Jackson’s Death Ruled a Homicide

Abstract: LOS ANGELES — The office of the Los Angeles County coroner confirmed Friday that it had ruled Michael Jackson’s death a homicide. It said the cause was a mixture of the powerful anesthetic propofol and the anti-anxiety drug lorazepam, both of which, previously disclosed court documents say, Mr. Jackson’s doctor has acknowledged administering to him the day he died. “The manner of death has been ruled: homicide,” the coroner’s office said in a brief statement. It said the full coroner’s report and a complete toxicology report were being withheld at the request of the police and the district attorney’s office, whose investigation continues. That investigation has focused on the role played by the last physician to treat Mr. Jackson, Dr. Conrad Murray , a cardiologist who was acting as the entertainer’s personal physician at the time. Court documents filed by the authorities in July say they suspect him of manslaughter. Some of those documents, filed in Texas so the authorities could gain permission to search Dr. Murray’s office and storage unit there, quote him as telling investigators that in the six weeks before death, he administered propofol intravenously to Mr. Jackson nightly to help him sleep. On June 25, the day Mr. Jackson died, Dr. Murray again gave him propofol, briefly left the bedroom of the star’s home here and returned to find him unconscious. Dr. Murray has denied any responsibility for Mr. Jackson’s death, and the doctor’s lawyer, Edward Chernoff, criticized the coroner’s office Friday for releasing only a brief summary of the autopsy results, telling The Associated Press that doing so seemed to him “gamesmanship.” The office’s summary said that along with propofol and lorazepam, Mr. Jackson had several other drugs in his system, including midazolam, an anti-anxiety medication; diazepam, or Valium; lidocaine, a local anesthetic; and ephedrine, a stimulant and decongestant. Propofol , normally used to anesthetize patients for surgery, is extremely fast-acting. Medical experts say that if a patient receiving it is not carefully monitored with instruments that measure oxygen levels, blood pressure and heart rate, it can quickly cause problems. “It affects your breathing and can cause significant diminishing of respiration, to the point where it could actually stop respiration,” said Dr. Ken Elmassian, an anesthesiologist at Ingham Regional Medical Center in Lansing, Mich. “It can also drop your blood pressure and set up a scenario where your heart and brain’s not getting enough oxygen.” These effects can be compounded when there are other drugs in the system, especially those like lorazepam, a member of a class of medications called benzodiazepines. Benzodiazepines also slow breathing, and Mr. Jackson was given three different benzodiazepines in the six hours before receiving propofol, according to court documents. As the coroner’s office issued its summary, Jerry Brown, the California attorney general, announced Friday that his office had also undertaken an investigation into Mr. Jackson’s death. “Responding to a request from the L.A.P.D.,” Mr. Brown said, “agents from my office will investigate several physicians whose names have come up in the course of the Michael Jackson death inquiry.”

Jackson Michael
Anesthesia and Anesthetics
Murders and Attempted Murders
Murray Conrad


New York Attorney General Sets Guidelines for Inquires Into Police Killings

Abstract: ALBANY — The New York attorney general, Eric T. Schneiderman, has authorized local prosecutors to open investigations when police officers kill unarmed civilians, but he has also prohibited them from giving immunity to any witnesses. The 62 county district attorneys also cannot elicit related testimony before grand juries, which typically provides immunity from prosecution. Also, they cannot make plea or cooperation agreements with suspects. Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo appointed Mr. Schneiderman, a Democrat, as state special investigator and prosecutor in police killings after recent killings of civilians by police officers who were not indicted. Mr. Cuomo, a fellow Democrat, says there is a perceived conflict of interest for county district attorneys prosecuting members of the police forces they work with. Mr. Schneiderman has said he is responding to local prosecutors’ concerns about the crucial investigation time right after an episode. Five members of his staff will pursue any cases.

Police Brutality,Police Misconduct,Police Shootings


With Rare Comfort on the Clay Court, a Teenager Leaves Her Mark

Abstract: MADRID — When she boarded her flight to come here, Louisa Chirico was not sure if she would be able to play at the Madrid Open at all. But Chirico, a 19-year-old from Harrison, N.Y., clinched one of the final spots in the qualifying draw for the tournament, one of the four highest-tier events on the WTA Tour. Five wins and one walkover later, 130th-ranked Chirico is into her first WTA semifinal after beating 39th-ranked Daria Gavrilova, 7-6 (1), 6-2, on Thursday. “I don’t like to say that I’m surprised, because I go into every match thinking I can win,” Chirico said. “I definitely thought it was possible, but it’s just sometimes about execution and whatnot. Needless to say, I wasn’t sure if I’d even be able to play here, so I’m just very excited for the opportunity.” Born in Morristown, N.J., Chirico grew up in Westchester County and played tennis for the first time at 7 at the Lake Isle Country Club in Eastchester. Learning to play on the green clay courts there, Chirico developed an affinity for sliding on clay that Americans typically struggle to master. Those skills, and the athleticism she had developed by playing soccer and other sports, served Chirico well when she tried out for a spot in the United States Tennis Association’s player development program at 13 at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Queens, the site of the United States Open. Jay Gooding, one of the coaches who worked with Chirico as she began training with the U.S.T.A., was impressed by Chirico’s physical and mental tenacity. “She’s very strong physically, and she can move,” said Gooding, who now works with Chirico in an arrangement separate from the U.S.T.A. program. “And when she was younger, she wasn’t afraid to miss. Normally in junior tennis, especially in America, everyone is pushing, and moonballs, and she was never afraid to miss. She missed a lot, but I liked that. As a coach, I think, O.K., there’s a lot of upside there. You can always tone that down; it’s tougher to get someone to hit the ball than to slow it down.” Identifying her endurance and physicality as a strength from her early teenage years, Chirico and Gooding worked on developing a playing style that would make the most of those assets. “As my coach likes to say, I have a big engine,” Chirico said. “So we thought to utilize that as best as possible, we would try and form my game around that, which means playing with shape, playing heavy, and making the rallies as physical as possible. It’s true, a lot of the women like to play fast and flat, so I think it counters that a little bit.” Chirico’s weapons have been maximized by the conditions in Madrid, where the altitude amplifies her topspin. Against Gavrilova — as well as against previous opponents, including the 2008 French Open champion Ana Ivanovic — her strength outshone her inexperience. Chirico consistently kicked the ball above her opponents’ comfortable strike zones, allowing her to gain quick control of rallies. In the semifinals on Friday, Chirico will face 38th-ranked Dominika Cibulkova, who beat top-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska in the first round. Although Chirico has achieved a career-best result this week, and improved her ranking from 130 to inside the top 80, playing in Europe meant she forfeited a chance for the U.S.T.A.-allotted wild card into the French Open, which is awarded to the player who achieves the best results in a series of smaller events on green clay in the United States. Chirico earned the wild card through that process last year, but she and Gooding wanted a truer, tougher test this year on the surface she calls her favorite. Despite her climbing ranking, Chirico will still have to play in the French Open qualifying draw, a trade-off that she and Gooding are content with. “At the end of the day, where are we trying to go?” Gooding said. He added, “Our goal is to win Grand Slams, to be top 10, to be No. 1.” If Chirico’s affection for red clay is atypical for an American, so is her ability to quietly develop away from the gears of the tennis industry’s hype machines. “I definitely feel like I’ve been a little bit under the radar, and I don’t mind that,” Chirico said. “The other players can have the spotlight; I don’t really care about that. With good results comes more attention, obviously, so I’m going to try to keep it one step at a time, and keep my goals process-oriented. That’s the biggest thing for me. If I get ahead of myself, and focused on results, that’s never good.” THREE TOP NAMES ADVANCE Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal made their way into the Madrid Open quarterfinals, each with straight-set wins. The top-ranked Djokovic beat Roberto Bautista Agut, 6-2, 6-1, for his tour-best 30th win of the season. Murray, the defending champion, defeated Gilles Simon, 6-4, 6-2, and Nadal topped Sam Querrey, 6-4, 6-2. (AP)

Louisa Chirico
Westchester
Tennis
Madrid Open Tennis


Red Sox Top Cardinals to Even Series

Abstract: ST. LOUIS — With the Cardinals down, 4-2, and with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning Sunday, Carlos Beltran, a hitting star who represented the tying run, came to bat. The way St. Louis won the night before, he would surely hit the next pitch to the outfield seats. Kolten Wong, a rookie who was pinch-running, took a lead at first base. And Koji Uehera, the Boston Red Sox closer, toed the mound, spying Wong out of the corner of his eye. In one swift motion, Uehara spun and fired to first base. Wong turned to get back, but his back foot slipped, and he was caught. Uehara ran and gave Mike Napoli, the first baseman, a jumping, two-handed high-five in celebration. For the second straight night, the game had ended in bizarre fashion. This time the Red Sox won, 4-2, evening the World Series at two games apiece. Game 5 will be here Monday night. Wong was near tears afterward. “I knew I was dead once it happened, once I went to plant and push and felt nothing go,” he said. “My foot just slipped out.” Beltran said, “I feel bad for the kid.” But there, of course, had been many other chances before that. Lance Lynn, the Cardinals’ starter, had cruised through the first four innings, allowing one hit, an infield single to David Ortiz, yet the Cardinals led only, 1-0. Clay Buchholz, who was dealing with stiffness in his pitching shoulder, had somehow held them. Image Mike Napoli, left, tags Kolten Wong for the final out of Game 4. Credit Tannen Maury/European Pressphoto Agency Buchholz had missed three months during the season with a shoulder injury, and had been struggling in the playoffs. In three starts, he had posted a 5.40 earned run average and had not pitched past the sixth inning. His manager, John Farrell, pushed his next start back to Game 4, meaning he would have to pitch only one game in this World Series. He made it count. Though his fastball was sitting at about 88 miles per hour, he went four innings and allowed three hits and only one unearned run. After he exited, Boston tied the score in the fifth inning, on a bases-loaded sacrifice fly by Stephen Drew. The game was shaping up to be another tight one, to be decided late, just like the night before. Game 3 had ended in a chaotic mess, both teams pouring onto the field. Not everyone knew exactly what had just happened. In the bottom of the ninth, with Yadier Molina on third and Allen Craig on second, with the Red Sox’ infield drawn in and with one out, Jon Jay hit a grounder to Dustin Pedroia. He fired home to get Molina. Then Jarrod Saltalamacchia made a wild throw to third. Will Middlebrooks, the third baseman, tripped trying to catch the throw and fell onto his stomach. As the ball squirted away, Craig took off for home and got tangled in Middlebrooks’s legs. The ball eventually beat Craig home, but he was ruled safe. Jim Joyce, the third-base umpire, had called Middlebrooks for obstruction. The Red Sox were stunned. Many of them later complained about the call to the news media. Farrell then had to explain several questionable decisions he had made. He had allowed Brandon Workman, the pitcher, to bat in the ninth with the score tied. He had not used Mike Napoli, his best weapon off the bench. And he had not called to walk Jay in that spot, which would have brought up Pete Kozma, a lesser threat. Image Boston’s Mike Napoli administering the customary pulling of Jonny Gomes’s beard after Gomes’s three-run homer against Seth Maness broke a 1-1 tie. Credit Matt Slocum/Associated Press Farrell said Sunday he had not slept well that night. But he was confident in his team’s leaders, he said, that they would put Game 3 behind them. “We can’t go back to yesterday,” Farrell said. The Red Sox seemed to understand there was less room to spare now. Before the sixth inning, with the score tied at 1-1, Ortiz gave a speech to his teammates in the dugout, reminding them how rare this opportunity was, urging them to play free and loose. “It was like 24 kindergartners looking up at their teacher,” Jonny Gomes said. That inning, they rallied. Dustin Pedroia hit a two-out single, and Ortiz drew a four-pitch walk, which chased Lynn from the game. On came Seth Maness, the reliever, and in stepped Gomes, who was a late addition to the lineup. Only after Shane Victorino had been scratched with tightness in his lower back was he inserted. On a count of 2-2, Gomes muscled a sinker well over the wall in left field. He rounded first base, his right arm raised high. Then he pounded the “Boston” across his chest and let out a tribal, cathartic scream, as if he wanted all of St. Louis to hear him. Farrell, too, seemed more aggressive, mixing his relievers. When Felix Doubront and Craig Breslow ran into trouble, allowing a run to score in the seventh inning, Farrell brought in Junichi Tazawa to shut the door. Then he had John Lackey, his Game 2 starter, pitch the eighth inning, and Uehara the ninth. Craig came on to pinch-hit again, just as he had the previous night, and singled to right field. Wong pinch-ran for him, which led to another strange ending. But there was no controversy, no debate, no doubt about it this time, like the ball jumping off Gomes’s bat. The Red Sox had won on their own talent and volition.

Red Sox
World Series
Baseball
St. Louis Cardinals


Colonialism, Bloodshed and Blame for Rwanda

Abstract: PARIS — In this time of somber commemorations, from the 20th anniversary of Rwanda’s genocide to the centennial of the start of World War I, a less obvious moment seems to have a particular resonance as European lands once more contemplate their role in African states they once ruled. In 1884, 130 years ago, European powers gathered in Berlin for a conference under Chancellor Otto von Bismarck that historians depict as setting the rules for the scramble for Africa among outside powers that soon fractured it into a jigsaw of new nations. Decades after the so-called winds of change blew away colonial rule, the impact of this colonial cartography lingers in profound sensitivities at the legacy of the outsiders’ incursions into a continent that did not invite them to define its frontiers or impose their definitions of nationhood. That much was evident when South Africa and Zimbabwe both stayed away from a major European-African summit meeting last week, citing European interference in determining how Africa should be represented. Most dramatically, in the prism of mutual mistrust that separates Europe and many African countries, remarks just days ago by President Paul Kagame of Rwanda assailed Belgium, the former colonial power, and France, the leading outside force in most of francophone Africa, for what he termed their “direct role” in the “political preparation for the genocide” that killed 800,000 people in 1994. “The people who planned and carried out the genocide were Rwandans,” Mr. Kagame told a commemorative ceremony in Kigali, the Rwandan capital. “But the history and root causes go beyond this country.” “And no country is powerful enough, even when they think that they are, to change the facts,” he added in what was taken as a particular swipe at France. France is not the only former colonial power to shy from history. In Britain, decades went by before the authorities agreed last year to pay compensation to Kenyans tortured during the Mau Mau rebellion in the 1950s. That victory for a dwindling cohort of aging Kenyans inspired a group of Caribbean nations to seek similar redress for the depredations of the slave trade two centuries ago. Europe’s reticence about its past is not limited to sub-Saharan Africa. France waited until 1995 to apologize for crimes against Jews under the Vichy government during World War II. Only in 2012 did Paris acknowledge that its behavior in its former colony of Algeria was “brutal and unfair.” “From Vichy to the war in Algeria, it took decades for France to be able to confront disturbing truths and illuminate dark pages of its history,” said an editorial this week in Le Monde. The question more recently, though, is this: Have the lessons been learned to avert a repetition of Rwanda’s bloodletting in other African countries, like South Sudan and the Central African Republic, where political and sectarian rivalries have plunged frail nations into bloodletting and chaos? France has troops in Mali and the Central African Republic, where the European Union has also promised to deploy a force of 1,000 personnel. But given the war-weariness of some European powers, most notably Britain, after the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and considering their preoccupation with the much-closer-to-home crisis over Ukraine, the appetite for broader intervention in Africa seems limited. At the ceremonies in Kigali, Ban Ki-moon, the United Nations secretary general, offered cautious hope that humanity was making progress toward the mechanisms of restraint. “States can no longer claim that atrocity crimes are only a domestic matter,” he said. “International criminal justice is expanding its reach. Leaders and warlords alike face the growing likelihood of prosecution for their crimes.” In coming weeks, the outside world will likely discover whether that is enough, or whether, as the columnist Simon Allison wrote on South Africa’s Daily Maverick website, 20 years after the Rwandan genocide, “we still don’t know how to curb humanity’s very worst excesses.”

War Crimes,Genocide,Crimes Against Humanity


Three Jetliner Emergencies That All Aboard Lived to Recall

Abstract: A fiery crash in a harrowing thunderstorm in Toronto in 2005. A crash on takeoff in Denver last month. An emergency landing in the Hudson River after a jet’s engines swallowed birds over the Bronx on Thursday: These three accidents involved different kinds of aircraft flying under different conditions, but one similarity stands out. No one aboard the three planes was killed. In all three emergencies, the passengers and crew got out with little more than broken bones or other relatively minor injuries — in Toronto, The Globe and Mail summarized what happened to Air France Flight 358 under the headline “The Great Escape.” All 309 people on board survived after the jet slid off the end of a runway at Canada’s busiest airport, Pearson International. The Continental Airlines plane in the Denver crash, on Dec. 20, also ran off a runway. And, like the Air France plane in Toronto, it slid into a ravine before it stopped. One engine and both main landing gears broke off as the Continental jet clattered over brush and trees on its way to the ravine. But the 100 passengers and 5 crew members made it off with little more than minor injuries. On Thursday, a US Airways jetliner lost power, apparently after flying through a flock of birds over the Bronx. The captain and co-pilot managed to guide the crippled aircraft toward an empty spot in the Hudson River, gliding over the George Washington Bridge and splashing down in what is usually the realm of freighters, tugs and cabin cruisers. The 155 people aboard clambered onto the wings and climbed into rafts and rescue boats as icy water rushed into the cabin. There were, of course, differences, starting with the aircraft themselves. The Air France plane was an Airbus A340-300, a wide-body relative of the US Airways plane that ditched in the Hudson, an Airbus A320. The one in Denver was a Boeing 737-500, which, like the A320, has become a venerable short- to medium-range aircraft. Two of the planes — the one in Denver and the one in New York — were taking off, or had just done so. The plane in Denver was trying to depart for Houston at night. The plane that went down in the water on Thursday had taken off from La Guardia Airport in midafternoon. It was bound for Charlotte, N.C., and had been in the air for only a few minutes. The one in Toronto was trying to land. It touched down about 4,000 feet from the end of a 9,000-foot runway and did not stop before the pavement ran out. Then there was the weather: clear and cold in New York on Thursday, stormy in Toronto. The Toronto airport had suspended most takeoffs about two hours before the Air France plane tried to land. Lightning bolts had arced to the ground just before the plane touched down, according to drivers in the area. That plane rocked from side to side and skidded through barricades at the end of the runway. The one in Denver veered off the 12,000-foot runway about 2,000 feet from where it had started its takeoff roll. And there was a difference in how the three emergencies played out: in Toronto and Denver, fires erupted as the passengers fled. In New York, although passengers said that at least one flight attendant had asked for a fire extinguisher as the plane descended with at least one engine flaming, the splashdown was not followed by a fire. One possible explanation was that the chilly water cooled the engines and fuel tanks, which were loaded for what was supposed to be a 2 hour, 13 minute flight.

Accidents and Safety
Airlines and Airplanes


Socialists May Expel Member Speaking Out on Strauss-Kahn

Abstract: PARIS — Nine years ago, Anne Mansouret dissuaded her daughter from filing a legal complaint for attempted rape against Dominique Strauss-Kahn , a prominent member of the Socialist Party in France and the former husband of one of her best friends. But now she is speaking out about what happened and what other Socialist leaders knew. And some Socialists — deeply embarrassed by the allegations against the wealthy man who was likely to be their presidential candidate next year — have called for her expulsion from the party. In a series of interviews, Mrs. Mansouret — by turns defensive, emotional, argumentative and uncompromising — said she did it to protect her daughter, Tristane Banon , now 31, and the party itself. Ms. Banon, a journalist and novelist, asserts that Mr. Strauss-Kahn, who is facing criminal charges in New York of attempted rape of a hotel housekeeper, tried to rape her during an interview in an empty apartment in 2002 — grabbing her arm, pulling off her bra, trying to unzip her jeans, fighting with her on the floor and ignoring her cries of “no.” She described him as “a chimpanzee in rut.” Party leaders knew of her daughter’s experience with Mr. Strauss-Kahn, Mrs. Mansouret said, but chose to ignore it. And she herself felt stymied, in part, because Mr. Strauss-Kahn’s second wife, Brigitte Guillemette, was one of her best friends and the godmother of Ms. Banon. “Many people knew the story, but didn’t want to talk about it,” Mrs. Mansouret said. With Ms. Guillemette’s intercession, Mrs. Mansouret even had a drink with Mr. Strauss-Kahn after the incident, who admitted to her then that he “couldn’t control himself” during the interview he arranged with her daughter in an empty apartment. Mr. Strauss-Kahn appeared relaxed, she said, “but maybe more than he really was.” She described him as a man who never resisted any kind of temptation and who “was never able to go on diet for more than 15 days.” Since the arrest of Mr. Strauss-Kahn in New York, Mrs. Mansouret, a Socialist member of the regional council of Haute-Normandie, has been caught in a highly politicized drama. She is widely seen as a betraying mother who silenced her daughter’s trauma for nearly a decade and who is now tarnishing the image of the party she originally tried to protect. Michèle Sabban, vice president of the regional council of Île-de-France, asked for her expulsion from the Socialist Party. “She has no spirit of responsibility,” Mrs. Sabban told the French radio station RMC. “She didn’t take the measure of the catastrophe” to the party, she said, after the indictment of Mr. Strauss-Kahn, the party’s leading candidate for the presidency and head of the International Monetary Fund. Ms. Banon talked about the alleged assault in a television interview in 2007, but Mr. Strauss-Kahn’s name was bleeped out. She revealed it a year later. After the incident, François Hollande, then the leader of the Socialist Party, even called her daughter, Mrs. Mansouret said. But there is no indication that he undertook any investigation. Mr. Hollande, now himself a leading presidential candidate after the fall of Mr. Strauss-Kahn, said he knew about “rumors,” but they were not “as serious as those that have been reported,” he told Le Figaro. He said that his job was not to meddle in people’s private lives. Mrs. Mansouret, 65, said that the story had caused internal embarrassment, but given a culture of privacy about sex, politicians did not want to throw a first stone. “I knew the Socialists would deny it,” Mrs. Mansouret said. “Between the truth, what you know as being true, and what people present as being true, there is a often a difference in politics.” Ms. Banon herself said in 2008 that she was struck by a “general hypocrisy on this story,” which the mainstream press did not investigate. Mr. Strauss-Kahn’s team also pressured Ms. Banon to remove a chapter about him from the book she was reporting at the time of the alleged attack. She refused, but her publisher deleted the chapter anyway. In the book, published in 2003, she interviewed several well-known men about errors they had made in their careers. Mr. Strauss-Kahn spoke of his involvement in a major political and financial scandal in 1998, although he was cleared of charges. Ramzi Khiroun, Mr. Strauss-Kahn’s communication adviser at the time, explained then that he was afraid the book “could attract too much attention” to Mr. Strauss-Kahn, Mrs. Mansouret said. Mr. Khiroun did not respond to telephone messages seeking comment.

France
Strauss-Kahn Dominique
Mansouret Anne
Banon Tristane


Atlanta Judge Orders King Children to Discuss His Estate

Abstract: ATLANTA (AP) — A judge on Monday ordered the surviving children of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King to hold a shareholders meeting to discuss their father’s estate. Two of the children, the Rev. Bernice King and Martin Luther King III, sued their brother, Dexter King, last year to force him to open the books of their father’s estate. The lawsuit claimed that Dexter King, the estate’s administrator, had refused to provide documents concerning the estate’s operations. Dozens of supporters and observers packed a hearing on Monday before Judge Ural D. Glanville in Fulton County Superior Court. They included former Mayor Andrew Young of Atlanta and the Rev. Joseph Lowery, both of whom worked with Dr. King during the civil rights movement and remain close to the King family. Mr. Lowery said that the siblings had been in mediation trying to work things out, but that he was unsure of the outcome. “Dexter’s the unknown factor,” Mr. Lowery said outside the hearing. “We just don’t know what he’s going to do. It’s hard to tell.” Coretta Scott King died in 2006, and Yolanda King, the Kings’ eldest child, died in 2007, leaving the three remaining siblings as the sole shareholders and directors of their father’s estate. It is set up as a corporation, but there has not been a shareholders meeting since 2004. Dexter King has also sued his sister, who administers their mother’s estate. He has asked a judge to force his sister to turn over Coretta Scott King’s personal papers, including love letters central to a $1.4 million book deal once being considered. The siblings’ relationship has deteriorated in the tense climate created by their legal battle. At least part of the legal battle could be headed to a jury trial next month. At issue would be whether Dexter King acted financially inappropriately in his role as president and chief executive of his father’s estate. But relations among the siblings could be thawing. Martin Luther King III recently visited his brother in California after Dexter King shattered his right femur in a car accident in July, and observers say the siblings have been in talks to resolve their legal disputes. Dexter King, who lives in California, did not attend the hearing on Monday. Lawyers said he was hospitalized for several weeks after the car accident, has had to use a walker and is not allowed to travel because he cannot sit in one position for long periods. His brother and sister, who live in Atlanta, were in court for the hearing.

King Martin Luther Jr
King Bernice
King Martin Luther Jr III
King Dexter
King Coretta Scott
Young Andrew
King Yolanda Denise
Suits and Litigation
Atlanta (Ga)


David Blatt and the Cavaliers Are Putting the Pieces Together

Abstract: Mike Fratello coached against David Blatt only once, in Lithuania for the opening round of the 2011 EuroBasket Championships. Blatt was coaching Russia, the top team in Group D, which found itself locked in a tight game against the Ukrainian national team, led by Fratello. Fratello was already familiar with Blatt, widely regarded as one of the brightest coaching minds in Europe. Blatt liked ball movement. He liked high-scoring offenses. And he clearly liked to win, judging by his success with teams like Maccabi Tel Aviv and Dynamo St. Petersburg. In the final minutes, though, Russia’s game against Ukraine largely hinged on talent. Andrei Kirilenko, one of the most dynamic players on the court, came up with a clutch offensive rebound before scoring on a put-back, sealing the win for Russia. “That’s what Andrei gives you,” Fratello said in a telephone interview this week, “all that high energy.” Three years later, in his new role as coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers, Blatt has even more talent at his disposal. The Cavaliers are practically a smorgasbord of superstardom, with LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love forming the league’s most formidable Big Three — on paper, at least. But little has come easily for the Cavaliers, who arrived at Madison Square Garden for their game Thursday night against the Knicks with a 9-7 record, including a four-game winning streak, an indication that the Cavaliers’ fragile chemistry may finally be solidifying. Image Blatt, front, with Andrei Kirilenko, coaching the Russian national team at the 2011 EuroBasket Championships. He has faced a higher level of scrutiny leading a team with three superstars in the N.B.A. Credit Darko Vojinovic/Associated Press Even as expectations soared before the start of the season, James cautioned that it would take time for the team to find its rhythm and for the players to understand their roles. When the losses mounted, he advised everyone to relax. He knew from experience, having endured similar growing pains when he joined the Miami Heat in 2010. Blatt, too, was aware of the puzzle that was strewn before him. About an hour before the Cavaliers’ season opener Oct. 30, Blatt said he would have preferred having more practice time. He seemed to be bracing himself for his first foray into an N.B.A. season. And then the Cavaliers went out and lost to the Knicks. “This is not an easy thing that he’s doing,” said Fratello, an analyst for TNT who will be part of the broadcast crew for Thursday’s game. “And I don’t think it’s fair to judge their team until you get to the 20-game mark, and then things should start to fall into place.” Blatt spent 20 years coaching overseas before he accepted the Cavaliers’ offer in June. Three weeks later, James announced that he was rejoining the team. For Blatt, it was as if he had hit the basketball lottery. Months removed from the Israeli Basketball Super League, he was suddenly coaching the best player in the world. Few people on the planet can relate to what Blatt is going through this season, Fratello said. Blatt is new to the league, new to his triumvirate of stars and new to this level of scrutiny, despite his claims that Maccabi Tel Aviv (his last stop) played its games under a heat lamp. “I mean, I don’t know how you can compare it to anything,” Fratello said. “When you consider everything — where he came from, the years he was there, the success he had, and now all of a sudden thrust into an N.B.A. job? I’ve never been in anything close to that, and I don’t know anyone else who has, either.” On Wednesday, Blatt met with reporters and offered a post-mortem of Tuesday’s victory over the Milwaukee Bucks. The game featured another strong effort by Love, who appears to be emerging from his early-season funk. Over the team’s last four games, Love had averaged 22 points and 8.3 rebounds while shooting 62 percent from the field. Image Blatt, third from right, after a game with Maccabi Tel Aviv, the last team he coached before arriving in Cleveland. Credit Jack Guez/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Blatt said he was also pleased with the play of Tristan Thompson and Mike Miller, who came off the bench to provide big minutes in the fourth quarter. But depth has been an unexpected problem, and it was brought to Blatt’s attention that Thompson and Miller were the only reserves who had scored against the Bucks. “Are they? I didn’t realize that,” Blatt said. “Is that true? Well, that’s not the best piece of news I heard today.” And so the process continues for Blatt, whose friends and colleagues know him to be one of the more meticulous, detail-oriented people in the profession. “He’s very, very, very planned,” Danny Federman, the general manager of Maccabi Tel Aviv, said in a telephone interview shortly after Blatt was hired. “His practices are planned. His timeouts are planned. He walks around the court with this piece of paper every practice. Everything is planned.” The twist, Federman said, is that Blatt is actually more flexible and more willing to cope with change than he once was. Blatt is drawn to structure and stability, Federman said, but he has come to understand the value of making adjustments based on circumstances. With the Cavaliers, Blatt has already shown an ability to adapt. By significantly cutting the minutes that once belonged to the underperforming Dion Waiters. By praising Love’s defense, in what appeared to be a fairly transparent public-relations move. (Love is not synonymous with stellar defense.) And by turning to Miller with the Cavaliers struggling against the Bucks. Miller, who had not played in three games, connected on a pair of key 3-pointers. Through it all, Blatt has kept his poise — no surprise to those aware of his pre-N.B.A. past. “He’s been successful everywhere he’s been,” Fratello said, “so there’s no reason to believe that’s not going to happen here.”

David Blatt
Cavaliers
Maccabi Tel Aviv
LeBron James
Kyrie Irving
Kevin Love
Basketball
Dynamo St Petersburg


N.B.A. Commissioner Promises Swift Investigation of Remarks

Abstract: MEMPHIS — N.B.A. Commissioner Adam Silver said Saturday night that the league planned to pursue a swift investigation of the Los Angeles Clippers’ owner, Donald Sterling, after the release of an audio recording in which Sterling was alleged to have made racially charged remarks . Silver, who addressed reporters at FedEx Forum about an hour before the Grizzlies and the Oklahoma City Thunder played Game 4 of their first-round playoff series, said Sterling had agreed not to attend the Clippers’ playoff game against the Golden State Warriors on Sunday as the league conducted its investigation. Silver said the investigation would largely entail determining the authenticity of the audio recording, which was provided to TMZ.com and released Friday night. In the recording, a person whom TMZ identified as Sterling admonished a female friend to avoid being seen in public with black people. Silver described the contents of the recording as “truly offensive and disturbing.” Trained as a lawyer, Silver was cautious in his remarks, saying that Sterling had a right to due process and that it would be “unwise and improper” to discuss any potential disciplinary action. At the same time, Silver said the league had broad powers that included a range of sanctions. “All of those will be under consideration depending on the findings of our investigation,” Silver said. It was Silver’s first visit to Memphis as the commissioner, and his appearance here was the most pressure-packed moment in his new role, with players across the league expressing outrage over Sterling’s reported remarks. Silver arrived for the news conference 30 minutes behind schedule. Silver said he had spoken Saturday with Clippers Coach Doc Rivers and with Chris Paul, the team’s starting point guard and the president of the players union. “Their focus is on competing in the current playoff series,” Silver said. He added: “We intend to get to the bottom of it as quickly as possible. I personally think the situation is most unfair to the Clippers players and the coaches who have to deal with this distraction in the middle of their own highly competitive playoff series.”


Brown Sets Conditions to Send 500 More Britons to Afghan War

Abstract: LONDON — Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced a cautious and heavily conditioned plan on Wednesday to send 500 more British troops to Afghanistan, which would raise Britain’s contingent — the second largest in the 41-nation coalition fighting the eight-year war — to 9,500. Mr. Brown hinted strongly that discussions with President Obama and other American leaders had persuaded him that their current review of Afghanistan strategy would result in a similar approval for at least a modest increase in American troops — perhaps linked, like Britain ’s, to strict conditions on President Hamid Karzai’s government in Afghanistan. “I believe the decision we are announcing is consistent with what the Americans will decide,” he said. In Washington, the White House expressed appreciation for the British decision but denied that Mr. Obama had made his decision. The president met for three hours with his national security team to discuss Afghanistan and Pakistan, his fifth such meeting in recent weeks as he reviews strategy and his commander’s request for more troops. Mr. Obama and his advisers focused much of their discussion on Wednesday on concerns with the Afghan government, the need to accelerate training of Afghan security forces and the challenges in deploying more civilian assistance, White House officials said. Mr. Obama plans another such meeting next week and does not appear close to a decision, prompting renewed criticism from Republicans that he is dithering at a critical moment. On a related front, American officials moved to reassure Pakistan that a new aid package did not impinge on its sovereignty. That program, giving $7.5 billion over five years, requires assurances of civilian control of Pakistan’s security forces, but House and Senate leaders released a joint statement clarifying its intent. Pakistan’s visiting foreign minister, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, expressed satisfaction, and Mr. Obama plans to sign the legislation by Friday. The British troop announcement renewed attention on the contribution of NATO allies, which have long resisted American pressure to do more in Afghanistan. American officials said that if Mr. Obama approved more forces, they expected NATO to increase its participation as well, if not in combat troops then in training, equipment or economic assistance. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates will meet with fellow NATO ministers in Bratislava, Slovakia, next week, although without a final decision from Mr. Obama it will be harder to lobby then for more resources, officials said. Any appeals are likely to face resistance. The Dutch have said that they are pulling out of Afghanistan in 2010, and the Canadians plan to leave in 2011. Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the American and allied commander in Afghanistan, has submitted a request for 40,000 more troops on top of the 68,000 Americans already authorized to be there. About 35,000 troops from other NATO countries are also in Afghanistan. Mr. Brown’s announcement comes at a time of rising opposition in Britain to the war, which appeared to be one reason the proposed increase was for only some of the 1,500 to 2,000 troops that British commanders had recommended . In outlining the strategy in a tense, 70-minute exchange in the House of Commons, Mr. Brown said his plans were intended to mesh with American war policy. Mr. Brown spoke with Mr. Obama over a video link last week and met with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton at his official country residence, Chequers, on Monday. Last month, Mr. Brown met separately in London with General McChrystal and Gen. David H. Petraeus, the overall American commander for Iraq and Afghanistan operations. But the keynote to Mr. Brown’s war plan was an insistent caution. He said he approved the new deployment on condition that enough equipment, including helicopters, be available to support British troops. Another requirement, he said, would be that other allies stepped up. “Everyone must accept that they’re part of a coalition, and they’ve got to show it,” Mr. Brown said. The exchanges in the House of Commons reflected unease about the war in Britain. Eighty-four British soldiers have died in Afghanistan this year, more than a third of all of Britain’s losses since 2001 and more than all military deaths suffered in 2009 by other European nations in Afghanistan. Before announcing the troop increase, Mr. Brown read the names of 37 British soldiers killed during the Commons’ 12-week summer recess. More than a dozen lawmakers then stood to denounce the war, or to mock the idea that combat responsibilities would eventually be handed over to the Afghan forces. Sir Peter Tapsell, a member of the Conservative opposition, said, “Anybody who believes that an Afghan army composed of different ethnic groups is going to defeat the Taliban is living in a political cloud-cuckoo-land.” But Mr. Brown said that three-quarters of all terrorist plots uncovered in Britain in recent years had links to Islamic extremists in Pakistan and Afghanistan. By persisting with the war effort, he said, “We are protecting the streets of Britain.” Beyond demanding greater allied involvement, Mr. Brown said, the overall war strategy will involve a new “contract” with Mr. Karzai, an idea he said had developed “after the fullest possible consultation” with American leaders and the NATO secretary general, Anders Fogh Rasmussen. Mr. Brown said the pact would require an equitable solution to the disputed August presidential election, including the possibility of a runoff between Mr. Karzai and his main opponent, Abdullah Abdullah. The Afghan government would also have to take action to curb corruption while increasing its security forces and deploying them in contested areas. Part of any new strategy may involve distinguishing among Taliban factions. Mrs. Clinton alluded to that in an interview with ABC News while traveling in Moscow on Wednesday. “Our goal is to disrupt, dismantle, defeat Al Qaeda and its extremist allies,” she said. “But not every Taliban is an extremist ally.” That thesis generated criticism in Washington. “I’m worried that we’re going to see ‘new’ analysis that justifies a more limited war strategy on the basis that we can now tolerate” the Taliban, Representative Howard P. McKeon of California, the ranking Republican on the House Armed Services Committee, said at a hearing. He criticized “the continued drift” by the White House, saying, “It is unfair to our forces in theater to fight a war while the strategy remains in limbo.”

United States Defense and Military Forces


Yoga Licensing Rebellion in New York on the Verge of Victory

Abstract: When the state notified yoga studios that the instruction of yoga teachers would soon fall under government oversight, the last thing it expected was a battle. But yoga teachers across a wide range of disciplines, from the body sculpting to the spirit enhancing, quickly began a coordinated attack on the state effort, hoping to avoid a cumbersome licensing process. In the next 10 days, almost a year after the dispute began, Gov. David A. Paterson is expected to approve a bill that would exempt training programs for yoga teachers from state regulation under laws intended to provide oversight of vocational schools. “People doubted we could do it,” said Alison West, a yoga instructor and the executive director of Yoga for New York , a nonprofit group established to fight the regulation effort. “Everyone is very excited.” Mr. Paterson has until March 24 to sign the bill, which has been approved by the State Assembly and the State Senate and has the backing of the Education Department, which initially pushed for the licensing of the yoga teachers. The bill adds yoga and martial arts to areas of instruction that are exempt from state oversight; they include religion, painting and athletics. “This was just a bureaucratic error that I’m happy we corrected,” said Senator Eric T. Schneiderman , a Manhattan Democrat, who sponsored the bill. “It’s a personal-enrichment and spiritual practice,” he added. “It’s not something that really cries out for more regulation.” The issue arose in April, when the Education Department sent a letter ordering yoga studios to halt their intensive programs, known as teacher trainings, and apply for licenses — or face up to a $50,000 fine. The state requirements, which apply to vocational schools like those that teach hairdressers, massage therapists and computer technicians, are intended to create minimum standards and provide oversight of the institutions that teach students a trade. The teacher trainings, which many students use to become yoga instructors but others use simply to improve their skills, are an important source of income for some studios. The regulation push in New York followed similar efforts across the country to increase oversight of yoga, a rapidly growing industry. But while similar efforts in Virginia and Michigan, among others, were successful, the large and comparatively deep-pocketed yoga community in New York was able to win support for its cause, hiring a lobbying firm and enlisting the help of yoga-practicing state legislators. “As a regulator, it’s always helpful to have clarity in legislation,” said Tom Dunn, a spokesman for the Education Department, which had suspended the licensing effort pending the outcome of the legislation. “This bill accomplishes that.”

Yoga
Regulation and Deregulation of Industry
Law and Legislation
Paterson David A
Schneiderman Eric T
New York State


India and Pakistan Fail to Resolve Glacier Dispute at Talks

Abstract: NEW DELHI — The slow, uncertain efforts to normalize relations between India and Pakistan apparently made little progress on Tuesday, after defense secretaries from both countries failed to deliver a breakthrough on demilitarizing a Himalayan glacier considered the world’s highest battlefield. The two-day meetings in New Delhi were part of wider-ranging discussions under way between India and Pakistan over issues including trade, water rights, terrorism and the fate of the disputed region of Kashmir. Analysts had expressed guarded optimism that some progress was possible on the glacier dispute, yet Tuesday’s talks ended with only a pledge for further talks in Islamabad, Pakistan’s capital, at some point. “Both sides welcomed the ongoing dialogue process,” declared a statement issued jointly by the delegations. “The discussions were held in a frank and cordial atmosphere, contributing to an enhanced understanding of each other’s position.” The broader discussions between India and Pakistan represent an important, if tortuous, piece in the larger strategic puzzle of trying to bring stability to one of the world’s most dangerous regions. The nuclear-armed neighbors Pakistan and India have fought three wars since becoming independent countries in 1947, and their rivalry now complicates American military and counterterrorism efforts in Afghanistan and Pakistan. In 2008, India abandoned diplomatic efforts with Pakistan after heavily armed militants, trained in Pakistan, attacked in Mumbai, killing at least 163 people. Talks were eventually restarted, but the process has been bumpy. The decision to hold talks this week represented a minor achievement, after a month in which tensions between India and Pakistan could have boiled over. First came the discovery and killing of Osama bin Laden in a Pakistani town that is home to a major military academy. Then came testimony in a terrorism trial in Chicago that adds to evidence linking Pakistan’s intelligence agency to the Mumbai attack. Indian officials see the developments as validation of their longstanding position that the Pakistani state knowingly nurtures terrorism. Some Indian officials issued sharp criticisms of Pakistan, among them Indian generals boasting that Indian commandos could replicate a raid in Pakistan similar to the one against Bin Laden — comments that elicited an angry rebuke from Pakistani officials. But the Indian prime minister, Manmohan Singh, has largely resisted demonizing Pakistan, and his foreign policy advisers have quietly made clear that the dialogue between the countries will not be interrupted. Days before Bin Laden’s death, the two sides had made progress during a meeting where their commerce secretaries promised to explore a range of trade and business ties. “What we are trying to do is send a message to Pakistan that we are willing to do business with you and we don’t want to take advantage of your current predicament in any way,” said Naresh Chandra, chairman of India’s National Security Advisory Board, which is appointed by the prime minister. Few analysts expect any dramatic, transformative breakthroughs. But Mr. Singh has persistently pushed for dialogue on multiple issues, often despite criticism at home, on the premise that India’s economic progress is imperiled without a stable neighborhood. Indeed, beyond his overtures to Pakistan, Mr. Singh in May also recalibrated India’s position on Afghanistan, where the United States has pledged to begin withdrawing troops next month. In the past, India has criticized reconciliation efforts with the Taliban, fearing that Taliban members in the Afghan government could deepen Pakistani influence. But in a visit to Kabul, the Afghan capital, on May 12 and 13, Mr. Singh signaled that India had softened its stance and sought to position his country as a constructive player toward any Afghan settlement. “Afghanistan has embarked upon a process of national reconciliation,” Mr. Singh said during his visit, in which he also awarded $500 million in aid. “We wish you well in this enterprise.” This week’s talks were focused on a longstanding dispute over the Siachen Glacier in the Himalayan mountains. In 1984, Pakistan sent soldiers to try to dislodge the Indian Army from its occupation of the heights over the disputed site. Years of skirmishes followed at altitudes of more than 18,000 feet. The glacier had dubious strategic value, and more soldiers died as a result of the hostile environment than in battle. A 2003 cease-fire ended the hostilities, but left unresolved the fate of each side’s forces, which remain in their high-altitude positions. Negotiators have quibbled over the terms of how the troops will withdraw to lower ground and what sort of monitoring will ensure that neither side seeks to return. Today, soldiers remain posted high in the mountains, though India has greatly improved living conditions over the years.

India
Pakistan
International Relations
Defense and Military Forces


For Long-Term Jobless, a Stubborn Trend

Abstract: IN 2006, with the American economy booming, the proportion of workers who were laid off or discharged over a 12-month period fell to 15.5 percent. That was the lowest rate since the government began collecting the data at the end of 2000 — and a sign that the job market was exceedingly strong. But the rate of firings soared during the credit crisis and Great Recession, hitting a peak of 20.4 percent in late 2009. Now it has fallen to the lowest level ever recorded — 14.8 percent. In other words, a worker’s chance of being fired is now less than it was when the job market was booming, and much less than it was when the economy was in trouble four years ago. And yet, the job situation now is not a good one. While fewer people are being fired, the rate of hiring has barely picked up. And as can be seen in the accompanying charts, the long-term unemployment rate — the proportion of the labor force that has been out of work for more than 15 weeks — remains higher than the short-term rate. In October, the long-term rate was 3.8 percent, while the short-term rate was just 3.5 percent. From 1948, when the Bureau of Labor Statistics began to publish monthly unemployment rates based on a survey of households, until mid-2009, the long-term rate was never as high as the short-term rate. Since then, it has consistently been higher, although the gap has narrowed. What seems to have happened in the United States is that job mobility — historically an important feature of the nation’s labor market — fell rapidly during the recession and has yet to recover much. The data on hirings and firings is compiled by the government in its monthly Jolts — Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey — report. The charts on hirings and firings, as well as on voluntary departures, are based on actual numbers over 12-month periods, not on the seasonally adjusted figures. By adding the monthly figures, the charts may overstate job mobility to some extent. In some cases, the same worker may have been hired several times during a year, and have left just as many jobs during the same period. That is particularly true in industries like construction, where many jobs are for relatively brief periods. But even taking that into account, the fact remains that in a normal year the number of workers leaving jobs — whether voluntarily or involuntarily — amounts to more than 40 percent of the total number of jobs. The number of new hires is, of course, at a slightly higher rate if employment is rising. In good times, most of that job mobility represents the choice of workers, as more people leave their jobs by choice than because they were laid off or fired. Some of those retired, but most quit, either because they had found a better job or because they expected to find one. But during the recession, the number of people leaving voluntarily plunged, and for the first time since the data was collected, the number of people losing their jobs because they were fired in 2009 exceeded the number who left voluntarily. One measure of the health of the job market is the number of unemployed people for each unfilled job vacancy. At the end of 2000, when the data was first collected, that figure was just over one — an indication of the boom that ended with the 2001 recession. It soared to nearly seven to one during the recession. The latest figures show the ratio has fallen back to 2.9. By that measure, the job market is finally a little better than it was at the low point early in the last decade. But it appears that many of the people who have been unemployed the longest simply lack the skills to get the available jobs. The short-term unemployment rate is back to the levels that prevailed for most of the period before the recession. But the long-term rate, while it is falling, remains higher than it was at any time before the recession.


Arkansas: Stringent Abortion Limit Struck Down

Abstract: A federal appeals court struck down one of the nation’s toughest abortion restrictions on Wednesday, agreeing with a lower court that a state law unconstitutionally burdens women by banning abortions after the 12th week of pregnancy if a doctor can detect a fetal heartbeat. The United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit sided with doctors who challenged the law, ruling that abortion restrictions must be based on a fetus’s ability to live outside the womb, not the presence of a fetal heartbeat, which can be detected weeks earlier. The court said that standard was established by previous United States Supreme Court rulings. The ruling upholds a decision by a federal judge in Arkansas who struck down the 2013 law before it could take effect, shortly after legislators approved the change. But the federal judge left in place other parts of the law that required doctors to tell women if a fetal heartbeat was present; the appeals court also kept those elements in place.

Arkansas
Abortion
Decisions and Verdicts


The Swiss Bank UBS Is Set to Open Its Secret Files

Abstract: In the hush-hush world of Swiss banking, the unthinkable is happening: secrets are spilling into the open. UBS , the largest bank in Switzerland, agreed on Wednesday to divulge the names of well-heeled Americans whom the authorities suspect of using offshore accounts at the bank to evade taxes. The bank admitted conspiring to defraud the Internal Revenue Service and agreed to pay $780 million to settle a sweeping federal investigation into its activities. It is unclear how many of its clients’ names UBS will divulge. Federal prosecutors have been examining about 19,000 accounts at the bank, but UBS ultimately may disclose the identities of only a few hundred customers. But to some, turning over any names at all heralds the end of the secret Swiss bank account, whose traditions date to the Middle Ages. “The Swiss are saying that this is the end of Swiss banking as they knew it,” said Jack Blum, an offshore tax specialist. “Nobody will trust the security of the Swiss bank account.” As part of the settlement, UBS agreed to cooperate with a broad summons issued by the Justice Department to turn over the names. Under the terms of a so-called deferred prosecution agreement, the bank and its executives could be indicted if UBS didn’t identify the customers. UBS has said it is closing the offshore accounts of its American clients. But under the deal with the United States authorities, the bank must provide periodic written evidence of that to prosecutors. UBS earned $200 million annually from the business. Prosecutors suspect that from late 2002 to 2007, UBS helped American clients illegally hide $20 billion, letting them evade $300 million a year in taxes. In a striking admission, UBS said that from 2000 through 2007, some of its private bankers and managers had “participated in a scheme to defraud the United States” and the I.R.S. by helping American clients set up and conceal offshore accounts. The scheme involved falsifying or not properly obtaining or filing certain tax forms required of both the bank and its clients. UBS’s offshore private banking business once employed some 60 private bankers in Lugano, Zurich and Geneva. Prosecutors claimed UBS referred clients to lawyers and accountants who set up secret offshore entities to conceal assets from the I.R.S. UBS urged some American clients to destroy records and to stash watches, jewelry and artwork that they had bought with money hidden offshore in safe deposit boxes in Switzerland. The bank also encouraged them to use Swiss credit cards so the I.R.S. could not track purchases. In a statement on Wednesday, Peter Kurer, the chairman of UBS, said that “UBS sincerely regrets the compliance failures in its U.S. cross-border business that have been identified by the various government investigations in Switzerland and the U.S., as well as our own internal review. We accept full responsibility for these improper activities.” Marcel Rohner, the group chief executive of UBS, said in a statement that “it is apparent that as an organization we made mistakes and that our control systems were inadequate.” In January a senior UBS executive, Raoul Weil, was declared a fugitive, two months after being indicted by a federal judge in connection with the investigation of the bank. Mr. Weil, a Swiss citizen, oversaw the cross-border private banking operations from 2002 to 2007. UBS had fiercely resisted turning over the names, even after some executives were indicted and implicated in the offshore private banking business. Swiss law distinguishes broadly between tax avoidance, tax evasion and tax fraud. Unlike in the United States, tax evasion is not a criminal offense under Swiss law. The move by UBS to settle the case, on the eve of a Senate subcommittee hearing next Tuesday on the matter, signals how close the bank came to being indicted for not cooperating with prosecutors. Indictment is a near-certain death knell for corporations. Of the $780 million that UBS will pay, $380 million represents disgorgement of profits from its cross-border business. The remainder represents United States taxes that UBS failed to withhold on the accounts. The figures include interest, penalties and restitution for unpaid taxes As part of the deal, UBS also entered into a consent order with the Securities and Exchange Commission in which it agreed to charges of having acted as an unregistered broker-dealer and investment adviser for Americans. The settlement caps a painful run for UBS, which suffered more than $50 billion in losses in the collapse of the American mortgage market and received a $60 billion bailout from the Swiss government last October. The bank will not have to pay additional fines and penalties, which could have brought the deal to more than $1 billion. People briefed on the issue said the banking crisis and the recession were factors in this decision by prosecutors.

Justice Department
Tax Evasion
Banks and Banking
UBS AG
High Net Worth Individuals
Millionaires and Billionaires


Balancing Realism With Moralism

Abstract: PARIS — Back when George W. Bush was in the White House, we were caught up in a struggle between the forces of darkness and light. The leader of the Western world set moral guideposts — the “war on terror” and the “axis of evil” — to help distinguish between right and wrong, good guys and bad guys. These days, the world isn’t so easily divided. Americans now know that we did bad things in the name of good causes. And when it comes to dealing with bad guys, like the mullahs in Iran, President Barack Obama has proved himself to be more of a realist than a moralist. It’s too early to judge Mr. Obama’s cooler, less judgmental approach, which seeks to engage rather than isolate countries like Iran. But he shouldn’t let go of his moral compass. Too much realism can open the door to policies that confuse national and commercial interests. There is nothing new about conducting diplomacy while holding your nose. Henry Kissinger was the master of realpolitik, conducting secret negotiations with China even as he escalated the war in Vietnam. Economic realities will always influence political choices, particularly during a recession. Here’s an example: the European Union withdrew its ambassadors from Honduras after a relatively bloodless coup d’état there this month, but left them in Tehran during the violent crackdown against the post-election demonstrations. “What’s good for Honduras should be good for Iran,” Jean-Pierre Brard, a deputy in the French National Assembly, said at a recent press conference. “Or maybe the real difference is that Renault, Total and Areva are not so well represented in Honduras?” The same logic applies to the muted response in Washington to the ethnic unrest in China’s Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, which left more than 190 people dead earlier this month. Human rights groups have called for an independent investigation into the clashes and the Chinese government’s handling of them; the U.S. State Department called for “calm.” The fact is that human rights violations in China don’t get much attention in the United States these days, not when China holds so much of the U.S. national debt and when Washington is looking to Beijing to help pull the global economy out of recession. Curiously, it has fallen to an Iranian newspaper to point out the double standards applied to China. An editorial in Aftab-e Yazd recently rebuked the Iranian government for its silence about the deaths in mostly Muslim Xianjiang Province, in contrast to more vigorous protests from other parts of the Islamic world. The newspaper linked this reticence to recent oil projects Iran is pitching to China. “If this is due to political necessities, an answer must be given to the basic question of what China expects of Iran, and what Iran will gain in return,” the paper wrote. The same formula should be applied to Mr. Obama’s diplomatic strategy as he seeks to strike up new relationships with countries with faulty human rights records. Lecturing them won’t make them change their ways; isolating them only makes them more inward-looking; punishing them with sanctions hasn’t proved very effective. That doesn’t rule out making harsh comments about policies and behavior that are out of line. There is a precedent for this kind of diplomacy: during the Cold War, it was called détente. Selling Pepsi-Cola in the Soviet Union — a high-profile example of a then-new trading relationship — didn’t preclude speaking out loud and clear about political prisoners and Jewish refuseniks. The world today could benefit from that kind of balancing act. If he wants to move his foreign policy agenda forward, Mr. Obama has no choice but to deal with the repressive mullahs in Iran, the Communist censors in China and the oligarchs and their government allies in Russia. That doesn’t mean he can’t criticize them. (Bloomberg)

China
Obama Barack
United States International Relations


Window Washers Enjoy Surge in Demand

Abstract: On an average workday, Mikhail Karalatov might watch a person play music in the living room, though he will not be able to hear the notes. He could peer into a “15-room castle” on Fifth Avenue, he said, though he is not really supposed to look around. Or he might draw smiley faces with soapsuds as a child stares back at him in fascination. Oftentimes, people wave. “And sometimes people cover their eyes and run away,” Mr. Karalatov said. “They are scared for you.” That is because Mr. Karalatov is a window washer, and he generally encounters these things while dangling several stories above the sidewalk, rubbing and scrubbing to make the skyline sparkle. In recent years, he and his colleagues have become increasingly popular. In the average apartment building clad in brick or limestone, windows can be washed from the inside, perhaps by a superintendent looking to make an extra buck. The facade is generally cleaned somewhere between every 40 years and never. But glass buildings must be washed about twice a year, lest they look as if they were covered with giant smudged thumbprints, and the windows on a towering residential building, 50, 60, even 70 stories above the ground, are far too dangerous for the casual cleaner. So as recent architectural trends around New York City have spawned apartment buildings both taller and glassier than in years past, at least one profession has been made very happy. “It’s perfect, I would say,” said Mark Imankulov, a manager of Prime Window Cleaning, where Mr. Karalatov is employed. “Everybody wants a big picture window with a huge piece of glass.” Robin Domanski, the manager of Chelsea Window Cleaning , agreed that its services were becoming more vital. “It’s not just about going in, putting on booties and tilting the windows anymore,” Ms. Domanski said. “The jobs are a lot more complicated now. Equipment needs to be bought and maintained, and people have to be trained on it.” Window cleaning is, by its nature, a slightly awkward job. Tom Bulawa, manager of Apple Window Cleaning, likens the experience to avoiding eye contact on the subway. Typically, most residents are warned that there will be visitors dangling outside their bedrooms, and unless a resident waves first, Mr. Bulawa said, washers must keep their heads down and try not to notice what is happening on the other side. But sometimes, others say, it cannot be helped. A window washer, Mykhaylo Lazar, said on one job he saw a couple in an intimate encounter. “I saw it, too,” his colleague Vasyli Ivaniuk said, adding, “It’s a good job, a really good job.” Window washers reach their perches in various ways. There are tapered ladders and baskets hung from cherry pickers. In many older buildings, washers climb out a window wearing a special belt that attaches to hooks on either side. In larger new buildings, a scaffolding platform is kept on the roof and can be lowered, like a terrifying open-air elevator, when it is time to tidy up the sides. Another approach is to rappel off the roof clipped into what looks like a padded swing. “Sometimes people see us and they say, ‘If you gave me a million dollars, I wouldn’t do what you do,’ ” said Dmitriy Chuyeshkov, a sturdy, blond 30-year-old who has been washing windows eight years. “But I would!” Unfortunately, he continued, no one has offered him quite that sum. Generally, window washers make in the neighborhood of $20 to $30 per hour. Union workers, who are concentrated in commercial cleaning, start at $26 per hour. The time spent on a job can add up quickly. The Time Warner Center at Columbus Circle takes two crews about three months to clean, and New York by Gehry , a 76-story rental tower on Spruce Street with rippling stainless-steel siding, takes six to nine months, depending on the weather — cleaning crews will stay indoors if conditions are too windy, for example. (Extell Development Company declined to describe its plans for washing windows at its One57 project, which at 90 stories will be the tallest residential building in the city when it is completed.) Professionals say that a large job requiring several weeks of work might pay $50,000, and even a stout, five-story glass building that takes four days might be worth $5,000 or $6,000. Pricing, they say, depends on man-hours, equipment and the relative danger of the project. And there can be dangers. In December 2007, two brothers who were washing windows on the Upper East Side plummeted 47 stories to the ground, killing one but, remarkably, not the other. A few months later, a man fell 12 stories to his death. And just last week, two window washers got stuck on a scaffold about 40 stories above Avenue of the Americas in Midtown. Firefighters had to cut through the building’s glass siding to get them down. “Window cleaning is dangerous,” Ms. Domanski of Chelsea Window Cleaning said. “Any which way, you’re hanging out a window.” While the systems for hoisting cleaners into position and keeping them safe once they get there have grown more elaborate, Ms. Domanski said, other equipment used on the job has remained constant: The squeegee, the rag and their humble brethren have yet to be improved upon. “We use Joy soap,” she said. “Dishwashing detergent is the best thing to clean glass.”

Windows
New York City
Real Estate and Housing (Residential)
Labor and Jobs
Careers and Professions


Nuclear Fuel Storage Remains Safe, Panel Members Say

Abstract: WASHINGTON — Most members of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission indicated on Monday that they considered it safe to continue storing most spent nuclear fuel in pools, even though concerns remain about potential accidents and terrorist attacks. At a commission meeting, four of the five members indicated that storage in the pools was safe enough, at least compared with moving some of the fuel into giant steel and concrete casks, where they can be stored dry, with no reliance on water, pumps or filters to keep them cool. Concerns about the safety of spent fuel pools grew after the disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan nearly three years ago, when the possibility of damage to a pool there led the State Department to advise Americans to stay more than 50 miles from the plant. Before then, the National Academy of Sciences, in a study ordered by a worried Congress after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, found that a successful terrorist attack on a spent fuel pool was plausible and that regulators should consider reducing the loading in spent fuel pools, which hold far more radioactive materials than nuclear reactors do. “It’s legitimate to describe spent fuel pools at reactors in the United States as pre-emplaced radiological weapons,” Gordon R. Thompson, the executive director of the Institute for Resource and Security Studies in Cambridge, Mass., and a research professor at Clark University in Worcester, Mass., told the commissioners. The spent fuel pools are a magnet for terrorists, he said. But David A. Heacock, the chief nuclear officer of Dominion Nuclear, which operates reactors in Virginia and elsewhere, said that the probability of an event that would damage a spent fuel pool was “effectively zero” and that the steps needed to mitigate such an accident were simple, with preparations already made. “This is not a complicated mitigation, nor is it difficult,” he said. “It’s basically, just add water.” Nuclear fuel is barely radioactive when it is put into a reactor, but when uranium is split, the fragments, materials like strontium and cesium, are unstable and seek to return to stability by giving off energy, or subatomic particles, for as long as centuries. The particles continue to produce heat so they must be stored under water for a few years. When the reactors now in service were built, the plan was to remove the fuel after a few years, but because the government has failed to provide a place to bury the spent fuel, utility companies have had to squeeze more and more of it into the spent fuel pools. At Fukushima Daiichi unit 4, which suffered a hydrogen explosion, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission came to believe that the pool was dry or almost dry, and engineers feared that a fire would spread the radioactive materials widely. As it turned out, the pool at Fukushima Daiichi was full all the time. But Mr. Thompson said that if water was drained from a spent fuel pool, the radiation field would be so intense that it would deliver a fatal dose to a worker within minutes, making “mitigating action” impossible. The nuclear industry, however, disagreed. The nuclear commission’s chairwoman, Allison M. Macfarlane , was the sole commissioner of the five whose questions indicated she might be open to moving more fuel to dry casks, which are already in wide use . Before she was named to the commission, Ms. Macfarlane spoke favorably of that idea, as did her predecessor, Gregory Jaczko, before he was named chairman. But both backed off when they assumed leadership of the commission.

Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Nuclear energy
Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Disaster


Sharp’s Messy Milestone

Abstract: The deal to put Sharp in Taiwanese hands would be a messy milestone. The future of the company, an ailing maker of display TVs, was shaping up to be an acid test of Japanese reform. Now, a putative deal with Foxconn of Taiwan has descended into farce. On Thursday, Sharp unveiled a long-awaited plan to sell control to various arms of the contract electronics giant for about 489 billion yen, or $4.4 billion. But hours later, Foxconn said it was poring over last-minute “material information” couriered over by Sharp and could not sign anything yet. It was not meant to be like this. When Foxconn recently overtook a state-backed rival, the Innovation Network Corporation of Japan, as the leading bidder, that seemed like a promising sign of change in corporate Japan. Victory would mean the board picked the most compelling pitch, not the establishment favorite – even if the bidder was a foreigner. In truth, the picture is more nuanced, because Foxconn’s bid is far more respectful of the status quo than Innovation Network’s breakup proposal, and softer on creditors, too. Failure at this stage would embarrass all concerned. And the communications breakdown does not bode well for any deal in the future. The two companies have already differed publicly about whether Foxconn was the preferred bidder. Sharp now looks either desperate in leaving it so late to share important data points, or confused in failing to understand Foxconn. Analysts who were already withering about the deal’s rationale will take even more convincing. Foxconn’s founder and chairman, Terry Gou, has to decide whether to seal his unlikely victory in the light of new information. If he does, further challenges await. He will have to create a lot of value despite limited direct overlap between the two businesses. Judging by operating profit at rivals, Sharp is probably worth just 700 billion yen or so on an enterprise value basis, Bernstein analysts reckon – less than the value of its net debt and preferred shares. Taking over Sharp was already bold. The last-minute surprise makes it even more so.

Sharp
Japan
Mergers and Acquisitions
Foxconn Technology


Economic Reports This Week

Abstract: ECONOMIC REPORTS Data will include retail sales for November and business inventories for October (Tuesday); import prices for November (Wednesday); weekly jobless claims; the Producer Price Index for November; the third-quarter current account deficit; industrial production and capacity utilization for November; the Philadelphia Fed manufacturing index for December and weekly jobless claims (Thursday); and the Consumer Price Index for November (Friday). CORPORATE EARNINGS Companies reporting results will include Best Buy (Tuesday); Joy Global (Wednesday); Adobe Systems, Discover Financial Services, FedEx Corporation, Hovnanian Enterprises, Pier 1 Imports and Rite Aid (Thursday); and Darden Restaurants (Friday). IN THE UNITED STATES On Tuesday, Jeffrey R. Immelt, chairman and chief executive of General Electric, will host the company’s annual review of its performance and business outlook. On Tuesday, the Federal Open Market Committee will meet to consider monetary policy, Jon S. Corzine is expected to testify before a Senate Agriculture Committee hearing about the collapse of MF Global, the Senate Banking Committee will conduct a hearing about oversight of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, and a Senate Banking subcommittee will conduct a hearing about the foreclosure process. On Wednesday, a Senate Banking subcommittee will conduct a hearing about investor risk in raising capital. Also on Wednesday, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee will conduct a hearing about the leadership of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and the International Trade Commission is expected to rule on whether HTC smartphones violate Apple’s iPhone patents. On Thursday, a House Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee will conduct the first part of a hearing about the effect of the European debt crisis on United States taxpayers and the economy, and a House Financial Services subcommittee will conduct a hearing about the collapse of MF Global. On Thursday, Zynga is expected to price its initial public offering. On Friday, a House Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee will conduct the second part of a hearing about the effect of the European debt crisis on United States taxpayers and the economy. IN EUROPE On Monday, the British government will release its report on the near-collapse of the Royal Bank of Scotland during the 2008 financial crisis. On Wednesday, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries will meet in Vienna.

Company Reports
Economic Conditions and Trends


A Celebration of Running and Diversity

Abstract: One Saturday night after the New York City Marathon in November, members of the West Side Runners Club celebrated their year of racing at the Upper West Side co-op of the group’s president, Bill Staab. Salsa music reverberated in the living room, and men in polyester blazers twirled women in hip-hugging pants. Their children darted around them as Ethiopians in running gear watched politely from the couch. Above the music emerged bits of accented English, the team’s lingua franca. The walls were covered in running memorabilia from the 1970s, when the team’s membership was mostly affluent white men, through its evolution into one of New York City’s most competitive and most diverse working-class teams . A crudely carved wood plaque on the wall read in Spanish, “In gratitude for the support you’ve given Colombian athletes,” conferred on “Mr. Bill” in 2006 by Carlos Grisales, a former Olympian and a team member. The dining table was loaded with food prepared by runners and their families: Ethiopian injera bread and fiery wat stew accompanied by Mexican tamales and Ecuadorean ceviche. Staab had made a salad. As the night went on, the food table ceded its popularity to a garbage bin full of Coronas and ice. Image Julio Sauce, 41, from Ecuador, typifies the multinational, working-class membership of the West Side Runners Club. He came in 84th at the New York City Marathon. Credit Christopher Gregory for The New York Times As the kitchens of Manhattan slowly shut down, team members with jobs as dishwashers and cooks trickled over. Julio Sauce, an Ecuadorean and a cook in an upscale restaurant in Midtown, arrived after finishing his shift, which ended at 12:30 a.m. A 41-year-old father, he had finished the marathon in 2 hours 38 minutes, placing 84th out of a record 50,266 finishers. He was the first Brooklyn resident across the line. His teammate Felipe Vergara, a 49-year-old construction worker from Mexico whose training had been hampered by a back injury, was celebrating a 2:47 finish, which was good for 205th over all. Two of the team’s top runners, the Ethiopians Buzunesh Deba and Tigist Tufa, were unable to make it to the party from the home they share with Deba’s husband and coach, Worku Beyi, in the Kingsbridge section of the Bronx. Deba and Tufa had dominated for much of the women’s race, taking off together for a huge early lead, only to be overtaken by Priscah Jeptoo of Kenya in the final miles. One of their Ethiopian teammates, Abu Kebede Diriba, quietly heaped a plate with food. He brought it down to the building’s doorman, Cesar Cisneros, who would be on duty until 1 a.m. They nodded at each other, and Diriba went back upstairs to his spot on the couch. He had been sharing its pullout bed with a teammate since August. At 2 a.m., Staab turned off the music, and the teammates wandered to the subway, heading back to far-flung corners of Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx. For many, there would be work in the morning.

Running
West Side Runners
NYC Marathon
Immigration


Arizona Governor Vetoes Bill to Shield Police Names

Abstract: PHOENIX — With just hours left before a midnight deadline, Gov. Doug Ducey of Arizona vetoed legislation on Monday that would have prevented law enforcement agencies from releasing the names of officers involved in serious or fatal shootings for 60 days. Proponents of the legislation argued that it allowed for a cooling-off period, easing tensions and helping reduce threats to officers. But the bill attracted the scrutiny of civil rights groups, news organizations in Arizona and even the chiefs of police departments in the state, who worried that shielding officers’ names would limit transparency, stoke distrust of law enforcement and limit the discretion of local officials. And on Monday, the governor said that he shared some of those concerns. “I know the goal of this legislation is to protect officers and their families, and it’s a goal I share,” Governor Ducey said in a letter explaining the veto. He added, “Unfortunately, I don’t believe this bill in its current form best achieves the objectives we share, and I worry it could result in unforeseen problems.” Supporters of the bill said they were motivated by shootings here, but the bill also tapped into broader anxieties that followed the events in Ferguson, Mo., where the officer who fatally shot an unarmed teenager fled his home. The effort has revealed a rift in law enforcement here, between the rank-and-file officers, whose professional organization was involved in drafting the legislation, and the high-ranking law enforcement officials. The Arizona Association of Chiefs of Police resisted the legislation because releasing officers’ names in such cases had been at their discretion and they did not want to lose that authority. “To add another law that’s going to add distrust or adversarial relationships is not the way to go,” Roberto Villaseñor, the president of the association and chief of the Tucson Police Department, said Monday. “Why do I cloak it in secrecy for 60 days, and now I’m going to have this story run twice? Sixty days later, we’re going to rehash it again.” Other critics include The Arizona Republic, the state’s largest newspaper, and the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona, which both sent letters to the governor asking for him to veto the measure. “Police officers have extraordinary authority — to investigate us, detain us, and search or arrest us,” the A.C.L.U. wrote in its letter, which was signed by several civil rights activists and groups, adding, “When agencies and officers use these powers, the public must be informed. These powers are much more likely to be abused when their use is concealed from the community.” Levi Bolton Jr., executive director of the Arizona Police Association, said that he met briefly with the governor on Monday morning to outline his case for the bill, during which he said the governor did not show how he was leaning. “It was perhaps the best poker face I’d seen,” he said. “I’m not only disappointed, I’m angry about it,” he said after the veto. He said he was getting messages from members of the association who were “livid.” “It is almost like folks were not really listening to anything we had to say from the start,” Mr. Bolton said. “This bill was not intended to be nefarious, or to deprive people of information. There’s no other benefit derived from this other than to protect the name of the officer. “ Under the bill, an officer’s name would be released if he or she was arrested or formally charged, or gave his or her consent. Proponents argued that the law would protect officers without compromising the public’s right to know the facts of a case, saying that information about the officer — even his or her disciplinary record — would be released. But critics said that statutes in Arizona prevent such records from being released until an officer’s appeals process has been exhausted. A state senator, Steve Smith, who sponsored the legislation, noted that the bill had bipartisan support. “I think it’s a good bill, and I think it would have protected our officers,” he said.

Police Brutality,Police Misconduct,Police Shootings


Everybody Wins in This Classic

Abstract: LOS ANGELES Bud Selig finally got the classic game he wanted. Endgame heroics by a familiar major leaguer gave Selig, the commissioner of Major League Baseball, his wish: a 5-3, 10-inning victory by Japan over South Korea in a World Baseball Classic final that lived up to its name. Big stage, record crowd, a centuries-old rivalry. “Take Red Sox - Yankees , Ohio State-Michigan, combine them, multiply that by five; that’s what this is,” said Jason Coskrey, an American-born baseball writer for The Japan Times. The 54,846 fans at Dodger Stadium in the middle of March on Monday night screamed at the top of their lungs, not for the Dodgers and the Giants but for Japan and South Korea. For those American fans who tuned in, the chants might have been unrecognizable, but the emotions were like any of those displayed at a Red Sox-Yankees game. There was deep history here. This is neither the time nor the place to review the geopolitics of Japan and South Korea. Let’s just say that in the course of a meandering history nearly as old as time, Japan and Korea have had their problems. “Korea wants to be better than Japan,” said Yun Suk Won, who covers sports for a Korean newspaper. “There’s just so much history there, especially for people of my parents’ generation. If there is a soccer game between Korea and Japan, the people will watch. If Japan and Korea play a baseball game, people watch. Boston-New York is about two teams in the same region. This is about two countries.”  The Classic’s championship game was a larger, more focused stage than the Olympics, where South Korea won the gold in baseball. Since Japan won the inaugural Classic, in 2006, passions have been stoked by comments, particularly from Ichiro Suzuki , the Seattle Mariners’ star outfielder, that may or may not have suffered in translation. In one case, he is supposed to have said that Japan wanted to beat South Korea so soundly that it would not want to play Japan for another 30 years. Officials amended the comment to mean that Japan wanted to be such a dominating force that no team would want to face them. Too late. Suzuki became the face of Japanese condescension toward Korean baseball and was frequently booed when the teams met. “Ichiro is in such a stratosphere of all baseball players that he may not realize how good Korea is,” said Yoshitaka Katori, a top reliever in Japan from 1979 to 1997 who has coached in both countries. Katori was the pitching coach for the Yomiuri Giants from 1998 to 2000 and for Japan’s 2006 Classic team. In 2001, he served as pitching coach for Samsung of the Korean professional league. To Katori, the bigger picture may be how the baseball relationship between Japan and South Korea has strengthened the sport in the region. “The rivalry between Korea and Japan is important and has really improved the level of Asian baseball in the world,” he said Monday.  The championship game was not about one team measuring up or one team lording over another, but about two quality world-class teams competing at a level we would normally not see until October. Japan led, 3-2, heading into the ninth inning. Though trailing by only a run, some Korean fans had already deflated their ThunderStix and called it a good run. Japan’s 22-year-old pitching sensation, Yu Darvish, was on the mound to close out the game. Darvish struck out the first batter swinging and seemed to confirm the end was near. But then he lost control and issued consecutive walks. The announcer dramatically announced each South Korean batter as if he were a barker at a carnival. The largely pro-Korean crowd responded each time with a roar of encouragement. Another strikeout. But with the nation down to its final out, Bum Ho Lee singled through a hole at shortstop. The tying run scored and Dodger Stadium erupted. This game deserved another inning. In the 10th, with runners on second and third, Suzuki singled in Japan’s fourth and fifth runs. That effectively was the game. Darvish mowed down South Korea in order in the bottom of the inning. This game was as close to an everybody-wins situation as anyone could hope for: Japan successfully defended its Classic championship, and South Korea won enduring respect for its caliber of baseball. “This time around, many South Koreans thought that they would be a success even if they made it to the semifinals,” Yun Suk Won said. “There are not a lot of major leaguers on the team: only one current major leaguer and an ex-major leaguer,” he added. “They didn’t expect this team to do that well. They exceeded expectations.” And the commissioner? He got the great game he was praying for.

Baseball
World Baseball Classic
Boston Red Sox
New York Yankees
Selig Bud
Suzuki Ichiro
Los Angeles (Calif)