With Findings on Storms, Centrist Recasts Warming Debate

Abstract: For decades, Kerry Emanuel, the meteorologist and hurricane specialist from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was known as a cautious centrist on questions of global warming and hurricane ferocity. Professor Emanuel asserted often that no firm link had been established between warming and the intensity and frequency of hurricanes. But in August, two weeks before Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast, Professor Emanuel wrote in the journal Nature that he had discovered statistical evidence that hurricanes were indeed affected by global warming. He linked the increased intensity of storms to the heating of the oceans. "His paper has had a fantastic impact on the policy debate," said Stephen Schneider, a climatologist at Stanford. "Emanuel's this conservative, apolitical guy, and he's saying, 'Global warming is real.' " On a recent visit to New York, Professor Emanuel, who is 50, said, "It's been quite a ride since the Nature article." He added, "But it's a really bad thing for a scientist to have an immovable, intractable position." Q. Let's go back to late August. What were your feelings as you watched television and saw Hurricane Katrina heading toward New Orleans? A. I'll go back to a few days before that. As Katrina was making up off the coast of Florida, it was already an interesting storm. Though she was weak, the prediction was she was going to hit Florida. But when Katrina came off the west coast of Florida, there were new predictions taking it into the central gulf and then up toward New Orleans, and I became concerned. Many people in my profession had been worried about New Orleans for a very long time. And we had always envisioned these worst-case scenarios, and this was beginning to look like one of those. And so I plotted out the position of the "loop current," which is this warm current of water in the Gulf of Mexico, and the forecast had the hurricane going right up the axis of this loop current. I remember looking at that, and alarms went off. I had this terrible feeling of dread, which deepened when the hurricane was elevated to a Category 5. We all knew that the pumps that kept New Orleans dry wouldn't be able to handle more than about a Category 3. My mother has an elderly friend in New Orleans, and I did something I never do. I sent her a message: "You ought to get out, now!" In retrospect, I will say that had Katrina been 30 miles further west, the death toll could have been much worse. New Orleans would have flooded more rapidly and to deeper levels. Q. Because last year's hurricane season was so intense, many people declared: "Ah, ha! Global warming!" Were they right? A. My answer is, Not so fast. That may have been a contributor. But the fact we had such a bad season was mostly a matter of chance. On the other hand, though the number of storms globally remained nearly constant, the frequency of Atlantic storms has been rising in concert with tropical ocean temperature, probably because of global warming. There is no doubt that in the last 20 years, the earth has been warming up. And it's warming up much too fast to ascribe to any natural process we know about. We still don't have a good grasp of how clouds and water vapor, the two big feedbacks in the climate system, will respond to global warming. What we are seeing is a modest increase in the intensity of hurricanes. I predicted years ago that if you warmed the tropical oceans by a degree Centigrade, you should see something on the order of a 5 percent increase in the wind speed during hurricanes. We've seen a larger increase, more like 10 percent, for an ocean temperature increase of only one-half degree Centigrade. Q. So what are the implications of increased ocean temperatures? A. Not much for storms at the time of landfall. But if you look at the whole life of storms in large ocean basins, we are seeing changes. And even if that doesn't have an immediate effect, people ought to be concerned about this because it is a large change in a natural phenomenon. Q. There are scientists who say of fossil fuel consumption and global warming, We may not have all the evidence yet, but we ought to be acting as if the worst could happen. Do you agree? A. It's always struck me as odd that this country hasn't put far more resources into research on alternative energy. Europeans are. France has managed to go 85 percent nuclear in its electrical generation. And the Europeans have gotten together to fund a major nuclear fusion project. It almost offends my pride as a U.S. scientist that we've fallen down so badly in this competition. Q. How did hurricanes become your specialty? A. When I was a child, we lived in Florida for three years, and I went through of a couple of hurricanes and was very impressed by them. Later, at M.I.T., I was asked to teach a course in tropical meteorology, which included hurricanes. As I started preparing, I realized I didn't understand what I'd been taught on the subject. As with many things, you think you understand something until you try to teach it. After some reading, I realized that the reigning theory had to be wrong. This theory held that the main thing that drives a hurricane is just ingestion of enormous quantities of water vapor from the atmospheric environment. It made predictions that weren't true. So it became a very big intellectual challenge to me. The more I got into it, the more interesting it became. Q. Given what you know about hurricanes, should we be building beachfront housing on the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts? A. Disaster specialists will tell you that part of the increasing lethality of land-falling hurricanes isn't related to nature. A lot of it has to do with human activity. We're moving to the coasts in droves, like lemmings. We're building waterfront structures there that aren't necessarily strong. We're taxing the infrastructure and paying a big price for doing that. Q. Would you ever buy a house on the beach? A. I'd love to! But if I could do that, I'd insist on paying for my risk. And I'd do what is now being called "the Fire Island option," which involves putting up flimsy houses that you don't mind losing to a storm. You don't insure them. Q. Almost concurrent to Hurricane Katrina, you published a beautifully packaged book, "Divine Wind: The History and Science of Hurricanes." How did you feel about the timing of its publication? A. Not terribly good. If one is just interested in sales, I suppose it was fortuitous. But I was trying to convey a sense of hurricanes as not just things of scientific interest, but as beautiful. A leopard is a very beautiful animal. But if you took it out of its cage, it would go for your jugular. Anyone can understand that neither a leopard nor a hurricane is a willful killer.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Global Warming
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricanes and Tropical Storms


Asian Stocks Lure Global Investors

Abstract: BEIJING — If the World Bank is correct, 2012 will be the second-weakest year for the global economy in a decade, at a level consistent with a world recession that like the 2008-9 financial crisis, will not spare Asia. Its sister organization, the International Monetary Fund, has warned that economic expansion in China could be cut in half this year if Europe’s debt debacle worsens — grim news, given that China adds more to global growth than any other economy. And about 600 of the world’s top private sector economists polled by Reuters say the momentum of global growth is weakening, while giving more robust estimates for economic expansion in Asia. So why have investors bought Asian equities so enthusiastically that stocks in the region, excluding Japan, have just had their strongest January showing since 2001 to enjoy one of the 10 most profitable monthly returns in a decade? “In summary, much of Asia is in a sweet spot right now,” said Robert Prior-Wandesforde, director of non-Japan Asia economics at Credit Suisse in Singapore. “Survey data clearly indicate that the world trade cycle is taking a turn for the better, which is likely to show through in better Asian export and industrial data shortly.” “History suggests that an improving growth and inflation mix is strongly associated with a better market performance. This is exactly what is happening right now.” Despite the problems of deficient demand in the debt-ridden European Union and still underspending consumers in the United States, investors certainly appear to believe in Asia’s rebounding economic cycle. Basic materials, energy and industrial stocks were the top-performing sectors last month. All gained close to 15 percent, according to Thomson Reuters sector indexes for Asia Pacific, excluding Japan, and continue to be the best bets so far in February. They have even been joined by technology stocks, one of the most cyclically sensitive sectors in Asia. Defensive noncyclical stocks and utilities are the two worst performers in the 10 sectors covered by the indexes. The equity rally in Asia doubtless has a valuation driver at work, too, especially after an 18 percent fall last year. But two-thirds of that has been recovered in just seven weeks, and in six markets tracked by Nomura, the buying of stocks by foreign investors has totaled $15.4 billion so far this year — more than reversing the $14.1 billion worth of stock that foreign investors sold in 2011. Analysts at UBS say investors were so risk-averse by the end of 2011 that valuations on global emerging market stocks had been lower just 7 percent of the time in the previous 20 years. Sean Darby, the chief global equity strategist at the brokerage Jefferies in Hong Kong, cautioned about reading too much into the rebound, given that scale of risk aversion. “Market positioning was weak in Asia and emerging markets,” he said. “The bounce was largely funds’ taking the weighting back to neutral at best.” Much depends on whether Asian economies are at the start of a cycle or the end of one, Mr. Darby said, pointing out that the best performance historically is delivered at the very beginning of cycles and not the end. Credit conditions for many corporations remain tight, given historically high loan-to-deposit ratios at commercial banks. On the upside, a widely anticipated fall in commodity and input prices adds further impetus to the Asian manufacturing sector and, by extension, to corporate profit margins. It also reinforces the downward drift of consumer prices. Analysts at Bank of America Merrill Lynch have forecast that 1.5 percentage points will melt away from the rate of inflation in Asia this year compared with last year, leaving more leeway for Asian central banks to ease monetary policy to cushion a slowdown in economic activity. Inflation eased in Indonesia, South Korea and Thailand in January from year-earlier levels, and inflation appears to have peaked in China. Central banks in Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand have all cut interest rates at least once in the past three months and economic policies in Beijing have had a pro-growth bias since autumn. At the same time, there has been a noticeable quickening in the pulse of purchasing managers’ surveys — the most consistent indicators of what is happening in the economy. The Chinese purchasing managers’ index makes particularly interesting reading in this context, given its close correlation with the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index, the barometer of U.S. corporate strength. The S.&P. 500 began a bounce from 12-month lows at the start of October and has gained about 22 percent since. The Chinese purchasing managers’ new orders index began to turn upward two months later, according to analysis from MES Advisers, investment consulting firm in New York. Because equity price moves typically discount the two quarters immediately ahead, the implication is that a healthy run-up in new orders and output is in store for factories in China, the world’s biggest economy after the United States’. An intriguing link with the S.&P. 500 is made by analysts at the bank ING, who point out that since the global financial crisis of 2008-9, the performance of that index — and not economic fundamentals — has been the main determinant of investment returns in emerging markets. Michael Kurtz, chief Asia equity strategist at Nomura in Hong Kong, said investors were just getting into their stride. His latest note to clients tells them to anticipate a further inflow of cash as fund managers increase exposure to Asian economic and corporate prospects. “With surprisingly little fanfare, Asia-Pacific dollar-earnings revisions have turned the corner back to upgrades recently,” Mr. Kurtz said. “The gathering U.S. recovery and China’s resilient P.M.I. are making Asia’s latest export data feel decidedly backward-looking.”

Far East South and Southeast Asia and Pacific Areas


Kolkata Testifies to the Grace of Mother Teresa, Its New Saint

Abstract: KOLKATA, India — When Mother Teresa’s canonization took place on Sunday, a battered-looking audience gathered in front of a screen some 4,500 miles east of St. Peter’s Square: men with caved-in chests, weeping sores wrapped in gauze, extremities missing entirely, legs so thin you could encircle them with a finger and thumb. Celebratory balloons had been strung from the rafters at Nirmal Hriday Home for the Dying Destitute, and they bounced around merrily under the overhead fans while nuns sang hymns in reedy voices. It is a spare, whitewashed space, not much changed since 1952, when Mother Teresa welcomed the hospice’s first patient, a man found near death on the street. Image A nun with the Missionaries of Charity ministering to a patient last week at Nirmal Hriday Home for the Dying Destitute, founded by Mother Teresa in 1952. Credit Rupak De Chowdhuri/Reuters The Home for the Dying Destitute became a central part of her legend, and Sunday’s small celebration had a proprietary air. Volunteers began filing in at 8 a.m., and one, who gave his name only as Pablo, delivered an envelope that he said contained $3,500 in cash. Neighborhood men said they had grown up watching nuns carry in desperate patients. “They were at the last stage of life,” said Apu Sil, 47. “There would be blood coming out of one side of their bodies. Some had worms in their bodies. They are lifted in someone’s arms to bring them in.” Mother Teresa: The Life of a Saint Before Mother Teresa became a saint, she was a nun, a nurse and a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. The children used to watch as the nuns cleaned the patients’ wounds, gently pulling out maggots, and their revulsion gradually faded, Mr. Sil said. “We were scared at first, and then after seeing them treated, we thought, ‘These are gods in human bodies,’” he said. “‘If they can do it, so can I.’” Kolkata is an intellectual, disputatious city, and over the years, voices from the right and the left have expressed ambivalence about Mother Teresa’s work. Hindu groups, including the powerful Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, have long held that Mother Teresa’s true agenda was to convert Indians to Christianity. Image A woman carrying a sculpture of Mother Teresa outside Mother House, the headquarters of the Missionaries of Charity, in Kolkata on Sunday. Credit Bikas Das/Associated Press Different kinds of complaints came from other quarters. The editor of the Lancet, a British medical journal, charged in 1994 that caregivers in the homes put too little effort into diagnosing treatable illnesses. And the novelist Amit Chaudhuri complained that the Western focus on Mother Teresa had reduced Kolkata, in the imagination of outsiders, to a “black hole” peopled by the mute poor. “This canonization, I don’t know what that’s all about,” he said on Sunday. “I’m not going to say anything churlish right now. But she’s not in the line of saints or important Christian figures who are dissenters. In that sense, she got appropriated a little bit. She was on peaceable terms with everybody.” What Do You Know About Mother Teresa and Other Saints? Mother Teresa, one of the 20th century’s most visible religious figures, was canonized on Sunday. Test your knowledge of Mother Teresa and the lives of other saints. For the last few days, though, the critiques have largely taken a back seat. Mother House, the headquarters of the Missionaries of Charity, erupted in cheers when Pope Francis declared her a saint. Women in saris, soaked with sweat in the steamy afternoon, fell to their knees, pressing their foreheads to her marble tomb. “Oh, my god, she was like my mother,” said Karnel Paul, 42, who sells trinkets to Hindu pilgrims near the hospice. Once, he recalled, Mother Teresa had learned of a government plan to shut down the trinket stalls, and submitted a written protest, blocking the move. The trinket-sellers shut their businesses for two days when she died in 1997 , he said. Image A patient at Nirmal Hriday on Friday. Credit Bernat Armangue/Associated Press “She is the mother of all shopkeepers,” he said. “She showered love on each and every person on this street.” Everyone seemed to have a story. Mohammad Salam, 55, who lives in a narrow lane beside Mother House, said Mother Teresa kept a hawk eye on him when he was a young man, peppering him with questions if she saw him spending time with youths who looked disreputable and urging him to advance himself. When she saw someone who looked cold, she came back with a blanket. Video Pope Francis declared Mother Teresa to be a Roman Catholic saint, and visitors to Vatican City shared their admiration of her after the canonization. Credit Credit Stefano Rellandini/Reuters “There are no words to explain,” he said. “Whatever I say in praise of her will be too little.” Inside the Home for the Dying Destitute, rows of narrow cots had been dragged into a diagonal position so that the men could see the video feed from the Vatican. Men who could not walk were carried to their beds by volunteers. Among them was Champa Minj, who guessed his age at about 35. After suffering a financial setback, he had begun to drink heavily, sleeping in public places where people stepped around him. He said he believed he was in that state for a year and a half, too ashamed to ask for help from the nuns. “It was the end of the world for me,” Mr. Minj said. “Nobody asks how you are. Nobody asks for you. You just keep lying there.” By the time he was brought in, he said, his face was swollen, his limbs shrunken and his stomach distended. After several months here, Mr. Minj has gained weight, and he receives a regular close shave — his greatest pleasure — from a priest. He wears a crucifix, and starts his day with a prayer to the Virgin Mary, whom he ranked as an especially powerful deity, alongside the Hindu goddess Kali. “Here, I got love and care,” he said. “That is why whatever I was back then, I left. I believe in this community and these people.” Out on the street, Hindu worshipers were coursing toward the Kalighat temple. Abhimanya Chatterjee, who manages an office in the temple complex, said Mother Teresa had left an imprint on everyone in the neighborhood. “One lone girl,” he said. “Where did she come from? She chose India’s soil. She left the entire big world and chose India.“ He shook his head. “A hundred years from now, when people hear about her, they will be totally wonder-struck that she ever existed,” he said.

Mother Teresa
India
Missionaries of Charity
Beatification
Catholic Church
Kolkata India,Calcutta


BlackBerry Maker RIM Posts Another Loss

Abstract: OTTAWA — Research in Motion , the beleaguered BlackBerry maker, is open to selling or licensing parts of its business, its chief executive said Thursday after the company announced a fourth-quarter loss of $125 million and a higher-than-anticipated decline in BlackBerry sales. The financial results , which marked the fifth consecutive time that the company missed its quarterly financial guidance, were preceded by an announcement that Jim Balsillie, the company’s former co-chief executive and co-chairman, had resigned from the board. Although Thorsten Heins, the company’s chief executive since January, is an insider, in a conference call with analysts Thursday he adopted a much more candid tone about the company’s position than his predecessors have offered. “I recognize that these are difficult times for shareholders,” he said. “And it is likely that the next few quarters will be challenging.” Mr. Heins said that the company was currently reviewing its businesses as well as looking at a sweeping reorganization of its management. David Yach has stepped down as chief technology officer of software and Jim Rowan has left the post of chief operating officer for global operations. Mr. Heins said he had already decided that RIM should concentrate on selling to its original client base of business and government users. “It is very clear to me that substantial change is what RIM needs,” he said during the conference call. “We believe BlackBerry cannot succeed if we try to be everybody’s darling and all things to all people.” The review of operations, he said, would include exploring licensing RIM’s technologies to other companies or forming partnerships with other companies. If it makes good business sense, he added, some of RIM’s operations may be sold although he said that he intended to keep the company as an integrated provider of hardware, software and, through its unique network, data and communications services. About the only avenue that Mr. Heins appeared reluctant to follow was seeking a sale of RIM as a whole. “The best path for RIM is to manage the turnaround,” he said. The sweeping call for change from Mr. Heins was welcomed by many analysts. “That was an important step,” said Bill Kreher, a technology analyst at Edward Jones. “Heins appears to be more open to new ideas than the previous management team.” Nevertheless, like his predecessors, Mr. Heins is betting that RIM’s fortunes will reverse once a new line of phones using a new operating system, BlackBerry 10, starts coming to market later this year. While Mr. Heins still did not have a date for when those phones would go on sale, he did say that sample versions would be provided to software developers in May. During the fourth quarter of RIM’s fiscal year, which ended March 3, sales of BlackBerry 7 phones, which were supposed to bridge the gap to the new handsets, fell so much that RIM took a $267 million write-down on inventory. The company also wrote down the value of its good will by $355 million during the quarter. Without the charges, RIM would have earned $418 million, or 55 percent less than the $934 million recorded a year earlier. Revenue declined to $4.19 billion, from $5.56 billion during the period a year earlier. The 11.1 million BlackBerry phones shipped marked a 21 percent drop. The company shipped about 500,000 PlayBook tablets and said that retailers sold slightly more than that number during the quarter. Sales of the tablets, which use a preliminary form of the BlackBerry 10 operating system, have been fueled by prices that are below RIM’s cost for making the devices. Over the last 18 months or so, RIM had been able to more than offset the drastic decline in BlackBerry sales in the United States by successfully promoting inexpensive BlackBerrys in less developed countries as entry level smartphones. But Mr. Heins said that business was now under threat by increasing numbers of low-priced smartphones using Google’s Android operating system. RIM, he said, will soon introduce inexpensive handsets it hopes will counter that trend.

Research In Motion Ltd
Blackberry (Handheld Device)
Company Reports
Heins Thorsten


A Doomed Crusade for More Diverse Schools

Abstract: RYE BROOK, N.Y. Dick Hubert’s one-man campaign to desegregate, however slightly, the Blind Brook school district thudded to its inevitable close at 10:55 p.m. Monday, at the end of a long school board meeting. The auditorium where the meeting took place was virtually empty. The board members, so animated earlier about the cost of glue sticks and the intricacies of earth science curriculum, seemed to make a point of looking as uninterested as possible as he read his statement. “At this point, there is nothing more for me to add to this dialogue,” Mr. Hubert concluded. “The United States will be a majority nonwhite country in the adult lifetime of the children in your care. The only question is: How well will you have prepared them for being citizen leaders in this society?” The board members barely looked up. He left the building and walked out into the cold rain. Mr. Hubert, a 70-year-old retired television journalist who runs a small video production company, may not have made the most adroit case for his argument that Blind Brook, which is wealthy and 93 percent white, should make it a priority to merge some services and build links with its neighboring school district in Port Chester, which is largely poor and working class and 80 percent minorities. He is not a parent, so he is not considered much of a stakeholder in school matters. And anything that even hints at a merger of a wealthy school district and a poor one virtually anywhere in America is dead well before its arrival. Still, as we near the beginning of the Obama administration, Mr. Hubert, in one small Westchester school district, did briefly rouse a dog that had long ago stopped barking. Outside the ancient desegregation battles of the South, do we care at all if we’re a nation of school districts that exist in their own racial and demographic silos? Blue votes aside, nowhere is the answer more of an emphatic “no” than here in our enlightened corner of Obama Nation. Blind Brook is a tinier island than some — only 1,527 students. But it’s part of a pattern we accept seemingly without a thought — Garden City and Hempstead on Long Island, Bronxville and Mount Vernon in Westchester, on and on, rich schools/poor schools nearly as segregated by income, race and class as the schools that used to be segregated by law in the South. Mr. Hubert, who has been a periodic gadfly in the past at school board meetings, first raised the issue at a meeting in October. He termed Blind Brook one of the most segregated districts by class and race in the country and characterized his neighbors as hypocrites willing to vote for Barack Obama but not to let their children go to school with the Obamas of tomorrow. A board member, Lawrence D. Engle, shot back, “To the extent that your comments infer that this district practices segregationism, I am offended, and I will not countenance that affront.” Mr. Engle added, “You should be ashamed.” That set off weeks of angry letters back and forth in the local newspaper, Westmore News, with a rare note of support for Mr. Hubert and many more taking him to task. However virtuous Mr. Hubert’s concerns, one lesson surely was that if the topic devolves from race to whether someone is racist, that’s likely to stop the conversation before it even starts. But that aside, it’s not easy to see many roads out. Rich districts won’t be merging with poor ones, no matter how much this region’s stratospheric taxes are exacerbated by our crazy quilt of boutique school districts, each with its own layers of administration and bureaucracy. School officials in Port Chester (Blind Brook officials declined to return phone calls) say that because kids are so busy and school schedules are so different, the idea of merging much that goes on in neighboring districts may be unrealistic. And Donald K. Carlisle, the Port Chester schools superintendent, while applauding, in the abstract, the idea of looking for creative ways to bring together diverse school populations, said he wasn’t entirely sure that kids were so divided these days. “I think there are opportunities that exist already — sports, malls. Kids mingle more than you think,” he said. “I have a lot of faith in this generation of kids, particularly in areas of race or discrimination. Sometimes I think it’s the adults who need to find ways to build bridges more than the kids.” For his swan song on the issue Monday, Mr. Hubert, a former Amherst College trustee, played his hole card, a letter from Amherst’s dean of admissions, Thomas Parker. It said, in effect, that in the emerging multicultural world, colleges are looking for students who can negotiate racially diverse settings and that those who don’t will be at a distinct disadvantage in the admissions process. It’s true that students need to adjust to a multicultural world. It’s not really so obvious that, particularly with university endowments being pulverized, kids from rich, white suburbs will be at some kind of disadvantage in admissions. The truth is that, now as then, the real losers in education’s rigged game are those in the less demographically desirable districts, forever cut off from the social and intellectual capital that’s the birthright of the kids born on second and third base. That’s the real reason Mr. Hubert’s doomed little crusade matters way beyond Blind Brook and why, alas, there’s no evidence that it’s likely to do better elsewhere than it did here.

Segregation
Race
Education and Schools
New York State


A Rookie Cornerback Bounces Back Again

Abstract: ST. LOUIS (AP) — Janoris Jenkins, the St. Louis Rams ’ budding star cornerback, is no stranger to tough love, and no stranger to rising from it. A one-game benching earlier this season was nothing for him compared with being booted from the powerful Southeastern Conference to the obscurity of Division II in college. Last week, instead of the being the player who dropped to the second round of the N.F.L. draft after having off-field problems, Jenkins became the fourth rookie since 1950 to return two interceptions for touchdowns in a game. There is plenty for him to learn, given a recent three-game stretch in which he surrendered four touchdown passes after biting on the first move. Too much guesswork has resulted in a mix of big plays and bad burns, not to mention the punch to the gut from his own team that left him standing disconsolately on the sideline in a 24-24 tie against the 49ers for violating team rules. Then again, Jenkins, 24, perhaps needed to be awakened. “All of our rookies go through growing pains,” said Kevin Demoff, the Rams’ chief operating officer. “I don’t think it’s a coincidence that he’s had two strong games after missing time in San Francisco, but I also think that’s part of the natural maturation process.” The Rams (4-6-1) believe they have a keeper in Jenkins, a former Florida standout whose star qualities shone through at North Alabama. The explosive potential was evident last week when Jenkins set a franchise record with the interceptions for scores. Noting that the Rams won by two touchdowns, Coach Jeff Fisher said it could be argued that Jenkins was the reason. “He’s a very smart young man; he’s got football instincts and athletic ability, but he also understands the game,” Fisher said. “And that’s what puts him in position to make those plays.” The only thing lacking last week was a perfect end zone celebration; Jenkins botched his try twice, to much teasing from teammates. He was trying to get the ball to spin on the turf long enough to also execute a dance of snapping imaginary rubber bands on his wrists as he circled the ball. “They was cracking me,” Jenkins said. “I couldn’t get the ball to behave. I’m working on that.” Other young players are also receiving the opportunity to work on their game from the rebuilding Rams. Another rookie, the speedy receiver Chris Givens, was also suspended for the 49ers game and has since become more than just a deep threat, with five catches for 115 yards and a touchdown last week. Place-kicker Greg Zuerlein and punter Johnny Hekker are rookies, too, and first- and second-year players are major contributors throughout the N.F.L.’s youngest roster. During the preseason, General Manager Les Snead described the process of rebuilding a franchise coming off the worst stretch in N.F.L. history — 15 wins in five seasons — as living with “growing pains” and “spilled milk.” “He’s nowhere near where we expect him to be in his career because he’s still learning,” Fisher, a former N.F.L. defensive back, said of Jenkins. “He’s guessing a little bit. Once he gets the feel for everything and has experienced everything, we think he’s going to be a top-flight corner.” Jenkins was on that trajectory at Florida before being dismissed by Coach Will Muschamp after he was charged for the second time in four months with marijuana possession. Two years earlier, the police used a stun gun to subdue him and he was charged with arrest without violence. He was a three-year starter for the Gators and was considered one of the top cornerbacks in the SEC after he contained stars like A. J. Green, Julio Jones and Alshon Jeffery despite playing much of his junior year with a shoulder injury that required surgery. Three months before his dismissal from Florida, Jenkins had decided to return to college for his senior season. He ended up starring again, but far from Gainesville. Jenkins liked the fit at North Alabama, a Division II power then coached by Terry Bowden. Though he was not there long, Jenkins stood out, especially with punt returns of 92, 89 and 87 yards for scores. Chris Willis, North Alabama’s secondary coach last year and now the program’s defensive coordinator, said at the Senior Bowl last January that Jenkins “was as good as advertised.” Willis added: “We were able to isolate him with a single receiver and we could take the safeties and shift everybody to the other side. We could put him on the best receiver and tell him to lock him down.” Besides the eye-popping punt returns, Jenkins had two interceptions, a blocked kick and two fumble recoveries, helping North Alabama reach nine or more victories for the seventh straight season and advance to the second round of the playoffs. At the Senior Bowl, Jenkins bemoaned the fact that while at Florida he was issued three or four pair of cleats, he had to make do with a single pair at North Alabama. “It was just a humbling experience,” Jenkins said. “I put myself in that situation. I’ve just got to move on and just focus on now and not what happened in the past, what I could have made and what I’m making now.” The Rams leaned on scouting reports, combine interviews, a player visit to St. Louis and staff trips to Florida and Alabama before taking Jenkins with the second of their three second-round picks. Now there are no footwear concerns. More days like last Sunday, when he twice victimized the Cardinals’ rookie quarterback, Ryan Lindley, and there will be no worries at all. Ever aggressive, Jenkins jumped the route on a quick out intended for LaRod Stephens-Howling and had clear sailing on a 36-yard sideline score early in the second quarter. Late in the third, he had an easy pick on an underthrown pass by Lindley, who was under pressure from the pass rush and throwing off his back foot. Jenkins went for a 39-yard return that put the Rams ahead by 11. The first interception ended the Rams’ five-game turnover drought, tied for the N.F.L.’s longest since 1950. They finished the game with four interceptions. “A big relief,” Jenkins said. “I felt that the defense came out and we played together. We tried to disguise coverage and tried to confuse the rookie quarterback as much as possible.” On Sunday, Jenkins will finally have at chance to play the 49ers, who lead the N.F.C. West. Jenkins stood uncomfortably on the sideline watching the teams battle it out for five quarters. “It hurt him not to play, it hurt him not to be on the field,” said cornerback Cortland Finnegan, the Rams’ top pickup in free agency and, at 28, the player entrusted to mentoring Jenkins. “I think that was enough in itself.” Though Jenkins made plenty of nice plays before the suspension, including a blocked field goal against the Jets, he has been more on task since then. “I think there hasn’t been a game where he hasn’t played like a first-rounder,” Finnegan said. “It’s just life of a defensive back. You get plays made on you; that’s part of it. “You learn from them, you get over them, you have a short memory and you go back out there and line up again.”


In Bribery Law, a New Tool to Scrutinize Wall Street

Abstract: If you want to succeed on Wall Street, you have to build relationships. So firms will do almost anything to please clients, catering to their wishes in the hope of winning the next underwriting assignment or new assets to manage. Bank of New York Mellon has now learned that helping a client can get you tangled up in the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act as it settled charges that it gave something of value to keep a large investment with the bank. That law prohibits giving “anything of value” to a foreign official to obtain or retain business with a government entity. The settlement shows Wall Street that its business practices are being put under the uncomfortable glare of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Justice Department, which are using the law aggressively to police practices that many might consider standard fare for financial firms trying to win business. The settlement requires BNY Mellon to pay a $14.8 million civil penalty for hiring three interns who were relatives of two officials of a Middle East sovereign wealth fund that had invested $711 million with the bank. According to the administrative order entered in the case, two officials at the unidentified sovereign wealth fund put pressure on BNY Mellon managers to provide the internships, making rather unsubtle hints that the investments might be in jeopardy if the bank did not come through with the positions. In one email, a bank employee said that “by not allowing the internships to take place, we potentially jeopardize our mandate,” while another one wrote that it was “silly things like this that help influence who ends up with more assets/retaining dominant position.” The interns were not qualified for BNY Mellon’s regular hiring program, and perhaps unsurprisingly they turned out to be less-than-stellar performers. An intern in the London office was described as “O.K.” in a performance review, while the two in the Boston office, who were paid more than other interns, were confronted by a human resources manager for repeated absences. Someone getting an internship because of connections is certainly nothing new. Look in many Capitol Hill offices and the child of a campaign contributor is likely to be working there for the summer. Keeping the affections of corporate clients is high on any manager’s list of things to do, so it is a small price to pay. The breadth of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, however, does not distinguish between big and little favors so long as there is “anything of value” given. The law reaches any “department, agency or instrumentality” of a foreign government. That last term has been broadly interpreted to include organizations that are controlled by a foreign government, like a sovereign wealth fund, even though it operates much like any other investment firm. Wall Street routinely courts any pool of capital for investments, but when that fund acts on behalf of a foreign government, then the types of gifts and favors that may be showered on clients could come under the prohibition on foreign business bribery. The law applies to any benefit used to obtain or retain business, which is also interpreted to cover almost any action that will benefit a business or help it continue its operations. The emails cited by the S.E.C. make clear that BNY Mellon saw the internships as a way to stay in the good graces of the fund’s officials, which may be enough to establish the requisite connection for a violation. Is the S.E.C. pushing the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act too far, turning it into a vehicle for policing long-accepted practices in the business and political world? The answer depends on whether the law should focus only on more traditional forms of bribery, or should be used to police business ethics. The statute arose from the foreign bribery scandals that came to light in the mid-1970s, with Lockheed being the most notorious example when it admitted paying bribes to foreign officials, including a Dutch prince, to sell military aircraft. The law, adopted in 1977, was largely dormant until about 10 years ago, when the Justice Department and S.E.C. ramped up cases against a wide variety of firms. Among the companies under investigation is Walmart . The focus on Wall Street is not really a surprise because of the large amount of foreign assets targeted by financial firms. Reuters reported in 2014 that a number of firms, including Goldman Sachs and Och-Ziff Capital Management, were being examined for their dealings in 2009 with Libya’s sovereign wealth fund. Doling out gifts and other favors, which might be acceptable when trying to attract the business of a private client, can bring prompt scrutiny for violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act because the law does not allow for a “business as usual” defense. The Justice Department has faced difficulties in pursuing cases against individuals for violating the law because it can be difficult to show when conduct crosses the line into bribery. In 2012, the prosecution of 22 defendants caught up in a sting fell apart over claims that the government went too far in enticing them to participate in a fake deal to sell military supplies to an African government. The former co-chief executive of the oil services company PetroTiger was sentenced in June to probation for pleading guilty to a single conspiracy count after an important cooperating witness admitted giving false testimony and the government dropped money laundering and foreign bribery charges . Banks and other large companies, unlike individuals, are much more willing to resolve a case without challenging the government’s theory of bribery by entering a settlement and paying a fine because the publicity from a trial can be much more damaging. So the government’s view of the scope of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act as encompassing three internships as a form of bribery goes unchallenged when BNY Mellon agrees to a settlement. Although this S.E.C. case was small, it sent a message to other financial firms that the Justice Department and S.E.C. consider their hiring practices covered by the foreign bribery law. This may foreshadow a settlement with JPMorgan Chase over its hiring of the children of China’s ruling elite. The New York Times reported in 2013 about the bank’s “Sons and Daughters” program for hiring children with connections, including one email referring to the “existing and potential business opportunities” of a job candidate whose father was chairman of a Chinese financial conglomerate. Currying favor with clients may be nothing new, but when a client is connected to a government official, there is a risk that any benefits violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Like it or not, the law has grown into another tool to scrutinize Wall Street.

Bank of New York Mellon
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act
Justice Department
Sovereign wealth fund
Internship
Banking and Finance
SEC


Johnnie M. Walters, I.R.S. Chief Who Resisted Nixon’s Pressure, Dies at 94

Abstract: Johnnie M. Walters, a commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service under President Richard M. Nixon who left office after refusing to prosecute people on Nixon’s notorious “enemies list,” died on Tuesday at his home in Greenville, S.C. He was 94. His son Hilton confirmed the death. Nixon had fired his first I.R.S. commissioner, Randolph W. Thrower , for resisting White House pressure to punish political opponents. Mr. Thrower, who served from 1969 to 1971, died at 100 in March. Mr. Walters represented the Middle American values Nixon trumpeted. As a sharecropper’s son, he followed a mule with a plow as a boy and went on to be an assistant scoutmaster, lead a Rotary Club and preach as a layman in a Baptist church. Before coming to Washington, his only political activity was as treasurer of the Republican Party in Greenville. At the time of Mr. Thrower’s firing, Mr. Walters was assistant attorney general for tax policy. Attorney General John Mitchell recommended him for the I.R.S. job, and he had strong backing from Senator Strom Thurmond of South Carolina, a friend. The New York Times suggested in a profile that he was appointed partly because “he would not be overly independent in exercising his powerful office.” His stated goals were simplifying the tax process and catching tax cheats. His agency’s job had grown more complex when it was given the added responsibility of enforcing the wage-price guidelines Nixon imposed to stem inflation. Mr. Walters had not been told of Nixon’s other job requirements, as revealed in a White House conversation recorded on May 13, 1971. “I want to be sure he is a ruthless son of a bitch, that he will do what he’s told, that every income-tax return I want to see I see, that he will go after our enemies and not go after our friends,” the president said. Mr. Walters failed to follow this script — which was unknown to him — when John W. Dean III, the White House counsel, summoned him to his office on Sept. 11, 1972. Mr. Dean handed him the “enemies list” of 200 people, most prominent Democrats, whom he wanted investigated. “I was shocked,” Mr. Walters said in a 1997 interview with The Washington Post. “John, do you realize what you’re doing?” he remembered saying. “If I did what you asked, it’d make Watergate look like a Sunday school picnic.” But Mr. Dean was emphatic, he recalled, saying, “The man I work for doesn’t like somebody to say ‘no.’ ” Several days later, Mr. Walters went to his immediate boss, Treasury Secretary George P. Shultz, showed him the list and recommended that the I.R.S. do nothing. Mr. Shultz told him to lock the list in his safe. By Sept. 15, Nixon had been told of Mr. Walters’s reluctance to follow instructions. “Why the hell did we promote him?” H. R. Haldeman, the White House chief of staff said, according to a tape. Nixon told Mr. Dean, “You’ve got to kick Walters’s ass out first and get a man in there.” The president added that Mr. Shultz needed to make sure that Mr. Walters left if he wanted to keep his own job. Mr. Walters gave the list to Laurence N. Woodworth, chief of staff of Congress’s Joint Committee on Taxation. He wrote in his 2011 book, “Our Journey,” that this was the most important thing he did, “because then we could say with absolute certainty that I.R.S. never began any audit or investigation of any name on that list because of the list.” Mr. Walters testified to various committees investigating alleged Nixon misdeeds. He left office in April 1973. Johnnie McKeiver Walters was born on Dec. 20, 1919, near Hartsville, S.C., a small farm town. He graduated from Furman University in Greenville in 1943 and joined the Army Air Forces, serving as a navigator on more than 50 combat missions in Europe and winning the Purple Heart and other medals. He graduated from the University of Michigan Law School, where he met Donna Hall, whom he married in 1947. In addition to his wife and his son Hilton, he is survived by another son, John Roy; his daughters, Donna Diane Gent and Betsy Kukorowski; his sisters, Mildred Purvis, Louise Sparrow and Christine King; five grandchildren; and one great-grandson. After law school, Mr. Walters worked briefly for the I.R.S., then joined the tax department of Texaco in New York. In 1961, he returned to Greenville and hung up his shingle as a tax lawyer. He was appointed an assistant attorney general in 1969. His strong advocacy of preserving tax-exempt status for all-white private schools was his most visible activity there. The status was ended anyway. Mr. Walters’s moralistic streak was evident in his disdain for tax evaders. “It is indeed strange that the theft of a used car worth $500 rates a three-year prison sentence, whereas the theft of $50,000 of taxes rates only a small fine and no prison time,” he said in a 1972 speech. “Yes, theft; what else is tax evasion?”

Johnnie M. Walters
Watergate
Tax Evasion
IRS
President Nixon
Obituary
US Politics
Federal Taxes
Income tax


Broad Channel, the Island in the City

Abstract: For many New Yorkers, Broad Channel is a blur of a neighborhood they pass, by car or A train, from mainland Queens on the way to Rockaway Beach. That was the case for the photographer Maureen Drennan, who had been shooting pictures of surfers in the Rockaways in 2010 when she got off the A train in Broad Channel one day and started walking. “I thought, ‘Wow, this is crazy, houses on stilts, what’s this all about?' ” she recalled. “I just started walking around photographing.” Ms. Drennan, 43, a native New Yorker who teaches photography at LaGuardia Community College, was immediately fascinated with “this beautiful place, totally different from the rest of New York.” Broad Channel is an island in Jamaica Bay, in Queens. The narrow, mile-long neighborhood is populated by several thousand residents, many of them active or retired firefighters, police officers and other civil servants. Some families have been there for generations. Ms. Drennan spent time in the homes and bars and boat clubs, and in a local veterans’ hall, also attending a funeral, a christening and other family events. All the while, she took photographs using medium-format film, resulting in nearly square images. After Broad Channel was devastated by Hurricane Sandy two years ago, Ms. Drennan was not attracted to the usual photos of destruction, she said. Rather, she made subtler pictures: a penciled line on a door to mark how high the storm surge rose; a freshly spackled wall behind a dining room table in a rebuilt home. “The destruction was not interesting to me,” she said. “What was interesting to me was the resilience.” The hurricane, and the struggle to come back to normal, drove home the paradox of living close to the water. “They’re enriched by the water, it defines them,” she said. “But it might ultimately be the thing that forces them to leave the area, because the water keeps rising, and you can only come back so much.”

Maureen Drennan
Photography
Broad Channel Queens


Swimsuit for the Olympics Is a New Skin for the Big Dip

Abstract: Ryan Lochte, an Olympic swimmer, said he felt like a superhero. Michael Phelps, who is expected to win multiple gold medals at the Beijing Games, said it was as if he were wearing a spacesuit. And this was after Phelps, promoting a slinky black unitard swimsuit, stood on a podium with his arms and legs splayed like Leonardo da Vinci’s “Vitruvian Man.” It might have been a stretch to equate the latest, and supposedly fastest, swimsuit from Speedo, introduced at a news conference on Tuesday, to a Renaissance drawing that is considered to be the apotheosis of ideal proportions — a merger of science, art and nature. But then again, some people do get really excited about the slightest changes to the get-ups that swimmers wear at the Olympics. Six months before the Games, in what has practically become a tradition among sportswear companies since full-length bodysuits revolutionized the look and speed of the sport at the 2000 Summer Olympics, Speedo staged its version of an “upfront” to introduce what the company is describing as “the world’s fastest swimsuit.” It is in essence the same design as the world’s fastest swimsuit that Speedo introduced in 2004, only now it is made from fewer pieces (3 instead of 30). And the seams, rather than being sewn together, were ultrasonically welded. But more on that later. Phelps was still waxing poetically onstage. “It literally feels like you are a rocket coming off the wall,” he said, describing the feeling of diving into a pool in Speedo’s new LZR Racer, which is pronounced Laser Racer. (The vowels would apparently have taken too much time to spell out.) “The water completely runs off the suit,” he said. Along with Phelps and Lochte, five other Olympic swimmers were on the stage in Midtown: Natalie Coughlin, Kate Ziegler, Dara Torres, Katie Hoff and Amanda Beard. They all stood silently in their suits like statues until Beard began to crack up. Four hours earlier, they had appeared even more awkward, seated on the set of NBC’s “Today” show, where the lights cut through their translucent suits like X-rays. In the audience at the news conference was Harold Koda, the chief curator of the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He is planning a show next year of conceptual fashion designs that fit into a theme of superheroes. Koda said he had approached Speedo to borrow the suit worn by Olympic athletes in 2004, but was asked by the company to hold off until he saw its latest design. “I was hoping to see more red,” he said. “We need more color.” The new styles were either black on black or gray on gray, but the moody blue lighting in the room made it difficult to tell. As far as superheroes go, these would perhaps be best suited for Captain SeaWorld, the avenger of Flipper. Speedo is also collaborating with the designer Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garçons on a more colorful version for the Olympics, presumably in red, white and blue, but those will not be revealed until shortly before the Games. A basic version was also made available for purchase on Tuesday on Speedo’s Web site, where advance orders were being taken for the $550 swimsuits, expected for delivery in May. “It’s kind of fun to have something new to wear at each Olympics,” said Beard, who, after stepping off the podium, changed into a pair of Tavertini jeans that looked tighter than the swimsuit. For anyone who is not an employee of NASA, as were some of the people who developed the suit, it may be difficult to comprehend the difference between the suit, made of a paper-thin nylon and Lycra blend, and a great pair of L’Eggs. The most significant advancement claimed by Speedo is that it has 10 percent less “passive drag” than its 2004 model. Stu Isaac, a senior vice president of Speedo, said that drag refers to the resistance created by water rushing against the suit. In studies, the swimmers were lying passively in a flowing water flume. The new suit will be tested in competition this weekend at the Grand Prix series at the University of Missouri. The suit was streamlined by using fewer pieces and also by bonding its seams with heat created by ultrasonic waves — a process akin to getting a filling at the dentist — thereby eliminating ridges created by overlapping pieces of fabric. Hoff said that the old suit had so many seams it left marks along her skin. “This is so smooth, it feels more flexible and comfortable,” she said. Flat may be fast, but it can also seem a little dull, it was suggested to Torres, the fastest female swimmer in the United States. “You think it looks dull?” she said. “We’re there to swim fast. We’re not there for a fashion show.”

Swimming
Speedo
Olympic Games (2008)
Beijing (China)


A Training Football Is Helping Cut Down on Fumbles One Beep at a Time

Abstract: ASHBURN, Va. — Amid the hooting and hollering at Washington Redskins minicamp, there is a different sound in the air during running back drills. Coaches whack at the football while Matt Jones carries it, and it beeps. Then it beeps longer. That is a good sign. The Redskins are one of five N.F.L. teams using so-called beeping or whistling footballs to emphasize ball security. When the ball is being held correctly using the fundamental five points of pressure, it emits a beeping sound at about 80 decibels to tell a player he is doing it right. “If I had that ball in high school, I don’t think I would have had a fumble,” Jones said. “It’s teaching me how to squeeze the ball at the point of contact. Everything has changed about me holding the ball.” Cutting down on fumbles is the goal in using the ball, which was developed by Tom Creguer, an assistant coach at Northwood University. It has been used by the Redskins, the Dallas Cowboys, the Indianapolis Colts, the Baltimore Ravens, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and several college teams. The San Diego Chargers plan to start using them at training camp. Creguer said practicing with “High and Tight” footballs , which cost about $150 each, reduced the Northwood team’s fumbles by 63 percent last season. Many N.F.L. position coaches learned of the balls at the scouting combine. “It basically reinforces the proper hold by teaching the athlete to put their forearm to the panel, their panel to the chest and to compress the ball evenly with equal distribution of pressure, therefore creating basically a vise around the football, creating that muscle memory of what it feels like to have the ball secured to their body at all times,” Creguer said in a phone interview. The technology adds a new element to how coaches teach ball security. Creguer said the Cowboys running backs coach Gary Brown had texted him to say that he would use the beeping footballs as long as he was working. Cowboys players took a little more time to warm up to the balls. “They didn’t like it at first,” Brown said. “I think it was just the pressure you had to do it. They’re not used to squeezing it that hard.” Players are not the only ones adjusting to how to squeeze a football tight enough. During a presentation, the Ravens running backs coach Thomas Hammock demonstrated and then tossed the ball to Coach John Harbaugh, who could not get it to beep. “I’ve been working out; I feel like I’m pretty strong right now,” Harbaugh said with a laugh. “Found out later the battery was dead, for the record.” On the field, though, it seems to be working. Brown said the Cowboys running backs Ezekiel Elliott and Alfred Morris had fewer fumbles during organized team activities and minicamp after working with the beeping balls in drills. Morris said he got a cramp in his forearm the first day, but he thought it would help in games when defenders were trying to strip the ball. With so much to think about, he wants holding the ball to be second nature. “It’s easy to just, like, ‘I’ve got to make this guy miss.’ You don’t think about, ‘I need to keep the ball tight, too,’” Morris said. “So doing something like that can kind of reiterate like, hey, keep the ball tight.” Colts running back Robert Turbin has only lost one fumble in 281 career carries but was open to new ideas about how to get better. “All running backs fumble, but as they say, iron sharpens iron, so just because you’re good at something doesn’t mean you can’t get better at it,” Turbin said. For the Redskins, it is about fixing a known problem. Jones lost four fumbles as a rookie, and with Morris’ having gone to Dallas, Jones must improve in that area as Washington’s top back. The Redskins running backs coach Randy Jordan, who played nine seasons for the Raiders and the Jaguars, struggled to get the football to beep at first. After he and his players figured it out, Jordan noticed a major improvement, especially from Jones, who plans to buy a ball to use during the summer break. Other running backs may soon follow suit. “Ball security, that’s the most important thing on the field,” Morris said. “That’s one thing you don’t want to do is turn the ball over.”

Football
Redskins
Alfred Morris
NFL
Super Bowl
Super Bowl 2015


Reported Arrests in Mali Raise Questions About Junta

Abstract: DAKAR, Senegal — Casting doubt on Mali ’s transition back to civilian rule after a military coup last month, soldiers arrested a number of leading political figures in the capital late Monday and early Tuesday, according to members of the opposition. A former prime minister, Modibo Sidibé, was among those arrested, as was a leading member of the opposition and former finance minister, Soumaïla Cissé, who was injured while being seized, the opposition figures said. The men were arrested at their homes by the soldiers, some of whom were masked. The wave of overnight arrests — Journal du Mali , a Malian Web site, cited at least five — suggests that the junta that seized power on March 22 is not yet ready to give it up despite a series of solemn promises and ceremonies over the previous 10 days, including the swearing-in of a new civilian president . The arrested political figures were apparently taken to a military encampment outside the capital, Bamako, that serves as headquarters for the junta, the opposition members said. The junta has made no official declaration about the arrests. Mr. Cissé and Mr. Sidibé, who had been arrested previously by the junta, were to have been presidential candidates in an April 29 election that the coup squashed. The junta, led by an American-trained captain and other junior officers, ended two decades of democratic rule in Mali when it overthrew the government, seized the national television station, looted ministries and unwittingly turned over half the country to rebels in the north. President Amadou Toumani Touré’s government, hailed in the West as a democratic exemplar for the region, crumbled without a fight — suggesting that democracy was far less firmly implanted in Mali than outsiders had long believed and leaked embassy cables had indicted. After West African neighbors closed their borders with Mali and froze its funds in the regional bank, the junta leader, Capt. Amadou Sanogo, signed an agreement on April 6 that seemingly ended the coup. Now opposition members are expressing bewilderment at the arrests, saying they put the restoration of democracy in a very uncertain light. “The situation is very confused,” said Tièma Hubert Coulibaly, head of the Union for Democracy and Development party, who took part in negotiations to form a new government. “Nobody understands why they were arrested. There has been no explanation. There is a great deal of confusion.” Mr. Coulibaly said he was taking “precautions” for himself, adding that “a whole bunch of people” had been arrested. Despite the agreement with the regional grouping of West African states, Ecowas, ostensibly ending military rule, it has not been clear how willingly the junta would step aside. Captain Sanogo suggested even before the interim president, Dioncounda Traoré, was sworn in last week that he would be keeping a hand in running things, saying that “after 40 days we would sit down with Ecowas to decide on another team.” So even with the selection Tuesday of an interim prime minister, Cheick Modibo Diarra, a scientist, and the inclusion of civilians in negotiations for the transitional government, real command still appears to rest with the military. “These men have at their disposal a very powerful lever of power, in the relationship of forces,” Mr. Coulibaly said. “They have weapons.” Among others who were arrested, according to Mr. Coulibaly and Journal du Mali, were a former defense minister, a former director general of the national police and Mr. Touré’s former chief of staff. “They seem to be consistent in their inconsistency,” said a diplomat in Bamako who was not authorized to speak publicly. “Sanogo is moving in one direction, then another. It’s very disappointing.” Mr. Coulibaly suggested that Captain Sanogo was not in full control of his forces, a view echoed by the chief aide to another leading political figure, Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta, a former prime minister who was also to have been a candidate on April 29. “There is a dichotomy between Sanogo and his troops,” said Mahamadou Camara, chief of staff for Mr. Keïta. “I think that Captain Sanogo does not really control them.” In any event, he added, “it’s rare to see the military give up power after only 15 days.”

Mali
Sanogo Amadou Haya
Sidibe Modibo
Cisse Soumaila
Coups D'Etat and Attempted Coups D'Etat


With Burress Out, the Giants’ Other Receivers Get More Attention

Abstract: EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Domenik Hixon drew unintentional chuckles when discussing the absence of Plaxico Burress , a fellow wide receiver now suspended and facing a weapons charge after accidentally shooting himself. In normal times, Giants receivers fine one another for mistakes like dropped passes or missed blocks. The veteran Burress was important in this kangaroo court. “He’s kind of part of being the judge,” Hixon said Friday. “Now, he’s not there to reinforce.” Hixon’s audience smiled because Burress now has other judges, different courts and more serious penalties to worry about. Without him, the remaining pass catchers will subtly shift their roles beginning with Sunday’s home game against Philadelphia. Hixon has moved into Burress’s starting spot on the left side opposite Amani Toomer, who lines up on the right side. If the Giants (11-1) beat the Eagles (6-5-1), they can clinch first place in the National Football Conference East and a first-round playoff bye. The common wisdom suggests that with no need to double-cover Burress, Giants opponents can blitz more defenders against quarterback Eli Manning or stack the middle against the running game, which is anchored by Brandon Jacobs, Derrick Ward and Ahmad Bradshaw. That could motivate receivers like Toomer, Hixon, Steve Smith, Sinorice Moss and Mario Manningham, as well as the Giants’ other pass-catchers. Ward grabs screen passes out of the backfield, fullback Madison Hedgecock catches swing passes when not blocking, and tight end Kevin Boss is a big target in crowded secondaries. “We have a team full of receivers,” said Moss, who is seventh among the Giants with nine catches. “It’s a big challenge because now it’s on us. It’s not on Plaxico. We have the opportunity to get in the game.” Ward, third on the Giants with 36 catches, said: “I can screen. I can run a route. I run swings.” If teams try to stop the running attack, Ward said, “Eli has been doing a terrific job the last few weeks of throwing the ball.” Toomer, 34, leads the Giants in receiving yardage with 480. A 13-year veteran, he is their oldest receiver. But Toomer said it was not his job to tell younger teammates what to do. “Most of the time, I wait for the people to come to me, because I know how unreceptive I was when I was a younger player,” Toomer said. “When somebody would tell me something, I would be like, ‘Yeah, yeah, right, right.’ ” The rookie Manningham, who has only one reception, may have more opportunities. After being inactive for four consecutive weeks, Manningham dressed last Sunday at Washington, a day after Burress accidentally shot himself in a Manhattan nightclub. Although Manningham did not play in the Giants’ 23-7 victory, Coach Tom Coughlin said, “We had a couple things in for him that we just didn’t get to.” Manning found six other receivers for 305 yards, completing 21 of 34 attempts. Kevin Gilbride, the offensive coordinator, winced about Coughlin’s remark. “I wish he hadn’t said that,” Gilbride said. “I’d rather not have our opponents know what we have in or whether we plan on using him or not.” But Manningham seemed intrigued. “I’m just waiting patiently to go out there,” he said, adding that the absence of Burress “just has to make us better and bring us closer.” Manningham cannot be the physical intimidator that Burress was. Manningham is listed as 5 feet 11 inches and 183 pounds; Burress is 6-5 and 232, and a great leaper. “We know Plax can mess up a defensive coordinator’s dreams,” Manningham said. And Burress, 31, has nine years of experience. Except for Toomer, the rest of the receivers are relatively young. Moss and Hixon are in their third seasons. Smith and Boss are in their second. Gilbride said that some receivers shied away when opportunity knocked. “I want guys to say, ‘Hey, I can do it,’ ” Gilbride said. “It doesn’t mean they are happy that Plax isn’t here. We wish he was. But he is not.” Referring to the sizes of Smith, Moss and Manningham compared with Burress, Gilbride added: “Yeah, they are smaller guys for sure. I think Plax would take offense if you said they are faster. But they are quick and they run good routes.” Smith leads the team with 43 receptions. Burress is fourth in catches with 35 and second in yards with 454. Last season, some said Manning tried too hard to force passes to Jeremy Shockey, a tight end since traded. This season, it sometimes seemed as if Manning treated Burress with similar deference. In the equivalent of three games that Burress missed through suspension or injuries, Manning seemed to distribute the ball better. He is a versatile quarterback who reads defenses well and makes last-second adjustments. Manning even threw a left-handed pass under pressure to Jacobs. Manning’s statistics are relatively modest. He is tied for eighth in the N.F.L. in touchdown passes with 19. He is 16th in completion percentage at 62 percent and 13th in passing yards with 2,624. Those statistics may be misleading because of the running game, which leads the N.F.L. with an average of 160.2 yards a game behind the Earth, Wind and Fire combination of Jacobs, Ward and Bradshaw. The Giants usually have late leads and do not need to force passes. Manning mentioned Hixon, Moss and Manningham as having skills different from Burress. “There are certain things Plaxico gave us that not many other receivers in the N.F.L. give you,” Manning said. “It’s just a different approach. We feel good about those guys.”


Afghan Security Crisis Sets Stage for Terrorists’ Resurgence

Abstract: KABUL, Afghanistan — Afghanistan’s security crisis is fueling new opportunities for Al Qaeda, the Islamic State and other extremist groups, Afghan and American officials say, voicing concerns that the original American mission in the country — removing its use as a terrorist haven — is at risk. As intense Taliban offensives have taken large portions of territory out of the Afghan government’s hands, those spaces have become the stage for a resurgence of regional and international militant groups. That is despite the extended presence of nearly 10,000 American troops in the country, tasked with performing counterterrorism operations and supporting the Afghan forces who are bearing the brunt of the fighting. Gen. Joseph L. Votel, the chief of the United States Central Command, said the Afghan government now controls only about 60 percent of the country, the Taliban hold sway over about 10 percent, and the remainder is contested. Which group or groups fill those voids of increasing ungoverned territory in Afghanistan “is something we’ll have to contend with,” he said. “We have to be concerned about this — about the Taliban pulling together and cooperating and collaborating with other terrorist organizations,” General Votel said at a security forum in Washington this week. Over all, Western and Afghan officials estimate that 40,000 to 45,000 militants are active across Afghanistan. The Taliban are estimated at 30,000 fighters, some of them seasonal. But the rest are foreign militants of different — and often fluid — allegiances, at times competing but mostly on the same side against the Afghan government and its American allies. Image Afghan troops in an operation against Taliban militants in Helmand Province in October. Officials say 30 to 50 members of the security forces have been killed by the Taliban each day in recent months. Credit Watan Yar/European Pressphoto Agency “Of the 98 U.S.- or U.N.-designated terrorist organizations around the globe, 20 of them are in the Af-Pak region,” Gen. John W. Nicholson, the commander of American and NATO forces in Afghanistan, said recently. “This is the highest concentration of the numbers of different groups in any area in the world.” It is that situation that President-elect Donald J. Trump and his new security team will inherit. On the rare occasions that Mr. Trump has spoken of Afghanistan, it has usually been to state his desire to withdraw from what he has termed “a total and complete disaster.” But the most prominent member of the national security team he is assembling, Michael T. Flynn, a retired lieutenant general and former chief of the Defense Intelligence Agency who spent years focusing on the Afghan conflict, has been outspoken about his concerns that the chaos in Afghanistan may again directly threaten the United States. “What we have to continue to do for that entire region is to reinstill confidence that we actually can help them,” General Flynn said this year. “We cannot leave this region to the likes of these multiple terrorist organizations. There is too much at stake.” How that debate will play out in the new administration has become a central question among Afghan officials here. The immediate existential threat to the Afghan government has been a resurgent Taliban, who officials say have been killing 30 to 50 members of the security forces each day in recent months. The insurgents are directly threatening important provincial capitals and have again made important roadways hazardous or impassable to government forces. The Taliban, whose leadership is mostly taking shelter in Pakistan, insist that they are focused only on regaining power within Afghanistan. And some Russian officials, including the special envoy to Afghanistan, Zamir Kabulov, have openly acknowledged maintaining some contact with the Taliban as a possible hedge against other militant groups if the government fails, though the officials insist that has not extended to aiding the insurgency. Still, the insurgency’s recent success is directly threatening the Afghan government’s stability, and it is creating a territorial vacuum that other groups are trying to exploit. An increasing focus of the United States counterterrorism operation has been the local affiliate of the Islamic State, which calls itself the Islamic State in the Khorasan, an ancient name for this region. After heavy losses over the past year to American airstrikes and Afghan ground operations, the Islamic State cell is estimated at no more than a thousand fighters, most of them former members of the Pakistani Taliban from the tribal areas, according to a senior American official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence. Nevertheless, they have proved to be a resilient force that has maintained a hold on several districts in eastern Nangarhar Province, and they continue to have contacts, for guidance and funding, with the Islamic State’s central command in Syria and Iraq, officials say. The Islamic State militants have also taken a more active role in staging terrorist attacks. American intelligence agencies say that the group has carried out as many as seven mass-casualty attacks in Afghanistan since midsummer, including suicide bombings. The Islamic State affiliate here has largely been seen as a competitor with the Taliban, who have publicly criticized the group and battled it around its main stronghold in the east. Image Afghan forces at the site of an explosion in Mazar-i-Sharif in early November. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack. Credit Anil Usyan/Reuters But two senior Afghan officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss new intelligence, said the idea that the Taliban had been fighting the Islamic State was not an absolute fact, but rather varied across the country. While the Taliban have been waging a bloody turf war with Islamic State in the east, they have been cooperating with elements associated with the Islamic State in the north and northeast of the country, the officials said. The senior American official also said the Haqqani militant network, whose top leader became the deputy commander of the Taliban insurgency in 2015, had actually been “more open to discussions with the Islamic State.” Mohammed Haneef Atmar, Afghanistan’s national security adviser, warned that although the Islamic State affiliates remain a top priority in the country’s joint counterterrorism efforts with the American military in Afghanistan, most of the terrorist groups in Afghanistan share similar ideologies. “We cannot isolate Daesh from other terrorist groups,” Mr. Atmar said, referring to the Islamic State by an Arabic acronym. “The groups all have symbiotic relationships. One group cannot stay in isolation; others provide the enabling environment.” Second to the Islamic State is Al Qaeda, which has seen its capability largely decreased as its leaders have been targeted by United States Special Operations and drone strikes. In addition to the core of the original group, which has remained focused on terrorist attacks abroad and has a presence in Afghanistan and Pakistan, Al Qaeda has created a new branch based in those countries, Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent , or AQIS, that is more regionally focused, counterterrorism officials say. American officials estimate that both the core Qaeda group and the new branch number fewer than 200 total operatives in Afghanistan; Afghan officials put the number at 300 to 500. Image Afghan security forces on patrol in July in Nangarhar Province. An affiliate of the Islamic State has proved a resilient force that has maintained a hold on several districts in the eastern province. Credit Noorullah Shirzada/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images “There is no change in the goals that Al Qaeda is pursuing, which is the destruction of the West and Muslim democracies,” Mr. Atmar said. “The difference is that they are employing other networks, such as Haqqani and Lashkar-e-Taiba. They are outsourcing some of their work, and that makes them more dangerous.” The core of Al Qaeda in this region has lost members to defections to the Islamic State, and it has sent some fighters to Syria to compete with the Islamic State there, intelligence officials say. Several other groups affiliated with Al Qaeda in the past, particularly groups of Central Asian fighters, have shown leanings toward the Islamic State. One fear among Afghan and Western officials is that as the Islamic State is pressured by military operations in Iraq and Syria, some of its leaders may make their way to Afghanistan, where the ungoverned space has increased and their local affiliate has established ground. “The U.S. came to Afghanistan on the principle of not letting the country again slip into a safe haven for extremists,” said Muhammad Umer Daudzai, a former Afghan interior minister. “Nothing has changed in that threat. Al Qaeda was just a badge, just like Islamic State is. The real threat is extremism, and that has actually increased.” Franz-Michael Mellbin, the European Union’s ambassador and special representative to Afghanistan, said that if the terrorist groups were not tackled as a whole, it would always be possible for factions of one group to switch sides or morph into others. “Obviously, there is a threat to international security still emanating from Afghanistan,” Mr. Mellbin said. “We have seen several international groups congregating in Afghanistan. Some of them have ambitions inside Afghanistan, for example the Taliban, but majority of the groups have ambitions that go beyond Afghanistan’s borders.” He said the new American administration had an opportunity to assess the situation and bring changes to the mission. “We don’t want to have this conversation again 15 years from now.”

Afghanistan
Al Qaeda
Taliban
ISIS,ISIL,Islamic State
Donald Trump
Terrorism
US Military
US Foreign Policy


2 F.B.I. Agents Die in Counterterrorism Training Exercise at Sea

Abstract: It was a counterterrorism training exercise that the two agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s elite hostage rescue unit had completed dozens of times before: rappelling from a helicopter onto the deck of a ship at sea. But as Special Agents Christopher Lorek and Stephen Shaw began their descent on Friday onto a ship roughly a dozen miles off the coast of Virginia, the helicopter suddenly tilted because of a strong gust of wind. As the pilot tried to steady the aircraft, the two men, holding onto the ropes and loaded down with gear, lost their grips and fell. By the time they were rescued from the water, one of them was dead. The other died soon after. The episode, announced Sunday by the F.B.I., was the first time that an agent has died in the line of duty since December 2011. In the past 12 years, six others have been killed. The F.B.I. has about 14,000 agents. Special Agents Lorek and Shaw are believed to have died from blunt trauma, according to a senior law enforcement official who provided details based on an initial investigation by the bureau. “Everything is still being looked at, but so far this is where the investigators think we are,” the official said. “Every part of this is under review.” Special Agent Lorek, 41, had been a member of the hostage rescue unit, based in Quantico, Va., for six years. He was deployed to Alabama in February as part of a team that helped rescue a 5-year-old boy who was being held in an underground bunker. Special Agent Lorek provided support to the team that entered the bunker and killed the man holding the child hostage. Special Agent Shaw, 40, joined the unit two and half years ago. The men, both married and fathers of two, lived near Quantico with their families. The bureau’s hostage rescue unit was created before the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. It was formed to provide the federal government with the ability to respond to an episode similar to the one that had occurred at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, in which 11 Israeli athletes were killed after being taken hostage. Over the years, the unit, which has a little fewer than 100 agents, has responded to roughly 850 episodes, including the bombings at the Boston Marathon last month. In that instance, agents from the unit were sent from Quantico after the attacks to deal with finding other explosives in the city. They have also responded to episodes in Iraq and Afghanistan. The hostage rescue team is part of the bureau’s Critical Incident Response Group, a militarylike unit that is “ready to deploy anytime, anywhere” to crises like hostage rescues and terrorist attacks. Its agents often wear uniforms similar to soldiers and carry high-powered assault rifles. The most prominent photo on the F.B.I.’s Web site for the group shows two armed agents hanging off the side of a flying helicopter. “We mourn the loss of two brave and courageous men,” the F.B.I. director, Robert S. Mueller III, said Sunday. “Like all who serve on the Hostage Rescue Team, they accept the highest risk each and every day, when training and on operational missions, to keep our nation safe.”

Stephen Shaw
FBI
Fatalities,casualties
Quantico Marine Base VA
Plane Crashes and Missing Planes


Central African Republic: Coup Leader Solidifies Rebels’ Grip on Government

Abstract: The leader of the coup in the Central African Republic, Michel Djotodia, solidified his hold on the government on Monday after announcing that he would serve as both president and defense minister and that fellow rebels would fill other top posts. Mr. Djotodia, who rose to prominence as a rebel leader in 2006, had already served as defense minister in an ill-fated unity government formed in January. But the rebels accused President François Bozizé of failing to deliver on promises related to the January accord and ousted him last month. A State Department spokeswoman, Victoria Nuland, said the United States was “very concerned” about the new leadership’s moves, calling them “not democratic.” Alex Vines, who directs the Africa program at Chatham House, a London institute on international affairs, described the coup as being about “blind ambition” despite the rebels’ claims that they are seeking help for their northeastern region.

Central African Republic
Michel Djotodia
Politics
Coups D'Etat


Group Starts Anti-Union Campaign

Abstract: A new business-backed group is mounting a highly visible attack against organized labor, just as unions are trying to pick themselves up after suffering a schism and years of decline. The group, the Center for Union Facts, ran full-page advertisements in national newspapers yesterday and started a Web site, UnionFacts.com, asserting that many unions are corrupt and have hurt airlines, steel makers and automakers. "Obviously I'm putting out information that's not very flattering," said Richard Berman, a longtime lobbyist for the restaurant and beverage industry who is executive director of the Center for Union Facts. "The average person today, including the average union member, doesn't have any idea how unions operate and what the realities are. Everybody knows what unions are good at, but not what they're bad at." The Center for Union Facts shot onto the public stage yesterday by running full-page ads in The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal. The ads, which cost a total of $240,000, say "The New Union Label," and then show a sign with the word "Closed" in capital letters hanging from a plant gate. Then it adds, "Brought to you by the union 'leaders' who helped bankrupt steel, auto and airline companies." Mr. Berman said various companies and a foundation had contributed to his nonprofit group, but he refused to identify them. He said he hoped to spend more than $5 million a year on the campaign. A spokeswoman for the A.F.L.-C.I.O., Lane Windham, said: "It's clear that corporations are fighting back against workers' efforts to roll back corporate power. It's no accident that corporations are doing this against us when unions are trying to make sure that employers pay their fair share on heath care and when we're taking on giant corporations like Wal-Mart." Mr. Berman runs a public affairs firm in Washington and helped to create the American Beverage Institute and the Employment Policies Institute, which has helped the restaurant industry fight increases in the minimum wage. He has faced criticism in recent years for arguing on behalf of his clients that drinking a lot of soda does not contribute to diabetes and that Americans have been "force-fed a steady diet of obesity myths by the 'food police,' trial lawyers, and even our own government." Mr. Berman was also criticized for fighting a push by Mothers Against Drunk Driving to tighten rules on alcohol limits for drivers. "We do take edgy positions and they're all very legitimate," Mr. Berman said yesterday. Ms. Windham of the A.F.L.-C.I.O. said Mr. Berman's attack on unions was another of his campaigns against those who clash with his corporate clients. The attack comes as organized labor is facing divisions that have caused five unions to quit the A.F.L.-C.I.O. over the past year. Unions have also struggled with declining membership, as the percentage of American workers in unions has sunk to 12.5 percent of the work force, down from 35 percent in the 1950's. A.F.L.-C.I.O. officials said the president of a state chamber of commerce told them that at a conference in Florida on Jan. 26, the state chambers had pledged several million dollars to back Mr. Berman's effort. But Mr. Berman said that when he spoke at the conference, he neither asked for nor received contributions. Rather, he said, he asked chamber officials to recommend that businesses in their states donate to his efforts. Randel Johnson, vice president for labor, immigration and employee benefits at the United States Chamber of Commerce, said that as far as he knew neither the United States Chamber nor any state chambers had contributed to the Center for Union Facts. Mr. Johnson said he had served as an adviser to the center. The center was founded as several unions had grown more aggressive about unionizing workers, often pressuring employers not to fight organizing drives. In addition, many unions are pressing companies to agree to recognize them, not through representation elections, but through a process known as card check, in which companies grant recognition as soon as a majority of workers sign cards saying they want a union. "In card check campaigns, unions tend to control the information that the workers hear," Mr. Johnson said. "We think the Center on Union Facts is useful for workers to have access to more information on unions." Mr. Berman said his center hoped to help enact a Republican-backed bill that would prohibit unions from organizing workers through card checks. For a dozen different unions, the center's Web site details the compensation of leaders, the amount of each union's political contributions and how often members have sued the union for not representing them properly. "Union leaders have abused the trust of their members," the center says on its Web site. "They've misspent member dues and harmed the very same people they promise to protect." Anna Burger, president of the Change to Win Federation, a group of unions that quit the A.F.L.-C.I.O., said, "These anti-union activists can name themselves whatever they like, but the fact is that unions help working families secure the American Dream and that's good for our country."

UNIONIZATION
LABOR
LOBBYING AND LOBBYISTS


Police Wrongly Arrested Skyride Ticket Sellers, Court Panel Rules

Abstract: The New York Police Department wrongly arrested workers last year for selling tickets on the sidewalk to a virtual helicopter ride in the Empire State Building, according to an appeals court ruling on Thursday. The arrests were made under a section of the city’s administrative code banning the sale of goods or services on city streets without a vendor license . New York Skyride, the company that owns the attraction, sued the city , unsuccessfully, then appealed. In a strong and speedy rebuke, a panel of judges from the Appellate Division of the State Supreme Court said that the city, in requiring Skyride to acquire a hard-to-get vendor license to sell tickets, had used a “strained and unnatural” definition of goods and services as described in the city’s administrative code. The waiting list for vendor licenses is currently closed, except under special allowances for military veterans, according to court papers. The company said that requiring the license would put it out of business. Randy M. Mastro, a lawyer for the company, called the city’s actions “an unconscionable abuse of the city’s police power.” “It was a crazy thing for the city to do,” said Mr. Mastro, who was a deputy mayor in the Giuliani administration. New York Skyride, a 15-minute simulated helicopter tour across the city, has been taken by more than 10 million people since 1995, according to the company. The company employs more than 130 people, Mr. Mastro said. In April, the police began issuing summonses to the ticket sellers. In June, efforts escalated; the police began arresting the ticket sellers, requiring them to appear in criminal court. By the time Skyride , also known as Skyline, filed a lawsuit later that month seeking to halt the enforcement action, six of its employees had been arrested. Then in October, Justice Donna M. Mills of State Supreme Court in Manhattan dismissed the suit, saying that the city had correctly interpreted the code in requiring a general vendor license. The appellate judges reversed that decision, finding that selling tickets did not constitute the sale of “goods or services” described in the city’s code. “When one thinks of a ‘service,’ as that word is ordinarily used, things like haircuts, home repair, house cleaning and car washes come to mind,” the decision said. “Skyride is more appropriately characterized as a form of entertainment.” The decision does not prevent the city from enforcing any other laws that may apply if the ticket agents are obstructing sidewalk traffic. And, while the judges’ decision did not directly address the criminal cases, Mr. Mastro said, “it should result in the dismissal of those charges.” Skyride had accused the city of doing the bidding of the Malkin family, which owns the Empire State Building. Skyride’s majority partner, Walter Threadgill, has said that the Malkins made it clear that they hoped to rent their space to a more lucrative tenant. In court papers, Skyride said representatives of the Malkin family referred to Skyride employees and customers as “riffraff” and called its street sellers “people from the hood.” The Malkin family denied having anything to do with the city’s enforcement efforts. The appellate decision did not address Skyride’s allegation that the police enforcement action was the result of improper influence by the Malkins. The decision that the city had improperly applied the law rendered the influence issue moot. A Police Department spokesman referred questions on the decision to the city’s Law Department, which issued a statement expressing disappointment in the decision and saying it was weighing legal options. Mr. Mastro said Skyride, which emerged from bankruptcy last year, had survived the city’s actions thanks to court-imposed injunctions on the enforcement actions that covered the holiday season, the company’s most lucrative time of year.

Helicopters
New York Skyride
Empire State Building (NYC)
Street Vendors
Police Department (NYC)
Decisions and Verdicts
Manhattan (NYC)
New York City


Nets, on 5-Win Streak, to Face Recovering Lakers

Abstract: LOS ANGELES — Screens will be set, repeatedly and with serious intent. Dwight Howard will roll hard to the basket. The pace will soar and shots will fly. The Nets know what is coming Tuesday night at Staples Center. They just have to withstand the impact. Coach Mike D’Antoni has yet to take his seat on the Lakers ’ bench, but the team already bears his imprint. They are running hard, shooting often and scoring at a mind-bending rate. In their first two games running D’Antoni’s offense (or at least a rough version of it), the Lakers have averaged 116.5 points while cruising to victories over the Phoenix Suns and the Houston Rockets. D’Antoni, who is recovering from major knee surgery, hopes to coach Tuesday night, but he made no firm commitment Monday, having already pushed back his debut once. The Lakers are using about 60 percent of his playbook so far, and that has been plenty. “I’ve seen highlights, and they’ve been winning,” said the Nets’ Joe Johnson, who played for D’Antoni in Phoenix. He added with a chuckle, “I know they’re scoring a lot.” This will be the first true test of the Nets’ five-game winning streak, their longest since the spring of 2006. They have beaten just one winning team in that stretch — Boston, which was missing Rajon Rondo. Indeed, the Nets (6-2) have played only three teams with winning records so far. The Lakers are 5-5, but they are 4-1 since firing Coach Mike Brown and 2-0 since D’Antoni arrived and started installing his high-octane offense. They also have Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol and Howard, so their record is hardly relevant. The Nets have stars, too, but they are still just a hopeful team on the rise. They have not beaten the Lakers since November 2007, a stretch of eight games. Still, NBA TV recently added this game on the merits of the Lakers’ star power and the Nets’ growing profile. “That’s what we wanted,” Coach Avery Johnson said. “We wanted the big stage and everything that goes with it. I’m glad there’s a lot of hype about the game, whether it’s about two teams, whether even individual matchups.” There should be intrigue all around, with Joe Johnson squaring off against Bryant, Kris Humphries tussling with Gasol and Gerald Wallace matching biceps with Metta World Peace. Howard presents an altogether different gauge. Howard badly wanted to be in Brooklyn, and the Nets pushed hard to acquire him last summer before Orlando sent him to the Lakers. Every Nets offer was built around Brook Lopez, so the Magic’s decision was a really a rejection of Lopez. He and Howard will forever be linked, and not in a flattering way. “I think he’ll be pretty fired up,” Avery Johnson said of Lopez. “He’s been fired up here recently. Whatever happens tomorrow, it won’t be because he’s not fired up and ready to play.” Lopez averaged 20 points and 3.8 blocks in the last four games, but his rebounding average (5.3 per game) over that span has been disappointing. And Lopez’s difficulty defending on the pick-and-roll could prove disastrous against Howard, the best pick-and-roll big man in the league. “We’ll know more after the game,” Avery Johnson said. But he praised Lopez’s increased aggression on defense, saying, “The kid has a lot of character, and I think he’s getting tired of seeing it on video when he doesn’t do what we want him to do.” Howard should have ample motivation, too, having listened to Shaquille O’Neal declare — somewhat absurdly — that Lopez was the league’s best true center. Howard, who praised Lopez as “tough” and “a scorer,” seemed primed for the meeting and eagerly laid out his plan of attack: “Just make him run, force him to get out and play pick-and-rolls. A lot of bigs don’t like that. So we do that a couple times, and then hit him in the chest a couple times on the offensive end. Then that’ll tire him out.” Relayed that message, Lopez shrugged. “At least he said what he’s going to do.” He declined to lay out his strategy for playing Howard, saying, “I’m not going do him any favors and tell him that,” which seemed a wise choice. Howard has said he was only 75-80 percent healthy after undergoing back surgery last spring, but he still had 28 points, 13 rebounds and 3 blocks in the Lakers’ victory over Houston on Sunday. As much as he wanted to play in Brooklyn, he seems content with his new life on the West Coast. “I’m in L.A., and I love it here,” he said. “The fans have been great. My teammates have been great. Just everything that I’ve ever dreamed for and prayed for, so I’m happy.” REBOUNDS Deron Williams needed a dental procedure Monday and missed practice. Williams, who is also nursing a sore right elbow, is expected to play Tuesday. ...Gerald Wallace said he recovered well after playing 24 minutes in Sacramento on Sunday, his first game since spraining his ankle on Nov. 3. Avery Johnson said he hoped to increase Wallace’s minutes slightly on Tuesday.

Basketball
Brooklyn Nets
Los Angeles Lakers
D'Antoni Mike