In California, Efforts to Ban Circumcision Gain Momentum

Abstract: SANTA MONICA, Calif. — When a group of activists proposed banning circumcision in San Francisco last fall, many people simply brushed them aside. Even in that liberal seaside city, it seemed implausible that thousands of people would support an effort to outlaw an ancient ritual that Jews and Muslims believe fulfills a commandment issued by God. But last month, the group collected the more than 7,100 signatures needed to get a measure on the fall ballot that would make it illegal to snip the foreskin of a minor within city limits. Now a similar effort is under way in Santa Monica to get such a measure on the ballot for November 2012. If the anticircumcision activists (they prefer the term “intactivists”) have their way, cities across the country may be voting on whether to criminalize a practice that is common in many American hospitals. Activists say the measures would protect children from an unnecessary medical procedure, calling it “male genital mutilation.” “This is the furthest we’ve gotten, and it is a huge step for us,” said Matthew Hess, an activist based in San Diego who wrote both bills. Mr. Hess has created similar legislation for states across the country, but those measures never had much traction. Now he is fielding calls from people who want to organize similar movements in their cities. “This is a conversation we are long overdue to have in this country,” he said. “The end goal for us is making cutting boys’ foreskin a federal crime.” Jewish groups see the ballot measures as a very real threat, likening them to bans on circumcision that existed in Soviet-era Russia and Eastern Europe and in ancient Roman and Greek times. The circumcision of males is an inviolable requirement of Jewish law that dates back to Abraham’s circumcision of himself in the Book of Genesis. They say the proposed ban is an assault on religious freedom that could have a widespread impact all over the country. Beyond the biblical, there are emotional connections: checking for circumcision was one of the ways Jewish children could be culled from their peers by Nazis and the czar’s armies. “People are shocked that it has reached this level because there has never been this kind of a direct assault on a Jewish practice here,” said Marc Stern, associate general counsel for the American Jewish Committee , an advocacy group. “This is something that American Jews have always taken for granted — that something that was so contested elsewhere but here, we’re safe and we’re secure.” Mr. Hess also writes an online comic book, “Foreskin Man,” with villains like “Monster Mohel.” On Friday, the Anti-Defamation League issued a statement saying the comic employed “grotesque anti-Semitic imagery.” Jena Troutman, the mother of two young boys who is promoting the ballot measure in Santa Monica, said she did not think of herself as a crusader against religion. Instead, she views her work as a chance to educate would-be parents against a procedure that “can really do serious damage to the child.” “I am just a mom trying to save the little babies,” Ms. Troutman said. “I’d rather be on the beach, but nobody is talking about this, so I have to.” Ms. Troutman has run the Web site wholebabyrevolution.com for two years, and she is fond of rattling off sayings like “Your baby is perfect, no snipping required.” Well versed in the stories of circumcisions gone awry, she said the recent death of a New York City toddler who was circumcised at a hospital convinced her that she should push for the ballot measure. Ms. Troutman, who has worked as a lactation educator and a doula, said she often approached women on the beach to warn them about the dangers of circumcising, but she has declined to answer questions about her own children. Although precise numbers are not known, several studies have indicated that circumcision rates have been declining in the United States for the past several years and now range from 30 percent to 50 percent of all male infants. Many medical groups take a neutral approach, saying that the practice is not harmful and that there is not enough scientific evidence to conclude that it is necessary, and leave the decision to parents and their doctor. Several studies have linked circumcision with a reduction in the spread of H.I.V. Roughly half of the 694 baby boys born in the Santa Monica- U.C.L.A. Medical Center and Orthopaedic Hospital in 2010 were circumcised before they left the hospital, officials there said. Dr. David Baron, a family physician, certified mohel — someone who performs ritual circumcision — and former chief of staff at Santa Monica-U.C.L.A., said that he would not press any parent to circumcise a son but that he viewed the effort to ban the procedure as “ridiculous and dishonest.” “To say it is mutilation is wrong from the get-go,” Dr. Baron said. “It is a perfectly valid decision to say that it is not what you want for your child. Any doctor who says it is needed is not being honest, but to say that it needs to be banned is shocking.” If the ballot measure passed, it would certainly face legal challenges. But several legal experts said it was far from certain that it would be struck down in a court. Ms. Troutman said she considered putting religious exemptions in the measure, but then decided, “Why should only some babies be protected?” Rabbi Yehuda Lebovics, an Orthodox mohel based in Los Angeles who says he has performed some 20,000 circumcisions over several decades, said he often had to soothe nervous mothers. “I am now doing the sons of the boys I did 30 years ago,” Rabbi Lebovics said. “So I turn to the new mother and ask, ‘Do you have any complaints in the way it turned out?’ ”

California
Circumcision
Babies
Judaism
Medicine and Health


Pfizer to Inject Youth Into the Aging Process

Abstract: Acronyms seem to be growing more prevalent in the vernacular, among them BOGO, for buy one, get one; YOLO, you only live once; and FOMO, fear of missing out. To that list, the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer hopes to add FOGO, a.k.a. fear of getting old. Pfizer — No. 51 on the Fortune 500, with revenue last year of $53.8 billion — is promulgating FOGO as it refocuses an initiative, carrying the theme “Get old,” that was introduced in 2012. The initiative, intended to stimulate conversations on subjects like aging and longevity of life, is being augmented, beginning on Wednesday, with additional content that is online and on social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter. Signaling this push are the introduction of a hashtag, #FOGO, and a decision by Pfizer to bring in Huge, an agency that specializes in digital advertising, to create and produce the new content. (The original work was created by SS&K in New York.) “Conquer your fears of getting old at getold.com,” consumers will be urged. “Fear less. Live longer.” There is also a “#FOGO Quiz” that offers this advice: “It’s time to tell the truth about aging. The less you fear it, the more you’ll enjoy it. In fact, it can be the best time of your life. So join us and get old with a new attitude.” Pfizer is spending about $3 million a year on the “Get old” initiative, which is meant to help burnish the Pfizer image rather than promote Pfizer prescription drugs or over-the-counter products. It is only lightly branded, carrying small advisories that read, “Brought to you by Pfizer.” The company’s image may need a little polishing after Pfizer recently abandoned an effort to buy a competitor, AstraZeneca. That acquisition could have included a relocation to Britain, where AstraZeneca is based, from New York, where Pfizer was founded in 1849, for tax purposes. Pfizer executives may have wanted to reach for one of their products, Advil, after reading reactions to the takeover bid like this one in the July 21 issue of Time magazine by Rana Foroohar, assistant managing editor in charge of economics and business: “The deal made little strategic sense and probably would have destroyed thousands of jobs as well as slowed research at both companies. (Public outcry to that effect eventually helped scuttle the plan.)” The article’s headline by itself could have brought on headaches: “Wall Street’s Values Are Strangling American Business.” Robert Passikoff, president of Brand Keys, a research and brand-loyalty consultancy in New York, said: “There’s always a benefit to a brand when consumers have a better sense of who you are and what you do. But you could say that about any category.” “This is also emblematic of what has happened over the past decade, with consumers having access to more information than ever before” through online research, Mr. Passikoff said, “so companies are saying, ‘I better create a paradigm where people know me better.’ ” “Pfizer is one of those companies that everyone has heard of,” he added, “but you don’t tell your doctor, ‘I would really prefer to have a GlaxoSmithKline product if I can.’ You’re going to listen to what your doctor says, which is why drug companies spend all that money on advertising to doctors.” According to research conducted by Pfizer at the end of last year, perceptions of the company among consumers who visited getold.com improved by 55 percentage points. “This is not about selling a product, it’s about our philosophy, reintroducing ourselves,” said Sally Susman, the executive vice president for corporate affairs of Pfizer who is overseeing the initiative. The goal, she said, is “a steady sense of engagement, not over-marketing or overselling.” “The idea is that rather than telling people what we think all the time, we want to listen,” she added. “We want people to pull this to them, not have it pushed at them.” Ms. Susman acknowledged that “the topic can be tough,” but it will be leavened by “introducing some humor, which will be a new and dynamic part of this campaign.” “Aging, we’re doing it every day,” she said. “FOGO — everyone seems to have one; it’s a great conversation starter.” Examples of such fears articulated in ads include “Losing my car keys and then driving around to look for them,” “ ‘Sleeping together’ will actually mean sleeping together” and “I’ll have to rename my stairs Mount Everest.” In a video clip , two children, billed as “experts” on a FOGO, “afraid of getting weak,” describe how their grandmothers can “pick up a piano” and other fanciful feats. The video ends with these words on screen: “Conquer your fears at getold.com.” The initiative is being handled by the Washington office of Huge, which is owned by the Interpublic Group of Companies. The intent is “taking ‘Get old’ to the next level,” said Kate Watts, managing director of the office, and to explain how “opportunities open up” as one ages. Because the initiative is aimed at people in their 20s and 30s who are seeking resources on aging, as well as people who are older, using FOGO is appropriate because it “has a youthful tone to it,” she added, “addressing the fears you have in a way to make you feel less fearful, using wit and humor to make somewhat of a taboo topic more approachable.”

Pfizer
Pharmaceuticals
Old age,elderly,senior citizens
advertising,marketing


Nokia Unveils a New Smartphone, but Not a Product of Its Microsoft Deal

Abstract: ESPOO, Finland — Late last year, the Apple iPhone became the best-selling device at Finland’s leading mobile operator, a highly embarrassing situation for Nokia , the struggling mobile phone maker that has long been Finland’s corporate standard-bearer. So Stephen Elop, who left a top post at Microsoft last September to lead the turnaround effort at Nokia, knows that his first priority is to steal a beat on the competition and quickly get Nokia back in the game. Nine months into the job, after a reorganization that will eliminate 7,000 jobs and the introduction of a new operating system from Microsoft, Mr. Elop has taken the first visible step in that direction. In Singapore on Tuesday, Nokia introduced a sleek touch-screen smartphone, the N9, with a useful innovation not found on any competing device, including the iPhone and Google’s Android phones. “It’s optimized for one-hand use,” said Marko Ahtisaari, Nokia’s head of design, whose team devised the N9, which allows users to switch between applications with a thumb, avoiding the need to return to a main menu screen or press a button, something required on both the iPhone and Android phones. The N9, which will sell unsubsidized for the equivalent of about $670 to $760 for 16 and 64 gigabyte models, is no panacea for Nokia, which is well behind in the fast-growing market for smartphones and was leapfrogged in revenue by Apple in the first quarter. Late last month, Nokia issued a second-quarter profit warning and abandoned its 2011 outlook, a move that sent its stock tumbling more than 17 percent. “The market is changing,” said Pal Zarandy, a partner at Rewheel, a Helsinki firm that advises operators on their mobile data strategies. “The whole smartphone data transformation is a window that will last one or two more years. Then that market will be saturated. The question is: Can Nokia and Microsoft come up with relevant phones fast enough?” Mr. Elop, a 47-year-old Canadian who ran Microsoft’s Office products division before joining Nokia, said the alliance between the companies would deliver. The release of the N9 — which Mr. Elop said he pushed for relentlessly after he arrived — was a harbinger, he said, of a more competitive Nokia. “It is an opportunity for us to test and to learn with the N9, but also to put a very clear statement in the market: Nokia continues to innovate, does beautiful work,” Mr. Elop said in an interview last week at Nokia’s glass-and-steel headquarters in Espoo, a suburb west of Helsinki. “Innovation is alive and well at Nokia.” During a 40-minute interview, Mr. Elop said Nokia was on the cusp of a productive new phase that would re-establish the company’s credibility and increase its global smartphone share, which the market research firm Gartner put at 27.4 percent in March, behind Android, with 36 percent, and ahead of Apple’s 16.8 percent. During the interview, he used the words “innovate” or “innovation” 24 times. Aesthetically, the N9 is a quantum leap for Nokia in smartphone design, incorporating a sculptured four-inch glass screen and a polycarbonate plastic body made of solid color — cyan blue, magenta and black — so that scratches are barely visible. But beyond the features, it is the timing and strategy of its introduction that signal a deeper change at Nokia. The N9 runs a variant of Nokia’s MeeGo operating system, a product of Nokia’s short-lived venture with Intel, the chip maker. The device was already in the pipeline when he arrived last fall, but Mr. Elop said he saw its potential and accelerated its release, working closely with his design chief, Mr. Ahtisaari, who now reports directly to him. Mr. Ahtisaari said design had a new priority at Nokia, a company traditionally run by radio engineers. “Stephen gets design,” Mr. Ahtisaari said. In a wood-paneled conference room flanking a row of idle Finnish saunas, Mr. Elop spoke pointedly about his efforts to retool the world’s largest maker of mobile phones to meet the challenges poised by Apple, Google and a host of Asian rivals led by Samsung, LG, ZTE and Huawei. The saunas, one assistant said, were now used only twice a year. The company’s glass lobby, which a decade ago buzzed with visiting clients, suppliers and media people when Nokia was riding high, had only a handful of visitors on a weekday afternoon. Nokia has gone through a bracing transition since Mr. Elop arrived last fall. The company is cutting 4,000 jobs, including 1,500 in Finland, and transferring 3,000 others to a consultant, Accenture. The moves were a consequence of Mr. Elop’s decision to phase out Nokia’s internal operating system, Symbian, in favor of Microsoft’s Windows software for phones. Investors reacted skeptically to news of the Microsoft alliance, sending Nokia’s shares down 20 percent a day after the announcement. Then came the profit warning on May 31. Since Mr. Elop’s arrival, Nokia’s share price has fallen 40 percent. Shares closed at $5.83 in New York on Monday; they traded as high as $11.75 in February. Mr. Elop acknowledged that the job cuts and transition to Microsoft, considered necessary to restore competitiveness, have been challenging. But he rejected criticism from some analysts who had questioned whether he could have better finessed the timing of the move to Microsoft’s software to limit any damage to Symbian. “We are shifting a whole company,” Mr. Elop said. “There are tens of thousands of people here. What they do every day is being changed right now. And that’s not something you can do under the cloak of darkness or privacy.” He said the phase-out of Symbian would be gradual. In fact, Nokia plans to introduce 10 new Symbian handsets over the next year, he said. Mobile operators, which are the main buyers of most handsets, continue to buy Symbian devices because they do not want to become dependent on its rivals, he said, without mentioning Apple or Google by name. “There’s tremendous support from the operators for what we need to do,” Mr. Elop said. “They are not dropping Symbian en masse. That is absolutely not the case. It is the case that by going through a transition, it is hard. Our competitors want to attack us. That’s business. That’s O.K.” In the midst of the battle, Mr. Elop spoke rapidly but appeared upbeat, even buoyant. He said the reason for his optimism was that the collaboration with Microsoft on smartphones was going better than he had expected. Just before the interview, Mr. Elop said, he spent two hours reviewing plans for the introduction of Nokia’s first Microsoft phones. “This is still some number of weeks and months before that happens,” he said, adding that Nokia might unveil one or more of the first Microsoft handsets in time for the holiday season. The first Microsoft handsets are being conceived at Nokia’s research facility in San Diego. Mr. Elop recently returned from a visit there with several working prototypes. The models have excited people within Nokia and Microsoft, he said. The two companies have combined some staff from Redmond, Wash., where Microsoft is based, and Espoo, to expedite their collaboration. By using Microsoft’s operating system, Nokia has trimmed its time-to-market for new handsets by two-thirds, Mr. Elop said. In view of the pending Microsoft introduction, Mr. Elop described the N9 as “one step in the journey to demonstrate that we are executing.” Carolina Milanesi, an analyst for Gartner in London, said the N9 was a “night and day” improvement over its predecessor, the N900. “They have created something that consumers will want,” Ms. Milanesi said. Mr. Elop suggested that many N9 innovations might be incorporated into the new Microsoft line. Nokia’s work force is committed, he said, to taking on the competition. He invoked the Finnish word “sisu,” which he said translates into a combination of perseverance, energy and drive.

Smartphones
Finland
Nokia Oyj
Elop Stephen


Clothing Sales Buoy Target and J.C. Penney

Abstract: The Target Corporation and the J. C. Penney Company yesterday reported fourth-quarter profit gains after posting strong sales of clothing and electronics during the holidays. Target increased net income 14 percent, to $939 million, or $1.06 a share, from $825 million, or 91 cents a share, in the period a year earlier. Revenue rose 12 percent, to $16.95 billion, after it introduced new lines of clothing during the Christmas season and focused on selling digital cameras and televisions. The earnings per share were a penny above the estimate of analysts polled by Thomson Financial. Profit at J. C. Penney rose 65 percent, to $551 million, or $2.34 a share, from $333 million, or $1.17 a share, exceeding the estimate of $1.63 a share of analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial. J. C. Penney increased sales 4.2 percent, to $6.2 billion, amid an expansion of private-label clothing brands and a surge in Internet and catalog sales, which surpassed $1 billion for the first time last year. "For both of them, the holidays were positive," said Arun Daniel, an analyst with ING Investments in New York, which manages about $180 billion in assets including J. C. Penney and Target shares. Shares of Target fell $1.21, to $54.59. Shares of J. C. Penney rose $1.22 to $57.85 Same-store sales, or sales at stores open at least a year, at Target rose 4.2 percent, the smallest gain this year, a sign the company's growth is slowing. Robert J. Ulrich, the chief executive, is adding merchandise including clothing and accessories by the British designer Luella Bartley, which is helping Target outperform Wal-Mart Stores in same-store sales. Same-store sales at J. C. Penney rose 2.6 percent. The company raised its annual dividend 44 percent, to 72 cents a share, from 50 cents beginning with the quarterly payout in May. It also said it might buy back as much as $750 million of its stock, after the completion of an earlier $2.2 billion repurchase. Monthly same-store sales gains in Target's last fiscal year were 5.6 percent. Target's selling, general and administrative expenses rose to 19.6 percent of sales, from 19.4 percent, with higher utility costs contributing to the increase, the company said yesterday.

SALES
ELECTRONICS
CHRISTMAS
PENNEY J C CO
TARGET CORP
JC PENNEY CO INC
COMPANY REPORTS
APPAREL
RETAIL STORES AND TRADE


Nets’ Mirza Teletovic Is Sidelined for Season by Blood Clots

Abstract: Mirza Teletovic of the Nets will miss the rest of the season after being diagnosed with bilateral pulmonary embolus, a formation of blood clots in the lungs. Teletovic, a 29-year-old forward from Bosnia and Herzegovina, left Thursday’s game in Los Angeles after experiencing a shortness of breath and was transported to the California Medical Center. The Nets on Friday morning said Teletovic would remain hospitalized to undergo further examination and begin treatment with blood thinners. “Our first thoughts are with Mirza and his family,” General Manager Billy King said in a statement, praising the team’s medical staff and the emergency room doctors for their work. “I have visited with Mirza this morning and he is in good spirits as he begins his treatment and recovery.” Blood clots can form for a variety of reasons, with long travel and surgical procedures among the most common risk factors. Blood clots near the lungs carry an increased risk of sudden death, said Dr. Alexis C. Colvin, a sports medicine specialist at Mt. Sinai Hospital, who was speaking generally and not about Teletovic’s specific case. Teletovic posted a message on Twitter late Thursday night that read, “I had a small problem, but now everything is ok... Thx all fans from Bosnia, Spain and USA for support.” The struggling Nets will miss Teletovic, who was averaging a career-high 22.3 minutes per game this season. They lost by 39 points to the Clippers, and their record dropped to 18-25. They had already been missing point guard Deron Williams, who fractured a left rib earlier this month. Regarding possible additions to the roster, King said the team would “explore all of the options available to us.” In 40 games, Teletovic, a shooting specialist, averaged 8.5 points and 4.9 rebounds. He was shooting 32.1 percent from 3-point range, down from 39 percent last season.

Mirza Teletovic
Blood Clot
Basketball
Brooklyn Nets


Google, Soothing Investors, Plays Up Its Innovations

Abstract: SAN FRANCISCO — Google’s core search business is under threat. But not to worry, its executives told shareholders on Thursday. It has its eye on a future with computers that talk to users, drive our cars and send information before we ask for it. Investors living in the here and now had mixed feelings about Google’s first-quarter financial results , which it reported Thursday, sending Google’s share price up 2 percent in after-hours trading. The company’s revenue slightly missed analysts’ expectations. Its earnings exceeded expectations, but only because of an anomalous tax credit from the government for research and development. Without it, Google would have narrowly missed earnings expectations, too. Still, Google’s results showed that whatever the threats, its core search business is still strong, even as desktop search and advertising slow because people are rapidly shifting their computer use to mobile devices, where Google struggles to make as much money. Google is throwing itself into cutting-edge businesses, like glasses that connect to the Internet and cars that drive themselves. In a shift, Larry Page, Google’s chief executive, talked in a conference call with analysts Thursday about how important these projects were to Google. In the past, Google executives have minimized these efforts, saying they mostly focus on Google’s core business. “As C.E.O., it’s also superimportant to keep focused on the future,” Mr. Page said. “Companies can tend to get comfortable doing what they’ve always done, with a few minor tweaks. It’s only natural to want to work on things you know. But incremental improvement is guaranteed to make you obsolete over time, especially in tech.” Mr. Page appears to have convinced analysts and investors who had previously worried about Google’s spending on science fiction. “It’s a loss leader,” Colin Gillis, an analyst at BGC Partners, said of the new businesses. “But I like the fact that they’re doing those things. We look at Apple and say, ‘Hey, where’s the next round of growth coming from?’ You look at Google and say, ‘Hey, these are some pretty big markets they’re chasing after.’ ” Image Employees at Google’s New York campus. Google’s first-quarter revenue missed expectations. Credit Karsten Moran for The New York Times Despite Google’s challenges with its mobile business, investors have been fleeing Apple for Google. As Google’s share price climbed 26 percent over the last year, Apple’s fell 36 percent as the company faces slowing growth and competition from Google’s Android phones. “There’s a chance that the reference to radical change being the responsibility of a C.E.O. was an acknowledgment that perhaps Apple didn’t change enough,” Jordan Rohan, an analyst at Stifel Nicolaus, said of Mr. Page’s remarks. Google sold its first Internet-connected glasses, Google Glass, this week to app developers, and hopes to sell them to consumers by the end of the year. And it recently announced it would sell its ultrahigh-speed Internet, Fiber, which has been available only in Kansas City, in two new cities, Austin, Tex., and Provo, Utah. Still, Mr. Rohan added, Google’s results have more to do with things like controlling spending. “While on some level Google is distracted by glasses and watches and tablets and a cornucopia of form factors, its core business is being run more efficiently,” he said. Net income in the first quarter rose 16 percent to $3.35 billion, or $9.94 a share. Excluding the cost of stock options and the related tax benefits, Google’s profit was $11.58 a share, up from $10.08 a year ago. The company reported first-quarter revenue of $13.97 billion, an increase of 31 percent over the same period last year. Net revenue, which excludes payments to the company’s advertising partners, was $11.01 billion, up from $8.14 billion. Analysts had expected net revenue of $11.3 billion. Google’s challenge is that mobile ads cost half as much as desktop ads and receive only a quarter of the clicks, according to BGC Partners. In the first quarter, the price advertisers pay Google each time someone clicks on an ad declined 4 percent from both the previous quarter and the previous year, falling for the sixth consecutive quarter. As investors have pieced together these data points, Google’s share price had dipped 2 percent over the last week. Google has been scrambling to fix the mobile problem. Now, advertisers will buy ad campaigns on smartphones and tablets by default when they buy ads on desktop computers. The program, which is called enhanced campaigns and scheduled to be fully in effect by July, is expected to increase mobile ad prices because there will be more demand. “They are fixing the problem, but on the backs of advertisers,” Mr. Gillis said. Nikesh Arora, Google’s chief business officer, said in the conference call that Google was acknowledging that people were always connected to the Internet now, and wanted to see relevant ads everywhere they went. Another challenge is Motorola Mobility, which lost $271 million in the first quarter. Google executives have said that its product pipeline is subpar. But Mr. Page said Thursday that he had just seen Motorola’s coming products and “there’s real potential to invent new and better experiences.” He hinted at the phone features Motorola was working on: longer battery life and screens that do not shatter when dropped or die when spilled upon.

Google
Computers and the Internet
Tech Industry
Earnings Reports


Paladino Works to Hide Albany Insider Status

Abstract: As he wages an insurgent campaign for governor of New York, Carl P. Paladino has styled himself as the anti-establishment candidate bent on reforming a state government that he says needs someone who can “take out the trash.” But even as he tries to draw Tea Party support by loudly promising a slash-and-burn attack on Albany, Mr. Paladino is himself a quintessential capital insider. Over the years, Mr. Paladino has quietly funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars to candidates across the state through a technique that campaign finance experts say major donors have often used to mask their donations and avoid public scrutiny. An analysis by The New York Times shows that Mr. Paladino, a self-described conservative Republican, has given money to an assortment of politicians — including governors, state legislators and judges — through about two dozen obscure corporate entities he helped establish. With the entities bearing names as varied as 2468 Group, 8927 Group, JP Group and Slade Group, it would be nearly impossible for anybody reviewing campaign finance disclosure reports to know that the sources of the money are entities with ties to Mr. Paladino himself. The contributions by Mr. Paladino — and the opaque manner in which they have been made — could undermine one of his core arguments as he rails against Albany’s insider culture at the same time that he has actively participated in it. The money he has given governors and state legislators is also notable because Mr. Paladino, a major real estate developer in the Buffalo region, has considerable business interests before state government. In 2002, for example, the administration of Gov. George E. Pataki deemed one of Mr. Paladino’s companies eligible for tax incentives under a program intended to encourage economic development. The tax incentives coincided with 10 donations totaling $33,000 that Mr. Paladino made to Mr. Pataki’s re-election campaign that year through seven corporate entities tied to the businessman, according to a review of state records. The donations were made before and after tax incentives were granted. Mr. Paladino also rents property to a variety of state agencies in the Buffalo area under lease agreements totaling $10 million a year, according to state records and his campaign. Blair Horner, the legislative director for the New York Public Interest Research Group , said Mr. Paladino’s pattern of donations — small sums of money dispensed by an assortment of corporate entities — strongly suggested that he was trying to avoid drawing attention to his donations, given the business he has before the state. “He could have written one big check,” Mr. Horner said. “But making small donations through his various corporate entities is a way of evading scrutiny. As someone who has considerable business before the state, he may want to fly below the radar.” A Paladino spokesman, Michael Caputo, denied that the contributions were intended to influence government policies in Mr. Paladino’s favor, saying Mr. Paladino sought simply to contribute to candidates he favored. Mr. Caputo also said there was no effort by Mr. Paladino to mask his contributions through the various corporate entities under his control. He explained that Mr. Paladino established numerous corporate entities with business partners and that many of the donations were made in concert with the partners. Mr. Caputo also drew a distinction between the corporate entities tied to Mr. Paladino and those that donors set up simply to give donations; he said all of Mr. Paladino’s were tied to a project. In recent weeks, Mr. Paladino has emerged as an unexpectedly strong contender for the Republican nomination, with polls showing he has narrowed the lead enjoyed by the party establishment’s candidate, Rick A. Lazio, a former congressman from Long Island. Mr. Paladino has said he is willing to spend $10 million on his campaign, while Mr. Lazio struggles with fund-raising and had less than $700,000 on hand when he reported his campaign finances in July. On the campaign trail, Mr. Paladino has been biting in his critiques of the political establishment in Albany, arguing that lawmakers are incapable of showing independence from special interests and others who contribute to their campaigns. “The problem with Albany is not complex,” he said in an e-mail sent to his supporters. “We must break the backs of the special interests and the vultures in the public employees unions who bought their rich contracts lobbying with campaign contributions.” The Times analysis of his donations shows that he has given nearly $450,000 over the last decade, largely through corporate entities under his control. In many cases, the entities share the same address: 295 Main Street, Mr. Paladino’s corporate headquarters in a historic building in downtown Buffalo. Among other things, the analysis shows that Mr. Paladino, who holds himself out as a fiery ideologue on the campaign trail, has been highly practical in the way he has doled out money, contributing to both Democrats and Republicans. When Mr. Pataki, a Republican, was governor, Mr. Paladino gave him more than $76,000. But Mr. Paladino quickly switched sides once Mr. Pataki, who has endorsed and is campaigning for Mr. Lazio, decided not to seek re-election. He pumped more than $26,000 into the campaign of the leading candidate to replace Mr. Pataki in the 2006 election: Eliot Spitzer, a Democrat who was then attorney general. When Mr. Spitzer resigned in March 2008 amid a prostitution scandal, Mr. Paladino began donating money to Mr. Spitzer’s successor, David A. Paterson, a Democrat, giving him a total of $10,000 that year. Mr. Paladino has also showered money on local politicians and political organizations in his base of power in western New York, splitting his money between both parties. He has given the Erie County Republican Party about $51,000 since 2005, according to a review of state campaign finance records. During that same period, he pumped about $15,000 into the treasury of the Erie County Democratic Party.

Campaign Finance
Elections
Paladino Carl P
Politics and Government
New York State
Governors (US)


Puerto Ricans in Chicago Push for a Prisoner’s Parole

Abstract: CHICAGO — At a cafe in the heart of this city’s exuberant Puerto Rican community, in the neighborhood of Humboldt Park, a waitress serves up favorites from the island: café con leche, rice and beans and guava pastries. On the counter, a framed photograph of a white-haired man sits next to a stack of petitions calling for his release from prison. The petitions are posted at more than a dozen businesses in the neighborhood, where the campaign to free 68-year-old Oscar Lopez Rivera has deep and stubborn roots: he is the last remaining member of the radical group known as the F.A.L.N. (Spanish initials for Armed Forces of National Liberation) still in prison among more than a dozen convicted in the 1980s. Volunteers in the neighborhood, on the city’s northwest side, have increased efforts in recent weeks to collect signatures outside train stops, grocery stores and churches. Mr. Lopez Rivera, who has been in prison for almost 30 years, is viewed by some as a political prisoner and others as an unrepentant terrorist. Since he applied for parole last year, both sides have been lobbying the four-member United States Parole Commission, which is expected to make a decision soon. The commission has received three large boxes of letters in support of his parole and many calls against it, said Johanna Markind, assistant general counsel for the commission. The response has included passionate requests from prominent leaders, a letter supporting parole from four Puerto Rican members of Congress, and a letter against parole from Patrick J. Fitzgerald, the United States attorney in Chicago. Mr. Lopez Rivera was convicted here in 1981 of numerous charges, including seditious conspiracy, a charge used for those plotting to overthrow the United States government. He was sentenced to 70 years in prison. President Bill Clinton offered Mr. Lopez Rivera and other members of the F.A.L.N. clemency in 1999, a decision that stirred an emotional debate. Mr. Clinton said their sentences were out of proportion with their offenses. While 12 prisoners accepted the offer and were freed, Mr. Lopez Rivera rejected the chance to reduce his sentence because it did not include all the group’s members, his lawyer, Jan Susler, said. If he had accepted the agreement, she said, he would have been eligible for release in 2009. In January, a hearing examiner for the Parole Commission recommended that Mr. Lopez Rivera should not be paroled, according to several people who were at the closed hearing. The F.A.L.N. was involved in more than 100 bombings in New York, Chicago and other cities, according to federal officials. A bombing at Fraunces Tavern in New York in 1975 killed four people, including Frank Connor, a 33-year-old banker. His son Joseph has been a consistent voice against parole for any members of the F.A.L.N. When Mr. Connor testified at the parole hearing, he said he had hoped that Mr. Lopez Rivera would apologize or show some sense of contrition. “He wouldn’t take responsibility for anything,” Mr. Connor said in an interview. Although Mr. Lopez Rivera was not charged specifically with the Fraunces Tavern bombing, Mr. Connor said that he blames Mr. Lopez Rivera for his father’s death because he was a leader of the group that took responsibility for the bombing. Mr. Connor has written about the case for various Web sites and has encouraged friends and family to call the commission. Ms. Susler said Mr. Lopez Rivera had no involvement in the Fraunces Tavern bombing. “It was very impactful, moving testimony from people who had terrible losses,” Ms. Susler said, “but it had nothing to do with Mr. Lopez.” Since the hearing, the National Boricua Human Rights Network, which is active in Puerto Rican issues, said it had gathered more than 4,000 signatures supporting parole in Chicago. The city has the second-largest Puerto Rican community in the country, after New York. The group has argued that Mr. Lopez Rivera poses no threat to the public and that others who were released have lived productive lives without getting in trouble again. It is an opinion shared by many in Humboldt Park. On a recent afternoon, the owner of a barbershop in the neighborhood, Reinaldo Oquendo, sat at a table with a group of men playing dominoes. “I think it is about time they let him out,” Mr. Oquendo said without looking up from his game. “Thirty years is a lifetime. Nobody deserves to be in prison for that long.” The parole case still resonates here because his family continues to work in the neighborhood and many here have an interest in Puerto Rican history, “which is very much a part of their lives,” said Ana Ramos-Zayas, an associate professor of anthropology at Rutgers University who has studied the community. Many people here knew Mr. Lopez Rivera, who worked as a community organizer in the neighborhood after serving in the Vietnam War. His younger brother Jose Lopez is the longtime executive director of the Puerto Rican Cultural Center, which runs a day care, an AIDS clinic and a youth center in the neighborhood. There has been a concerted effort to establish Humboldt Park as a cultural and economic hub for the Puerto Rican community in Chicago, which numbers about 113,000 people, compared with more than 750,000 in New York, according to Census Bureau figures. Crowds flock to several annual parades and festivals along a portion of Division Street known as Paseo Boricua, where two huge, red and blue steel flags extend over the road at both ends of the business district. The neighborhood is filled with Puerto Rican murals, restaurants, record shops, and bookstores. Recently, Jose Lopez walked down the street greeting people and checking on the cultural center’s many projects. He was particularly excited about the opening this spring of a new Institute of Puerto Rican Arts & Culture in the neighborhood. Mr. Lopez said that his brother’s absence had taken a great toll on his family. Their parents and a sister have died while he was in prison. “It is a continual punishment for our family not to have Oscar here for these moments,” he said. Mr. Lopez Rivera still believes in Puerto Rican independence but he does not talk about the F.A.L.N., his lawyer said. At the federal prison holding him, in Terre Haute, Ind., he spends his days reading about current events, working as an orderly, and painting scenes of Puerto Rican life and leftist leaders like Fidel Castro. He sells them online to benefit the National Boricua Human Rights Network. He could remain in prison for 15 more years if the commission denies his request for parole. But if Mr. Lopez Rivera is released, there is likely to be another celebratory rally in Humboldt Park as there has been for prisoners in the past. Epifanio Velez, who opened a restaurant on Paseo Boricua four years ago, is looking forward to his return. “He has done his time,” he said. “I want to meet him.”

Puerto Ricans
Sentences (Criminal)
Prisons and Prisoners
Chicago (Ill)
Rivera Oscar Lopez


Works of Art and Home Décor From Snapshots

Abstract: While digital cameras have largely shoved aside film cameras, how we store and show off our snapshots has changed little since the heyday of Kodachrome. Overstuffed shoeboxes have simply been replaced with cluttered hard drives and Flickr streams, leatherbound albums supplanted by Facebook uploads. Luckily, however, one perk of the digital age is the opportunity to use printing techniques and materials once reserved for professionals. Some of these can take favorite photos and turn them into works of art that go beyond oversize prints, like custom wallpaper, murals and decals. The services cost more than the one-hour photo hut, but the results can be stunning. GOING BIG Home printers tend to top out at 8-by-10-inch formats, but Shutterfly ( shutterfly.com ) offers 11-by-14, 16-by-20 and 20-by-30-inch prints starting at $8. Images are professionally printed on high-grade paper. And Shutterfly is relatively foolproof — upload an image, crop it as desired and select a size. The order is delivered within a few business days. One caveat is that the service is limited in terms of professional help. If an image has imperfections, find someone to help or go with a service that offers more help. Shutterfly’s paper sizes also have limits, so photos with an unorthodox crop may come with a white border to be snipped off at home. STRETCHING ONTO CANVAS Some companies offer the option to print onto a stretched canvas. The effect is instant art, ready to be hung. Canvas Pop ( canvaspop.com ) specializes in taking everyday photos, including candids snapped with a camera phone, and blowing them up without losing detail. Company technicians work on each image to ensure that an iPhone photo looks as good stretched across four feet as it does on a 4.5-inch screen. When comparing two shots, one from an iPhone and the other by a professional with a digital single-lens reflex camera, the difference in quality had more to do with each camera’s (and photographer’s) abilities than the printing technique. Canvas tends to work well with images that have a little motion in them, since the material’s texture softens the movement rather than making it glaringly obvious as it would on a glossy print. After the printing, the canvas is finished with a matte laminate, which guarantees against cracking, fading or bubbling for life. If the canvas ages over the years, the company will replace it free. Sizes start at 8-by-10 inches ($30-$70 depending on finishing options) and go to 24-by-72 inches ($219-$419). Diptychs, triptychs or quads may be made out of a single image. Wood frames are available for a more polished look. THE EVER-POPULAR COLLAGE Oddly, it takes a lot of planning to achieve that haphazard scattering of hanging photos. CollageWall, a Web service, can help streamline the process. The service, at collagewall.com , offers templates for dragging and dropping digital images, but custom collages are possible, too. The photos themselves are printed on professional paper with a luster finish, for the color benefits of glossy stock with the fingerprint resistance of matte. Then the photos are attached to a black Styrene mounting board. I chose to scan old family photos to enlarge them with the service and was pleased with the results, though the unusual sizes — CollageWall says it is too difficult to create a uniform layout using traditional photo dimensions — made the process a bit lengthy. I struggled for hours to figure out which photos could be cropped into narrow rectangles and which would work better as squares, but the result was a unique composition that gave my black-and-white family heirlooms a modern touch. Prices range from $50 for 1.5-by-1-foot arrangements to $343 for a 6-x-3-foot collage. TURNING TO VINYL Without the limitations of a home printer, the options for personalization are wide, even stretching to home décor. Wallhogs ( wallhogs.com ) specializes in turning digital photos into vinyl decals. And while the result can often seem like a novelty, it proves to be quite a crafty medium. Instead of printing a square decal, Wallhogs creates a specific cutout. In my test, I used an image of my cat sprawled across the couch. I asked Wallhogs to include just the cat and couch, deleting the window behind her. The result allowed me to supersize the old photos on the refrigerator with a graphic that spreads from one side of the door to the other. It was so lifelike that my calico’s sibling stopped in her tracks when she saw it. The vinyl is reusable (up to five times), and it can be peeled off without damaging a wall or a door. Wallhogs offers materials for indoor or outdoor decals. While other companies start at life-size and just go bigger, Wallhogs offers decals starting at 12 inches ($13) and the sizes can go up to seven feet for $90. MAKE A MURAL If Wallhogs’ seven-foot decals aren’t large enough, there is always the option to go big. Crazy big. Wizard Prints ( wizardprints.com ) specializes in supersize images (it can accommodate almost any size and shape) onto a variety of materials including adhesives that can be stretched across a floor and trampled on, textured fabrics that easily affix to walls, as well as canvases and traditional prints on textured fine art paper and heavyweight photo paper. The company’s wall mural fabric is made out of printable polyester that is lightweight enough to stay in place with a low tack adhesive. That sticky back is gentle on walls, too. Prices vary widely, depending on the image and size. I had the company produce a 42-by-56-inch mural, for $149. Unlike more basic printing services, Wizard Print can work with images that have been cropped to an irregular size. It also provides postproduction help for people who are not skilled at Photoshop. Want that Hawaiian beach landscape to be a wee bit longer? Wizard Print can use so-called liquid expansion to stretch an image while keeping it proportional. It can even remove unwanted items, so the FedEx truck lurking in the background doesn’t ruin a portrait. COVER THE WHOLE WALL The 1970s brought sunsets and woodland scenes to people’s walls. For a more contemporary spin, Design Your Wall ( designyourwall.com ) turns images into custom sheets of wallpaper. An array of materials is available, including Terralon, polyester and natural fiber that contains more than 30 percent recycled materials, plus heavyweight vinyl and more textured materials like grass cloth. Prices are by the square foot, from $7.95 for heavy artist canvas to $9.25 for Mylar or foil. Getting an image to a wall is a longer process, with considerable back and forth between customer and company, which makes sense since your final product is far more permanent than, say, hanging a canvas on the wall. A company representative works with a customer to discuss the best material for the image, and scaled-down versions of an order are printed on the materials under consideration for $5 each. Any of these options of decorating with photos is bound to be better than a stack of dusty photo-filled shoeboxes.

Art
Cameras
Photography
Computers and the Internet


Iran Has Rosy View of Unrest in Syria

Abstract: TEHRAN — When Syria ’s agricultural minister, Subhi Ahmad al-Abdullah, arrived in the Iranian capital for a visit last week, everybody involved stuck to a well-worn script. There were welcoming ceremonies, handshakes in front of cameras and tête-à-têtes on rococo chairs. Stern-faced Iranian and Syrian officials discussed “expanding economic and agricultural ties” and signed a contract for the joint production of a vaccine for foot-and-mouth disease. The unrest in Syria did not go unmentioned in the meetings, which were widely reported by Iranian state media. Iran ’s vice president, Mohammad-Reza Rahimi, said Iran was confident of victory for the Syrian government forces, who, he said, were engaged in “sporadic fights with terrorists sent by regional countries.” The upbeat ceremonies surrounding Mr. Abdullah’s visit illustrate how Iranian leaders perceive the bloody conflict that has engulfed their main ally in the Arabic world. While former Iranian diplomats, academics and analysts increasingly warn that President Bashar al-Assad ’s government is on the brink of collapse, the country’s highest leaders insist the conflict is manageable and ultimately will be resolved to Iran’s advantage. “We say that Bashar al-Assad, or at least his government, is the safest bet for stability and security in Syria,” said Amir Mohebbian, a political analyst whose views are sometimes published on the Web site of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. “If the foreign mercenaries take over, there will be a blood bath in Syria.” Endless news broadcasts by Iran’s state television offer an ideological narrative in which Saudi Arabia and Qatar are doing the bidding of the United States and Israel, helping to arm foreign “terrorists” and sending them into Syria to punish it for having opposed Israel. War crimes committed by Syrian forces go unreported. “Clearly, there is no real alternative for al-Assad and his government in Syria,” Mr. Mohebbian said. “They have agreed to reforms; there will be a multiparty system in Syria. So foreign countries should stop arming terrorists and let the Syrian people decide their own future.” Some former diplomats, analysts and academics disagree with the blind support of Syria’s government. But they have little, if any, influence on Iran’s policy makers, who are mostly rigid ideologues. “The Syrian Army is on the brink of complete collapse, and the downfall of al-Assad is inevitable,” Ebrahim Yazdi, a former foreign minister who is a member of the opposition, wrote Saturday in the newspaper Etemaad, which is critical of Iran’s government. “Syria’s leaders respond to reforms with bloody crackdowns. Their future is very bleak.” Mashallah Shamsolvaezin, a Middle East analyst who has been imprisoned for his involvement in Iran’s opposition movement, echoed that view. “In reality, Syria will be in turmoil for years to come,” he said. “There will be nothing left of our anti-Israel front.” Iran has organized two conferences for what it calls the “genuine” Syrian opposition, pushing for modest political changes, followed by nationwide presidential elections in 2014, as the only solution to stop the fighting. Off the record, Iranian officials sometimes hint that Mr. Assad, as a symbol, could be sacrificed in Iran’s future vision for the country. But they insist that his political and security apparatus should remain in power, continuing to lead Syria as a regional spear against Iran’s archnemesis, Israel. “We are seeking a peaceful solution in which the Syrian government implements reforms,” said Hamidreza Taraghi, a politician who is close to Iran’s leaders. “But whatever the cost, we want to keep Syria in the group of resistance against Israel.” Mr. Taraghi, who recently led an Iranian delegation to North Korea and met with the country’s leader, Kim Jong-un, said that Iran was willing to do “whatever it takes” to keep Syria as an ally. He said the Syrian government had not yet asked Iran for military help, but if that happened Iran would be compelled by its treaty with Syria to step in. The United States has accused Iran of providing weapons and money to Syria. Iran has always denied any military presence and military assistance, saying Mr. Assad does not need help in quelling the unrest. There are signs, however, of some Iranian military involvement in the country. On Saturday, Iran’s Tabnak Web site claimed that military advisers, together with Russians in Syria, had suggested that the Syrian Army should pre-emptively attack opposition forces, who, the Web site claimed, were planning to attack Damascus from four sides. In August, 48 Iranians were taken captive by Syrian resistance fighters who accused the men of being members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. One of the kidnapped Iranians, identified by Iranian news media as Majid Adeli, a cultural adviser at the Iranian Embassy in Damascus, was released on Saturday. Iran insists the other captives are Shiite pilgrims. On Saturday, Iran’s deputy minister of science, Mohammad Mehdinejad, told the Iranian Student News Agency that the country had sent drones to Syria but did not elaborate on how many. “This is a fight between common people defending their homeland and foreign terrorists,” Mr. Taraghi said. He was sure that Iran’s main ally would soon be ready to face Israel again. “Syria’s army and security forces are still intact,” he said, “and they can be rebuilt in order for Syria to regain its former strength.” During a conference on Syria organized by former diplomats in Tehran last week, Sadegh Zibakalam, a professor of international relations at Tehran University, shocked his audience by publicly criticizing Iran’s support for the Syrian government. “What sort of foreign policy do we have that we support a regime that will be gone in one or two months?” he said. Mr. Zibakalam criticized those in power, saying that foreign policy must be based on national interests and not on ideology. But even opposition figures say the government has no choice but to stick with the current Syrian leadership to the bitter end. “That way,” Mr. Shamsolvaezin said, “we can at least influence the unrest that will inevitably follow his downfall.”

Middle East and North Africa Unrest (2010- )


No. 1 Florida Hangs On

Abstract: Dorian Finney-Smith scored 19 points and No. 1 Florida held off Vanderbilt, 57-54, in Nashville to clinch at least a share of its second straight Southeastern Conference title. Patric Young added 12 points for the Gators (26-2, 15-0 SEC). The Commodores (15-12, 7-8) made it interesting as Kyle Fuller missed a tying 3-pointer in the final seconds and Dai-Jon Parker missed a putback. ■ Ron Baker scored 15 points to lead four Wichita State players in double figures, and the No. 2 Shockers (30-0, 17-0 Missouri Valley Conference) became the first Division I team to reach 30-0 in the regular season with a 69-49 victory over host Bradley. ■ Rodney Hood scored 21 points to help No. 6 Duke (23-6, 12-4 Atlantic Coast Conference) beat Virginia Tech, 66-48, in Durham, N.C. Rasheed Sulaimon added 15 points for Duke. The Hokies (9-18, 2-13) are in last place in the A.C.C. ■ The No. 1-ranked Connecticut women’s team (29-0, 16-0 American Athletic Conference) rolled to an 81-48 victory over Southern Methodist (16-11, 7-9) in Dallas. Bria Hartley led UConn with 25 points.

College basketball
University of Florida
Vanderbilt University


A Mixed Outlook for Media Advertising

Abstract: PARIS — Matthieu Coppet has a word of hope for the world’s beleaguered media companies, reeling from the deepest advertising slump in memory. All signs point to a relatively robust recovery in ad spending, beginning next year, Mr. Coppet, an analyst at UBS, said in a recent report. His enthusiasm is far from universal. Gerhard Zeiler, chief executive of the RTL Group, the biggest commercial television broadcaster in Europe, reflects another view in the industry: the good times will not return anytime soon. “I simply don’t believe that we will see a quick recovery in advertising revenues,” he said in a speech over the weekend at a television industry conference in Edinburgh. “Nor do I think they will return to previous levels as fast and easily as some of us may think.” As these divergent opinions indicate, the outlook for the $500 billion global advertising market is unusually murky, after a first half of 2009 in which ad spending plunged by double-digit percentages in many developed countries. Many ad executives and analysts seem to agree that the worst is over. But there is little agreement on the strength, timing and distribution of any recovery. “It’s not a big rebound, but there are some interesting signs,” said Maurice Lévy, chief executive of one of the largest advertising companies, the Publicis Groupe. One reason for caution is that advertisers are waiting to commit their budgets; as a result, ad executives and media owners complain that they have little visibility about spending prospects, beyond a matter of days or weeks. This complicates some executives’ thinking as they wrestle with the question of whether to try to charge consumers more for access to their content, or to continue to rely on advertising for the bulk of revenue. Some analysts argue that traditional media will never regain ad spending lost during the recession , as advertisers shift to other outlets, like the Internet, cable and satellite television channels. “If the ad industry doesn’t pay every single bill anymore, then the consumer — directly or indirectly — will have to step up,” Mr. Zeiler said. Newspaper publishers, too, are talking about erecting so-called pay walls for their Web sites. The differing fortunes of media companies that are heavily dependent on advertising, on one hand, and those that rely more on consumer purchases, on the other, is reflected in earnings reports this week from two big European media companies, Bertelsmann and Vivendi. On Monday, Bertelsmann, which owns a majority of RTL, reported a 30 percent drop in operating profit and a 6.5 percent decline in revenue for the first half of the year, citing sharp declines in advertising. On Tuesday, Vivendi, which is less dependent on advertising, reported a 1 percent rise in operating profit on a 17 percent increase in revenue. Consultants at PricewaterhouseCoopers say they think this gap between advertising and other forms of revenue will persist, adding that global ad spending will remain below 2008 levels four years from now. By contrast, spending on media and entertainment by consumers and businesses will rise to $812 billion in 2013, from $707 billion this year, the company says. But Mr. Coppet of UBS says some of the gloom is overdone. While global ad spending has fallen more steeply than expected this year, he has increased his outlook for next year, saying spending will rise 3.9 percent. In 2011, he added, growth will accelerate to 6.9 percent. Mr. Coppet is relatively sanguine about the prospects for recovery because, he said, much of the structural shift caused by the rise of digital technology has already occurred. Ad spending as a percentage of the overall economy is already at postwar lows in the United States, he said, suggesting that there is room for growth. “We expect the cyclical recovery to overwhelm the structural advertising decline for the next three years before softening,” he wrote. In ad agency executive suites, the outlook remains more subdued. Martin Sorrell , chief executive of the WPP Group , said last week, as the company reported a big drop in earnings for the first half, that he saw few signs that improved sentiment about the economy was translating into higher spending by advertisers. “I think what’s happened is that people feel better about life, and so their heads and hearts are strong,” he said, “but that hasn’t extended, as we said at the end of the first quarter, to the checkbook or investment in branding.” Adam Smith, the top forecaster at WPP’s media buying division, GroupM, said there were a few exceptions to the general gloom. Spending in Germany has shown a slight uptick, he said, and big consumer product companies are putting money back into television advertising in China to take advantage of a buoyant economy there. But prospects in the United States and Britain remain particularly weak, Mr. Smith said. Over all, GroupM still predicts a 1.4 percent slide in global ad spending next year, on top of a 5.5 percent decline this year. At Publicis, Mr. Lévy said he saw some positive signals, enough to declare that the low point of the current ad recession probably came in June. July and August had month-to-month improvements, he said, and early indications for September show the trend continuing. The first year-on-year growth will probably not occur until next summer, Mr. Lévy said, but that should be good enough to propel an increase of 2 to 3 percent in global spending next year. Over the longer term, he dismissed the idea of a structural decline and predicted yearly gains in the “midsingle digits.” “It is a business that will continue to grow, and we will see advertisers spending more in the sector,” Mr. Lévy said. “But the fight for market share will be tougher.” In recent years, market share has largely been shifting from traditional media to the Internet, which Mr. Coppet says will garner 15.2 percent of global ad spending in 2011, up from 2.7 percent in 2001. Print media will continue to lose spending to the Internet and other media, he says, but another established medium, television, will actually gain. Major American television networks are counting on a cyclical rebound. Usually, they ask advertisers to commit to the vast majority of their advertising time in advance, but during the annual upfront selling season this summer, they reportedly held back substantial numbers of slots for the coming season. According to Advertising Age, that resulted in a decline in sales, from $7.8 billion to $8.1 billion, compared with $9.23 billion last year. The networks hope to recoup the shortfall by selling time at higher rates, on short notice, if and when the ad market recovers. Analysts’ forecasts of a rebound are bolstered by the fact that next year will include big marketing events like the quadrennial World Cup soccer tournament, the Winter Olympics and the midterm Congressional elections. For the moment, however, “no one can say today that all the lights are green and the recovery is already here,” Mr. Lévy said.

Europe
Advertising and Marketing
Recession and Depression
Online Advertising
Computers and the Internet
Sorrell Martin
Levy Maurice
WPP Group Plc


Mexican Teenager Is Attacked on Staten Island

Abstract: The police on Staten Island were searching for three assailants Sunday in connection with the robbery and beating of a Mexican teenager a day earlier — the latest in a series of attacks on Mexican immigrants in Port Richmond that has spurred a heightened police presence and discussions among community leaders and residents on how to curb the rising violence. The assault occurred about 2:30 a.m. on Saturday as the victim, a 17-year-old high school junior, whose name was not disclosed by the authorities, was returning home after working a late shift as a busboy at a restaurant in Manhattan, the police and neighborhood advocates said. As he passed through the intersection of Castleton Avenue and Simonson Place — three blocks from the heart of the police buildup on Port Richmond Avenue, the neighborhood’s main commercial strip — a Hispanic man approached him and asked him a question, possibly to distract him, according to the police. Suddenly, two black men appeared and began punching the victim in the face and yelling anti-Mexican slurs, the police said. The three men stole $10 from the teenager and fled. The victim was treated for lacerations at Richmond University Medical Center and released. The police said Saturday’s attack was at least the 10th instance in the past four months in which assailants, mostly young black men, have assaulted Mexican immigrants walking in Port Richmond, which has seen the number of Mexican residents climb sharply over the past two decades. The police say they are investigating the latest attack as a hate crime. They also treated the nine earlier cases as hate crimes, though in the three cases in which arrests have been made, grand jurors declined prosecutors’ requests to indict the suspects on hate-crime charges. According to the Rev. Terry Troia, a community advocate on Staten Island, the teenager is a member of a multiethnic antiviolence youth group in Port Richmond. She said he had recently decreased his involvement in the group so that he could work to help support his family. Last week, in response to pleas from residents and the Mexican consul general in New York, the police saturated the neighborhood with officers and surveillance equipment in a show of force intended to curb attacks. Marco, a Mexican immigrant living in Port Richmond who requested that his last name be withheld for fear of reprisals, said he “felt very bad” that the latest attack occurred despite all the police officers in the neighborhood. He ridiculed that surge as merely “a show.” Yet Rubén Beltrán, the consul general, said the reasons for the violence were complex and would take time to address. “I don’t believe there’s a silver bullet that overnight will solve whatever is happening there,” Mr. Beltrán said on Sunday. “I do believe there’s a lot of tension that needs to be solved, and that can only be solved with the participation of the community at large.”

Hate Crimes
Staten Island (NYC)
Port Richmond (NYC)


Advice to Researchers and Reanimating Dead Mice

Abstract: BOOK Letters to a Young Scientist . By Edward O. Wilson. Liveright. 256 pages. $21.95. In this warm guide, Edward O. Wilson, the evolutionary biologist who has studied social behavior among insects and humans, offers advice to aspiring researchers. “The ideal scientist thinks like a poet,” he maintains, stressing the virtues of passion, introversion and dedication. Dr. Wilson draws on his Alabama youth when he explains how to build butterfly nets, wrangle snakes and extract pheromones from honeybees (just crush their heads). A naturalist at heart, he plays down technology, math, even intelligence, proposing that a good scientist should be “bright enough to see what can be done but not so bright as to become bored doing it.” Though mild in tone, the slim book delivers deep insights into how observation and experiment drive theory. FILM Upstream Color . Written and directed by Shane Carruth. Opens April 5 in Manhattan and April 12 nationwide. After the indie time-travel thriller “Primer,” Shane Carruth returns with"Upstream Color,"an open-ended film about a young woman who, after losing her memory to a parasitic worm, meets a similarly afflicted man. The couple’s story is interspersed with shots of living organisms like pigs, flowers and bacteria in cycles of life and death. Some of these natural images are inspired by quirks of animal behavior, like how octopus tentacles keep moving after they are severed and how parasites infect the brains of wasps and ants. Far from a biology lesson, the film investigates the “ways we come up with to explain how we are affected,” the director says, “by things that are too hidden to comprehend.” CLASS Classic and anthropomorphic mouse taxidermy . Acme Studio, 63 N. 3rd St, Brooklyn. March 30 and April 6, 12:30 to 5 p.m. $110. Image A student displays her mouse taxidermy skills. Credit Divya Anantharaman In these beginners’ classes, part of the Morbid Anatomy Art Academy, each student will mount his or her own rodent. At this week’s class (sold out!), students will learn the basics of mouse preservation, like fleshing and tail-stripping, as well as some anatomy to help them “magically reanimate” a specimen. Next week’s class will cover the same techniques, and the art of outfitting the rodents with miniature props like scooters and velvet chairs. “A common misconception is that it’s bloody or gory,” says the instructor, Divya Anantharaman, who has given sparrows, woodchucks and deer some deviant sparkle and flair. She is also planning a squirrel-stuffing seminar in April, but warns aspiring scavengers: “Please do not bring any dead animals with you to class.” TALK Affecting Perception: Art and Autism . With Simon Baron-Cohen and Jon Adams. Magdalen Road Studio, Oxford, England. March 26, 6 p.m. Free. Image A digitally manipulated photograph by Jon Adams, who is part of the talk "Affecting Perception: Art and Autism." Credit Jon Adams At this lecture, the autism researcher Simon Baron-Cohen , known for his early work on “mindblindness,” will discuss his collaboration with Jon Adams, an artist with Asperger’s syndrome. Their work, which involves electronic music made from fMRI scans, will be presented in June at the Arts Catalyst in London. Mr. Adams, a former geologist, will discuss the syndrome’s artistic advantages (pattern-seeking, a mind for details and, in his case, synesthesia) and its disadvantages (social unease, sensory overload). “Imagine a mind that can’t help spotting patterns,” says Dr. Baron-Cohen. “You could either be overwhelmed, which Jon sometimes is, or you could decide to use that talent to explain to the world, ‘I am different.’ ”


Mitsubishi Ultrathin TVs With 3-D Sound

Abstract: Surround sound enhances the big-screen TV experience, but a full set of surround-sound speakers and connecting cables may not enhance your décor. Positioning the speakers properly can be a hassle, too. Two ultrathin large-screen Mitsubishi TVs can deliver that 3-D effect with no external speakers. Each 46-inch LT-46149 ($3,299) and 52-inch LT-52149 ($3,699) includes an “integrated sound projector,” a 16-speaker array that uses timing tricks to create an illusion of sound coming from all sides. Mitsubishi says on-screen menus make it easy to customize the TV’s sound to a room. These TVs are available through major electronic retailers in many areas, and will be widely available by August. Both models display HDTV up to a resolution of 1080p and have features like CableCard slots for viewing digital cable without a set-top box, subwoofer outputs with volume controls on the remote and a U.S.B. port for computers or cameras. You can also display high-definition eye candy — still images downloaded through a service called GalleryPlayer. IVAN BERGER

Mitsubishi Corporation
Television
Loudspeakers


Oregon: Fluoride Measure in Portland Is Defeated

Abstract: Despite the recommendation of public health experts, voters in Portland, Ore., defeated a measure on Tuesday to add fluoride to the water supply by a 60-to-40 percent margin. The result marks the fourth time since 1956 that Portland has rejected fluoridation efforts, and means the city will continue to be the largest metropolitan area in the country without fluoridated water or plans to add it.

Water
Portland Oregon
Voting
Fluoride,Fluoridation
Legislation


More Horses Test Positive for Steroids

Abstract: Seven more horses owned by the Godolphin stable, owned by Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, tested positive for steroids, the British racing authorities said. They include Encke, a 25-1 shot who won the 2012 St. Leger. A test on Encke after the race was negative. The trainer Mahmood al-Zarooni has already been barred for eight years. He has acknowledged giving anabolic steroids to 15 horses in one of the largest doping scandals to hit the sport in Britain .

Steroid
Godolphin
Doping
Horse racing
Mohammed Bin Rashid Al- Maktoum
Mahmood al- Zarooni


Swiss Open Criminal Investigation of Franz Beckenbauer

Abstract: GENEVA — Franz Beckenbauer, one of German soccer’s most famed players and managers, is one of four top officials under investigation for fraud and other offenses related to Germany’s bid to host the 2006 World Cup, the Switzerland attorney general’s office said Thursday. Authorities in Austria and Switzerland searched eight locations — reportedly including a home Mr. Beckenbauer owns in Austria — and questioned a number of individuals Thursday as part of the investigation, which started in November and was set off in part by a wider probe the Swiss authorities are carrying out into corruption at FIFA, the global governing body of soccer. The Swiss investigators are focusing on a payment of 6.7 million euros ($7.5 million) by the German Football Federation, known by its German acronym D.F.B., that was intended to finance a gala staged as part of the country’s efforts to host the World Cup. “The suspects knew that this sum was not being used to fund the gala event, but instead to repay a debt that was not owed by the D.F.B.,” the attorney general’s office said in a statement . Along with Mr. Beckenbauer, who was the head of the organizing committee for the World Cup bid, the attorney general’s office said it was also investigating Horst Schmidt, the committee’s vice president; Theo Zwanziger, a former president of the D.F.B. and former member of the governing council of FIFA; and Wolfgang Niersbach, a current member of FIFA’s ruling council. Mr. Niersbach, who was a vice president of the 2006 World Cup organizing committee in charge of media and marketing, was barred from soccer for a year in July by FIFA’s ethics committee for failing to report findings of unethical conduct and possible conflicts of interest in relation to the World Cup bid. His term on the FIFA council runs until 2019. In addition to fraud, the four men are suspected of money laundering, criminal mismanagement and misappropriation, the Swiss attorney general’s office said. “The presumption of innocence applies to all four,” it added. The investigation, and an earlier one conducted at the request of the D.F.B. , continue to cast a shadow over the reputation of Mr. Beckenbauer, one of Germany’s sports legends. Mr. Beckenbauer captained and managed West Germany to European and World Cup titles before leading the reunited country’s World Cup bid. In October, Mr. Beckenbauer acknowledged a “mistake” in relation to the World Cup bid, but he denied that there had been any corrupt payments to buy votes. The Swiss authorities said they “suspected that the suspects willfully misled their fellow members of the executive board of the organizing committee for the 2006 World Cup.” The statement continued: “This was presumably done by the use of false pretenses or concealment of the truth, thus inducing the other committee members to act in a manner that caused D.F.B. a financial loss.” Switzerland had jurisdiction in the case because payments linked to the transaction involved bank accounts and individuals located there, said Andre Marty, a spokesman for the prosecutor’s office. The latest Swiss inquiry is one of dozens of criminal proceedings authorities in various countries, most notably the United States, have opened into soccer-related corruption. It drew on the investigation of Germany’s World Cup bid by the law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer that was commissioned by the D.F.B. and released in March. That report found no evidence of vote buying in the bidding process, but said that it could not be ruled out. The report also said that it had identified payments whose purpose was unclear that linked Mr. Beckenbauer; the former FIFA president Sepp Blatter; Robert Louis-Dreyfus, the late former chief executive of the German sportswear giant Adidas; and Mohamed bin Hammam, a Qatari member of FIFA’s executive council who was barred from soccer for life in 2012.

Franz Beckenbauer
Soccer
Fraud
Germany
FIFA


Senate Confirms Gayle E. Smith as Head of U.S.A.I.D.

Abstract: WASHINGTON — The Senate on Monday voted to confirm Gayle E. Smith, a former national security aide to President Obama, to lead the United States Agency for International Development , the federal agency responsible for overseas humanitarian issues like feeding refugees, building clinics and distributing foreign aid. The vote was 79 to 7. Ms. Smith is a specialist on Africa who also worked in the Clinton administration as special assistant to the president and senior director for African affairs at the National Security Council. She succeeds Dr. Rajiv Shah, who left the agency in February after five years on the job. Ms. Smith, 59, will lead a federal agency with broad responsibility for overseeing aid and development projects around the world. The agency, which has a $20 billion budget, is also responsible for leading the government’s response to humanitarian disasters like the typhoon in the Philippines , the Ebola epidemic in West Africa and the continuing Syrian refugee crisis . According to her White House biography, Ms. Smith was based in several African countries — Ethiopia, Sudan and Kenya — for over 20 years as a journalist covering military, economic and political affairs for news organizations including the BBC, The Associated Press, Reuters and The Boston Globe. She is a founder of the Enough Project , a nonprofit organization devoted to ending genocide. “In Gayle, the dedicated professionals at U.S.A.I.D. gain a humanitarian and a leader of the highest caliber, with a track record of success to lead them as they continue their crucial work,” Susan E. Rice, the national security adviser, said in a statement. Despite bipartisan support for Ms. Smith in the Senate, her confirmation had been tied up in a partisan fight over nominations. A Senate committee approved her by a voice vote on July 29 with no objections. A full Senate vote on her confirmation had been held up by Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, a Republican presidential candidate, who said over the summer that he would object to any nominees for State Department posts because of his opposition to the nuclear deal with Iran. It was unclear why Mr. Cruz allowed the vote to proceed. Development groups that work with the aid agency praised Ms. Smith’s confirmation. “Gayle brings a depth of development experience not just from Washington, but from working in the field,” said Paul O’Brien, vice president for policy and campaigns at Oxfam America, an aid group in Washington. “We’re optimistic that she is the right person at the right time. So it’s a big thumbs up from us.” Ms. Smith replaces an administrator who has been credited with transforming the organization from a check-writing agency for contractors to one that devises innovative approaches to aid and development. Rather than pouring billions of public dollars into programs to fight poverty, for example, Dr. Shah brought a more private sector approach to development, using loan guarantees to persuade local banks to finance big projects. Under Dr. Shah the agency also gave more of its money directly to foreign development groups and cut back on its use of contractors. Ms. Smith will also have to figure out a way to replicate her predecessor’s skillful dealings with congressional Republicans. Indeed, one of the most ardent supporters of Dr. Shah during his tenure was Senator James M. Inhofe, a Republican from Oklahoma who traveled with Dr. Shah to Ethiopia. “I’m a huge fan of Rajiv Shah,” Mr. Inhofe said last year . “I’m not a fan of U.S.A.I.D., which has all these contractors waiting around at the trough. I love this guy because he is willing to take on these contractors.” Dr. Shah was also widely credited with successfully defending the agency’s budget at a time of belt-tightening and intense partisanship in Congress. Despite his successes, Dr. Shah faced his share of controversy at the agency. The Associated Press reported last year that during his tenure, the aid agency operated a social media account to encourage young Cubans to revolt against the Castro government. The program, which operated in secret, ran out of money in 2012, after two years; Senator Patrick J. Leahy, Democrat of Vermont, called it “dumb, dumb, dumb” after it was disclosed. The Obama administration has since taken steps to normalize relations with Cuba. The agency under Dr. Shah also faced persistent problems in Afghanistan, where it was spending nearly $1 billion a year, more than in any other country. The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction has repeatedly found problems of accountability, corruption and waste in aid programs, problems that are likely to confront Ms. Smith as well.


Ebola’s Mystery: One Boy Lives, Another Dies

Abstract: SUAKOKO, Liberia — Soon after he lost his parents to Ebola, Junior Samuel, 8, slumped in a plastic chair inside a treatment center here, listless, feverish and racked with aches. Within a day, he began bleeding from his gums, a particularly ominous sign. “The kid’s very sick,” Elvis Ogweno, the ambulance supervisor, told a triage nurse when he brought the child in. “There’s no one to take care of him.” Ten days later, 9-year-old Rancy Willie, who had just lost his mother, inched out of a pickup truck in the driveway. Weak, hot with fever and barely able to swallow after lying outdoors for more than a day while awaiting help, he, too, would soon begin bleeding. The boys became roommates at the treatment center, run by the American charity International Medical Corps . They received essentially the same care. But one boy died hours before the other one went home, having recovered. And the fate of a third boy, 5-year-old Williams Beyan, remained unclear. Over and over, doctors here have been confounded by the divergent paths of patients whose cases appeared similar at first. “No matter how long we were there, we didn’t know how to predict it,” said Dr. Steve Whiteley, a California emergency physician who volunteered. They say they have been especially baffled by what Dr. Whiteley called the “light bulb” phenomenon — a patient who appeared to get better, then suddenly died. Wondering why the boys had different outcomes, the physicians asked: Were the children battling different levels of the virus early on? Did one start out healthier? Could their genes or immune systems have helped determine their fate? And what could health workers do to improve children’s chances? The answers are hard to come by. In the absence of much lab testing and research, the disease seems heartbreakingly random. A study published last month in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases showed that children who survived a previous outbreak tended to have higher blood levels of an immune system activator, and those who died tended to have higher levels of substances that indicated dysfunction of the cells lining blood vessels, which can lead to organ failure. Among adults, the amounts of those proteins were not associated with either survival or death. “Kids are not adults,” said Dr. Anita McElroy, an assistant professor at Emory University School of Medicine and one of the authors of the study. “They really are different in how they respond to this virus.” The researchers speculated that children might benefit from certain treatments — perhaps including statin drugs, which act on those cells lining blood vessels — but those possible remedies had not been studied in humans with Ebola and there was a chance that they could worsen outcomes. As in previous, smaller outbreaks, children are underrepresented among Ebola patients in the current epidemic. According to the World Health Organization, those under 15 made up 13 percent of cases in the epidemic’s first nine months, though they accounted for about 43 percent of the population. They may be less exposed to major risk factors, such as caring for sick relatives or preparing bodies for burial. Young people tend to fare better than adults in their 40s or older when they do contract the disease, although some studies have shown that very young children, those under 5, are more vulnerable than older children and young adults. Researchers speculate that the reason may be their immature immune systems, or the possibility that they are exposed to a larger initial dose of virus through close contact with their mothers. Children under 15 as a whole in the current outbreak do not have an overall survival advantage, according to W.H.O. statistics. At the center here, half of the children under 15 have survived, a rate slightly, but not significantly, higher than that of patients over all. Sixteen children in that age group have been discharged or have died since the center opened in mid-September, after being built by the charity Save the Children. Seven are now being treated, as a recent surge in patients has filled the 26-bed confirmed ward to capacity. Junior, who weighed 44 pounds, seemed very ill at admission. He had no relatives to take care of him, and staff members, sweltering in their protective suits, could not always stay long enough to provide comfort. Like the two boys with whom he would share the ward, his viral load was fairly high, a bad sign. He was given an intravenous line and oral liquids with electrolytes to combat dehydration. Over days, his trajectory was noted. Oct. 3: admitted with fever, vomiting, diarrhea, loss of appetite, difficulty swallowing, and pain in his abdomen, chest and head. Oct. 4: bleeding from gums. The only other child in the ward was “scared to death to be in the room with him,” Audrey Rangel, an American nurse, said during rounds. Image Junior Samuel, 8, who survived Ebola, spoke to health workers from the International Medical Corps after being released from the Bong County Ebola Treatment center in Liberia. Credit Daniel Berehulak for The New York Times Oct. 5: diarrhea and vomiting. Oct. 7: stable and “jumping around like crazy pants.” Oct. 10: fever of 102. Rancy Willie arrived three days later. That evening, Ms. Rangel helped lift Rancy off the bed to weigh him. With her goggles fogged, she had a hard time reading the number on the scale — only 37 pounds, it appeared — which was needed to calculate the right doses of medications. Ms. Rangel tied a glove around one limp arm, then the other, apologizing as she searched for a vein to start an IV. Other workers looked, too, and Rancy whimpered as they did, but it was difficult to see well at night in the unit, and the small boy was severely dehydrated. As the nurses held each forearm aloft, Rancy’s hand drooped like a flag. “You’re so brave,” Ms. Rangel said. A colleague inserted the needle but missed his vein. The team decided to wait for morning, when a nurse experienced in pediatrics would be on duty. After wrapping the boy in a fuzzy orange and yellow blanket for the night, Ms. Rangel helped him sit up to drink a rehydration solution. His sips were so small, though, that he barely swallowed anything. Moments later, the nurse heard him moan. He vomited on the bed and over the rail. “O.K., better?” Ms. Rangel asked. Then another wave overtook him. Everyone called Rancy by his last name, “Willie,” because there was no relative to correct them. The little boy’s voice was weak and hard to hear, muffled by the medical workers’ headgear. Rancy was moved into Junior’s room on the ward for confirmed cases. Two nights later, Rancy fell, hit his head and began bleeding profusely. It took an hour and a half for a nurse to come because staff members were busy admitting very sick patients on the ward for suspected cases. “I had to make a choice,” Bridget Ann Mulrooney, an American nurse, explained to her colleagues that night. There was limited time she could spend in her protective suit, and so many competing needs. She had bandaged Rancy and put him to bed, but in the middle of the night he got up, confused, and began wandering around naked. Junior, spooked by what he thought was Rancy’s ghost, fled and found a bed in another part of the ward. Junior no longer had a fever and had begun sitting outside during the day and eating again, his face brightening into a smile whenever he was greeted. Each day, he looked better. A doctor stopped one morning to pick him up and twirl him around. On the night of Oct. 17, his fifth at the center, Rancy moaned and moaned. “Willie, what do you want?” a nurse asked. She and a doctor cleaned his bloody diarrhea and gave him a Tylenol-like painkiller and a sedative to help him sleep. He was bleeding from his eyes, nose and mouth. His sister and a cousin had been admitted and had taken Junior’s place in the room, but they were too sick to offer comfort. Rancy, whose stepfather said he loved dancing and soccer and wanted to be a civil engineer, died before sunrise. That morning, after more than two weeks at the center, Junior was discharged to live with his aunt and uncle, Ebola no longer detectable in his blood. He smiled broadly and said he had not been afraid until people around him began to die. On Friday, he said by phone that he hoped to go to school one day; he had never attended. Image A family photo of Rancy Willie when he was an infant. His stepfather said it was the only remaining photo of the boy. The photo was damaged and others were destroyed when the family's house was sprayed during decontamination for Ebola. Williams was still a patient when Junior left. His father, George Beyan, had been discharged the same day Williams tested positive for Ebola, and aid workers at the center encouraged him to come back to the ward to help care for his son. During triage, a nurse checked off just about every symptom on the case investigation form for Williams: fever; vomiting; pain in his stomach, chest, muscles and joints; difficulty swallowing and breathing; a rash; and red eyes. Over days, Mr. Beyan sat Williams up, encouraged him to eat and drink, asked staff members for extra juice, and even walked him outside to get some fresh air and sunlight. The father sat vigil as Williams napped, and he held him close overnight, wrapped in the same blanket. Mr. Beyan would tell anyone who asked that his son was doing better, little by little. “Small, small,” he would say in Liberian English. The doctors wanted to believe it, too, even as Williams ran high fevers and had continuing diarrhea. After all, Junior’s survival had surprised them, and so had Mr. Beyan’s. He had been staggering when he was admitted in early October, and he had hiccupped for days, a sign strongly associated with death from Ebola at the center. The disease was capricious, the doctors were learning. Williams began crying one evening, after having had a 104-degree fever that day. He had just been outside watching a movie. Then he was gone. “My little boy,” Mr. Beyan sobbed, inconsolable.

Ebola
Liberia
International Medical Corps
Children
Research
Epidemic
Emerging Infectious Diseases Journal


U.S. Will Lag in Tech Growth, Study Says

Abstract: Watching television, gaining access to the Internet and listening to music on mobile phones will be a viable business in the next few years, says a study by a consulting arm of PricewaterhouseCoopers. But while marketers and advertisers have much to cheer in the coming digital revolution, the fastest growth will be in emerging markets, with the United States lagging behind. Overall global consumer spending both online and by mobile phones is expected to grow 21.8 percent annually, to $234 billion by 2012, according to the study which Pricewaterhouse expects to release Wednesday. By contrast, spending in the United States will grow at a rate of 16.1 percent, to $75 billion. The firm said there was more opportunity for Internet and mobile entertainment growth in countries like India and China because people there would use phones as a primary source of entertainment. The good news is that traditional media companies like Time Warner and NBC Universal have less to fear from new media competitors. Stefanie Kane, a partner in the entertainment, media and communications consulting firm, said old media companies would be big players in the digital revolution. “The world is not going to change dramatically,” she said. “The established media companies will dominate revenues for the future.” Of course, there will be some pain in the transition. Mobile and online advertising, which many had hoped would compensate for declines in traditional forms of print and broadcast advertising, has not grown as quickly as the industry has expected. And despite the colliding interests of Hollywood executives and technologists, the cultures are vastly different. “They are coming to the realization that they have to work together,” Ms. Kane said. Indeed, several companies are already testing relationships. Last December, Nokia and the Universal Music Group agreed to offer unlimited, free downloads of Universal songs to buyers of certain Nokia mobile phones. In January, CBS and TiVo, which makes digital video recorders, entered into a research partnership to figure out how to better advertise to consumers. Partnerships, whatever the form, could not come soon enough. Worldwide mobile television subscriptions are expected to grow fivefold to $19 billion, by 2012 compared with $408 million last year, Pricewaterhouse said. The United States is expected to make up $2.1 billion of that 2012 figure. And Pricewaterhouse expects that the online and mobile music distribution will surpass physical distribution by 2011, although music downloaded over the Internet is expected to grow at a greater percentage than music delivered over mobile phones. Stock analysts expect media companies to benefit from the proliferation of so-called smartphones, like the BlackBerry or iPhone , which are minicomputers that consumers carry in their pockets. Of interest to many consumers is using the Internet while on the go. Spending here is expected to grow. According to Pricewaterhouse, both home computer and mobile Internet access in the United States will increase to $69.3 billion in the next five years, from $41.3 billion in 2007. The firm said it did not separate the two categories.

PricewaterhouseCoopers
Computers and the Internet
Third World and Developing Countries
Wireless Communications
Advertising and Marketing
United States Economy


Delta Adds First-Class Seats to Its East Coast Shuttles

Abstract: The East Coast shuttle between major cities used to be an egalitarian affair, with V.I.P.’s forced to battle ordinary travelers for their choice of seats. Not any more. Beginning Dec. 1, Delta Air Lines plans to introduce first-class seats on its shuttle service from La Guardia Airport, joining US Airways , which already offers first-class service. Delta said Friday that it was reconfiguring the MD-88 jets that it uses on the flights from all-coach to two classes of service. There will be 14 seats in first class, and 128 in coach. Delta said it would retain open seating in coach. The airline offers 30 flights a day between La Guardia and Logan Airport in Boston, and another 30 flights between Washington Reagan National and La Guardia. The move comes as airlines have been looking for ways to raise money in the face of volatile prices for jet fuel, which reached record highs over the summer and have recently been rising again. Given that, and the fact that its main competition offers first class, “Why didn’t they do this sooner?” asked Tim Winship, an editor with SmarterTravel.com , a Web site that offers travel advice. “It makes perfect business sense for Delta to do it.” A Delta spokeswoman, Betsy E. Talton, said the airline took the step primarily to make better use of its fleet of MD-88 planes. All except the shuttle jets were configured for two classes of service, she said. Delta plans to begin selling first-class shuttle seats on Saturday. Ms. Talton said those tickets would cost about $100 to $250 more than coach, on a one-way basis, depending on the day and time of travel. A ticket for last-minute travel Friday on the Delta shuttle cost about $329 each way, not including tax. (The airline offers discounts to some corporate customers.) US Airways charges a similar price for a last-minute coach seat; its first-class tickets are $600 each way, not including tax. Other airlines fly between the cities, including American Airlines and JetBlue Airways. Delta said premium members of its SkyMiles program — those who earn at least 25,000 miles a year — would be eligible for complimentary upgrades on shuttle flights. It said it would offer an expanded selection of snacks and cocktails to first-class passengers. Coach passengers will continue to be offered snacks and complimentary beverages, including beer and wine. The airline also said it would keep providing newspapers, coffee and bagels on the ground before its early morning flights. Delta said passengers might notice a mix of first-class and coach seats on its planes during November while its nine shuttle aircraft are converted to the new service. Delta’s decision ends an era in which average fliers found themselves in the same cabin with famous figures in politics, diplomacy and the media on shuttle flights. “It seems kind of sad, in a way,” Mr. Winship said. He recalled taking the shuttle between Washington and New York and seeing the anchorman Dan Rather in a waiting area. “This is kind of cool, when you really are all in this together,” he said. “There was something nicely democratic about not having a partition that there is on most aircraft, separating the people up front from the people in back.” Ms. Talton at Delta said she understood that sentiment, but noted that many shuttle passengers were frequent travelers who would be eligible for upgrades to first class. “So you still might be sitting next to those folks,” Ms. Talton said of the V.I.P.’s.

US Airways
Delta Air Lines Inc
La Guardia Airport (NYC)
Airlines and Airplanes