Syrian Opposition Gets Supplies but Unity Is Elusive

Abstract: ANTAKYA, Turkey — The onetime ragtag militias of the Syrian opposition are developing into a more effective fighting force with the help of an increasingly sophisticated network of activists here in southern Turkey that is smuggling crucial supplies across the border, including weapons, communications gear, field hospitals and even salaries for soldiers who defect. The network reflects an effort to forge an opposition movement linking military, governmental and humanitarian organizations, that together can not only defeat the vastly superior military of President Bashar al-Assad , but also replace his government. While it is far too early to speak of a state within a state, the rising sophistication of the effort underscores the evolving nature of the conflict and how control over the north and northwestern areas of the country is slowly slipping away from the government. The network is emerging at a time of heightened tensions with Turkey and amid reports of multiple defections of high-ranking officers from the Syrian Army, many of whom are now helping the opposition. Turkey will sit down on Tuesday with its NATO allies to discuss a response to the downing of one of its warplanes by Syrian gunners, while on Monday Turkey reported that a general and two colonels had defected from Syria on Sunday, bringing the total to more than a dozen. The undertaking by the opposition here constitutes more than just ferrying much-needed supplies. The larger, more elusive goal is to create cohesion and cooperation between the scattered militias that constitute the Free Syrian Army, as well as whatever local civilian rule has emerged. There are now 10 military councils inside Syria, activists said, incorporating virtually every important town or rural area in revolt, with the notable exception of Homs, where factional differences continue to stymie unity. Activists working with the Syrian National Council, the main Syrian exile group, issue monthly pay packets, starting at $200 per soldier, with more for officers as well as a stipend for the families of those killed. The money, said the activists, helps ensure the discipline among the military councils needed to engineer more choreographed attacks on the Assad military, rather than random acts of sabotage. “Military operations need to become more strategic,” said Hasan Kasem, 31, an activist who fled Aleppo, Syria, in February when he was summoned for military service. Maj. Gen. Robert Mood, the Norwegian head of the United Nations observers in Syria, told the Security Council last week that the resistance was increasingly effective, a diplomat who was present said. The general attributed that to more experience, rather than better weapons or increased coordination, but opposition activists disagreed. Mr. Kasem described how military leaders have divided Aleppo and areas west toward the Turkish border into five sectors under an overall military council called the Northern Free Brigades. “The group has changed from a voluntary military group into an actual body, a much more organized military structure,” Mr. Kasem said. “They either had to become an organized army, or become a gang.” The opposition effort now also involves shipping weapons that can challenge tanks. “It is not a decisive strategy yet, it is just an attempt to tinker with the military balance,” said one member of the Syrian National Council, speaking on the condition of anonymity because weapons smuggling is a secretive issue. Western governments have been reluctant to provide the opposition with large quantities of sophisticated weapons for fear they will fall into the wrong hands. Apparently aware of that concern, opposition officials say the recipients are carefully evaluated. “We need to vet people,” said one official, who was not authorized to speak publicly. “You don’t want to provide equipment to people you don’t know.” In the Aleppo countryside, each sector sends a representative to an operations room run by the military council, Mr. Kasem said. But activists admit to friction between the military councils and traditional civilian leaders from prominent families who stepped in when the Syrian government evaporated, and who resent being overshadowed. A generation gap aggravates the problem. The military leaders tend to be young defectors. The idea is to get the military councils to concentrate on tactical issues while the civilian governing structure, the revolutionary councils, distributes aid and keeps the peaceful protest movement alive. Essential to that task are people like Rami, a young Syrian activist with a ponytail, who would give only his first name. Until early last year, he was a successful financial executive in a Damascus media company. Now, he lives in a stark two-bedroom apartment here, where his effort to sustain the uprising includes packing small duffel bags with video cameras, satellite telephones and electronic devices that convert television dishes into transmitters. “When you are close like this, you feel that the spirit of the revolution is still with you, you are still part of it,” said Rami, his apartment stacked with floral print foam mattresses used by a steady stream of army defectors and activists. “In Istanbul or anywhere else, you are nothing, you are a person concerned with something happening in another place.” Some of the humanitarian efforts appear haphazard. In one house near the border, a group of men, their doormat a small gray carpet with the face of President Assad, run something like a mail-order business, handling a wide array of requests from inside Syria: medical supplies, freshly baked bread and fertilizer to construct crude explosives. With countless wounded rebels dying on the slow trek into Turkey for treatment, there is an ambitious effort to streamline and improve medical facilities. “The injuries are getting worse and worse,” said Dr. Monzer Yazji, 48, a Syrian-American specialist in internal medicine from Texas . Dr. Yazji helped found the Union of Syrian Medical Relief Organizations last January to channel financing from Syrian doctors around the world. From an apartment in the nearby border town of Reyhanli, Turkey, it sponsors an array of projects, including an effort to persuade individual doctors abroad to sponsor a Syrian doctor, donating medicine and a basic salary. The organization brought 70 activists from Syria and taught them how to transport badly injured patients. It began dispatching field hospitals across the border — about $20,000 in medical equipment in 20 boxes, enough to fill a small pickup truck — that allow doctors to perform rudimentary surgery. There are more permanent projects, like converting a two-story villa in a Syrian border town under rebel control into a 30-bed hospital. Syrian doctors living here acknowledged some tensions with the Turkish government over the time required for relief supplies to clear customs, as well as the government’s refusal to relax a ban on licensing foreign doctors. Numerous Syrian doctors have opened their own homes to patients with serious wounds. Talal Abdullah, the former humanitarian coordinator in the area for the Syrian National Council, said that at one point he crammed 12 patients into his apartment. There has also been discord among the Syrians, with Mr. Abdullah, a Christian dentist from Hama, quitting his council post because, he said, the Muslim Brotherhood pushed nonmembers aside. “Their power is that all the money and all the humanitarian aid is in their hands, but we don’t know where it is coming from,” he said. The Syrian government’s unwavering line is that the insurgency is a foreign operation intended to fragment Syria. American officials and Arab intelligence officers said a small unit of the Central Intelligence Agency was operating here, vetting who gets better arms. But it has not gone inside, the sources said. At least two activists admitted to knowing about contacts with American advisers over military tactics, but said nothing further. General Mood told the Security Council that his interpreters were able to identify a few foreigners from their accents, but no significant presence, the Council diplomat said. Most activists stressed that Syrians were simply fighting for a better life. “Syria will be divided over our dead bodies,” said Manhal Bareesh, 32, the son of a prominent Baath Party renegade in Idlib Province. “Every time someone dies, I feel it is a very high price.”

Syria
Turkey
Smuggling
Military
Bashar al-Assad
Free Syrian Army
Syrian National Council
Arab Spring


In Wisconsin, Feingold and Johnson Make Final Pitches

Abstract: OSHKOSH, Wis. — Ron Johnson , a Republican, stood in a suit and tie before a crush of supporters in a ballroom on Friday night and reminded them why a plastics manufacturer whom most voters had never heard of a year ago — or, as he described himself, “just a guy from Oshkosh” — had decided to mount a challenge for the United States Senate . The health care overhaul, Mr. Johnson told the crowd, had been the final straw. “The reason we’re doing this, the reason we’re here, is we think we’re losing America,” Mr. Johnson said. “We refuse to let America go without a knockdown, drag-out fight.” With that, a chant filled the hall: “U.S.A.! U.S.A.!” In final campaign commercials this weekend, Mr. Johnson and Senator Russ Feingold , a Democrat who has been on the ballot for state or federal offices in Wisconsin for 28 years, each wore a plaid shirt (yellow for Mr. Johnson, maroon for Mr. Feingold) as he spoke into the camera. Beyond that, the two have almost nothing in common — in their political outlook or closing pitches. Polls suggest that Mr. Feingold is trailing (a New York Times analysis rates the race as leaning Republican), and his last efforts were, on the one hand, to question what Mr. Johnson’s broad talk might look like as legislation and, on the other, to distance himself from any imagined lineup of Washington regulars ready to do whatever Democratic leaders desire — which is the exact image of independence he has tried to build over a long career. “I understand who I work for,” Mr. Feingold says in his last ad. “Not a political party. Not the special interests. I work for you.” As part of a frenetic swing around the state, Mr. Feingold breezed into a storefront office on Main Street here on Friday to thank and hug and brag on volunteers who were dialing their way down lists of likely voters as skies grew dark and a box of doughnut holes was emptied. “Keep up the fight,” one volunteer said into the ear of Mr. Feingold, who discounted claims that Democratic voters may be less than enthusiastic this election cycle. He boasted about his organization’s get-out-the-vote efforts and said Republicans had no such thing. “This is the best I’ve ever felt at the end of a campaign,” Mr. Feingold said. President Obama won Wisconsin by 14 points, but by this weekend Republican leaders were speaking, dreamily, of seizing the governor’s mansion, majorities in the State Assembly and Senate, and Mr. Feingold’s Senate seat. The possibilities, laid out by others before Mr. Johnson took the ballroom stage, thrilled an already ebullient crowd. Mr. Johnson, who has spent his own money on the race and won help from Tea Party members, gave credit to talk radio for much of his support and outlined his agenda one last time: to repeal the new health care laws and to bring a business sense to deal with spending and the debt, “so we do not turn America into Greece.” “What we are fighting for is our fundamental freedom!” Mr. Johnson said. When he stepped off the stage, the U2 song “Beautiful Day” began blasting, and Mr. Johnson was encircled by people seeking autographs on campaign signs, leaflets, even an old scrap of paper from someone’s purse. MONICA DAVEY

Wisconsin
Senate
Elections
Feingold Russell D
Johnson Ron (1955- )
United States Politics and Government
Republican Party
Democratic Party


Companies Bid to Operate New World Trade Center Observatory

Abstract: Seven companies submitted bids Monday afternoon to operate what will be New York City’s highest and largest observatory, at 1 World Trade Center , according to real estate executives. Observation decks like the two at the Empire State Building have become so lucrative that the bidding for the three-level attraction on floors 100 through 102 drew bidders from as far as Canada and France, as well as a local restaurant owner. Under the plans, five high-speed express elevators will transport visitors more than 1,200 feet above the street to a perch near the top of the tower, for $20 and $25 per person. The observatory will offer unobstructed views of the city, Long Island, New Jersey, and Westchester and Rockland Counties. Annual revenues could exceed $100 million. But the trade center observatory will have to compete not only with the Empire State Building, which draws four million visitors annually, and Top of the Rock , the observatory at 30 Rockefeller Plaza, but also with the Statue of Liberty and the National September 11 Memorial and Museum . The seven companies, which were ordered not to discuss their offers, submitted bids to the Durst Organization , which owns 1 World Trade Center with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey . The owners did not return calls seeking comment, but real estate executives briefed on the submissions identified the following bidders: ¶ Montparnasse 56 USA, an affiliate of the French firm that runs an observatory and roof terrace at the Montparnasse Tower in Paris. ¶ Legends Hospitality Management, which runs food services and merchandising at Yankee Stadium and the Dallas Cowboys Stadium. ¶ Danny Meyer, who owns a string of local restaurants, including Union Square Cafe, Blue Smoke and Shake Shack, and concessions at Citi Field and the Saratoga Race Course. He teamed up with GSM Projects, a Canadian firm. ¶ Aramark, a large food services company. ¶ Anthony E. Malkin, who operates the Empire State Building. Its 86th- and 102nd-floor observatories generate over $60 million a year in profit, more than any other deck. In the last decade, annual attendance has climbed to four million, from three million.


Britain Pledges to Hit NATO Military Spending Target

Abstract: LONDON — After months of pressure from the United States, Britain committed on Wednesday to meeting NATO ’s military spending target for the rest of the decade, as the government outlined broader plans to smooth the path toward healthy public finances. The announcement follows protracted discussions within the British government, and criticism from outside it, that Britain is retreating from its global role at a time of growing security challenges. Although Britain now exceeds NATO’s target figure for military expenditure of 2 percent of gross domestic product, experts had predicted that it would fall below the threshold because of government spending cuts. But in a budget statement on Wednesday, George Osborne, the chancellor of the Exchequer, made a surprise promise to hit the NATO figure “not just this year, but every year of this decade.” “We will ensure that this commitment is properly measured,” Mr. Osborne told lawmakers, “because we know that while those commitments don’t come cheap, the alternatives are far more costly.” Mr. Osborne’s pledge was welcomed by the American ambassador to London, Matthew Barzun , who wrote on Twitter that it proved “the indispensability of the U.K. to global security.” President Obama has raised the issue of the NATO spending target with Prime Minister David Cameron in private, and a public expression of concern about declining military spending in Britain was made by Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, the United States Army chief of staff. Along with France, Britain remains one of two European nations with a significant military capability and one of just a handful of NATO countries that meet the alliance’s spending expectations. But the British government has been stung by assertions that its global influence is receding. That impression has been fostered by years of cuts in military spending, a parliamentary vote in 2013 against airstrikes in Syria, and the discussion, before a referendum that is to be held by the end of 2017, on whether to leave the European Union. As Britain has battled to restore its public finances after the crash in 2008, military spending has been hit hard, and the British Army plans to reduce the number of professional troops by about 20 percent by 2020, to about 82,000. There has been a debate about whether Britain can afford its submarine-based nuclear deterrent, although the government is committed to keeping and updating it. Last month, Britain’s defense secretary, Michael Fallon, said that the British were “the good guys,” adding that seven of the 28 NATO nations “don’t even spend 1 percent; 20 of the 28 don’t spend 1.5 percent.” Yet until Wednesday, British ministers refused to promise that their country would continue to hit the NATO target, arguing that they first needed to conduct a wide-ranging military review. Over all, the financial plans outlined on Wednesday should deliver a budget surplus by 2019-20, a year later than originally expected. While deep cuts in public spending loom, Mr. Osborne said that in no year would reductions be as sharp as during the period from 2011 to 2013. Though Mr. Osborne has been chancellor of the Exchequer since 2010, his first five years in power were as part of a coalition government in which his center-right Conservative Party was constrained by a smaller, centrist political grouping. That made Mr. Osborne’s budget statement to Parliament on Wednesday the first from a Conservative majority government since 1996. Mr. Osborne also announced cuts in welfare payments and a reduction in the tax paid by corporations on their profits. His plans would, he said, create a “higher wage, lower tax, lower welfare country” and deliver “security to the people of Britain.”

NATO
Military
George Osborne
David Cameron
Conservative Party
Great Britain
Matthew W Barzun
US


By Sci-Fi Standards, Newest Robots May Disappoint

Abstract: HOMESTEAD, Fla. — The robot gently grabbed the door handle and pulled it open. But before it could shuffle through the frame, it lost its grip and the spring-loaded door slammed shut. Team Schaft, an elite group of former Tokyo University roboticists whose company was recently acquired by Google, is one of the favorites to win the Pentagon’s Darpa Robotics Challenge 2013 Trials. But in its first event on Friday, the team’s 4-foot-8, 210-pound Schaft HRP-2 robot was not perfect. The robot passed through just two of the three doors and as a result failed to get a valuable third point or a fourth bonus point. With computer technology and robot development rapidly advancing, the Robotics Challenge is a coming-out party of sorts for a new generation of robots that are being designed to walk around in the human environment and collaborate with people on tasks. But the event is much more than a robot showcase; it is also an attempt by the federal government to push technology forward, with the goal of creating machines that can be used in place of humans to perform dangerous tasks. Nine years ago, Darpa — the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency — sponsored the first of three autonomous vehicle “grand challenges.” That has led to an explosion of activity in self-driving cars. The agency is trying to repeat its success by offering a $2 million prize next year to the team that develops a robot that can perform a series of tasks simulating the kind of things a robot might be called upon to do in a disaster like a nuclear power plant meltdown. There have been a series of prechallenge events this year, building up to the “trials” here on Friday and Saturday. Even with all of that, expectations have been set low. Rightly so, apparently. The Schaft robot, even with its imperfections, performed better than many of the other competitors who have struggled with far easier tasks, like pressing the gas pedal in the golf-cart-like vehicle that the robots are supposed to control or making their way up a ladder. Many of the competitors are not even trying all of the eight required tasks, which include driving a car, breaking through a wall, operating power tools and removing debris. Gill Pratt, the roboticist and Darpa program manager who is in charge of the event, said Thursday that public perceptions of the state of robot science were unrealistic. “We’ve all seen science fiction movies,” he said at a news briefing. “And in science fiction movies, robots walk around quickly, they do nice things, sometimes not so nice — and in general they’re inside of action films.” He said one reason for the Darpa trials was to establish where the science stood, “as a reference point, as a way for us to learn what is the state of the art right now.” By the look of things here in the pit lane of the Homestead-Miami Speedway , humanoid robots will remain more science fiction than science fact for a while longer. Dr. Pratt, who before coming to Darpa was a pioneer in developing technologies that made it possible for robots to work in proximity to humans, has drawn an analogy between today’s robots and human 1-year-olds, who can barely walk and frequently lose their balance and topple over. The question is how quickly the robots will progress. In the case of self-driven vehicles, the rate of progress was much faster than predicted. Although the original event ended in failure in 2004, just a year and a half later a number of the vehicles were able on their own to complete a long course over desert roads. In 2010, Google shook up the automotive industry with the news that it was testing self-driving cars on California’s freeways. Now, in the 2014 model year, a number of car companies will offer a feature known as “traffic jam assist” in which cars will drive autonomously in limited freeway situations. To add realism to the 2013 Challenge event, Darpa officials have made it more difficult to control the robots by varying the amount of Internet bandwidth that is available to operators at its computer control station. In theory, that rewards teams whose designs are built around more self-guidance and punishes those who manually control or “teleoperate” their machines. At the trials, some autonomy is on display. For example, the Atlas robot that was designed for seven of the teams by Boston Dynamics , a Massachusetts company, has the ability to walk on its own, as well as balance, a challenging robotics feat. The Schaft robot climbs over a debris field largely on its own, with the operator selecting the positions for the robot to place its feet, but the robot then taking the steps on its own. Although the trials have shown so far that the teams are struggling to reach even the low bar that Darpa has set, there are expectations that a year from now, considerable progress will have been made. Indeed, at least one of the teams may try to automate their performance entirely next year. Darpa has specified, down to the tiniest detail, what it wants from the teams in the way of the contest, which will help any teams that want to go back to the lab to try again. “It’s not that different from the challenge faced by Disney engineers,” said Aaron Bobick, a Georgia Tech computer-vision specialist who is a member of the DRC-Hubo team led by Drexel University. And like the Walt Disney Company when designing a new thrill ride, he said, Darpa participants find that the challenge is to keep the ride on the rails.


Explosion Causes Extensive Disruptions to Travel in Manhattan

Abstract: The explosion in Manhattan — and the investigation that followed — caused extensive disruptions on Saturday night into Sunday for car traffic in a large area of the city and for mass transit. The Police Department issued an advisory around 1 a.m. on Sunday that 14th to 32nd Street was closed eastbound and westbound between Fifth and Eighth Avenues, essentially creating a huge zone cut off to cars. By 7 a.m., all of the streets and avenues had been reopened, except for West 23rd Street, which remained closed between Fifth and Eighth Avenues. Subways were bypassing 23rd Street stations on the West Side. The move was connected to the investigation, which included a search of the streets for other possible devices and debris from the explosion, and for video surveillance that might be useful, the police said.

Chelsea Bombing
Chelsea
Roads and Traffic
Delays


Trinity Mirror in Talks to Acquire Stake in Tabloid Publisher

Abstract: LONDON — The publisher of The Daily Mirror, a left-wing British tabloid, said on Tuesday that it was in early-stage talks to acquire a minority stake in a new company that would include assets of the Northern & Shell Media Group, which publishes two rival right-wing tabloids, The Daily Express and The Daily Star. Trinity Mirror, which publishes more than 150 newspapers in Britain and Ireland, including The Manchester Evening News, had shown interest in Northern & Shell’s newspaper brands as recently as two years ago . But no deal was reached, and Trinity Mirror instead purchased the newspaper publisher Local World Holdings in November 2015 for 187.4 million pounds, or about $229 million, including debt. Tuesday’s announcement came after Richard Desmond, the Northern & Shell Media Group chairman and founder, used his Twitter account to play down news reports that he was in talks to sell his newspapers. “No offer has been made and there is no certainty that any agreement will be reached,” Trinity Mirror said in a news release . Northern & Shell is the publisher of The Daily Express, The Sunday Express, The Daily Star and The Daily Star Sunday. The company has owned the tabloids since it acquired their publisher, Express Newspapers, in 2000. Northern & Shell previously owned the British television broadcaster Channel 5 but sold it to Viacom in 2014 for £450 million. Northern & Shell had acquired Channel 5 in 2010. Newspapers have struggled with falling circulation and declining print advertising in recent years, and publishers are looking to control costs to remain viable.

Trinity Mirror
Northern & Shell Media Group
Newspaper
Mergers and Acquisitions
Great Britain


Let It Snow. There’s Work to Be Done.

Abstract: Great news for employers: A blizzard is coming! When bad weather hits, workers get more productive. That’s the finding of new research that marries real world and laboratory data to show that the mere prospect of frolicking in the sun — even when workers stay at their desks — interrupts focus, slows task time and leads to greater error rates. “The greater the amount of rain, the better you are at completing a task,” said Jooa Julia Lee, a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard Law School who conducted the research with scholars from the business schools at Harvard and the University of North Carolina. The productivity pattern holds for snow, too. The research , published last year in The Journal of Applied Psychology , drew partly from data generated over two and a half years at a midsize Japanese bank in Tokyo. The study looked at 111 workers performing various data-entry tasks, generally menial, allowing researchers to capture the precise time it took the workers to finish a job and move to the next. The researchers matched individuals’ performance against Tokyo’s weather conditions and discovered a clear connection. As precipitation rose, task time fell, such that an inch of rain correlated with a 1.3 percent increase in productivity. For each individual worker, this is not a huge effect, the researchers acknowledged, but they also said it would add up; over a year, bad weather would be a productivity boon of $937,000 for the company and, extrapolated over the economy, hundreds of millions of dollars for Japan. (With bad weather, Dr. Lee inadvertently punned, the gains “snowball.”) Image Credit Michael Waraksa To support the findings, the researchers conducted an online study involving 329 participants who were asked to spend 30 minutes finding and correcting spelling errors in a short essay. The researchers then matched performance — speed and accuracy — against each subject’s local weather (as determined by ZIP code), and found that bad weather correlated with more efficiency and accuracy. To better understand the counterintuitive findings — conventional wisdom holds that bad weather leads to depressed moods and hampers performance — the researchers conducted several additional lab experiments on a rainy day. Study subjects were shown pictures of outdoor activities, asked to imagine themselves having fun and then given data entry tasks. Despite the bad weather outside, task performance fell for subjects who looked at pictures of fun-in-the-sun activities. This result told researchers that the mere idea of good weather led to distraction and falling productivity. But Dr. Lee doesn’t think the results mean that good weather is bad news for companies. Rather, she says, they might be able to capitalize on this research. For instance, they could offer flexible work schedules. Such a policy would allow workers to skip out in good weather rather than sit idly while distracted, but also recognize that they will most likely spend more time at the desk when skies darken. This research seems to apply to more menial tasks rather than creative ones, Dr. Lee said. In fact, she conjectured that good weather — by creating better moods and freer-flowing thoughts — might prompt employees “to think more outside the box.” In short, the research suggests, when the weather’s bad, employees should hunker down with those long-ignored expense reports. And the researchers offered a last bit of counsel: “Holding all other factors constant,” the research concludes, “locating operations in places with worse weather may be preferable.”

Weather
Productivity
Research
Jooa Julia Lee
Journal of Applied Psychology
Jobs


Egyptian Leader Apologizes to Victim of Sexual Assault in Tahrir Square

Abstract: CAIRO — President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt apologized on Wednesday to the victim of a mass sexual assault that took place in a crowd celebrating his election , declaring in a televised visit to her hospital bed that he urged every soldier, police officer and “chivalrous man” to eradicate such abuse. “I apologize to you, and as a state, we will not allow this to happen again,” Mr. Sisi said. “I am here to tell you and every Egyptian woman I apologize to all of you .” Credit Credit Video by ONtv Mr. Sisi’s visit and apology, on his third day in office, were orchestrated to convey his determination to combat sexual violence against women. It was a far more forceful expression of personal commitment than was ever made by his predecessors, Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood, whose military ouster Mr. Sisi led last year, or Hosni Mubarak, who was forced to resign amid a popular uprising in 2011. Escalating reports of such assaults in the three years of protests and tumult since the ouster of Mr. Mubarak have outraged many Egyptians , and Mr. Sisi’s apology followed two days of renewed public uproar after the release on Sunday of an online video showing flashes of a brutal attack on the woman in Tahrir Square. “Tahrir has cameras, and there is a video shot of me, and my daughter watches it every day and breaks down — it’s on YouTube,” said the woman, whose name was withheld and whose face was obscured in the television footage. Mr. Sisi responded, “Don’t be upset for yourself or for her.” He added that he was there to tell Egyptians, “Shame on you to let this happen even if it is one case in all of Egypt.” A former army general and defense minister, Mr. Sisi visited the hospital room flanked by senior military officials in their uniforms and brought a bouquet of red flowers. In a statement, Mr. Sisi’s office said that he had formed a ministerial committee including representatives of the relevant branches of government, the Muslim and Christian religious establishment, and “civil society” in order to “identify the underlying causes behind the proliferation of this phenomenon and delineate a national strategy to address it.”

Egypt
Tahrir Square
Abdel Fattah el-Sisi
Rape
Arab Spring
Women and Girls


Mistrust Threatens Delicate Balance at a Sacred Site in Jerusalem

Abstract: JERUSALEM — Amid roiling unrest over a contested Old City holy site, the Palestine Liberation Organization this month declared that the name used for the site by Jews, the Temple Mount, was “null and void.” Instead, the group said, the compound — “a symbol for all Palestinians” — must be called Al Aqsa Mosque or the Noble Sanctuary. A less-known Arabic and Islamic term for the revered plateau is Bait al-Maqdis, or “house of the holy” — the linguistic twin of the Hebrew Beit HaMikdash, which refers to the two ancient temples that once stood there. The Prophet Muhammad is said to have ascended to heaven from the site precisely because of the holiness of the temples, reflecting the intertwined history of Muslims and Jews, Israelis and Palestinians, whose decades-long conflict is as much about competing narratives as it is about claiming territory. The real struggle over the site, however, is not over semantics but over sovereignty, between two peoples who seem unable to find a way to simply share. After triumphantly seizing the site during the 1967 war, Israel quickly turned back all but security matters to the Islamic Waqf authorities. Now, as more and more Jews challenge Israel’s prohibition on their prayer in their religion’s most sacred space, many Palestinians fear that what they really want is to take over the entire compound and replace its Dome of the Rock with a third temple. “There’s the religious and there’s the political — they’ve both combined, and each one of them has become more sensitive than it was before,” said Sari Nusseibeh, a philosophy professor at Al Quds University whose family boasts a 1,300-year presence in Jerusalem. “Today, the question becomes: Is it our story or theirs?” he added. “So the whole thing is just a battle of beliefs, and it touches the deep core in each side’s creeds, the denying as well as the asserting.” Palestinian leaders, and relatives of the perpetrators of the five terrorist attacks that have killed 11 Israelis in the last month — including Tuesday’s deadly storming of a synagogue — contend that threats to the holy site were the prime motivation of the violence. The attacks, along with an attempted assassination of a leading agitator for Jewish presence at the site, have shattered Israelis’ sense of security but in many cases only strengthened their assertions of ownership. “Enough is enough,” Rabbi Benny Lau, a renowned modern-Orthodox figure who had previously opposed Jewish visitation to the site, said recently. “It can’t be that Muslims stand on the Mount, pray as they wish under the Waqf rule, and the Israeli nation will be degraded to the depths.” The site has been a flash point since the advent of modern Zionism. More than 100 people on each side died in a week of rioting in 1929 over access to the Western Wall below. In 1990, the Israeli border police killed 22 Palestinians protesting a Jewish group’s announced plans to lay the cornerstone of a third temple. More riots, after the 1996 opening of tunnels alongside the Western Wall, claimed the lives of about 60 Palestinians , including some security officers, and 15 Israeli troops. And four years later, a visit by Ariel Sharon , then a candidate for Israeli prime minister, helped set off the second intifada. “In the last 100 years, there were some waves,” said Yitzhak Reiter, a historian who specializes in conflict at sacred sites. “The extreme factions within both the Israeli and Palestinian communities realized that holy place is a symbolic asset, so to speak, in consolidating support for their struggle.” Temple denial, increasingly common among Palestinian leaders, also has a long history: After Israel became a state in 1948, the Waqf removed from its guidebooks all references to King Solomon’s Temple, whose location at the site it had previously said was “beyond dispute.” The 37-acre compound, sprawling over one-sixth of the Old City, has been a locus of Muslim worship since the seventh century. The entire site is considered a mosque called Aqsa — “farthest,” as the Quran describes it in Muhammad’s Night Journey. Besides the iconic Dome and Al Qibli, the shrine commonly referred to by the name Muslims prefer for the wider complex, Al Aqsa, it contains many mosques, domes, gates, schools, homes and a museum. Images of Al Aqsa hang in virtually every Palestinian home and have become a central component of political propaganda. Thousands of Palestinians, some secular, visit every week. Jewish history at the site dates back further — the First Temple was built by King Solomon in 957 B.C. — But only a small fraction of Israelis have ever set foot on the site, heeding longstanding rabbinical decrees that doing so is sacrilegious. Though Jews’ daily prayers include a petition that the Beit HaMikdash will “be speedily rebuilt in our days,” most imagine another temple as something that should await the Messiah. The Contested Site in Jerusalem The holy site in Jerusalem’s Old City, which Jews call Temple Mount and Muslims call the Noble Sanctuary, has long been a flash point in the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. In the current crisis, many Jews have pointed out that when Jordan occupied the Old City, between 1948 and 1967, they were barred not only from the Mount but also from the Western Wall, a remnant of the retaining wall around the Second Temple, which had become something of a stand-in and remains a pilgrimage point for Jews worldwide. Palestinians, in turn, complain that those who live in the West Bank and Gaza Strip are only rarely granted permits to go to Al Aqsa. The Israeli police also frequently limit access by age and gender, citing security concerns, and closed the site altogether after the shooting of the activist, though they have imposed no restrictions the last two Fridays. “The Israelis try to force it — it’s not through negotiation, it’s not through discussion, it’s not through any rational means: They use the police, they come in a brutal manner to take over the place,” said Ali Qleibo, a cultural anthropologist, who is not religious but still finds the site stirring. “It becomes political when other people try to take the symbol.” Israel’s prime minister has insisted he will not change the status quo, but legislation pending in Parliament would, to enshrine freedom of worship for all at the site. Professor Reiter said Palestinians feared a repeat of what happened in Hebron, where Jews were granted limited time and space for prayer at the Cave of the Patriarchs that “the settlers gradually expanded, and today the shrine is divided almost 50-50.” Mustafa Abu Sway, dean of Islamic studies at Al Quds University and a member of the Waqf council, said Islam does not prohibit outsiders from praying at Al Aqsa. The problem, he said, is that Parliament members have declared rebuilding the temple as their real goal. Many in the movement have played down rebuilding in recent years and instead focused on the fact that in the self-declared Jewish state, guards at the gate search their bags not for weapons but for prayer books. “I believe the temple has to be rebuilt because that is a very central and basic theme for the Jewish faith, but right now I’m not talking about rebuilding the temple, I’m talking about just being able to say ‘Shema Yisrael,’ ” said Rabbi Chaim Richman of the Temple Institute, referring to a Jewish prayer. “Of course I want to pray here. Why should I be ashamed? Isn’t that the most basic human right there is?” In Ron E. Hassner’s 2009 book “War on Sacred Grounds,” a chapter on “Successful Conflict Management” is about the 1967 handling of the site, which seems like a cruel joke today. Professor Hassner, a political scientist at the University of California, Berkeley, said Israel’s leading rabbis at the time, guided by the government, made what was “primarily a pragmatic decision” that the place was “so sacred you should not go.” “These rabbis never said the Temple Mount is not ours, they said it’s very much ours, the state of Israel ought to control it, we just aren’t permitted to walk there,” he said. “The security argument is also a religious argument, it’s an argument about the No. 1 principle in Judaism, which is thou shalt not spill blood.”

Jerusalem
Palestinians
Israel
Pilgrimage
Temple Mount,Nobel Sanctuary
PLO


Old Time Religion, and Hagiography

Abstract: If Mahalia Jackson ever spoke a cross word or had an impure thought, you won’t find out about it at the Hartford Stage. Tom Stolz’s “Mahalia — A Gospel Musical” treats the woman generally acknowledged to have been the world’s greatest gospel singer as if she were Saint Mahalia — and the audience as if it were at Sunday school instead of the theater. Ms. Jackson, who died in 1972, had a remarkable life. The granddaughter of slaves, she scaled the heights of 20th-century show business without ever singing a note of jazz or blues or rock ’n’ roll — unless, of course, the lyrics happened to praise the Lord. Then her voice could shout and keen and embroider melodies with the best, as her longtime accompanist, Mildred Falls, played what in any other context would be labeled barrelhouse piano. Halie, as she liked to call herself, sang her passionate brand of gospel for presidents and protesters, at tent meetings and at Carnegie Hall, and all over the world. She married twice, divorced twice, integrated a Chicago neighborhood, ran several businesses, mentored up-and-coming singers and avidly supported the civil rights movement. But for Mr. Stolz, only her message matters. His Halie dispenses a few biographical tidbits about her tough (but virtuous!) childhood in New Orleans and then sets off on her career, dutifully thanking Jesus for each blessing along the way. Periodically, the phone rings and Halie and her entourage are off to spread the word. Although Ms. Jackson performed frequently with choirs and combos, here she’s accompanied only by Miche Braden and JMichael. Ms. Braden pops up as needed here and there, but mostly she plays Mildred Falls, pounding the piano and adding a bit of comic relief with Mildred’s nervous-Nellie terrors. Mr. Michael spends some time at the organ, but he’s most impressive rendering the words of Martin Luther King Jr. as Halie becomes a fixture at rallies and marches. Of course, the main attraction in “Mahalia,” which is directed by Jeremy B. Cohen, is the phenomenal singing of Frenchie Davis. Ms. Davis has done lots of work in the theater since she was dropped from the second season of “American Idol” (the show goes unmentioned in her program credits). But she is not a trained actress, and she doesn’t have the tools to round out Mr. Stolz’s one-dimensional portrait. Still, when Ms. Davis lets loose on “Didn’t It Rain” or “Keep Your Hand on the Plow,” it’s the audience’s turn to thank Jesus (or Whomever). Her voice doesn’t have the rich bottom and raw power of Ms. Jackson’s, but Ms. Davis’s diction is clearer, and her fervent delivery and swooping ornamentation make for a similar one-two punch. There are worse ways to pass 90 muggy minutes in August than listening to Frenchie Davis sing gospel music. Too bad Mr. Stolz couldn’t quite get Halie on the stage also.


Mexican Police Drone Plane Crashes Near El Paso Home

Abstract: HOUSTON — A small unmanned plane belonging to the Mexican federal police crashed in a residential neighborhood in El Paso this week, but no one was injured and the drone was quickly returned to the Mexican government, officials from both governments said Friday. The drone was following a specific target in Ciudad Juárez, across the Rio Grande from El Paso, on Tuesday evening when its operators lost control because of a mechanical malfunction, officials said. The seven-foot aircraft went down after dark behind a house near Craddock Avenue and South Yarbrough Drive, The El Paso Times reported. “The plane is ours, and if it did violate U.S. airspace, it was only because of a mechanical malfunction,” said Ricardo Alday, a spokesman for the Mexican Embassy in Washington. Mr. Alday added that the flight was part of a coordinated operation and that the Mexican police had kept American law enforcement officials informed about it. Alerted by an alarmed resident, the Border Patrol recovered the drone the night it crashed, Supervisory Agent Demetrio Guerra said. By Thursday afternoon, it had been returned to Mexican officials, he said. The local police and fire departments were never called to the scene. Keith Holloway, a spokesman for the National Transportation Safety Board , said the drone was an Orbiter Mini UAV System. The board was investigating the cause of the accident, he said. An official for the Department of Homeland Security, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the diplomatic sensitivity of the matter, said, “They were experimenting with this. These are relatively new still for Mexico.”

National Transportation Safety Board
Drones (Pilotless Planes)
Accidents and Safety
Border Patrol (US)
El Paso (Tex)


A Brief Betting Surge for Romney on Intrade

Abstract: For a moment it looked as if Mitt Romney ’s chances of becoming the next president were up, way up. His odds of winning the election soared around 10 a.m. Tuesday to nearly 49 percent on the betting site Intrade, up about eight percentage points from a few minutes earlier. The numbers on Intrade, which have put the odds of President Obama’s winning on Nov. 6 at over 60 percent for the last several weeks, are closely watched by pundits and Wall Street traders because they are constantly updated based on wagers on the changing election odds. In 2008, the site’s users correctly predicted an Obama victory. But the system is relatively thinly traded and so a few politically motivated bettors with money to burn can place strategic wagers that push around the numbers displayed on the site. The economist Justin Wolfers, an expert on prediction markets, said that all the indicators from Tuesday morning suggested that someone, or a few people, intentionally inflated Mr. Romney’s numbers by offering a considerable premium over what shares were selling for. Unfortunately for Mr. Romney, they fell back almost as quickly, as other gamblers took advantage of the dislocation and pushed the price down. Mr. Wolfers estimated that it cost the traders responsible $1,250 to give Mr. Romney, the Republicans’ nominee, a six-minute surge. Intrade did not respond to requests for comment. The good news from Intrade wasn’t all so short-lived for Mr. Romney. His chances on the site did rise from where they had been before the final presidential debate on Monday night, ending Tuesday around 43.5 percent.

Intrade
Presidential Election of 2012
Republican Party
Romney Mitt


Ford Contract With Union is Ratified

Abstract: The United Auto Workers has ratified its proposed contract with the Ford Motor Company after union members at two assembly plants in Kentucky approved the accord. Local 600 in Dearborn, Mich., the largest local for the union, disclosed the development Tuesday on its Facebook page, citing national union officials. U.A.W. Local 862 in Louisville, Ky., said its members at two plants voted 53.3 percent in favor of the four-year agreement. The Louisville plants build pickups and sport-utility vehicles and employ 5,397 workers. Ford ’s 40,600 American hourly workers were to conclude voting Tuesday. Michele Martin, a spokesman for the union, did not immediately answer a voice message and an e-mail seeking comment. U.A.W. members at Ford shifted from voting 53 percent against the contract last Friday to 63.2 percent in favor as of Tuesday morning. Ford is offering 12,000 new jobs, $6.2 billion in factory upgrades and bonus and profit-sharing payments per worker this year that total as much as $10,000. A lack of a wage increase was responsible for much of the initial opposition. “People are saying there is room for improvement, but they’ll vote in favor of this contract because it means jobs,” said Jerome Williams, president of U.A.W. Local 2000, which represents 1,880 workers voting today at Ford’s Ohio van plant. “A few people are saying we gave up monetary concessions and other things that they’d like to see come back, and rightfully so. But the economic situation isn’t the best right now.” The U.A.W. negotiated contracts for 113,000 workers for the first time since General Motors and Chrysler went bankrupt in 2009. G.M. workers endorsed a new deal last month and workers at Chrysler begin voting this week. Only workers at Ford, which avoided Chapter 11, could strike in these contract talks because G.M. and Chrysler employees agreed not to walk out as part of their government-backed rescues. Ford has promised investments totaling $1.26 billion at the two Kentucky assembly plants. .

Automobiles
Organized Labor
Ford Motor Co
United Automobile Workers


Man Jailed for Copying Army Secrets

Abstract: A man whose true identity remained unknown was sentenced to prison on Monday for illegally copying military secrets while working as an Arabic translator for the United States Army in Iraq , federal prosecutors in Brooklyn said. Investigators said that they had found the documents in the man’s apartment in Brooklyn in 2003. He has used various names, including Abdulhakeem Nour, Abu Hakim, Noureddine Malki, Almaliki Nour and Almalik Nour Eddin, the authorities said. The defendant originally pleaded guilty in 2005 to using a false identity to obtain United States citizenship, to win a translator’s job and to gain a “top secret” security clearance. This year, he pleaded guilty to unauthorized possession of classified documents. In Federal District Court on Monday, Judge Edward R. Korman ordered the defendant stripped of his citizenship and sentenced him to 10 years and one month in prison. It was unclear whether the defendant transmitted the military secrets. Prosecutors said that while working for an Army intelligence group, the defendant downloaded a classified document. He also photographed a classified map that was used in a battle in which American and Iraqi troops suffered serious casualties, the United States attorney’s office said.

Translation
United States Army
Iraq
Federal District Courts
Sentences (Criminal)
Classification of Information
United States Armament and Defense
Brooklyn (NYC)
Korman Edward R


Inquiries Cloud de Blasio’s Bid to Come Off as Strong Manager Before ’17 Race

Abstract: It was not even a month ago that Mayor Bill de Blasio led a boisterous rally in Foley Square to celebrate the passage of key elements of his affordable housing plan. It was meant to be a pivotal moment in Mr. de Blasio’s tenure, a victory that would position him to better attend to New York City’s nuts-and-bolts needs — something of a requisite as he approaches re-election next year. In the past two weeks, though, the mayor’s fortunes have swung wildly in the opposite direction. His ability and style as a manager have come under excruciating scrutiny, as four separate investigative agencies pursue inquiries into possible wrongdoing on the part of his administration. Mr. de Blasio, a Democrat, has been peppered with uncomfortable questions at news conferences and on national television, at a time when he hoped to be acting as a liberal standard-bearer for Hillary Clinton ahead of New York’s presidential primary on Tuesday. Instead, the mayor has repeatedly pleaded ignorance about the questionable actions of city agencies, all but undoing recent attempts by close aides to portray him as an adroit manager of a sprawling city bureaucracy that critics initially said he was too inexperienced or too ideological to handle effectively. Despite Mr. de Blasio’s centralized management style — marked by memos on key decisions and a desire for City Hall to weigh in on seemingly minor matters — he has repeatedly said he was left in the dark as problems percolated. And though he has tried to go even deeper into the minutiae of municipal governance, his focus on details, as described by close aides, has not extended to the subjects of the investigations. In March, the city comptroller’s office opened an inquiry into a city-approved change to a deed that allowed a nursing home on the Lower East Side of Manhattan to be converted to the type of luxury apartments the mayor has said he wants to limit. Mr. de Blasio said he first learned of the matter from news reports. Less than two weeks later, the mayor learned of a federal corruption investigation into top Police Department officials. The inquiry revolved around two of Mr. de Blasio’s big-money political supporters and appeared to extend into his fund-raising efforts more broadly. Not long after that, the mayor had to explain confusion in his administration over whether work on a crucial water tunnel that would serve Brooklyn and Queens had been delayed . In addition to the federal inquiry and the one by the comptroller, investigations are underway into the nursing home deal by the state attorney general, Eric T. Schneiderman, and the city’s Investigation Department. Mr. de Blasio, who spent much of his first year as mayor focused on providing universal prekindergarten and much of the second year on his affordable housing initiative, said in an interview last month that he was intent on pressing ahead with an aggressive policy agenda. “We are going up the ambition scale here,” he said of his next goals: reducing homelessness, improving mental health services and addressing the dirt and disorder that tarnish the quality of New Yorkers’ lives. The de Blasio administration wants to combine those goals with an effort to overcome the mayor’s image as a leader more interested in making grand pronouncements than filling potholes. It was a perception shaped by numerous missteps in Mr. de Blasio’s first two years in office: late arrivals to events, public comments that alienated an already skeptical police force, a feud with Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, his fellow Democrat. That image, which Mr. de Blasio has worked hard to shed, lent credibility to the notion that he could be vulnerable in the 2017 election, with potential challenges from both the right and left. But before the investigations came to light, Mr. de Blasio enjoyed rising popularity in polls, with no prominent Democrat emerging as a serious rival. Now the inquiries — as well as a race-tinged joke the mayor made during a skit he performed with Mrs. Clinton on Saturday — have put Mr. de Blasio back on his heels. “He appears to be the type of political leader that those type of allegations accrue to,” said Don Levy, director of the Siena Research Institute, which conducts political polls. “A few years into his administration, his armor has taken a few hits and his accomplishments at this point just don’t seem to have turned the tide on a growing narrative of his not being effective.” Mr. de Blasio has said he was not immediately informed about a separate federal investigation, also by the United States attorney for the Southern District, Preet Bharara, into the New York City Housing Authority, which began turning over millions of documents last year . Likewise, the mayor said he first heard of the federal corruption investigation involving the donors , Jeremiah Reichberg and Jona S. Rechnitz, from news reports this month. The police commissioner, William J. Bratton, has said the federal authorities told him of the widening investigation in 2014. (At the time, people briefed on the matter have said, the focus was on Philip Banks III, then the highest-ranking uniformed officer, and Norman Seabrook, the head of the city correction officers’ union.) City officials have said Anthony E. Shorris, the first deputy mayor, knew about the circumstances surrounding the lifting of the deed restriction on the nursing home weeks before the mayor said he became aware. The property was sold to condominium developers for $116 million in February after the Department of Citywide Administrative Services agreed to lift the restriction, which would have prevented the transaction. City officials said Mr. Shorris wanted to understand the matter fully before informing Mr. de Blasio. Two former city officials familiar with City Hall’s working said the mayor’s desire to closely manage decisions — and his displeasure when subordinates failed to answer his detailed questions — could backfire at times, making agency officials wary of bringing potentially troublesome issues to him in their early stages. One former official said that on several occasions, Mr. de Blasio said he had not been informed about an issue, when there was evidence that he had been, either by email or in person. The mayor would say he had not read the emails, the official said. Both officials, who still work in New York City, requested anonymity to speak about the administration’s internal operations. “The mayor is driven and passionate and holds his people accountable,” said Phil Walzak, a chief adviser to Mr. de Blasio. “People want to take information to the mayor when there’s a problem identified and some recommendations that can be made. I don’t know that people are reluctant to talk to him. I wouldn’t agree with that assessment.” Mr. Walzak said the investigations had not dampened progress on the mayor’s agenda. “The mission of the administration is going to continue forward,” he said. In recent months, Mr. de Blasio has also moved beyond criticizing the previous administration’s failures and has begun celebrating the city and a trajectory that he can claim as his own. How far Mr. de Blasio’s new approach will carry him, as attention remains focused on the investigations, is an open question. In the interview last month, Mr. de Blasio said that he would be personally involved in the planning and execution of what he called “new, prominent efforts,” attending meetings and making sure that subordinates retained a sense of urgency. “In any one of these efforts I set the strategic template,” he said, “and that can mean agreeing to a vision, to a set of strategies and tactics that my team develops.” But on Monday, as Mr. de Blasio announced changes to how his administration handled homeless people, he faced repeated questions about the investigations and his fund-raising practices. “I’m happy to take questions today, but I’m not going to be speaking about this after today,” he said. But two days later, he was answering more questions about the investigations — and about his skit with Mrs. Clinton — after an event held by the Rev. Al Sharpton, where she also spoke. “Glad we focused on the important issues of the day,” he said sarcastically to reporters before walking off.

Bill de Blasio
Housing
Politics
NYC
Campaign finance
FBI
Real Estate
Lower East Side Manhattan
NYPD
Mayoral races


No Stranger to Suspense, L.S.U. Outduels Mississippi State

Abstract: STARKVILLE, Miss. — When Louisiana State bumbled its way to the national title in 2007, it raised the crystal football despite two losses, six overtime periods and six games decided by one touchdown or less. The season is remembered for a flurry of close calls, head-shaking finishes and fourth-quarter gambles by Coach Les Miles that fluctuated from daring to baffling. If No. 3 Louisiana State is going to muster another run to the national title game, which will be held in New Orleans, Tigers fans should purchase some antacid and buckle up for another frenetic season. L.S.U.’s 19-6 victory at No. 25 Mississippi State on Thursday night played out in a familiar mosaic of sputtering offense, wasted timeouts and critical penalties. Those miscues were complemented by a punishing defensive line, a suffocating secondary and eye-popping sideline-to-sideline speed. “That defense plays extremely well,” Miles said. “If we do the right things with the ball on offense, we can win a lot of games.” As the game gritted its way to the fourth quarter, Louisiana State showed enough verve to pull out a tricky game in a difficult environment. Along the way, Tigers quarterback Jarrett Lee may have finally shed his reputation as a liability. He sealed the victory with a 19-yard fade lob to Rueben Randle early in the fourth quarter for the game’s only touchdown, one that gave the Tigers their 12th consecutive victory over Mississippi State. Lee, a senior, followed up that touchdown pass with a cringe-worthy interception that recalled his brutal freshman year, in which he threw 16 interceptions and 8 touchdown passes. But he strung together a solid night on the road in the Southeastern Conference, completing 21 of 27 passes for 213 yards. “We counted on him,” Miles said of Lee. “He came through.” While L.S.U. will face tougher defenses, rowdier environments and higher stakes, Lee did not try to do too much and limited his mistakes. If the season is a series of steps, this will prove a big one. And Lee’s comfort level will only increase when the star receiver Russell Shepard returns for next week’s game at West Virginia, giving the Tigers an elite target to take the pressure off Randle and balance the passing game. L.S.U. won the 2007 national title with the unspectacular Matt Flynn at quarterback; the real star of that team was the monstrous defensive tackle Glenn Dorsey. L.S.U.’s front seven this year has emerged as similarly threatening, with a Tigers defensive lineman greeting Bulldogs quarterback Chris Relf behind the line of scrimmage on seemingly every snap. Mississippi State gained just 193 yards, including only 17 in the third quarter after the Tigers adjusted to Relf’s runs up the middle. “In this league, it’s hard to say that’s the best defense we’ve seen,” Mississippi State Coach Dan Mullen said of a defense that had 15 tackles for a loss. “But the way they’re playing, they’re playing like the No. 1 team in the country to me. There’s certainly not anyone playing better than them right now.” Lee’s admirable performance came against a porous Mississippi State defense, which gave up 41 points to Auburn last week . The Louisiana State offense, especially without the starting quarterback Jordan Jefferson and Shepard, is simplistic and predictable. L.S.U. feasted on heavy doses of short and powerful runs by tailback Spencer Ware, who finished with 107 yards and countless bruises on 22 carries. L.S.U. fans should get used to the sight of kicker Drew Alleman, a junior who provided the Tigers’ first 9 points on field goals of 21, 42 and 41 yards, and later added a 29-yarder. L.S.U. has the defense and special teams to set itself in adequate field position, but it lacks the offensive consistency to finish drives. Mississippi State’s fans began staking out their tailgating spots more than 24 hours before kickoff. With classes canceled on Thursday, the day turned into an all-day party in preparation for one of the biggest games in Starkville in recent years. The din of ringing cowbells echoed through Oktibbeha County, but the relentless support could not move an impotent offense. But as far as the program has come under Mullen , Mississippi State still cannot turn the corner in the SEC West, which may be the most difficult division in college sports. Mullen has a 10-game winning streak in games outside the West and a 2-10 record within it. Louisiana State will head to another heated environment Sept. 24, when it will face a largely untested Mountaineers team in Morgantown. (West Virginia plays at Maryland on Saturday.) If L.S.U.’s recent history is any indication, expect plenty of action, drama and suspense. As the Tigers’ offense inches forward, questions of consistency will not go away.

Football
Football (College)
Louisiana State University
Mississippi State University
College Athletics


Dix Wins 200 at Prefontaine; Gay Comes Up Short in Return

Abstract: EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — Walter Dix won the 200 meters at the Prefontaine Classic on Saturday in 19.72 seconds, edging Tyson Gay by 0.04 of a second. Gay had not competed since May because of a hamstring injury. The Prefontaine was Gay’s first step toward challenging Usain Bolt ’s dominance in the sprints. “Yeah, it’s not bad for a first race,” Gay said. Bolt, the world-record holder in the 100 and the 200, did not compete at Saturday’s meet, part of the elite I.A.A.F. Diamond League series. Dix was coming off a victory in the 100 last week in the USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Des Moines, where he finished second to Wallace Spearmon in the 200. Gay last ran in May in Manchester, England, where he put up a 19.41 in a straight-track 200. His effort was a record on a straight track, but it is not recognized as an official world mark because track and field’s governing body recognizes only the 200 run around a curve. Gay swept the 100 and the 200 at the 2007 world championships and owns the American record in the 100, but in recent years has been dogged by injuries and surpassed by Bolt. Gay has long maintained that he can better Bolt. But a date for a possible showdown is uncertain. Gay said he still had a long way to go. “Basically, I came away with no injures,” he said. Asbel Kiprop of Kenya won the Bowerman Mile in 3 minutes 49.75 seconds. Bernard Lagat , coming off a victory in the 5,000 in Des Moines, finished a disappointing ninth in 3:54.46. The Australian Ryan Gregson won the International Mile competition in 3:53.20. A. J. Acosta of Oregon ran a personal best 3:53.76 on his home track. Chris Solinsky, a 6-foot-1 American who hoped to continue a run of surprising performances by breaking 13 minutes in the 5,000, finished seventh in 13:08.11. The Olympian Allyson Felix won the women’s 400 in 50.27. Although her specialty is the 200, Felix is experimenting with the longer distance and has said she could run both of them in the 2012 Olympics in London. The Olympic gold-medal winner Tirunesh Dibaba of Ethiopia ran the 5,000 in a meet-record 14:34.08, well in front of the American Shalane Flanagan in 14:49.08. Dibaba won the 5,000 and the 10,000 in Beijing. On the men’s side, Ethiopian Tariku Bekele won in 12:58.93.

International Assn of Athletics Federations


Billy Hamilton of the Blue Wahoos Nears Minor League Record For Steals

Abstract: HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — Fewer than 200 fans turned out at Joe Davis Stadium, the home of the Southern League Huntsville Stars, on a stifling night earlier this month in this town in the Appalachian foothills, where the next generation of rocket engines are being designed at the nearby NASA Marshall Space Flight Center. Huntsville’s engineers were missing their chance to witness jet propulsion and escape velocity in person, in the guise of the visiting shortstop. His name is Billy Hamilton, and he is closing in on the record for steals in a minor league season. Vince Coleman, the former Cardinals and Mets outfielder, stole 145 while with Macon in 1983. Hamilton, a top prospect in the Cincinnati Reds’ farm system, has 143 steals between Bakersfield in Class A and his new team, the Pensacola Blue Wahoos of the Class AA Southern League. Hamilton led off this game against Huntsville with a walk. “That’s a triple,” one of the few in the crowd grumbled, his voice echoing off the empty seats. The fan had reason to be disheartened. Hamilton had stolen six bases in the first three games of this five-game series, and the Stars were wary. Pitcher Johnny Hellweg chased Hamilton back several times with pickoff attempts. At last, he threw a pitch, and Hamilton was off. But catcher Anderson de la Rosa uncorked a bullet to second, and Hamilton was called out. The crowd murmured in surprise. The kid still had some work to do in the lab, apparently. “They work you more up here,” Hamilton said presciently before the game, referring to the tougher opposition in Class AA. “They got better pickoff moves, they hold you better, the pitchers know when to slide-step, they’re smarter. I knew before I got here it would be a hard adjustment, but I feel like I’m doing pretty good.” Hamilton was in fact not slowed. He walked in his next two plate appearances as well. He rattled Hellweg into a balk, then stole third with ease in the second inning. Later, he stole his 127th base, and advanced to third when Hellweg uncorked a wild pitch after several pickoff feints to second base. “I feel like if I get my jumps, I know I’m cool,” said Hamilton, who credits his burst to shots of Mountain Dew taken in the dugout. “When I get to first, I’m confident I can’t be thrown out.” Tales of Hamilton’s incredible speed are collected and passed around the lower levels of the game the way folks used to tell stories of the great Negro leagues speedster Cool Papa Bell, who was said to be so fast he could hit a grounder through the box and be hit by the ball as he slid into second base. In Bakersfield, Calif., Hamilton scored on a sacrifice fly — to the second baseman. He also scored from third when the catcher threw to first to complete a strikeout. In high school, Hamilton once made a fine running catch on the warning track. Not so unusual, except he was playing shortstop at the time. If feats of prodigious strength are considered Bunyonesque, then deeds featuring incredible speed must be considered Hamiltonian. “He did something every day that made me raise my eyebrows,” said Delino DeShields, the former Montreal Expos speedster who managed Hamilton at Dayton in 2011, when Hamilton stole a mere 103 bases. When Hamilton strolls languidly to the plate, the whole ballpark takes note. Infielders move in, knowing they will have to hurry throws to get Hamilton on a grounder. Fans sit up straight. Even the broadcasters pay closer attention. “The phrase I use is ‘heightened sense of awareness,’ ” said the Pensacola radio announcer Tommy Thrall, who has had to adjust to the buzz Hamilton provides with every at-bat. During a recent inside-the-park homer hit by Hamilton, Thrall looked to second to spot the dashing player, only to find “he was already rounding third.” Hamilton grew up in Taylorsville, Miss., roughly midway between Jackson and Hattiesburg. A superb all-around athlete, he nearly went to Mississippi State in the Southeastern Conference to play wide receiver, until his mother stepped in. “That’s her baby, and she had seen those big dudes in the SEC,” said Hamilton, who talks almost as fast as he runs. The Reds picked Hamilton, who taught himself to switch-hit upon joining the organization, in the second round of the 2009 draft. While he has fulfilled his promise on the basepaths, Hamilton has also been steady at the plate, hitting .303 through Sunday. He is purely a slap hitter at this stage — of his 40 hits with Pensacola, all but nine have been singles — but makes up for it with patience and a good eye at the plate, and his walk totals have added about 100 points to his on-base percentage, which is .406. He is on track to join the major league club by 2014. That would put him in the majors 113 seasons after another speedy star named Billy Hamilton hung up his cleats. “Sliding” Billy Hamilton starred for the 19th-century Philadelphia Phillies, as well as the Boston Beaneaters (who became the Braves) and the Kansas City Cowboys, earning enshrinement in the Hall of Fame in 1961. He was the stolen base king for decades, until first Lou Brock and then Rickey Henderson passed him. But Sliding Billy’s steal totals are ephemeral. Until 1898, players were awarded stolen bases when a hit advanced them an extra base — for example, going from first to third on a single. Some sources credit him with 937 steals, some 914, some 912. For certain, he is one of the greatest players ever from the state of New Jersey, hailing from Newark. Sliding Billy’s great speed translated into a more valuable aspect of the game than stolen bases. Hamilton scored an otherworldly 198 runs in 132 games for the 1898 Phillies and is the career leader in runs scored per game at 1.06. His namesake is finding that the payoff for all those steals is a little harder to come by in Class AA. After crossing the plate 79 times in 82 games at Bakersfield, he has scored only 26 times in 36 games with Pensacola. This new model does not know much about the old version, apart from what reporters have told him. Hamilton does not pattern himself after Brock or Coleman or other great base stealers from baseball’s past, either, instead looking to St. Louis shortstop Rafael Furcal, who was starring for Atlanta during Hamilton’s formative years in the South, as a role model. DeShields, who says Hamilton reminds him of his former Expos teammate Otis Nixon, says he is in the vanguard of a wave of players who are restoring baseball to “its natural state.” “The game is meant to be played fast,” DeShields said. “That’s the way we played before steroids, and the crackdown on the drugs is returning the game to where it used to be.” DeShields is at the nexus of the top-end speed currently on display in the minor leagues. DeShields’s son Delino Jr. has the second-most stolen bases in the country, having stolen 86 so far between two teams in Class A. “After the season, I’m going to invite Billy down to Atlanta for an old-school barefoot backyard foot race with my son to see who the best man is,” DeShields Sr. said. Having watched Usain Bolt win the gold medal in the 100-meter dash at the London Olympics, Hamilton says he feels ready for the challenge of the World’s Fastest Man. “I’m a competitor, so I’m going to say I could beat him,” he said of Bolt, the Jamaican sprint king, though he said he liked his chances more if the race was from first base to home plate, rather than straight down a track. In the meantime, Hamilton is concentrating on improving his mediocre defense. In Huntsville, his over-the-shoulder grab of a pop-up in short left field was testimony to his hard work. But in the meantime, all eyes are on his relentless pursuit of Coleman’s record. “It’s right up the road,” he said, “and if I keep doing what I do, I feel like I can break it.” He won’t go so far as to plan a celebration, but he doesn’t rule one out, either. “When the time gets here, you never know what might come over me,” he said.

Minor Leagues
Baseball
Hamilton Billy
Coleman Vince
Records and Achievements


Arkansas Town Frets About Losing a Courthouse, and an Identity

Abstract: OSCEOLA, Ark. — The baked stone floor tiles of the Mississippi County Courthouse here bear little traffic these days. The offices, which hold documents like marriage records in thick, bound books, are mostly quiet and empty. On the third floor, some of the courtroom’s ceiling tiles are browned by water or missing. Farther north in the Arkansas Delta in Blytheville, about 16 miles up Interstate 55 and near the Missouri border, conditions are not much better at the other, busier Mississippi County Courthouse, where the roof leaks and requires repairs expected to cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. The mounting maintenance troubles at the courthouses have vaulted this part of eastern Arkansas into a particular kind of nostalgia-fueled political predicament that could occur only in fewer than three dozen of the nation’s 3,069 counties — those with two county seats and two courthouses. Local officials, wary of the rising costs of the existing courthouses, want to shut down both and consolidate their functions into a $15 million complex in Blytheville, a city of about 15,000 people, more than double the population of Osceola. So while Blytheville would get a glimmering building and keep its prized status of county seat, Osceola and its neo-Classical style courthouse, which dates back to 1912, would be out of luck. In Mississippi County, the debate is as much about tradition, and perhaps some folklore, as it is about the dollars and cents that often seem elusive as pinched county budgets grow even tighter. Image Glynda Thompson of the Mississippi County Historical and Genealogical Society said the courthouse "is the center of Osceola." Credit Andrea Morales for The New York Times County Judge Randy Carney, Mississippi County’s top elected official, said that continuing a dual courthouse system makes little sense, no matter how much small cities like this one treasure the structures and the prestige they carry. “It’s the centerpiece of the town, but it’s not busy,” he said in an interview in the courthouse here. “We have to be good stewards of the taxpayers’ dollars, and I think throwing tens of thousands of dollars away every month in utility bills and maintenance costs is just not wise.” Mississippi County, which Judge Carney said plans to stage a public vote on the proposal next year, is hardly the first county to consider putting a courthouse out of business. But such proposals often provoke more controversy than local officials expect. “About every two or three years, we hear from a county that’s looking at the idea of consolidating county seats, but the political pressures as they move toward that usually overtake them and they’re not able to do that,” said Chris Villines, the executive director of the Association of Arkansas Counties . “There’s so much history with those courthouses,” he added. “So many people in the South, especially, have generational equity. Grandparents went to that courthouse to get their marriage license, so there’s a little more of an emotional tie-in to our courthouses and county seats than I think you see in other parts of the country.” In Osceola, whose population has decreased more than 16 percent since 2000, people are already fretting about what new troubles could come from a courthouse closing. Image The courthouses, with their voter registration offices and taxing powers, are natural hubs of official life with measures of parochial convenience. Credit Andrea Morales for The New York Times “The only thing you’ve got in a small town is the charm of your small town; the only thing you have is your history that makes you different,” said Sandra Brand, a member of the City Council who is also the editor of the local newspaper, The Osceola Times . “If you lose that courthouse, you’re going to lose our downtown, and you’re going to lose that quality of life, which is our opportunity.” Most of the counties with two seats — 20 — are in Arkansas and Mississippi, the National Association of Counties said. But there is scarce agreement about why those counties adopted such an approach. Many residents, often supported by local historians, contend that multiple courthouses are vestiges of the pre-automobile era, constructed so that people could be within a day’s travel of public officials like judges and tax collectors. Others suggest that the imposing structures — the one here features a copper dome — were merely pork-barrel projects to aid the electoral ambitions of calculating county politicians. The courthouses, with their voter registration offices and taxing powers, are natural hubs of official life with measures of parochial convenience. “When do you go get your tags?” said Merideth Elder, who works at a gift shop near the courthouse in this county of more than 900 square miles. “You go on your lunch break. You’re not going to go after work if you work until 5. Well, if you have to drive 30 minutes, how long’s your lunch break?” Image A quilt with landmarks of Osceola, Ark., including the Mississippi County Courthouse, hanging at the Mississippi County Historical Center and Museum. Credit Andrea Morales for The New York Times But the Osceola courthouse, surrounded by oak trees and positioned along U.S. Route 61, the famed Blues Highway, has also been central to public life. Here, for instance, local high school students would hold homecoming pep rallies on the courthouse steps. “That’s a big part of what we did here,” Ms. Elder said. “I’ve got tons of picture of the whole student body, and it was all purple and gold. That’s home.” And so people here are staging a modest campaign to keep the courthouse in Osceola open. There is, of course, a Facebook page; Ms. Brand has used the newspaper to criticize the plan; and petitions that protest “the repeated attempts to wrench the county seat away from Osceola and close our beloved courthouse” are circulating through the city. But Judge Carney suggested that critics, particularly those online, were not fully aware of the county’s fiscal woes. “They’re uninformed; they’re uneducated,” said Judge Carney, who, to avoid a dispute between his county’s most influential cities, also pushed to build the new courthouse in a town of 191 people that is between Blytheville and Osceola. “They don’t know how much we spend on utility bills. They don’t know how much we spend on maintenance, so we, as leaders, have to do a better job of educating the people.” What would come of a closed courthouse has also complicated the discourse in Osceola, where many hope that a steel mill and other industrial projects will give the local economy new momentum. Although Judge Carney said the courthouse, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, could become a museum or be bulldozed for a public park, he acknowledged warnings from preservationists that the county might have few options. But with storefronts often empty and wooden boards covering parts of historic buildings, even chatter about the courthouse’s demise has stirred fears for blocks around the square. “This is the center of Osceola,” said Glynda Thompson, the president of the Mississippi County Historical Center and Museum. “If something were to happen to this courthouse, Osceola, especially as a downtown, would probably just disappear.”

Osceola
Mississippi County
Blytheville
Judiciary
Historic preservation


Goldikova Loses at Royal Ascot

Abstract: The three-time Breeders’ Cup Mile champion Goldikova was beaten in the Queen Anne Stakes on opening day at Royal Ascot. Goldikova, with Olivier Peslier aboard, had the lead entering the final furlong before Canford Cliffs moved up and won by a length. Queen Elizabeth II, who has been to every Ascot meeting since 1945, arrived with the royal family in their traditional carriage procession around the course. ¶ The Breeders’ Cup is expanding to 15 races with the addition of a Juvenile Sprint this year. The six-furlong race will have a $500,000 purse. The races will still carry purses totaling $26 million.


Palmer’s Record Broken

Abstract: Robert Garrigus broke the 54-hole scoring record at the Canadian Open that was set more than a half-century ago by Arnold Palmer . On rain-softened greens at Hamilton Golf & Country Club in Ancaster, Ontario, Garrigus used his power and some timely putts for a six-under-par 64 that gave him a one-shot lead over William McGirt. Garrigus was at 16-under 194, one shot better than Palmer in 1955. ¶ Bernhard Langer shot a 66 for a one-stroke lead over Fred Couples heading into the final round of the Senior British Open in Turnberry, Scotland. ¶ The American Stacy Lewis made a birdie on the last hole to share the lead with Inbee Park of South Korea after the third round of the Evian Masters in Évian-les-Bains, France.

Golf
Palmer Arnold
Garrigus Robert
Canadian Open (Golf)
Records and Achievements


Interior Secretary Sees Little Hope for Consensus on Wind Farm

Abstract: ABOARD THE IDA LEWIS — Weighing the future of a controversial wind farm project, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar toured Nantucket Sound on a Coast Guard cutter Tuesday, surveying the 24-square-mile area where the proposed project would loom. Mr. Salazar’s visit comes a month after the National Park Service said Nantucket Sound was eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. The designation is sought by two tribes, the Mashpee Wampanoag of Cape Cod and the Aquinnah Wampanoag of Martha’s Vineyard, who say the project would disturb a ritual that calls for an unobstructed view of the sunrise. They also say the installation, called Cape Wind, might be built over ancestral burial grounds. Mr. Salazar has set a March 1 deadline for the tribes and the project’s developer, Energy Management, to reach a compromise on the plan. But the interior secretary said Tuesday that he was “not holding my breath on consensus,” suggesting that he expects he will have to determine the fate of the 130-turbine wind farm by April on his own. The wind project has been in the works since 2001 and is strongly supported by Gov. Deval Patrick of Massachusetts. “The worst thing we can do for the country is to be in a state of indecision, and this application has been in a state of indecision for a very long time,” Mr. Salazar said while sailing aboard the cutter on a calm, overcast afternoon. Standing on the bridge of the ship, the interior secretary asked about the environment of the sound. He also alighted from the vessel to view a data-collecting tower that stands about 190 feet high, the approximate height of the base of a wind turbine. Whatever the fate of the project, Mr. Salazar said, renewable energy will remain a priority for the administration. “What happens to Cape Wind, whether it goes up or goes down, will not be determinative of the future of wind energy in the United States,” he said. Mr. Salazar met with members of the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe at sunrise Tuesday morning and later listened to a presentation on “the importance they put on a particular area,” he said. In a statement, Cedric Cromwell, chairman of the Mashpee Wampanoag, said he felt that the visit by a high-ranking federal official was overdue. “We have repeatedly raised serious concerns over the proposed project for more than six years,” he said. “For the first time, we believe that our concerns are being heard, and we look forward to continuing the process of consultation until an acceptable outcome has been achieved.” Mark Rodgers, a spokesman for Cape Wind, said the group expected the project to go forward. “We are confident that when the secretary balances Cape Wind’s benefits of increased energy independence, the hundreds of new jobs created and the contribution it will make to preserving and enhancing the environment of the cape and island then he will move this long overdue project forward,” he said.

National Register of Historic Places
Massachusetts
Wind Power
Salazar Ken
Native Americans
Cape Wind Associates
United States Coast Guard
Nantucket Sound (Mass)
Interior Department


Over Canned Octopus, a First Date

Abstract: You should not judge Maiden Lane , a 28-seat wine bar and seafood spot that opened on Tompkins Square Park in April, by its kitchen. It doesn’t have one. Thus the concept: cold tins of imported mussels, octopus, sardines and other sea creatures, as well as smoked fish and cured meats for customers not ready to fork their dinner out of cans. The walls are exposed brick, the room not too loud. Wednesdays are theme nights, sometimes involving hot food made on the lone induction burner — this Wednesday will be a celebration of striped bass, featuring the fish in ceviche, crudo and soup. IN THE SEATS Only in New York in 2013 would the prospect of cold, canned bivalves and smoked fish heads signal a hot place for a first date. So it was for Alex Lopez and Adriana Meza, who connected on the dating app Tinder and were meeting in person for the first time Tuesday night. “It was more of a text rapport that led us to meeting each other,” said Mr. Lopez, 31, who manages Tavern 29 in Midtown. Ms. Meza, 32, who teaches sixth grade in the South Bronx, told him that she did not eat meat or dairy products.“I think it’s very sweet that he took in all my dietary needs,” she said — most guys don’t ask. WHY THEY CAME For Mr. Lopez, the element of surprise was important. He didn’t tell her the restaurant’s name in advance — just arranged for her to text him when she got close. “I didn’t want my date to go online and be exposed to the cuisine,” he said. “I wanted to have a couple things under my sleeve. I saw her coming down the block and I said, hell, yeah, that’s my date.” ON THE PLATES Everything on the menu comes in small tastes, nothing more than $15. They let the owners choose the meal. Which was: a can of octopus in olive oil ($12); one of mussels in escabeche ($12); glasses of gazpacho ($8 each); herb salad ($6); smoked French herring ($7); smoked half trout (the front half, $12). They added a Provençal rosé ($13 per glass). WHAT THEY TALKED ABOUT This was, after all, a first date. “I don’t think it’s about bringing your game,” Ms. Meza said. “It’s about being yourself and seeing if the person you meet connects with you.” Mr. Lopez told her about a mishap at Bear Mountain the previous week, when he dived off a 50-foot cliff: “The first time I completed it, fine. The second time I took an extra step. I cleared the rocks, but I hit the water with such intensity that the piece of skin that holds your lip to your gum completely ripped, and there was blood pouring out of my mouth.” Ms. Meza told him she was moving to Williamsburg, Brooklyn, from the Upper West Side in three days. Both cheered this news. Mr. Lopez ventured a status report. “She hates me so far, but I keep the wine flowing as a buffer,” he said. “And that’s worked to my advantage, at least to this point.”

Restaurant
East Village Manhattan
Maiden Lane Manhattan NY Restaurant
bars,nightclubs


In Washington, Murray and Rossi Chase Swing Votes

Abstract: AUBURN, Wash. — Give Dino Rossi points for political efficiency. It was only in late May that the Republican announced he would challenge Senator Patty Murray , a popular three-term Democratic incumbent. Barely five months later, he is in one of the closest Senate races in the country. A former state senator and a two-time candidate for governor, Mr. Rossi even speed-speaks his final pitch. “If you like the high unemployment rates, if you like her bailout, if you like her stimulus, if you like her government-controlled health care — she’s been there 18 years, she’ll give you 6 more years of the same, guaranteed,” Mr. Rossi said in an interview after greeting a small group of campaign workers in this Seattle suburb. “Vote for her.” “If you want to go in a different direction,” he added, “if you really want to give people’s freedom back, if you don’t like the idea of government-controlled health care, if you really want to get full employment and allow entrepreneurs to be successful again, come with me. I’m going in a very different direction. It’s simple.” Of course, it has not been. The Republican Party ’s hope that the Washington race could help it win control of the Senate has waned somewhat because of shifts toward Democrats in Senate races elsewhere. But money has continued to pour in from outside groups, nearly $20 million going into the weekend before Election Day, and polls have shown the race to be tight. A win here, political analysts say, might still help the Republicans achieve a 50-50 Senate, where Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. would have the deciding vote. Republicans could also argue that they should share the leadership of committees as well as Senate resources. After months of attack ads — Mr. Rossi’s supporters have cast Ms. Murray as a fiscally irresponsible establishment liberal with strong links to lobbyists; Ms. Murray’s supporters have portrayed Mr. Rossi as a callous conservative pawn of wealthy, mysterious donors — both sides also broadcast newer “positive” commercials over the weekend. Not that anyone declared a truce. “My opponent wants to repeal Wall Street reform,” Ms. Murray told a boisterous crowd of about 150 at a union hall in Vancouver, Wash., on Sunday. She lumped Mr. Rossi in with Senate Republicans who she said were “holding hostage your middle-class tax cuts today.” Referring to the flood of campaign money, the senator said, “We have to show them that we are more powerful than Karl Rove and all of his millions of dollars in this state.” Both candidates hopscotched the state, traveling from conservative rural areas east of the Cascades to more Democratic cities west of the mountains. Ms. Murray will end a three-day bus tour with a free concert Monday night in Seattle, her stronghold. Mr. Rossi will hold a rally in Puyallup, a more rural, working-class area south of the city, where experts say he must do well. For all the intensity, the drama on Election Day may not be as great here as elsewhere. Most voters in the state cast their ballots by mail, and they can mail them as late as the night of the election. If the race is close, it could be several days before the results are known, as Washington — and possibly the country — waits on the mail. WILLIAM YARDLEY

Senate
Republican Party
Elections
Rossi Dino
Murray Patty
Political Advertising
United States Politics and Government
Democratic Party
Washington (State)


Scottish City Prepares for Life Beyond Oil

Abstract: ABERDEEN, SCOTLAND — Offshore supply vessels resembling large, floating trucks fill Victoria Dock, unable to find charters, in a sign of the downturn in the British oil industry. With British North Sea production of oil and natural gas 44 percent below its peak, Aberdeen, the self-styled oil capital of Europe, fears the slowdown is not simply cyclical. An oil industry that at one stage inspired talk of Scotland as “the Kuwait of the West” has already outlived most predictions, having enjoyed a hydrocarbon heyday of almost five decades. As it prepares for the end of oil, Aberdeen is remaking itself, putting its hopes in renewable energy and tourism. “I’m steering my kids away from anything to do with oil,” said John Irvine, a truck driver who used to work on the rigs. “It’s not going to last forever.” The oil industry has been good to Aberdeen. BMWs and Mercedes-Benzes are plentiful in the traffic jams that clog the roads at rush hour, and Jaguar, Aston Martin and Porsche sports cars with personalized license plates are evident in the city, which has about 200,000 inhabitants. The North Sea industry, with current output of 2.5 million barrels of oil equivalent per day, pays more to the British government’s coffers than any other industry, is one of the highest spenders on goods and services and is an important employer. About 40 percent of the Aberdeen area’s economy — worth £10.5 billion, or $17.2 billion — relies on the oil industry, according to the Aberdeen and Grampian Chamber of Commerce. Oil has pushed unemployment down in the Granite City, as Aberdeen is known for the hard rock from which most of its buildings are constructed, to less than half the British average, which is 7.9 percent. But with Brent crude at about $80 a barrel, little more than half of its peak last year, the harbor is quieter now, the port authority says. Dockworkers say some ship owners are so pessimistic about getting charters soon that they will not even pay to dock at the harbor. A dozen vessels are moored a few kilometers off Aberdeen’s sandy coast. Normally, one might see one or two, oil workers said. As big oil companies like BP and Royal Dutch Shell have cut spending, Aberdeen has seen hundreds of layoffs, and for the first time in years, engineering graduates from local universities have struggled to find jobs. The employment situation has resulted in vacant shops on Union Street, the main thoroughfare, while bars, restaurants and taxi drivers say business is slacker than a year ago. Tourism, life sciences and the export of oil services around the world are among Aberdeen’s preferred substitutes for North Sea oil and natural gas. But for many, the biggest prize would be to use its offshore oil expertise to build a renewable energy industry as big as oil. The city wants to use its experience to become a leader in offshore wind, tidal power and carbon dioxide capture and storage. It hopes those industries will receive a lift from global climate change talks in Copenhagen in December. “We have to harness that expertise and turn Aberdeen into the energy capital of Europe and not just the oil capital of Europe,” said Mike Rumbles, a member of the Scottish Parliament from West Aberdeenshire. It is a broad marketing shift for the city. Alex Salmond, head of the Scottish government, told a conference in Aberdeen last month that the market for wind power could be worth £130 billion, while Scotland could be the “Saudi Arabia of tidal power.” “We’re seeing the emergence of an offshore energy market that is comparable in scale to the market we’ve seen in offshore oil and gas in the last 40 years,” he said. Tidal power remains at the testing stage, and the economic viability of new offshore wind projects has been questioned even by current investors like the German-owned utility E.ON. A carbon capture and storage industry could also be developed, filling depleted North Sea oil fields with carbon dioxide. People in the oil industry doubt that any Copenhagen treaty would provide sufficient incentives to make this activity profitable. Another area of focus, tourism, has previously been hindered by the presence of oil. “The hoteliers got lazy,” said a taxi driver, Jim Moir. “They were full Monday to Friday with oil workers, so they never bothered attracting tourists.” Eager to put Aberdeen on the international tourist map, businesses have strongly backed a plan by the U.S. real estate tycoon Donald Trump for a luxury housing and golf project 12 kilometers, or 8 miles, north of the city, even though it means building on a nature reserve. Mr. Trump is locked in a dispute with landowners who refuse to sell to him. He hopes the local authorities will, if necessary, invoke compulsory purchase powers to facilitate the development. The city also wants to reorient its vibrant oil services industry toward emerging offshore oil centers like Brazil. “Just because the production in the North Sea starts to decline doesn’t mean that Aberdeen as a global center also declines,” said Robert Collier, the chamber of commerce’s chief executive. “That expertise can still stay here and be exported around the world.” Local companies plying their wares to international buyers at the Offshore Europe exhibition and conference last month said the shift in emphasis was under way. “Ninety percent of our production is exported,” said Ian McCormick, international managing director for Equalizer, standing beside a yellow mock-up pipeline to which were attached samples of his company’s stainless steel clamps. When the oil finally does run out, the decommissioning of hundreds of offshore platforms and thousands of pipelines will be an opportunity in itself. The infrastructure will need to be disassembled and returned to shore for disposal, creating a market worth at least £23 billion, estimates Oil and Gas UK, an industry lobbying group. “It could be the beginning of a whole new industry,” said Lewis MacDonald, a member of the Scottish Parliament representing Aberdeen Central.

Europe
Oil (Petroleum) and Gasoline
Energy and Power