Recalling 1988, When Jets Dashed Giants’ Hopes

Abstract: There are precious few pivotal moments in Giants- Jets history, mostly because a majority of the meetings between the teams — particularly in recent years — have been casual preseason games, listless affairs that had about as much substance as a lecture on the last day of school. Saturday’s game, however, is loaded with vital implications, and a loss by either team figures to imperil — if not squash — the hopes of a playoff berth. For Giants fans, that situation will rouse unpleasant memories. Certainly it does for Phil Simms , who lived through the last game between the teams that carried such consequences. In a telephone interview Tuesday, Simms sighed as soon as the 1988 season was mentioned, his frustration over what happened on that Dec. 18 afternoon still fresh. “We had an opportunity, and we lost it,” Simms said. He groaned. “We lost it to the Jets,” he said. The Giants — coached by Bill Parcells with Tom Coughlin as an assistant — were 10-5 going into the final week of the season, and a win over the mediocre Jets (7-7-1) would give them the N.F.C. East title. There was no dominant team in the N.F.L. that season, Simms said, so the Giants believed that if they could just get into the playoffs, they had every chance to go to the Super Bowl . “We were fired up about that, and we were fired up because it was a Jets week,” Simms said. “The rivalry was big back then. We knew ownership wanted to win; we knew it mattered to them. It mattered to us, too, for a lot of reasons.” But the Jets won, 27-21, as Ken O’Brien threw a touchdown pass to Al Toon with 37 seconds remaining. Making it even worse for the Giants, their pain lingered — much as it will for this year’s team if it loses. The 1988 Giants had to wait to see if their defeat would cost them a playoff berth. It was only that night, after the San Francisco 49ers lost to the Los Angeles Rams, that the Giants were eliminated. Watching at home on television, Simms felt shredded all over again. “We knew we needed a miracle after we lost because the 49ers had already clinched a playoff spot and didn’t play their best players,” Simms said. “The miracle didn’t happen.” For the Jets, though, the victory over the Giants was the season’s crowning achievement. Much of the attention in the days leading to the game was focused on the future of the Jets’ coaching staff. Coach Joe Walton was under fire, and the defensive coordinator Bud Carson did not hide his emotions when addressing the players. Marty Lyons, a former defensive end and a current radio analyst for the Jets, said Carson — who was ultimately fired after the season — talked openly that week about the reality of the coaches’ plight. “He told he didn’t think he’d be back and he said if we didn’t play for him that week, he was going to make sure he took some of us with him,” Lyons said. “How could you not respond to that?” Facing the Giants was “an added incentive,” Lyons said, particularly because Jets players were aware of how costly a defeat might be for the Giants. Game day, Simms said, was gray and gloomy, the sort of winter weather that seems to demand rugged football. It was a Jets home game — as this Saturday will be — so the Jets-heavy crowd was alive early as the Jets jumped to a 10-0 lead. The Jets led by 20-7 in the third quarter and their defense was inspired, recording eight sacks (two by Lyons). But Stephen Baker caught a touchdown pass and Lionel Manuel pulled one in, too, with about five minutes remaining to give the Giants a 1-point edge. It had been a sloppy effort for the Giants — two missed field goals and a costly fumble by the punt returner Phil McConkey most notable among the mistakes — but it seemed, at least for a moment, that they would survive. “I thought we were going to win,” Simms said. “I really believed we would. But then they ran that kickoff back and I got a bad feeling.” Simms was referring to Bobby Humphrey’s return to the Jets’ 48, giving them excellent field position. Soon enough, the Jets had moved the ball to the Giants’ 5 and O’Brien, after seeing the Giants in a bunched goal-line defense, audibled out of a third-down running play and found Toon in the end zone for the decisive points. The Giants were crushed. The Jets were giddy, running around the field as if they had won a championship. They celebrated that way, too — Lyons said he would never forget taking his 6-year-old son out of the stands and hoisting him up on his shoulders for a victory lap. Lyons even got a photograph of that ride and still has it framed in his office. “I know what it meant to them,” he said Tuesday. “A lot of the players were friends, or knew each other, since many of us lived in the same area. So we knew. But it meant something to us, too. “Unfortunately for me and a lot of us, we never got to a Super Bowl,” Lyons said. “That win that day, though, was something that felt pretty close.”

Football
New York Giants
New York Jets
Simms Phil
Lyons Marty
Playoff Games


Trial Looks at Conditions Faced by Firefighters in Deutsche Bank Blaze

Abstract: When Firefighter Robert Brown entered the former Deutsche Bank building as it was being consumed in smoke and flames in 2007, he said, he quickly realized it was one of the worst fires he had ever experienced. The thick smoke made it nearly impossible to see, he told jurors in State Supreme Court in Manhattan on Wednesday, and the accompanying heat was intense. “It was like operating in an oven,” he said. “It was roasting-hot.” The firefighter was the second witness to testify in the trial of three construction supervisors charged in the deaths of two firefighters during the blaze at the building on Aug. 18, 2007. The trial is expected to last four months, and is likely to be filled with technical details about pipe systems, environmental regulations and inspection protocols. On Wednesday, however, the testimony centered on the conditions inside the building that the two doomed firefighters, Joseph P. Graffagnino and Robert Beddia, most likely encountered. Firefighter Brown said he saw both men being carried from the building as he was waiting to enter. The first to emerge was Firefighter Graffagnino, whom he did not recognize, even though they had at one time worked together. Firefighter Brown said he took out a pocket respirator and pumped a few breaths of fresh air into Firefighter Graffagnino’s mouth. Only later, he said, did he realize that the man he tried to help was a friend. A few moments later, Firefighter Brown said, a second man, who he later learned was Firefighter Beddia, was carried past. “He looked worse,” Firefighter Brown testified. “The second guy looked gray, ashen.” The construction supervisors on trial — Mitchel Alvo, Salvatore DePaola and Jeffrey Melofchik — and the demolition contractor for which two of them worked, the John Galt Corporation, are charged with manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide. Prosecutors have said that people hired to remove asbestos from the building and tear it down had cut away a section of standpipe that could have delivered water to the firefighters and averted their deaths. Defense lawyers maintain that the firefighters were trapped in thick smoke by a maze of barriers meant to stop the spread of asbestos. Firefighter Brown was followed on the stand by Robert Miller, the chief financial officer of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, the group that owned the building. His testimony, about the relationship between his group and the contractors who were taking down the building, was expected to resume on Thursday.

Deutsche Bank Building (NYC)
Fires and Firefighters
Graffagnino Joseph P
Beddia Robert
Alvo Mitchel
DePaola Salvatore
Melofchik Jeffrey
Manhattan (NYC)


David Ferrer to Skip Davis Cup Round

Abstract: Spain’s 2013 Davis Cup hopes, already hit by the injured Rafael Nadal’s absence, were dealt another blow when fifth-ranked David Ferrer said he would skip the opening tie of the season, against Canada in February. “It’s purely a schedule thing,” Ferrer’s agent, Albert Molina, told Marca.com . ¶ Novak Djokovic retained his title at the World Tennis Championship exhibition tournament in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, by rallying past Nicolás Almagro of Spain, 6-7 (4), 6-3, 6-4. (AP)

Davis Cup
Tennis
Ferrer David
Djokovic Novak


Families’ Pain Is Fresh, at Now Familiar Transfer of War Dead

Abstract: DOVER, Del. — What the Army calls a “dignified transfer” took place again here on Monday night at Dover Air Force Base. It was a 15-minute model of sorrowful precision as a team of seven soldiers transferred two flag-draped cases from the cargo hold of a 747 to the back of a large, white truck a few hundred feet away. The ritual is the same each time, but the pain of the families is fresh. And so it was on Monday when a sobbing yelp from a family member erupted over the dull drone of the plane’s auxiliary power system. The cases held the remains of two Army specialists, Jake R. Velloza, 22, and Jeremiah P. McCleery, 24, both from California, who were killed Saturday by an enemy gunman, apparently dressed in the uniform of an Iraqi soldier, in Mosul, Iraq. Their killings were among the more than 4,000 American military deaths in Iraq since the start of the war in 2003. Their arrival here Monday night, in a chilly gray drizzle, at the nation’s main re-entry point for its war dead, marked the first month of a new Pentagon policy that allows media coverage of the arrivals for the first time in 18 years, if the families agree. In another new policy, the Pentagon will pay for families to travel to Dover if they want to see the arrivals. Since the new policies went into effect, most families have both permitted the media access and made the journey here. Families have only a 15-minute glimpse of the proceedings. They are kept a few hundred feet from the plane, shielded from the view of the media, who are stationed on the opposite side of a bus on the tarmac. The families cannot approach or touch the case. After the case is placed in the back of a truck, a small police car, its red and blue lights flashing, escorts the truck down the tarmac to the mortuary, the largest in the country. The families then go back home. Over the next few days, medical technicians here will scan the body for unexploded ordnance, perform an autopsy and prepare the body for the funeral. It is placed in a casket chosen by the family for the trip home, usually on a small twin-engine chartered plane. The first arrival of coffins after the reversal of the media ban, on April 5, drew 35 reporters, photographers and camera operators, the most allowed. But on Monday there were only four photographers (from The New York Times, The Associated Press, Getty Images and the European Press Agency) and one reporter (from The New York Times). Twice in the last month, the only media representative was a photographer for The Associated Press, which has sent a photographer to every arrival. The media is briefed on, among other things, the military vocabulary for these events, which are not ceremonies but “dignified transfers.” The remains are not in coffins but in “transfer cases.” Those who move the cases from the plane to a “mortuary transfer vehicle,” not a hearse, are not honor guards but “carry teams.” “The point of this language is that this isn’t the ceremony,” said Air Force Captain Thomas Wentz, the public affairs officer for the Air Force Mortuary Affairs Operation Center at Dover. The more common terms, he said, might create the impression that the families needed to attend, whereas the real ceremony, with honor guards, flags for families, the playing of taps and other military rituals, take place after the body reaches home. The military brings soldiers’ remains to Dover 24 or 36 hours after the death, and the family needs to be there in that time. Families are told about the new travel policy and the new media policy at the same moment they are informed of the death of their loved one. They must decide both on the spot in order to get to Dover in time and to give the media time to get there. The decision about the media is made by the primary next of kin; eventually, Lt. Col. Les Melnyk, a spokesman for the Pentagon, said, soldiers will be asked to make the decision before they are deployed. Family members can talk with the media if they wish, but military officials do not tell them they have that option. Only once in the last month has a family member asked to do so. He was David Pautsch of Davenport, Iowa, whose son, Jason, 20, was killed in mid-April with four other soldiers when a suicide bomber driving a truck detonated a ton of explosives near a police headquarters in Mosul. “I said, ‘Oh, yes,’ ” Mr. Pautsch, 55, who owns an advertising agency, recalled in a telephone interview on Tuesday. “I’m proud of the fact that Jason lived and died for a purpose and I want people to know that.” He had high praise for the military and the media at Dover but said if he could change one thing, he wished he had been allowed to see Jason’s body before it went to the mortuary. When the body arrived at the funeral home in Iowa, Mr. Pautsch said, “I had them unwrap it. — I just wanted to know it was him.” He said he could not identify his son from the neck up, but when he saw his feet, he knew. “I know his feet,” he said. “I know the hair on his feet.” Although the ritual at Dover was distant and minimalist, Mr. Pautsch said Jason’s funeral at home was “fit for a president,” with a procession that stretched 3.3 miles.

United States Defense and Military Forces


Ohio: Worrisome Carp Are Found in a Tributary of Lake Erie

Abstract: Scientists said Monday that they have for the first time documented that an Asian carp species has reproduced within the Great Lakes watershed, an ominous development in the struggle to slam the door on the invaders, which could threaten native fish. Four grass carp captured last year in the Sandusky River, a tributary of Lake Erie, had spent their entire lives there and were not introduced through means like stocking, researchers with the United States Geological Survey and Bowling Green State University said. Grass carp are among four species imported from Asia decades ago to control unwanted plants in settings like sewage treatment lagoons. They escaped and have spread into the Mississippi and other waters across the heartland. Of greatest concern in the Great Lakes region are bighead and silver carp. But because all Asian carp species require similar conditions to reproduce, the Sandusky discovery suggests it is likely that any of them could spawn there and in other Great Lakes tributaries, said Duane Chapman, a fisheries biologist. “It’s bad news,” he said. “It would have been a lot easier to control these fish if they’d been limited in the number of places where they could spawn.”

Ohio
Carp
Lake Erie
Great Lakes
Sandusky River


Medal of Honor Awarded to 2 Vietnam-Era Soldiers

Abstract: WASHINGTON — Specialist Donald P. Sloat’s squad was conducting a patrol through the dense jungles of Vietnam in January 1970 when a soldier triggered a booby trap rigged with a live hand grenade, which Specialist Sloat quickly picked up. With no time to toss it away, Specialist Sloat of the Army, 20 at the time, closed his body around the grenade as it exploded, his sacrifice shielding his fellow soldiers from harm and ending his life. Nearly a half-century later, Specialist Sloat’s spontaneous act of valor has earned him the nation’s highest honor. In a White House ceremony on Monday, President Obama presented the Medal of Honor to Dr. William Sloat, Specialist Sloat’s brother, and recounted the moment when the grenade, without its pin, rolled along the grassy path to the feet of Specialist Sloat. “At that moment, he could have run; at that moment, he could have ducked for cover,” Mr. Obama said Monday, recounting the moments before Specialist Sloat’s death. “He turned to throw it. But there were Americans in front of him and behind him. So Don held onto that grenade, and he pulled it close to his body, and he bent over it.” “Everyone else survived,” Mr. Obama told a hushed audience. “He saved the lives of those next to him.” In addition to Specialist Sloat, the president on Monday also awarded the Medal of Honor to Sgt. Maj. Bennie G. Adkins , who deployed to Vietnam three times from 1963 to 1971. During a four-day assault on Camp A Shau by the North Vietnamese in 1966, Sergeant Major Adkins repeatedly fought off waves of attacking soldiers in defense of the American position and his fellow soldiers. Sergeant Major Adkins, now 80, sat quietly in a chair next to Mr. Obama’s podium as the president extolled episodes of valor so numerous that “we don’t have time to talk about all of them.” He noted that Sergeant Major Adkins ran through enemy fire to retrieve supplies, and to save his fellow soldiers. He described how Sergeant Major Adkins repeatedly ran into the mortar pit to help repel the enemy. “On the first day, Bennie was helping load a wounded American onto a helicopter,” Mr. Obama said. “A Vietnamese soldier jumped onto the helo trying to escape the battle and aimed his weapon directly at the wounded soldier, ready to shoot. Bennie stepped in, shielded his comrade, placing himself directly in the line of fire, helping to save his wounded comrade.” In the citation for Sergeant Major Adkins that accompanies the Medal of Honor, it notes that the young soldier killed an estimated 135 to 175 enemies during the four-day battle, while sustaining 18 different wounds. “You served with valor and you made us proud,” Mr. Obama said to Sergeant Major Adkins and the other Vietnam veterans in the audience. “Your service is with us for eternity.” The president’s decision to award the Medal of Honor to two Vietnam-era soldiers comes at a time when Mr. Obama has begun to once again expand the American presence in another war in the Middle East, sending new soldiers to face danger for their country. Mr. Obama has described the decision to send men and women to war as the most difficult and agonizing of his presidency. In a speech to graduates of the West Point military academy in May, the president said that four of the service members he addressed in 2009 had given their lives in Afghanistan. More were wounded, he said. “I believe America’s security demanded those deployments,” he said in May. “But I am haunted by those deaths. I am haunted by those wounds. And I would betray my duty to you and to the country we love if I ever sent you into harm’s way simply because I saw a problem somewhere in the world that needed to be fixed, or because I was worried about critics who think military intervention is the only way for America to avoid looking weak.” On Monday, Mr. Obama hailed the service of two young soldiers,saying the honor came late because “sometimes even the most extraordinary stories can get lost in the fog of war or the passage of time.” But, he added: “To all of you who serve and your families who serve along with them, the nation is grateful. And your commander in chief could not be prouder.”

Medal of Honor
Donald P Sloat
Bennie G Adkins
Vietnam War
US Military
Barack Obama


100,000 in Westchester Remain Without Power

Abstract: More than 100,000 customers in Westchester County remained without power on Sunday afternoon, with many gas stations throughout the county still without fuel or the electricity to pump it, and long lines at those stations that were in operation. Though the county was spared the devastation experienced in the Rockaways, on Staten Island and on parts of Long Island, six days after Hurricane Sandy touched shore, life was still far from normal for many residents, even as they watched the power go back on in more populous regions. The two utilities, Consolidated Edison and New York State Electric and Gas, said full power would not be restored until Nov. 11. On Sunday, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, whose own home in New Castle never lost power, toured the county and expressed frustration with the slow pace of restoration on the part of the two utilities. “If anything, they should be ahead in terms of rates of recovery,” the governor said, comparing the county with other areas, where improvements have been faster. “They’re not repairing substation damage like Nassau is, or pumping out tunnels, like New York City is.” He added, “I plan a full review after the fact, and I’m going to hold them accountable.” In a place not accustomed to discomfort, the end of daylight saving time meant an early return to the dark and cold in neighborhoods where hundreds of trees lay sprawled across streets or power lines, or against houses. As another workweek loomed, irritability, fear and gloom became common. In Yonkers, where some 10,400 customers were still without power, down from about 21,000 a few days earlier, Mayor Mike Spano instituted gas rationing, and police officers were posted at service stations to prevent fights over fuel. “Were we overlooked by the utility?” asked Mr. Spano, who did not have power himself as of Sunday evening. “Yes. The utilities have got to come to terms with the fact that this is a new climate. They weren’t prepared. They could have sent crews ahead of the storm from all over America. I’m sure the Legislature will hold public hearings when this is over. I plan to make my voice heard.” Some 40 people were staying in the city’s emergency shelter, with 260 housed at some point in 11 other shelters across the county, officials said. After the storm, whole towns in northern Westchester, including Pound Ridge, Bedford, Yorktown and North Salem — leafy communities whose majestic trees and large properties provide much of their charm — lost power, and were slow to get it restored, according to Robert P. Astorino, the county executive. “People are angry,” said William O’Shaughnessy, president and editorial director of the radio stations WVOX and WVIP in New Rochelle, which were operating on generators. “There’s almost a surreal quality to it. At gas stations, it’s like Jimmy Carter time all over in Westchester. This is supposed to happen someplace else, but not in pristine, rarefied Westchester County.” Wealthy communities set up makeshift shelters and warming and battery-charging stations. In Chappaqua, where the Red Cross and Northern Westchester Hospital ran a shelter in an unused commercial building, 51 people came in for warmth or a bed on Sunday, up from the previous day but far less than the nearly 100 people shortly after the storm. “The shelter’s going to be there until it’s not necessary anymore,” said Mark Vincent, a spokesman for the hospital. “Some people staying just for the day, others spending the night.” At a Pelham community building, donated food from a local market sat on a table, while about 15 people watched television or typed on laptop computers. Many expressed a kind of grim expectation that their blocks would be among the last ones to have power restored. “It’s been very tough,” said Helene Luk, a computer programmer from neighboring New Rochelle, who walked to the shelter on Sunday to charge her cellphone and a BlackBerry. “It’s definitely warmer here,” she said. “I’m so used to the cold that it actually feels too warm for me.” Randi MacColl, a marketing consultant who lives in Pelham, stopped by on Sunday after spending time the last few days at the homes of F.W.P.’s, as she calls them — friends with power. “It’s nice to have friends who have open houses,” she added. Or relatives, if they have electricity. Peg Breen, a teacher at Horace Greeley High School in Chappaqua who lives in Mount Kisco, has not had power since Monday night. She toughed it out the first three days, but after learning from Con Edison that it might take another week to get her electricity restored, she decamped to her parents’ house nearby. “You certainly can’t help but feel ignored when you live in northern Westchester County, because you haven’t seen a Con Ed truck around yet,” she said. “So it kind of begs the question: has Con Ed gotten too big and they’re trying to cover too much of an area? We used to have smaller utility companies for Westchester County, but it’s expanded, and clearly the city was taken care of first.” She said it had been hard to see many of her neighbors’ homes with the lights still blazing. “I sense the tension, and even in terms of the way people are driving, but again, there’s tremendous generosity — that really surprises me.” Jeff Pearlman, whose home in New Rochelle was without power, said neighbors were helping one another, but tensions at gas stations were high. “It’s like, as other people get power who you know, you’re happy for them, but you’re also jealous,” he said. He added, “It’s not fun, my kids are getting impatient, but when you see the flooding and devastation in other places, you got to keep it in perspective.”

New York State Electric and Gas
Westchester County (NY)
Hurricane Sandy (2012)
Power Outages and Blackouts
Oil (Petroleum) and Gasoline
Consolidated Edison Inc
New York Metropolitan Area


Tempur Sealy Shareholders Vote to Remove C.E.O. and Chairman From Board

Abstract: Spurred by an activist investor, shareholders of Tempur Sealy International voted on Friday to overhaul the mattress maker’s board, including by stripping the company’s chief executive of a director seat. Shareholders voted against the re-election of the chief executive, Mark A. Sarvary, as well as those of Tempur Sealy’s chairman, P. Andrews McLane, and the chairman of the board’s corporate governance committee, Christopher A. Masto, according to initial results from the company’s annual meeting. Tempur Sealy acknowledged in a statement that the three men had failed to win re-election and would offer to resign. But the board’s corporate governance committee will decide whether to accept those resignations. Shares of Tempur Sealy were up more than 3 percent in afternoon trading. All three directors had been the targets of H Partners, which emerged in February as an outspoken critic of the mattress manufacturer’s financial performance. The investment firm, which claims to own about 10 percent of Tempur Sealy’s stock, has argued that the company has underperformed both rivals and the broader stock markets. The stunning vote on Friday illustrates the continued prominence and success of activist investors who demand shake-ups of what they say are underperforming companies. Such corporate critics have won considerable victories at targets including Darden Restaurants, where the hedge fund Starboard Value succeeded in ousting the entire board, and Sotheby’s, which ceded three board seats to the billionaire Daniel S. Loeb. Although H Partners began its activist campaign too late to nominate board directors of its own, the firm pressed hard to win the removal of Mr. Sarvary, Mr. McLane and Mr. Masto from the board. Tempur Sealy argued in response that its opponent had no experience in the mattress industry and no alternative plan. “The impact of removing key members of the board and management team extends beyond interrupting sound strategic oversight and strong execution by these individuals,” the company wrote in a recent letter to its investors . “Tempur Sealy needs — and has — steady and experienced leadership at the helm to navigate this critical time in the execution of the company’s strategy.” But H Partners’ campaign gained steam when all four prominent proxy advisory firms, which guide shareholders on how to vote in corporate governance matters, sided with the hedge fund in its fight. “We thank Tempur Sealy’s shareholders for supporting our campaign for leadership change,” Usman Nabi, a senior partner at H Partners, said in a statement on Friday. “We look forward to working constructively with a reinvigorated board to create value for all shareholders.”

Tempur Sealy International
Shareholder Rights
H Partners Management
Mark Sarvary
Board of directors


South Ossetians Warn Against Rearming Georgia

Abstract: MOSCOW — Residents of South Ossetia , the tiny separatist enclave at the center of the August 2008 war between Georgia and Russia , petitioned United States Senator Richard G. Lugar on Thursday to warn against supplying the Georgian government with weapons, saying they could be used against civilians. The petition is a response to a staff report released in late December by Mr. Lugar’s office, which calls into question Washington’s decision to stop providing weapons to Georgia after its brief war with Russia. The report, titled “Striking the Balance: U.S. Policy and Stability in Georgia,” says that the policy has left Georgia “under a de facto arms embargo” that contributes to regional instability. The report stops short of recommending the resumption of arms supplies, but highlights the quandary Washington has faced for 18 months, as it seeks to improve its relationship with Moscow without abandoning a commitment to help Georgia join NATO, a process that involves upgrading its military. Under current conditions, the report says, “Georgia will not only have difficulty providing for its own territorial defense needs, but remain susceptible to the internal strife and external manipulation that often accompany such national insecurity.” About 340 residents of South Ossetia signed the petition, which was forwarded Thursday by South Ossetia’s American public relations firm. Referring to the Georgian president, Mikheil Saakashvili , the petition reads, “The citizens of South Ossetia fear that President Saakashvili, in light of his past recklessness and erratic behavior, will again use any military weapons and training against us.” The document goes on to request that Congress hold hearings on how American aid was used in the August 2008 war. Andy Fisher, a spokesman for Senator Lugar, an Indiana Republican, had no comment on the petition, but noted that the Obama administration had made no changes to the policy on military aid to Georgia established under President Bush. South Ossetia, a mountainous area the size of Rhode Island, had been seeking independence from Georgia since the breakup of the Soviet Union. In recent years, Moscow increased support for the separatists, and when Mr. Saakashvili ordered an attack on the South Ossetian capital, Russia sent its army to drive out Georgian forces. Moscow went on to recognize South Ossetia and Abkhazia, another breakaway territory in Georgia, as sovereign nations. After the war, the United States provided Georgia with $1 billion in aid , but cut off all financing to the Georgian Ministry of Defense, stopped providing weapons and training Georgian special forces, and deflected Georgian inquiries about antitank and air defense systems, the report from Mr. Lugar’s office said. Military sales, which grew from $10.5 million in 2006 to $25 million in 2007 to $72.3 million in 2008, dropped to zero in 2009. Last August, United States forces began training 730 Georgian soldiers to serve in Afghanistan, but all weapons used in the training must be taken out of Georgia once training is completed, the report said. Alexander Rondeli, president of the Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International Studies, said he did not expect the United States to change its policy on military aid soon. “Georgia now is in a very difficult situation because Russia has put pressure on everyone, and we can’t even buy cartridges,” he said, adding that the staff report from Mr. Lugar’s office was “a bright spot on a quite dark horizon.”

South Ossetia (Georgian Republic)
Lugar Richard G
Arms Sales Abroad
Georgia (Georgian Republic)
Saakashvili Mikheil


In Wake of Infernos, Kenyans Describe a Muddled Response

Abstract: MOMBASA, Kenya — The death toll rose to more than 100 people after an overturned gasoline tanker exploded on a Kenyan highway as looters tried to scoop up the spilled fuel, officials said Sunday. The explosion, on Saturday night, was the second deadly inferno in Kenya within a week, after more than two dozen people died in a supermarket blaze on Wednesday. The high death tolls seem to have been exacerbated by a mix of crime, poverty and questionable law enforcement, and the lackluster response to both emergencies is sure to add to the growing resentment toward the Kenyan government. According to Kenyan officials, a tanker carrying high-grade gasoline overturned around 7 p.m. on Saturday, near the town of Molo, in the Rift Valley. As the gas began to gush out, word began to spread. Witnesses said villagers swarmed the downed truck, siphoning fuel into plastic jerrycans. Young men on motorcycles raced in from miles away. A handful of Kenyan police officers tried to drive them off, according to Kenyan officials, but the looters fought back. Witnesses said that one vindictive looter whom officers tried to push away lit a match and threw it into a pool of gasoline. The explosion sent bodies flying into the woods, and it could be heard for miles. The Kenya Red Cross said Sunday afternoon that at least 113 people had been killed and another 178 severely burned. Several children with charred and blistered faces were airlifted by the Kenyan military to burn centers around the country. After the fire, government officials picked through the charred wreckage and lamented the culture of looting. “Kenyans are obsessed with free things,” said Hassan Noor Hassan, the Rift Valley provincial commissioner. “You shouldn’t rush to your death for 10 liters of fuel.” The surrounding hospitals were packed with writhing burn victims. Some had sheets of skin peeling off their backs. Many were young men. A group of high-ranking ministers visited the burn wards on Sunday, and the politicians were seen on Kenyan television trying to console the victims. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” said George Saitoti, Kenya’s internal security minister. There seemed to be little else to say. The rising death toll seems to be yet another blow for the Kenyan government, which in the past few months has been rocked by several scandals, including one involving millions of pounds of missing corn at a time of a possible famine. Kenya is ruled by a fractious power-sharing government that was cobbled together last year in the wake of post-election violence that left more than 1,000 people dead. In the supermarket fire on Wednesday, witnesses said it took more than an hour for firefighters to reach the fully engulfed store, even though it was located along one of the busiest streets in downtown Nairobi, Kenya’s capital. The firefighters did not have enough water because of antiquated hydrants and pumps. Again, looters were a problem and store managers may have chained shut some of the supermarket’s doors to keep looters out, trapping dozens of shoppers inside. Bodies were still being lifted out of the rubble over the weekend. On Saturday, witnesses in Molo complained of a similarly slow response. They said more than one hour passed before emergency personnel reached the burning tanker.

Kenya
Looting
Fires and Firefighters
Accidents and Safety


Hewlett’s Printing Business Struggles

Abstract: SAN FRANCISCO — Hewlett-Packard , the world’s largest technology company, continues to roll along financially — except in one traditional core business — its printing business. The company reported third-quarter sales and profit on Tuesday that exceeded Wall Street expectations. But the company’s struggles in one of its traditional strengths — imaging and printing — seem to be accelerating. Revenue from its printing division grew 3 percent, to $7 billion, in the third quarter, which ended July 31, over the period a year ago. Its commercial printer sales were down 5 percent, and consumer hardware fell 14 percent. A quarter of the company’s total revenue comes from its printing division. Helping to offset the declines was an 11 percent increase in the sales of printer supplies — like ink and cartridges. On the hardware side, “you’re starting to see some slower growth in particularly the consumer business, as well as the commercial business,” an industry analyst with American Technology Research, Shaw Wu, said. Mr. Wu said such slowdowns were the result of cyclical challenges rather than systemic ones. Hewlett-Packard, having saturated the market with new printers, will face periods when it must wait until businesses and consumers are ready to buy again. He said he expected Hewlett-Packard to ramp up soon, though he noted that the company declined to delve deeply into the issue during its quarterly conference call. And Mr. Wu said that although he expected printer sales to rebound, “it’s easier said than done.” The decline in printing was among a handful of weak spots, analysts said, in yet another quarter in which H.P. exceeded Wall Street projections. In the third quarter, the company reported revenue of $28 billion, up 10 percent from the same period a year earlier. Wall Street was expecting $27.4 billion. H.P. reported net income of $2 billion, up 14 percent from a year ago. Excluding one-time charges, the company earned 86 cents a share, bettering by 2 cents the projections of Wall Street analysts. “This is very good, given the prevailing economic environment,” an analyst with Sanford C. Bernstein & Company, A. M. Sacconaghi Jr., said. As has been the case in recent quarters, H.P. — which does about 68 percent of its sales overseas — had much stronger growth internationally than it did in the United States. In its third quarter, H.P.’s sales increased 16 percent, to $11.2 billion, in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and 14 percent, to $5.2 billion, in Asia. But, in one of the other relatively weak spots in its quarter, Hewlett-Packard’s sales rose only 4 percent, to $11.6 billion, in the American region. The brightest spot for the company was its personal computer division. Notebook computer revenue rose 26 percent from the period a year ago, while desktops grew 6 percent. That lower desktop growth is consistent with a broader slowdown in the sales of desktop computers, which are giving way to notebooks. Over all, PC revenue grew 15 percent, to $10.3 billion. Hewlett-Packard is the world’s largest vendor of PCs. But in the United States, H.P.’s rival, Dell, has been making an aggressive push into the retail market, and its market share is growing. Mr. Hurd sidestepped a question about whether H.P. was feeling pressure from Dell’s entrance into the retail market. “There’s a ton of folks out there trying to compete on multiple dimensions,” Mr. Hurd said, referring to other PC makers. “We’re doing the best to compete.” The other standout was the company’s small — for H.P. — but fast-growing software division. Revenue was up 29 percent, to $781 million. Revenue for its Technology Solutions Group, which sells products and services to large companies and includes software, grew 10.6 percent, to $10.3 billion. The challenges could grow steeper. Later this month, H.P. plans to close its $14 billion acquisition of Electronic Data Services, a provider of technology services. The integration of the companies will be a potential bump in what has been a consistent series of strong quarterly financial performances, technology industry analysts said. “There are certainly risks and people are going to pay close attention,” an analyst with Edward Jones, Bill Kreher, said. He added that he believed the combination of the companies would be a success. For his part, Mr. Hurd said H.P. and E.D.S. collectively had 500 people working on the integration. “The plan is going well, and we are confident in the benefits this business combination will bring,” he said. Mr. Hurd said that he planned to address the opportunities brought by the deal at a meeting with investors scheduled for Sept. 15. Excluding the financial impact of the E.D.S. acquisition, H.P. projected earnings for the fourth quarter — its current one — would be $1.01 to $1.03 a share. That is up from previous guidance of $1 a share, according to Mr. Sacconaghi.

Company Reports
Sales
Hewlett-Packard Co
Computers and the Internet


In Rutgers Webcam Trial, Jury Asks Judge for Clarification

Abstract: NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. — The jury in the trial of a former Rutgers University student accused of invading his roommate’s privacy by using a webcam to watch him in an intimate encounter began deliberations on Wednesday and asked the judge to define two crucial terms. Jurors asked Judge Glenn Berman of Superior Court in Middlesex County to restate the definition of “intimidate,” as well as of the word “purpose,” as it related to the bias intimidation count. The judge ruled that the defendant, Dharun Ravi , could be found guilty of bias intimidation only if he was also found guilty of the first charge, invasion of privacy. And he told the jury that the roommate, Tyler Clementi , would have been the victim of bias intimidation if he had been made to feel fear. “A person is guilty of the crime of bias intimidation,” Judge Berman said, “if he commits an offense with the purpose to intimidate an individual because of sexual orientation.” Mr. Ravi is charged with 15 counts, including bias intimidation, invasion of privacy and tampering with evidence. Prosecutors say he encouraged friends to view a feed from his webcam that showed Mr. Clementi with another man. Mr. Clementi committed suicide shortly afterward, in September 2010. Prosecutors have said that Mr. Ravi targeted Mr. Clementi because of his sexual orientation. Mr. Ravi’s lawyers have maintained that his actions were immature but not criminal. The bias intimidation charges against Mr. Ravi could result in a 10-year prison sentence and possibly deportation to India if he is convicted.

Rutgers The State University of New Jersey


Restoring the Sea and the Romance to Mont-St.-Michel

Abstract: MONT-ST.-MICHEL, France — A dispatch in The New York Times in August 1944 described the view of Mont-St.-Michel that American soldiers saw, “racing their tanks across the Norman hills into Avranches.” Built “for war as well as worship,” the writer noted, the Mont “seems to float on the sea as gracefully as a ship under full sail, catching all the changing colors of the clouds.” But in the years since then, the sea has dumped tons of silt around the island, slowly attaching it to the land. The main culprit appears to be a solid causeway, built in 1879, that linked the monastery to the mainland but disrupted the movement of the waters. The problem was worsened in 1969, when the government built a dam on the Couesnon River to protect farmlands from high tide, but one result was to further reduce the power of the river to push the silt back into the sea. For Henry Adams, writing at the start of the 20th century, the Roman Catholic churches at Mont-St.-Michel and Chartres were the sublime symbols of a medieval unity of vision, founded on God, which he contrasted to the industrialized confusion of his time. Those churches, he wrote, expressed “an emotion, the deepest man ever felt — the struggle of his own littleness to grasp the infinite.” When not jostled by crowds of tourists in the town’s cramped streets or distracted by the gift shops and ticket touts for private museums, a visitor can still feel some of that awe, especially at dawn and dusk, when the light spreads over the salt flats and the sea, or streams through the cloister and stained glass of the Abbaye du Mont-St.-Michel, known as La Merveille since at least the 12th century. Despite its hundreds of steep steps, the abbey remains France’s fourth-most-visited national monument, the most popular outside of Paris, with about 1.3 million paying visitors a year. That is more than half the 2.5 million visitors who come to Mont-St.-Michel annually. At the abbey — where there are only 13 nuns and monks now — 55 percent of the visitors are foreigners. But the number of visitors to the Mont and the abbey is declining, down 9 percent last year, and the reason is not simply the global economic crisis, particularly acute in Western Europe. A $285 million project to restore the sea to Mont-St.-Michel, and consequently to move cars away from its base to parking lots nearly two miles away, has created confusion for tourists. It has also created local warfare between businesspeople and the local government in a place with fewer than 90 voting, year-round residents that echoes earlier fights over the island between Normandy and Brittany. The project to restore the Mont to the sea was first approved in 1995, and work started 10 years later. But it is only now touching the commercial heart of the town. Just this month, there were angry demonstrations at a meeting to review and revise how visitors are transported from the parking lots. Most contentious, the price of parking was increased to $16 from $11, which was already up from the $6.50 that locals, known as the Montoise, were accustomed to paying in the sometimes sea-covered lots at the base of the Mont. Image The fixed causeway that blocks the tidal movement will be replaced by a curving bridge that will appear to float on the water. The tip of the bridge will be inundated by spring high tides for a few hours a few days a year, symbolizing the island. The original idea was to leave passengers more than half a mile from the island, so they could walk over the oak planks of the new bridge and experience the sense of pilgrimage of the past. But merchants argued that the walk was too long and too slow, and that locals who like to come for a drink or dinner overlooking the sea would be put off. Instead, the shuttles will come to within about a quarter of a mile, still requiring a walk. But the extra distance meant more shuttles and extra costs that increased the parking fee. Cyrille Guillaume, the maître d’hotel of the Auberge St.-Pierre, said that receipts were down 30 percent in the evenings, and “at least half of the 30 percent comes from the new difficulty of access.” He compared the new system to “a hostage taking,” saying that “if access is bad, business is bad.” Jean-Marc Bouré, the state-appointed administrator of the abbey, is also troubled. He supports the project to restore the sea and the beauty of the Mont, to bring “order” to the visiting process and to stop “the invasion of cars and buses.” But he, too, complains about the drop in visitors, and consequently of revenue, which flows to the state’s Center for National Monuments. The mayor, Éric Vannier , who owns numerous businesses here, opposed the new shuttle plan and the higher parking price, but says that the French will complain about any changes, no matter how beneficial. “We’re in France, and anything that changes anyone’s habits a priori we don’t like. But those same people in a few years will see the beauty of the site, and this moaning will disappear.” Mr. Vannier began to discuss the desilting project in 1983. “It’s much bigger than this focus on the shuttles,” he said. “It’s an environmental project to preserve the magical effects of the tides, so it becomes again what it was a century ago, this marvel of the West in the middle of the sea.” Christophe Maisonobe, the operational director of the project, said the restoration was already beginning to work. A pretty new dam on the Couesnon was finished in 2009, with eight hydraulic gates that work in both directions (and that include fish ladders for salmon). The dam stores water to allow it to flow outward for a greater duration during low tides, to shove more sediment out to sea. To aid the process, two channels have been built that curve around Mont-St.-Michel. At the same time, workers are clearing out silt and vegetation from the upstream banks of the Couesnon to allow more water to flow. “It’s working better than we expected,” Mr. Maisonobe said. The salt marshes have already retreated about 2,000 feet, he said, as the river does its work. But he cautioned that it is only when the new bridge is finished and the old causeway is finally destroyed sometime in 2015 that the full process of desilting will begin. Without the project, he said, the Mont would have been completely landlocked within 30 years.

France
Water
Mont Saint Michel
Restoration and Renovation
Levees and Dams
Monuments and Memorials
Travel,Tourism
Bridges,Tunnels


Mahmoud Abbas Proposes Palestinian Unity Government With Hamas

Abstract: RAMALLAH, West Bank — Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority that operates in the West Bank, proposed on Wednesday the creation of a temporary unity government along with Hamas, the militant rival faction that controls the Gaza Strip. In a three-hour address at a conference of his Fatah party, Mr. Abbas sought to push forward long-stalled efforts to reconcile the two major competing Palestinian factions, and to present an image of unity amid wide discord outside the hall where he spoke. Mr. Abbas invited Hamas to send representatives for negotiations to bridge the divide, and he thanked Khaled Meshal, the organization’s political chief, for offering a supportive message that Mr. Abbas passed along to the conference. A month after meeting with Mr. Meshal in Qatar, Mr. Abbas told his supporters that the two parties should form a joint government to be followed by presidential, legislative and other elections. “Our national unity is our safety valve, and I call on Hamas to end the division,” Mr. Abbas told the party conference. “There will not be a Palestinian state without Gaza.” It is uncertain whether the two sides can follow through on a unification proposal, or would want to. Hamas stunned Fatah with its victory in legislative elections in the West Bank and Gaza in 2006, and then seized control of Gaza in 2007, driving its rival party out of the strip altogether. A half-dozen reconciliation agreements since then have fallen apart. Even if they did agree to mend fences, it might only complicate efforts to make peace with Israel, which, along with the United States and other nations, deems Hamas a terrorist organization. President-elect Donald J. Trump could take an even dimmer view of working with Hamas, given his strongly pro-Israel statements during the campaign. Mr. Abbas said in his speech that Mr. Trump was elected by the American people and, therefore, would be their leader. He added that he did not know Mr. Trump, but that he hoped the president-elect would pursue efforts to fairly resolve the Palestinians’ conflict with Israel. Mr. Abbas also used the occasion to defend himself against critics who have accused him of working too closely with Israel. He was assailed in recent weeks first for attending the funeral of Shimon Peres, the former Israeli president and prime minister who helped broker the Oslo Accords in the 1990s, and then for providing firefighters to help Israel put out blazes ravaging its countryside. “I am not sorry that I went to President Peres’s funeral,” Mr. Abbas said. “Representatives of 70 nations participated, and why not us? I’m also not sorry, and don’t need to apologize to anyone, for sending our firefighters to help our neighbors to put out the fire. I feel very strongly as neighbors this is a human obligation.”

Mahmoud Abbas
Palestinians
Hamas
West Bank
Palestinian Authority
Gaza Strip
Israel
Al Fatah


In Olympic Track and Field Events, Rivalries and Wild Cards

Abstract: LONDON — The Olympic caldron is no longer in harm’s way. Since the opening ceremony last week, it has been moved out of the infield of the Olympic Stadium and transported to higher ground. Track and field can begin without fear of javelins and shot-puts landing in the flames. Nonetheless, the competition begins Friday with a number of burning questions, two of which will be quickly answered on Saturday. Can Jessica Ennis handle the moment, shake off her big-event slump and deliver the gold for Britain in the heptathlon? Can Mo Farah handle the moment, shake off the no-longer unbeatable Kenenisa Bekele and deliver the gold for Britain in the men’s 10,000 meters? There is much more to resolve over the next 10 days and nights. A look at some of the best duels available, in chronological order: WOMEN’S 100 METERS Carmelita Jeter of the United States ruled this race last year at the world championships. But others have struck back in 2012, above all Blessing Okagbare, a 23-year-old Nigerian who has beaten Jeter and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, the reigning Olympic champion from Jamaica. Fraser-Pryce, at her best and with her powerful start, still deserves to be the favorite, but this year she has been at her best only in Jamaica. One star who is highly unlikely to win a medal here is Allyson Felix, who was tied for third in the United States trials with Jeneba Tarmoh. Tarmoh stepped aside, with regrets, but Felix’s best chances here are in the 200 and the relays. MEN’S LONG JUMP The American Dwight Phillips, the reigning Olympic champion and four-time world champion, is not in the mix this time because of an injury. That leaves the long jump wide open, even to an emotional British victory if Greg Rutherford can become the first British man to win the long jump since Lynn Davies in 1964. The more established threats are the defending Olympic champion Irving Saladino, of Panama; the 2008 silver medalist, Godfrey Mokoena, of South Africa; and, above all, Mitchell Watt, the former rugby player from Australia who watched the last Olympics on television with no intent of becoming an Olympian. Watt was third at the 2009 world championships and second last year. First this time? WOMEN’S 400 METERS Sanya Richards-Ross of the United States has won all the individual titles that matter, except the big one. She was the favorite at the 2008 Games in Beijing but was passed on the final straightaway by the eventual gold medalist, Christine Ohuruogu of Britain. Richards-Ross settled for third, and despite her effervescent personality and perseverance, she will not be the sentimental favorite here. That will be Ohuruogu, who grew up in east London near what is now the Olympic Park and who makes a fine habit of running her best under the most pressure. Others with a chance are Antonina Krivoshapka, the Russian whose time of 49.16 seconds is the fastest in the world this year, and Amantle Montsho, the reigning world champion from Botswana. MEN’S 100 METERS It will be Usain Bolt against Yohan Blake, just like at practice in Jamaica, where the world’s two best sprinters train under Glen Mills. Asked who might win, Michael Johnson, the former American star, said, “I have no idea.” What seems clear is that Bolt with a decent start is an unstoppable force at his quick-striding best. But Bolt, whose pictures are all over London, has not run in a big meet like the Bolt in our mind’s eye since the 2009 world championships in Berlin. At that stage, Blake had yet to emerge, yet to win the 100-meter world title in 2011 after a false start by Bolt and yet to beat Bolt to the finish line in the Jamaican national championships this year. If Bolt or Blake falters, others who could pose a threat are Tyson Gay of the United States and Asafa Powell of Jamaica. Bolt, Gay, Powell and Blake are the four fastest men in history. MEN’S 400 METERS Under the former rules, LaShawn Merritt would not be in position to defend his Olympic title. After testing positive for a banned substance in 2009 and serving a two-year suspension, Merritt needed a challenge to the Court of Arbitration for Sport to become eligible to compete in London. He is once again the favorite after running a time of 44.12 seconds at the United States trials. His longtime rival and teammate Jeremy Wariner did not qualify, but Merritt still has challengers in one of track’s most brutal races. Oscar Pistorius of South Africa is not among them, though he will be the focus of the early rounds as he becomes the first double amputee to compete in the Olympics. One of those with a chance for gold is 19-year-old Kirani James, the Grenadian who beat Merritt at the 2011 world championships but has looked more vulnerable this year as he has juggled college studies and training. There are also Belgium’s Borlée brothers (Kevin and Jonathan) and another teenager, Luguelín Santos of the Dominican Republic, just 18, who is the world junior champion but ran a very mature 44.45 this season. MEN’S 110 HURDLES Two former Olympic champions should be in the final: Liu Xiang of China and his longtime rival, Dayron Robles of Cuba. But in this most unpredictable (and spectacular) race, one misjudgment, one clipped hurdle can make the difference between gold and fourth. Robles, still holder of the world record with a time of 12.87, has not come close to breaking 13 seconds this year. Aries Merritt of the United States has broken that barrier in his last three races and has the fastest legal time of the season: 12.93 seconds. There is also Jason Richardson, last year’s surprise world champion from the United States, and the fast-improving European champion Sergey Shubenkov of Russia, whose mother, Natalya, was a former elite heptathlete. WOMEN’S HIGH JUMP The event’s biggest star, Blanka Vlasic — the towering Croat who likes to throw down a few dance moves between jumps — will not, sadly, be competing in London because of injury. With Vlasic missing, the most logical candidate for gold is her longtime rival, Anna Chicherova of Russia, who won the world title last year. But the American Chaunte Lowe has been the most consistent performer and beat Chicherova to win the world indoor title in March. Also in the field is Tia Hellebaut, the Belgian who won the 2008 Olympic title, then retired to start a family. She has since had two children, but then motherhood is nothing unusual for the world’s best in this event. Lowe also has two children, and Chicherova has one.

Track and Field
Athletics and Sports
Olympic Games (2012)


Candidate Drops Bid for Congress

Abstract: A vice chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority , who was expected to pour his own money into a bid for Congress, abruptly dropped out of the running yesterday. The candidate, Andrew M. Saul, issued a statement saying that he was stepping down as a candidate in the 19th District “due to personal reasons.” Mr. Saul, a Katonah millionaire, had been seeking the Republican nomination to run against the Democratic incumbent, John Hall, who was elected to his first term last year. Mr. Saul’s campaign had raised $782,000 through Sept. 30, according to federal election filings. That amount included $100,000 of his own money. A spokesman for Mr. Saul’s campaign did not return calls last night. The New York Times reported on Saturday that Mr. Saul’s campaign had received donations from real estate executives involved in the bidding for the development rights to the M.T.A.’s West Side railyards in Manhattan.

Metropolitan Transportation Authority
Elections
Saul Andrew M


Despite Assurances on Milk, Radiation Fear Lingers

Abstract: SAN FRANCISCO — By scientific standards, the radiation found over the last week in batches of milk on the West Coast was minuscule and, moreover, not dangerous to humans. But the mere mention of any contamination in that most motherly of beverages still stirred concern in people like Marilyn Margulius, an interior designer from Berkeley, Calif., who called her daughter on Thursday and told her not to let her 10-year-old son drink milk. “There is a big trust issue with this,” said Ms. Margulius, 71, who was shopping at a Whole Foods Market in Berkeley. “The health department does not want people to panic. Milk is probably O.K., but who the heck knows?” There have been repeated public assurances this week — officials said an adult would need to drink thousands of liters of the milk containing radiation at the levels found so far before it would be remotely dangerous. Officials also tried to tamp down anxiety from dairy farmers concerned about bad press. “I’ve had members call to ask whether we’ve seen the media, and media calling to ask how this is impacting our members,” said Michael Marsh, the chief executive of Western United Dairymen , the milk industry’s West Coast trade association. Mr. Marsh said he had repeated the assurances given by officials, but he also understood the fears in the supermarket’s refrigerated aisle. “Consumers, doubtless, when they hear about something like this, the cautionary principle kicks in,” he said. “Even if you’d have to drink an oil tanker of this.” Dr. Elizabeth N. Pearce , an associate professor of medicine at the Boston University School of Medicine and an expert on the thyroid, where radioactive iodine is often absorbed, said there was no health risk, even for small children, from milk on American shelves. Still, she said, “If people feel safer not drinking it, there are no long-term health effects from abstaining for two weeks, either.” The alarm was sounded on Wednesday, when federal officials announced that tests had detected a trace amount of iodine 131 — a radioactive byproduct released by leaks at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan — in a sample taken on March 25 in Spokane, Wash. The level of radiation was tiny and would have to be more than 5,000 times higher to reach the “intervention level” set by federal officials. Jason Kelly, a spokesman for the Washington State Department of Agriculture, said the positive sample came from a gallon of pasteurized whole milk produced at the Darigold plant in Spokane, which processes milk from a number of farms in Washington and Idaho. Jim H. Klein, a spokesman for Darigold, said milk from the Spokane plant was distributed in the Northwest, but said there was no reason for concern. Some people even saw a potential silver lining in their bottom line. Mike Vieira, owner of a small dairy west of Spokane that produces about 250 gallons of milk a day, said the scare might be good for his business because customers know where his milk comes from, as opposed to milk from larger dairies that is pooled at a processing plant. “We’ve had regular customers come to the farm buying milk,” he said. “And they’re buying six or eight gallons.” The California health department also confirmed Wednesday that it had detected a tiny amount of radioactive iodine in a sample collected Monday from a dairy in San Luis Obispo County on the state’s Central Coast. Milk in San Luis Obispo is regularly tested because the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant is on the county’s southern coast. Officials said that monitoring — done weekly since the crisis began — was accountable for finding the contamination. Dr. Penny Borenstein, the county’s public health officer, said that the tests would continue and that dairy products would continue to be safe. “The situation in Japan continues to evolve, but we are still 6,000 miles away.”

Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (Japan)


Boston Officials Move Quickly to Share Video in Terrorism Suspect’s Shooting

Abstract: BOSTON — Immediately after the police and the F.B.I. on Tuesday shot and killed a black Muslim man who had been under surveillance for possible terrorism, law enforcement officials moved quickly to share information with civic and religious leaders, hoping to quell any potential unrest. Officials had vowed after a fatal shooting by the police in March to release any surveillance video as quickly as possible, and this was the first chance since then to exercise the policy. After the Tuesday shooting of the man, Usaama Rahim, 26, his brother wrote an incendiary post on his Facebook page claiming that the police had shot his brother in the back. As that post began gaining acceptance, police officials contacted civic, civil rights and Christian and Muslim leaders to tell them that the suspect had lunged at officers with a large knife and that they had shot him in the front, not the back. Within 24 hours, the Boston police commissioner, William Evans, and the Suffolk County district attorney, Daniel F. Conley, had gathered a select group and played a video from a surveillance camera at Burger King near the shooting. Many in the group later verified the police account. “Based on the video that we saw, I would 150 percent collaborate what the commissioner had just stated,” said Darnell Williams, president of the Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts. He added that Mr. Rahim “was not shot in the back.” With shootings of black men by police officers across the country setting off violence and racial strife, the authorities here have tried to defuse potential tinderbox situations as quickly as possible. The effort is in sharp contrast to what has occurred in cities like Ferguson, Mo., North Charleston, S.C., and Baltimore, where a lack of information often helped to fan the unrest. “The first rule — and something that was reinforced by Ferguson, where this was not done — is that when you have a shooting, you get as much information out as quickly as possible,” said Raymond W. Kelly, the former New York City police commissioner. Boston’s response has won praise for its speed and transparency. And as many police departments decide whether to require body cameras on officers and in squad cars, analysts said it could bolster the case for video. Image Usaamah Rahim “This example shows why those cameras often benefit the police,” said Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the law school at the University of California, Irvine. While video is becoming ever more omnipresent, Mr. Chemerinsky said what was unusual in this case was that the government released it. “Often, the video is taken by bystanders,” he said. Even here, the video did not satisfy everyone who watched it or put to rest all the questions surrounding the incident. Abdullah Faaruuq, an imam at the Mosque for the Praising of Allah in Boston, who watched the video, called it “inconclusive” because he could not see whether Mr. Rahim had brandished a knife. He agreed on the crucial point: “He wasn’t shot in the back.” But he told reporters Thursday that whatever bad decisions Mr. Rahim may have made, they did not warrant his death. The police and the F.B.I. had Mr. Rahim under surveillance for some time and said he was planning to decapitate police officers with a military-style knife. At a news conference on Thursday afternoon, Ronald S. Sullivan Jr., a Harvard Law School professor, said he was representing the Rahim family. He said he was concerned that the police appeared to have had no surveillance warrants. But he said the family was grateful for the chance to see the video before it became public, which they did Thursday evening. Mr. Conley said that in deference to the family’s wishes, the video would not be released to the public until after Mr. Rahim’s funeral, which is scheduled for Friday. By and large, the decision to show the video quickly appeared to keep tensions at a minimum. Even the brother who had written the incendiary Facebook post issued a statement calling for calm; Mr. Sullivan said the brother had subsequently learned that he had been misinformed about what had happened, and regretted his earlier post. On Thursday morning, Commissioner Evans and Mayor Martin J. Walsh attended a previously scheduled informal coffee with residents of Roslindale, the Boston neighborhood where the shooting took place. Many residents of the middle-class community had nothing but praise for the police. “I think they acted totally responsibly,” said Eileen Quinn, 54, a medical technologist. “I’m glad they’re on top of these things,” she added, saying she had no problem with the F.B.I.’s surveillance of the suspect. Edward F. Davis, who was Boston’s police commissioner during the 2013 Marathon bombings, said Tuesday’s shooting highlighted how complicated and delicate a police officer’s job had become. Video Boston’s police commissioner, William Evans, discussed on Wednesday a video that captured officers shooting a terrorism suspect carrying a knife. “We’re in a time now where police are under an extreme amount of scrutiny for use of force,” he said. “But at the same time, while we want police to be more engaged with the public, we’ve got ISIS advocating for the assassination of police and bringing a war-zone type of mentality to our shores.” Mr. Evans said the decision to show the video was “all about pulling the community together.” In an interview Thursday, he said the strategy was part of a commitment the city made in March, after a suspect shot a police officer, John Moynihan, point blank in the face during a traffic stop. The gunman was killed and the subsequent release of that video set a precedent that Mr. Evans and Mr. Conley, the district attorney, said the city would follow, regardless of what the video showed. “Whether it’s good video or bad video, we made that commitment,” Mr. Evans said. “We don’t want what’s happening across the nation to be happening here in the city.” Mr. Kelly, the former New York police commissioner, said that releasing video was not quite standard operating procedure for most police departments but was becoming so. “They’ve become a lot more savvy; they understand the 24-hour news cycle,” he said. “The notion that you can say, ‘Well, the investigation is continuing’ while there is video out there and you try to sit on it — those days are over.” Peter Moskos, a former police officer in Baltimore who now teaches at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, said that transparency and the quick release of information was an obvious common-sense approach, one that surprisingly few police departments had adopted. “In Ferguson there was a lot of evidence supporting the cops, but the police handled it so poorly,” Mr. Moskos said. “You’d expect a little more enlightenment in Boston, and I think you’re getting that.” “It’s not quite rocket science,” he said, “but still, they should be applauded for not being stupid. And they actually did a good job.”

Police Brutality,Police Misconduct,Police Shootings


Senate Democrats Offer a Budget, Then the Amendments Fly

Abstract: An updated version of this article can be found here . WASHINGTON — And on the 1,448th day without one, the Senate Democrats finally brought forth a budget, and Republicans saw that was good — but first, they made them pay. After four years of hectoring Democrats to put their political and fiscal priorities to paper, Republicans got their wish on Friday and answered the effort with hundreds of amendments, some politically charged, others just odd, kicking off hours of laborious votes that sent the chamber into a marathon session just before spring recess. There was the amendment thwarting regulations of greater and Gunnison sage grouse and eliminating funds to monitor the Utah prairie dog . In case a state court ruling was not enough, Senator Ted Cruz, Republican of Texas, wanted to make sure money would be there to prevent the regulation of the size and quantity of food and beverage. Senator David Vitter, Republican of Louisiana, stood vigil against any attempt by the United Nations to register American guns. Senator Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky, went one better, demanding that the United States withdraw from the United Nations. Another amendment demanded that President Obama buy his health coverage on the new insurance exchanges being created under the new law. Still another would withhold the pay of the president’s budget director if he was ever late again with a White House budget. It was approved by voice vote, without opposition. And even if any of those were to be adopted, none of them would have any force of law. “We all know this will come to naught. The House will pass a budget. We’ll pass a budget, and we’ll never agree on it. There’s a lot of folderol about it,” said Senator Tom Harkin, Democrat of Iowa. Image Senator Marco Rubio aboard a Senate subway car on Friday. Credit Christopher Gregory/The New York Times “It’s a charade,” said Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona. After all the complaints about Democratic irresponsibility on the budget front, what unfolded Friday boiled down to spectacle, hundreds of amendments, all advisory only, and more tailored to the next campaign than to actual governance. Even the name of the session — the “vote-orama” — belied how seriously senators take the exercise. “Can’t hide from the vote-orama,” trumpeted a statement by the National Republican Senatorial Committee, pretty much showing the whole point of it. In truth, a Congressional budget accomplishes far less than advertised. It sets top-line limits for the Appropriations Committees to live within as they work on the real, binding spending bills, and it sometimes sets up fast-track procedures to consider changes to tax and entitlement laws. Even those two functions can happen only if the Senate and House can reconcile their budget plans, a long shot this year. Beyond that, all the details hung onto the document are largely meaningless, ignored by the committees that actually draft legislation. “Are there political games being played? Yes, there always will be,” said Senator Tom Coburn, Republican of Oklahoma, who had filed 66 amendments by evening. Senators signaled widespread frustration on Friday night by adopting a nonbinding amendment, 68-31, to scrap the current budget process and start writing budgets every other year. Image Staff members packed props to be used in the debate. The discussion, much of it politically charged and largely meaningless, was expected to last into the early morning hours. Credit Christopher Gregory/The New York Times Most lawmakers expressed relief that finally, after so many years, the Senate was working on a budget. Its plan stands in stark contrast to the House plan that passed on Thursday. It includes $100 billion for an upfront job-creation and infrastructure program, instructions to expedite an overhaul of the tax code that would raise $975 billion over 10 years and could not be filibustered, and spending cuts and interest savings that total $975 billion, by Democratic calculations, and $646 billion in increases, by Republican accounting. Even by Democratic estimates, the Senate plan would still leave a deficit of $566 billion in 2023, while adding $5.2 trillion to the federal debt over the next decade. The House plan ostensibly comes to balance that year. That discrepancy did not dampen the enthusiasm. “We’re doing our jobs. We’re doing the process,” said Senator Amy Klobuchar, Democrat of Minnesota. “Our constituents are just so happy we’re moving forward on a budget.” But such big numbers seemed almost beyond the point Friday, buried in a blizzard of meaningless amendments. The term “vote-orama” officially entered the Senate lexicon in 1977, according to the Senate historian’s office. By 2009, it had become ridiculous enough to prompt a hearing to demand changes. At that time, Democratic and Republican Budget Committee leaders lamented a process that had gone off the rails. In 2006, senators submitted 87 amendments. In 2007, there were 91, in 2008, 113. This year, there were more than 500. The main function of the vote-orama is to put senators on record on hot-button issues sure to show up in campaigns next year. Some votes were substantive, if nonbinding. On Friday evening, 62 senators — Republican and Democratic — voted in favor of building the Keystone XL pipeline. Democrats forced Republicans to vote on women’s access to employer-provided contraceptive coverage and to state whether they supported turning Medicare into a program that hands out vouchers for the purchase of private insurance. Republicans put almost all Democrats on the record opposing an amendment to block a carbon tax. And though advisers to the Republican senatorial committee helped coordinate some of the amendments, the chairman of the campaign committee, Senator Jerry Moran of Kansas, was not at all sure the votes would make a bit of political difference. “I think voting records matter,” he said. “But I also know the public hears explanations about votes from Republicans and Democrats, and it’s hard to sort out what it really means. In the world of all this political activity and buzz, voters throw up their hands, shake their heads and say: ‘All these people in Washington, D.C., are a bunch of politicians. I don’t know what to believe.’ ”

Senate
Democrats
Republicans
Legislation
Federal Budget
Congress
US Politics


Egyptian Forces Shut Civic Groups, Drawing U.S. Protest

Abstract: CAIRO — Security forces shut down three American-financed democracy-building groups and as many as six other nonprofit organizations on Thursday, in a crackdown that signaled a new low in relations between Washington and Egypt ’s military rulers. Two of the organizations, the National Democratic Institute and the International Republican Institute , had been formally authorized by the Egyptian government to monitor the parliamentary elections set to resume next week. Critics said the surprise raids contradicted the military’s pledge to hold a fair and transparent vote. The other American-financed pro-democracy group whose offices were closed, the advocacy group Freedom House, had completed its application for official recognition just three days ago. An American group that helps train Egyptian journalists was among the other nonprofit groups raided. Human rights activists said security forces barging into the offices of respected international organizations was unprecedented, even under the police state of President Hosni Mubarak , who was ousted this year. The raids are the latest and most forceful effort yet by the country’s ruling generals to crack down on perceived sources of criticism amid rising calls from Egyptian politicians and protesters and some Western leaders for the military to hand over power to a civilian government. Those calls were punctuated by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton ’s expression of outrage last week over the military’s beating and stripping of female demonstrators in Tahrir Square. On Thursday, a State Department spokeswoman announced that it was “deeply concerned” by the raids. “Suffice it to say we don’t think that this action is justified,” the spokeswoman, Victoria Nuland, said. “We want to see the harassment end,” she added, calling the raids “inconsistent with the bilateral cooperation we’ve had over many years.” Another senior administration official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that in private channels, the United States had sent an even stronger message: “This crosses a line.” “It’s triggered by ongoing concerns about control,” the official added, as the ruling military council confronted the mounting pressure to hand over power. Others called the raids a major challenge to Washington’s policy toward Egypt, which receives $1.3 billion a year in American military aid. “It is a major escalation in the Egyptian government’s crackdown on civil society organizations, and it is unprecedented in its attack on international organizations like Freedom House, which is funded in large part by the United States government,” said Charles Dunne, director of Middle East and North Africa Programs at the organization, which advocates democratic reforms. “The military council is saying we are happy to take your $1.3 billion a year, but we are not happy when you do things like defending human rights and supporting democracy.” The state news media said that the raids were part of an investigation into what it described as illegal foreign financing. Contingents of soldiers and security officers armed with automatic weapons and wearing bulletproof vests burst into the offices of the nonprofit organizations at roughly the same time Thursday, around 1 p.m. The officers provided no warrants or explanations, according to officials at several of the groups. They detained the groups’ employees inside for more than five hours in some places. The security forces collected stacks of binders and files, confiscated computers, and sealed the doors as they left. At the National Democratic Institute’s office in Cairo, armed men in uniforms and plain clothes could be seen through a locked gate slicing open boxes of files stacked in a garage. “Nobody understands what’s going on,” said Belal Mostafa Gooda, an Egyptian employee of the National Democratic Institute, in a furtive phone call from inside its locked gate during the raid. “We can’t move inside or go outside,” he said, adding, “They’re searching all the papers and files and all laptops, and we don’t know what will happen.” The National Democratic Institute receives United States government financing, promotes democracy abroad and says it is loosely affiliated with the Democratic Party . The International Republican Institute also receives government money, and is affiliated with some prominent Republicans. The raids hit at least one German democracy-building group. The security forces also struck the Egyptian Budgetary and Human Rights Observatory, which studies the military and its spending. The officers also shut down an organization that argues for judicial independence. Egyptian human rights groups are almost completely dependent on foreign financing because the hostility of the Mubarak government scared away Egyptian donors, and many received considerable support from the European Union as well as the United States. But Egypt’s military rulers began railing against the dangers of foreign financing to Egyptian sovereignty around the time last spring that the United States said it would allocate $65 million to help foster electoral democracy here. Although the United States is Egypt’s most important benefactor, its policies in the region are also very unpopular here, making it an easy target. Egyptian state news media have made it clear since the military-led government began investigating allegations of improper financing months ago that its principal target was money from the United States; in the most notable instance, a state-owned magazine greeted the new American ambassador, Anne W. Patterson, a few months ago with a cartoon cover depicting her holding wads of burning cash in the middle of Tahrir Square. “Ambassador from Hell,” read the caption. As new clashes have broken out between the military police and protesters challenging military rule — more than 80 have died since October — the generals have often warned that there are “hidden hands” trying to stir up trouble or “bring down the state.” They have increasingly suggested that those hidden hands could be foreign-financed. In a television interview last month, Maj. Gen. Mamdouh Shaheen suggested several times that the investigation into foreign financing of nongovernment organizations would shed light on the unnamed instigators who he said were behind the protests and clashes in the streets. “There are hidden hands playing in the country,” he said. “We tell the Egyptian people, and the Egyptian people are smart, that there are people who are trying to demolish the country.” Most human rights and democracy groups in Egypt already operate in a legal twilight because of Mubarak-era laws allowing only nongovernment organizations licensed by the government. Before and after his ouster, the Egyptian government has seldom granted such licenses to genuinely independent organizations. “We are in the same gray zone everybody else is,” said Heba Morayef, a researcher with Human Rights Watch here, a group that was not raided. “We are not licensed and we can be shut down and jailed and all of that, but we keep the authorities informed.” After the revolution, she said, most such groups expected their lot to improve: “I don’t think anybody expected there would be a new crackdown.”

Egypt
Cairo
Nonprofit
Human Rights
Arab Spring
International relations


Syracuse Upsets Louisville; Baylor Women Hold On

Abstract: Rakeem Christmas rebounded from his worst game of the season, scoring 29 points and blocking four shots as host Syracuse dispatched No. 12 Louisville, 69-59, on Wednesday night. It was the first game between the teams as members of the Atlantic Coast Conference. Syracuse (17-9, 8-5) was coming off an 80-72 home loss to No. 4 Duke, a game in which Christmas was outplayed by the freshman Jahlil Okafor. Louisville (20-6, 8-5) was trying to bounce back from a home loss to North Carolina State on Saturday but was without the senior guard Chris Jones, who was suspended for violating team rules and did not make the trip. WISCONSIN 55, PENN STATE 47 Sam Dekker scored 22 points, and Frank Kaminsky added 16 as No. 5 Wisconsin overcame a late surge by host Penn State. Dekker and Penn State’s D. J. Newbill waged an entertaining battle, with Newbill scoring 29 points, but the next-highest scorer for Penn State (15-12, 3-11 Big Ten) was Brandon Taylor, with 7. The Badgers (24-2, 12-1) were aided by Nigel Hayes’s 13 rebounds and 9 points. Wisconsin is off to the best start in the program’s history. NORTHERN IOWA 58, LOYOLA 39 Seth Tuttle and Nate Buss each had 10 points, and No. 11 Northern Iowa won its 14th straight, routing host Loyola (16-11, 6-9 Missouri Valley Conference). The Panthers (25-2, 14-1) are one win from matching the 2009-10 team’s program-record streak. IOWA ST. 70, OKLAHOMA ST. 65 Jameel McKay had career highs of 17 points and 14 rebounds to help No. 14 Iowa State (19-6, 9-4 Big 12) win on the road against No. 22 Oklahoma State (17-9, 7-7). McKay, a 6-foot-9 forward, created problems on both ends of the floor with his leaping ability. He made 13 of 18 free-throw attempts, blocked four shots and had nine offensive rebounds. ARKANSAS 84, MISSOURI 69 Michael Qualls had 21 points, and No. 18 Arkansas beat visiting Missouri (7-19, 1-12 Southeastern Conference) for its fifth straight victory. The Razorbacks (21-5, 10-3) are off to their best start to conference play since 1997-98. WOMEN BAYLOR 67, TEXAS TECH 60 Niya Johnson scored 17 points to help No. 3 Baylor prevail at Texas Tech (15-11, 5-9 Big 12). The win, the Lady Bears’ 24th straight, ensured that Baylor (25-1, 14-0) would earn at least a share of the Big 12 title with Oklahoma, its fifth straight regular-season conference championship and sixth over all. The Lady Raiders closed the gap to 61-59 on an Amber Battle basket with 1 minute 28 seconds left, but Baylor’s Sune Agbuke made a quick layup. Battle then hit a free throw, but Johnson sank two free throws to seal the win.

College basketball
Syracuse University
University of Louisville


Enter Rose, a Broadway Rat With a Past

Abstract: This is the story of 500 rats on the West Side Highway and one who ventured east. They were not your typical city rats. They were albinos, white with pink eyes, the kind people keep as pets or tinker with in labs or raise to feed to snakes. Last July, they began to appear in a kite-shaped median between the highway and an exit lane onto West 57th Street, across from a Sanitation Department garage: first a few rats, then a few dozen, then so many that they were a blur of white in the undergrowth, a scurrying time-lapse. How the rats got there remains a mystery. But one of them was Rose. She was near the end of childhood, 5 weeks old and fully furred. There was no food or water for the rats on their little island. Many of them ran out onto the 10-lane highway, made for the riverfront, met with bad ends. (It did not help that albino rats are mostly blind.) Rose stayed on the median, huddled with her family. Eventually, the rats drew wider attention. On July 14, Gothamist ran an article quoting a biologist who said they were doomed. The city’s rat-rescue community sprang to action . Hundreds of beautiful rats, in mortal danger. Rescuers showed up that night with boxes and buckets and cat carriers, grabbing all they could catch . “At the beginning there’s so many it was like picking up daisies,” said Lisa Anselmo, who helped find homes for more than 50. The next day, the city health department, citing “public safety concerns,” set out poison. The rescuers raced back to the median, scooping up rats, furious at the injustice. These were domestic animals, pets, like hamsters or guinea pigs, except a lot smarter and more social, quicker to bond with their keepers. Video A rat abandoned on the West Side Highway last summer reaches the bright lights of Broadway. Credit Credit Nicole Bengiveno/The New York Times “What other species would be treated this way?” Ms. Anselmo asked. “Imagine if they were puppies. “The entire thing was insane.” That night or possibly the next, Rose was rescued. She and two others her age were adopted by an animal trainer named Lydia DesRoche. Ms. DesRoche called them the Golden Girls and named them Rose, Blanche and Dorothy. She meant to foster the sisters only long enough to find them a home. But they were so shy they would not come out of their cage, so she kept them at her apartment uptown. She left the cage open and made a little ramp down to her bed so they could visit her. She fed them corn and peas and edamame and yogurt and avocado sushi and bits of dark chocolate. Weeks turned to months. Rose grew up, grew bolder. She explored Ms. DesRoche’s living room, and dominated the other rats. Destiny was making plans. Ms. DesRoche is the trainer for the Broadway hit “ The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time ,” which features a rat, played by an albino named Toby . In mid-December, Toby fell ill with tumors . Her understudy, Tulip, stepped into the role, but she was a reluctant performer. She hid in her cage until she had to go on. “Tulip has accepted her fate,” Ms. DesRoche said, “but she has not taken a liking to the stage.” Toby’s recovery grew protracted. She needed more operations. She broke a foot . Tulip, with no understudy, was doing eight shows a week, showing stress. Just before New Year’s Ms. DesRoche took Rose to the theater for a taste of the footlights. It was love at first sight. Ms. DesRoche began bringing Rose every day, wearing her in a carrier around her neck as she made her rounds before the show and backstage for Tulip’s entrances and exits. On Jan. 14, Rose accompanied Ms. DesRoche to the Ethel Barrymore Theater and stopped in the green room for some social time with Tyler Lea and Benjamin Wheelwright, the two young actors who play the lead character. Image Rehearsing with the actor Tyler Lea. Credit Nicole Bengiveno/The New York Times Rose crawled across Mr. Wheelwright’s arm, down his shirt, over to Mr. Lea. She sat calmly in Mr. Lea’s hand — the first time she had let him hold her. He stroked her back. And then Rose did something special. She bruxed, and she boggled. Bruxing is when a rat grinds its incisors together. Boggling , a muscular side effect of bruxing, is when a rat bugs its eyes in and out rapidly , like a possessed vaudeville comic. They are the ultimate indicators of a relaxed, happy rat. “Oh, my God!” Ms. DesRoche said. “I found her sweet spot,” Mr. Lea said. Back upstairs in the fifth-floor rat dressing room, Rose crawled out of her little red cage and over to the identical one Tulip uses onstage, standing atop it like King Kong on the Empire State Building. “This one is ‘All About Eve,’ ” Ms. DesRoche said. “I want the real cage! Give me the real cage!” Rose’s wish is coming true: It was decided that she would alternate with Tulip, who has upped her game of late. There was a final rehearsal Wednesday night. Mr. Wheelwright as Christopher, a teenager with Asperger’s, was in a train station, trying to navigate the crowds. He picked up Rose in her cage, ran upstage and down, spun in circles, set the cage down and opened it. Rose popped her head out, unfazed. Mr. Wheelwright leaned toward her with a tsk-tsk noise: Rose’s cue to kiss him. She demurred. “We’re still working on the kiss,” Ms. DesRoche said. “She’ll get it.” “Given that she was abandoned along the median of the West Side Highway, I had absolutely zero expectations,” she said. “I just wanted to give her a decent life. Who knew?”


Britain: Dalai Lama Meets Myanmar Opposition Leader

Abstract: The Dalai Lama , Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader, said Wednesday that he had met with Myanmar ’s opposition leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi , in London. In a message posted on his Web site, he said they had met privately on Tuesday for around 30 minutes. He said he told Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi that he had “real admiration” for her courage and that he believed she would be of “great service to humanity.” The meeting coincided with Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi’s 67th birthday, as she made her first visit to Europe in 24 years. She was freed from house arrest in 2010.