Europeans Like Obama but Fret Over Some Policies

Abstract: BERLIN — President Barack Obama ’s popularity remains high among Europeans, but there are growing doubts about his handling of some foreign policy issues, particularly Iran and Afghanistan, according to the annual Transatlantic Trends Survey published Wednesday. Although there was a slight decline in Mr. Obama’s approval rating, down from 83 percent in 2009 to 78 percent this year, over half of the Europeans polled said they supported the United States’ exerting strong leadership in world affairs. This is in sharp contrast to the ratings of Mr. Obama’s predecessor, George W. Bush, who consistently received poor scores from Europeans. The latest survey, published by the German Marshall Fund of the United States and Compagnia di San Paolo, an Italian foundation, was conducted in June in 11 European Union countries — Britain, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia and Spain — as well as in Turkey and the United States. The survey, a random telephone sampling of 1,000 men and women, 18 years and older, in each country, had a sampling error margin of plus or minus three percentage points. The major topics included attitudes toward the euro crisis, China, Turkey’s foreign policy shift toward its neighbors and Poland’s waning Atlanticism. With few exceptions, respondents in Europe said the euro has been bad for their economy. The only countries that had majorities supporting the euro were the Netherlands (52 percent) and Slovakia (64 percent). A plurality (46 percent) said it was the responsibility of each country’s government to deal with the economic crisis, while 39 percent said Brussels should be primarily responsible for handling it. But most E.U. respondents (63 percent) agreed that being a member of the E.U., the world’s biggest economy, was a good thing. Surprisingly, Germany was the only country in which a majority of participants (54 percent) said the European Union should have primary responsibility for economic decision-making, a view not shared by Chancellor Angela Merkel’s coalition government. On two foreign policy issues, Afghanistan and Iran , the Europeans and Americans were at odds. A slim majority of U.S. respondents, (51 percent, down five percentage points from 2009) felt optimistic about stabilizing Afghanistan, compared to a quarter of Europeans. A majority of European respondents said their countries should reduce or withdraw all troops, while a majority of Americans supported maintaining or increasing a military presence. As for Iran, a big majority of Americans and Europeans said they were concerned about Iran’s nuclear arms ambitions but differed on how to curb them. A majority of Europeans prefer economic incentives, while a majority of U.S. respondents support economic sanctions. Another divergence was over the growing role of China, with half of Americans believing that the United States had enough common values with China to cooperate on international problems. Almost two-thirds of European respondents said the values were so different that cooperating on international issues was impossible.

Iran
Afghanistan
European Union
Obama Barack
Euro (Currency)
Surveys and Series
Embargoes and Economic Sanctions


Traffic-Free Plaza Roils Little India in Queens

Abstract: The new pedestrian plaza on 37th Road in Jackson Heights, in the heart of Little India , is an oasis of calm, a much-needed stretch of open space in a traffic-glutted area of Queens. Or, it is a glaring example of disastrous city planning, a blighted, unlovely esplanade that has all but decimated commerce in the neighborhood. It depends on whom you ask. Last September, in efforts to create more open space and decongest nearby Roosevelt Avenue, the city repurposed one block of the road — much as the Bloomberg administration has reinvented chunks of Times Square — to be a haven for pedestrians. But the plaza bears little resemblance to Times Square, just six miles away. A half-dozen traffic-blocking boulders and rickety picnic tables seem to be the sum total of the alterations to the streetscape to date, but business owners say it has been enough to turn a once-bustling block into a barren one. In the coming days, the plaza will be tweaked: parking spots will be added and a tributary road rerouted, among other things. But still the community remains divided between merchants and residents, who see the plaza, between 73rd and 74th Streets, as a boon for a park-starved populace. “This is a business place, this is not Times Square where people come from all of the world and sit there,” said Javed Chaudhry, who sells phone cards and accessories at GRB Distributors. He recalled feeling a mounting dread as the boulders rolled in. “I knew I was going to lose my bread and butter,” he said. Without car traffic or the Q47 and Q49 buses that used to stop on the block, many merchants claim business has fallen by at least half. Park advocates say the recession is more to blame. But even during the economy’s darkest days, says Raj Bhalla, who sells cellphones, Jackson Heights was largely spared, because of the bustling business of East Asian people drawn here for products from their homelands. Councilman Daniel Dromm, a Democrat who had pushed for the plaza, said he believed the business owners were overstating the impact, and he challenged the merchants to turn over their books and prove their losses. No one has done so. Even if the business community were to prove its claim, Mr. Dromm said, the plaza would most likely stay. The plaza was created after an 18-month study of safety and congestion in Jackson Heights by the city’s Transportation Department, said Seth Solomonow, a department spokesman. No cost estimate is available, he said: the boulders, tables and paint were already on hand. It broke ground after unanimous resolutions by Community Boards 3 and 4. “They didn’t ask me anything; nobody knew,” said Abdul Karim, who manages the Jackson Heights Music Center on 37th Road. “They just came. They closed the street.” Mr. Dromm said that he tried to reach out to business owners but that he was dismissed. Nooruddin Dashti owns two jewelry shops on the road. Since the closing in September, he says, he was forced to reduce hours at his newest shop after firing all but one of his employees because he could no longer pay them. Little India’s customer base, the merchants argue, is not foot traffic. Destination shoppers come here for Nepalese, Indian and Bangladeshi goods. The closing ate up parking spots, merchants say, and made streets unnavigable. Some passers-by, however, enjoy it. “We like it, it’s nice, it’s kind of less crowded, otherwise you’d see a lot of vehicles coming from here, there, you never know,” said Karsang Dawa, who lives nearby in Woodside. “But it’s very dirty, that’s a problem.” Mr. Dashti says he has been fined by the Sanitation Department for picnickers’ litter. On a recent Thursday, piles of garbage spilled from trash bags on the tables and lumped in the street, next to boxes and a broken television. Cigarette butts eddied in the gutters. Workers from the Doe Fund now clean multiple times a day, says Mr. Dromm, who spent $42,500 from his discretionary fund on sanitation there. On a sunny morning in early March, the street was nearly empty. A few men slept at the blue picnic tables, more than one emitting a scent that made sharing a table impossible. The lounging men have become a fixture since the street closed, people who live nearby said. One man, who gave his name only as Derek, said he began hanging out on the block as soon as the street was closed. “Rather than be on an avenue that is all active and engines flowing here and going there,” said Derek, as he paced back and forth unsteadily, “it’s calm and tranquil.” Perhaps too calm and tranquil, says Mr. Chaudhry, the phone-card salesman. “Either this park is going to be here,” he says, “or we’re going to be here.”

Parking
Jackson Heights (NYC)
Pedestrian Malls


So Many Causes, So Little Time for the Hollywood Do-Gooder

Abstract: LAS VEGAS ON a clear October night along the Sin City strip, NBC Universal’s chairman, Bob Wright, gathered friends and supporters to raise $1 million for Autism Speaks, the charity he helped found with his wife, Suzanne. It was a high-profile event in the season of high-flying Hollywood giving. For Hollywood, October had already been a brutal month: on the 5th came the Millennium Ball to raise money for U.C.L.A. On the 8th, a doubleheader — dinner for the Rape Foundation and an event for the Special Olympics. The American Cinematheque had its blowout fund-raiser on Oct. 13, and three days later the Fulfillment Fund, which helps poor students finish their educations, held its shindig. The month was not half over yet. Hollywood dignitaries heading up the Autism Speaks benefit committee at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino here included the DreamWorks co-founder Jeffrey Katzenberg and his wife, Marilyn; the movie stars Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas; and Yahoo’s chairman, Terry S. Semel, and his wife, Jane. But almost none of those luminaries actually attended — not even NBC Universal Television Group’s chief executive, Jeff Zucker, and Mr. Wright is his boss. They skipped the stand-up stylings of the NBC star Jay Leno and the emcee gravitas of the former NBC news anchor Tom Brokaw for writing a check. “It’s really hard to decide where to go,” said Ron Meyer, the president of Universal Studios, who came from Los Angeles with his wife, Kelly, but was sympathetic to his colleagues who did not attend. “Most of us get three to four legitimate invitations a week, and it’s impossible to be physically at all of them.” Mr. Meyer said that he came because he was moved by the Wrights’ commitment to their cause; the power couple started the group after learning that their grandchild was autistic. But even Mr. Meyer has had to make choices. His studio gave up its annual sponsorship of TreePeople, a Los Angeles organization that plants trees around the city. Nonprofit activists know why. “For a lot of people, there’s philanthropic burnout,” said Andy Lipkis, the founder of TreePeople, speaking to a reporter at his annual fund-raiser at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, the night after the autism event. Waiters circulated with trays of white wine around a “green carpet,” and an auction table included vintage T-shirts and a guided tour of the Griffith Park Observatory. “It’s always a challenge,” Mr. Lipkis continued. “People are feeling pulled on.” Hollywood has always had seasons of overbooked charity dinners, but as the merry-go-round spins from September to the end of this year, bone-weary fatigue has set in early. Another evening, another honoree. Another tux. Another sea bass with lemon grass. One worthy cause nudges another aside. And in the small circle of solicitors and givers, there is a desire to find a different approach. As one studio mogul put it: “I tell them: ‘I’ll write a check, but I’m not coming.’ ” Actor-activists, asked constantly to come to public events, also acknowledged that they had scaled back their appearances. “I’ve had to let go a lot of efforts that I certainly believe in, like the Environmental Media Group,” said Peter Horton, the producer and “Thirtysomething” actor who was being honored at the TreePeople event. “I just really felt I wanted to focus my efforts on a direct approach.” In a world where Bill Gates and Warren Buffett are changing philanthropy with megagifts and superambitious goals, it is only natural that Hollywood power players are starting to squirm in their swagged chairs, prisoners of the charity ball-and-chain. “The good news about the banquet circuit is that some hundreds of millions are raised for worthy causes each year,” wrote the Variety editor Peter Bart in a column calling for an end to it all — the dinners, trumped-up humanitarian awards, endless speeches. “The bad news is that it’s unrelenting, ferociously competitive and intensely political.” Some say that the current model is on its way to oblivion, like 2-D animation and dial-up Internet service. Many others have appealed for temporary relief. “Once a year it would be great if Hollywood had one big megabanquet in which everyone could pick a special cause rather than the disease du jour,” Mr. Bart wrote half-jokingly. The problem is, “one rubber chicken dinner leads to more rubber chicken dinners, and the recycling of money,” said Bobby Shriver, a former music producer who now spends most of his time on charity work with his globe-hopping rock-star friend Bono. “The relationship is: I ask you for $100, and in six months you ask me for $100. The leverage in there is very, very small. You work very, very hard for that $300,000.” Which is pretty much the amount that Mr. Lipkis hoped to make after his Beverly Wilshire evening, with a major chunk deducted for expenses. (The parade of charity events also persists because it supports the local hotel and catering economy.) Mr. Shriver thinks that the ambitious goals of people like Mr. Gates, who is trying to eradicate certain illnesses, are trickling down. “The thing Gates may have done is make hard issues seem cool,” he said. “ ‘Build a concert hall? No, I’m going to do river blindness.’ People go: ‘Let’s look into that. Maybe I’ll do waterborne diphtheria.’ ” There is also movement the other way: adopting microcauses. At the United Talent Agency in Hollywood, for example, agents leapt at the chance to participate in an alternative to the banquet circuit. Last year, they began mentoring students from University High School in West Los Angeles, teaching teenagers there interviewing skills and financing school projects that were proposed by the students. An agency client, the actor Owen Wilson, was principal for a day, and the school is being used as a location in a film starring Mr. Wilson, which led to a school face-lift paid for by the movie production. “Writing a check and showing up to a dinner is a very honorable thing, but it’s not the way agents really want to be involved,” said Chris Day, a spokesman for the United Talent Agency. “We knew if we set up a roll-up-your-sleeves program, they would jump in.” Still, however fatigued Hollywood insiders may be, many say they have few options. Meanwhile, there will be more hors d’oeuvres where the last tray came from. “There’s a lot of pain in this world, and people need a lot of help,” said Mr. Lipkis, who started his group as a teenager in his parent’s home. “The need is very much there.”

Autism
Philanthropy
Actors and Actresses
National Broadcasting Co


Heart of U.S. Occupation Reverts to Iraqi Control

Abstract: BAGHDAD — The Green Zone, for nearly six years the headquarters of the American occupation of Iraq , passed from American to Iraqi control on Thursday, in a handover that was marked by two ceremonies of speeches, poems and music on a blustery cold day in Baghdad. The Iraqi flag was raised during a small ceremony at what had been the Republican Palace of Saddam Hussein attended by Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki. In a speech broadcast on state television, Mr. Maliki said that the handover had a special meaning for Iraqis. “It means we have gotten rid of the most dangerous remains of the policies that the former regime adopted,” he said. Later, on a street elsewhere in the 5.6-square-mile Green Zone, a second ceremony was attended by senior Iraqi security officials, including the defense minister, and senior American Army officers, including Lt. Gen, Lloyd J. Austin III, the second-highest ranking United States commander in Iraq. At that ceremony, there were speeches about Iraq’s readiness to take over responsibility of the Green Zone, children sang songs and a poem was read about Iraqi unity. An Iraqi marching band — with bagpipes — played the country’s national anthem. Control of the Green Zone reverted to Iraqi control as part of the recent security agreement with the United States. From Thursday, the Iraqis will decide, with input from the Americans, who gets which buildings, what parts should be opened up to the rest of Baghdad and who can go in and out. Americans will even begin paying rent. Several committees have been set up, consisting of both Iraqi and American officials, to study and administer these matters, though it appears that little will be done immediately. Because of the immense strides in security, the reality outside — in the Red Zone, or, as soldiers call it, “on the economy”— is inching toward equilibrium with the reality inside, but it is not quite there yet. So while Iraqi soldiers now stand at checkpoints, Americans are still watching from nearby, and intelligence about a possible terrorist attack has made the checkpoints more stringent than usual this week, an Iraqi military spokesman said. Plans to shrink the zone or open major thoroughfares, which could go a long way toward reducing Baghdad’s strangling traffic, are promised but could be months away. Americans have been moving out of buildings since 2006, though it has not been decided in many cases who is taking their place. No real estate transfer is as significant as that involving the Republican Palace, Saddam Hussein’s lavish showpiece, captured and occupied in April 2003 by American troops. It was home to the Coalition Provisional Authority and, later, the American Embassy. The American diplomats have moved into the enormous yet austere new embassy nearby, but the decision on who gets the valuable palace is still under discussion. It will probably be Mr. Maliki, said several Iraqi officials. Or President Jalal Talabani, said several others. Or both. Neither occupant — one a Shiite, the other a Kurd, both involved in armed resistance against the Hussein government — would be an agreeable sight for the man depicted on the huge portrait in relief that still remains, covered by a tarp, in the lobby of the palace. This portrait of Mr. Hussein as master architect is not the only reminder of his rule that has lingered in the nerve center of the new government. The country’s most famous monument, though now inaccessible to most Iraqis, still dominates the Green Zone’s skyline: the towering arches of crossed swords held aloft by forearms sculptured to resemble Mr. Hussein’s own. Much less noticed is the tomb of Michel Aflaq, the founder of Mr. Hussein’s Baath Party, which for a while was used by American troops as a gym and barracks. Despite the Green Zone’s symbolic association with the American occupation, life inside the bubble is far from homogeneous. There are the American military and State Department minizones, where joggers, golf carts and duck-and-cover bunkers proliferate and parties take place, though with less abandon than in the early years. But there are also Iraqi high schools, an often startling firing range and a chaotic Iraqi taxi lot. Alongside the Tigris lies Little Venice, a well-tended neighborhood of minicanals where senior Iraqi government officials live in residences once occupied by Mr. Hussein’s closest aides. Other officials have made their homes in the rooms of the Hotel Rasheed, or in Green Zone neighborhoods where driveways are guarded by dark sport utility vehicles and civilian Humvees. Many of the officials have complained that while they can come and go, relatives and guests cannot visit them without the same body searches and metal detectors awaiting every non-V.I.P. But that very complaint worries many of the other Iraqis who live and work in the Green Zone. Some were already living in the area when their homes became engulfed by the zone; others moved in after 2003 as poor squatters or high officials; still others lived in violent neighborhoods in Baghdad and lined up for work every morning at the frequently bombed checkpoints. Despite repeated mortar and rocket attacks, the Green Zone has been a sanctuary for these Iraqis, who number in the thousands. Hearing from relatives during the worst years about life in Baghdad — bloody and increasingly Islamist — was like hearing news from another planet. “It feels like Kurdistan,” said Nabez Jamal Shahrazurri, 35, a Kurd who works for the Presidency Council. With the transfer of control, he is doubtful it will stay that way. The impersonal efficiency of the American checkpoints, which has angered countless Iraqis, is, in Mr. Shahrazurri’s view, the chief reason that security has been so well maintained. “The American forces only deal with badges,” he said. “They have no friends. The Iraqis have friends.” Iraqis in the zone tend to view Americans more positively than their counterparts who live or work outside it, but many have kept their association a secret for years, as a matter of survival. In interviews, they expressed a deep fear that the transfer of the Green Zone would leave them in danger. Some families are so terrified they are considering moving elsewhere, said Adeer Kadim, 20, a taxi driver who has lived in the zone since 2003. Others say they are worried that they will be forced out. But the Iraqi government has been pushing for this day, and it seems natural that a security agreement that gives Iraq control of its radio frequencies and airspace would also include the seat of its government. “Even if the Iraqi side is not as professional as the Americans, I still believe that it’s better to be transferred,” said Nawal al-Samarrai, the Iraqi minister for women’s affairs and the sole cabinet member to vote against the agreement. “They are Iraqis, and this is their home,” she said. “They are not foreigners, not occupiers.”

Iraq
Iraq War (2003- )
United States Armament and Defense
Baghdad (Iraq)


At Charity Auctions, Doing Good While Doing Well

Abstract: DAVID REDDEN, a vice chairman at Sotheby's, remembers that uncomfortable moment at a charity auction when one item just wasn't getting many bids. Donated at the last minute, it was described essentially as "a week in somebody's house on Martha's Vineyard." Mr. Redden warned the crowd at Manitoga/The Russel Wright Design Center in Garrison, N.Y., that if nobody was going to snap it up, he would. A few months later, Mr. Redden arrived at the property he had paid $2,000 to rent and found an eight-bedroom waterfront home. It was a bargain in that resort area. "This wasn't the kind of place you would have been able to get" at that price on the rental market, he said. For one thing, he added, "it came with all sorts of boats." Going, going, gone -- for a song? Charities are increasingly turning to black-tie benefit auctions, using donated items, as the fund-raising tool of choice to attract a generation that has learned to bid on eBay. But as benefit auctions proliferate, and their offerings turn more elaborate to entice buyers, more bidders are getting a shot at luxury at bargain prices. Many of the country's most prominent annual charity auctions are scheduled in the coming weeks. So some bidders will have their paddles in the air and their eyes on the bottom line. No organization tracks the number of charity auctions nationwide, but live auction sales over all climbed to $240 billion in the United States last year, up 11 percent from 2004, according to the National Auctioneers Association in Overland Park, Kan. Benefit Auction Specialists, a company in Manassas, Va., that conducts charity sales across the country for schools, medical charities and other groups, said business was up about 40 percent from three years ago, with its average total per sale nearing $200,000. Late last month, the Naples Winter Wine Festival auction in Florida reaped $12.2 million. And the celebrity-packed Robin Hood Foundation auction and dinner in New York City last year raised $32 million. For all the glitz and glamour, there is a science and even a formula to charity auctions, according to organizers, auctioneers and veteran bidders. The same types of offerings generally soar: the private dinner prepared by a superstar chef (usually someone like Eric Ripert or Daniel Boulud), the coveted bottle of Champagne or -- that blockbuster of school auctions -- the chance for a child to be principal for a day. But most items, like a trip to a popular resort, end up selling for about 15 percent off their retail price or fair market value, said Fred Reger, a founder of Benefit Auction Specialists. And in silent auctions, in which bidders place bids on sign-up sheets, the deals can be greater, with luxury listings like Coach bags or skybox sports tickets selling for as much as 35 percent off. A quick look at an event's format can also provide clues to the likelihood of bargains. People seated at dinner tables for an auction almost always bid more aggressively than those sitting in rows, explained Richard Brierley, a Christie's auctioneer and wine specialist. That results not only from the availability of liquor, he said, but also from the peer pressure from tablemates. At an auction in Coral Gables, Fla., in 2004, Nick D'Annunzio's cue to start bidding came when he saw Madonna memorabilia that was failing to sell. He said the crowd, scattered across the lawn of a private home, simply wasn't paying attention to the sale, a benefit for the Bay Point Schools. So Mr. D'Annunzio, a veteran of about two dozen charity auctions, drew near the podium, hovered in view of the auctioneer and won a 12-day Celebrity cruise to the Mediterranean valued at just under $10,000, paying about half that. "Concierge level, with a balcony," said Mr. D'Annunzio, who is co-owner of a public relations company focusing on fashion and travel. "I got a deal." Sometimes, bargain hunting at auctions can turn belligerent. At the Winter Antiques Show's silent auction in Manhattan four years ago, "there was a scuffle" between two women bidding on an item of clothing and a man trying to buy it for his wife, said Steve Ketchum, a managing director at Banc of America Securities. The women "were physically trying to block him from raising the bid," said Mr. Ketchum, who serves on the board of the East Side Settlement House, the charity that benefits from the silent auction. Mr. Ketchum intervened, and the women stormed out of the Seventh Regiment Armory's Tiffany Room, he said. Low bids aren't always unwelcome, Mr. Ketchum added. "It's O.K. to bid 30 cents on the dollar for something that's unloved -- that, for whatever reason, isn't selling anyway," he said. But, he added, "people lose sight of the fact that this isn't about the object they covet." Some people are opposed to bargain hunting at charity auctions. Isabelle Geday, a New Yorker who bids thousands of dollars annually at the auction for the Lycée Français de New York, where her daughters are enrolled, said she would rarely consider buying something for less than its appraised value and wouldn't like to be seen doing it. "No, no, no," she said. "Why would you do that?" Auction bargain hunting can have drawbacks when it comes to tax breaks. By law, said Marc Albaum, a New York tax accountant, bidders can take a charitable deduction only for the amount they pay that exceeds an item's fair market value. In light of that, overpaying for some of the pricey experiences -- like $30,000 for a round of golf with Tiger Woods -- can actually be a good tax move for some donors, because the Internal Revenue Service values the item as a round of golf, period. Bargains aren't always just about price. Some charity art auctions give buyers the rare opportunity to get works by hot artists who have waiting lists of collectors. One tip when buying art at a charity auction: Check to see if it has been donated by an artist or by a dealer. Artists tend to donate high-quality works, but also tend to overstate their fair market value, Mr. Reger of Benefit Auction Specialists said. INDEED, a buyer should research the price of any big purchase at auction, since a donor may have a tax incentive to inflate value. "There is usually no one to judge the items coming in for sale, so the items can be good, bad or indifferent," warned Helaine Fendelman, a past president of the Appraisers Association of America and author of several price guides for furniture, silver and folk art. The pros advise bargain hunters to look for larger sales (20 or more items), where interest may flag; for single-theme food or travel auctions with many similar items or for auctions offering trips that have stiff restrictions on when they can be taken, reducing the number of potential bidders. Items at private secondary school auctions, where parents do most of the bidding, don't tend to sell at low prices, but those for churches and colleges often do, auctioneers say. And best of all -- at least from the perspective of bargain hunters -- are auctions that are scheduled to start only after a series of speeches, or after a dinner, when people start streaming out. "When I see that, my heart sinks," Mr. Redden said, adding that there are deals for bidders who stay. For some buyers, the biggest discounts may come in the days after the auction. As many as 10 percent of the buyers at any sale wind up not paying, organizers say. So an item may become available again, this time at a bargain price. The problem of nonpayment arises often enough that the South Beach Wine & Food Festival, which conducts fund-raising auctions every February to finance student scholarships, now requires credit card registration for its live bid auction and even for its silent auction, for less costly items. Organizers of such events, where wine is on hand, say bidders may become overenthusiastic. "Once in a while, believe it or not, we have to chase people down" who fail to honor their bids, said Lee Schrager, the director of the South Beach festival. "And it's for charity."

AUCTIONS
BENEFIT AUCTION SPECIALISTS
NATIONAL AUCTIONEERS ASSN
PHILANTHROPY


Rauch, a Reliever, Signs With Toronto

Abstract: Reliever Jon Rauch and the Toronto Blue Jays agreed to a one-year contract worth a guaranteed $3.75 million. A 32-year-old right-hander, Rauch was 3-1 with a 3.12 earned run average and a career-high 21 saves in 25 chances for the Minnesota Twins last season. ¶Joey Votto, the National League most valuable player, signed a three-year, $38 million deal that allows the Cincinnati Reds to avoid arbitration. Votto, 27, was eligible for arbitration for the first time and would have received a huge increase over the $525,000 he made last season, when he led the Reds to their first playoff appearance in 15 years. reds (AP) ¶The Colorado Rockies agreed to a minor league contract with Jason Giambi. Giambi, 40, hit .244 with 6 home runs and 35 R.B.I. in 176 at-bats last season for the Rockies. rockies (AP)

Toronto Blue Jays
Baseball
Draft and Recruitment (Sports)
Rauch Jon


Star Horse From Europe Is Euthanized After Classic

Abstract: OCEANPORT, N.J., Oct. 27 — George Washington, considered one of the top horses in Europe, sustained a fractured right front leg during the running of the Breeders’ Cup Classic on Saturday and had to be euthanized. Trained by Aidan O’Brien, George Washington was bred by Roy and Gretchen Jackson, also the breeders and owners of Barbaro , who was euthanized earlier this year after sustaining injuries in the 2006 Preakness Stakes. According to Dr. Wayne McIlwraith, the on-call veterinarian for the American Association of Equine Practitioners, George Washington, a 4-year-old colt, fractured a cannon bone and both sesamoids in the leg. “It was a hopeless injury so far as repairing it goes,” McIlwraith said. McIlwraith said the decision was made quickly. “Aidan O’Brien was on the racetrack with the horse right after it happened, and he requested euthanasia,” he said. George Washington, who was based in Ireland, made his debut in the United States in last year’s Classic, finishing sixth. He was then retired to stud but turned out to be sterile and was returned to training. He failed to win this year in four starts. He never appeared to be comfortable Saturday on a sloppy track. He was in midpack down the backstretch and started to drop back entering the far turn. He was eased about a sixteenth of a mile from the wire by jockey Mick Kinane. Despite the conditions, the first seven Breeders’ Cup races went off without any apparent problems. But McIlwraith did not discount the possibility that the sloppy conditions might have led to the injury because the horse could have been running on the base of the track. “Obviously, the base is not made for them to be running on directly,” he said. “The rest of the races went off well, but it’s always a concern.”

Breeders' Cup World Thoroughbred Championships


Supreme Court to Begin Weighing Gay Marriage Cases

Abstract: WASHINGTON — The victories for same-sex marriage on Tuesday, the first ones achieved at the ballot box rather than through courts or legislatures, are evidence of a remarkable shift in public opinion. They are also exceptionally timely data points for the Supreme Court . At their private conference scheduled for Nov. 20, the justices plan to consider some 10 requests that they address various aspects of what the Constitution has to say about same-sex marriage. It is close to certain that the court will agree to hear at least one case on the subject, with a decision expected by June. The justices tend to say they are not influenced by public opinion. But they do sometimes take account of state-by-state trends, and the latest developments will not escape their notice. On Tuesday, Maine and Maryland became the first states to embrace same-sex marriage through direct democracy, and Washington State seems poised to follow once all of the votes there are counted. Voters in Minnesota, which continues to bar same-sex marriage, rejected an attempt to withdraw the subject from democratic debate and judicial scrutiny through a state constitutional amendment. “I would guess that 50 years from now, the high school civics books will treat Nov. 6, 2012, as a red-letter day in the history of the gay rights movement,” said Michael J. Klarman , a law professor and historian at Harvard. Assuming Washington follows Maine and Maryland, he added, “The number of states with gay marriage increased by 50 percent overnight.” But it is not clear which side benefited more from those developments at the Supreme Court. Supporters of traditional marriage, even as they registered disappointment, said the results showed that the question could be resolved democratically. “It bolsters our case,” said Brian S. Brown , the president of the National Organization for Marriage. “It’s very difficult to say you need a federal resolution of this question if states are resolving it for themselves.” Adam Umhoefer , the executive director of the American Foundation for Equal Rights, the group behind a California case seeking to establish a constitutional right to same-sex marriage, expressed mixed feelings about the developments. They were, he said, the right outcomes in the wrong forums. “Fundamental constitutional rights like marriage,” he said, “should never be subjected to a popular vote.” Other advocates for same-sex marriage were making more subtle calculations. Social justice movements, said Evan Wolfson , the president of Freedom to Marry, must eventually give rise to a national resolution. The question, he said, is timing. “We now have irrefutable momentum,” he said. Beyond that, though, one important benchmark, the Supreme Court’s 1967 decision in Loving v. Virginia , provides mixed signals. The decision, which was unanimous, struck down bans on interracial marriage fairly late in the day, at a time when only 16 states still barred such unions. By that measure, Mr. Wolfson said, “even with our wins last night, we still have work to do.” On the other hand, he said, some 70 percent of Americans opposed interracial marriage in 1967, while recent polls show that a majority of Americans support same-sex marriage. The situation, then, he said, is at once more and less favorable than the one in 1967. Dale Carpenter , a law professor at the University of Minnesota who opposed the proposed constitutional amendment, said supporters of same-sex marriage had reason to be wary of a Supreme Court decision on whether the Constitution requires it. “This looks like increasing momentum for same-sex marriage,” he said of Tuesday’s developments, “but I’ve got to say it’s still 41 to 9. It’s been pretty rare for the court to take on 41 states.” At their private conference, the justices may agree to hear the California case, Hollingsworth v. Perry. But they need not decide it on broad grounds if they do. Indeed, the appeals court in the case gave the justices a legal road map for requiring same-sex marriage in California but not the rest of the nation. The Supreme Court could also sidestep or defer consideration of the case. But the justices will almost certainly agree to decide one or more cases about a narrower question: whether the federal Defense of Marriage Act is constitutional. Two federal appeals courts have struck down the part of the law that requires the federal government to deny benefits to same-sex couples married in states that allow such unions. The Supreme Court almost always reviews decisions in which lower courts invalidate federal laws. One aspect of Tuesday’s results may hurt the cause of same-sex marriage in the courts, which sometimes insist on more searching judicial scrutiny of the justifications for measures that discriminate against politically powerless minorities than of those for ordinary legislation. That was a theme, though a minor one, of the decision last month from the federal appeals court in New York striking down the federal marriage law. “Homosexuals are not in a position to adequately protect themselves from the discriminatory wishes of the majoritarian public,” Chief Judge Dennis Jacobs wrote for the majority of a divided three-judge panel. Justice Anthony M. Kennedy is thought to hold the crucial vote in gay rights cases, and he wrote the majority opinions in Lawrence v. Texas , a 2003 decision that struck down a Texas law making gay sex a crime, and in Romer v. Evans , a 1996 decision that struck down a Colorado constitutional amendment that banned the passage of laws protecting gay men and lesbians. Professor Klarman said that it “seems plausible” that support for same-sex marriage at the polls “would influence the view of a justice like Anthony Kennedy, who clearly is influenced by ‘evolving social mores’ in his constitutional interpretations.” As Justice Kennedy considers how to approach same-sex marriage, Mr. Wolfson said, he may have one eye on history. “Do you want to be Plessy or Brown?” Mr. Wolfson asked, referring to Plessy v. Ferguson , the 1896 decision that said “separate but equal” facilities were constitutional, and Brown v. Board of Education , the 1954 decision that said otherwise.

Same-Sex Marriage Civil Unions and Domestic Partnerships


Chocolate in Beta Testing, Offered by a Wired Founder

Abstract: SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 9 -- In a vast refurbished warehouse on one of this city’s historic pier, Louis Rossetto, the co-founder of Wired magazine, is at it again. Only this time, his project has nothing to do with media or high technology. It is hand-crafted chocolate. But Mr. Rossetto, 58, is applying the language of high-technology business to chocolate making. Mr. Rossetto and his business partner, Timothy Childs, explain that their company, Tcho, is still in start-up mode, its chocolate still in beta. Beginning today, Tcho’s dark chocolate will be available in 50-gram beta bars, representing Version .10. The $4 bars, made of Ghanaian beans and wrapped in brown paper, will be sold only locally at first, only to those who have signed up on the Tcho Web site, and only to those willing to go pick up the chocolate at Tcho headquarters. “A lot of people think companies like See’s and Godiva are chocolate makers,” said Mr. Childs. “But they’re not. They’re confectioners who take someone else’s chocolate and do something with it.” Others, said Mr. Childs, simply remelt other people’s chocolate and put their brand on it. Slightly less fresh-faced than he was in the early 1990s, but with no less fervor for his product, Mr. Rossetto likes to say that Tcho is “where Silicon Valley start-up meets San Francisco food culture.” The 15-person start-up, said Mr. Rossetto, combines many elements of classic Silicon Valley innovation: Tcho’s approach to working with farmers, the rethinking of the chocolate lexicon, and its approach to raising money. Mr. Childs, 43, a technologist who is a longtime friend of Mr. Rossetto’s, has been working with chocolate for the last five years. The two decided to go into business together two years ago when Mr. Childs called Mr. Rossetto to tell him he had found a chocolate factory for sale in an old castle in Wernigerode, in the former East Germany. Mr. Rossetto agreed on the spot to buy the equipment and to have it shipped to San Francisco, where it arrived still coated in chocolate. The machinery has been refurbished and is being updated with modern control systems and video cameras for monitoring. The rest of Tcho’s financing has come not from venture capitalists, but from a few dozen friends and family members. Mr. Rossetto said he began his involvement with Tcho as little more than an investor, and as he grew increasingly fascinated by the process of making and marketing fine chocolate, his role gradually expanded. Now he is chief executive officer. And not only is Mr. Childs the founder, but he is, appropriately, Tcho’s chief chocolate officer. Mr. Childs said that wherever possible, Tcho buys fair-trade organic beans. The company also hopes to move beyond prices to close engagement with the cacao producers, even sending them the finished chocolate. Many cacao farmers have never tasted finished chocolate from their beans, said Mr. Childs. Tcho is entering a competitive market. At least a dozen brands of artisan chocolate can be found at many grocery stores. For now, the beta phase at Tcho consists of small batches of handmade bars packaged in brown paper. But when the factory is up and running, early next year, mail-order distribution will be nationwide, through its Tcho.com Web site. By next summer, the partners will open a store in their 15,000-square foot converted warehouse on the San Francisco waterfront. Once Version 1.0 hits the market, packaging will be modern, said Mr. Rossetto, “reflective of what the founder of Wired might do if he was designing chocolate.”

Chocolate
Wired
Rossetto Louis
Silicon Valley (Calif)
Childs Timothy


Slow Stephen Curry Down? This Division III College Did

Abstract: HOUSTON — Stephen Curry was busy assembling another special performance for the Golden State Warriors on Saturday night when Adam Choice, an admissions official at Packer Collegiate Institute in Brooklyn, started exchanging text messages with Justin Sherman, one of his former college teammates. “I still can’t believe that Steph is this good,” Choice recalled writing. In leading the Warriors to a three-games-to-none lead over the Houston Rockets in the Western Conference finals, Curry has managed to ritualize the extraordinary, whether that means setting a record for 3-pointers in a postseason, scoring 40 points against the Rockets in Game 3 or outmaneuvering every defender who attempts to slow his march to history. A victory against the Rockets on Monday night at Toyota Center would secure the Warriors’ first trip to the N.B.A. finals since 1975. But for a small group of former players at Colby College, a Division III program in Waterville, Me., every feat by Curry presents another opportunity to reminisce about the time they held him in check — kind of, sort of — when he was a freshman at Davidson College. On Nov. 21, 2006, before a modest crowd at Davidson’s John M. Belk Arena, Curry shot 10 of 24 from the field against the Colby Mules. Sure, he finished with 29 points. And yes, Davidson eventually plowed its way to a 99-69 victory against an undersize opponent. But the experience alone was something for the players from Colby to savor — “I remember their next game after us was Duke,” said Drew Cohen, the team’s starting center — and its mystique has only grown as the years have passed. At the time, none of the players could have known that Curry would go on to become the N.B.A.’s most valuable player. “What this guy has become,” Cohen said, “is crazy.” Lightly recruited out of high school, Curry was still largely known for being the son of the former N.B.A. player Dell Curry. He was not particularly imposing, either, with a slight build and a six-foot frame. But Mark Gaudet, a guard for Colby, kept telling his teammates, “This kid is going to be good.” Dick Whitmore, who was then the coach at Colby, reinforced that message by showing his players film of Curry scoring 32 points in a 10-point loss to Michigan that month. Colby had opened its season against Babson College and Washington University, both fine programs. But Babson was not Michigan. Nick Farrell, a guard who would be tasked with defending Curry for much of the game, recalled watching the film and thinking, “If this guy is torching Michigan, what’s he going to do to us?” Still, for Division III players from Maine, an escape to North Carolina in late November to face a Division I opponent was a thrill — at least until their plane landed. “We get there, and it’s snowing,” said Artie Cutrone, a guard who was a sophomore at the time. Whitmore, meanwhile, was trying to figure out how to contend with Davidson’s size. Colby had an outstanding shot blocker in Cohen but was otherwise undermanned in the frontcourt. Whitmore decided that he would have his perimeter players collapse and at least make life more difficult for Davidson’s post players. If Davidson was going to beat Colby by launching jumpers from the outside, so be it. But Whitmore, who retired from Colby in 2011, felt it would be more effective than letting Davidson feast on layups. As for dealing with Curry? “He was a first-year guy,” Whitmore said, “so we said, ‘Well, we’ll let him shoot.’ ” In hindsight, it was an unconventional strategy. But for a while, it seemed to work. After falling behind early, Colby adapted to Davidson’s full-court pressure and mounted a small run late in the first half. Image Curry in 2008. Colby College, in Maine, once held him to 10 for 24 from the field. Credit Streeter Lecka/Getty Images “I think they came out not expecting us to put up a fight at all,” Farrell said. Bob McKillop, Davidson’s coach, called for a timeout with his team holding a slim lead. “It was one of those moments where it’s kind of why you coach,” Whitmore said, “because my guys get back in the huddle, and it’s like, my God, we’re closing in on a Division I team.” McKillop was so vocal during the timeout that players from Colby could hear him from their bench. His message? Colby might be Division III, but these guys can play. So wake up! “Bob got his guys going,” Whitmore said. “After that, the game became much more complicated for us.” As Curry warmed up, Davidson’s lead began to swell — from 10 to 20 to 30. Colby went to a 2-3 zone for long stretches, but nothing seemed to affect Curry. “I remember that his demeanor never changed,” Farrell said. “It didn’t matter how you were guarding him. Even if he was missing shots, he knew he was going to make some.” Curry wound up setting program records for 3-pointers made (nine) and attempted (20). It was not his most efficient effort, but he made such an impression on the players from Colby that several of them sent him friend requests on Facebook after the game. Curry accepted them all and even wished the players luck for the rest of their season. “He’s got a verified account and all that now,” Choice said, “but I know I’m still friends with him on Facebook.” Whitmore wrote in his postgame notes that Curry had the quickest release of any player he had ever coached against. “I mean, he was just amazing — even at that time,” Whitmore said. “Some guys catch and shoot. He was touch and shoot.” Many of the former players from that Colby team have kept in touch with one another — Cutrone said he was expecting nine of his teammates to attend his wedding this summer — and Curry is a consistent topic of conversation. When Curry scored 54 points at Madison Square Garden two seasons ago, Choice sent a message to several of his friends. “We must be better than the Knicks,” he wrote.

Stephen Curry
Golden State Warriors
Colby College
Davidson College
College basketball
Basketball
College Sports


GFI Group’s Board to Support BGC Partners Takeover Bid

Abstract: The board of the GFI Group, the New York brokerage and clearing house, threw its support on Friday behind a takeover bid by BGC Partners after shareholders rejected a tie-up with the CME Group last month. In a statement on Friday, BGC Partners said that GFI’s directors had agreed unanimously to support its offer to acquire all of the outstanding shares of GFI. BGC Partners, which started a hostile bid for the company last year, has offered $6.10 a share in cash, valuing the company at about $778 million. As part of the agreement, BGC will be allowed to chose six out of eight directors on GFI’s board. At least three of the directors will be independent directors chosen by BGC. BGC also extended the deadline, which had been Thursday, for GFI investors to tender their shares until Feb. 26. Investors agreed to sell 43.3 million of their shares to BGC through Thursday, BGC said. Together with 17.1 million shares held by BGC, that represents nearly 48 percent of GFI’s outstanding shares. “We are thrilled to welcome the world-class people from GFI into the BGC family,” Howard Lutnick, the BGC chairman and chief executive, said in a news release. “We have an extraordinary opportunity ahead to grow with BGC’s strong financial position coupled with both companies’ extraordinarily talented brokers and market leading technology.” The announcement is the latest turn in a saga that kicked off last fall when BGC Partners announced plans to start a competing bid for the company. GFI reached a merger agreement in July with the CME Group, which operates the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Chicago Board of Trade and the New York Mercantile Exchange. CME was forced to up its bid several times under pressure from BGC and shareholders eventually rejected the CME offer in January. Following the acquisition, GFI will operate as a division of BGC, reporting to Shaun D. Lynn, the BGC president. BGC and GFI will remain separately branded divisions in the company.

GFI Group
BGC Partners
CME Group
Mergers and Acquisitions


In Romania’s Top Hockey Team, Ethnic Hungarians Find a Strong Voice

Abstract: MIERCUREA CIUC, Romania — A city of 38,000 on a plateau in eastern Transylvania, Miercurea Ciuc is famous for three things: its status as one of Romania’s coldest places; its brewery, where the country’s Ciuc beer is produced; and its ice hockey team, which has won the last six Romanian league championships. But the name on the front of the team’s blue-and-white hockey jerseys is not Miercurea Ciuc. It is Szekelyfold, the Hungarian word for the Szekely Land, a former province of the Kingdom of Hungary. Printed on the ice at the Vakar Lajos rink is the Hungarian name of the team: Hoki Sport Club Csikszereda. The fans at the team’s home games chant the Szekely Land anthem in Hungarian. The Szekely Land, named for a warrior tribe that dates to the Middle Ages, is a Hungarian-dominated area of Romania, covering three counties in the center of the country. The roughly 1.2 million Hungarians represent Romania’s largest ethnic minority, about 6 percent of the country’s population. The fall of the Austro-Hungarian empire after World War I marooned millions of Hungarians in what is now Romania, Slovakia, Ukraine and Serbia. The Szekely found themselves cut off and subject to a policy of assimilation, including heavy restrictions on the use of their language, under the former communist leader Nicolae Ceausescu. But for the past two decades, the region’s ethnic Hungarians have been campaigning for greater autonomy, with Hoki Sport Club Csikszereda in the vanguard. Romania may be a soccer country, but in Csikszereda, ice hockey is the only game in town. The hockey club functions much like the storied Spanish soccer club Barcelona, which kept alive the flame of Catalan nationalism under the repressive rule of General Franco. “I can say that this sports club, this ice hockey team, represents the Szekely,” said Papp Elod, the club’s former president, who is now a local politician. “We like to say that ice hockey represents our history as all our ancestors were warriors, and ice hockey needs warriors. There are very few Romanians who play for our club.” Standing rinkside, Timo Lahtinen, the team’s 65-year-old Finnish coach, said, “Everyone in this town plays hockey and talks about hockey, this is the hockey center of Romania.” Lahtinen paused, then corrected himself, “Actually, Hungary.” The success of Csikszereda had caused a problem within Romanian ice hockey. The Romanian national team is almost entirely made up of ethnic Hungarians who play for Csikszereda. “The whole national team is only my players, and everyone speaks Hungarian,” Lahtinen said. This anomaly reached a critical point during a 2011 game between Romania and Hungary in Miercurea Ciuc. After the game, almost all of Romania’s players joined with their opponents to sing the Hungarian anthem. Image Outside the Vakar Lajos rink, where the Hungarian name of the team, Hoki Sport Club Csikszereda, is printed on the ice. Credit James Montague for The New York Times “Some of the paparazzi caught it, and it was a big scandal,” said Attila Goga, Csikszereda’s captain, who has played for the Romanian national team for a decade but holds dual Romanian-Hungarian citizenship. “It’s a little bit strange, but I can see that, too. They don’t understand our situation here.” There was only one anthem Goga was going to sing. “Everyone here is Hungarian,” he said. “I feel Hungarian. From a little child I spoke Hungarian. We learn Romanian, too, but Hungarian is my mother language.” The fall of communism gave some Hungarian minorities the chance to push for greater cultural and political freedoms after years of repression. A move by the Hungarian government in 2010 to grant joint citizenship to its former subjects across Eastern and Central Europe has emboldened old allegiances. Laszlo Tokes, a former vice president of the European Parliament and one of Romania’s most prominent Hungarian politicians, is campaigning for full Hungarian autonomy within Romania, centered on the Szekley Land, with sports playing an important part. “Our culture was oppressed,” Tokes said. “So it happened in sport. In Csikszereda that is why it is so important, the role of Hungarian sport life. Hockey sport because it is the people of Hungarian identity. Sport sometimes takes this function and role in a minority.” Tokes, now a bishop, was a hero of the 1989 revolution that overthrew Ceausescu. When Romania’s secret police attempted to arrest him, his congregation resisted, sparking nationwide protest that brought down the regime. Tokes called Romanians “very good friends,” but said they did not accept his people as Hungarian. “Sometimes we are called Romanians speaking Hungarian,” he said. “That is not true. We are full Hungarians in the original sense of the word.” He added: “Even if we lived on the moon, we would be Hungarian. Even if we are living in Transylvania, Romania, we consider ourselves Hungarians.” Hoki Sport Club Csikszereda has attracted local businessmen and politicians promoting the Szekely Land. Although its home rink was built in the 1970s, it is well maintained, with a hotel next door to accommodate traveling teams. Inside, the walls are covered with advertisements from local businesses in Hungarian; Ciuc beer is featured prominently. A trophy cabinet heaves with the club’s many honors. But in Bucharest, the Romanian capital, ice hockey has seen better days. The city’s main rink was partly flooded. On a recent day, a young girl practiced figure skating routines around patches of water pooled on the surface. Stray dogs stalked the perimeter. One stray managed to entangle itself in the hockey nets, until it chewed through the ropes to break free. “Miercurea Ciuc has a local political and social interest,” said Marius Gliga, the technical director of the Romanian Ice Hockey Federation. “It is a small town. If they want to be seen by the rest of the cities, they have to show something. And they choose sport. The political men in the area use this team to promote themselves.” Image Csikszereda’s captain, Attila Goga, who has also played for the national team, shaking hands after a loss in the Romanian Cup final. Credit James Montague for The New York Times Before the revolution, Bucharest was the power center of Romanian ice hockey. Romania’s golden age was in the 1970s and ’80s, when it qualified for the 1976 and 1980 Olympics. Back then, Steaua Bucharest, the team of the army, was the dominant squad. “They used to take from the best players and allowed them to practice rather than have military service, which was good for the players,” said Gliga, who played center for Steaua his entire career. “They had two years of practice, which was very good for them at 18 to 20. That was good for the national team.” But the abolition of national service, the supremacy of soccer in Bucharest and the influx of money into Csikszereda from businessmen and politicians eager to further the Szekely Land’s cause switched the balance of power. Now Steaua is a shadow of its former self, and Bucharest provided little more than the office for the federation and the officials for most matches, including the Romanian Cup final in late December between Csikszereda and Corona Brasov, a team that also hails from Transylvania but whose fans chant in Romanian. Csikszereda went ahead, 2-0, by the end of the second period, and it appeared that another piece of silverware was about to be added to its trophy cabinet. The Szekely flag was flying when the third period began, but it did not herald the coronation the home supporters had expected. Brasov stormed back, scoring three times in five minutes. When Csikszereda had a player sent to the penalty box with two minutes left, the match was effectively over. Brasov was crowned champion, the players celebrating wildly in front of their traveling fans. This time the Csikszereda fans chanted in Romanian, the language of the officials who had crammed into two cars and driven five hours from Bucharest to get there. “Thieves!” they shouted at the referees. “Peasants!” they chanted. “We’re Hungarian and the referees are always Romanian, so we always feel that Romanian referees aren’t fair when it comes to matches,” said Szikszai Laszlo, a 22-year-old fan of Csikszereda. As the Brasov team members passed the cup among themselves on the ice, Lahtinen stood on the sideline wondering how his team had lost the match. He said one of his players was suspended just a few minutes before the start of the match. “We were by far the best team and then I guess we got tired as they had more players,” he said. Csikszereda had lost the final, but the fans had still had the chance to see the club play for a seventh league championship in a row. The rink, and the team, remain a symbol of something bigger than ice hockey. “In the period of communism, local newspapers couldn’t write Csikszereda; you had to write Miercurea Ciuc,” Laszlo said. “Back then this place was a sanctuary. It was the only place where you could speak Hungarian freely. You can still feel that today to a certain level.”


In N.F.L. Opener, Steelers Win but Suffer a Big Hit

Abstract: PITTSBURGH — The bedrock upon which the Pittsburgh Steelers have always been built — and upon which their hopes for repeating as Super Bowl champions rest — is their suffocating defense, which confounds opponents with a beguiling mix of violence and deception. But on Thursday night, in the N.F.L.’s season opener, it fell to the Steelers’ offense — and to the sure-footed kicker Jeff Reed — to conjure a victory out of precious little production from a classic slugfest. When Hines Ward’s reliable hands failed them and the ground game disappeared, it was quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, running a no-huddle offense, who sparkled in overtime. Roethlisberger, known for his gut-churning late-game heroics, had led the drive that tied the score late in the fourth quarter with one Reed field goal. The Steelers had nearly averted overtime, but the Tennessee Titans stripped Ward when he was just 5 yards from the end zone and the potential winning touchdown with less than a minute remaining. But in the overtime huddle, Rothlisberger told the rookie receiver Mike Wallace to just keep running, and he did, clutching a 22-yard pass during the first drive of overtime to set up Reed’s 33-yard field goal. It gave the Steelers a 13-10 victory, their first of the season and their title defense. “I told the coaches I didn’t want to start this already, a fourth-quarter comeback,” said Roethlisberger, who completed 18 of 22 passes for 183 yards in the second half and overtime, channeling the poise he showed in leading the Steelers last season. Titans safety Michael Griffin, the man who had stripped Ward, threw his helmet in frustration, but the night produced plenty of angst for the Steelers, too. The defense, and the Steelers’ chance of being the first team to repeat since the New England Patriots won in 2003 and 2004, suffered a potentially crippling loss when Troy Polamalu, the whirling dervish safety, left the game with a left knee injury late in the first half and did not return to the sideline. Initial tests indicated a sprained medial collateral ligament, and Coach Mike Tomlin said the range for his return could be three to six weeks. But he stressed that the range was just speculation and he conceded that the damage might be worse. Polamalu’s knees have been vulnerable before. In 2006, he missed three games with a M.C.L. injury in his left knee, and in 2007, he missed four games with a posterior cruciate ligament injury in his right knee. Still, the Steelers, with their six Super Bowl championships, are a constant in an ever-changing N.F.L. The new season that kicked off here will be played against the backdrop of empty seats born of economic strife (although not in Pittsburgh, where the 65,110 people who packed Heinz Field set a new franchise attendance record for a regular-season game), labor tension between owners and players, Brett Favre wearing purple in Minnesota, Michael Vick trying to resurrect his career in Philadelphia, and 11 coaches in new jobs and several more worried about keeping theirs. The style the Steelers share with the Titans — they are built on long-term coaches and stalwart defenses — won’t make any offensive highlight videos. The slugfest that developed Thursday night was rife with mistakes and penalties, a typically sloppy season opener that the Steelers were fortunate to escape. “We talked about big men and blades of grass — winning the trench warfare, we didn’t do that,” Tomlin said. “I thought we had to take care of the football and win the turnover battle. We didn’t do that. We talked about out-hitting them. The jury is out on that. That last thing we talked about was not riding the emotional roller coaster and being prepared to play 60-plus minutes of football. We did that. We did a great job of it. Such is life in the N.F.L.” The Titans, the best American Football Conference team in the 2008 regular season, are facing a formidable challenge this season. They lost the dominating defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth to free agency and the Washington Redskins. But on Thursday night, at least, they showed little ill effect, getting pressure on Roethlisberger with their front four defensive linemen and annihilating the running game, which managed just 36 yards as the offensive line struggled to block. The Steelers’ offense had success only when Roethlisberger was in hurry-up mode. On the Steelers’ first scoring drive, Roethlisberger toyed with the defense with pump fakes and when receiver Santonio Holmes split two safeties on his way to the end zone, Roethlisberger hit him with a 34-yard touchdown pass that provided a nice symmetry to the evening: Holmes had scored the final points of the 2008 season with a leaping winning touchdown catch in the back corner of the end zone at the Super Bowl, and now he has scored the first points of the 2009 season, too. The rest of the season may not be so poetic for the Steelers, though, particularly if Polamalu’s absence is for an extended period. His play in the first half before his injury was electric. He made a brilliant leaping, one-handed interception that kept the Titans from getting inside the 5-yard line and had six tackles before he went out. Polamalu was hurt when Alge Crumpler, the mammoth Titans tight end, landed on him as the Steelers blocked a Titans field goal attempt late in the second quarter — the second Titans field goal to fail in the first half — and on the Titans next drive, his absence was obvious, with the Titans able to run and pass into wide-open spaces in the secondary on a touchdown drive. “The standard is the standard for the 11 men on the field for us,” Tomlin said. It just may not be the 11 they want.

Pittsburgh Steelers
Tennessee Titans
Football
Polamalu Troy
Wallace Mike
Roethlisberger Ben
Collins Kerry
Bironas Rob


Chávez Faces New Complications After Surgery

Abstract: CARACAS, Venezuela — President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela is facing “new complications” arising from a respiratory infection following cancer surgery in Cuba, Vice President Nicolás Maduro said in a televised statement on Sunday night. “Nineteen days after the complex surgery, President Chávez’s condition continues to be delicate, presenting complications that are being treated, in a process that is not without risks,” Mr. Maduro said, speaking from Havana, where he had flown a day earlier to visit the president, who is being treated in a hospital there. Looking grim, Mr. Maduro said that, after arriving in Havana, “we were told about new complications arising as a consequence of the respiratory infection.” Officials previously had said the infection was detected on Dec. 17, almost a week after the surgery. Mr. Maduro said that he had just come from a visit with Mr. Chávez. He also said that he spoke about national affairs with the president and that Mr. Chávez sent an end-of-the-year greeting to the families of Venezuela. Mr. Maduro, who has been designated by Mr. Chávez as the one to continue leading his Socialist revolution if he is too ill to govern, said that he planned to remain in Havana for “the coming hours” to monitor the president’s condition. Venezuela has been in deep uncertainty for weeks as a result of Mr. Chávez’s sickness and his extended absence. Mr. Chávez, who has been president for nearly 14 years, was re-elected in October , but officials have said that he may not be able to return to Venezuela for the start of his new six-year term on Jan. 10.

Venezuela
Chavez Hugo
Surgery and Surgeons


Hometown Salute for 3 Boyhood Friends Who Thwarted Train Attack in France

Abstract: SACRAMENTO — In bursts of fluttering ticker tape and amid peals of cheers on Friday, this city reclaimed the somber date of Sept. 11 as a day of celebration. Under the blazing California sun, an exuberant parade unfurled through the streets in honor of the three young natives who last month tackled a would-be terrorist on a speeding train in France, likely preventing untold casualties. The three men — Alek Skarlatos, 22; Anthony Sadler, 23; and Spencer Stone, 23, all boyhood friends — stood on a float labeled “Hometown Heroes” as it trundled down Capitol Mall. They doled out handshakes and high-fives and batted off flakes of ticker tape, looking slightly bewildered by all the attention. It had been less than a month since the trio’s European vacation, when they encountered the gunman, Ayoub El Kahzani, who was armed with a Kalashnikov assault rifle and packing a pistol and a box cutter on a high-speed train from Amsterdam to Paris on Aug. 21. Moments after Mr. Kahzani, 26, stood from his seat and fired into the train car, injuring a passenger, he was tackled — first by Mr. Stone — then subdued by the rest of the trio and another passenger. Their actions “sent a message,” said Sacramento’s mayor, Kevin Johnson, standing on the West Steps of the alabaster Capitol Building at a rally at the parade’s terminus. “It is said that good will always prevail over evil, that’s what it said,” he added. The three friends grew up in Sacramento County, and one of them, Mr. Sadler, is a senior at California State University, Sacramento. Mr. Stone is an airman in the United States Air Force, and Mr. Skarlatos is in the Oregon National Guard. “Today, every Sacramentan has their chest puffed out a little bit,” the mayor said. Image Thousands of Sacramento residents turned out. Credit Max Whittaker/Reuters Troops of cowgirls in red, white and blue-fringed chaps astride champing horses followed the young men down the parade route. Men in leather vests emblazoned with military emblems proclaiming their status as war veterans waved American flags at them, and a giant flag hung over 10th Street, suspended between two fire trucks with their ladders extended. At one point, the crowd’s collective gaze craned upward as a C-17 transport jet zipped over the parade route. As it reached the cupola of the Capitol Building, it performed a waggle, tipping from side to side in salute. Many of the spectators were in tears as the young men passed, to choruses of “thank you!” “It’s so beautiful when you have some boys — innocent like that — they can’t wrap their heads around what’s going on,” said Penny Bryant, 62, a member of the Shiloh Baptist Church, where Mr. Sadler’s father is the pastor. “It could have gone the other way, we could be going to a funeral,” she said. In the crowd, children in mismatched patriotic socks — one red-and-white striped, one blue with stars — waved and cheered. A 6-year-old Yorkshire terrier named Lexi pranced in a star-spangled tutu. “It’s absolutely unreal,” said Mr. Skarlatos, leaning off the float to answer questions as it chugged toward the Capitol. The three have been awarded France’s highest recognition, the Legion of Honor; appeared on late-night talk shows; and now starred in their own parade. How would Mr. Skarlatos go back to real life? “You’re guess is as good as mine,” he said with a shrug. “I have no idea!” At the parade’s end, the three were greeted by a gospel choir and enthusiastic screams from cheerleaders from their alma mater, Del Campo High School. As the riotous afternoon drew to a close, the mayor placed in each of their hands three keys to the city. The friends each thanked the crowd, ending with Mr. Sadler. He took to the podium, looked around with a grin at the hundreds before him waving tiny American flags, shook his head and seemed at a loss for words. “Thank God we could all make it back in time,” he said. Again, the crowd erupted in cheers.

France
Alek Skarlatos
Anthony Sadler
Spencer Stone
Awards
Sacramento CA
Terrorism


Randy Savage, 58, Pro Wrestling’s Macho Man, Dies

Abstract: Randy Savage, who with his trademark sunglasses, bandannas and raspy voice was one of the most recognizable professional wrestlers of the 1980s and ’90s as the character Macho Man, died on Friday in a one-car accident in Pinellas County, Fla. He was 58. His brother, Lanny Poffo, said that Savage was driving with his wife, Lynn, about 9:25 a.m. when he passed out at the wheel, drove over the median and hit a tree. His wife had minor injuries, the Florida Highway Patrol said. Savage, whose real name was Randy Poffo, would strut into the ring to his theme song “Pomp and Circumstance,” muscles gleaming and neon spandex shining, growling his signature expression, “Oooh, yeah!” before diving at his opponents, elbows first. Outside the ring, he would wear brightly colored cowboy hats and outfits dripping with fringe to appear as a spokesman for Slim Jim snacks (“Snap into a Slim Jim!” he would say. “Oooh, yeah!”) or as a guest on talk shows like Arsenio Hall’s, never breaking character. In a world in which enormous, half-naked men hurl their bodies at one another in front of thousands of people — complete with elaborate story lines, sequined costumes and theme music — Savage managed to stand out, perhaps because he spoke and dressed more loudly than most, or perhaps because he was equally successful playing a villain (known in the industry as a heel) and a good guy (a face). Colleagues who knew him at the height of his success, when he wrestled alongside Andre the Giant, Hulk Hogan and Ricky the Dragon Steamboat, said he had charisma and a knack for spontaneity. “The real gift of a good wrestler is improv, and your ability to read a crowd and know what to do instinctively; Randy was very good at that,” said the former pro wrestler Ted DiBiase, whose character, Million Dollar Man, had a much-publicized rivalry with Macho Man. “If you’re going to be very good in our industry, you have to be an athlete as well as an entertainer.” Randy Mario Poffo was born on Nov. 15, 1952, in Columbus, Ohio, into a family of wrestlers. His brother, Lanny , wrestled under the name the Genius, and his father, Angelo Poffo, wrestled as well. Before becoming a wrestler in the mid-1970s, Savage played minor league baseball for about four years in the St. Louis Cardinals and Cincinnati Reds organizations, mainly as an outfielder. Savage’s first wife, Elizabeth Hulette, was part of his act for many years as his manager, called Miss Elizabeth or the First Lady of Wrestling. The couple divorced, and in 2003, she died from a prescription drug overdose at 42. After his wrestling days, Savage found other avenues. He played the wrestler Bonesaw McGraw in the 2002 movie “Spider-Man,” appeared on situation comedies like “Mad About You,” and lent his scratchy baritone to video games and cartoons, including “Family Guy” and “King of the Hill.” Savage and his second wife, Lynn, were married last May after some 10 years together, Lanny Poffo said. Beside his wife and brother, Savage is survived by his mother, Judy, and his stepchildren, Devin and Noel. Twitter was abuzz on Friday with tributes to Savage and condolences for his family. Hogan, with whom Savage had a legendary rivalry in the ring, said they had just started speaking again after 10 years. “He had so much life in his eyes & in his spirit,” Hogan wrote. “I just pray that he’s happy and in a better place and we miss him.”

Wrestling
World Wrestling Entertainment Inc
Deaths (Obituaries)
Accidents and Safety


Hubble Up and Running, With a Picture to Prove It

Abstract: After an electrical malfunction caused it to go dormant a month ago, the Hubble Space Telescope is back in business. But the space shuttle mission to repair and upgrade the Hubble has been pushed back again, NASA officials said Thursday. To show this week that the orbiting eye still has the same chops as ever, astronomers from the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore used Hubble’s wide-field planetary camera 2 to record this image of a pair of smoke-rings galaxies known as Arp 147. The galaxies, about 450 million light-years away in the constellation Cetus, apparently collided in the recent cosmic past. According to Mario Livio, of the space telescope institute, one of the galaxies passed through the other, causing a circular wave, like a pebble tossed into a pond, that has now coalesced into a ring of new blue stars. The center of the impacted galaxy can be seen as a reddish blur along the bottom of a blue ring. Hubble went down at the end of September when a router that gathers and formats scientific data for transmission to the ground failed. There is a backup data channel on board, but it had not been used in the 18 years that Hubble has been aloft. Last weekend, Hubble’s engineers succeeded in waking it up. NASA hopes to replace the crippled router when astronauts visit the telescope for the last scheduled servicing mission. But in the announcement on Thursday, NASA officials said that a spare unit would not be ready for a hoped-for February launching, and that the mission would be pushed back to May.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration


Connecticut Allows Medical Marijuana, but Sellers Encounter Hurdles

Abstract: BRIDGEPORT, Conn. — This state’s law approving the sale of marijuana for medical purposes has been on the books for two years, but the drug is still not available. Among the challenges has been finding dispensing locations acceptable to Connecticut towns and cities. Fairfield and West Haven let applicants for licenses to operate dispensaries know they would not pass zoning muster; other municipalities, including Madison, New Canaan and Westport, have imposed moratoriums of as long as a year while their zoning rules are reviewed; and this month the Bridgeport zoning board turned down a licensee. The law, signed by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, a Democrat, in May 2012, requires that a pharmacist dispense the drug, and limits the list of qualifying ailments. Four manufacturers and six dispensaries have so far been licensed. Yet even with the restrictions, those who are trying to open the facilities are running into opposition from residents who are concerned that a dispensary nearby would reduce the stigma for children to try marijuana, invite black markets or lower property values. Twenty-one states and the District of Columbia have passed laws permitting medical marijuana. Only Connecticut mandates an on-site pharmacist. In the patchwork of marijuana laws emerging across the country, Connecticut is somewhere in the middle: not as adventurous as Colorado and Washington, which have decriminalized marijuana for recreational use for people over 21, or California, where residents can buy medical marijuana for common conditions such as sleeplessness, loss of appetite and anxiety. (Anyone from other states can too, using a hotel room as a residence.) There is no official count of marijuana dispensaries in California, but Los Angeles alone is believed to have over 500 . Critics say California’s porous rules, set forth in a 1996 law, have essentially legalized marijuana as a recreational drug. Image Ms. Fiorini has follicular lymphoma. Credit Christopher Capozziello for The New York Times Connecticut acted before neighboring New York, where Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, a Democrat and longtime opponent of legalizing medical marijuana, said in January that he would approve an experimental program allowing up to 20 hospitals to prescribe the drug. Proponents of medical marijuana have also faced a struggle in New Jersey. The state enacted its Compassionate Care Act in 2010, when Jon S. Corzine, a Democrat, was governor. It offers immunity from prosecution to people using marijuana for a range of ailments and makes a provision for six “alternative treatment centers” to dispense it. Three have opened. The current governor, Chris Christie, a Republican, is opposed to the law and has limited edible marijuana to sick children. The first Connecticut dispensaries are not scheduled to open until summer, but almost 2,000 patients certified by doctors as eligible to benefit from medical marijuana have registered with the State Department of Consumer Protection by supplying proof of identity and a photograph, and paying a $100 fee. Some, like Angela Fiorini, a former 911 police dispatcher who is undergoing chemotherapy for follicular lymphoma, are smoking marijuana they buy from street-corner dealers with immunity from prosecution because legislators felt it was cruel to make genuinely sick people wait for the dispensaries. Opponents have slowed the drug’s rollout. Last month, Bridgeport’s zoning board turned down a location in a former library building chosen by a licensed dispenser, D & B Wellness. It would have been the most convenient dispensary for Fairfield County, but neighbors objected to the site’s proximity to a low-income apartment house. Minnie Simmons, whose accounting office is near the proposed Bridgeport site, said she had worried that the presence of security guards and cameras would let people know that it was a marijuana dispensary and possibly encourage casual marijuana smokers to induce patients to sell them the drug, creating a black market. Children, she said, might also conclude that if some people can obtain marijuana legally, “it’s not such a bad thing.” “We’re not opposed to helping the people. We don’t like the location,” she said. “Would you want that next to an apartment building with children? And with a Walgreen’s you don’t know what I purchased. If I come out of a marijuana facility, you specifically know what my situation is.” Image Karen Barski, left, and Angela D'Amico have a dispensary license, but a proposed location was denied by a zoning board. Credit Christopher Capozziello for The New York Times D & B’s lawyer will appeal to the city and the courts, but the company has only until Saturday to show it has zoning approval. William M. Rubenstein, the state’s commissioner of consumer protection, said he would “not speculate about any course of action” after that. “Assuming the Bridgeport facility does not get its zoning approval, patients in Fairfield County will have to travel farther for their medicine,” he said. Angela D’Amico, a principal in D & B, said the board’s rejection reflected a lack of understanding about marijuana’s medical benefits. Calling it “miracle medicine,” she said that it helped her with her own arthritis and insomnia when she used the drug with a medical marijuana card she obtained legally in California, and that she wanted others to experience such relief. Connecticut’s law restricts marijuana to residents who are over 18 and have received a physician’s certification that they have one of the conditions that marijuana might soothe. The qualifying ailments include cancer, glaucoma, H.I.V. or AIDS, Parkinson’s, multiple sclerosis, spinal cord nerve damage, epilepsy, Crohn’s disease, cachexia and post-traumatic stress disorder. Mr. Rubenstein said that established pharmacies could theoretically qualify as dispensaries, but that given the opposition in federal laws to marijuana, they might not want to risk the federal registrations they need for selling controlled substances. He said he did not think a sometimes amorphous diagnosis like PTSD might open the door to widespread use, because every patient would need to have a doctor confirm “the benefits of using marijuana outweigh any detriments.” Stronger controlled substances are already legally prescribed for the disorder, he noted. Image This month, a Bridgeport zoning board turned down a dispensary location at this Main Street site for D & B Wellness, a licensed dispenser. Credit Christopher Capozziello for The New York Times The medical marijuana can be grown and produced as capsules, oils, pastries and patches, as well as the more common leaves and stems. Some forms have been shorn of the chemical — tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC — that creates the marijuana high. No more than 2.5 ounces can be dispensed within 30 days. The six dispensary licensees, chosen from among 27 applicants who paid $5,000 apiece, are dispersed around the state and are, in addition to Bridgeport, in Branford, Bristol, Hartford, South Windsor and Uncasville. Mr. Rubenstein said the selections were based on business experience, financial wherewithal and operational plans. All except the Bridgeport site have received zoning approvals. Patients with state marijuana cards can buy it on the street without fear of prosecution. Ms. Fiorini, 51, who is from Monroe, Conn., said that for eight months she had been buying the drug from dealers in Bridgeport for roughly $120 an ounce that she smoked or baked in brownies. Until she began using it, she said, prescribed pills had not alleviated the nausea she experiences from chemotherapy. “Within 10 minutes of smoking marijuana, every single symptom of chemo was completely gone,” she said. “I went from vomiting to eating a full meal.” Ms. Fiorini is ready to buy marijuana at a dispensary because it will be safer than buying from drug dealers. She has spoken at public meetings on behalf of Ms. D’Amico’s application. Ms. D’Amico, 56, a Brooklyn-raised woman who was a publisher of art prints for 28 years, began investigating marijuana because she had heard that it could slow the progress of Alzheimer’s, which had affected seven aunts and an uncle. Her business partner, Karen Barski, 42, a registered nurse, said she learned how marijuana calmed the tremors of Parkinson’s and reduced migraine pain. Nick Tamborrino, 37, a pharmacist for Yale New Haven Health System, applied to open a dispensary — Bluepoint Apothecary and Wellness — in Branford. Dispensing marijuana, he said, should be no different from dispensing other controlled substances that he furnishes as a pharmacist. He was able to win approval from the Branford zoning board for a rented storefront in an industrial area. “I didn’t want it on Main Street in the public eye,” Mr. Tamborrino said. “I wanted it at a discreet location.”

Connecticut
Medical Marijuana
Legislation


Inquiry Targeted 2,000 Foreign Muslims in 2004

Abstract: WASHINGTON — An operation in 2004 meant to disrupt potential terrorist plots before and after that year’s presidential election focused on more than 2,000 immigrants from predominantly Muslim countries, but most were found to have done nothing wrong, according to newly disclosed government data. The program, conducted by the Department of Homeland Security , received little public attention at the time. But details about the targets of the investigation have emerged from more than 10,000 pages of internal records obtained through a lawsuit by civil rights advocates. Parts of the documents were provided to The New York Times. The documents show that more than 2,500 foreigners in the United States were sought as “priority leads” in the fall of 2004 because of suspicions that they could present threats to national security in the months before the presidential election and the inauguration. Some of those foreigners were detained and ultimately deported because they had overstayed their visas, but many were in this country legally, and the vast majority were not charged. The internal reports show that immigration agents questioned the foreigners about what they thought of America, whether violence was preached at their mosques, and whether they had access to biological or chemical weapons. A sampling of 300 cases turned over by federal officials showed that none of those interrogated were charged with national security offenses. Fewer than one in five were charged, most of them with immigration violations. A spokesman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement , Richard Rocha, would say only, “Due to ongoing litigation, ICE is not at liberty to provide any comment.” Officials said they were not aware of any similar programs now under way. At the time of the 2004 operation, the immigration agency said publicly that it was tracking leads in an effort to disrupt potential terrorism plots, but emphasized that its investigations were being conducted “without regard to race, ethnicity or religion.” But the records showed that 79 percent of the suspects were from Muslim-majority countries, according to an analysis by students at the National Litigation Project at Yale Law School, who obtained the records, as did the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. Each group sued for the records under the Freedom of Information Act, and both say the operation showed that the government was using ethnic profiling to identify terrorism suspects. “This was profiling,” said Michael Wishnie, a professor at Yale Law School who helped lead the research effort. He added that the findings raised questions about both the effectiveness and the propriety of the program. “The resources devoted to this were enormous,” he said, “but the results clearly were not.” The issue of ethnic profiling in counterterrorism programs has taken on added significance because of new Justice Department guidelines that go into effect Dec. 1 and give investigators even broader authority to open terrorism investigations without evidence of wrongdoing. The American Civil Liberties Union and other rights groups argue that the new guidelines will allow federal investigators to make targets of Muslims, Middle Easterners and others without evidence of links to terrorist groups. After the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the administration began a series of efforts that strained relations with Muslims and Arab-Americans in particular. The detention of more than 700 illegal immigrants as terrorism suspects — often for months at a time without lawyers — generated a blistering report from the Justice Department on the “unduly harsh” treatment of the prisoners. Follow-up efforts in 2002 and 2003 led to the questioning of thousands of Muslims and Middle Easterners as well as measures requiring that immigrants from some countries register their presence with federal authorities. The investigations conducted in the fall of 2004 were part of what federal authorities called Operation Front Line. It was unusual in that it relied on intelligence data from across the government to identify “priority leads” and then conduct interrogations in October 2004, just before Election Day. One foreigner, in the country on a student visa, was asked his “opinion of America,” according to internal investigative reports. He responded that he was “living the American dream and cared greatly for the equal opportunities, rights and values that are afforded in America.” Another person, from South Asia, was asked about a mosque he attended and told an agent that “the mosque did not espouse any radical or fundamental form of Islam or denounce the United States in any way.” A third visa holder was asked if he owned any chemical or biological explosives. He said he did not. The Homeland Security Department announced several hundred arrests at the time, mostly of visitors whose visas had expired, but the records obtained in the lawsuit show that the scope of the operation reached much further. More than 2,500 people were interrogated, with more than 500 arrests for immigration violations like overstaying visas. A former immigration official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because aspects of the program remain classified, said the operation analyzed data, gathered by the Central Intelligence Agency and other agencies, to identify people who might pose particular threats to national security. “I think the intelligence we were getting was bona fide and mineable, and we were doing the best we could to follow it up,” the former official said. Kareem Shora, national executive director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, said he considered the findings a “slap in the face” because they contradicted the claims of American officials. “It is very disappointing to see that despite all the reassurances that they were not profiling people, this comes out,” Mr. Shora said. With nearly 80 percent of the targets in the 2004 operation coming from Muslim nations, he asked, “how can you tell us you’re not focusing on people from these countries?”

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (US)


Bill Jenkins, 81, Drag Racing Driver and Innovator, Dies

Abstract: Bill Jenkins, an influential and revered figure in drag racing who helped lift the sport from the streets to the professional track while introducing a host of technical innovations, died on Thursday in Paoli, Pa. He was 81. The cause was heart failure, his daughter Susan Jenkins said. Jenkins, a short, stocky, gravelly-voiced man who often chomped cigars, sometimes while driving, played a leading role in lifting drag racing to the level of a sanctioned sport from its “dirty-fingernails street racing days,” said Ron Watson, president of the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America, into which Jenkins was inducted in 1996. To fans and fellow racers he was Grumpy Jenkins, and he relished the nickname — particularly because he knew that almost everyone knew that his gruff front was just that. “People called him the lovable old grump,” said John Jodauga, an editor at National Dragster, the newspaper of the National Hot Rod Association. Jenkins was No. 8 among the nation’s 50 top racers in a poll of experts conducted by the N.H.R.A. in 2001, even though he won only 13 N.H.R.A. events while behind the wheel. He “earned his well-deserved spot in drag racing’s Top 10,” the association said in a statement, “because no other individual has contributed more” to improving the engines that made straight-line, quarter-mile racing from a standing start more popular. Mr. Jodauga called Jenkins a “visionary mechanic” who “came up with engine improvements that many other people copied for their own cars.” His innovations included a front-suspension system that improved the performance of a stock car by transferring weight to the rear tires, and a “slick-shift manual transmission” that allowed the driver to shift gears without lifting a foot from the gas pedal. He also installed a so-called cool can, containing ice, along the fuel line to lower gasoline temperature, which increased horsepower. Jenkins’s enhancements paid off. “He was the most successful racer of Chevy Pro Stock and Super Stock cars in the ’60s and ’70s,” Mr. Jodauga said, “which made him one of the most popular racers in the country, because so many fans back then raced or drove Chevrolets.” Jenkins gained national prominence in 1966 when his 327-cubic-inch, 350-horsepower Chevy II outran most 426-cubic-inch, 425-horsepower Dodge and Plymouth Street Hemis in dozens of local races around the country. “He exploited the ‘giant killer’ approach in 1972 when he won six of eight national events with his 331-cid small-block Pro Stock Vega,” the hot rod association said. Wins attributed in part to Jenkins’s engineering went far beyond his own races. He opened an engine-building shop in his hometown, Malvern, Pa. Dozens of drivers took advantage of his technical skills. In a 2008 interview for the Web site Drag Race Central, Jenkins was asked how he felt about being inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame. “I’ve had engines win 61 races and eight championships in all kinds of categories,” he said. “I’m fortunate enough that it happened before I died.” William Tyler Jenkins was born in Philadelphia on Dec. 22, 1930. But it was in rural Downingtown, Pa., to which the family moved when he was 12, that he turned his tinkering skills to rebuilding a neighbor’s tractor engine. “He did a little bit of local drag racing before he went off to Cornell,” where he studied engineering, Susan Jenkins said of her father. Besides Ms. Jenkins, his daughter from his marriage to the former Alexandra Newman, which ended in divorce, Jenkins is survived by his second wife, the former Polly Wood; a son, William, and a daughter, Dani-El, from his second marriage; a sister, Elizabeth Wagoner; and one grandson. Jenkins left Cornell in his junior year. “The ’55 Chevy came out and I thought, ‘I can probably make something out of this,’ and of course I did,” he said.

Jenkins Bill
Automobile Racing
National Hot Rod Assn
Deaths (Obituaries)


Ukrainian Loses Her Bid for Premier

Abstract: KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Yulia V. Tymoshenko , a leader of Ukraine’s pro-democracy protests in 2004, on Tuesday fell one vote short of the parliamentary majority needed to become prime minister. Ms. Tymoshenko, a former prime minister and on-again-off- again ally of President Viktor A. Yushchenko , received 225 votes in each of two rounds of voting — one vote short of the absolute majority needed. She and her supporters immediately claimed that the machine tabulating the votes was rigged. The parties backing each of the leaders won a narrow majority in September’s national elections, and the two agreed to form a majority coalition on the understanding that Ms. Tymoshenko would be nominated as prime minister. “The voting was grossly and blatantly falsified,” she said. After the second disputed vote, members of the Party of Regions, which opposes Ms. Tymoshenko and has the largest contingent in Parliament, blocked the rostrum. Lawmakers then went into a recess. Ms. Tymoshenko enjoys intense loyalty from her backers, especially since the 2004 Orange Revolution protests. Opponents say they are uncomfortable with her ambition and fiery oratory. Ms. Tymoshenko and the president have often locked horns in the past. He dismissed her as prime minister in 2005, after only seven months.

Ukraine
Tymoshenko Yulia V
Politics and Government
Yushchenko Viktor