James and Heat Misfire in Loss to Jazz

Abstract: Marvin Williams scored 23 points, and the rookie Trey Burke hit a jump shot with 24 seconds remaining as the Utah Jazz defeated the Miami Heat, 94-89, on Saturday night. Williams hit two 3-pointers for an 87-79 lead before Miami used a 10-4 run to draw within 2 points on Ray Allen’s 3 from the corner with 46 seconds to play. Burke, who had 13 points, then rose and drained a 19-foot jumper to beat the shot clock, and a Gordon Hayward free throw clinched the win for the Jazz, who have beaten the Heat at home three straight times. Dwyane Wade had 19 points for the Heat, who missed their last four shots from the field. LeBron James was 4 of 13 for 13 points, his lowest scoring total since he had 13 points in a 104-88 win over Atlanta on Nov. 19. Hayward nearly had his first triple-double with 9 points, 11 assists and 9 rebounds while often guarding Wade and James. SUNS 122, WARRIORS 109 Goran Dragic scored 13 of his career-high 34 points in the final seven minutes, and host Phoenix beat depleted Golden State. Dragic also had 10 assists for the Suns (30-20), who pulled a half-game ahead of the Warriors (30-21) for the sixth-best record in the Western Conference. Image The Bobcats’ Al Jefferson went to the basket against Danny Green, left, and Tim Duncan of the Spurs, who won, 104-100. Credit Sam Sharpe/USA Today Sports, via Reuters Stephen Curry had 28 points for the Warriors, who were without the front-line starters Andrew Bogut and David Lee. SPURS 104, BOBCATS 100 Patty Mills scored 18 of his season-high 32 points in the fourth quarter, and Tim Duncan had a double-double to lead visiting San Antonio over Charlotte — the Spurs’ fourth win in five games. Mills was 10 of 13 from the field, including 5 of 5 in the fourth quarter. He also connected on eight of nine foul shots and had four 3-pointers to help the Spurs defeat the Bobcats for the sixth straight time. Duncan finished with 16 points and 13 rebounds for his 22nd double-double of the season. BLAZERS 117, T’WOLVES 110 LaMarcus Aldridge scored 16 of his 26 points in the second half, and Wesley Matthews added 21 to help visiting Portland hold off Minnesota, which was without the All-Star Kevin Love, Nikola Pekovic and Kevin Martin. Corey Brewer led the Timberwolves with 26 points, and Ricky Rubio scored a career-high 25. GRIZZLIES 79, HAWKS 76 Zach Randolph scored 20 points, and Memphis continued its pattern of winning on the road with strong defense. Atlanta had a season scoring low after taking a 29-27 lead into the second quarter. Atlanta was held to a combined 25 points in the second and third periods. Memphis has held eight straight road opponents to no more than 90 points. The Grizzlies, one game under .500 at home, are 14-8 on the road. PISTONS 126, NUGGETS 109 Brandon Jennings had a season-high 35 points to go with 12 assists, and Josh Smith added 30 points as host Detroit beat Denver. Randy Foye led the Nuggets with 25 points, and Wilson Chandler scored 20. Denver lost point guard Ty Lawson because of a back strain in the first half. ROCKETS 101, BUCKS 95 Dwight Howard scored 27 points, including three free throws in the closing seconds, and James Harden scored 10 of his 22 points in the third quarter as visiting Houston held off Milwaukee for its fifth straight victory. Jeremy Lin added 18 points for the Rockets.

Utah Jazz
Miami Heat
LeBron James
Basketball


Timberwolves and Pekovic Reach Deal

Abstract: The Minnesota Timberwolves agreed to terms on a five-year deal with the restricted free-agent center Nikola Pekovic. Flip Saunders, Minnesota’s president of basketball operations, wrote on Twitter that the deal was done. Saunders and Pekovic’s agent, Jeff Schwartz, spent more than a month negotiating the deal, which was completed Wednesday. Pekovic, 27, posted career-high averages of 16.3 points and 8.8 rebounds in 62 games last season for the Timberwolves.


Memphis Runs Past Gonzaga to Reach 19-0

Abstract: Chris Douglas-Roberts scored 21 points and Derrick Rose added 19 as No. 1 Memphis remained undefeated with an 81-73 victory over Gonzaga on Saturday. This was the first time in school history the Tigers got to play on their own court as the top-ranked team, and they trailed for only a little more than a minute late in the first half before a sold-out crowd. The Tigers (19-0) extended the nation’s longest home winning streak to 43 straight by showing off their athleticism and running over Gonzaga (15-5), which had a six-game winning streak. The Bulldogs took Memphis to overtime before losing in Seattle last season. This time, they had to be happy with keeping within single digits at the end. Antonio Anderson added 12 points for Memphis, and Joey Dorsey had 9 points and 13 rebounds before fouling out late. John Calipari joined Larry Finch as the only Memphis coaches with at least 200 wins, improving to 200-63 in his eighth season. Jeremy Pargo led Gonzaga with 25 points, and Josh Heytvelt added 13 and Micah Downs 11. Matt Bouldin was held to 6 points, well below his team-leading average of 14.7. The Bulldogs cut their deficit to 62-55 on a 3-point play by Bouldin with 8 minutes 8 seconds left. Rose answered with two free throws, the Tigers forced Gonzaga into a shot clock violation and Douglas-Roberts hit the first of two at the line. Rose added a jumper, then Douglas-Roberts dunked for a 69-55 lead with 5:52 to go. The Bulldogs made it a 6-point game inside the final minute but got no closer even though Memphis went just 6 of 12 from the line. Memphis made its case for staying No. 1 this time around. The Tigers lost on the road at Virginia Tech six hours after moving atop the rankings on Jan. 10, 1983. They won a road game later that week but fell out of that spot in the next poll. These Tigers played at Tulsa on Wednesday night, which made this nonconference game that much more special. And seats were filled for the morning tip-off. Memphis dominated on the boards behind Dorsey (40-28) but hurt Gonzaga most with 23 fast-break points — 21 off turnovers. The Tigers opened the game by scoring the first 10 points and bringing fans to their feet. Dorsey, who grabbed 19 rebounds against Tulsa, had six of their first nine rebounds. Memphis led by 25-13 on a 3-pointer by Doneal Mack and seemed on their way to a rout. Gonzaga settled down and finally got a chance to get into a zone defense, which helped slow the Tigers. Pargo’s basket started a 19-5 run that was capped by consecutive 3-pointers from Downs, the second with 2:16 left giving the Bulldogs their first lead of the game at 32-30. Douglas-Roberts tipped in his miss, then Rose rebounded Dorsey’s missed layup in the air and slammed it down to beat the buzzer for a 35-32 halftime lead. The Tigers opened the second half much as they ended the first as Douglas-Roberts dunked in the opening seconds. Memphis scored 7 of the first 9 points for a 42-34 lead on Anderson’s fast-break dunk after Dorsey blocked Bouldin’s layup. That prompted a timeout by Gonzaga Coach Mark Few. It did not help as Douglas-Roberts was fouled after the timeout, and hit both free throws to give Memphis a 44-34 lead. NOTRE DAME 90, VILLANOVA 80 Kyle McAlarney scored 30 points, and Luke Harangody had 25 points and 10 rebounds to help visiting Notre Dame deal No. 18 Villanova its second consecutive loss. Rob Kurz added 12 points for the Irish (14-4, 4-2 Big East), who hit nine 3-pointers and shot 51 percent from the field to get their first conference road win. Antonio Pena scored 17 points, and Corey Fisher and Scottie Reynolds each had 13 for slumping Villanova (13-5, 3-4). The Wildcats allowed 80-plus points for the second consecutive game after an 80-68 loss at Rutgers on Wednesday, capping a miserable week that will most likely knock them out of the top 25. Malcolm Grant, who provided a late burst of scoring and energy off the bench, connected on a 3-pointer with 1:13 left that cut the Wildcats’ deficit to 7 points. But Harangody then sealed the win with an open, thunderous dunk off the break. McAlarney, held to only 10 points in Notre Dame’s 19-point loss at No. 9 Georgetown last week, spurred the Irish to their first win over a ranked team in three games this season. He was 10 of 16 from the field and went 5 for 9 from 3-point range to help bust the game open early. McAlarney hit a 3-pointer and Ryan Ayers, whose father once coached the Philadelphia 76ers in the same arena, followed with a 3-pointer to stretch Notre Dame’s lead to 57-41 midway through the second half. The Wildcats do not have a senior on the roster and their regular rotation is stocked with freshmen and sophomores. Villanova’s Corey Stokes hit two 3-pointers and Reggie Redding hit a runner that pulled the Wildcats to 59-49. But McAlarney burst through the lane for a layup and Harangody converted a 3-point play that made it 65-51. McAlarney followed with another 3-pointer that sent the Wildcats into a timeout hearing boos from a packed Wachovia Center.

Basketball
College Athletics
Gonzaga University


Lee Slattery Wins in Moscow

Abstract: Lee Slattery of England bounced back from an erratic start with a two-under-par 69 that was enough for a 15-under total of 269 and a one-shot victory over Estanislao Goya of Argentina at the Russian Open in Moscow.


Shortstop Provides Lift, but the Mets Fall

Abstract: The Mets, starved for runs, appeared to trade offense for defense when they recalled shortstop Wilmer Flores from the minor leagues on Friday. Flores, considered a good hitter, is something of a positional conundrum. He began his career as a shortstop before being moved around the infield when the Mets deemed that his 6-foot-3 frame would outgrow the position. Clearly his bat would be what would get him to the majors and the team would figure out where to put him in the field. Without any other alternatives at shortstop other than the disappointing Ruben Tejada, the Mets opted before the season to put Flores back at shortstop, where he had not played since 2011. The Mets believed Friday was the best time to call him up from Class AAA Las Vegas since they were in the midst of a scoring drought that had reached 23 innings — and Flores was in the midst of an offensive surge in the minors. The Mets broke their scoreless streak in the first inning Friday but fell to the Philadelphia Phillies, 3-2, in 11 innings at Citi Field. After the early offense, the Mets waited seven innings for another run, when David Wright’s double in the eighth tied the game at 2-2. But Marlon Byrd’s run-scoring double against reliever Carlos Torres in the 11th inning sent the Mets to a fourth consecutive loss and the seventh defeat in their last eight games. The Mets stranded 15 runners. The teams combined to leave 32 runners on base. “It’s obviously a concern,” Wright said of the runners left on base. “It would be more of a concern if we weren’t getting guys on.” Flores had two hits, and played relatively solid defensive in his debut at shortstop, although his strikeout with runners on second and third and one out in the fifth was one of the Mets’ missed opportunities. Manager Terry Collins said he was not willing to sacrifice anything offensively with Flores despite the team’s obvious needs at the plate. The Mets do not have a pitching rotation known for its strikeouts so Flores needs to be able to make plays defensively. In the first inning, Flores ably fielded a ground ball up the middle hit by Chase Utley, but he bobbled the transfer to his throwing hand allowing Utley to reach safely. In the second inning, Flores fielded a ground ball but took several steps in order to set up his throw, although he did nab Domonic Brown at first. Flores was flawless in two other chances — a fielder’s choice ground ball in the eighth and a liner in the 10th. “I saw him make the routine plays, which is what you want,” Collins said. “I thought he did well.” Flores was also pleased. “I’m very happy with what I did out there,” he said. “Pretty comfortable.” Entering Friday, Mets shortstops had combined for a .190 average and .517 on-base plus slugging percentage, which ranked second to last in the National League. Clearly the Mets needed to make a change. Flores would be a welcome addition to the lineup, but in 25 games with Las Vegas, he had already committed seven errors. In order to improve his quickness, Flores participated in the team’s unofficial off-season conditioning camp in Plymouth, Mich. While in Las Vegas, he worked on several drills to improve his reaction time. Before the game Flores said he would prove to people that he could be a regular shortstop in the majors. He did so for at least one night. INSIDE PITCH Mets pitcher Matt Harvey, who is recovering from off-season elbow ligament replacement surgery, threw from 120 feet for the first time on Friday. Harvey, who had been throwing from 90 feet, said that he was scheduled to first throw from a mound on June 10. First baseman Lucas Duda spent pregame Friday at a hospital receiving fluids because of the flu. Duda rejoined the team before the start of the game but was unavailable. Terry Collins said Duda would most likely not be available Saturday either.


In Tight Republican Race, DioGuardi Is Chosen to Face Gillibrand

Abstract: Joseph J. DioGuardi , a former congressman from Westchester County, emerged from a field of little-known candidates on Tuesday as the Republican choice to take on Senator Kirsten E. Gillibrand in the November election. Mr. DioGuardi eked out a narrow victory in a sleepy race — a sign, campaign analysts said, of the formidable odds facing Republicans as they try to unseat Ms. Gillibrand, an upstate Democrat who has made inroads with centrist voters. With 86 percent of precincts reporting, Mr. DioGuardi had 42 percent of the vote, while David Malpass, a former chief economist at Bear Stearns, had 38 percent. A third candidate, Bruce A. Blakeman, a former Nassau County legislator, trailed with 20 percent. In a separate Republican primary on Tuesday, Jay Townsend , the founder of a market research and consulting firm in Cornwall-on-Hudson, N.Y., won the right to challenge Charles E. Schumer, the incumbent Democrat, for New York’s other Senate seat. With counting nearly complete, Mr. Townsend defeated Gary Berntsen, a former C.I.A. officer, by 56 percent to 44 percent. Mr. Townsend will also face difficult odds. Polls show that Mr. Schumer, first elected in 1998, is a favorite to easily win a third term despite efforts by Republicans to portray him as a creature of Washington who has done little to jump-start the economy. Mr. Townsend said he was unfazed. “This election is not a referendum on the size of Chuck Schumer’s war chest; it is a referendum on his record,” Mr. Townsend said in a telephone interview. “I intend to make him defend it.” Ms. Gillibrand was favored over whichever Republican she faced, because she is well financed and well known and has made efforts to build bipartisan support. In his victory speech, Mr. DioGuardi acknowledged obstacles he faced. “This is a tough state for a conservative Republican to win in,” Mr. DioGuardi said. But he added: “The times have changed, the people are angry, they’re mad, and they want change. We’re at the right place at the right time.” On Tuesday, Ms. Gillibrand handily fended off a long-shot challenge from Gail Goode, a New York City lawyer, in the Democratic primary. Conservatives hope Ms. Gillibrand’s status as an incumbent will make her vulnerable at a time when populist anger has seized much of the country. Critics say that because she was appointed to the Senate, rather than elected, Ms. Gillibrand may have trouble energizing voters. Gov. David A. Paterson chose Ms. Gillibrand to replace Hillary Rodham Clinton last year; Ms. Gillibrand has never run in a statewide race. All three of Ms. Gillibrand’s Republican challengers made shaking up Washington and reining in profligate spending a centerpiece of their campaigns. They sought to tie Ms. Gillibrand to Mr. Paterson and to portray her as a darling of the establishment who voted for extravagant federal spending. Given widespread distress over the economy, each candidate also made a concerted effort to prove his private-sector prowess. Mr. DioGuardi talked up his credentials as a certified public accountant. But no matter how hard the Republicans tried to set themselves apart, Ms. Gillibrand’s perceived strength loomed over the campaign, making it difficult to garner attention from the news media attention or to build vast networks of supporters.

New York City
Gillibrand Kirsten E
DioGuardi Joseph J
Townsend Jay
Primaries and Caucuses


The Quadrangle Group Is Said to Win a Confidence Vote

Abstract: The private investment firm co-founded by Steven Rattner , the Treasury official leading the White House’s efforts to revamp the auto industry, has won a vote of confidence among its investors, according to a person briefed on the matter, relieving some of the pressure on the firm. Investors in the firm, the Quadrangle Group, could have tried to cancel their future payments to it and block it from making new bets. The vote, which ended Friday, was set off by Mr. Rattner’s departure in February, when he took the Treasury post. It is a tense time for Quadrangle, a division of which manages the fortune of New York’s mayor, Michael R. Bloomberg. It is one of the most well-known firms now embroiled in an investigation by the New York attorney general into investments made by the New York State pension fund. Mr. Rattner was personally involved in discussions with officials at several pension funds that had invested in Quadrangle. State and federal authorities contend that he hired a firm that had been run by Hank Morris, a now-indicted associate of New York’s former comptroller, to help gain business in New York. While the New York pension fund accounted for just 5 percent of the money in one of Quadrangle’s funds, the state’s prestige helped Mr. Rattner attract other big investors. Hiring placement advisers like Mr. Morris can be legal but can also raise ethical questions. In addition, a Securities and Exchange Commission complaint related to the matter says that a company owned by one of Quadrangle’s funds agreed to a movie distribution deal that benefited a state official, David Loglisci, who has also been indicted. Neither Mr. Rattner nor Quadrangle has been charged with wrongdoing, but both remain under investigation. At stake in the vote over Quadrangle’s future was the firm’s ability to use about $200 million for new investments. Private equity investors typically commit to finance investments in the future, but when an executive like Mr. Rattner departs, there are often clauses that allow them to try to back out. Had Quadrangle lost the vote, its fees could have been reduced sharply. A losing vote also would have signaled an erosion of investor confidence, which could have made it hard for the firm to raise more money. New York City’s comptroller, William C. Thompson Jr., said in a statement on Friday that three pension funds in the city would vote to cut off Quadrangle. But individual investors were not allowed to pull their money on their own. A majority of the fund’s investors, weighted by the size of their investment, had to vote against Quadrangle for any change to be made. Other pension investors in Quadrangle include Calpers, the big California pension fund; Calstrs, the state’s retirement fund for teachers; and New Jersey’s pension fund. It is not known how they voted. Quadrangle’s funds have suffered during the economic downturn but not as much as some other private equity funds. Mr. Rattner is still a substantial investor in the funds, though he is no longer involved in its operations. Mr. Rattner worked as a reporter for The New York Times before he went into investment banking in the 1980s.

Quadrangle Group
Pensions and Retirement Plans
Securities and Commodities Violations
Rattner Steven L


Paper or Plastic? Britain Joining Currency Trend

Abstract: OTTAWA — It took only 900 years, but paper money is fading away. As a new technology, plastic bank notes, becomes more popular around the world, people will have to get used to money that is slipperier but less grimy and harder to fold into origami cranes but more likely to survive washing machines. The decline of one of the world’s greatest inventions gained momentum on Wednesday when Britain announced that the British pound, a reserve currency that has been printed on cotton-based paper for 300 years, will be made from plastic. Britain is the latest nation to replace paper bills — starting with the £5 and £10 notes — with plastic ones. Canada and Australia have already made the switch, as have about two dozen other countries. Others, although not the United States, are expected to follow suit. The reason is simple enough: Plastic — or polymer, as it is called — holds up better than paper. It is also a lot harder to counterfeit. Governments worry about such things, with good reason. But that is not what people who must now use polymer bills are concerned about. When Canada began introducing polymer notes in 2011, people grumbled about their slipperiness and their foldability. They thought the plastic bills would melt on hot radiators or car dashboards. Some people convinced themselves that the notes were infused with a maple syrup scent, a notion that the Bank of Canada dismisses. “One of the more improbable urban myths was that the intense heat in Canada caused the notes to melt,” Mark Carney, governor of the Bank of England and previously governor of the Bank of Canada, said at a news conference on Wednesday announcing the notes. “I can assure you that wasn’t the case. Nor has the intense cold in Canada caused them to malfunction.” If a car interior got hot enough to melt a bill — that would be 284 degrees Fahrenheit, or 140 degrees Celsius — the car’s interior plastics would begin to sag like a Salvador Dalí watch. Polymer bills can withstand temperatures as low as minus 103 Fahrenheit (minus 75 Celsius), said Richard Wall, the director of currency at the Bank of Canada. Image Paolo Di Rienzo tallies cash at his deli in Ottawa. All Canadian currency, like Australia’s, is made of polymer. Credit Dave Chan for The New York Times In an unscientific test using a household oven set to 280 degrees Fahrenheit, a new Canadian 5-dollar note did not melt. But after eight minutes, it started to smell bad, shrink substantially and curl markedly. Its translucent security features also became opaque blobs. Now that Canada has completed the transition, the complaints are fewer. But not everyone already using the new money is enthusiastic. Here in Ottawa, about a mile south of the future new home of Canadian Bank Note Company , which prints the country’s bills, is Di Rienzo Grocery and Deli, where about 300 sandwiches are snapped up each day by a steady stream of customers for 5 Canadian dollars apiece — cash only. In the two years since the Bank of Canada first introduced polymer bills, Paolo Di Rienzo, the owner of the impossibly crowded and chaotic deli, has developed a long list of grievances. He says the bills stick to one another. Yet he also says their slippery surface allows them to slip easily, unnoticed, out of pockets. The light, springy bills sometimes leap out of the cash register, according to Mr. Di Rienzo. And, he says, polymer does not really fold. “You have to really watch when they give you the money and when you give the money back,” Mr. Di Rienzo said. “The other ones were much better, the regular ones.” Overhearing Mr. Di Rienzo while waiting for a sandwich, Domenico Nicolo, a taxi driver, pulled out a 100-dollar polymer note and began rubbing what he said was its excessively slippery surface. “A lot of people complain about them,” Mr. Nicolo said of his customers. He now checks much more carefully for bills that have stuck together. The only good thing Mr. Nicolo could say about polymer bills was that they survived accidental trips through washing machines. One factor trumped everything when it came to Canada’s decision to use polymer. “It was all about improving the security of bank notes,” Mr. Wall said. “We had a fairly substantial level of counterfeiting in 2004.” Image An Australian 10-dollar bill. Credit Courtesy The Banknote Book While Canada had already incorporated various holographic security devices in its paper bills, polymer enabled more complex protection. The new Canadian bills have a transparent window that contains large, color-shifting images of Parliament buildings and a portrait of Queen Elizabeth, Canada’s formal head of state, or famous Canadian politicians. Small metallic details, including the note’s denomination, also swirl around in the window. A circle of numbers appears in a second tiny window shaped like a maple leaf, the national symbol. It was the success Canada and other countries have had in warding off counterfeiters that prompted the Bank of England to consider plastic currency, according to Victoria Cleland, the head of the bank’s notes division. “With bank notes, you want to understand how things have worked in true-life testing,” Ms. Cleland said. The Bank of England made its decision on polymer notes after a long process in which the public was able to view and feel the bills during events at several malls and universities. The bank said 87 percent of the people it talked to supported the move. The first polymer note in Britain, a “fiver,” will be released in 2016 and will feature Winston Churchill. A year later, Jane Austen will appear on a £10 note. Mr. Carney reassured the British public that the queen’s visage would also appear on both notes. “Our polymer notes will combine the best of progress and tradition.” He also said it would make the British pound decidedly more presentable. “We have a bit of an issue in this country with the tattiness of notes over time. You think about the £5 note: Quite often you get one you want to get rid of it as quickly as possible.” “Which is a good thing from an economic perspective, to some extent,” he said with a laugh.

Plastic
Currency
British Pound
Canada
Australia
Great Britain


In Europe, Fears of a Deeper Crisis Are Intensifying

Abstract: After a brief respite following the announcement last week of a nearly $1 trillion bailout plan for Europe , fear in the financial markets is building again, this time over worries that the Continent’s biggest banks face strains that will hobble European economies. In a sign of the depth of the anxiety , the euro fell Friday to its lowest level since the depth of the financial crisis , as investors abandoned the currency as well as stocks in favor of gold and other assets seen as offering more safety. In trading early Monday morning, the euro declined again, managing at one time to reach a four-year low relative to the dollar . The president of the European Central Bank , Jean-Claude Trichet , in an interview published Saturday, warned that Europe was facing “severe tensions” and that the markets were fragile. For Europe’s banks, the problems are twofold. Short-term borrowing costs are rising, which could lead institutions to cut back on new loans and call in old ones, crimping economic growth. At the same time, seemingly safe institutions in more solid economies like France and Germany hold vast amounts of bonds from their more shaky neighbors, like Spain , Portugal and Greece . Investors fear that with many governments groaning under the weight of huge deficits, the debt of weaker nations that use the euro currency will have to be restructured, deeply lowering the value of their bonds. That would hit European financial institutions hard, and may ricochet through the global banking system. Bourses and bank shares in Europe plunged on Friday because of these fears, with Wall Street following suit. Shares were also down in Tokyo and Australia in early trading on Monday. “This bailout wasn’t done to help the Greeks; it was done to help the French and German banks,” said Niall Ferguson , an economic historian at Harvard. “They’ve poured some water on the fire, but the fire has not gone out.” The European rescue plan, totaling 750 billion euros, is intended to head off the risk of default but would vastly increase borrowing. That could hamstring Europe’s nascent recovery. Indeed, it was too much debt that caused the problem in the first place: a new report by the International Monetary Fund warns that “high levels of public indebtedness could weigh on economic growth for years.” The world’s budget deficit as a percentage of gross domestic product now stands at 6 percent, up from just 0.3 percent before the financial crisis. If public debt is not lowered back to precrisis levels, the I.M.F. report said, growth in advanced economies could decline by half a percentage point annually. To be sure, not all of the trends are negative. A lower euro will actually make European exports — be it German automobiles or Italian leather — more affordable and more competitive around the world. And Greece, Spain and Portugal took the first steps last week toward enacting austerity measures that would reduce their budget deficits. Those steps were not enough to prevent a flare-up in money market funds, a crucial but little-noticed corner of the financial system in which American investors provide more than $500 billion in short-term loans to help European banks finance their daily operations. The cash comes from conservative funds that hold the savings of big American corporations and individual American consumers. So far, the proposed rescue package has failed to ease worries at these funds, which have cut back on loans to European banks and are demanding higher rates and quicker repayment. “More people are making the yes or no decision to pull out of the market and keep their money closer to home,” said Lou Crandall, the chief economist of Wrightson ICAP, a money market research firm. Initially, it was Greek and Portuguese banks that got the cold shoulder from American lenders. But over the last two weeks big banks in Spain, Ireland and Italy have struggled to secure short-term funds from the United States as the anxiety has spread. By Friday, even banks in solid European economies like France, Germany and the Netherlands were caught in the undertow, according to market analysts and traders. “Investors are waiting to see whether the stability package can be put into place,” said Alex Roever, a short-term fixed-income analyst for J.P. Morgan Securities. “Until investors get a better feel, we are hung in limbo.” Because of the pullback by American lenders, the rate banks charge one another for overnight loans, known as Libor for the London Interbank Offered Rate, has been steadily climbing. And the significance of Libor stretches far beyond Europe’s shores: that is the benchmark that helps determine the interest rate on many mortgages and credit cards held by American consumers. Bank borrowing rates are still well below where they were at the height of the crisis. Fears that the problems in Europe could rebound in the United States, however, led the Federal Reserve to restart lines of credit to the European Central Bank and other central banks in conjunction with the European rescue package announced a week ago. The move ensured that European institutions would be able to borrow dollars to lend to their clients, but that is more expensive than relying on private investors. “We didn’t do so out of any special love for Europe,” Narayana R. Kocherlakota, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, told a group of small-business owners in Wisconsin on Thursday. “We’re American policy makers, and we make decisions to keep the American economy strong.” However, he said, “The liquidity problems in European markets were showing signs of creating dangerous illiquidity problems in our own country’s financial markets.” That is not the only domino that could fall. While the direct exposure of American banks to Greece is minimal, American financial institutions are closely intertwined with many big European banks, which in turn have large investments in the weaker European nations. For example, Portuguese banks owe $86 billion to their counterparts in Spain, which in turn owe German institutions $238 billion and French banks $220 billion. American banks are also big owners of Spanish bank debt, holding nearly $200 billion, according to the Bank for International Settlements, a global organization serving central bankers. Furthermore, financial policy makers find themselves running out of weapons in their arsenal. After borrowing trillions to stimulate their economies and ease credit concerns during the last wave of fear in late 2008 and early 2009, governments cannot borrow trillions more without risking higher inflation and shoving aside other borrowers like individuals and companies. Short-term interest rates, already near zero in the United States, cannot be lowered any further. And vital steps like raising taxes or cutting spending increases could snuff out the beginnings of a recovery in northern Europe and worsen the pain in recession -battered economies like Spain, where unemployment recently passed 20 percent. With the exception of wartime, “the public finances in the majority of advanced industrial countries are in a worse state today than at any time since the industrial revolution,” Willem Buiter, Citigroup ’s top economist, wrote in a recent report. “Restoring fiscal balance will be a drag on growth for years to come.”

Euro
Europe
Economy
European Central Bank
Jean-Claude Trichet
Debt


Man Arrested in Bomb Scare at Airport

Abstract: By The Associated Press A Vermont man was arrested yesterday on charges of putting a fake bomb in a bag at a parking lot at Kennedy International Airport, officials said. The man’s action caused traffic to be halted for hours on Thursday night. The man, Peter Gonick, 55, of Island Pond, Vt., was accused of reckless endangerment and putting a fake bomb at a transportation facility, said Pasquale DiFulco, a spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey . Mr. DiFulco said Mr. Gonick was questioned after his vehicle was found parked near where the bag had been placed. The bag contained a powdery substance, but a hazardous-materials team deemed it nonhazardous, Mr. DiFulco said. Around 1 a.m., the authorities started to allow traffic to resume at Terminals 1, 2 and 3, opposite the parking lot. Public transportation also resumed service to the area. People who had been forced to remain in Terminal 1 were allowed to leave. Mr. DiFulco said airport operations returned to normal yesterday.


Newtown Weighs What to Do With Adam Lanza’s Home

Abstract: Randall Bell makes house calls in some of the world’s most forbidding places. And not just any houses, but properties touched by carnage, natural disasters and other headline-grabbing tragedies. So when the distress call came six months ago from Hudson City Savings Bank, Mr. Bell accepted the assignment. The house the bank wished to consult him about in Newtown, Conn., may have been considered attractive once, with its yellow facade, Colonial-style dormers and spacious two-acre lot. That was before Dec. 14, 2012. Now it is reviled, a painful reminder of the day when one of its occupants, Adam Lanza , killed his mother in her four-poster bed, and then gunned down 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary, his former school. The last life he took, as the police closed in, was his own. Two years after the shooting, Newtown is finally ready to wrestle with the gnawing question of what to do with the house at 36 Yogananda Street and the painful memories it arouses. There are no easy answers. Many would like to see it razed and the property returned to woodland so that every hint of what stands there eventually disappears. The town recently acquired the parcel for $1, through the generosity of the bank that reclaimed the house when the estate of Nancy Lanza, Adam’s mother, stopped paying the balance on a $400,000 mortgage. Town officials may yet conclude that they overpaid or took on too much if they cannot find a plan for the property that satisfies residents. Calling it distressed or impaired, as if the home simply had termites, would be a gross understatement. The stain it carries is far too vast. Knowing that Mr. Lanza, a 20-year-old recluse who had shown signs of mental illness, trawled websites glorifying mass murder and hatched his own awful plot from inside the house has local residents avoiding the area even as it generates unwelcome traffic from curiosity-seekers. Enter Mr. Bell, a real estate professional in Laguna Beach, Calif., who specializes in offering advice about properties that carry a stigma or are otherwise ruined. “Every disaster has these highly charged emotional issues, but they also have these practical issues and I’m very interested in trying to make things a little better,” said Mr. Bell, an appraiser and broker by trade, whose work has taken him to plenty of crime scenes. He has provided consulting services on the townhouse in the Brentwood section of Los Angeles where Nicole Brown Simpson, O. J. Simpson’s former wife, was murdered in 1994; the home in Boulder, Colo., where JonBenet Ramsey, age 6, was found strangled in 1996; and the mansion near San Diego where 39 members of the Heaven’s Gate cult committed mass suicide in 1997. (The Brentwood townhouse was bought in 1996 after the price was dropped; the Boulder home was bought in 1998 by a group of investors and is back on the market; and the mansion was torn down and a new home built on the site.) Even Lizzie Borden’s house in Massachusetts, now a bed-and-breakfast, warranted a visit. “Time does heal a lot of those things, at least financially,” Mr. Bell noted. In Newtown, where memories are still fresh, ownership of the house would have passed earlier this year from Ms. Lanza, who was divorced in 2009, through her estate to a surviving son, Ryan. Living out of state for some time, he showed little interest in salvaging the property and relinquished his claim on the house in return for being released from any further responsibility for the mortgage. That cleared the way for Hudson City Savings Bank, as the entity that extended the mortgage, to take possession. Beyond the loss that the bank expected to take on the mortgage, assuming the house proved unsalable, it had expended considerable money trying to make the property less of an eyesore. It replaced the plywood that had been used to secure the house after the police entered with proper doors. It hired people to manicure the lawn and tidy up the flower beds. And it wanted to do more for the town, even though it does not have a branch in Newtown. “This is not about the money,” said Bill LaCalamito, a senior vice president in the mortgage-servicing department. To accomplish that, it hired Mr. Bell to research all options. One recommendation he made that was swiftly acted upon was to dispose of all contents and furnishings, down to the play set out back, in a way that would ensure that no disturbing souvenirs would turn up later. Mr. Bell was also authorized by the bank to approach E. Patricia Llodra, the town’s first selectwoman, to see what she wanted done with the property and convey the message that the bank would do its best to ensure that it happened. Ms. Llodra suggested that the town be given direct control over the parcel. “Making decisions about the property is part of what empowers us that we are back in control of our destiny,” she said. She is waiting until after the coming anniversary and the holidays to consult constituents on the topic. The Newtown-Sandy Hook Community Foundation has received some early feedback from residents as part of a survey of community needs that it conducted in the spring. Though the Lanza house was not broached specifically in the questions, it came up repeatedly in comments that respondents wrote before returning the survey. “The overwhelming response we got from the survey is just to have the land taken over by woodland,” Jennifer Barahona, the foundation’s executive director, said, “to raze the house and have nothing there.”

Adam Lanza
Randall
Bell
Housing
Nancy Lanza
Real Estate
Sandy Hook Elementary Shooting
Newtown CT


Royals’ Patience Finally Rewarded With Playoff Push

Abstract: KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Salvador Perez was 16 and living in Venezuela when he signed with the Kansas City Royals for $65,000 in 2006. He knew the Royals played major league baseball, he said Monday, but not much else. That was probably for the best. “I feel so happy when I signed,” Perez said by his locker at Kauffman Stadium. “But after that, we have to go through some process to make it.” Process has been the buzzword here for years, a plea from the front office to a restless fan base. The Royals have gone longer without a postseason appearance than any other team in the four major American professional sports, a drought that stretches to their victory in the 1985 World Series . Trust the process, the team has said, and at last, the results are showing. The Royals, at 79-72, are fighting for one of the American League’s two wild-card spots. After splitting the first two games of their series this week with the Cleveland Indians, they are tied with the Yankees at three and a half back, trailing Cleveland and Baltimore for the spots held by Tampa Bay and Texas. “This is what baseball’s all about,” said starter James Shields, who struck out 10 in six innings in a victory Monday. “This is where we want to be. We can pull it off, absolutely. We’ve just got to keep winning games.” The crowd was enthusiastic Monday — one man reveled in jiggling his supersize gut for the cameras — but just 15,413 fans showed up under threatening skies. The crowd was bigger Tuesday, but the Royals are averaging only 21,340 per game, down a bit from last season, when they hosted the All-Star Game. They have not averaged 25,000 since 1991. Dayton Moore, the general manager, grew up here in the glory years of the 1970s and 1980s, rooting for the Royals. He has built a roster with emerging stars who may stick around, and said fans had started to identify with Perez, Billy Butler, Alex Gordon, Eric Hosmer and others. “To me, that’s huge as we grow our organization — you grow new fans,” Moore said. “One of the frustrating things with this fan base, simply, is this: You have parents and grandparents who grew up loving the Royals because they always won. And then they had kids and grandkids, and they grew up liking the Red Sox and the Yankees and the Phillies and the Braves because those are the teams that were winning. Image The Royals’ Salvador Perez applying a tag against the Mariners. Through Monday, Kansas City was 36-22 since the All-Star break. Credit Ed Zurga/Getty Images “It created frustration in the community, and Kansas City is a very proud community. A lot of people come back here to live; it’s a nice quality of life. People want to be able to root for the Royals.” Finally, they have a compelling reason. The Royals have come alive since the All-Star break, with a 36-23 record through Tuesday that was a game behind Detroit for the best in the American League. The right to play important games in mid-September has validated the latest rebuilding effort. Several attempts failed before Moore arrived, and his has taken seven years to blossom. Many of the players have come through the farm system together, striving for games like these. “It’s pretty cool seeing the front office, your minor league directors and farm directors, come in and watch the games when we’re still in it and still have a chance in September,” said Hosmer, a first baseman hitting .302. “We know all the work we’ve done to get to this point, and this is the final project up here. We’ve got a lot of guys that have put together some good seasons, and we’re heading in the right direction.” The Royals may run out of time in their playoff push; the field is crowded, and just 11 games remain. But if they make it, the Royals could be tough to knock out. They would have momentum, and they do a few things very well. The Royals are a team of extremes. They rank first in the league in stolen bases and their hitters have the fewest strikeouts — but also the fewest home runs. Their pitching staff has the best earned run average in the league, at 3.50, and a sturdy, rebuilt rotation has kept the bullpen rested and dominant. The Royals’ bullpen E.R.A. is 2.60, the best in the league, although the relievers wasted a strong major league debut by the hard-throwing Yordano Ventura on Tuesday, squandering a 3-1 lead in the Indians’ 5-3 victory. “They’re a good bullpen — every last one of their dudes throw hard,” said the Indians’ Michael Bourn, who homered and tripled. “You’ve got to be ready and try to do what you can against them. That doesn’t happen often against them, but we were able to get them tonight.” The Royals have played so well that losses like Tuesday’s are surprising. They were routine in May, when the team reassigned its hitting coaches and installed the Hall of Famer George Brett in the role, temporarily, with Pedro Grifol. Image Fans at Kauffman Stadium in a game against the Yankees in 1999. The Royals were averaging 21,336 fans a game this year. Credit Orlin Wagner/Associated Press While Grifol focused on mechanics, Hosmer said, Brett emphasized attitude in his two months on the job. He implored hitters never to let a starter leave the game without inflicting some kind of damage on him. That jolt of positive thinking, along with more selectivity at the plate and the discipline to go to center field and the opposite way, has helped Hosmer revive his season. His 143 hits since May 19 are the most in the majors in that span. Hosmer also credited Shields, who came from Tampa Bay last winter in a deal for the top prospect Wil Myers, with imparting a winning approach. Shields took an active role in pitchers’ pregame meetings, and the hitters noticed. “A lot of guys on the offensive side, myself and Gordon, we’re trying to get the offensive guys ready like he does the pitching,” Hosmer said. “Gordo’s done a great job of that, and leading by example. Bringing that into this locker room was a big help.” Starting pitching allows the Royals to be competitive most nights, and their lockdown bullpen has helped produce 41 comeback victories; only Texas and Atlanta had more through Monday. The players are likable — aggressive on the field, earnest off it — and while the fans have not flocked to Kauffman Stadium, they are paying attention. The team said local television ratings had risen 69 percent over last season, when the Royals were 70-92. “A lot of that goes to the energy they bring, and how fun they are to watch,” said the Royals broadcaster Rex Hudler, himself a former high-energy infielder. “It’s the exciting plays they make, it’s the fun that they have. Baseball can be slow, station to station, but on this team, there’s action.” A stolen base Monday helped the Royals score their first run, and a wild pitch on a strikeout led to their second. They broke the game open with back-to-back triples to start a three-run rally in the sixth, and the bullpen took over from there. There was constant motion on the field, an uptick in the standings and, after the last out, the Beatles singing about Kansas City over the loudspeakers. The process has led to this. “We can do it,” Perez said. “We play hard, and we’ll see what happens the last game of the season. For sure, we believe.”

Salvador Perez
Kansas City Royals
Baseball
James Shields


Japan Raises Possibility of Breach in Reactor Vessel

Abstract: This article is by Hiroko Tabuchi , Keith Bradsher and David Jolly . TOKYO — New signs emerged Friday that parts of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant were so damaged and contaminated that it would be even harder to bring the plant under control soon. At the same time, Japanese officials began encouraging people to evacuate a larger band of territory around the complex. Speaking to a national audience at a news conference on Friday night, two weeks after the magnitude 9.0 earthquake and the devastating tsunami that followed it, Prime Minister Naoto Kan dodged a reporter’s question about whether the government was ordering a full evacuation, saying officials were simply following the recommendation of the Japan Nuclear Safety Commission. “The situation still requires caution,” Mr. Kan, grave and tired-looking, told the nation. “Our measures are aimed at preventing the circumstances from getting worse.” The authorities said that they would now assist people who wanted to leave the area from 12 to 19 miles outside the plant, and that they were now encouraging “voluntary evacuation” from the area. Those people had been advised March 15 to remain indoors, while those within a 12-mile radius of the plant had been ordered to evacuate. The United States has recommended that its citizens stay at least 50 miles away. “The state of the plant is still quite precarious,” Mr. Kan said. “We’re working hard to make sure it doesn’t get worse. We have to ensure there’s no further deterioration.” In a new sign of the contamination problem, the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said Saturday a sample of seawater taken Friday from a monitoring station at the plant showed the level of iodine 131 at 50 becquerels per cubic centimeter — 1,250 times the legal limit. Drinking a half liter of that water would be equivalent to getting a 1 millisievert dose, the agency said, roughly the amount a person gets in one year from natural sources. Hidehiko Nishiyama, deputy-director general at the safety agency, said that he expected the iodine to dilute rapidly, minimizing the effect on wildlife, and pointed out that fishing had been suspended in the area after the quake and tsunami. One sign of possible deterioration in the plant itself came at Reactor No. 3. Workers who were trying to connect an electrical cable to a pump in a turbine building next to the reactor were injured when they stepped into water that was found to be significantly more radioactive than normal. On Friday, officials and experts offered conflicting explanations of what had gone wrong — but all pointed to greater damage to the reactor’s systems and more contamination there than officials had indicated earlier. Two workers were exposed to radiation and burned when water poured over their boots and down around their feet and ankles, officials said. A third worker was wearing higher boots and did not suffer the same exposure. Like the injured workers, many of those risking their lives are subcontractors of Tokyo Electric Power, who are paid a small daily wage for hours of work in dangerous conditions. In some cases they are poorly equipped and trained for their task. On Saturday, workers were focused on trying to restore the lighting to Reactor No. 2’s central control room, an important step toward restoring the unit’s cooling system. They were also preparing to pump fresh water on the No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 units, after days of spraying with saltwater. The National Institute of Radiological Sciences said that the radioactivity of the water that the three injured workers had stepped into was 10,000 times the level normally seen in coolant water at the plant. It said that the amount of radiation the workers were thought to have been exposed to in the water was two to six sieverts. Even two sieverts is eight times the new 250-millisievert annual exposure limit set for workers at Daiichi in the days after the disaster; the previous limit was 100. Tokyo Electric officials said that water with an equally high radiation level had been found in the Reactor No. 1 building, The Associated Press reported. Skin exposures of two to six sieverts will cause severe burns, according to Dr. David J. Brenner, director of the Center for Radiological Research at Columbia University . But if those doses reach the whole body and not just the skin “you’re at a very high risk of dying,” he said. At a dose of four sieverts, half of the people exposed will die, Dr. Brenner said. But he said that from the information that had been provided, it was not clear whether the dose to the workers reached their skin only, or penetrated their bodies. Concerns about Reactor No. 3 have surfaced before. Japanese officials said nine days ago that the reactor vessel might have been damaged. Hidehiko Nishiyama, deputy director general of the Japan Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, mentioned damage to the reactor vessel on Friday as a possible explanation of how water in the adjacent containment building had become so radioactive. Michael Friedlander, a former nuclear power plant operator in the United States , said that the presence of radioactive cobalt and molybdenum in water samples taken from the basement of the turbine building raised the possibility of corrosion as a cause. Both materials typically occur not because of fission, but because of routine corrosion in a reactor and its associated piping over the course of many years of use, he said. The aggressive use of salt water to cool the reactor and its storage pool for spent fuel may mean that more of these highly radioactive corrosion materials will be dislodged and contaminate the area in the days to come, posing further hazards to repair workers, Mr. Friedlander added. The contamination of the water in the basement of the turbine building poses a real challenge for efforts to bring crucial cooling pumps and other equipment back into use. One other major worry about Reactor No. 3 is the mox, or mixed oxide, fuel it uses. It is an especially dangerous blend of reprocessed fuel and can be more radioactive when melted than the pure uranium fuel used in other reactors, experts say. The news on Friday and the discovery this week of a radioactive isotope in the water supplies of Tokyo and neighboring prefectures punctured the mood of optimism with which the week began, leaving a sense that the battle to fix the damaged plant will be a long one. No one is being ordered to evacuate the second zone around the plant, officials said, and people may choose to remain, but many have already left of their own accord, tiring of the anxiety and tedium of remaining cooped up as the nuclear crisis simmers just a few miles away. Many are said to be virtual prisoners, with no access to shopping and immobilized by a lack of gasoline. “What we’ve been finding is that in that area life has become quite difficult,” Noriyuki Shikata, deputy cabinet secretary for Mr. Kan, said in a telephone interview. “People don’t want to go into the zone to make deliveries.” Mr. Shikata said the question of where those who chose to leave would go was still under consideration. The effort to move people comes at a time when there are already hundreds of thousands of Japanese displaced by the quake and tsunami. The National Police Agency said Friday that the official death toll from the March 11 quake and tsunami had passed 10,000, with nearly 17,500 listed as missing. There was some good news. Levels of the radioactive isotope found in Tokyo’s water supply fell Friday for a second day, officials said, dropping to 51 becquerels per liter, well below the country’s stringent maximum for infants.

Japan
Tokyo
Radiation
Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Disaster
Japan Earthquake Tsunami
Nuclear energy
Water pollution


Q. and A. on ISIS Hostages Held in Syria

Abstract: The New York Times published a detailed account earlier this week of the horror 23 Western hostages faced when they were held by the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, in an underground network of prisons in Syria. Invited to ask questions of the reporter, Rukmini Callimachi, in the comments of the article, readers addressed a variety of topics, including countries’ policies toward paying ransoms, the Islamic State’s finances and how to help the remaining hostages. Ms. Callimachi responded to a selection of the questions. Why hasn’t the United States penalized countries that pay ransoms? Q. Why haven’t France, Italy and other European countries suffered either embargo or boycott for their clear economic support of terrorists? We put individuals in jail in U.S. for sending money to the wrong charities. And now that these terrorists are strong and emboldened by the millions of euros they’ve collected, why are we cleaning up the mess for free? — sk from Raleigh A. Dear SK, U.S. officials have told me that they have leaned on the Europeans privately in meetings held behind closed doors. The general sense I got from speaking to the relevant authorities is that the United States needs its allies for more important things — for example, to show a united front in combating ISIS, or in order to set a common agenda in dealing with the conflict in Ukraine. They explained to me that ransom-paying has not — as of yet — escalated to a level where they would want to be public in their criticism. What you will notice is that former administration officials will often break their silence once they leave public office. One example is Vicki Huddleston, the former American ambassador to Mali, the country where Al Qaeda’s kidnapping-for-ransom business began. See her particularly strident comments in my story from July : “The Europeans have a lot to answer for,” said Vicki Huddleston, the former United States deputy assistant secretary of defense for African affairs, who was the ambassador to Mali in 2003 when Germany paid the first ransom. “It’s a completely two-faced policy. They pay ransoms and then deny any was paid.” She added, “The danger of this is not just that it grows the terrorist movement, but it makes all of our citizens vulnerable.” Hasn’t the U.S. negotiated for prisoners of war? Q. “The U.S. government doesn’t negotiate for hostages” — but didn’t we negotiate for the release of a traitor by giving the enemy five high-profile terrorists? — augie snyder from ft worth, texas A. Dear Augie, Thank you for your comment. Many people have wondered the same thing. The release of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl in return for five Taliban detainees at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, has been the subject of enormous frustration for the families of the ISIS hostages. Once Sergeant Bergdhal was released, it became even harder for the families to negotiate on behalf of their loved ones — because ISIS was asking at one point for the release of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui , an M.I.T.-trained Pakistani neuroscientist currently incarcerated in Texas. The U.S. government has argued that Sergeant Bergdahl was in a different category than the ISIS hostages because he was a prisoner of war, and there are international treaties governing P.O.W.s. In normal warfare, nation-states are allowed to exchange prisoners. Critics have pointed out that this only applies to nation-states, and that the Taliban are hardly a legitimate government. They also point to the fact that U.S. law forbids making concessions to a terrorist group. The administration has countered by saying that the Taliban over all — unlike ISIS — has not been designated a terrorist group. Of course, these distinctions are purely rhetorical for people like Diane and John Foley, who saw their son James beheaded on TV. How does ISIS use its money? Q. Follow the money. What did they use the money for? They appear to have gotten many millions. It shouldn’t be that easy to move and spend the kind of money paid to them without gaining notice. Once you find their bankers, then you’ve got them and their support network and you can hopefully isolate, identify, and kill them. — Mark U from Aspen, CO A. Hello, Mark, and thank you for your comments. I am hoping to start working on tracking the money next. David S. Cohen, the treasury under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, recently said in a speech at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace that ISIS had netted at least $20 million in ransom payoffs this year. He said that even though the group had been blacklisted from the world’s financial system, there is evidence to suggest that ISIS may still be using banks inside Syria and Iraq. I know that in the case of Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, Al Qaeda’s branch in northern Africa, the millions of euros that it netted in ransom money was hidden in what one source jokingly called its “desert bank.” Basically they would dig holes in the dunes and stash the money inside, rolled up in layers of plastic. They noted down the GPS coordinates of the hole and returned to the spot when they needed “to cash a check,” if you will. I wrote about this in July. Until Mr. Cohen’s recent statements, I assumed that ISIS was also holding its money outside the financial system, perhaps in safes inside the various buildings they control. If they are using local banks, that would create another dimension of sophistication. Why do journalists put themselves in such danger? Q. Why do these journalists continue to travel to the Middle East? It is clearly a risk to go. Not for all of the humanity in the world would I travel where I know my life is of zero value. — walthank from chicago A. Dear Walthank, Journalists travel to war zones because it is our duty to bear witness and to report on world events. Because of what has happened to James Foley and the others, major news organizations including The New York Times have pulled back from traveling into the rebel and insurgent held areas of Syria. This pullout has meant that there is little objective, on-the-ground reporting that is coming out of the Syrian civil war right now. How can we help? Q. This is a heartbreaking article. What can we do to save those remaining? A crowdfunding campaign? While I understand the negative implications of our government paying, what about us citizens? The Fates of 23 ISIS Hostages in Syria Kayla Mueller was one of at least 23 foreign hostages from 12 countries who were kidnapped by Syrian insurgents, sold or handed over to the Islamic State, and held underground in a prison near the Syrian city of Raqqa. — Mirage from NYC A. Dear Mirage, Thank you for your thoughtful comments. The families of the American hostages have tried to raise money privately. This has been anything but easy. Diane Foley, the mother of the slain journalist, described to me the agonizing task of having to ask for donations. It was humiliating and frightening. In an effort to save her son’s life, she was essentially passing around a hat asking people to donate money, which they knew would go into the coffers of one of the world’s most brutal terrorist groups. Of the 15 hostages that were released from ISIS captivity, the majority were freed after their governments paid their ransoms through a network of intermediaries. The one exception is the ransom paid to free Daniel Rye Ottosen, a 25-year-old photojournalist from Copenhagen. Mr. Ottosen is a former athlete, and his family and friends bonded together to raise the sizable ransom, organizing to deliver it to the captors when the Danish government refused to intervene. The Foley family is in the process of creating a legacy fund and resource center, which aims to help other families in the same predicament as them. You can reach them through freejamesfoley.org . What impact does the American policy have on ISIS? Q. The NYT has reported that the U.S. government claims that ISIS is getting a couple million dollars each day from oil, extortion, taxes, plus what they get by taking banks and government sites. What real difference would one or two ransoms have made to events on the ground? None, except to save these hostages. Does anyone imagine that ISIS will now forgo taking any American hostages because we didn’t pay? Does anyone imagine they are short of money, that one ransom would have made a difference? We should never abandon our people. — Mark Thomason from Clawson, MI A. Dear Mark, You are correct in stating that ISIS makes most of its money from the war economy they control, including as much as $1 million per day in oil revenue. What we know is that there were 23 Western hostages, and that at least 15 were released for ransom. I don’t know the exact number that was paid to free each one, but former hostages say that the ransoms were, on average, 2 million euros per person. This of course means that some were more and some were less, but let’s just take this estimate at face value and assume that each hostage paid 2 million euros, or approximately $2.5 million, to be freed. That would mean that ISIS has netted around 30 million euros so far from ransoms for hostages they held for up to 13 months. This pales in comparison to the oil revenue, which at $1 million per day would mean that the group is making $30 million in a single month. Families of the American hostages have been critical of the government’s decision not to pay, and some people sympathize, particularly when the outcome for people like James Foley and Steven Sotloff was a horrific death. The United States maintains, though, that the no-concession policy protects Americans in the long run by reducing their value in the minds of potential kidnappers. Before setting to work on the story of the ISIS hostages, I spent several months researching how Europe has unwittingly become Al Qaeda’s main financier through the multimillion-dollar ransoms they have paid to free their citizens. For that story, I identified 54 kidnapping cases carried out by Al Qaeda’s direct affiliates in Africa, Yemen, Syria and beyond. Of these 54 cases, only four were Americans, representing just 7 percent of the total. By contrast almost one-third were French nationals. I cannot say for sure if terrorist groups like ISIS and Al Qaeda are avoiding kidnapping Americans. But the numbers suggest that they are targeting nationals of countries that are known to pay ransoms. What role does Saudi Arabia play? Q. Several people correctly concluded that Saudi Arabia is the source of funding of ISIL. Why is our government referring to them as an ally? We don’t need their oil anymore. We can openly point at them for 9/11 for using 19 of their citizens to murder some 3,000 U.S. citizens. Why can’t we call a spade a spade? Let that whole region rot with those bushy bearded criminals biting the hand that feeds them. Blockade is the answer. — samu from NY A. Dear Samu, I don’t have any evidence that Saudi Arabia is financing ISIS. All of the information we have suggests that ISIS, unlike other terrorist groups, is largely self-financed through the war economy they control. For example, they have seized oil fields in Syria as well as in Iraq, and the United States Department of Treasury now estimates that they are making as much as $1 million per day from the oil they sell. They also control other aspects of the economy like grain silos and wheat production. See this excellent Reuters story about how they are taxing wheat farmers in Iraq following the push on Mosul. Unlike Al Qaeda in its early days, when it relied heavily on deep-pocketed donors from the Gulf, ISIS has a remarkable level of financial autonomy. This is also what makes it so dangerous: There are no countries that the United States and others can lean on to try to pressure ISIS. Even the Taliban were willing to enter into indirect negotiations with the United States through the intermediary of Qatar. So far, no such intermediary has emerged for dealing with ISIS. What about other Arab countries? Q. Where are the Saudis? And the rest of the Arab/Muslim nations? From what I understand ISIS/ISIL mistreats/tortures/kills/maims nearly everyone they can mistreat. It’s a war that needs to be fought IMO (in my opinion) by people living adjacent to this region, whose own citizens may well be tortured by these groups, not by the USA. — What me worry from NYC A. Gulf countries have a mixed history when it comes to ISIS. On one hand, countries like Qatar are accused of funneling money and arms to the Syrian rebels , including the Nusra Front, which until recently was aligned with ISIS. On the other hand, Arab countries have actively joined the U.S.-led coalition against ISIS and their air forces have even been involved in the recent airstrikes in Syria . This is no small matter: ISIS has threatened to directly retaliate against any country that fights it.

Syria
James Foley
Steven Sotloff
Kidnapping and Hostages
ISIS,ISIL,Islamic State


Mariners Preach Patience as They Wait for Some Runs

Abstract: PEORIA, Ariz. The Seattle Mariners leave Thursday for Tokyo, where they will open the major league season against the Oakland Athletics on March 28. They will bring few famous players besides Ichiro Suzuki and Felix Hernandez, and that is fine with their general manager, Jack Zduriencik. In his previous job, Zduriencik built the farm system of the Milwaukee Brewers , who grew into contenders as several star hitters matured together. He believes a similar process can unfold in Seattle, where Dustin Ackley, Justin Smoak and the former Yankee Jesus Montero could be long-term answers for the middle of a punchless lineup. “They’re going to go through some growing pains this year, but you’re going to see some things,” Zduriencik said this week in his office at the Mariners’ complex. “There will be runs where they’re pretty good. There will be runs where you’ll think, What happened? But I think it’s getting better.” For the Mariners, it almost has to. They scored only 556 runs last season , the second-lowest total for a nonstrike season in the franchise’s 35-year history. The only sicklier Mariners offense was the 2010 collection, which produced the fewest runs (513) by an American League team in a nonstrike season since the creation of the designated hitter in 1973. Not surprisingly, both seasons ended with a last-place finish in the A.L. West. The Mariners have finished last in six of the past eight years , a run of futility unmatched in the history of the only A.L. team never to reach the World Series. So that is the bad news — most of it, anyway. Seattle’s top division rivals, the Texas Rangers and the Los Angeles Angels, are loaded with talent and bolstered by lucrative local television contracts . For the Mariners to nudge their way into contention, eventually, Zduriencik’s vision makes sense. While the Mariners were losing 17 games in a row last July, Ackley, a second baseman, and Smoak, a first baseman, were gaining experience in the major leagues. Montero, a catcher and designated hitter, got his own taste with the Yankees in September. “I think that’s the biggest thing,” said Ackley, the second overall pick in the 2009 draft. “Coming up, you don’t know how you’re going to do. You have that question: ‘Am I going to hit, or are the pitchers too good?’ I think a lot of our guys have kind of seen, ‘O.K., we can do this now.’ It’s just a matter of doing it together and doing it at the same time. I think that’s what we’re working toward.” Ackley, 24, played in 90 games last season and hit .273 with six home runs . His .766 O.P.S. (on-base percentage plus slugging percentage) ranked in the upper third among major league second basemen. Smoak, 25, hit only .234 , but he drove in 55 runs and finished second on the team in homers, with 15. The Mariners expect those numbers to improve, but for now they will not scare the Angels, who signed Albert Pujols in the off-season, or cause much regret from the Rangers, who traded Smoak and the starter Blake Beavan to Seattle for Cliff Lee in 2010. That was the deal Zduriencik chose after nearly making another with the Yankees, who offered Montero. The Yankees were furious at the time , believing the Mariners had used them, and vowed to reconsider future dealings. But all that was forgotten at the winter meetings in December when Zduriencik approached Brian Cashman, the Yankees’ general manager, with a pointed question. “ ‘Is there any player — anybody but Felix Hernandez — that you’d want for Jesus Montero?’ ” Cashman said, recalling their conversation. “I said there was only one player we would consider.” That player was Michael Pineda, a right-hander who made the All-Star team as a rookie last season. The Yankees, who had depth in position players, wanted Pineda to bolster a shaky rotation. The Mariners had depth in young pitching — with the recent first-round draft picks Taijuan Walker and Danny Hultzen — but craved impact hitters. The swap made sense from both sides, and when the teams each added a young pitcher — Hector Noesi to Seattle, Jose Campos to New York — they had a deal. Montero was startled by the news when Zduriencik reached him at home in Venezuela. “It was my dad’s birthday, and the general manager from here, Jack Zduriencik, called me and he said, ‘We finally got you on the team,’ ” Montero said. “I was really surprised. But now I’m so happy to be here, and proud. Thank God that this happened to me.” Montero had nothing bad to say about the Yankees. But Russell Martin was blocking him at catcher, and his presence at designated hitter was complicated by the presence of aging veterans like Alex Rodriguez. The Mariners also have a veteran catcher, Miguel Olivo, but they clearly need Montero more than the Yankees did. “It’s difficult to find, at Montero’s position, should he stay there — and we think he will — somebody who can bring offense to a club,” Zduriencik said. “If we’re able to pull this one off, where he does catch and he is a middle-of-the-lineup bat, there aren’t many people that have that at that position.” One team that does is the San Francisco Giants, who used a stingy pitching staff and a cleanup-hitting young catcher, Buster Posey, to win the World Series in 2010. These Mariners are a long way from even thinking about October. But they believe they are on the path at last.

Seattle Mariners
Milwaukee Brewers
Baseball
Montero Jesus
Smoak Justin
Ackley Dustin
Zduriencik Jack
Japan


North Korea Confirms It Is Holding U.S. Citizen

Abstract: The State Department said Friday that North Korea had confirmed that it was holding an American citizen, whom family and friends have identified as an octogenarian veteran of the Korean War inexplicably detained there last month as he was concluding an officially approved nine-day tour of the country. North Korea’s confirmation broke nearly four weeks of silence by the North Korean authorities about the detained veteran, Merrill Newman, 85, of Palo Alto, Calif. It was conveyed to the State Department by Sweden’s embassy in the North, which represents American interests in North Korea. Mr. Newman’s wife, Lee, issued a public statement beseeching North Korea to let him come home, describing his detention there as “some dreadful misunderstanding.” Jen Psaki, the State Department spokeswoman, told reporters at a regular news briefing in Washington that Sweden’s embassy had “been informed by North Korea of the detention of a U.S. citizen.” She would not identify the citizen by name because of the legal requirements of the department’s privacy policy, but family members had said this week that the person was Mr. Newman. “We are working in close coordination with representatives of the Embassy of Sweden to resolve this issue, and they also have requested, actually on a daily basis, consular access,” Ms. Psaki said. Mr. Newman is the second American citizen seized by the North Korean authorities over the past year, a barometer of the deeply estranged relations between the United States and North Korea, which remain in a technical state of war after 60 years. Last November, Kenneth Bae , 44, an American Christian missionary and tour operator, was seized in the North Korean port of Rason and later convicted of hostile acts against the government. He is serving a 15-year sentence of hard labor. It is unclear what accusations, if any, Mr. Newman may face from the North Koreans, who have not explained why they have detained him. His family has said that he has a heart ailment and that it was unknown whether a 30-day supply of medicine forwarded to the Swedish Embassy in Pyongyang, the capital, which it delivered to the North Korean Foreign Ministry, had ever reached Mr. Newman. There has been speculation that Mr. Newman’s detention was precipitated by what his traveling companion on the tour, Bob Hamrdla, later described as a difficult conversation Mr. Newman had with North Korean officials concerning the war. The newspaper Military Times reported Friday that another Merrill Newman, 84, who lives in Oregon, also was a Korean War veteran and that he had won a Silver Star in 1952 for leading a Marine platoon in attacks that inflicted heavy casualties on North Korean troops. The account appeared to raise the possibility that the North Korean authorities had mistaken one Merrill Newman for the other. But Jeff Newman, the detained American’s son, has told reporters that there is no indication that the North Koreans have confused the two.

North Korea
State Department
Korean War
Sweden
Merrill E Newman
US Foreign Policy
Detainees


New York-Issued Inspection and Registration Stickers Don’t Stick

Abstract: ALBANY — Some car owners are resorting to Scotch tape. Others try pressing and pressing against the windshield without success. Some, filled with frustration, are flooding the Department of Motor Vehicles with complaints. Of all the ways New York State government fails to work, this is perhaps the most annoying. As many as two million of the nine million vehicle registration stickers issued this year don’t stick. And in an only-in-Albany coincidence, up to 2.5 million of the 13.5 million inspection stickers distributed this year have the same problem. Two separate companies based in Chicago produced the stickers, and both failed to catch the defect, leaving many drivers across the state dealing with an outbreak of bad glue. The situation is bad enough that police departments have been asked to be lenient toward drivers whose stickers have come off. And even the commissioner of the Department of Motor Vehicles, David J. Swarts, has had to scramble to secure the stickers on his wife’s sedan with tape. “They don’t stick,” said Daniel Feldman, 38, a business executive who lives in Brooklyn and owns a Honda Civic and a Volvo wagon. “I’ve had this discussion with, like, a thousand people. It’s funny — I just got a new car and I’m already dreading getting the next sticker.” For their part, officials at the Department of Motor Vehicles have been scratching their heads and chagrined. “Why both happened at the same time — two different vendors, two different processes, two different types of stickers — it’s really a bizarre occurrence,” Mr. Swarts said. “When people are paying fees and fees are going up, it makes people frustrated and angry.” Indeed, the adhesive woes are occurring as the state, which is confronting a growing budget deficit, has raised registration fees by about 25 percent for most vehicle owners. And drivers in New York City and the surrounding counties have to pay a $50 registration surcharge to help close the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s deficit. The price for inspection stickers has not changed. The companies that manufactured the stickers each had contracts to make decals for 2009 and 2010. The contracts are not considered very lucrative, and there has been no suggestion that there was anything unusual about the awarding of the work. In fact, RR Donnelley was the only bidder for the roughly $1 million registration sticker contract and has made New York’s stickers for the past several years. The state is negotiating with RR Donnelley over compensation for the faulty stickers and has not said whether it would sign another contract with the company. The state has already decided not to sign another contract with SecureMark Decal , which was paid $660,000 to make inspection stickers. The company has agreed to provide 1.4 million replacement inspection stickers at no cost. Neither company responded to telephone calls or e-mail messages. The Department of Motor Vehicles issued a public notice about the defective stickers in May, and has asked law enforcement officials to be a little more understanding about giving tickets to drivers with missing stickers. The agency will replace faulty stickers at no charge, though only a fraction of those affected have taken it up on the offer, tape being the preferred remedy. Having the stickers come unglued is more than a nuisance. The fine for an improperly displayed inspection sticker can be $50 to $100, while the ticket for the same infraction with a registration sticker is $100. Both tickets also carry a surcharge of at least $80. Police departments say they are aware that motorists with peeling stickers may have a valid excuse. “Police officers and parking enforcement agents have been instructed about the problem and directed to use discretion,” said Paul J. Browne, chief spokesman for the New York Police Department. Sgt. Kern Swoboda, a spokesman for the state police, said the department sent out notices to its officers recommending that they not issue tickets for stickers that are not properly attached. Still, there is no guarantee that a driver will escape penalty. “A lot of it depends on the discretion of the officer,” Sergeant Swoboda said, adding that if there was no evidence of a sticker — for instance, traces of tape or adhesive on the window — a ticket would probably be issued. The sheer number of registration and inspection stickers sold every year means that there will always be a number of stickers that do not stay where they are supposed to. But the Department of Motor Vehicles, which learned about the problem after getting complaints from motorists, said the problem this year had been overwhelming. Of the two, the registration sticker problem appears prevalent. An unscientific survey of a block of State Street near the Capitol yielded these results: Fifteen cars were parked, two from out of state; of the remaining 13, 7 had signs of profound registration sticker distress. There was a Mercury van whose sticker was folded nearly into a little tube, a Toyota Siena with half of its sticker detached and a Nissan Sentra with a sticker attached with tape. The sticker on a Dodge Caravan had almost fallen off, except for a sliver of one corner. John Webber, 47, who lives in Brooklyn, said the registration stickers had come loose on his Buick sedan and Chevrolet van. “I’ve had to use tape to put it back on,” he said. So could this be a trick to raise revenue in hard times? “I know they have the right glue,” said Debi Ryan, 52, of Brooklyn. She pointed out that “you can never get off” the stickers that the Department of Sanitation plasters on illegally parked cars. “That’s the glue that they should use for the registration, which comes off like that!” she said, snapping her fingers. Perhaps New Yorkers should not be surprised about stickers not sticking, given the way the state’s government seems to malfunction — a governor resigning amid a prostitution scandal, his successor under fire and urged by the White House not to run for office next year, and a Legislature whose power struggles prevent it from tackling major issues. Liena Zagare, 33, who lives in Brooklyn, had to resort to tape. “I didn’t really know who to complain to, but we did joke that somebody had a good contract,” she said. Steven Dubin, 49, of Monsey, N.Y., said the garage he used had widespread sticker problems. “They were giving out printed certificates that the car passed inspection in case the sticker blew out the window,” he said, adding that he had never had such a problem before. “And I know how to put on a sticker.”

Automobile Registration and License Plates


Golson Wants to Return to Notre Dame

Abstract: Notre Dame’s suspended quarterback, Everett Golson, has submitted a request to be readmitted to Notre Dame. Coach Brian Kelly said he expected to learn in mid-December if Golson would be allowed to return. He would not be allowed to play in a game until next season. Golson, who led the Irish to the national title game last year, was suspended by the university for the fall semester for using what he called “poor judgment on a test.”

Everett Golson
College football
University of Notre Dame


For Albany’s Australian Players, a Special Experience

Abstract: PHILADELPHIA — Shortly after the N.C.A.A tournament brackets were announced Sunday, Sam Rowley learned that his parents and his 19-year-old brother were working the phones to book flights so they could watch Albany’s opening game here Friday afternoon. “To be honest, I couldn’t really believe they were doing it,” Rowley said. For his family, a trip to Philadelphia is a bit more rigorous than, say, taking a cab to the train station. The Rowleys live in Australia. It only complicated matters that his brother, Michael, recently had foot surgery but was adamant about coming. That meant he needed an extra plane ticket, at no small cost, so that he could keep his foot elevated on an adjacent seat during the 28-hour journey. Oh, and one more thing: Rowley’s parents, Catherine and Gregg, began to make arrangements knowing they would be required back at work Monday morning — in Sydney. Even with the understanding that their stateside sojourn would last less than two days, the Rowleys were willing to pursue this extraordinary feat of logistical gymnastics for the privilege of watching their son and his teammates partake in the tournament and, in all likelihood, get bulldozed by one of college basketball’s perennial titans. March Madness, indeed. “That’s commitment,” Sam Rowley, a sophomore forward, said. For the Great Danes, the No. 15 seed in the Midwest, their experience against No. 2 Duke will be one to savor, particularly for the team’s three Australians and their families. Like Peter Hooley, a redshirt freshman, and Luke Devlin, a junior forward, Rowley said he grew up watching the Blue Devils on TV, largely because he had no choice. Duke was one of the few college basketball teams that got airtime in Australia. “When we saw who we were playing, that was just amazing,” said Hooley, who grew up in the small southern Australian town of Hahndorf. Devlin’s parents, Angela Donohoe and Tony Devlin, have been caravaning with the team since March 6. They never anticipated staying so long. Their original plan was to return to Sydney earlier this week. Albany, after all, was the No. 4 seed in the America East tournament. But one win became two, and two became three. The next thing any of them knew, the Great Danes (24-10) were celebrating a conference championship and an N.C.A.A. berth. “They kept winning,” Tony Devlin said, “so we’re still here.” On Thursday, Devlin’s parents watched Albany’s practice from the eighth row of the arena. As Angela snapped photos with her phone, her husband recalled conquering the 72-step staircase at the Philadelphia Museum of Art earlier that morning. “The Rocky steps!” he said. The trip had become something of an adventure. They drove through snow in Vermont. They cleaned their son’s apartment. Now, they were readying themselves for something even more extraordinary. Tony Devlin surveyed the court. “This is the stuff that all these Australian boys dream of,” he said. There is no shortage of Australians playing college basketball, a list highlighted by Matthew Dellavedova, whose St. Mary’s team narrowly fell to Memphis on Thursday. Albany’s threesome made time Wednesday night to watch their countryman Anthony Drmic score 28 points in Boise State’s loss to La Salle in the play-in round. “We’re all like family over here,” said Hooley, who averages 7.8 points off the bench. Coach Will Brown never intended to develop an Australian pipeline. It just sort of happened. One of his assistant coaches, Jeremy Friel, played college basketball with Phil Collins, an Australian who spent the 2009-10 season as an assistant with the women’s basketball team at Albany. After returning to Australia to work in player development, he noticed Devlin and recommended him to Friel. Hooley and Rowley matriculated the following season. “We can’t spend $5,000 to fly over there on our budget,” Friel said. “I mean, Luke deserves all the credit. He’s the one who took the real leap of faith.” For each player, Albany was an adjustment: the food, the driving, the weather. Mostly the weather. “I’ve never been so cold in my entire life,” Hooley said. Whenever their parents visit, they try to deliver the comforts of home. Devlin’s mother packs custard powder for the 9,900-mile trip so that she can make trifle, one of his favorite desserts. She also brings Weetabix cereal, Tim Tam biscuits and Vegemite, which is an acquired taste. “I know it’s a cliché,” Luke Devlin said, “but it’s something that we miss.” Devlin, a reserve who averages 3.2 points and 2.3 rebounds, said he was looking forward to Friday’s game. He never expected to be in this position, he said, not as a young boy in Australia. Suddenly, Duke was just hours away. Perhaps he and his teammates were capable of something special. “I played rugby in the seventh and eighth grade,” he said. “I like to think it made me a little tougher.”

Australia
College basketball
Duke
NCAA Men's Basketball,March Madness
SUNY Albany


Russia Reports Successful Test of Missile

Abstract: MOSCOW — Russia ’s military reported a successful test on Wednesday of a new type of intercontinental ballistic missile that generals said was designed to overpower the American missile defense system. Russian generals told news agencies that the missile’s development was a direct response to the American plans for a shield. The rocket, one unidentified military source told Interfax, uses a new type of fuel to shorten the time it needs to launch into space, increasing its ability to evade interceptors. One Russian news portal said the rocket was called the “Avant-garde.” Whatever its military significance, the launching, as with other prominently announced tests, seemed intended as much to deliver a political message as show the rocket’s ability to streak across Russia and hit a target on the Kamchatka Peninsula. Gen. Viktor Yesin, a retired rocket forces commander, told Interfax that the rocket was emblematic of the type of arms race Russia was ready to embark on if the United States went through with plans to put missile interceptors in Europe. “This is one of the technical means Russia’s political and military leadership designed to answer America’s global system of missile defense,” General Yesin said. Russian officials have threatened for years that they would bulk up on new intercontinental ballistic missiles, within the limits of arms control treaties, in an effort to overpower the American system, and that it could look like a new arms race. Russia launched the missile four days after leaders of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization , meeting in Chicago, confirmed their commitment to building the European missile shield, rendering the blastoff something of a Russian retort. In Washington, Jamie F. Mannina, a State Department spokesman, said Russia had complied with its treaty obligations to notify the United States of the launching. “Russia is currently testing a new ICBM as permitted under the New Start treaty ,” he said. “Russia’s development of such systems that employ countermeasures would not trigger any arms race with the United States since the U.S. missile defense systems are not being developed or deployed to counter or undermine Russia’s strategic nuclear forces.” The test on Wednesday took on added political significance coming two weeks after Vladimir V. Putin assumed the presidency for a third term. In another worrying sign for relations between Russia and the United States, Mr. Putin canceled a visit to the United States for a summit meeting of the Group of 8 nations last weekend at Camp David in Maryland. Russia’s objection to the missile defense plan has touched the American presidential race. Mitt Romney, the presumptive Republican candidate, has criticized Mr. Obama as trying to soothe Russia’s concerns through the détente known as the reset . Like the Bush administration before it, the Obama administration insists that the defensive system is not directed against Russia, but instead at emerging threats from Iran or North Korea. American officials under both presidents have noted that Russia’s strategic nuclear arsenal, now estimated at more than 2,400 warheads, could easily overcome the planned system with its limited number of interceptors. Russian officials say they remain unconvinced by the American assurances, and Mr. Putin has called for the production of new missile systems to be doubled in 2013. But development of weapons designed to be able to overcome defense systems has been slow and has faced costly failures. Russia’s civilian space rockets have also crashed recently. Analysts cite overall post-Soviet decay in the aerospace supply chain, as small factories making specialized parts have closed. The missile launched on Wednesday is not entirely new, the Gazeta.ru news Web site and other Russian media reported. It is an upgrade of an existing model of land-based rocket the Russian military has been testing for years, called the Topol, or Poplar. In 2007, during an earlier period of tension between Russia and the United States over American plans to set up antimissile sites in Eastern Europe, the Russian military also announced the launching of the Yars missile, an upgrade to the Topol, also said to be designed to penetrate missile defenses.

Russia
North Atlantic Treaty Organization
United States International Relations
Defense and Military Forces
Missiles and Missile Defense Systems


N.B.A. Draft Puts Mayo in Customary Spotlight

Abstract: O. J. Mayo has been a magnet for publicity and controversy since age 14, so it seems only natural that he is now a central figure in what may be the N.B.A. ’s wildest draft night in years. For months, this was billed as a two-man draft. The only debate was which can’t-miss prospect — point guard Derrick Rose or power forward Michael Beasley — would go No. 1 to the Chicago Bulls. But with Thursday night’s draft approaching, the conventional wisdom was fading. Rose is widely expected to be drafted first by the Bulls. But ESPN reported Wednesday that Miami might pass on Beasley and take Mayo with the second pick. Or the Heat could trade down and grab Mayo with a lower pick. Or any number of teams could trade up to draft Mayo, a sturdy (6 feet 5 inches, 200 pounds) and versatile guard from Southern California. Mayo greeted the confusion and speculation with a ready smile, a quick wit and a series of polite “Yes, sirs” as he met with reporters Wednesday, at the N.B.A.’s annual predraft interview session in Manhattan. So where should he end up in Thursday’s draft? “No. 1,” Mayo said, chuckling. “I felt very confident during the interviews and workouts. I feel like the sky’s the limit, and anything could happen.” If Mayo gets past Miami at No. 2, anything indeed could happen. Minnesota, which drafts third, already has a young combination guard in Randy Foye. Seattle, which drafts fourth, is believed to prefer a big man and is rumored to be looking to trade up to get Beasley. The Knicks, who pick sixth, also have a strong interest in Mayo, although they probably lack the assets to move up in the draft. Mayo said he “would be happy anywhere.” He will also surely be happy to leave behind the controversy at Southern California. Last month, Mayo was accused by a former confidant of indirectly, and improperly, accepting cash and gifts from a sports agency. He has denied any wrongdoing. Mayo was extolling the benefits of college life Wednesday when he inadvertently alluded to the issue. “I was telling some of my friends that I really wish college did pay because then you have an opportunity to have fun in college and enjoy college life and have a comfortable living,” he said. “But you’ve got to make the decision that’s best for you and your family.” Mayo has been in the public eye since he was a seventh grader in Ashland, Ky. In 2002, he drew attention — some of it negative — for having his own promotional Web site. By 2005, Mayo was already on the radar of N.B.A. scouts and was identified by Sports Illustrated as, effectively, the next LeBron James. Like James, Mayo was named Ohio’s Mr. Basketball as a sophomore, when he averaged 26.7 points and helped lead North College Hill to the state Division III championship. Like James, Mayo also drew standing-room-only crowds to his games. But Mayo was also a source of controversy there, having transferred from out of state. After three seasons, he transferred again, in 2006, and played his final high school season in his hometown, Huntington, W.Va. Mayo was addressing various draft-night possibilities when he made an unsolicited plea for understanding. “I’m also a people person,” he said. “I make mistakes, but each and every day you want to try to better yourself to be a better person and learn from your mistakes. So I don’t want that to be something that would hold them back from maybe picking me.” Mayo has also been trying to assure general managers and coaches that he is a point guard. Mayo played the position throughout high school but was moved to off-guard by Coach Tim Floyd at U.S.C. The result is that he is often tagged as a combo guard. “He felt it was best for the team for me to be at the 2 guard and get shots in and score some points for our team,” Mayo said. “But in the past I played point guard. So just for the media, you know I can play the point guard. I definitely feel like I can fulfill any role that a team needs me to fulfill.”

Basketball
Mayo O J
Draft and Recruitment (Sports)
National Basketball Assn
Rose Derrick
Beasley Michael