover off an air-conditioning vent and guided him and about 15 other foreigners to climb inside, he said. After about 10 minutes, Mr. Quireyns said, he crawled out and peered down the stairway to the floor below. He saw people writhing on the ground. Finally, the waiters gave an all-clear, he said, and the foreigners fled the restaurant, where blood now covered the ground floor. Police officers took them to a nearby station to spend the night. “It was really frightening,” Mr. Quireyns said. “It seems so surreal. You never think something like this will happen to you.” Gary Samore, director of studies at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, was staying at the Taj with his wife and daughter, squeezing in a family holiday in Mumbai alongside a lecture that he delivered earlier on Wednesday evening on the nuclear challenge facing the next president of the United States. They, too, stayed in their room and tried to stay calm. The television was not working. He had no local phone. Friends kept him apprised of developments by sending e-mail messages to his BlackBerry. At 3:30 a.m., Mr. Samore recalled, very heavy gunfire began. The American Consulate called to say the hotel was on fire. The family collected their passports, made a set of wet towels to help them get through a smoky corridor and found their way to a service stairwell and then a second-floor terrace, from where they could summon Indian soldiers. “My BlackBerry,” he said, “may have saved our lives.” In the kitchen of the Chambers, Raghu Deora, the chef, hid under a table. Four gunmen came before dawn and found him. What do you do? they asked in Hindi, and then they ordered him to stand up and turn around. They shot him from behind, his wife, Nandita, said Thursday afternoon. A bullet entered through one side and came out of the other. There were four gunmen, he told her while recovering in Bombay Hospital, all in their mid-20s, well dressed. Close to dawn, Mr. and Mrs. Thadani, the bride and groom, crept out of the window of their room, and with the help of firefighters, climbed down a ladder and touched ground. On Thursday afternoon, they counted their blessings and ate a homecooked meal.

Terrorism
Mumbai (India)
Hostages
Attacks on Police


The Chatter for Sunday, June 2

Abstract: “Talk of a house price bubble seems premature.” Ed Stansfield, an economist at Capital Economics, as the Standard & Poor’s Case-Shiller home price index posted the biggest gains in seven years. “In relation to incomes, rents or their own past, U.S. home prices still look low,” he said. “I’ve gotten concerned by the seeming impotence of federal regulatory agencies.” Paul A. Volcker, the former Federal Reserve chairman, who plans to begin a foundation called the Volcker Alliance aimed at improving how government works. “It sure looks like the guy who couldn’t shoot straight.” Patrick Healy, chief executive of the Issuer Advisory Group, a consulting firm, talking about Nasdaq’s handling of Facebook’s initial public offering last year. The Securities and Exchange Commission announced that the Nasdaq OMX Group would pay $10 million to settle accusations that it had violated numerous rules before and after the I.P.O. “I don’t have any hobbies. This is what I do.” Max Levchin, a co-founder and former chief technology officer of PayPal, who has helped start multiple companies, including a new effort called HVF, which stands for Hard, Valuable, Fun.


Dwight Howard Joins Star-Studded Lakers

Abstract: LOS ANGELES — No strangers to stars and their issues, the Los Angeles Lakers landed Dwight Howard on Friday, ending his long search for a home, at least for another season. After asking the Orlando Magic to trade him to the Nets last fall, reversing himself to opt in with the Magic last spring, then again asking to be traded to the Nets even after the Magic fired Coach Stan Van Gundy and forced General Manager Otis Smith to resign, Howard finally got his wish to be dealt, if not to his preferred team. Instead, he went to the Lakers in a four-team, 12-player trade that sent Lakers center Andrew Bynum to Philadelphia, 76ers guard Andre Iguodala to Denver and six players and three No. 1 draft picks to Orlando. Howard, a free agent next summer, gave the Lakers no assurance he would re-sign and avoided the subject at Friday’s news conference at the team’s practice facility. “Right now, it’s about today, and today is the day that I’m here with the Lakers, and that’s the only thing that matters,” Howard said. “Whatever happens a year from now, we’ll wait until that time, but right now it’s all about me starting fresh.” If he said the same thing in Orlando last season, except for the part about starting fresh, the Lakers are counting on the new rules that allow teams to offer 20 percent more to keep their players. The 76ers took Bynum, whose contract is also expiring, on the same assumption. Howard’s arrival in Los Angeles was the culmination of 10 months of twists and turns that began last fall, when Orlando still hoped to win him back. Then came his decision to opt-in on his contract in the spring, followed by July’s breakdown of trade talks with the Nets (who re-signed Brook Lopez, making him ineligible to be traded until January), before the Magic, finally bent on ending the soap opera, found trading partners who would take both Howard and Bynum with no long-term commitment. Howard’s happy-go-lucky image took a beating in the process, leaving him disinclined to discuss it. “For me, I want to be a great leader,” Howard said, “and I have an opportunity to learn from the best in Kobe on how to lead a team. “In order to be a great leader, you have to learn how to follow.” Howard also said he wants to learn from Steve Nash, Pau Gasol “and the guys who have been here.” Howard was also disinclined to discuss his yearlong effort to join the Nets. “Right now, it’s all about the Lakers,” he said. “I’m here now. It’s not about any other team.” The newest incarnation of the Lakers seems like a logical successor to a team that has always been fueled by star power, from the misadventures of the Wilt Chamberlain-Jerry West-Elgin Baylor team to the legendary Showtime era of Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and James Worthy to the more recent feud- and title-filled run starring Shaquille O’Neal and Bryant. Howard has seemed disinclined to follow the career path of O’Neal, who bolted Orlando for Los Angeles (and Hollywood) as a free agent, and there are fears his offensive statistics could suffer in the Lakers’ attack, but his game seems to fit neatly with those of Bryant, a do-everything perimeter player, and Nash, a crack-shooting, floor-spacing playmaker. In that, the new Lakers look more like the ultra-complementary Celtics Big Three of Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen than the awkward juxtaposition of the aging Chamberlain, West and Baylor in the 1960s and ’70s. “I think they will be real good,” said Donnie Walsh, the Indiana Pacers’ newly rehired president, from Indianapolis. “Dwight will give Kobe a lot of freedom defensively. And on offense, you’ve got this monster lurking under the basket the defense has to pay attention to. “Nash gets shots for everybody he plays with, and they’ve still got Gasol down there.”

Los Angeles Lakers
Orlando Magic
Howard Dwight
Basketball
Trades (Sports)


Four 2004 Olympians Stripped of Medals in Doping Retest

Abstract: While driving to the Atlanta airport on Wednesday, Adam Nelson may have won a gold medal in the shot-put at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. In what could amount to one of the more peculiar outcomes in Olympic history, Nelson ascended to first place more than 3,000 days after the competition when doping officials ruled that the athlete who originally won gold at the Athens Games, Yuriy Bilonog of Ukraine, was guilty of using performance-enhancing drugs. His urine sample had been reanalyzed, and steroids were detected. Nelson’s triumph, as it were, was unceremonious. He did not stand atop a podium, and the national anthem did not play. He was in his Mazda3 hatchback when he heard the news. “I’m still processing this one, but the 2004 Olympics were a really special moment for me,” Nelson, 37, said. “My wife was there, a bunch of my friends from college, my family. We competed at the birthplace of the Olympic Games. The downside of this is I feel like our country was robbed of a medal at the relevant time. One of the biggest parts of an Olympic career is when you hear your anthem and see your flag when you stand on that podium. That’s something I can never replace.” Doping protocols allow for officials to store samples for eight years and retest them for substances they may not have been able to detect at the time the sample was taken. When Bilonog’s sample was analyzed in 2004 at the Olympics, the results were negative, doping officials said. Eight years later, with new tests at their disposal, officials decided to re-examine about 100 samples from the Athens Games, focusing on certain sports and medalists. The subsequent test on Bilonog’s sample found evidence of the steroid agent oxandrolone metabolite. “Additional analyses were performed with analytical methods which were not available in 2004,” the International Olympic Committee said Wednesday in a statement. Bilonog was among four track and field athletes stripped of the medals they won at the 2004 Games. The others were Svetlana Krivelyova of Russia, who won bronze in the women’s shot-put; Ivan Tsikhan of Belarus, who won silver in the men’s hammer throw; and Iryna Yatchenko of Belarus, who won bronze in the women’s discus. “Athletes who cheat by using doping substances must understand that just because they get away with it one day, there is a very good chance that they will be caught in the future,” John Fahey, president of the World Anti-Doping Agency, said in a statement. Track and field’s world governing body now must decide whether to officially alter the standings in light of the penalties or merely void the positions of the offending athletes, an I.O.C. spokesman said. The stripping of Olympic medals is not unprecedented, though it is uncommon so many years later. Tyler Hamilton, the American cyclist, lost his gold medal from the 2004 Athens Games in August after he admitting to using banned substances. The Chinese women’s gymnastics team lost its bronze medal from the 2000 Sydney Olympics nearly 10 years later because one of its gymnasts was found to be underage at those Summer Games. Documents, admissions and court testimony revealed after the fall of the Berlin Wall that East Germany had engaged in a state-sponsored system of doping. However, officials of the International Olympic Committee have said they would not strip former East Germans of their medals because of an eight-year statute of limitations imposed by the World Anti-Doping Agency and the impossibility of determining whether all the other medalists were clean at the time. A gold medal, however belated, would be a crowning achievement for Nelson, whose career has been successful by many measures but often seemed snakebitten. He settled for silver at the 2000 Games in Sydney, then appeared to have the gold in his grasp four years later when the event was staged in Olympia, Greece, the site of the original ancient Olympics, and was one of those Games’ iconic events. Nelson was leading, but fouled on each of his five remaining turns. Bilonog tied Nelson on his final attempt, and Bilonog won the gold medal on a tiebreaker based on his second-best throw. Nelson’s parents, Lynne and Will Nelson, were there, sitting under the searing sun on the grass area reserved for spectators. “The stadium was a big dust bowl,” Lynne Nelson, who now lives in Washington, said Wednesday. “It was so hot. But we were so excited. We just felt like he was at the top of his career. But when they went into that tiebreaker, I can’t even imagine what our blood pressure must have been.” Missing out on the gold, she added, “was heartbreaking.” Nelson competed in the 2008 Games in Beijing but did not win a medal. At the United States Olympic trials this summer in Eugene, Ore., he failed to qualify for the London Games. When he returned home to Georgia, Nelson said, he continued to train and was “full speed ahead” on competing for another four years. But Nelson became concerned that his sponsors might not stick by him as his performance waned. The health insurance policy he had through the United States Olympic Committee was nearing expiration. About three weeks ago, Nelson said, he decided to retire and transition into a different role in the sport. He is an officer of the track and field athletes association, a group that has challenged an I.O.C. regulation that limits how athletes can promote their sponsors. “I felt like I was leaving the sport better than it was when I started,” Nelson said. “And that’s a big thing. There are ways for me to stay involved without training. I want to help athletes have a voice, and that’s become a real passion for me.” Nelson called his mother to tell her the news about Bilonog’s positive drug test. “It’s a little bittersweet after eight years,” she said. “We’re just thrilled, but we’re in shock.” Nelson, who also has a gold medal from the 2005 world championships in Helsinki, Finland, said he was not one to show off his hardware. His two Olympic silver medals are stored in a sock drawer, he said. He was unsure what he would do with an Olympic gold. “Maybe I’ll have to hoist it on a flagpole or something,” he said.

Olympic Games (2004)
Doping (Sports)
Nelson Adam (1975- )
Bilonog Yuriy


Posada Finds Comfort in Grand Slam

Abstract: Jorge Posada ’s return from the disabled list has been measured in baby steps. He hoped to play catcher soon after rejoining the Yankees , although the team activated him on June 2 knowing he would not be ready to catch for some time. The only certainty for Posada, who was recovering from a fractured right foot, was his discomfort as the designated hitter. But on Saturday, Posada hit a grand slam that broke open the Yankees’ 9-3 win over the Houston Astros at Yankee Stadium, highlighting an afternoon in which the teams combined for five home runs. The grand slam was Posada’s 250th home run, which tied him with Graig Nettles for seventh on the Yankees’ career list. The news got better for Posada after the game: he will catch Sunday, Manager Joe Girardi said, “unless he comes in tomorrow and can’t walk.” “There was a nice little smile there,” Girardi said of Posada’s reaction. “He’s been chomping at the bit. It’s nice the way it works out; we’ve got a game here, then a day off, so I thought it was a good time.” Derek Jeter hit two home runs for his ninth career multihomer game and his first since 2006. He hit his 24th career leadoff homer, tying Rickey Henderson for the most by a Yankee, and he also had a three-run shot in the sixth. In his seven innings, Javier Vazquez (6-5) lacked velocity, with his fastball hovering around 88 miles per hour, but he managed to work past the runs and hits he allowed in picking up his third straight victory. He allowed solo home runs to Hunter Pence in the second inning and Carlos Lee in the sixth. “If I’m locating, I know I can win at throwing 88 or 90,” said Vazquez, who allowed six hits and walked none. “Obviously, I would love to get back to what I was last year and years in the past, at 90 to 94. If it’s there, that’s great. I feel pretty good.” Marcus Thames strained his right hamstring and was taken for a magnetic resonance imaging exam, which was negative. Thames awkwardly fielded Jeff Keppinger’s run-scoring double off the wall in the third, then uncharacteristically jogged while flying out to center field in the bottom of that inning, but Girardi said he did not know when the injury occurred. Brett Gardner, who had been limited to pinch-running because of a mild sprain in his left thumb, entered in the fifth to replace Thames as the left fielder. Gardner went 0 for 2. “He was extremely disappointed he got hurt, I can tell you that,” Girardi said of Thames. “We’ll wait for the diagnosis to determine what we’re going to do with him.” Posada singled Friday night and said it was an important step for him. On Saturday, Posada’s grand slam off Wandy Rodriguez (3-9) highlighted a five-run third inning. Posada also singled in the fifth. “I needed it,” Posada said, adding, “It’s all about battling when you’re struggling, trying to get good pitches and work the count.” Posada, who has not caught since returning, said it had been difficult staying in the game mentally as a designated hitter, and he had not been performing well at the plate. He entered the game hitting .133 with one run batted in 30 at-bats since his return. “It’s tough to do; it’s not easy,” Posada said. “It’s not a like or a dislike. It’s just not like when you play every day. It’s like pinch-hitting four times. You’ve got to get used to it and learn to be involved and be a part of it.” Posada, who was injured on May 16 after a foul ball struck him on the foot while he was catching, said he did not know how to keep himself occupied between plate appearances. Posada said before the game that he generally tried to stay loose by hitting, stretching or riding a stationary bike. He does not review film of his plate appearances because, he said, “I don’t want to keep getting involved in my at-bats, to tell you the truth.” Posada may want to hold onto the memories of his at-bats from Saturday. His grand slam was a sight for a designated hitter struggling to hit. At least for Sunday, though, Posada will be back behind the plate, exactly where he thinks he belongs. INSIDE PITCH Alex Rodriguez was not in the Yankees’ lineup for a second straight game because of tendinitis in his right hip flexor, but Joe Girardi said Rodriguez was feeling better. Rodriguez is day to day with the injury, which is not thought to be related to his 2009 hip surgery.


Redskins Cut Veteran Kicker Shayne Graham

Abstract: This was yet another kickoff that had very little return. The Washington Redskins ’ duel of the kicking Grahams, which was supposed to provide some special-teams drama throughout the preseason, lasted all of one game thanks to a sudden wild streak from one of the game’s most reliable veterans. Shayne Graham was cut by the Redskins on Sunday, two days after he shanked a 29-yard field-goal attempt and also missed a 49-yarder in Friday’s 16-7 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers. The move leaves the incumbent Graham Gano, who ranked last in field-goal accuracy in the N.F.L. last season, as the only kicker in training camp. Gano hit from 32, 34 and 45 yards against the Steelers. “We haven’t solved our kicking issue,” the special-teams coach Danny Smith said. “He had a good game at 3 for 3 with a guy that wasn’t very productive. We made a decision to let that guy go. We did find out coming out of that game that Shayne Graham wasn’t the guy. We didn’t prove the point that we’re solid at kicker yet.” Graham would have been a good bet to win the job at the start of camp. His 86 percent field-goal success rate makes him the third-most accurate kicker in N.F.L. history. He went 12 for 12 last year, and 2 for 2 in the playoffs, with New England. But he never found his rhythm with the Redskins. He got a late start because of the rule that kept veteran free agents off the field in the early days after the lockout, and because the holder Sav Rocca had to wait several days for a visa to return to the United States from Australia. “I know that I’m better than I was today,” Graham said after Friday’s game. “I proved it for years, and I just didn’t do it today. I’m trying to win a job, and it just didn’t go down the way I wanted it to.” Gano was the epitome of a hit-or-miss commodity last year in his first full N.F.L. season. He made only 24 of 35 field-goal attempts for a 6-10 team that played a lot of close games — nine decided by 3 points or fewer. He made overtime game-winners against Green Bay, Tennessee and Jacksonville. A PATRIOTS EMPHASIS Patriots Coach Bill Belichick has made no secret of his intention to upgrade the team’s defensive line and, with it, the pass rush. That’s why there were 18 defensive linemen in camp as of Sunday, including four established veterans who were recently obtained through free agency or trade: Shaun Ellis, Albert Haynesworth, Mark Anderson and Andre Carter. That has led to speculation that the Patriots will employ more of a 4-3 defensive front instead of the 3-4 more commonly seen in recent seasons. COTCHERY PRACTICES The new Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Jerricho Cotchery says he’s ready to win now. Cotchery, a seven-year N.F.L. veteran, signed last week with the Steelers, the defending A.F.C. champions, and participated in his first practice Sunday. Cotchery said he believed Pittsburgh was the best fit for him after he asked the Jets to release him. Cotchery caught 41 passes last year for the Jets, his lowest total since becoming a full-time starter in 2006. He will make his Steelers debut Thursday against Philadelphia. SAINTS’ PORTER RETURNS New Orleans Saints cornerback Tracy Porter has returned to practice for the first time since training camp opened and says his surgically repaired left knee is not bothering him. Porter has been recovering from off-season microfracture surgery. Also at practice were receivers Marques Colston and Robert Meachem. Colston was sidelined by swelling around his surgically repaired right knee cap, while Meachem left Friday night’s preseason opener against San Francisco with a lower back strain. BACKUPS STRUGGLE Colts Coach Jim Caldwell isn’t worried about his backup quarterbacks, despite their struggles in the preseason opener Saturday against the St. Louis Rams. With Peyton Manning out while nursing a neck injury, the reserves Curtis Painter and Dan Orlovsky got the early action in a 33-10 loss. They combined to complete 7 of 16 passes with three interceptions. Caldwell said that Painter had some good moments and that Orlovsky, a free-agent pickup, had not had much time to learn the complicated Colts offense.

Washington Redskins
Football
Graham Shayne
Gano Graham


ValueAct’s Bet on Morgan Stanley Bet Goes Only So Far

Abstract: The activist investor ValueAct Capital Management has paired its new $1 billion-plus stake in Morgan Stanley with support for the bank’s chief executive, James P. Gorman. But ValueAct’s logic for investing in the Wall Street bank goes only so far. Jeffrey W. Ubben, the ValueAct chief executive, thinks shareholders just do not get Morgan Stanley, which now collects 80 percent of its net income from wealth management, investment management and merger advisory services, compared with just 30 percent around a decade ago. Mr. Ubben says other highly regulated businesses hog too much attention. It is not that simple. Trading absorbs most of the $43 billion in capital at Morgan Stanley’s investment bank – almost two-thirds of the company’s total. Performance in fixed-income trading is volatile and subpar. Other businesses deserve credit, but shareholders fully grasp that. The roughly 82 percent of book value at which the company trades is on the nail for a company that managed an annualized return on equity last quarter of only 8.3 percent. If the businesses Mr. Ubben likes are really better, it is not showing yet. Mr. Gorman is only part of the way through cutting $1 billion of costs, and he is saving $175 million a year buying back expensive trust-preferred securities. These tactics could eventually take the return on equity above 10 percent and warrant the company trading at book value – a 43 percent improvement from where Mr. Ubben jumped in, bagging his fund around $500 million. Even so, an activist hoping to really shake up Morgan Stanley would agitate for a breakup. A stand-alone wealth- and asset-management unit would probably be worth $50 billion. That assumes the business is worth 20 times its potential $2.5 billion of net income this year, a higher rating than the 16 times that Raymond James commands. The bank’s mergers and acquisitions franchise could fetch more than $5 billion, assuming a 25 percent pretax margin and Greenhill’s valuation multiple of 15 times earnings. Add the two, and the total is not far from Morgan Stanley’s current $59 billion market cap – and underwriting and trading are still unaccounted for. Selling those units might not be easy, but shutting them down could unlock tens of billions of dollars in capital, a potential bonanza for shareholder returns. Mr. Ubben is not asking for that, but it is a prospect that should keep Mr. Gorman focused on delivering his improvements before someone else does.

Morgan Stanley
Banking and Finance
ValueAct Capital Partners
James P Gorman


Jay Mariotti Is Suspended by AOL

Abstract: Jay Mariotti, the caustic online columnist arrested Saturday and charged with domestic assault after an incident with his girlfriend, was suspended Thursday by AOL , for which he is a columnist for its FanHouse Web site. ESPN, for which Mariotti appears as a panelist on the “Around the Horn” program, has not yet taken any action. “We are continuing to gather all the facts,” said Caroline Campbell, a spokeswoman for AOL. “In the meantime, we have suspended Jay Mariotti and are not featuring any new work from him.” She would not elaborate on what AOL had learned since Mariotti’s arrest to prompt the suspension. Mariotti, 51, was arrested at his house and released from jail on $50,000 bail. The Los Angeles Times reported that Mariotti pushed, shoved and grabbed his girlfriend during an altercation at a club in Santa Monica, Calif.

AOL
Mariotti Jay
Suspensions Dismissals and Resignations


Public Officials Attack New York’s Heroin Pamphlet

Abstract: If you are going to do drugs, do it right, because even drug addicts deserve to have their lives protected. That was the message New York City health officials said they were trying to convey in a pamphlet on “tips for safer use” of heroin that the city financed and distributed and that has raised the hackles of public officials, including the city’s special narcotics prosecutor, over the last few days. City health officials say the 17-page brochure, which has been in circulation since June 2007, simply recognizes that, realistically, it is impossible to stop every intravenous drug user. It offers “10 Tips for Safer Use” of heroin, like injecting drugs with someone else in case something goes wrong and “shoot correctly to avoid infection and collapsed veins.” But skeptics, including City Councilman Peter F. Vallone Jr., a Queens Democrat, and Bridget G. Brennan, the special narcotics prosecutor, say the brochure is a how-to manual for beginning drug users that — through tips like “warm up your body (jump up and down) to show your veins” — makes drug use seem normal. They said it was misguided public policy and called on the city to withdraw it. Mr. Vallone, chairman of the council’s Public Safety Committee, said on Tuesday that the pamphlet, whose existence was reported in The New York Post this week, offered little of value to experienced users and could encourage novices to take up heroin use by showing them how to do it. “You’re spending taxpayer money and getting a how-to guide for first-time users,” he said. The city has spent about $32,000 to print and distribute 70,000 copies of the flier, health officials said. Ms. Brennan said Tuesday that she saw a legitimate public purpose in other policies directed at intravenous drug users, like needle exchanges to prevent drug users from spreading H.I.V. and other infections through contaminated needles. But she said that telling drug users to do things like wash their hands was silly. “I think needle exchange, if it’s managed well and it’s targeted and it’s thoughtfully administered, I think that makes a lot of sense, but this doesn’t fall into that category,” Ms. Brennan said. She said that the brochure suggested there was a safe way to inject heroin. “Anytime you intravenously inject drugs you’re taking your life into your hands, no matter how many times you wash your hands or use alcohol,” Ms. Brennan said. “It’s a poison. And you don’t know what the drug is cut with. When I looked at the brochure, it suggested a normalization.” Mr. Vallone said he did not blame the city’s health commissioner, Dr. Thomas A. Farley, for the pamphlet, which was distributed long before Dr. Farley took office in June, but he said he planned to meet with the commissioner on Wednesday and would ask him to withdraw the pamphlet. Mr. Vallone objected to safety tips like “drop the cotton directly into the cooker. Don’t touch it!” To him, he said, that sounded like “you’re going to prevent them from getting a boo-boo.” He also cited the tip about jumping up and down. “That’s a helpful hint, not advice to prevent any disease,” Mr. Vallone said. Health officials adamantly denied that the pamphlet could be construed as a how-to manual. “Absolutely not,” Dr. Adam Karpati, executive deputy commissioner for the health department’s division of mental hygiene, said on Tuesday. Tips like the one about warming up veins, he said, were to protect users from repeated injections, which could lead to bloodstream and skin-borne infections. City health officials said the brochure was aimed at making intravenous drug use “safer,” not “safe.” He noted that the first page of the leaflet urges users to “get help and support to stop using drugs” and that the pamphlet offers 24-hour hotline numbers for them to call. He said the city was trying to prevent overdoses and health risks, like H.I.V. and hepatitis, which are spread by dirty needles. More than 600 New Yorkers die of accidental drug overdoses every year, and one-third of people with H.I.V. in the United States were infected through intravenous drug use, the health department said. “Our primary message, as it is in all our initiatives, is to help people stop using drugs and to provide them with information on how to quit,” Dr. Karpati said. But he said that health officials recognized that quitting was not a realistic expectation for all drug users.


Under Challenging Conditions, Shiffrin Wins Second Slalom

Abstract: If this were a trial run for the Sochi Olympics, Mikaela Shiffrin passed with flying colors. Shiffrin fought through soft snow, rain and deep ruts — exactly the type of conditions she could face next month in Sochi, Russia — to win her second World Cup slalom of the season Sunday in Bormio, Italy. “It’s always a big confidence booster to have good skiing in different conditions,” Shiffrin said. Located near the Black Sea, the Alpine resort of Rosa Khutor that will host the skiing races at the Olympics is known for varying weather conditions. “Sochi can be challenging with the weather and everything,” said Patrick Riml, the United States Alpine director. He said Shiffrin showed that “she’s very well prepared.” Shiffrin, 18, led by 0.03 of a second after the opening run and won by 0.13 ahead of Maria Pietilae-Holmner of Sweden for the sixth victory of her career. Nastasia Noens of France moved up from 13th after the first run to finish third, 0.62 behind. The four-time overall winner Lindsey Vonn skipped the race as she continues to rest her injured knee. CELSKI WINS MEN’S 1,000 METERS Apolo Anton Ohno tabbed J. R. Celski as a future star four years ago. With Ohno now retired and doing television commentary, Celski has stepped into the void as the dominant American short track speedskater. Celski won the 1,000 meters at the United States Olympic trials in Kearns, Utah, giving him three individual events to compete in at the Sochi Olympics. Celski heads to his second Olympics looking to add to the two bronze medals he won at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, when Ohno was ending his career as America’s most decorated Winter Olympian. “I’ve gotten the experience, but this time is completely different for me,” Celski said. “Mentally, physically, I’m healthy. I’m going to ride that momentum. I look forward to doing some damage over there.” Celski lost just one race during the four-day trials at the Utah Olympic Oval, finishing second by half a blade length to Chris Creveling in the first 1,000 final. Celski came back to easily win the second 1,000 final of the day. He’ll be joined on the men’s team by Eddy Alvarez, Creveling, the 2010 Olympian Jordan Malone and Kyle Carr. Alvarez became the first Cuban-American man to make a United States Olympic speedskating team. Celski and Alvarez qualified for the 500, the 1,000 and the 1,500. GERMAN VICTORY IN BOBSLED Sandra Kiriasis of Germany drove to a World Cup bobsled win on her home track in Winterberg, edging Elana Meyers of the United States by the slimmest of margins. Kiriasis and brakeman Franziska Fritz finished two runs in 1 minute 55.41 seconds — 0.01 of a second ahead of Meyers and Lolo Jones, who likely bolstered her Olympic hopes by helping give USA-1 a huge push in the second heat. Anja Schneiderheinze and Stephanie Schneider were third for Germany, 0.07 seconds back. NORWEGIANS SWEEP TOUR DE SKI Therese Johaug and Martin Johnsrud Sundby became the first Norwegians to win the Tour de Ski as they both claimed victory in the seventh and final stage in Val di Fiemme, Italy. Johaug, 25, clocked 34:19.8 to beat Astrid Uhrenholdt Jacobsen by 20.4 seconds in the overall standings. Heidi Weng finished third as Norway became the first country to grab all three podium places in the Tour. In the men’s event, Sundby crossed the line in 32:49.6 seconds to complete a remarkable day for Norway. Chris Jespersen, also of Norway, was second in his first Tour de Ski attempt, with Johannes Duerr of Austria third. LOCH TAKES LUGE RACE Felix Loch of Germany easily won his third World Cup luge race of the season, posting the fastest heat in both runs and beating Armin Zoeggeler of Italy by nearly a second in Konigssee, Germany. Loch finished in 1:38.266. Zoeggeler’s time was 1:39.129, and Gregory Cariget of Switzerland was third in 1:39.203.

Mikaela Shiffrin
Skiing
2014 Winter Olympics