Iran Angrily Defends Nuclear Program

Abstract: UNITED NATIONS — The United States and Iran used the United Nations General Assembly’s famous green marble podium on Monday to trade punches over the Islamic republic’s nuclear program, adding sudden drama to the normally staid opening of the international conference to review the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad , the only head of state attending a meeting usually left to foreign ministers, defiantly sought to rebuff accusations that Iran was a nuclear outlaw by going on the offensive against the United States. The United States, represented by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, accused Iran of trying to create a smokescreen to hide its own violations and said Tehran should not be allowed to try to undermine a broad international consensus to strengthen the 40-year-old treaty. The treaty is viewed as successful over all in dissuading countries from developing nuclear weapons , but is seen as under threat as more nations express an interest in starting nuclear programs. The United Nations secretary general, Ban Ki-moon , said that expanding interest as well as new problems like possible nuclear terrorism made the treaty more important than ever. “The nuclear threat remains real,” Mr. Ban said. “It has evolved in new and varied forms.” In his speech, Mr. Ahmadinejad said that all nuclear powers tried to intimidate countries that had no nuclear weapons, but he called the United States the “main suspect” in fostering a nuclear arms race. It has engendered worldwide hatred for being the first and only state to use a nuclear bomb, he said As Mr. Ahmadinejad spoke, members of delegations from a number of countries, including the United States and many European Union members, walked out of the General Assembly. The hall was about one-third full during his 35-minute address. The Iranian president said the United States and its allies had failed to provide a “single credible proof” of allegations that Tehran was hiding an attempt to develop a nuclear bomb of its own,. The Islamic republic had already accepted a compromise deal over enriching uranium for a research reactor, he said. In opening the conference, Mr. Ban urged Iran to prove that its nuclear program was solely for peaceful purposes and to accept a compromise deal offered to Tehran last fall. Iran is facing a fourth round of Security Council sanctions that are being negotiated separately. Under the terms of last fall’s deal, Iran would send 1,200 kilograms, or more than 2,600 pounds, of enriched uranium to Russia and then to France for refinement into fuel rods for its research reactor in Tehran, which is used for medical purposes. Though it would not resolve the issue of a suspected military program, the deal was seen as a confidence-building measure. Western nations negotiating with Iran say that it has demanded, at different times, that the refinement take place on Iranian soil, or that the uranium be refined in smaller increments. Their interest in the deal is waning as Iran enriches increasing amounts of uranium. Its supply is now thought to be more than 2,100 kilograms, or about 4,600 pounds, enough for two bombs. Mrs. Clinton noted that Tehran had never signaled to the International Atomic Energy Agency that it was ready to accept any proposal involving its research reactor. “Iran has a history of making confusing, contradictory and inaccurate statements designed to convey the impression that it has adopted a flexible attitude toward the proposal,” she told a news conference. In her speech, Mrs. Clinton accused Iran of jeopardizing the nonproliferation treaty by defying repeated calls from the Security Council and the atomic energy agency to be more transparent about its program. “That is why it is facing increasing isolation and pressure from the international community,” she said. Canada’s foreign minister, Lawrence Cannon, dismissed Mr. Ahmadinejad’s speech as a “publicity stunt.” He and other foreign ministers stressed that they did not want the issue of Iran to hijack the conference. Mr. Ban emphasized a few central issues that he said should be the focus of conference negotiations expected to last until the end of May: more nuclear weapons cuts, greater openness in national nuclear programs, an effort to get the three nations outside the treaty — India, Pakistan and Israel — to sign it, and the establishment of a zone in the Middle East free of nuclear weapons. Mrs. Clinton said the United States wanted to strengthen the measures facing any country that tries to withdraw from the treaty, as North Korea did in 2003. The country has since declare that it carried out two nuclear tests. The conference should consider automatic penalties for violating agreements on safeguards, Mrs. Clinton said, like suspending international technical cooperation, and using of financial and legal tools “to disrupt illicit proliferation networks.” To bolster President Obama’s argument that the United States is fulfilling its obligations to reduce the American arsenal, the Pentagon on Monday declassified statistics showing that the United States now possesses 5,113 nuclear weapons, down 84 percent from its peak of 31,255 in 1967, at the height of the cold war. The statistics’ broad outlines have been known, in general terms, for many years. The Pentagon issued gross numbers on Monday, deliberately lumping together deployed weapons, those in storage and “inactive”’ warheads. The figures released for the current stockpile, a senior official said, do not include several thousand retired weapons awaiting complete dismantlement. American officials have been playing down prospects for any sweeping change emerging from the conference, suggesting that the greatest expected pressure on Tehran will be if a majority of countries endorse the treaty and there is some condemnation of Iran, even if it is rejected by a few “outliers” and does not make it into the final document. Although Israel does not take part in the nonproliferation treaty, its arsenal, estimated at 100 to 200 warheads, has overshadowed the conferences in recent years. Egypt and other non-nuclear nations have refused to endorse stricter inspections and other global measures as long as Israel remains outside the treaty. A compromise worked out in 1995 called for a special conference on creating a nuclear-weapons-free Middle East, but it has never been convened. Egypt is again demanding that gathering. The United States position has been that such a treaty can be worked out only after a comprehensive Middle East peace plan.

Iran
United Nations
Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty
Treaties
Nuclear Weapons
Ban Ki-moon
International Atomic Energy Agency
Security Council (UN)
Ahmadinejad Mahmoud


Ad Accord for Yahoo and Google

Abstract: SAN FRANCISCO — Microsoft ’s four-month-long courtship of Yahoo has finally thrown Yahoo into the arms of their biggest common rival, Google . Google and Yahoo said Thursday that they had reached an agreement under which Google would deliver ads next to some of Yahoo’s search results and on some of its Web sites in the United States and Canada. The nonexclusive deal is aimed at giving a lift to Yahoo’s finances, and the company said it would generate an additional $250 million to $450 million in operating cash flow in the first year. The agreement will also strengthen Google’s dominance over the lucrative search advertising market. It was signed after Yahoo rejected a proposal by Microsoft to acquire both Yahoo’s search business and a minority stake in the company. The rejection appears to end months of on-again, off-again negotiations between the two companies. “Clearly it is time to move on,” Jerry Yang, Yahoo’s chief executive, said in a conference call. “This agreement with Google helps us to do so,” Mr. Yang added, saying that the deal would allow Yahoo to continue to compete in its two main lines of business, search and display advertising. Wall Street was less confident, sending Yahoo’s shares down more than 10 percent, to close at $23.52, after the announcement that there would be no deal with Microsoft — not for the $47.5 billion it initially bid for all of Yahoo, or a smaller deal for any part of it. The deal is certain to draw scrutiny from antitrust regulators, and the companies have agreed to delay it for three and a half months to give the Justice Department time to review it. Senator Herb Kohl, a Democrat from Wisconsin who is chairman of the Senate antitrust subcommittee, said his committee would closely examine the venture. The deal is also likely to become fodder in the heated battle between Carl C. Icahn, the activist investor, and Yahoo for control of the company. Mr. Icahn has said that if Microsoft could not be persuaded to renew its bid for all of Yahoo, he would push for Yahoo to complete a search advertising deal with Google. He did not return calls seeking comment on Thursday. In a statement, Microsoft said that its offer to buy Yahoo’s search business was still valid. Under the agreement with Google, Yahoo will choose search terms for which Google will offer ads. Yahoo will determine the number and placement of ads sold by Google and mix them with some ads it sells itself. “We think of it as backfilling with Google monetization, rather than outsourcing,” Mr. Yang said in an interview. The four-year agreement, which can be renewed for two terms of three years, will allow Yahoo to continue to invest in improving its own search and search advertising business, Yahoo said. It can be rescinded by either party after a “change in control,” like an acquisition, so it would not necessarily deter Microsoft from bidding again. A Google co-founder, Sergey Brin, said in an interview that the company was happy to have Yahoo as an advertising partner but refused to discuss Google’s expected financial gain from the deal. After withdrawing its $47.5 billion offer on May 3, Microsoft began talking with Yahoo again about a more limited deal. On May 30, the company submitted a formal proposal, according to people knowledgeable about Microsoft’s thinking, who agreed to speak on condition that they remain anonymous. Under the proposal, Microsoft would have taken a 16 percent stake in Yahoo at $35 a share, bought Yahoo’s search business and established a revenue-sharing agreement for searches coming from Yahoo, these people said. The deal would have delivered an estimated $1 billion or more in additional operating income for Yahoo, they said. On Sunday, a group of Microsoft executives discussed that proposal with Yahoo board members during a two-hour face-to-face meeting at Mineta San Jose International Airport. The meeting included Steven A. Ballmer, Microsoft’s chief executive, and other top Microsoft officials, as well as Mr. Yang; Yahoo’s chairman, Roy Bostock; and other Yahoo directors. At the meeting, Microsoft executives repeated that they would not consider buying all of Yahoo, in part because any merger deal signed now would be subject to a review by regulators. That process would extend into a new administration, possibly tying up Microsoft’s capital for many more months, without certainty that a merger would go forward, according to the people familiar with Microsoft’s thinking. Yahoo agreed to consider the proposal at a full board meeting on Tuesday. On Thursday, Yahoo said that it had concluded that selling its search business alone to Microsoft would not be in its best interests over the long term and that all talks with Microsoft were over. In the interview, Mr. Yang said that the fact that Microsoft was willing to buy Yahoo in April, and “a few weeks later they were no longer interested,” cast doubt on Microsoft’s commitment to the merger in the first place. The search advertising partnership between Google and Yahoo, the No. 1 and No. 2 companies in that business, leaves No. 3 Microsoft even further behind. “Out in the cold, is where this leaves Microsoft,” said Bryan Wiener, the chief executive of 360i, an agency that helps marketers place ads on search engines and other Web sites. While Google had 61.6 percent of the search market in the United States in April, according to comScore, Mr. Wiener said that Google’s dominance of search ads is even greater. Among 360i advertisers, it accounts for 75 percent to 80 percent of dollars spent, he said. Analysts said they were skeptical that the deal would be good for Yahoo in the long term. “Obviously, there is a near-term revenue and profit windfall accruing to Yahoo,” said Derek Brown, a Cantor Fitzgerald analyst. “But at what cost? What does it say about Yahoo’s long-term vision to become a must-buy for advertisers? Does it make Google, not Yahoo, a must-buy for online advertisers?”

Yahoo Inc
Advertising and Marketing
Google Inc
Microsoft Corp
Computers and the Internet


Germanwings Co-Pilot Was Treated for ‘Suicidal Tendencies,’ Authorities Say

Abstract: DÜSSELDORF, Germany — Before he received his pilot’s license or achieved his dream of flying passenger jets, the co-pilot of the crashed Germanwings jetliner was so troubled that he underwent treatment for “suicidal tendencies,” a prosecutor said Monday, raising questions about what the airline should have known about his condition. The co-pilot, Andreas Lubitz, was at the controls last week as the Airbus A320 jet dived from cruising altitude to smash into the French Alps, killing all 150 people onboard. French officials said the crash appeared to have been no accident, but an intentional act on the part of Mr. Lubitz. Mr. Lubitz, 27, had been treated by psychotherapists “over a long period of time,” the public prosecutor’s office in Düsseldorf said in a statement on Monday, without providing specific dates. In follow-up visits to doctors since that time, the prosecutor said, “no signs of suicidal tendencies or aggression toward others were documented.” Under current German law that emphasizes privacy, it was up to Mr. Lubitz to disclose his history to doctors examining his fitness to fly, according to Roland Quast, medical director of Aeromedical Center Germany in Stuttgart. Image Andreas Lubitz Credit Michael Mueller/Associated Press “What is decisive is that the pilot tells the truth,” he said. “If he lies, we don’t have lie detectors.” Mr. Lubitz’s medical history has raised questions over how much leeway medical professionals should have to inform the authorities about patients in positions that could affect public safety. Parliamentary deputies from Germany’s governing coalition have called for doctors to break confidentiality when a patient shows suicidal tendencies. Karl Lauterbach, a Social Democrat and a medical expert, told the daily newspaper Bild that if lives could be endangered, “the doctor has a duty to inform the employer about the unsuitability of the employee to do his work.” That applies “especially in the case of psychiatric illness and the possible danger of suicide,” he said. Heinz Joachim Schöttes, a spokesman for Germanwings, said Monday that the airline was aware of the prosecutor’s statement about Mr. Lubitz but declined to comment. Prosecutors have questioned many of Mr. Lubitz’s friends and colleagues, but have found no indication of a suicide note or a clear motive behind the crash. “In particular, there continues to be no verifiable warning of such an act nor has any claim of responsibility been found,” the Düsseldorf prosecutor’s office said in a statement. Investigators had found no one close to him, whether personally or professionally, who was able to name “any special situation that could serve as a viable indication of a possible motive,” the statement said. And Dr. Quast, who leads a panel that advises the German government on difficult pilot-fitness cases but has not reviewed Mr. Lubitz’s records, said it was possible that the co-pilot did tell doctors about his history and that they had concluded “that the problem was over.” According to friends and acquaintances, Mr. Lubitz was focused from his youth on the single goal of becoming an airline pilot, and began flying gliders when he was 14. He was accepted into Lufthansa’s prestigious flight school after graduating from high school, and received training in the German city of Bremen and in Arizona. Video Christoph Kumpa, deputy spokesman for the prosecutors’ office, said before the Germanwings co-pilot received his license, Andreas Lubitz was seeking help from a psychotherapist. Credit Credit Rolfå Vennenbernd/European Pressphoto Agency Mr. Lubitz interrupted his training for at least several months, a period that has come under particular scrutiny. Prosecutors did not say whether the treatment he received for suicidal tendencies came at that time. Michael Göntgens, a spokesman for Lufthansa, which owns Germanwings, declined to comment on whether the break in Mr. Lubitz’s pilot training, which the company acknowledged last week, was connected to the analysis disclosed Monday. On Thursday, Carsten Spohr, the chief executive of Lufthansa, said at a news conference that Mr. Lubitz had passed the company’s health checks with “flying colors” and “was 100 percent flightworthy, without any limitations.” Investigators from Germany, France and beyond are facing the difficult task of determining what motivated Mr. Lubitz — issues in his personal life, perhaps, or recent trouble with his eyesight that may have threatened his career. Mr. Lubitz’s medical records show no physical illnesses, the prosecutor said, an apparent reference to his vision problems, which officials said might have been psychosomatic in nature. Image Investigators from Germany, France and beyond are facing the task of determining what motivated Andreas Lubitz. Credit Kai Pfaffenbach/Reuters The announcement by prosecutors on Monday suggests that they believe his mental health problems could well have played a significant role in the crash. Germanwings Flight 9525 was on its way to Düsseldorf from Barcelona, Spain, when Mr. Lubitz apparently put it on its fatal course, a French prosecutor has said. Voice recordings from the flight indicate that Mr. Lubitz was alone in the cockpit, and refused to allow the captain to re-enter as the plane lost altitude. Law enforcement officials in Germany have mobilized in force to deal with the complex case presented by the crash. More than 200 officers from the Düsseldorf police have worked on what they are calling Special Commission Alps. Roughly 100 officers remain involved in the effort to identify the victims and get to the bottom of how and why they died. Two French airplane crash experts are in Germany cooperating with the Düsseldorf commission. “Since the clues accumulated that the crash could have been premeditated, we have formed a murder commission with 50 specialized investigators,” the Düsseldorf police said in a statement. Searches of Mr. Lubitz’s apartment and his parents’ house in Montabaur, Germany, on Thursday yielded evidence that was still being analyzed. Officers are also visiting the homes of victims to take DNA samples and fingerprints to aid in the identification of the dead. The physical evidence is being evaluated by the German Federal Criminal Police. The process could take months to complete, in part because of how thoroughly the plane was destroyed on impact and how difficult it has been to reach and comb the rugged crash site. With clouds closing in on the area Monday, helicopters were grounded, and search teams and police investigators had to hike up the mountain on foot instead. At the same time, crews worked to open a road through the forest to the site, hoping to speed the painstaking labor of collecting debris from the aircraft and the remains of the dead.

Germanwings
Pilots
Suicide
Germany
Andreas Lubitz
Mental Health
Plane Crash


Hasbro: A Dicey Venture for Private Equity

Abstract: Just a Plaything For Private Equity Hasbro Inc. may make some of the world’s most popular toys, but it wouldn’t necessarily make a great plaything for private equity barons. The maker of G.I. Joe action figures and Play-Doh, which said Thursday that it had rejected a buyout approach, has great brands for the under-10 set. But the seasonal toy business would be expensive to finance with real — rather than Monopoly — money. Even with big cuts, the potential returns from a deal look meager. On the face of it, Hasbro seems to be an attractive addition to private equity’s toy chest. Its products range from Mr. Potato Head figurines and Nerf footballs to classic board games like Scrabble and Candy Land. But the toy business has its many ups and downs. Children are fickle customers, after all, and two-thirds of sales typically come in the third and fourth quarters alone. One season could make or break the year. As a result, any buyer of Hasbro would need to offer up a big equity check. Tag on a 30 percent premium to Wednesday’s closing stock price — before revelations of a possible deal with Providence Equity Partners appeared in The Wall Street Journal — and that’s about $53.50 a share, or $8.4 billion including debt. If banks are willing to extend debt of six times earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization, a buyer would need to come up with about $3.8 billion in equity. That’s doable, but would almost certainly require a consortium of private equity firms or outside investors. And even with all that capital, bankers say a Hasbro with so much leverage would have to pay a relatively rich 9 percent interest rate to its creditors. This combination of expensive debt, and lots of equity, would damp returns. Of course, under new disciplined private equity ownership, Hasbro might be able to squeeze out more profits, perhaps increasing its operating margin to, say, 19 percent from the 16 percent analysts currently forecast. But assuming an exit at the same multiple of earnings the company traded at before a bid emerged, the annualized returns would still be shy of around 10 percent. Given the risks, that’s hardly a reason to shout Yahtzee! Hibernating Bear Russia’s stock market has languished this year as investors took fright over events in Europe. While this lackluster performance mirrors other emerging markets, Russia’s cheaper valuations mean it is better placed to bounce back. Russia now looks like a bargain on both a historic and a geographic basis. Its market is still down 40 percent from two years ago, much more than the 15 percent decline in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index. Russia is now about 40 percent cheaper than its peers on a price to earnings basis: it is trading at 6.6 times expected 2010 earnings, compared with an 11.5 average for emerging markets, Renaissance Capital argues. This discount has widened from about 30 percent at the start of the year, not far from the long-term historic average. Although Russia deserves a discount because of its political risk and the fragility of its oil-based economy, the gap is starting to look excessive. After all, Russia has seen a far bigger G.D.P. turnaround than other countries. After shrinking 7.5 percent last year, it is now growing at a rate of about 5 percent. Morgan Stanley predicts Russian corporate earnings will increase 50 percent this year, twice as fast as in China. So why aren’t investors snapping up Russian bargains? The answer lies outside Russia, home to many buyers of the free float of these stocks. They fear a double-dip global recession and another tumble in the oil price, by far the most important factor for Russia’s stock market. And investors remember that the Russian stock market lost 80 percent of its value in six months in 1998. But the bullish oil price forecasts out there could prove half-way right. And even if Russia’s market does tank again, there is a comforting factor. Russian oligarchs aren’t as heavily leveraged as they were two years ago, so they would have less need to raise collateral in a hurry by selling shares. Taken together, these factors mean that Russia’s cheap shares could be positioned for a nice rebound if global risk appetite recovers a bit. Investors who dally could miss a bounce. ROLFE WINKLER and JASON BUSH

Private Equity
Toys
Hasbro Incorporated
Stocks and Bonds


Microsoft and Google Set to Wage Arms Race

Abstract: Bill Gates, the chairman of Microsoft, described Google in an interview late last year as a worthy adversary, a company to test Microsoft's mettle. "This is hypercompetition, make no mistake," Mr. Gates observed. The rivalry between the companies is growing more combative, and with good reason: the outcome is likely to shape the future of competition in computing and the way people use information technology. A measure of how seriously Microsoft takes the challenge came last Thursday when it announced that its spending would rise sharply next year, about $2 billion higher than previous estimates. Much of the extra money, analysts say, is going to meet the threat from companies offering advertising-supported Internet services and software, led by Google. "Microsoft doesn't have to kill Google, but it has to narrow the gap," said Richard Sherlund, an analyst at Goldman Sachs & Company. "It has to be in the same ZIP code." To succeed, Microsoft has to make strong inroads into Internet services and software, where Google is a leader. "It's clear that if we fail to do so, our business as we know it is at risk," Ray Ozzie, a chief technical officer, warned in an e-mail memo to Microsoft employees last year. Microsoft enters that battle from a stronghold: its lucrative, powerful business in personal computer software. Google has asserted that Microsoft's next Web browser typically steers users to Microsoft's search service, limiting consumer choice and potentially hurting Google, the leading Internet search engine. Microsoft says Google's objections are mistaken, and that its new browser, Internet Explorer 7, increases a user's search options. But Google has advantages of its own, and the Internet services business is very different from the desktop software industry. The Internet model is one that offers search, e-mail, calendar, contacts and even word processing as services accessible remotely with a PC or hand-held device with a Web browser. Typically, Google invents a new service or feature, makes it a free Web-based service, and only later figures out how to make money on it from advertising of some kind. That ad-supported software, distributed as a Web service, is a threat to Microsoft's model of selling licensed desktop software, at least in the consumer market. Corporations have so far shown less interest in ad-supported software as an Internet service. To smaller software companies, Google's strategy appears to have the same competitive impact as Microsoft's tried-and-true practice of bundling more software programs and features into its Windows operating system. Danny Sullivan, editor of Search Engine Watch, a Web newsletter, said that in some niches of the software business, Google is casting the same sort of shadow over Silicon Valley that Microsoft once did. "You've got people who don't even feel they can launch a product for fear that Google will get in," Mr. Sullivan said. Google, he said, has acquired companies and then made their products free, roiling the markets in which they compete. Google has introduced free versions of the graphics software made by SketchUp and of the Internet analytics service from Urchin, two companies that it bought. And Google won a bid to offer wireless Internet service in San Francisco at no charge, hoping to make money by selling local advertising. If this model proves to be successful, it could cut into the business of other Internet providers and wireless phone companies. Now Google is starting to move directly into Microsoft's core market. It recently acquired Writely, a Web-based word processor. How far Google can eat into Microsoft's software franchise is uncertain. But Microsoft fears that Google could become a kind of operating system of the Internet in the same way that Windows is the dominant operating system of personal computing. For its part, Google wants to avoid becoming the "next Netscape," a reference to the early leader in the browser market that Microsoft eventually thwarted. "A lot of the people who are at the center of Google had done hand-to-hand combat with Microsoft in the 90's, and I don't think they have forgotten," observed John Battelle, the editor of SearchBlog, a Web log on search technology. The group includes Eric E. Schmidt, Google's chief executive and former executive of Sun Microsystems; Omid Kordestani, its senior vice president for sales and a former Netscape executive; and John Doerr, a Google director and venture capitalist who was a prime backer of Netscape, Sun Microsystems and other Microsoft rivals. "They are very worried," Mr. Battelle said, "about Microsoft leveraging their I.E. monopoly," referring to Microsoft's commanding share of the browser market, which Microsoft includes in Windows. The fears of both companies may well be exaggerated. For Microsoft, the PC promises to remain a powerful business and technology franchise for years to come. And Google should benefit from the fact that Microsoft, after a federal antitrust judgment against it and a settlement with the government, is more restrained in its tactics and behavior than it once was. A major expense of their escalating battle lies in the very nature of the Internet services realm: the digital engine rooms and power plants that must be built to support it. Google does not disclose technical details, but estimates of the number of computer servers in its data centers range up to a million. Last month, when reporting its quarterly earnings, Google reported a doubling in its rate of capital investment, mainly in computer servers, network equipment and space for data centers, and said it would spend at least $1.5 billion over the next year. As Google grows, so does its need to store and handle more Web site information, video and e-mail content on its servers. "Those machines are full," Mr. Schmidt, the chief executive, said in an interview last month. "We have a huge machine crisis." To catch up, Microsoft is also stepping up capital spending as it invests aggressively to build data centers worldwide. "It is becoming more capital intensive," said Mr. Sherlund of Goldman Sachs. "But the company has a bulging cash position and no debt. That's not a constraint for Microsoft." However deep their pockets and established their names, the two companies will mainly compete on one point. "In the long run," Mr. Battelle said, "it's about whether you have the best service."

Microsoft Corporation
Google Inc
Computers and the Internet


Hasib Sabbagh, Co-Founder of Big Middle East Builder, Dies at 90

Abstract: Hasib Sabbagh, a founder of the Consolidated Contractors Company International, one of the largest construction companies in the Middle East, died on Jan. 12 in Cleveland. He was 90. His death was announced by the company. Established in 1952 by Mr. Sabbagh and his brother-in-law, Said Khoury, Consolidated Contractors thrived in some of the world’s most volatile regions, helped by Mr. Sabbagh’s contacts with a wide range of business executives and politicians. The company built the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, which was completed in 1969, a decade before Saddam Hussein became president. It also built a terminal extension at Ronald Reagan National Airport in Washington. Hasib Sabbagh (pronounced SAB-ah) was born in 1920 in Tiberias, Palestine . He graduated from the Arab College of Jerusalem in 1938, and in 1941 earned a civil engineering degree from the American University of Beirut. His company moved its headquarters to Athens from Beirut after civil war broke out in Lebanon in 1975. It then benefited from the economic construction boom in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and provided offshore services to the oil and gas industries in the Persian Gulf. The magazine Arabian Business listed Mr. Sabbagh as one of the 50 most powerful people in the Arab world and ranked him 19th on its 2009 list of the richest Arabs, with a net worth of $4.3 billion. Mr. Sabbagh was also a member of the Palestine National Council and a donor to the Carter Center, founded in 1982 by former President Jimmy Carter, which promotes respect for human rights and fights global poverty. Mr. Carter said in 2005 that Mr. Sabbagh was “one of my earliest and strongest allies in pursuing peace in the Middle East.”

Building (Construction)
International Relations
Deaths (Obituaries)
Relocation of Business


Record Ratings for Game 7

Abstract: The Bruins ’ Stanley Cup-clinching win matched the highest preliminary television rating for a Game 7 on record. Boston’s 4-0 victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Wednesday on NBC earned a 5.7 overnight rating and a 10 share. That ties the 2003 Game 7 between Anaheim and the Devils. The rating was up 14 percent from the most recent Game 7 in 2009. ¶ The Devils acquired Maxim Noreau from the Minnesota Wild in exchange for forward David McIntyre. Noreau, 24, split each of the past two seasons with Minnesota and Houston of the A.H.L. (AP)

Television
Vancouver Canucks
Boston Bruins
Stanley Cup
Hockey Ice
NBC Sports
Ratings and Rating Systems


Poland Supports Belarus Opposition

Abstract: BERLIN — Since Belarus ’s security forces cracked down on the opposition last month, the Polish government has been pursuing a strategy aimed at increasing its support for civil society and non-governmental organizations while isolating the top leadership in Minsk, officials in Warsaw said Wednesday. Instead of waiting for the European Union to adopt a united policy toward Belarus, Poland is moving quickly with its unusual unilateral effort. The steps include extending its Belarussian-language television to Belarus, opening its universities to Belarussian students who can no longer complete their studies back home because of their political activities and establishing a center in Warsaw for the Belarussian opposition. Last Saturday, Poland waived a €20, or $26, visa fee for any Belarussian wishing to travel to Poland; other E.U. countries have retained charges for visiting Belarussians. “We want to help our neighbors strengthen their European identity by enabling them to have more frequent contacts with the Poles and other citizens of the European Union,” Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said in Warsaw last weekend. He added that Poland would take measures to “prevent officials of the Republic of Belarus responsible for organizing the recent wave of repression against the civil society from entering the territory of Poland.” Mr. Sikorski also announced this week that Poland would double its assistance this year to non-governmental organizations in Belarus to over €10 million, or $13 million. Belarussian security forces cracked down on the opposition last Dec. 19 and 20 following a presidential election that international observers called flawed. After President Alexander Lukashenko was elected to a fourth term, protesters took to the streets, and more than 700 people, including seven candidates who ran against him, were arrested. Poland’s unequivocal support for Belarussian civil society reflects a deep commitment to the expansion of values of freedom and democracy to those countries sandwiched between the European Union and Russia. And because Belarus is its direct neighbor, with a sizeable Polish minority, Poland feels a special responsibility for making the country an important foreign policy issue for the European Union as a whole. E.U. officials are expected to discuss relations with Belarus in the next few days in Brussels. Germany’s chancellor, Angela Merkel, was among E.U. leaders pushing for sanctions against Belarus, but government officials in Berlin say Germany also wants to support civil society and press freedom. In a joint statement on Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Catherine Ashton, the European Union’s high representative for foreign affairs, said they regretted the decision by the Belarussian authorities to halt the work of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which monitors elections. The statement also called on Belarus to release candidates and others detained after the elections. In Poland, the Foreign Ministry said it was also providing aid to those beaten by the Belarussian security forces or those seeking shelter in Poland. The aid consists of legal assistance, accommodation and official space. The Belarussian authorities said Wednesday that Poland was free to do what it wanted. “Don’t expect me to criticize our Polish partners. We consider it a sovereign Polish right. They are free to take actions they feel appropriate,” said Andrei Savinykh, a Belarus Foreign Ministry spokesman. “But the problem is that there is quite a lot of our partners which have a distorted impression of the realities of the political and social life in Belarus.” Until last month’s crackdown, the European Union, in a policy initiated by Poland and Sweden, was prepared to offer Mr. Lukashenko incentives, including closer ties with the bloc in return for gradual democratization. But the repression against the opposition appears to have convinced Warsaw that a differentiated policy toward Belarus must now be pursued. “Clearly this is the time to do even more for civil society,” said Agnieszka Romaszewska-Guzy, director of Belsat TV, a satellite television channel that is supported by the Polish government and located in Warsaw. “We are needed more than ever in Belarus,” Ms. Romaszewska-Guzy said by telephone. Belsat TV, with its slogan “Your Right to Choose,” began broadcasting to Belarus in December 2007. It is now watched, regularly or occasionally, by nearly 761,000 people, according to the Polish Zerkalo-Info Research Center. The population of Belarus is estimated at nearly 10 million people. Ms. Romaszewska-Guzy said the channel employed 37 full-time journalists and had over 100 freelancers in Belarus, several of whom had been imprisoned; the offices of Belsat TV were raided in the days following the crackdown. Poland also supports Radio Racja, a Belarussian-language station, and European Radio for Belarus. The Polish government said Wednesday it wanted other E.U. governments as well as non-governmental organizations and media outlets to support these broadcasting networks to Belarus. “We want to work with other partners,” the Foreign Ministry said Wednesday. Support from other E.U countries is essential, said Andrew A. Michta, a professor of international studies at Rhodes College in the United States and the first incoming director of the Warsaw Office of the German Marshall Fund of the United States. “Poland cannot pursue this policy alone” he said. “Poland has limited resources, and it is also vulnerable in its policies towards Belarus. It is trying to persuade the E.U. to impose sanctions but not at the expense of isolating the Belarussian population. At the same time, Poland has to consider the Polish minority in Belarus, which can come under pressure from the regime. An estimated 400,000 ethnic Poles live in Belarus. Last February, the Belarussian authorities arrested more than 30 activists from the Union of Poles in Belarus, including its chairwoman, Andzelika Borys. Warsaw reacted by threatening to close its borders to some top Belarussian officials.

Poland
Belarus
Warsaw (Poland)
Politics and Government


Aetna to Offer an Online Service That Helps Patients Link Records and Research

Abstract: In step toward personalized online medical information, Aetna plans to announce Wednesday a new service that draws upon a patient’s own medical history to help answer questions about symptoms and treatments. The Aetna offering, called SmartSource, has been tested by the company’s 35,000 employees. It will be offered to employers that provide worker health benefits through Aetna, in a gradual introduction across the country that will begin in August. The company, which has 16.8 million enrollees, plans to provide the service free to its customers, saying it wants to help people manage their own health care. Aetna hopes the service can help it recruit and retain employer-customers worried about the costs of care. With the online offering, Aetna will be entering an arena in which WebMD is the leader for consumer medical information and where medical providers like the Mayo Clinic and the Harvard Medical School are also players. The Web giants Google and Microsoft are also laying plans to let consumers link electronic medical records and online research. But one of the biggest challenges in linking online research to personal health data has been a widespread reluctance to share health information that might fall into the wrong hands or be abused, affecting job opportunities and insurance premiums. “The underlying challenge is — ‘Do you trust the insurance companies?’ ” said Mike Davis, a health technology analyst with the HIMSS Analytics consulting firm. Addressing the trust issue, Meg McCabe, Aetna’s vice president for online programs, said, “We make sure the information is secured and shared, based on the member’s purposes.” The information will not be used to raise or lower premiums or reject membership applications. “That would not be a good business decision,” Ms. McCabe said. “We need to develop a relationship with our members based on trust.” Using a medical search engine developed by Healthline, a medical database software developer, Aetna is piecing together medical profiles that are based on records of each insured member’s illnesses and diagnostic tests and that also make assumptions about their health concerns as reflected in their search topics. Andrea Rosenberg, a quality supervisor in an Aetna call center in Phoenix, said she had used the system to conduct research about her 5-year-old daughter Hayley’s ear infections and her own allergy symptoms. Like the millions of working mothers — a segment who are major online searchers for health information — Ms. Rosenberg said she had searched other health Web sites but found that the Aetna site provided information that was “more specific” to her situation. After looking it over, she took Hayley to see the family pediatrician. As for her allergies , she decided to stick with nonprescription medicines from the drugstore. Health plan members have been slow to add their information to personal health records offered by many insurers, at least until a family member gets sick. But Aetna and some other health insurers, including UnitedHealth and WellPoint, have made an end run around this obstacle by creating rudimentary health profiles based on medical claims data. Aetna says it has gone further by using the profile to help tailor the SmartSource searches. “I don’t know of anybody else who is matching members’ claims information with a search engine to help them look for medical content,” said Julie Snyder, a technology and health care analyst at Forrester Research. But some industry experts say that medical claims data have limited utility, providing only “an echo of the events that go on in your care,” according to Wes Rishel, a senior health care analyst at the Gartner Group technology consulting firm. “Also, at any time, the information is 15 to 45 days old.” Dr. Rishel said more useful data would eventually come directly from the person’s doctors and hospital visits. Google and Microsoft are trying to get that information, although he predicts it will take “about two years” to reach that goal. Ms. McCabe said: “We are all angling to reach sort of the same goal — to take all the information that we know about you as an individual and link it to tools to make sure you are as engaged as possible in managing your health care.”

Insurance
Aetna Incorporated
Computers and the Internet
Health Insurance and Managed Care


Turmoil in Egypt Elections Puts Spotlight On Panel’s Motives

Abstract: CAIRO — When a panel of judges closed the door on the candidacies of three leading presidential contenders this week, anger at the ruling burst into the open, with some candidates publicly accusing the panel of being manipulated by the country’s military rulers. “The SCAF wants to pull the strings from behind the scenes,” said Khairat el-Shater , a Muslim Brotherhood official who had been considered a front-runner, referring to the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces. Another candidate, Hazem Salah Abu Ismail, who was disqualified because his mother held an American passport in violation of Egyptian law, called the decision part of a “conspiracy.” Others, though, said that the simultaneous disqualification of Omar Suleiman , a former Egyptian intelligence chief under President Hosni Mubarak, suggested that the panel, whose members included judges promoted to senior posts by the former government, had independently reached a decision that relied only on interpretations of the law, although narrow ones. The disqualifications threw the presidential race into a new bout of turmoil and underscored a growing confusion surrounding the country’s politics, which often seem to be captive to feuds or deals between powerful new actors that usually occur out of public view. And they threw a spotlight on the influential five-member election commission, which has been given broad powers to oversee every aspect of what is supposed to be the country’s first fair presidential election, with virtually no oversight. Many criticisms have centered on the panel’s president, Farouk Sultan, who is seen as particularly close to the former government. Analysts said that his rapid rise from a lower court judge to the head of the Supreme Constitutional Court — the country’s highest — fueled suspicions that he was handpicked by government officials to oversee the 2011 elections, which either Mr. Mubarak or his son Gamal had been expected to win. Egypt ’s revolution that began in January 2011 interrupted those plans. Mr. Sultan could not be reached for comment immediately. Analysts said that by the time Mr. Sultan was appointed as head of the constitutional court, Mr. Mubarak had completed a decade-long drive to stamp out any independence on the part of the presiding judges. That effort had started with government fears after a series of activist decisions, including one that placed elections under judicial supervision. Chief judges of the Supreme Constitutional Court, once selected by colleagues from within the court’s ranks according to seniority and experience, began to be appointed for political reasons, sometimes from lower courts. Mr. Sultan, who also sat on the military and state security courts, became chief justice of the high court in 2009. Zakaria Abdul Aziz, a former president of the court of appeals who advocates for independence in the judiciary, called Mr. Sultan “a big part of the Mubarak regime.” Mona El-Ghobashy, a professor of political science at Barnard College who has studied Egypt’s judiciary for years, said the concerns about the commission did not end with Mr. Sultan. This year, another judge on the election panel, Abdul Moez Ibrahim, was accused by a colleague of trying to influence a high-profile case involving foreign nongovernmental groups. Later, his fellow judges tried, unsuccessfully, to have him removed as president of the Cairo court of appeals. And the election commission’s administrator, Hatem Bagato, has remained in his role, despite telling an Egyptian newspaper that he was distantly related to another leading presidential candidate, Amr Moussa, a former Egyptian foreign minister. Professor Ghobashy said it was possible that the panel was acting independently. After all, she said, even with strong limitations, occasionally “fake institutions take on a life of their own.” But what was more likely, she said, was that Egypt’s military rulers were playing a role in the commission’s decision-making. “It’s obvious the presidential election exercise cannot be left to its own devices,” she said. “It will bring someone the SCAF doesn’t want to deal with. How do they manage it to look like it’s completely legitimate without using techniques like intervention, or rigging? There’s a back story.” It is hard to say which factions, if any, benefited from the disqualifications. Many people find it hard to believe that anyone can fully control Egypt’s volatile course. None of the remaining front-runners are seen as close to the ruling military council, though some experts said that a few candidates, including Mr. Moussa, would be more palatable to the military than Mr. Shater of the Muslim Brotherhood or Mr. Abu Ismail, a popular ultraconservative Islamist. The election panel provided reasons for the disqualifications, hewing to what observers said was the letter of the law, even if the reasons struck many people as unreasonable. Mr. Shater and another candidate, Ayman Nour, were disqualified because of convictions for political crimes that were widely seen as linked to their opposition to Mr. Mubarak. “They do announce reasons, but ultimately, they’re not appealable,” said Nathan J. Brown, a political science professor at George Washington University who has written extensively about the Egyptian courts. “That makes some sense. But it also essentially means that you’ve got this body dominated by old regime holdovers whose decisions cannot be reviewed. I think this is giving people problems.”

Egypt
Elections
Politics and Government
Muslim Brotherhood (Egypt)
Shater Khairat el-
Defense and Military Forces
Courts and the Judiciary
Suleiman Omar
Abu Ismail Hazem Salah


A Green Coalition Gathers Strength in Europe

Abstract: BRUSSELS — One of the real victors in this month’s elections for the European Parliament is a 64-year-old former radical, an ebullient Franco-German who has turned his efforts to transform society from revolution to ecology. During the student uprisings of May 1968, the Franco-German, Daniel Cohn-Bendit, was known as Danny the Red, but now he is Danny the Green, and he has directed and ridden the suddenly fashionable political wave of environmentalism into considerable influence. Behind his articulate, vivid presence and sense of fun, Mr. Cohn-Bendit’s Europe Écologie coalition of European Green parties came in third in French voting for the Parliament, winning 16.28 percent of the vote. It was just behind the squabbling Socialists, who had only 16.48 percent, and ahead of a presumptive presidential candidate, François Bayrou of the centrist Democratic Movement, or Modem. The European Parliament is the only directly elected institution of the European Union , and voting took place in all 27 member states. One reason for the coalition’s success, Mr. Cohn-Bendit said in an interview in his Brussels office, is that it concentrated on European issues and the idea of a better future, instead of turning the vote into a referendum on the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy . There was also an element of collaborative fun and joy, he said, evident in the coalition’s campaign videos , which were viewed thousands of times on the Internet. “We said that on the European level, we can deal with the crises that confront us,” he said. “We have a project for Europe, an idea — the ecological transformation of our way of production and way of life, with a social shield to protect the people who are negatively affected by the process of transformation.” The Green parties want to defend the future of everyone, he said. “It’s not for the privileged,” Mr. Cohn-Bendit said. “It’s for the survival of mankind.” If Mr. Sarkozy campaigned on the idea of working more to earn more, Mr. Cohn-Bendit said, the Green coalition urged, “Work differently for a better life.” More than that, he said, the coalition was “the only group who had fun in the campaign.” President Obama “won by trying to redefine the American dream, and we have to redefine the European dream,” he said. “Obama won because he gave hope to people, and we want Europe to give hope to people,” Mr. Cohn-Bendit said. So far in this economic crisis, Europe has given little hope, said Mr. Cohn-Bendit, who is the only person to have been elected to the European Parliament from both Germany and France . “The problem is that Europe reacted nationally,” he said. “They didn’t get the momentum necessary to give a coordinated, European answer.” The lack of an answer is what doomed the Socialists all over Europe in this election, he said. The Socialist narrative and its ideology are outdated, he said, “not fit for modern society.” And in general, but especially in France, Socialist leaders are perceived to be “completely out of touch,” while they squabble for personal position and the presidential candidacy three years from now, he said. “It’s become too personalized,” he said, “so it’s not a collective productive effort.” In the competition of personalities, he said, “you can’t beat Nicolas Sarkozy.” Rather, Mr. Cohn-Bendit said, ”You’ve got to have an alternative project” — a positive new model for society around which voters can gather. In this election, in which the French turnout was roughly half that of the 2007 presidential race, the Ecologists attracted a number of Socialist voters who did not turn to Mr. Bayrou. Jérôme Fourquet, of Ifop, the French Institute of Public Opinion, said some voters who helped the Socialists win municipal elections in March 2008 turned to the Ecology coalition. “These are precisely the middle-class voters that the Socialist Party could not attract that Europe Écologie steered away from Modem,” Mr. Fourquet said. Marc-Olivier Padis, editor in chief of the monthly magazine Esprit, said the election “shows that a part of the electorate is hesitating — the center-left, which was disappointed by Ségolène Royal and was able to vote for Bayrou in the presidential election, was disappointed this time by Bayrou,” he said, referring to another former Socialist presidential candidate. “If there is a center in France,” he said, “it is about Europe.” The Socialist leader, Martine Aubry, called the vote “an important electoral defeat” and said the party had “six months to change course.” Her plan is to bring together a “sages council” of other Socialist leaders — nearly all of them her bitter rivals. The magazine Marianne commented, “The Socialist Party needs to undergo shock therapy, and Martine Aubry proposes six months of chamomile.” As for the “sages,” the magazine said, “Given the affection they feel for each other, metal detectors will need to be installed at the entrance.” Mr. Sarkozy, meanwhile, did very well, winning 27.87 percent of the vote. Despite low popularity ratings, he consolidated the center-right and became the first French president since 1979 to lead his party to victory in a European Parliament election. His victory was echoed elsewhere, as center-right parties like the Christian Democrats, led in Germany by Chancellor Angela Merkel, did well throughout the Continent. After these elections, Mr. Sarkozy is preparing to start the second phase of his presidency with a speech on Monday and a reshuffle of his cabinet. He is expected to keep the prime minister, François Fillon, and the foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner. But he is likely to shift ministers in the areas of justice, agriculture, education and the environment, while trying to keep lines open to the Socialists and to immigrants. Mr. Sarkozy is already moving to try to attract the environmental vote. “What is fascinating about Sarkozy is the rapidity with which he can react,” Mr. Cohn-Bendit said. “There’s a Green vote on Sunday, and on Monday he makes a big proposal on renewable energy, etc. He doesn’t stop. He says, ‘O.K., society wants it, I’ll go in this direction.’ ” On Thursday, Mr. Sarkozy invited Mr. Cohn-Bendit; Cécile Duflot, the head of the French Greens; and Pascal Durand, an adviser to a well-known environmentalist and likely Green coalition presidential candidate, Nicolas Hulot, to the Élysée Palace. “Sarkozy realized there was a green wave in France,” Mr. Cohn-Bendit said afterward, “and he wants to surf it.” Mr. Sarkozy is now discussing an idea to create a global organization for the environment with the Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. The next challenge for Mr. Cohn-Bendit and his coalition will be the French regional elections next March. The Greens intend to run in the first round of voting, to gauge their strength, and then go into coalitions with others, probably the Socialists. “But you have to think regional, the way we thought European,” Mr. Cohn-Bendit said.

Europe
European Parliament
France
Environment
Europe Écologie
European Union
Cohn-Bendit Daniel
Sarkozy Nicolas


Al Jazeera Says Arafat Might Have Been Poisoned

Abstract: The widow of Yasir Arafat , the father figure of Palestinian nationalism who mysteriously died more than seven years ago, said she would seek permission to exhume his remains for an inquest, after a report by Al Jazeera that said he might have been poisoned with polonium, a rare radioactive isotope. The report, which contradicted Mr. Arafat’s medical records, resurrected conspiracy theories on Twitter that he had been killed by agents of Israel or by Palestinian rivals. Al Jazeera said its report was based on traces of polonium found on his underwear and other belongings given by his widow, Suha, to the Institute of Radiation Physics at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland. Mr. Arafat, left, fell ill in October 2004 and died at a hospital in France on Nov. 11 of unannounced causes. He was 75. An inconclusive Palestinian inquiry in 2005 ruled out cancer, AIDS or poisoning. His medical records, obtained by The New York Times that year, showed that he had died of a stroke that resulted from a bleeding disorder caused by a mysterious infection.

Al Jazeera
Palestinians
Israel
Radiation
Arafat Yasir
Poisoning and Poisons


Hyundai and Kia Acknowledge Overstating the Gas Mileage of Vehicles

Abstract: DETROIT — The South Korean carmakers Hyundai and Kia built their brands around the idea that their cars got better gas mileage than competitors, promoting that fact in ads that often took swipes at less efficient rivals. But on Friday, the companies admitted that they had overstated the fuel economy of 900,000 vehicles sold in the United States over the last two years — about one-third of the vehicles they sold during that period. Hyundai and Kia, which are both owned by the Hyundai Motor Group, said they would begin a broad effort to reimburse consumers and restate mileage estimates for the affected models. The admission followed an investigation by the Environmental Protection Agency into consumer complaints that their cars were underperforming the official mileage estimates on the window stickers of new Hyundai and Kia vehicles. While few drivers achieve the stickered mileage levels under real-world conditions, the government requires automakers to conduct standardized tests to calculate the figures so that buyers can more easily compare the fuel efficiency of various models. Hyundai and Kia apologized to customers for what they called “procedural errors” in testing that resulted in incorrect mileage stickers on some of their most popular models, like the Hyundai Elantra and Kia Rio . It is a costly setback for the companies, which are among the fastest-growing carmakers in the United States and self-proclaimed leaders in the highly competitive area of fuel economy. “Given the importance of fuel efficiency to all of us, we’re extremely sorry about these errors,” said John Krafcik, the chief executive of Hyundai’s American operations. The E.P.A. did not announce any sanctions or fines against either carmaker, and said both companies agreed to voluntarily lower fuel estimates on a majority of their new cars and S.U.V.’s. “Consumers rely on the window sticker to help make informed choices about the cars they buy,” said Gina McCarthy, an agency official. “E.P.A.’s investigation will help protect consumers and ensure a level playing field among automakers.” Hyundai and Kia now face a protracted struggle to restore their reputations. “In an industry where reputation is so important, this will undoubtedly give both carmakers ugly black eyes,” said John O’Dell, an analyst at the auto research firm Edmunds.com . To compensate customers who bought cars with the inaccurate stickers, the companies will offer debit cards to reimburse them for the difference between the stated gas mileage and the actual amount of gas used in their vehicles. The companies said their dealers would check vehicle odometers to see how much more customers spent on gas than they would have if the window stickers had been accurate. That amount, in addition to a 15 percent “inconvenience” bonus, will then be refunded. The company estimated that the average debit card will be for about $88, based on a typical car driven 15,000 miles this year that had an overstated fuel economy of 1 mile per gallon. Current owners will be able to refresh the card as long as they own the vehicle. Mr. Krafcik declined to estimate the total cost of the program, which could run into the tens of millions of dollars. “We’re going to spend what it takes to make it right,” he said. The companies will also replace mileage stickers on large numbers of unsold cars, and run newspaper ads explaining the mistakes and reaffirming their commitment to delivering good fuel economy. The E.P.A. said it discovered the mileage discrepancies during a continuing fuel-economy audit program that covers vehicles made by various manufacturers. The agency said it was aware of consumer complaints about Hyundai mileage estimates when its audit found a difference in the stated and actual fuel economy mileage of an Elantra sedan. The E.P.A. then expanded its testing to other Kia and Hyundai models. The agency said its investigation was continuing. “Although it took more than a year, the E.P.A. did catch the discrepancies,” Mr. O’Dell said. The companies said the misstated mileage figures were a result of internal errors in testing the vehicles for E.P.A. certification. The government has standard testing procedures it requires all automakers to use to produce mileage estimates, which can then be displayed on cars for sale in dealer showrooms. The tests measure aerodynamic drag on vehicles, how much energy is used to overcome road resistance and the amount of fuel used to drive the engine and wheels. In the case of Hyundai and Kia, errors in testing caused inaccurate mileage estimates that were one to six miles per gallon higher than the vehicles were capable of. The companies gave no explanation for the wide band of errors. The corrective actions agreed to by the carmakers will have an immediate effect on their marketing efforts. The fleet average of all Hyundai and Kia models combined will be reduced by 3 percent, to 26 miles per gallon from 27. Also, Hyundai will retract widely publicized claims that four of its models get 40 miles per gallon on the highway. Mr. O’Dell of Edmunds said that falling out of the 40 m.p.g. category could hurt sales, particularly when competitors are also advertising that figure as a new benchmark for fuel economy. The E.P.A. said that it had twice before required manufacturers to relabel a vehicle’s fuel economy since 2000, but that this was the first instance where multiple models from the same carmaker had overstated mileage estimates.

Environmental Protection Agency
Fuel Efficiency
Hyundai Motor Co
Kia Motors Corp
Automobiles


Group of 7 Says It Will Let Market Decide Currency Values

Abstract: BRUSSELS — Seven top industrial nations, including the United States and Germany, pledged on Tuesday to let foreign exchange markets determine the value of their currencies. The statement by the Group of 7 prompted relief in Japan, where policy makers have been under fire, accused of unfairly seeking to give their economy a shot in the arm by bringing down the value of the yen. The statement “properly recognizes that steps we are taking to beat deflation are not aimed at influencing currency markets,” said Taro Aso, the Japanese finance minister. But a Group of 20 official said that the statement was meant to warn Japan not to manipulate its exchange rates in its efforts to lift its moribund economy, and that concerns about Japan’s policies and the prospect of competitive currency devaluation would be a chief topic at a coming Group of 20 meeting in Russia. The statement and conflicting follow-ups from economic officials and finance ministries around the world caused confusion on Tuesday, with some market participants interpreting the situation as quelling fears of a so-called currency war and others interpreting it as stoking them. The yen climbed against the dollar and the euro as officials voiced their concerns about Japan’s policies. In the statement, the Group of 7 nations said they would consult closely to avoid moves that could hurt stability. But they restated a commitment to market-determined exchange rates. “We reaffirm that our fiscal and monetary policies have been and will remain oriented towards meeting our respective domestic objectives using domestic instruments, and that we will not target exchange rates,” the Group of 7 said in the statement, which was posted on the Web site of the Bank of England. Britain holds the rotating presidency this year. Concerns had been mounting in recent weeks about the effects of an ultraloose monetary policy in Japan that has pushed the yen lower against top currencies. The yen’s weakness had also prompted talk of a so-called currency war if other parts of the world followed suit in devalution. Some international economic officials have brushed off the growing accusations of unfair or competitive currency manipulation. “This increasing talk of currency wars is very much overblown,” Olivier Blanchard, the chief economist at the International Monetary Fund, said in January. “Countries have to take the right measures to get their own economies back to health.” But loose monetary policy intended to increase growth often has the effect of devaluing a currency, thus making a given country’s exports more affordable and its competitors’ exports more expensive. Over the last few years, emerging market countries like Brazil have openly accused slow-growing advanced countries like the United States of unfairly pushing down the value of their currencies with their aggressive monetary policies. For years, the United States has criticized export-reliant emerging economies, in particular China, over manipulating their currencies, too. This week, the Obama administration said that it supported countries’ efforts to increase economic growth and lower unemployment, but not by manipulating their exchange rates. “We support the effort to reinvigorate growth and to end inflation in Japan,” Lael Brainard, the Treasury under secretary for international affairs, said during a briefing Monday. But she emphasized that the Group of 7 had a “longstanding set of rules” committing its members to float their currencies except during rare instances of market turbulence. As some officials in Japan have argued the country should push down the value of the yen, some Europeans have supported doing the same for the euro. The euro’s rise in value has become a particular concern, as it could make exports more expensive and dent growth if demand for European products falls. Those concerns prompted France to call for an exchange-rate policy. On Monday, Pierre Moscovici, the French finance minister, said he wanted Europeans to present a common plan this week at the meeting of finance ministers and central bankers of the Group of 20 nations in Moscow. But the head of the German Bundesbank, Jens Weidmann, said on Monday that the French initiative was a poor substitute for policy overhauls that, if adopted, would do more for growth.

Japan
Euro
European Monetary Union
Japanese yen
G8,G7,G-7,Group of Seven
G20


A State Holiday Tailored for Sports Fans

Abstract: BOSTON — While most of the country went about business as usual on Monday, the third Monday in April here is an official state holiday, one that brings together a cacophonous mix of distance running, baseball and Revolutionary War role playing. The holiday, called Patriots’ Day — or Patriot’s Day, as some would have it — was originally intended to commemorate the opening battles of the Revolutionary War in Lexington and Concord in 1775. Re-enactors still fire their muskets, and a horseman retraces Paul Revere’s ride (updated with a State Police escort). But for decades they have shared the holiday stage with marquee sporting events. On Monday, the Boston Marathon , the world’s oldest, brought more than 26,000 runners and thousands of supporters to the streets on Monday; a Red Sox game at Fenway Park was sold out, as always; and more drama awaited hockey fans at night, with the Bruins in a playoff game. The Red Sox have been scheduled to play at home on Patriots’ Day every year since 1959, though bad weather has sometimes interfered. But on Monday, the sun made a rare appearance, adding an air of festivity to what some now call Marathon Monday. The various events have become so intertwined that Tanya Acosta, 32, a speech pathologist who was cheering on marathon stragglers near the finish line, said that some people on the sidelines helpfully hold up signs with the latest Red Sox score ( they lost Monday ) so runners can keep track during the race. Carmine Castellano, 55, who is in the bread delivery business on Long Island, went to the Red Sox game before stopping by the marathon. “My friends from New York don’t know what Patriots’ Day is,” he said. “They ask me, ‘What do they do, they shoot off fireworks?’ But I think it’s really cool.” Patriots’ Day is officially recognized in only two other states, Maine and Wisconsin. But here, at least, it is hardly obscure. Kevin Splaine, 45, a public school teacher watching the marathon, joked, “It’s such a big day, we named a football team after it.”

Boston Marathon
Boston (Mass)
Revolutionary War American (1775-83)
Fenway Park (Boston)
Boston Red Sox


Outcry Erupts Over Miami Beach’s Pesticide Spraying to Curb Zika

Abstract: MIAMI BEACH — As Miami Beach works to blunt the spread of Zika — a virus that is taking a toll on tourism here — the city is wrestling with a separate predicament: a fast-growing outcry over the aerial spraying of naled, the pesticide used to kill adult mosquitoes. Concerned residents and environmental protesters are coalescing around the issue of early morning naled spraying — a last-ditch approach to curb the Zika-carrying mosquitoes here — and raising concerns about its safety and efficacy. Activists are collecting accounts from residents who say the pesticide has caused rashes, headaches and nausea. It is also killing bees and some koi fish in ponds, they added. The activists want a two-week moratorium on the spraying, which has been done twice in the last two weeks, to see if there is a decline in the number of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, which carry the virus, with the continued use of more conventional methods. Naled, which is approved by the Environmental Protection Agency, is supplementing the hand spraying and truck spraying of a different chemical intended to kill larvae. A Miami Beach commission meeting this past week was packed with protesters who criticized the use of the pesticide, and booed or shouted down scientists and doctors who spoke of its safety and the need to control the Zika virus here before it turns into a more serious problem. Miami-Dade County, the only area in the country besides Puerto Rico with active local Zika transmission, is one of 29 counties under a state public health emergency. “None of us wants to hurt the economy,” said Michael Capponi, a longtime nightlife promoter on Miami Beach. “We want to combat Zika. We want to put out there that when there is something this dangerous, we ought to look at it.” So far, the protests have failed to persuade the county or the state to alter its plans to spray very low doses of naled across 1.5 square miles of South Beach, a densely populated area and Miami Beach’s tourism hub. Another early morning spraying is scheduled for Sunday and a fourth for next Saturday. The state and county said Friday that they would pursue a more aggressive spraying strategy after Gov. Rick Scott announced a new cluster of active local transmission farther north in Miami Beach. The active transmission zone is now 4.5 square miles, triple the size it was. It reaches 63rd Street and covers most of the island. On the advice of the federal and state governments, the Miami-Dade County mayor, Carlos A. Gimenez, first ordered aerial spraying in the Wynwood neighborhood of Miami in July when active Zika transmission was discovered there, north of downtown. More conventional pesticides, officials said, were failing because mosquitoes had grown resistant. Naled was sprayed there with little fanfare on four occasions, and officials reported a steep drop in adult Aedes aegypti mosquitoes. The spraying was called off soon after. On Friday, Mr. Scott said that the state expected to lift the advisory on the zone of transmission in Wynwood. The same strategy is playing out in Miami Beach, where active transmission was discovered in mid-August. Mosquito control officials say they are seeing a reduction in the mosquito population since the aerial spraying began. But the reaction has been decidedly different on this island of mostly wealthy, beach- and nightlife-loving people, and those who cater to them. Protesters here are drawing inspiration from Puerto Rico, where Gov. Alejandro García Padilla rebuffed pressure this summer from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to spray naled. Puerto Rico is now in the throes of an epidemic, with nearly 20,000 reported cases of Zika. As of Friday night, Florida had 93 cases of local transmission. The virus is particularly dangerous for pregnant women because it can cause severe brain abnormalities and other problems in fetuses. “No one likes the aerial spraying. I don’t like it. I don’t want it. We have a choice. Do we become Puerto Rico, or do we eliminate or eradicate this virus?” said Mayor Philip Levine of Miami Beach, who emphasized that the federal government had found naled to be safe in the dose being used. Mr. Levine said a balance must be struck between fear of naled and protecting pregnant women. But residents said they were also seeking a balance, arguing that the level of Zika mosquitoes in Miami Beach is not so alarming to warrant continued use of naled. They argue that people are out and about in Miami Beach on weekends at 6 a.m., which is typically when the spraying occurs. “My main issue is that all safe options should be explored before you take something out that on the labels says can cause birth defects,” said Diane Fragale, a holistic practitioner. Ms. Fragale, who lives near the aerial spraying, said she did not believe it was a coincidence that hours after the first naled application she developed sties in her eyes, something she said had never happened. Ms. Fragale said she had followed the county’s advice and shut off her air-conditioning and stayed indoors. Naled, which is known to kill bees and, depending on toxicity levels, fish and birds, is not new to Florida or other states. It has been sprayed in Florida for decades across six million acres. But those are mostly unpopulated. Naled is used mostly to reduce the population of salt marsh mosquitoes, which bite at night and do not typically live in urban environments. Entomologists say it is rarely sprayed in urban areas in the morning. But that is when naled must be sprayed, typically in a fine mist, to come in contact with the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which lives in small urban spaces. That kind of spraying “is very uncommon,” said Grayson C. Brown, the director of the public entomology laboratory at the University of Kentucky. “It’s the only way to get them. They are really kind of stuck.” Several South Florida counties have used naled for a long time. Collier County does aerial spraying over populated areas, like Naples, when the mosquito count warrants it. Until recently, there had not been any complaints from residents saying they had fallen ill, said Patrick P. Linn, the mosquito control director there. But that is changing. “We have been receiving a fair stream of calls from concerned citizens that are either becoming aware of this or activists that have misgivings about the use of this chemical,” Mr. Linn said. Broward County said it would not use naled on Aedes aegypti mosquitoes and has used other pesticides sprayed by hand or from a truck. Ahn Ton, who is in charge of mosquito control in Broward, said the naled mist — which is sprayed in very fine droplets that float in the air, seldom touch ground and kills mosquitoes on contact — is not as effective because Aedes aegypti hide in nooks and crannies where the mist cannot reach them. “If you are spraying by air, you are hoping that those mists will land in the mosquitoes, and because they are hiding it’s hard to get them at any particular time,” he said. But Mayor Levine said Zika spreads easily because it is asymptomatic in most people, making the hot spots hard to find. In his view, emergencies warrant extraordinary measures, and he supports the county’s decision to spray. “We have a big problem and the experts are telling us this is what we have to do,” he said. “I would be irresponsible not to listen to the experts.”

Pesticide
Mosquito
Zika Virus
Florida
Miami Beach FL


Early Goal Gives Rangers a Shot of Momentum

Abstract: It had barely registered to the Madison Square Garden crowd, not to mention the Buffalo Sabres , that Saturday afternoon’s game had started, when Rangers center Brandon Dubinsky grabbed control of the puck and barreled toward the Buffalo net. In desperation, Sabres center Jochen Hecht grabbed Dubinsky, who simply carried Hecht with him down the ice, holding him off with one hand and shooting the puck with the other. When the puck bounced off the pads of Buffalo goalie Ryan Miller, Rangers forward Sean Avery charged in to put it into the net. Ten seconds into the game, Dubinsky had catapulted the Rangers toward a 5-1 victory, and pushed them a point ahead of the Sabres, into the top eight in the Eastern Conference standings. The Sabres (28-22-8) were on an 8-0-2 streak, edging ahead of the Rangers (29-24-7) in the conference standings. They had not lost in regulation since Jan. 21. “I think it’s always the intention to try and make a play early, make a statement early in the game,” Dubinsky said. “It was kind of a bang-bang play. We went to the net like we worked on all week. All of a sudden it’s 1-0 and we’re feeling pretty good about ourselves.” It missed being the fastest goal in Rangers history by one second, but it was the Rangers’ fastest goal in the Garden. And it was engineered by Dubinsky, a wide-eyed 21-year-old who had been put on a line with Avery and Jaromir Jagr for the Rangers’ 23-game push to a playoff berth. “That start was certainly everything we hoped for,” Rangers Coach Tom Renney said. The Rangers scored three more times in the first period, with Dubinsky giving them a 3-0 lead on a similar play — this time carrying Buffalo defenseman Brian Campbell instead of Hecht. After Brendan Shanahan scored 12 minutes 25 seconds into the period, the Sabres replaced Miller with Jocelyn Thibault. But Buffalo could not halt the Rangers’ momentum. Miller stopped only seven shots. “It’s on me to make up for that,” Miller said. “I wasn’t ready either. The first two goals, I got way too rattled. I’ve got to be better from there to stop the bleeding. Obviously, I didn’t.” Forward Ryan Callahan had the other first-period goal, and Avery added his second of the game at 7:47 of the second. The Sabres spoiled goalie Henrik Lundqvist’s chance for a shutout with a power-play goal by Thomas Vanek with 6:58 to play. Lundqvist finished with 29 saves. The Rangers were coming off a rare five-day break, which forced them to sit and watch teams like Buffalo knock them to ninth in the conference standings. But the Rangers are back in the playoff mix heading into Sunday’s game against San Jose. Renney had used the break to try to rejuvenate his team, reworking his lines in hopes of finding the chemistry that has eluded the Rangers all season. Dubinsky played on a line with Jagr for a stretch in November, with some success, so Renney thought a reunion might jolt Jagr out of his recent scoring slump. Jagr had said all along that he enjoyed playing with Dubinsky, and he often stayed after practice to work with him. “He’s got something special,” Jagr said of Dubinsky. “He’s got the speed. Plus, he knows how to play with the puck, play one on one. It’s very important in hockey, you’ve got to be able to beat guys one on one.” Asked about Dubinsky’s game-opening rush, Jagr feigned offense. “That wasn’t the plan,” he said before laughing. “The plan was to give it to me.” How long did that plan last? “Five seconds,” he said. Jagr was credited with an assist on that opening goal, and he assisted on Dubinsky’s goal, his first points since Jan. 29. It was a day for all the Rangers to laugh, thanks to a big jolt from Dubinsky. SLAP SHOTS The Rangers announced during the game that they had signed defenseman Dan Girardi, 23, to a two-year, $3.1 million contract extension. ... Forward Marcel Hossa, recovering from a back injury, has been sent to Hartford on a conditioning assignment. ... Defenseman Marc Staal (flulike symptoms) and forward Petr Prucha (shoulder) missed the game but are listed as day to day.

Buffalo Sabres
New York Rangers
Hockey Ice


Regulators Cite a New Danger in the Skies: Selfies

Abstract: WATKINS, Colo. — In an age of digital distractions, the lethal risks of driving — or just crossing the street — while looking at a cellphone have been well-documented. Now comes a new peril from mixing transportation and obsession with devices: a fatal airplane crash most likely caused by selfies. When a light plane crashed near here on a cloudy night eight months ago, killing the two people aboard, it was probably because the pilot had been taking pictures of himself and his passenger, with a flash, the National Transportation Safety Board has concluded. “It is likely that cellphone use during the accident flight distracted the pilot and contributed to the development of spatial disorientation and subsequent loss of control,” the safety board said in a report last week. Investigators found no sign that anything was wrong with the plane. “Distractions from personal devices are in all modes of transportation — we’re seeing that more and more,” said Keith Holloway, a spokesman for the safety board. “But the self-photographs in an airplane, that’s something new for us.” The pilot, Amritpal Singh, 29, had used a GoPro camera to record some short flights he made with different passengers aboard his two-seat Cessna 150, to and from Front Range Airport here, east of Denver. He did not record the fatal trip on May 31, but did record one six-minute jaunt shortly before it. “The GoPro recordings revealed that the pilot and various passengers were taking self-photographs with their cellphones and, during the night flight, using the camera’s flash function during the takeoff roll, initial climb and flight in the traffic pattern,” the report said. Distracted driving is a factor in more than 3,000 traffic deaths annually in the United States, and about one-tenth of those involve cellphones, according to the Department of Transportation. Several train accidents have also been blamed on engineers paying attention to their phones, including the 2008 collision of two trains in Los Angeles that killed 25 people. So it seemed inevitable that the scourge of distraction by electronic devices would move into the skies. In 2009, the pilots of a Northwest Airlines flight from San Diego to Minneapolis were so busy using their personal laptops to figure out their work schedules that they overshot their destination by more than 100 miles. Last year, the Federal Aviation Administration prohibited the use of personal electronic devices in airline cockpits, but some pilots have not given up the habit of posting on Instagram scenic pictures they took seven miles aloft. The ban does not apply to private pilots, who often use tablet computers, and even phones, running software for navigation, weather forecasts and flight planning. “It is of course the pilot’s primary and sole obligation to remain attentive to the flight,” said Steve Hedges, a spokesman for the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association. He said the group has made it a priority to train pilots on how to use electronic devices appropriately. At the small airfield here, the “selfie accident” was the topic during lunches and snack breaks, and as technicians tinkered with engines and hobby pilots inspected their planes. An airplane is most vulnerable during the kind of low-altitude, low-speed maneuvering Mr. Singh was doing, and the pilots here said they would never take a self-portrait in that time, when absolute attention is needed. “It’s the critical stage of flight,” said Bill Zempel, 49, a private pilot and airplane mechanic, taking a cookie break amid three single-engine planes. “That’s bad decision-making.” But he and a colleague, Kiki Winchester, admitted to the occasional self-portrait — taken, they said, once they are at a safe altitude and the plane is cruising. “We’ve got lots of pictures of ourselves in the planes,” said Ms. Winchester, 41. They said the modern pilot, like the modern driver, faces a growing number of distractions and technological temptations. There is the expanding number of screens inside the plane — the GPS device, the traffic collision avoidance system — and then there is the ever-more-present pressure to always be in touch. Ms. Winchester cited a urologist who frequents the airport and takes work calls via Bluetooth while in the air. (He cedes control to a co-pilot as he doles out advice.) And then there is that sneaking desire to show off, or at least to share good times with others. Mr. Singh was not well known at the airport. Others described him as a fairly new flyer who worked on the ground for an airline at Denver International Airport. The crash got little local attention, but drew more in India , because Mr. Singh’s passenger, Jatinder Singh, 31, was a keyboard player for a popular Punjabi singer, Manmohan Waris. Amritpal Singh, who lived near Denver, was reportedly assisting Mr. Waris’s band with its American tour. (It is not clear if the two men who died were related; Singh is a common name among followers of the Sikh religion.) The safety board report cited “instrument meteorological conditions” at the time of the last flight, meaning that visual cues were poor, so the pilot had to rely more on his instruments. Under such conditions, a plane can go into a deadly spin without the pilot’s being able to tell by looking out the window. The flight log book showed that Mr. Singh did not have enough recent experience under adverse conditions to be allowed to fly in such circumstances, or to fly at night with passengers, the report said.

Plane Crash
Pilots
Photography
Smartphone
NTSB
Colorado


Ex-Officer Killed Wife, Police Say; Children Ran for Help

Abstract: A former New York City police officer fatally shot his wife in their Queens home on Saturday while their two young children were in the house, according to the police and neighbors. Officers responding to a 911 call around 11 a.m. at the family’s home in Ozone Park found a 40-year-old woman who had been shot several times in the torso, the police said. The victim, Jessica D. Mera-Canty, was taken to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead on arrival, according to the police. The man, identified as Kevin Canty, 43, a former transit officer, was taken into custody a short time later about a mile from the house, the police said. The children, an 8-year-old boy and a 5-year-old girl, ran from the house, looking for help. A neighbor took them to a nearby deli. Image Police patrolled 104th Street in Queens near the home where a former New York City police officer is suspected of fatally shooting his wife on Saturday. Credit Uli Seit for The New York Times “The kids were disturbed,” Fez Atlas, the owner of Little Casablanca Deli, said. “The little girl knows what happened. And the boy told me that there was blood on the wall.” Mr. Atlas said he hid the children behind the counter in an alcove covered by a wooden door, and kept an eye on the security camera video for their father. “I didn’t know if he had a gun, but I did know that if he came to look for the kids that I had a knife and I know how to use it.” The police could not yet say whether the children had witnessed the shooting. The boy and girl were taken into police custody and given a medical evaluation before they were turned over to the city’s Administration for Children’s Services for questioning, the police said. The couple and their children lived at 97-44 104th Street. Donna Schultz, a neighbor who lives on the same block, said: “He looked like a normal person. He would wave at you on the street.” Mr. Canty worked for the Police Department between 2008 and 2013, according to city payroll data. In 2012, Mr. Canty was praised on the department’s Facebook page after he and three fellow officers helped to save the life of a man who had suffered a heart attack at the Union Square subway station.

Kevin Canty
Ozone Park Queens
Murders
NYPD
Jessica D Mera-Canty


Stolen Backhoe Couldn’t Reach A.T.M.’s Cash, Police Say

Abstract: A man stole a backhoe from a construction yard in Queens early Friday, drove it several blocks to a Chase bank branch, and used the bucket to pry loose an A.T.M., the police said. But despite that frenetic effort, the thief and an accomplice failed to dislodge any cash from the machine, and fled in an S.U.V., leaving the backhoe and the A.T.M. behind, the police commissioner, Raymond W. Kelly, told reporters on Friday. The episode took place in the Maspeth neighborhood at about 3 a.m., the police said. Video of the crime shows two men dressed in black, the police said. The authorities said they believed the men, who remain at large, were responsible for 10 other A.T.M. thefts or attempted thefts across the city since April, although this was the first to involve the use of a backhoe. In the other cases, the men generally used ropes or cables affixed to a car to pull away A.T.M.'s and try to get at the money inside, the police said. In one instance, a tow truck was used. All told, the police said, the crew may have gotten about $25,000 from these thefts, although in a couple of instances they were unable to remove any money from the machines.