Iran’s Politics Stand in the Way of a Nuclear Deal

Abstract: CAIRO — Iran ’s leadership has once again equivocated after agreeing to a deal that would ease its nuclear standoff with the West. But this time, that may be as much a product of the nation’s smoldering political crisis as it is a negotiating tactic, political analysts and Iran experts said. Tehran has yet to state publicly why it objects to the deal, in which it would ship its low-enriched uranium out of the country for additional processing and eventual return as fuel rods for a civilian reactor. But Iran experts say the very caustic, and very public, nature of the debate in Iran over the proposed nuclear deal suggests that the deep divisions cemented by the summer’s disputed presidential election have complicated, if not undermined, the ability to resolve such a major issue. “Since the 1979 revolution it is rare for the political elite to disagree so openly with an issue of this significance,” said Mehrzad Boroujerdi , a political scientist at Syracuse University. The announced agreement headed off efforts to impose tough new sanctions on Iran, yet patience may be waning. On Monday, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said that Tehran had to accept the deal in full, with no changes. And the British foreign minister, David Miliband, emerged from a meeting in Moscow with his Russian counterpart, Sergey V. Lavrov, to declare, “We both want to see a prompt response.” But that may not be forthcoming, and the problem appears, at least in part, to be politics — local politics. “It is the worst case scenario because it can leave people with the impression diplomacy has been tried and failed, whereas in reality it came at a point when Iran is too politically divided and incapable of making decisions of this magnitude,” said Trita Parsi , who writes frequently on Iran and is president of the National Iranian American Council, an advocacy group based in Washington. At the center of Iran’s problems is President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad , who said recently that Iran should accept the deal, saying that his tough stance in past years had finally forced the West to accept implicitly Iran’s right to enrich uranium. Mr. Ahmadinejad, however, deeply alienated both reformist and conservative political leaders since his disputed re-election as he tried to consolidate power and marginalize his rivals. Neither side is eager to see him and his nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, take credit for resolving the nuclear issue and, with that, thawing relations with the United States, the analysts said. “Even a potential deal that serves Iran’s overall interests can be scuttled due to Iran’s highly factionalized political environment,” said Alireza Nader , an Iran expert with the Washington office of the RAND Corporation, a research organization. Since he was first elected president four years ago, Mr. Ahmadinejad has been the face of confrontation. Now he is talking about cooperation with the international community while the so-called pragmatic conservatives have sharply attacked the nuclear agreement as a potential trick that would undermine Iran’s rights. Iran’s reformers, stung by Mr. Ahmadinejad’s past criticism of them for suspending enrichment, have also criticized the deal. Led by Mir Hussein Moussavi, a former presidential candidate, they have been looking to take a page from Mr. Ahmadinejad’s own playbook, using the nuclear card to try to score political points. “To have an opportunity to go at Ahmadinejad for not being nationalist enough, it looks like an opportunity for someone like Moussavi,” said Michael Axworthy, a former diplomat and an Iran expert who lectures at the University of Exeter in England. The political attacks from conservatives and reformers are only one complication. The nuclear issue is of such importance, analysts said, that it is unlikely that Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, would be willing to risk undermining his already damaged credibility with conservatives and the public by accepting a deal that many argue would undermine Iran’s interests. Another factor working against acceptance of the deal involves the widely held sentiment that Iran cannot trust the West, or Russia, which would first receive the uranium from Iran, to abide by the terms of any deal. Whatever the motivation, France and Germany warned Iran on Monday that there was a limit to their patience. “We are waiting for a reply. If the reply is aimed at delaying matters, as we believe, then we will not accept it,” the French foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, said during a joint news conference in Paris with his new German counterpart, Guido Westerwelle. Mohamed ElBaradei, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, also urged Iran on Monday to accept the proposal, which he said was “aimed to engage Iran in a series of measures that could build confidence and trust.” Many theories about Iran’s motivation have been discussed. Some experts speculated the leadership was employing a good-cop, bad-cop strategy, to allow the negotiators on the nuclear issue in Geneva to go back to the table arguing that they needed to sweeten the deal to develop a consensus. Flynt Leverett , director of the Iran project at the New America Foundation and a professor of international affairs at Pennsylvania State University, said that a speech by Mr. Ahmadinejad last month showed “Iran wants to cooperate with the international community in developing its civil nuclear program, but only under conditions that respect the Islamic republic’s economic and security interests.” Iran’s leaders have indicated they are ready to try to work out a deal, but may not be willing or able to shoulder the risk of completing one. The pragmatic conservatives, led by the speaker of Parliament, Ali Larijani, and his brother, Sadeq Larijani, the head of the judiciary, are now doing to Mr. Ahmadinejad what he has done to his political opponents for years — undermining him by charging that the deal violates Iran’s inalienable rights and that the West is trying to “cheat” Iran. “They insist on going in a direction that speaks of cheating. They are imposing some things on Iran,” Ali Larijani told the semiofficial ISNA news agency last month. From the moment he was first a presidential candidate four years ago, the president denounced the reform movement for having cooperated with the West, in particular charging that President Mohammad Khatami undermined Iran’s security, pride and national rights by agreeing to suspend enrichment for two years. If Mr. Ahmadinejad can cut a deal, begin to restore ties with the West and preserve Iran’s enrichment program, reformists fear that the president could argue that he was right and they were wrong. “It seems this is politics,” said Mr. Parsi, “but politics can still ruin the day.”

Iran
Nuclear Weapons
Politics and Government
Ahmadinejad Mahmoud
International Relations


Strong Mexico Quake Shakes Buildings and Nerves in California

Abstract: LOS ANGELES — A powerful earthquake southeast of Tijuana shook Southern California on Sunday afternoon, damaging buildings in northern Mexico and border cities in California and Arizona and rattling a seismically sophisticated population as far north as Los Angeles and Las Vegas as chandeliers swayed, homes shook and the earth seemed to slide under the feet of people emerging from Easter church services for well over a minute. The 7.2-magnitude quake struck just after 3:30 p.m. local time, and was centered 16 miles southwest of Guadalupe Victoria in Baja California , Mexico, and about 110 miles southeast of Tijuana, said the United States Geological Survey . Carlton Hargrave, 64, was standing in the entryway of Family Style Buffet in Calexico, a California border town, when the quake hit. His restaurant, he said in a telephone interview, was “almost completely destroyed.” “We’ve got tables overturned, plates broken on the floor, the ceilings caved in,” Mr. Hargrave said with a shaky voice over the sound of his feet crunching rubble and glass. “It was big. I mean, it was major.” Reports from the remote area in Mexico where the quake hit were slow in coming. But an earthquake of that size would probably cause major property damage near the epicenter, experts said. In northern Mexico, one person was reported to have been killed in a house collapse. Initial reports from the quake’s epicenter near Mexicali, a large industrial city and the state capital of Baja California, did not speak of catastrophic damage, although photographs posted on Twitter and some news sites showed buildings with crumbled facades and food on supermarket shelves sent crashing to the floor. There were sporadic reports of fires, gas leaks and phone line damage, but none could be confirmed in the hours immediately following the quake. The Associated Press, citing the Baja California state civil protection director, Alfredo Escobedo, said a multistory parking structure collapsed at the Mexicali city hall but no one was injured. “In a 7.2, you are going to experience a lot of shaking,” said Morgan Page, a geophysicist with the Geological Survey. “So it would be surprising if there wasn’t a lot of damage. Mexico does have many vulnerable structures.” Postings on Twitter told of people in shock in Mexico as well as in southern California. “People were outside crying because the beams looked like they were going to collapse and a wall cracked (along with various things falling) and the power went out in some parts,” read one report from Calexico. In the United States , the shaking was particularly acute in San Diego , where it set off alarms and sent the San Diego fire department responding to several calls, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported. “We have some reports of scattered property damage,” Sgt. Ramona Hastings of the San Diego Police Department said in a telephone interview. At a Sheraton hotel in downtown San Diego, the floor cracked opened and prevented the front doors from shutting. Officials ordered all guests and staff from the building, pending an inspection from structural engineers. Fire officials reported a water main break in front of a hospital and another water line break at a department store. “There’s scattered stuff all over the place,” said Maurice Luque, a spokesman for the San Diego fire department. “There’s nothing colossal.” Even for California residents who are veterans of previous and more punishing earthquakes, the temblor was impressive. “House was shaking. Pic fell off bookcase. Lasted about 30 seconds. Worst I’ve felt here since Northridge,” Timothy Nash said in a Twitter message from San Diego. The Northridge earthquake of Jan. 17, 1994 — a 6.7-magnitude temblor that was centered in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Reseda — lasted for about 20 seconds but proved to be one of the most devastating natural disasters to hit the United States. There were 72 deaths attributed to the quake, and it caused an estimated $20 billion in damage. Initial reports indicated that Sunday’s earthquake, while bigger in magnitude, caused nowhere near the damage. While this earthquake exceeded the numerical magnitude of the 7.0 earthquake in Haiti earlier this year, the damage there was far greater because the epicenter was near the heavily populated capital city, Port-au-Prince. The Baja earthquake was the largest in a series that have taken place in the region that presages it, beginning with a 4.2 quake on March 31. It was followed by strong aftershocks. In Los Angeles, homes slid from side to side for well over a minute, a nauseating and seemingly endless wave that could be felt from the beach to the Hollywood Hills. Power failures caused by the temblor were reported in Yuma, Ariz. Emilio Magaña, 39, a priest at St. Patrick’s Roman Catholic Church in Calipatria, Calif., had just finished a morning of Easter services at different locations around rural Imperial County and was napping in his church in the middle of lettuce and carrot fields when the quake struck. “I awoke to my bed shaking and heard some pictures from the walls falling down,” he said. “My nerves were a little rattled because it was a long earthquake. It lasted almost 2 minutes. It was one very long one, then short temblors. I’ve never felt anything like it.”


Jets Without Revis Against Steelers

Abstract: The Jets will face the Pittsburgh Steelers’ speedy receivers without their All-Pro cornerback Darrelle Revis, who was ruled out for the team’s game at Pittsburgh on Sunday with a concussion sustained in the season opener against Buffalo. Revis needed to be cleared by the team physician and an independent neurological consultant in order to first practice and then play. He was injured when his teammate Bart Scott accidentally kicked him in the head. ¶ Safeties Madieu Williams of Washington, Taylor Mays of Cincinnati and Rahim Moore of Denver were fined $21,000 each by the N.F.L. for unnecessary roughness. Williams made helmet-to-helmet contact with Saints tight end Jimmy Graham, who was defenseless, with about three minutes remaining in Sunday’s game at New Orleans. Mays did the same to Baltimore tight end Ed Dickson on Monday. Rahim struck the defenseless Steelers receiver Emmanuel Sanders in the head and neck area Sunday.

Concussions
Revis Darrelle
New York Jets
Football


Mets Pitcher Jeurys Familia Has Domestic Violence Case Dismissed

Abstract: FORT LEE, N.J. — A domestic violence charge against Mets reliever Jeurys Familia was dismissed on Thursday by a municipal court judge in Fort Lee, N.J., after a prosecutor indicated that there was not enough evidence to move the case to trial. The prosecutor, Arthur Balsamo, said that Familia’s wife, Bianca Rivas, had told him that scratches on her chest at the time of the episode were made by their 1-year-old son and that marks the police had spotted on her cheek came from her resting her face on her hand while lying down. Rivas also said that two knives found on the bathroom floor by the police had been used by Familia to wedge the door shut when he had temporarily barricaded himself inside after an argument. Balsamo also told that judge that there had been no previous domestic violence episodes involving Familia and that no problems had been reported since Familia was arrested at the family’s home in Fort Lee early on Oct. 31. A restraining order against him was lifted at a hearing on Nov. 10. As Judge John DeSheplo dismissed the misdemeanor charge of simple assault after briefly questioning Rivas, he also agreed to a request from Familia’s lawyer to expunge the arrest from Familia’s record. Familia, dressed in a gray turtleneck, a black sport coat and jeans, left the courtroom through a rear door with his wife and ducked into a silver Range Rover without speaking to reporters. “We’re happy the case is over,” his lawyer, Paul Brickfield, said. Though the criminal case was dismissed, Familia could still face penalties from Major League Baseball. Under baseball’s domestic violence policy, Commissioner Rob Manfred has discretion to discipline individuals regardless of the filing or outcome of criminal charges, although any penalties can be challenged through an arbitrator. Three major league players have been disciplined under the policy, which was developed in conjunction with the players’ union and put into effect on Aug. 21, 2015. Aroldis Chapman was suspended for 30 games, Jose Reyes for 51 games and Hector Olivera for 82. Chapman was not arrested, Reyes was not tried and Olivera served his suspension before he was convicted of misdemeanor assault in September and sentenced to 10 days in jail. In the collective bargaining agreement that was finalized Wednesday, the union and M.L.B. agreed to procedural changes in the domestic violence policy covering future episodes. One provision prohibits players from encouraging witnesses not to cooperate. Another stipulates that any relevant documents and information from a police investigation be turned over to M.L.B. investigators. In court on Thursday, Familia’s wife was described as an uncooperative witness by Judge DeSheplo, who said he would address her during questioning not as a victim but as a witness. He asked her if there had been any threats against her or if she had feared for her safety in recent weeks, and if anyone had offered her money to testify a certain way. She replied no to each question. M.L.B. has done little more than monitor the case so far. Bryan Seeley, baseball’s vice president for investigations, attended Thursday’s hearing, and Balsamo said this week that a baseball representative had contacted him last month. But with the regular season more than three months away, M.L.B. was content to let the judicial process play out – just as it did last winter before leveling suspensions against Chapman and Reyes. M.L.B. planned to move on the case immediately, according to a baseball official who was speaking on the condition of anonymity. It was still unclear whether Familia could be prohibited from playing in the quadrennial World Baseball Classic, an international tournament that will be played in March. Familia is on the Dominican Republic’s preliminary roster. In the view of the baseball official, Manfred would have the authority to keep Familia out of the W.B.C. if the commissioner chose to suspend him. Last year, Chapman was allowed to participate in spring training for the Yankees, in part because players are not paid during spring training and there were concerns that an arbitrator might be willing to reduce the number of games he would miss. But the W.B.C. presents a gray area. The tournament is not part of the regular season, but it might be embarrassing for M.L.B. if Familia played a prominent role — securing the final out in the championship, for example — while awaiting a suspension. Familia, the Mets’ top reliever the last two seasons and an All-Star in 2016, was arrested after the police responded to a call from his wife. Officers observed the scratches and bruises and determined that they appeared to be recent, but his wife told them that Familia had not hit her. According to a redacted version of the arrest report, which was obtained by The New York Times, Familia, who is 6 feet 4 inches and 250 pounds, denied hitting his wife but admitted causing damage to a bedroom door, which the arresting officer said Familia had “shouldered” out of frustration.

Mets
Jeurys Familia
Domestic violence
Baseball
Decisions and Verdicts


Strauss-Kahn of I.M.F. Urges Continued Stimulus Programs

Abstract: PARIS — The chief of the International Monetary Fund urged the world’s major economies on Tuesday to retain their economic stimulus programs until there were durable signs of a recovery, including an end to rising unemployment. “A premature exit is the main danger,” Dominique Strauss-Kahn , managing director of the I.M.F, said during an interview at the fund’s office here. “We have to be sure that the recovery is final, that domestic demand is self-sustaining and the peak in unemployment is on the foreseeable horizon.” Mr. Strauss-Kahn, who was visiting Europe this week, added that “the bigger risk is of growth not coming back, a jobless recovery and to believe that we are out of the woods.” The comments place the I.M.F. firmly on the side of the major Western governments, the primary backers of the fund, in calling for retention of state support like aid for banks and automakers and tax breaks for consumers. The I.M.F.’s position contrasts starkly with the prescription it gave to Asian countries grappling with a different economic crisis a decade ago. Then, the fund, which is based in Washington, lent money to countries including South Korea, Indonesia and Thailand. But it linked its support to harsh financial medicine like high interest rates and a restrictive fiscal policy aimed at balancing budgets. The conditions were blamed for prolonging the downturn in the region. The I.M.F. has “learned a lot from the Asian crisis — that one-size-fits-all doesn’t work and that you have to adapt to the constraints of the country,” Mr. Strauss-Kahn said. In the current context, continuing the stimulus entails risks, according to some economists and politicians, like impoverishing future taxpayers, creating excessive reliance on foreign creditors, keeping unproductive banks afloat and even stoking inflation. Some economists are worried that the splurge in government spending could push the public finances of some countries close to the brink. Rising deficits have caused strains in bond markets, reflecting worries about the possibility of default and the ability of investors to digest the surge in supply. In Europe, borrowers like Ireland and Greece have come under particular strain. There has been speculation that the government in Britain — where the budget deficit is projected to rise above 13 percent of gross domestic product next year — may face more severe balance of payments difficulties. A recent report by Variant Perception, a research firm based in Charlotte, N.C., said the British fiscal situation was “already on a par with some of the worst financial crises in the postwar period that have precipitated currency crises.” Mr. Strauss-Kahn acknowledged the dangers. “I understand the concerns about deficits and they are not unfounded,” he said. “Defaults, of course, are a concern, but they are not likely.” He stressed that in the event of extreme strains in government bond markets, systemically important borrowers would find support either from multilateral lenders or central banks. He also acknowledged concerns about commercial banks becoming too dependent on ultracheap financing from the major central banks. Over all, he said, the fund was more confident about the global outlook than it was in September, when it last released economic projections. This suggests that, excluding a dip in activity in December, it would raise its key forecasts in the update in January. “The U.S. recovery appears to be stronger than we thought in September,” he said. “What I see in the global figures now is that things are moving faster than expected.” Regarding currency adjustments, Mr. Strauss-Kahn said that the euro appeared “somewhat overvalued,” while the renminbi was “still undervalued.” A rise in the value of the Chinese currency would be a logical element in the country’s “shift from an export-driven economy to one that was more dependent on domestic demand,” he said. The I.M.F. has been asked by the Group of 20 to study ways to allow banks to pay for their own bailouts. It is expected to report on the matter in April. One option it will examine is a tax on financial transactions. Meanwhile, the announcement last week by Hungary that it would forgo the next installment of an I.M.F. loan was “the best news of the year,” Mr. Strauss-Kahn said. Other countries in the region — like Ukraine, Latvia, Romania and Serbia — still face “challenges,” he said. After the crisis, the I.M.F. will continue to offer technical advice and training as well as taking “a more formal role linked to the G-20 as a kind of think tank and institution to help implement the follow-up to G-20 meetings,” he said. Further out, it may even become a lender of last resort.

International Monetary Fund
Europe
Economic Conditions and Trends
Strauss-Kahn Dominique


Carter Has Hot Hand, and Nets Get Their Revenge

Abstract: EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J., Jan. 21 - Midway through the first quarter of Saturday night's game against the Boston Celtics, Vince Carter took a pass in transition and headed for the rim. After he dunked one-handed, he turned to the fans seated behind the basket and wagged his index finger at them. We're not going to let it happen again, he seemed to be saying. A night earlier, in Boston, the Nets fell behind early and lost the first game of a home-and-home series. They played porous defense in the first half of that game. On Saturday night, the Nets raced to an early lead and led for the entire game, fighting off challenges by the Celtics with tenacious defense. Carter led the way, scoring a game-high 25 points, as the Nets defeated the Celtics, 103-83, at Continental Arena. "I think it was a very good character win in terms of ability to respond to a tough loss the night before," Coach Lawrence Frank said. The Nets (22-16) have won eight consecutive games at home, their last loss coming Dec. 14 against the Charlotte Bobcats. The Celtics (16-24) squandered an opportunity to win three consecutive games for the first time this season. The Nets also gained some well-needed momentum as they prepared to head west for four games in six days. "It's always great to go off on a winning note," Carter said. "Going into somebody else's building with a little confidence always helps." The Nets accomplished all of that without Jason Collins, who watched from the bench with a knee injury. Clifford Robinson started at power forward in his place and did not have much of an impact, but the reserves Jacque Vaughn and Scott Padgett lifted the Nets with 13 points each. Jason Kidd finished with 7 points, 9 rebounds and 8 assists, and Nenad Krstic (16 points) was among five players who scored at least 10 points for the Nets. Paul Pierce led the Celtics with 20 points and was tied for a team-high with just 5 rebounds. The Nets were also missing forward Lamond Murray, who was inactive after straining his left knee in Boston. Murray had a magnetic resonance imaging exam Saturday, but the Nets will not have a diagnosis until they compare the results with an M.R.I. that he had on the knee two years ago, Frank said. So the short-handed Nets used eight players in the first half, and the Celtics still could not stop them. "We did not have an answer for anyone who wore the other jersey," Boston Coach Doc Rivers said. Frank said before the game that the Nets had to play better defense. At Boston on Friday, they had fallen behind, 15-4, in the first quarter. On Saturday, the Nets built their lead with stifling defense, and they finished with a 49-33 edge in rebounds. They held the Celtics to 31 shots on 74 attempts (41.9 percent). Pierce, who entered the game averaging 26 points, missed 8 of 13 shots. "Tonight was one of our better defensive games, from start to finish," Padgett said. "We fed off of our defense, and then offensively we just kind of picked them apart." It was Carter's dunk that set the tone and gave the Nets a 14-4 lead with 7 minutes 46 seconds left in the first quarter. He was fouled on the play by Raef LaFrentz and made the ensuing free throw to give the Nets an 11-point lead. The Celtics fought back, going on a 14-5 run. But the Nets then controlled the boards, paving the way for an 8-0 run, and they never looked back. The Nets went into the break leading, 61-43, and when Carter made a layup with 5:39 remaining in the third quarter, they went up by 24 points. The lead swelled to 34 when Padgett made a 3-pointer with 6:28 left in the game. The Celtics finished with an 11-1 run, so the final score was not indicative of how out of reach the game really was. "We kept building on that lead, so in that fourth quarter it was in our control," said Kidd, who was hot immediately after the first tipoff and did not want to come out of the game. Frank insisted on resting him late in the second quarter. Brian Scalabrine, who signed with Boston as a free agent in August after four seasons with the Nets, received a lukewarm reception when he entered the game late in the first quarter. One fan seated near the court shouted, "You're a traitor, Scalabrine!" Scalabrine lost a jump ball to the much shorter Kidd in the second quarter and finished with 4 points. With so many Nets playing so well at both ends of the floor, Collins was hardly missed. He had a sore right knee, the result of a collision with the 76ers' Allen Iverson during Wednesday's game, and he played 15 minutes Friday night, scoring 2 points. The Nets begin their road trip against Utah on Monday. Collins's twin brother, Jarron, plays for the Jazz. "It's a sumo, heavyweight matchup," Collins said, jokingly referring to Monday's game. "Collins versus Collins."

BOSTON CELTICS
NEW JERSEY NETS
CARTER VINCE
BASKETBALL


Eastern N.B.A. Powers Wait and Wonder About Nagging Issues

Abstract: INDEPENDENCE, Ohio — In each playoff series, the advancing team encounters moments to put away and ponder as it gains knowledge along the way. In their first-round matchups, the Eastern Conference’s powerhouses rarely gleaned that knowledge from the games’ outcomes. The moments of reflection came in the image of LeBron James awkwardly shooting a free throw with his left hand and admitting to nagging pain in his right elbow, Dwight Howard sitting, stewing and eventually being fined because of his foul trouble, and Kevin Garnett losing his composure and drawing a one-game suspension. For the most part, they and their teams can briefly relax and wait in an ode to the N.B.A.’s imbalance. The league’s version of parity exists in the Western Conference, where all the teams are mired in first-round series that will last at least six games. The Eastern Conference, by contrast, seems like a parody of competitiveness: the Cleveland Cavaliers , the Orlando Magic and the Boston Celtics all needed five games or fewer to shake themselves from their first-round opponents. While they wait, the Cavaliers can exhale as they anticipate their second-round matchup against Boston, which begins Saturday . On Thursday, the Cavaliers disclosed the source of James’s pain, an ailment that the organization kept secret and was revealed only because of James’s late, left-handed free-throw attempt in closing out the Chicago Bulls on Tuesday. James has an elbow strain and a bruise in his olecranon, the bony tip of his right elbow. Physicians recommended daily treatment and another magnetic resonance imaging test next week, although the injury is not expected to keep James from any games. “The best thing about it is there’s no structural damage,” said James, who averaged 31.8 points, 9.2 assists and 8.2 rebounds in the five games against the Bulls. “There’s nothing that needs or requires surgery. The docs have given me all clearances that I can’t hurt it worse and I can go out and play.” The Cavaliers performed only one drill involving contact Thursday, a set that James sat out. He did not wear any protection on the elbow during the practice. He said he had not shot long-range jumpers since Game 5 against Chicago but would adapt if the elbow bothered him. “You’ve got to have some concern, of course, because this is the biggest point of the season for all teams and all players, so you want to be as healthy as possible,” James said. The Magic is waiting to play the winner of the series between the Atlanta Hawks and the Milwaukee Bucks , the conference’s only prolonged first-round matchup. Orlando does not need to worry about Howard’s body — he is healthy — as much as his frame of mind. Howard recently parted with his agent, Aaron Goodwin. In the Magic’s four-game sweep of the Charlotte Bobcats, the grab-happy Howard totaled 22 of a maximum 24 fouls, which limited him to 105 of a possible 192 minutes. If Howard had trouble staying on the floor against Theo Ratliff, Nazr Mohammed and Tyson Chandler, how would he fare against the Celtics’ Kendrick Perkins or the Cavaliers’ Shaquille O’Neal, should the Magic advance to the conference finals? “I mean it was almost comical at times how I was getting fouls called on me,” Howard lamented on his blog . “There was nothing I could do,” he continued, adding: “I felt like I couldn’t even move without getting that whistle blown on me. I’m not looking to say anything to get myself in trouble with the league, but I just don’t see other star players getting called for fouls the way I get them. No star player in the league is outta games the way I am.” Howard was not looking for it, but the league found him and levied a $35,000 fine for his comments about officiating. Garnett is the only player whose actions caused him to miss a game when he elbowed Quentin Richardson of the Miami Heat during a flare-up. He served his suspension, but his actions could have ramifications. The Celtics’ matchups with Cleveland are traditionally physical, with Garnett in the forefront of Boston’s tough-minded defensive approach. Will referees look to harness him faster to make sure a game does not get out of control, especially if James’s elbow is an issue? “They’re a physical team anyways,” Cavaliers Coach Mike Brown said. “Whether the elbow’s there or not, their mind-set is to be physical coming into the series.” Although, James said, what goes around comes around. “That’s fine,” James said. “I know a lot of those guys have injuries, too, so I’ll be fine.”

Cleveland Cavaliers
Boston Celtics
Miami Heat
Basketball
James LeBron
Howard Dwight


Guinea: Gas Station Theft Ignites Deadly Ethnic Clashes

Abstract: At least 16 people have been burned alive or hacked to death with machetes, and dozens wounded, during two days of ethnic clashes in the south, officials said Tuesday. The violence broke out early Monday when gas station guards from the Guerze tribe in the town of Koule beat to death an ethnic Konianke youth they had accused of stealing. Fighting quickly spread to the nearby provincial capital, N’Zerekore. A government spokesman said 16 people had been killed and about 80 wounded. Security forces have been sent to try to restore order.


With Hotel Deal Gone, Patrons Want a Midtown Library Reopened

Abstract: A group of library users and residents of Midtown Manhattan are fuming over what they are calling the inept and heartless handling of the Donnell Library, which was known for its rich holdings of movies, music, foreign language materials and children’s books until it closed last year . The New York Public Library shut the Donnell branch, which opened in October 1955, last August, as part of a deal announced in November 2007 to sell the building to Orient-Express Hotels Ltd. for $59 million. The five-story building, at 20 West 53rd Street, was to be razed to make way for an 11-story hotel, but a new library branch would occupy space on the first floor and in the basement. The deal fell apart in March, however, with the hotel company backing out, citing the financial and credit crises. Now, there is neither the library nor the money that was supposed to come from the hotel deal. Outraged library patrons have called on the City Council to compel the New York Public Library , a nonprofit organization that gets much of its financing from the city, to reopen Donnell. “This is a tragedy being ignored,” RitaSue Siegel , who had been using the library since the 1970s and is an organizer of the campaign to reopen Donnell, said in an interview. “The N.Y.P.L. board must be hammered with tales of their irresponsibility.” Another Midtown resident, David J. Schneiderman, a married father of two who regularly used Donnell, said in remarks to a meeting of Community Board 5 on April 16: “It is a disgrace to eliminate a public library from a neighborhood and, as a result, deprive our youngsters of the benefits associated with a concerned staff that knows and cares for its young patrons. In this age of impersonal communication, we should not allow a bona fide community library to disappear.” The City Council speaker, Christine C. Quinn, who attended the meeting, called the closing of Donnell “a huge blow” and vowed to investigate what could be done, according to several residents who were present. And Councilman Vincent J. Gentile, a Brooklyn Democrat who is chairman of the committee that oversees the city’s libraries, also vowed to look into the matter. Officials at the New York Public Library have stood their ground, saying the 1955 library was crumbling and in dire need of repairs that the library system could not afford. “Our goal was and is to create a new, state-of-the-art library on the Donnell site, replacing an aging, out-of-date building,” said Heidi Singer, a spokeswoman for the library system. “We’re now evaluating various alternatives.” She said the library system hoped that Orient-Express Hotels “honors its commitment to the library,” but would not specify whether the library system planned to sue the hotel chain. Ms. Singer added in a statement: “We understand the disappointment of Donnell users at the closure of their library and continue to keep them informed, through Community Board 5, as developments move forward. In the meantime, all of the materials and services offered at Donnell are or will shortly be available at other Midtown locations.” Ms. Singer cited a March 31 meeting at which George D. Mihaltses, the library’s vice president for government and community affairs, and Teresa Myrhol, a librarian, sought to assuage public concerns. But Ms. Siegel and others who attended that meeting said the library representatives were noncommittal and would not offer specifics. Next Wednesday, the New York Public Library plans to formally open a 12,000-square-foot Grand Central branch at 135 East 46th Street, between Lexington and Third Avenues. Ms. Singer called the new branch “open, inviting and full of light,” with “double-high front windows and beautiful, sustainable bamboo cabinetry,” along with wireless Internet access for laptops and a sizable holding of popular fiction, documentary videos and audio materials. She said that Donnell’s renowned children’s holdings had been moved to the main branch of the library system, now known as the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building , while its musical holdings were transferred to the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center. But Ms. Siegel said the new branch was hardly a substitute for the 88,000-square-foot Donnell. She and other residents plan to picket the opening of the new branch.

New York Public Library
Orient-Express Hotels
Libraries and Librarians
Shutdowns (Institutional)
Manhattan (NYC)


Japan: Interest Rates Are Held Steady

Abstract: Japan’s central bank, the Bank of Japan, left its interest rates unchanged because of worries about the fallout from the credit squeeze in the United States. Before the subprime mortgage crisis emerged in the United States, the markets had expected the Bank of Japan to raise the pivotal overnight call rate, now at 0.50 percent.


Rebel Groups in Syria Make Framework for Military

Abstract: ANTALYA, Turkey — Military commanders of the main Free Syrian Army units from all over Syria agreed Friday to a unified command structure, bowing to intense pressure from Qatar and Saudi Arabia, who the fighters said promised more advanced weapons once a central military council was in place. The agreement, the product of three days of intensive talks among more than 260 rebel commanders, was a marked departure from previous attempts because it was built strictly around commanders from inside Syria. Following the terms of the pact, the participants elected a 30-member Supreme Military Council, which then selected the chief of staff, Gen. Salim Idriss, by consensus. Previous attempts at unification all foundered on disagreements over the structure, tensions between officers inside and outside the country and the failure of donors to provide the weapons they promised. But analysts warned that despite the atmosphere of comity, the agreement could still come unglued — fierce arguments from the meeting occasionally overflowed into the marble lobby of a luxury hotel here, where the rebel commanders with their beards, leather jackets and track suits made a sharp contrast to golfers and other guests. “We accepted everything because they promised everything — even paradise,” Ahmad al-Qanatri, the commander of a military battalion in northern Idlib Province, said of the conference sponsors. “The structure is good, but all on condition we get something. I am not sure we will. If we see any rockets and missiles, it will probably be the ones fired at us.” “From the outside you see all these victories and you think, ‘Wow!’ But I am fighting with nothing,” Mr. Qanatri added. Several elements have transformed the chances for unity sticking this time around, participants said. First, dozens of governments participating in the Friends of Syria meeting in Morocco on Wednesday want to see signs of a viable alternative government in order to extend recognition to the opposition coalition, reorganized less than a month ago. Coalition members are scheduled to meet in Cairo on Saturday to begin selecting a prime minister and a cabinet. The United States in particular has emphasized that the coalition must show strong links to the interior forces, both the rebels and civilian society. Rebel commanders said that three representatives from the Central Intelligence Agency — one from headquarters, one from Turkey and another from Jordan — attended their discussions here but did not comment. Second, there is a growing sense that extremist jihadist forces are beginning to eclipse the rest of the opposition with better weapons and fighters. But outside powers have been reluctant to provide much-demanded antiaircraft and antitank missiles until they are assured that the arsenal will not fall into the wrong hands if the rebels achieve their goal of toppling the government of President Bashar al-Assad. Third, rebel commanders said they were facing a stark new reality. Their advances in recent weeks have been built largely on fatigue and low morale among government soldiers, as well as on random weapons captured from military bases, they said. But both the initial attempt to batter the ramparts of Damascus and the long struggle for Aleppo have given many commanders the sober sense that they had better obtain stronger weapons for any final showdown over the main government strongholds. The meeting here concluded with twin promises between the commanders and their outside supporters. In exchange for unification, the main backers of the rebels said they would funnel money and weapons through the new military council rather than playing favorites among the groups, commanders said. “Before, they were always trying to bring different factions to their side, they created divisions, but now they are helping to create unity,” said Gen. Abed Farzat, a military commander from Aleppo. The pivotal countries present were Qatar — which provides most of the financing for coalition efforts — Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan and Turkey, commanders said. Those countries are still likely to support their own favorites in the game of regional influence, but the main effort will be concentrated on the new leadership, analysts said. Britain and France also sent representatives. The commanders present agreed to the formation of an internal leadership, led by the new chief of staff chosen here, General Idriss. The general, described by commanders as a former professor at Syria’s war college, had previously tried to link external and internal opposition efforts. There was some grumbling among the commanders present that a few people given important posts had defected too recently to be considered reliable, but many fighters seemed pleased over all that their role was finally getting its due. Commanders from jihadist groups were not invited. The new organization effectively replaced the loose network of defected officers who were considered leaders of the Free Syrian Army, many of them outside the country. “They want people who obey orders,” said Col. Riad al-Asaad, long the head of the Free Syrian Army in exile in Turkey, who said foreign powers did not invite him to the meeting. But the marked difference with the current structure was that it was built from the field commanders rather than imposed by Arab countries and the West. “They are trying to build a leadership of credible ground forces, and I think that is a huge distinction,” said Elizabeth O’Bagy, an expert on the Syrian rebel groups at the Institute for the Study of War in Washington. “A lot of the people who are part of the new military leadership are influential and important leaders on the ground.” In addition, a civilian will most likely be chosen as defense minister before the Marrakesh meeting. Two mentioned prominently are Mohamed al-Fares, who was an air force officer most famous as Syria’s first astronaut, sent aloft by the Soviets in 1987, and Manaf Tlass, the scion of a famous Sunni Muslim family. Commanders said that Mr. Tlass was a favorite of the French and Saudis, but that they distrusted him both because of his senior military position under President Assad and because his father was defense minister for almost 30 years. In tandem with the military conference, 95 members of local administrative councils from inside Syria meeting in Istanbul announced Thursday that they reached an agreement on a joint organizational structure and a uniform list of goals, with distributing humanitarian aid a priority. But commanders said the tide can really turn only with better weapons — the cost in dead fighters and civilians is too high to keep battling the way they have been. Part of the agreement was rooted in fatigue, commanders said, and the desire to end civilian suffering. Commanders said this was especially true in Damascus, where the government can be expected to make a fierce last stand, throwing into battle its best airplanes and tanks, which up to now have been used sparingly. “We still lack the powerful weapons that are needed for the battles that are coming,” said Abu Ghassan, a field commander from Damascus using only his nickname. “We have not really opened the front line there yet. We have only shaken the rose a little bit to get the smell.”

Middle East and North Africa Unrest (2010- )


Astronauts Return Safely to China

Abstract: SHANGHAI — Three Chinese astronauts returned safely to earth in their space capsule late Sunday afternoon after spending nearly three days in low orbit and completing the nation’s first spacewalk, Chinese state television said. The re-entry capsule of the Shenzhou VII spacecraft floated down by parachute and landed on the grasslands of northern China at 5:37 p.m. Beijing time. The capsule was located about 10 minutes later by a search-and-rescue team, which helped the three astronauts climb out. The landing was shown on national television and the three astronauts appeared relatively well. After emerging from a cramped, round capsule, they sat on what looked like lawn chairs, waved to the cameras and spoke briefly. “It was a glorious mission, full of challenges, but the result is perfect,” one of the astronauts, Zhai Zhigang, said after the landing, according to the state-run news media. On Saturday afternoon, Mr. Zhai completed the nation’s first spacewalk, floating above an orbital module and waving a small Chinese flag. China called the mission, its third manned space launch, a complete success and a “major breakthrough” for the country’s space program. The government has said it hopes to establish a space station and eventually make a moon landing. Beijing sees the space program as a major yardstick of the country’s economic and technological development, and also a means to strengthening the country’s image at home and abroad. China, which has spent billions of dollars building up its space program over the past decade, is only the third country, after Russia and the United States, to send humans into space with its own spaceship.

China
Space
Solar System
Science and Technology


Britain's Living Legacy to the Games: Sports

Abstract: LONDON — They have staged and will stage the Summer Games in many countries, but there are only two places where the modern Olympics truly go back to their roots. The first is Greece, which organized all that running and jumping in the first place, beginning in 776 B.C. The second place is right here, in the rainy island nation where the Olympics will reopen for business and pleasure on Friday. There is a particular obsession this time, in light of Britain’s challenging economic climate and the angst over the burgeoning herd of Olympic white elephants, to emphasize legacy and more legacy; to emphasize temporary stadiums that will give way to more sustainable projects; to point out ecologically sound design that will put natural light and rain water to good use; to remind visitors of the contaminated wasteland full of rusting refrigerators in Stratford-not-upon-Avon that has been transformed into eye candy and elbow room for the absolutely-going-to-be-fashionable East End. But the truth is that these London Olympics actually are the legacy — the reward or the burden, depending on one’s appetite for tax increases — for all those games the British developed and codified in the 19th century that now fill up the Olympic schedule. “The two remnants of the British empire are language and sport,” said Tony Collins, director of De Montfort University’s International Center for Sports History and Culture in Leicester. “Britain is no longer a serious world power, not at the top table anymore, but one thing that it can still do is point at the fact that most of the countries in the world still play British sports or sports that were derived from British sports.” “That’s a tremendously important prop for British national pride in the world today,” he added. “Most of the glory of the 19th century has disappeared, but sport remains and Britain can bask in reflected glory from the significance that sport has today in virtually every country.” Scan the Olympic program, and British-codified, British-influenced sports are legion. They include track and field (known here as athletics), swimming, boxing, rowing, sailing, soccer, badminton, tennis and even table tennis, which provided London’s irrepressible Mayor Boris Johnson with source material in Beijing during the last Olympics. “Ping-pong was invented on the dining tables of England in the 19th century,” Johnson said in a speech. “It was called ‘wiff waff.’ And there you have one of the essential differences between us and the rest of the world. Other nations — the French — looked at a dining table and saw an opportunity to have dinner. We looked at a dining table and saw an opportunity to play wiff waff.” “And that is why London is the sporting capital of the world,” he added. “And I say to the Chinese, and I say to the world: Ping-pong is coming home. Athletics is coming home. Sport is coming home.” There could have been even more sports coming home if the timing had worked out differently. Golf and rugby — two more very British diversions — already have been added to the program for the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro. But the modern Olympics do not simply owe much of their software to the British. They owe, in roundabout fashion, their hardware to the British in that they inspired a certain romantic French aristocrat who was looking for a more salubrious way forward for his own nation and for a more effective vehicle for his own gnawing ambitions. That was Baron Pierre de Coubertin, who believed the French needed to become more robust after losing the Franco-Prussian War in 1871 when Coubertin was a small boy. Like many in his era, he became enamored of the English educational system after reading the novel “Tom Brown’s School Days,” which was published in 1857 but which he read nearly 20 years later in a French translation. The book, an international hit, was an idealized depiction by Thomas Hughes of his years at Rugby School under the benevolent eye of its headmaster, Thomas Arnold. Coubertin made multiple visits to Rugby School and even spent a night in the school chapel in vigil next to Arnold’s grave. “I dreamed that I saw before me the cornerstone of the British Empire,” Coubertin later wrote. Oddly, for those who like their Olympic history neat and tidy, there is scant evidence of Arnold’s paying any attention to sports. But the 19th-century British movement known as “muscular Christianity” was no figment of an author’s imagination with its emphasis on schoolyard games and fair play as a way to mold the future guarantors of empire. “There was a significant body of opinion in France, of which Coubertin was part,” Collins said, “who believed that one of the reasons for the success of the British was the way in which games were used as a form of educating the population, both at the elite level but also among the mass of the population, and that it helped them to instill the right values into the population at all levels.” The topic broached, Sebastian Coe, the former Olympic champion who is now chief of the London Organizing Committee, immediately began to recite the 19th-century Henry Newbolt poem “Vitai Lampada,” with its contrasting verses that describe a British schoolboy playing cricket and then fighting future battles in distant lands to the recurring cry of “Play up! Play up! And play the game!” “The river of death has brimmed its banks, / And England’s far, and Honour a name, / But the voice of a schoolboy rallies the ranks: / Play up! play up! and play the game!” According to Coe: “You really can’t divorce the development of the empire, the creation of these sports, the codification of these sports and then international reach of these sports from that extraordinary 20- to 30-year period.” There was also a deep neoclassical vein running through elite 19th-century British culture that dovetailed with visions of Olympia past and, in Coubertin’s case, Olympia future. “At that point, certainly in elite schools like Rugby School, an inordinate amount of time was spent studying ancient Greek and Latin,” Collins said. “That was partly because the model that the British Empire and the educational system drew upon were models of the Greek and Roman empires. So Coubertin was also partially inspired by British idealization of the Greeks as well.” The surprise, from a 21st-century vantage point, is that the British did not get around to reviving the Olympics first. But then, in a minor key, they did. An Englishman, Robert Dover, started an event called “The Cotswold Olimpick Games” in the early 17th century. Dover’s Olimpick program had a martial emphasis, with sword fighting among the events. Those games waxed and waned but they were revived in the 1950s and have been held annually since 1966. It is doubtful that Coubertin was aware of the Cotswolds’ “Olimpicks,” but he was very much aware of the Wenlock Olympian Society Games that were started in 1850 by the Englishman William Penny Brookes in a small village in Shropshire called Much Wenlock. There were multisport games, with track and field and cricket competitions and “tilting at the rim,” in which a man on horseback would spear a ring with a lance. There were also literary and artistic competitions that foreshadowed today’s cultural Olympiad. The winners in Much Wenlock were crowned — Hellenic style — with laurel wreaths. The Wenlock Games never acquired an international dimension. Coubertin visited Much Wenlock in 1890, staying at Brookes’s home, to discuss his own grander plans. So why didn’t the British take their idea to its logical, global conclusion? Collins thinks it is because that conclusion was not all that logical in the British world view. What the British did seriously propose as early as 1891 was a quadrennial, multisport games involving Britain’s far-flung dominions. A “festival of the empire” took place in 1911 in London to celebrate the coronation of King George V, but the idea did not take off in earnest until the Empire Games in 1930 in Canada, which eventually became the Commonwealth Games. “What mattered to the British was by and large the British Empire,” Collins said. “Imperial contests between England, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa were very common in cricket. Even soccer teams toured. Athletic competitions were very common, rowing competitions. So the British already had their own international network of sporting events, and they weren’t very much interested in playing sport with people outside the Empire.” “It’s similar to the story with soccer, where it was the French founding FIFA that really gave the impetus for the spread of soccer throughout Europe and to some extent Latin America,” he added. “In a sense, Coubertin was a precursor of that. He took the British ideas about the importance of sport, its moral values, the importance of amateurism and developed almost an international philosophy.” Coubertin had the wile and will to make his revival endure, and the inaugural Olympic Games were launched in 1896 in Athens. Nonetheless, in 1994, Juan Antonio Samaranch, then the president of the International Olympic Committee, visited Much Wenlock, which still stages its annual festival, to lay a wreath at Brooke’s grave and explain that he was paying his respects to the true “founder of the modern Olympic Games.” This explains why one of the mascots at the London Games is named “Wenlock.” The point the London organizers are making is the same that they made in their successful bid to the International Olympic Committee in 2005: Greece might be the cradle of the Olympic movement but Britain has done plenty of the child-rearing. And on Friday, London, site of the Games in 1908 and 1948, will become the first city to stage three officially recognized modern Summer Olympics.

Greece
Olympic Games (2012)
London (England)


Plan to Close Prisons Stirs Anxiety in Rural Towns

Abstract: GABRIELS, N.Y. — After 17 years of marriage, Joy and Richard Gonyea managed to save enough to trade their trailer in November for a cozy prefabricated home with a room for each of their two children and a pool in the backyard. The home overlooks the pine trees on the edge of their two-acre property in rural Vermontville, eight miles from the secluded state prison where Mrs. Gonyea works. “This home is all we’ve ever dreamed of,” said Mrs. Gonyea, 43, a registered nurse who runs the medical department at the prison, Camp Gabriels, a minimum-security facility in this minuscule hamlet in Franklin County, at the northern end of Adirondack Park. “This,” she said, “is the place we always wanted to have for our kids.” Then she began to cry. On Jan. 11, the Spitzer administration announced plans to close Camp Gabriels, two other corrections camps and a medium-security prison, all of which have been operating below capacity since 1996 because of a decline in the number of nonviolent felons, the state’s corrections commissioner, Brian Fischer, said. Closing those prisons, Mr. Fischer said, would save the state millions of dollars, free up money for the treatment of sex offenders and mentally ill inmates, and finance programs like anger management and vocational training, meant to prepare prisoners for their release. But for Mrs. Gonyea, her neighbors and co-workers, the prospect of losing Camp Gabriels has stoked fear and doubt — about their future and about the future of their communities, which have come to depend on the prison over the years to survive. As rural economies across the country crumbled in the 1980s and the population of prison inmates swelled, largely because of tougher drug laws, states pushed prison construction as an economic escape route of sorts. Throughout the 1960s and ’70s, an average of four prisons were built each year in rural America; the rate quadrupled in the 1980s and reached 24 a year in the 1990s, according to the federal Agriculture Department’s economic research service. The boom, experts say, provided employment, but it also fostered a cycle of dependency. Depressed rural communities came to rely on the prisons as a source of jobs, economic sustenance and services, with little effort devoted to attracting other viable businesses. “What we’ve seen in New York and other states is that one prison led to another prison and led to another prison, creating the notion that there’s no other economic development option than to build prisons to foster stability in rural areas,” said Tracy Huling, an independent consultant in New York who has done extensive research on the role of prisons in rural economies. None of the 584 workers at Camp Gabriels and the other prisons slated to close — Camp McGregor in Saratoga County, Camp Pharsalia in Chenango County and the Hudson Correctional Facility in Columbia County — are expected to lose their jobs; state and union officials have said the workers will be able to transfer to other prisons. But when that will happen, where the new jobs will be or even whether there will be jobs for everyone, are bound to remain open questions for months to come. The uncertainty has gnawed on residents here and in several other communities in this remote, challenging region where below-zero temperatures are the norm this time of year. The correction industry is big business in Franklin County, which has five state prisons and one federal prison in its 1,678 sparsely populated square miles. In the town of Brighton, which encompasses Gabriels and five other hamlets, the prison is perhaps the only place where someone with a high school diploma can earn a decent wage and benefits. “There ain’t much else the local people could do for gainful employment,” said Peter Martin, 48, the town’s supervisor and a corrections officer at Camp Gabriels for 22 years. The camp employs 136 people, including 85 corrections officers. The reliance on Camp Gabriels extends well beyond jobs. Small businesses have staked their survival on the prison workers who patronize their stores. Local governments and charities, meanwhile, have come to depend on inmate work crews to clear snow from fire hydrants, maintain parks and hiking trails, mow the lawns at cemeteries and unload trucks at food pantries. Every winter, the crews help build an ice palace in the nearby village of Saranac Lake, cutting thick blocks of ice that can weigh up to 700 pounds. The palace is the main attraction of the village’s Winter Carnival and attracts thousands to the area. “All those services, when you put that into dollars, there’s no way we’d be able to hire people to perform them,” said Mary Ellen Keith, supervisor of the town of Franklin, which relies on the crews to cut overgrown brush from the sides of 67 miles of local roads, among other tasks. (Franklin is just south of Brighton and another of the 19 towns that make up Franklin County.) Four of Mrs. Keith’s nine children work in state prisons, she said, including a son and a daughter at Camp Gabriels. “Everyone around here either works in the prisons, or has a relative who works in the prisons, or knows someone who works in the prisons,” said Mrs. Keith, 78. “My kids were able to build their homes and raise their families here because of the prisons. If it weren’t for the prisons, they would have had to leave the area.” Prisons are also a valuable political tool, because inmates are counted as local residents, allowing communities to receive more state and federal aid for emergency services. Mr. Martin said that he was not yet sure how the town of Brighton stood to lose if Camp Gabriels closed, but he added, “We’re concerned about losing any kind of aid here.” Inmate-inclusive population counts are also used when drawing legislative and Congressional district lines. Franklin County has struggled to find its economic footing. The terrain is carved by mountains, streams and lakes, with limited farmland. Much of it falls inside Adirondack Park, so development must abide by strict rules. Tourism is strong, but concentrated in a few areas. Winters are long and the wind so cold it seems to slice the skin, like tiny razor blades. The soil is frozen for most of the year; the growing season lasts from May through September, yielding potatoes and some grain crops, but little else. In Gabriels, which has about 800 residents, including the prison’s 186 inmates, the closest thing to Main Street is a half-mile stretch of state highway, Route 86. It has two mini-markets, two farms, a general store, a cafe, a temporary post office (the permanent one burned last winter) and a few dozen homes. Camp Gabriels is set back from the highway, shrouded by tall pines. The camp opened in 1982, in a building once occupied by a sanitarium. It has no fences; trees delimit its perimeter. At its peak, it held 336 inmates. “There’s no doubt that closing prisons could bring short-term economic distress to some areas, but the question is, is that a justification for refusing to make changes? The answer should be no,” said Edmund J. McMahon, director of the Empire Center for New York State Policy, a conservative group. “There should be other ways of improving the economic situation in upstate New York that doesn’t involve filling upstate New York with prisons.” Gov. George E. Pataki tried to close prisons in New York each fiscal year from 2002 to 2006, but he faced intense pressure from upstate legislators and union leaders, who are already objecting to Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s proposal. This is Mr. Spitzer’s first try to close prisons and, officials say, it is a necessary step to help the state bridge a projected $4.4 billion budget gap and adapt its corrections system to the number and types of inmates it now serves. The closings, scheduled for January 2009, would save the state more than $40 million in operating costs over the next two years and $30 million over five years in repair costs. “This is as much a budget issue as it is a management issue,” Mr. Fischer, the corrections commissioner, said in an interview. “I’ve got a finite budget and I’ve got a finite work force, and I have to use them where my needs are, and that’s in the larger facilities.” The number of inmates housed in the state’s maximum-security prisons increased by 18 percent from 1996 to 2007, while the inmate population in medium-security prisons declined by the same rate. During that period, the number of prisoners in minimum-security facilities — most convicted of larceny, burglary, minor drug possession and other nonviolent crimes — decreased by 47 percent, officials said. Six months before closing Camp Gabriels and the other prisons, the state must detail what it plans to do with the emptied facilities. Mr. Fischer said that it was too early to tell what those plans would be, but that the state would consider public and private uses for the properties. Union leaders and many Camp Gabriels workers said they would not give in easily, though. They organized a rally in Saranac Lake on Thursday and a letter-writing campaign, hoping to convince state legislators that the prison was worth saving. “I told my wife we should hang in there,” said Mr. Gonyea, 44, who retired in 2005 after working for 23 years as a corrections officer, 17 of those at Camp Gabriels. “The anxiety, all this doubt, it’s killing us. But it’s not over yet.”

New York State
Prisons and Prisoners
Shutdowns (Institutional)


Late Surge From Alonso Has Upended Predictions

Abstract: Before the Korean Grand Prix two weeks ago, the general opinion and even the mathematics suggested that the 2010 Formula One drivers’ title would be decided at the last race of the season, in Abu Dhabi, next weekend. Then, the almost unthinkable happened: both of the Red Bull drivers — Mark Webber, the leader of the championship; and his teammate, Sebastian Vettel, another contender for the title — dropped out of the race and failed to score any points. That handed the victory to the Spanish driver, Fernando Alonso of Ferrari, his third victory in four races. It put Alonso, an outsider for much of the season, into the lead of the championship. He had scored 133 points in seven races, 90 of them in the past four. Suddenly, the mathematical certainty is that Alonso can now win the drivers’ title at the Brazilian Grand Prix this weekend. He is the only one of the five title contenders who may do that. With a lead of 11 points on Webber, his nearest rival, and 21 points on Lewis Hamilton, Alonso needs only to win the race and to see his rivals fail to pull to within 25 points of him. (A victory rewards a driver with 25 points, and a tie is decided by the number of victories a driver has won in the season.) Alonso is playing it cool, but there is a sense of anticipation in the air. For the past four years, the championship has been decided in Brazil, including both of the Spaniard's titles, in 2005 and 2006. “I don’t want to think about the chances of history repeating itself for a third time: I know it is theoretically possible, but that does not count for me,” Alonso said in his diary on the Ferrari Web site last week. “We want to tackle this Grand Prix in the same way as all the others, concentrating on ourselves with our feet on the ground, trying to do a good job, without making mistakes and with the aim of beating our rivals. I have said it before and I say it again: we will do the maths in Abu Dhabi.” Indeed, all the drivers chasing him also know that with the new points system, anything really can happen. And even with the old points system, they need only look back to 2007. That year, with two races left in the season, the Finnish driver Kimi Raikkonen of Ferrari had been trailing in third place in the series behind both Alonso and Hamilton, who was 17 points ahead of the Finn. Hamilton dropped out of the penultimate race, which Raikkonen won, and then Hamilton failed to score enough points in Brazil, and the Finn again won the race to snatch the drivers’ title by one point. The following year, Felipe Massa, another Ferrari driver, failed to win the title by only one point in Brazil, although he won the race. During the last lap, on the last corner of the race, Hamilton passed into a position that gave him the point he needed to win the title. This year, the lowest placed contender for the title is Jenson Button, who won the title in Brazil last year. But he lies 42 points behind Alonso. In the old points system, Button is 16.8 points behind Alonso.

Formula One
Brazil
Automobile Racing
Sao Paulo (Brazil)
Automobiles


2 Indian Naval Officers Missing After Plane Crashes in Arabian Sea

Abstract: NEW DELHI — An Indian-made naval plane crashed in the Arabian Sea off the coast of the southern state of Goa on Tuesday night during a routine training mission. Two officers are missing, while the flight commander, a seasoned pilot, was rescued by fishermen. The Indian Navy has been plagued by frequent accidents over the past several years, particularly with its aging fleet of ships and submarines, leading to the resignation of the naval chief last year. A spokesman for the navy, Capt. D. K. Sharma, said that a search-and-rescue operation was continuing on Wednesday for the officers.


Fed Moves to Restrict Fees on Gift Cards

Abstract: WASHINGTON (Reuters) — The Federal Reserve stepped up its consumer protection efforts for the second time in less than a week Monday, proposing to limit the ability of gift card issuers to impose excessive fees. The Fed proposed banning any fees for the first year and limiting gift card issuers to one fee a month if the card was not used for at least a year. It also requires clear disclosure to consumers about penalties. Last week the central bank banned overdraft fees on banks’ automated teller machine and debit card transactions unless consumers had actively chosen to use an overdraft protection service. The rules would also prohibit the cards from expiring before five years had passed from the date the card was issued or five years from the date additional funds were added to the card. The rules would be not be put in place until August 2010.

Consumer Protection
Credit and Money Cards
Federal Reserve System
Prices (Fares Fees and Rates)


Painkillers Resist Abuse, but Experts Still Worry

Abstract: Anthony DiTullio would pop a painkiller in his mouth but not just swallow it, as intended. He would chew it for 30 minutes, grinding through its protective coating and waxy unpleasantness, because the only pain he was treating was addiction. The pill was OxyContin, a painkiller that its manufacturer, Purdue Pharma, says deters abuse by being difficult to chew or liquefy into forms that give addicts stronger highs, orally or through injection. Since adding these features to its original and widely abused OxyContin in 2010, the company has likened the pill to a virtual seatbelt to restrain the nation’s epidemic of prescription drug abuse. But as thousands of addicts still find ways to abuse OxyContin and similar painkillers, called abuse-deterrent formulations, some experts caution that the protections are misunderstood and could mislead both users and prescribers into thinking that the underlying medications are less addictive. Because abuse-deterrent formulations are relatively new, preliminary data on their public-health implications is limited. Several studies, some sponsored by Purdue, have found that abuse of OxyContin specifically has decreased after its protections were added. Other reports confirmed those findings but also found that many abusers simply moved on to other opioids, as well as heroin, leaving the overall effect on drug abuse open for debate. The limitations of abuse-deterrent painkillers were recently underscored when more than 150 residents of southern Indiana contracted H.I.V., the virus that causes AIDS, by sharing needles they used to inject Opana, a drug once marketed as resistant to being liquefied for injection. “I would definitely say that OxyContin is harder to abuse than it used to be — it was a pain in the neck,” said Mr. DiTullio, 35, who successfully addressed his addiction at a drug-treatment facility and now operates an auto body shop in Keene, N.H. But he added, “No matter what they do, there’s always going to be a way for people to get whatever they want in their system.” Nearly two million Americans either abused or were dependent on opioid painkillers in 2013, with 16,000 people dying from overdoses, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Only 1.4 percent of opioid prescriptions filled in 2014 were for abuse-deterrent formulations, according to Express Scripts , the nation’s largest prescription-drug manager. More than 219 million prescriptions for opioid painkillers were written in 2014, with sales of $8.85 billion, according to IMS Health , a health care information company. Three new painkillers were approved last year by the Food and Drug Administration to be marketed as having abuse-deterrent properties. Embeda , from Pfizer, and Targiniq , from Purdue, when crushed release naloxone to counteract the euphoria experienced through snorting or injection. Purdue’s Hysingla , like OxyContin, is difficult to chew and liquefy. About 30 more are in development by various companies, according to the F.D.A. Support for such protections has grown to the point that the agency was roundly criticized in 2013 for going against its advisory committee’s recommendation in approving a new painkiller, Zohydro, without deterrent features. (Its manufacturer, Zogenix, has since pursued adding them.) Some lawmakers have pushed for legislation to make the branded drugs cheaper or require that generic versions of older painkillers include abuse-deterrent features. Dr. Janet Woodcock, the F.D.A.’s director of the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, has testified that there is a limit to protections that painkillers can carry. “We can’t make an impregnable fortress out of the pill,” she said in October, “or the patient isn’t going to get any pain relief.” Like computer hackers, some drug abusers almost embrace the challenge of cracking abuse-deterrent precautions. (A Purdue executive said last year that two people in its lab “take it personally if they cannot break a formulation.”) Websites share various methods, such as microwaving pills or dissolving them in cola overnight. Opana, made by Endo Pharmaceuticals, proved easy enough to shave into powder or inject that the F.D.A. ruled in 2013 that Endo could no longer call it abuse-deterrent. This has led to some skepticism over whether the formulations live up to their original billing. “As innovative as the pharmacologic engineers are, the users seem to be just as innovative in their ability to overcome these anti-abuse measures,” said Dr. Kevin Burke, a public health officer in the southern Indiana area where Opana abuse caused the recent H.I.V. epidemic. “It’s pretty amazing their ability to do that.” Purdue declined requests for an interview, instead providing a statement via email from its chief medical officer, Dr. Gail Cawkwell: “On the whole, society is better off having abuse-deterrent formulations. Focusing solely on what they don’t do is like saying seatbelts aren’t important because they don’t prevent all traffic fatalities. These products won’t stop all prescription drug abuse, but they’re a necessary part of the solution.” Although technologies can hinder tampering with painkiller pills, the active ingredients in abuse-deterrent drugs provide the same high and remain just as addictive as in regular formulations. Research indicates that the majority of people who abuse or become dependent on prescription opioids do so not by altering the pills but by swallowing them whole. So even if doctors move toward OxyContin and newer abuse-deterrent formulations, which is roundly supported, many misunderstand the persistent risks, said Dr. G. Caleb Alexander , a co-director of the Center for Drug Safety and Effectiveness at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. A national survey of internists, family physicians and general practitioners that Dr. Alexander led last year found that about one-third of them incorrectly thought that most prescription opioid abuse is non-oral. More worrisome, he said, almost half of those doctors thought that abuse-deterrent pills were inherently less addictive. A paper based on the survey is being reviewed by a scientific journal. “Prescribers don’t appreciate what these formulations do and what abuse-deterrent actually means,” Dr. Alexander said. “They overestimate the safety of these products. With a term like abuse-deterrent, how can’t it be the best thing since sliced bread?” Because of this, the products should be called only “tamper-deterrent,” said Bob Twillman, the executive director of the American Academy of Pain Management. But the F.D.A. already uses the term “tamper-resistant” to describe outside packaging only. Some experts are also wary that, given some manufacturers’ history of understating the dangers of opioids, they could be overstating their protective measures as well. In 2007, Purdue was fined more than $600 million, and three of its executives pleaded guilty to individual criminal charges, for misrepresenting OxyContin’s risks for addiction.

Drug Abuse
Opioids
Pharmaceuticals
Oxycodone
FDA


China Releases Official Toll of Students in Sichuan Quake

Abstract: BEIJING — After a year of obfuscation, the authorities on Thursday released the first official tally of student deaths from the earthquake last May, saying that 5,335 children either were dead or remained missing. An additional 546 were left disabled, they said. Previous estimates placed the number of students who died in the collapse of school buildings during the May 12 earthquake in Sichuan Province as high as 10,000. During a news conference in Chengdu, Tu Wentao, head of the Sichuan provincial education department, said that the student death figures were accurate. “These numbers were reached through legal methods,” he said. “We have wide agreement on these numbers.” The issue of student deaths remains a contentious one here. The parents of children who perished in the rubble of classrooms say the buildings were poorly constructed; the government has largely quashed the issue by harassing or detaining those who insist on pushing the matter. With the first anniversary of the quake fast approaching, the government has stepped up its campaign to silence those who have been calling for a full accounting of why so many schools failed while adjacent structures remained standing. In recent days, several parents whose children died — and who have refused to stay quiet — said they had been placed under heightened surveillance, and some foreign journalists who have tried to interview grieving parents have been detained. The newly released numbers did little to quell critics. Ai Weiwei, an artist who is one of China ’s best-known gadflies, said the figures were incomplete and “meaningless” because they lacked specifics, like names, ages and places of death. Mr. Ai, who is compiling his own detailed list of the dead, estimates the final figure at around 6,000. He said more precise information from the government might shed some light on the issue of substandard school construction or at least show that the government was truly willing to tackle that fundamental concern. “The government is trying to escape from the accountability on this matter by postponing or rejecting the publication of details,” he said. Government officials say that 68,712 people died during the earthquake. Another 17,921 are listed as missing but are presumed to be dead. According to the official media, 7,000 classrooms and dormitory rooms collapsed during the quake. Over the past year, a number of other people who sought to draw attention to the questions over school construction have been punished or are awaiting trial, including Liu Shakun, a teacher who was charged with “disseminating rumors and disrupting social order” after he posted photographs of destroyed schools on the Internet. The parents of 126 children who died in Fuxin No. 2 Primary School in the town of Mianzhu have been among the most outspoken — and among those most watched by the government. Sang Jun, who lost his 11-year-old son last year, said in a telephone interview that since Monday, dozens of parents had been watched by about 200 security officers and minor officials sent by the Mianzhu government. Mr. Sang said an official told him that the parents would be closely monitored until after the anniversary of the quake, and that any contact with foreign journalists was considered “unfavorable to China.” He and his wife met with a reporter and photographer from The New York Times last week to discuss their grievances . At the time, several parents were willing to secretly meet with journalists in their homes. Mr. Sang said a half-dozen people, mostly village officials, had been watching his home, but he drove them away after an argument on Wednesday morning. His house, on the edge of a wheat field, is close to the site of the Fuxin school, where new school buildings are being built with money from Taiwan. Mr. Sang said the local government was paying the minders $22 per day to keep an eye on the parents, the school site and roads leading into the village. Foreign journalists trying to interview parents have been detained, and some had equipment broken by security officers in recent weeks, according to a report issued Wednesday by the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Beijing, which advocates greater press freedoms in China. A reporter for The Financial Times was punched Tuesday by a thug, possibly a security officer in regular clothes, while conducting interviews around Mianzhu, the group said. After he and his colleagues retreated to their car, they were surrounded by a dozen hostile men, one of whom tried to hit a Chinese news assistant. Liu Xiaoying, whose daughter died in the Fuxin school, said a French television crew was detained by security officers and led out of the temporary housing camp where Ms. Liu lives after the officers learned that the crew was interviewing her. On Monday a group of parents from Mianzhu secretly traveled to Beijing and filed a petition at the central government’s petitioning center. It was the third time parents from Mianzhu had tried to file a complaint in the capital. Employees at the petitioning center immediately notified officials in Mianzhu, who then had people in Beijing detain the parents and escort them back to Sichuan, Mr. Sang said. After the parents returned to Mianzhu on Wednesday morning, they were immediately forced into a hospital and told they would be checked for swine flu , Mr. Sang said. When asked about the reports of harassment, the head of the publicity department in Mianzhu, a woman who gave her name as Ms. Xu, said, “As far as I know, this doesn’t happen.”


The Physics of Coltrane’s Technique: How Pros Hit the High Notes

Abstract: The saxophone, invented by Adolphe Sax, the Belgian instrument maker, and patented in 1846, is a curved tube of brass with holes. Its vibrations can reach high-pitched wailing notes, particularly when played by jazz musicians like John Coltrane. The vocal tract, including the mouth and upper throat, is another vibrating tube, and for some years, scientists and musicians have wondered how important the one is to the other. But it is not so easy to jam a microphone or camera down a saxophonist’s throat. In addition, the mouth is also not the easiest place to make precise measurements. “It’s highly variable,” said Jer Ming Chen, a physics graduate student at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia. “It’s wet. It’s moist. It’s also very loud in there. It’s incredibly loud in there. That’s been the main challenge that prevented direct measurements.” Writing in the current issue of the journal Science, Mr. Chen and two colleagues describe a measuring device they were able to build in the mouthpiece of a tenor saxophone to determine whether saxophonists use their vocal tracts in making music. Their answer: yes and no. The researchers’ device, embedded in the mouthpiece, does not interfere with the saxophonist’s ability to play. It injects a specially designed sound, a mix of 224 frequencies, into the saxophonist’s mouth. A microphone listens to the echoes bouncing off the mouth and vocal tract, detecting which frequencies are amplified by the shape of the vocal tract. Five professional saxophonists and three amateurs went to the laboratory to play a saxophone outfitted with the device. The researchers found that over standard lower-frequency notes in the saxophone repertory, the resonant frequency of the vocal tract varied between players and did not matter much to the note being played. But in the very high notes, called the altissimo range, the professional players tuned their vocal tract — adjusting their tongue, jaw, pharynx, larynx and glottis, the middle part of the larynx where the vocal chords reside — to the note they played. Amateurs, not capable of this trick, could not play these notes. “It seemed pretty clear there was something happening in the vocal tract,” Mr. Chen said. “In hindsight, it really makes sense now.” The researchers expect the same effect for other wind instruments — they are now testing clarinets — and perhaps also brass instruments like trumpets and tubas.

Jazz
Music
Larynx
Science and Technology


With Boeing Deal, Americans Are Coming to Iran

Abstract: TEHRAN — Long before the first newly purchased Boeing airliner lands at Imam Khomeini International Airport, Iran and the United States will have had to come to terms with a new reality: American citizens will once again be taking up residence in Tehran, the first to do so since the Islamic Revolution and subsequent hostage crisis in 1979 and 1980. When the United States on Wednesday gave the green light for the direct sale of Western planes to Iran, much more than nearly four decades of sanctions on such deals came to an end. Not that the deals approved by the Treasury Department are insignificant: 80 Boeing jets and an initial batch of 17 Airbus planes out of a potential total of 118. But the sale will have the important effect of ending an era of absolute isolation between the countries. Boeing will almost certainly have to open an administrative office in Tehran, and technicians will have to move here to train their Iranian counterparts in the care and maintenance of the planes. Among them, almost certainly, will be many Americans. That seems to be exactly what the United States had in mind in approving the deal, Iranian analysts say. The deal not only allows President Hassan Rouhani to show a tangible gain from warming relations with the West, but also moves Iran that much closer to his ultimate goal of normalization of relations with the United States. “Once this deal is a fact it will be much harder for the hard-liners to try to prevent relations with the United States,” said Farshad Ghorbanpour, a political activist who supports Mr. Rouhani. “Nobody can deny that with the planes, people and know-how will enter Iran.” Word of the Boeing and Airbus deals came as Mr. Rouhani was attending the United Nations General Assembly in New York. Speaking at a news conference on Thursday, Mr. Rouhani said Iranian officials already had developed relationships with counterparts at both aviation companies through “many visits,” and that Iran welcomed foreign businesses and investments. “I do not see any problems,” he told reporters. It is the United States government, he said, that is responsible for keeping American companies from the Iranian market. “If Americans have problems, they need to resolve their own problems,” he said. Video In his speech at the United Nations General Assembly, President Hassan Rouhani of Iran said Saudi Arabia must end "divisive policies" to create stability in the Middle East. Credit Credit Lucas Jackson/Reuters Buying planes from the United States, opening a Boeing office or having American representatives at an international airport might seem insignificant. But they represent a tectonic shift in relations. In 1980, when ties between the countries were severed, all 140,000 Americans living in Iran were forced to leave. The United States Embassy was turned into an ideological museum and all American businesses left over the years, as sanctions made commerce increasingly difficult, and more recently, impossible. The bureaus of The New York Times, Bloomberg and some other news media organizations were long the only official American entities allowed to operate in Iran, either by the Iranian authorities or under United States sanctions. When Conoco won an oil contract in Iran in 1995, it secretly opened an office in Tehran, only to close it when Congress adopted tougher sanctions. Many Iranians hope the January nuclear deal, which led to the lifting of some of those measures, changed all of that, citing the jetliner deal as the start of a new era. “We are getting to a point where the gap between economic relations and political normalization is gradually getting smaller,” said Saeed Laylaz, an economist close to the government. Hatred of the United States was the ideological bedrock of the Islamic republic, however, and there are strong forces dedicated to keeping it that way. Police officers some months ago closed a knockoff KFC restaurant after hard-liners protested, saying the chicken wings were a symbol of Westernization. When someone tried to open a McDonald’s franchise here 20 years ago, it took just two days for the restaurant to be burned down. And there are still many sources of tension, particularly the harassment of United States Navy vessels by Iranian naval speedboats and the imprisonment of several Iranian-Americans with dual nationalities. Those episodes and others like them are not likely to disappear soon, as they serve the interests of hard-liners who want to discourage any sort of rapprochement. “No, we should not have relations,” said Hamidreza Taraghi, a conservative political analyst. “We hard-liners also want safe planes. But we need to keep our independence and distance from the United States. That is one of the pillars of our ideology.”

Boeing
Iran
Airbus
Hassan Rouhani
Airlines,airplanes
Embargoes Sanctions
US Foreign Policy


Hofstra Lacrosse Hopes Its Canadian Connection Pays Off

Abstract: HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. — Snow was ringing the field and sitting in the aisles at Shuart Stadium. There was a touch of Canada in the crisp February air and in the four lacrosse players whipping the ball around and searching for a goal at practice with Hofstra’s man-up unit. The Canadian connection of Jay Card, Jamie Lincoln, Adrian Sorichetti and Michael Burke all have backgrounds in hockey, outdoor lacrosse and the indoor box lacrosse game that is bigger than field lacrosse north of the United States border. These four could have much to say about whether the Pride reaches its goal of a national championship this season, which begins Saturday at Princeton . “It’s a very fertile ground for lacrosse recruits,” Pride Coach Seth Tierney said about Canada. After two straight first-round exits from the N.C.A.A. tournament, 11th-ranked Hofstra will try to earn a third consecutive berth for the first time since 1975, then make the final four for the first time, period. “It’s never happened,” Card said, “but we’ve got a special team this year.” Card, an attackman from Caledon, Ontario , is among 21 players back and the lone returning one among the Canadian foursome. The Pride assistant Matt Rewkowski first spotted him at a tournament in Ithaca, N.Y. Card is starting his junior season, yet the Colonial Athletic Association recently named him to its 25th anniversary team for lacrosse even though it has been a championship sport in the conference only since 2002. Still, the honor spoke loudly about his ability. Card filled the net with 62 goals over his first two years. Last season he was an honorable mention all-American and the league’s player of the year, and this season he is the C.A.A. preseason player of the year. “The bar is going to be set high,” Card said. “One thing I want to work on is just staying humble, and work on consistency in every game in every aspect. I just want to be more involved. “Instead of just scoring the goals, I want to help the team out as much as possible.” Hofstra had a Canadian star in Athan Iannucci, the owner of the program’s single-season record with 62 goals in 2006. Now the potential is there for Card and Lincoln to be a dynamic scoring duo as starters on attack. Lincoln poured in 48 goals as a freshman at Denver , but his sophomore season ended abruptly. He was dismissed from the Pioneers with two other players last March 31 for violating team policies. Lincoln said his transgression involved drinking on a road trip. He also acknowledged that reduced playing time had a negative effect on his attitude. After his release, there was a mutual interest with Hofstra. Tierney laid out the expectations. Lincoln liked Tierney, the facilities and the Canadian connection. Tierney said he had been “wonderful” so far. “Coming here, I do have a second chance, and for the most part, you only get one transfer,” said Lincoln, who grew up in St. Catherines and Elora, Ontario. “I just want to work hard, do what I can and hopefully make us a better team and get to the final four and hopefully win a national championship.” Sorichetti, running with the second midfield, and Burke, playing with the third midfield and at attack, are freshmen. For a time, they attended Trinity-Pawling School in Pawling, N.Y., and became good friends. Burke is from the same hometown as Card and, like Card, played for the former Georgetown star Brodie Merrill at the Hill Academy in Vaughan, Ontario. He was noticed at a tournament in Maryland, and his commitment to Hofstra piqued Sorichetti’s interest, which was mutual. The Hofstra staff makes one or two trips to Canada each year. Tierney said that Sorichetti, from Whitby, Ontario, was discovered at a lacrosse camp outside Toronto, and that he has “magic hands.” Sorichetti and Burke are roommates, but they frequently spend time at a house that Card and Lincoln share with three other players. “It’s nice there are four of us here,” said Burke, the son of the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Famer Bob Burke. “I think the Americans get fed up that we’re always talking about box lacrosse back home. That’s really close to our hearts.” Burke said there was also Canadian chemistry on the field. Sorichetti can see it especially in the man-up situations. “We have a little connection between us on that for sure, just from being in box lacrosse,” Sorichetti said. “It’s a tighter space. Just quick ball movement.” Card is happy to finally have company, the better to help fend off the good-natured barbs from American teammates. They kid the Canadian players about their accents and expressions, like cheese wagon, their term for bus. “It’s made things a lot more relaxing here,” Sorichetti said. “It’s not so uptight. This whole Canadian connection thing I hope would bring everybody closer with our jokes in the locker room and playing as a team. Our team has accepted our Canadian style, and people have fed off of it.”

Lacrosse
Hofstra University
College Athletics