Bay Area at Play

Abstract: Sports scores and results age fast. The Tour of California cycling race is now behind us — this year’s winner was Michael Rogers. The 2010 Bruce-Mahoney Trophy, focus of the 117-year rivalry between Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory and St. Ignatius College Preparatory in San Francisco was won by St. Ignatius in the final baseball game. Jahvid Best, a running back at the University of California, Berkeley, and Toby Gerhart, the Stanford running back, are headed for the pros. Here are some numbers that offer a different perspective on sports in the Bay Area. 1:54:41 The record time set in 2004 by Simon Lessing, a professional British triathlete, in the Escape From Alcatraz triathlon. The race consists of a 1.5-mile swim, an 18-mile bicycle ride and an 8-mile run. 2:20:06 The record time in the men’s challenged athlete category of the triathlon, set in 2004, by Willie Stewart, a k a “One Armed Willie,” of Redlands. 36 Age of Bonnie Powers, now 70, when she participated in the first of her 34 consecutive Cinderella Classics. The classic, an annual bicycle ride for women in Contra Costa County, with 65-mile and 100-mile options and some riders in costumes, is hosted by The Valley Spokesmen’s Bicycle Touring Club in Dublin. $18.5M The 2009 salary of Giants pitcher Barry Zito, the highest of any Bay Area professional athlete, according to ESPN. $1.8M The 2010 salary of Jeff Tedford, head football coach at the University of California, Berkeley. 850 The number of student athletes at Berkeley during the 2009-10 academic year. 299 The number of student athletes at Berkeley who received athletic scholarships. $74 AND $82 The amount budgeted per San Francisco Unified School District student for sports and physical education, respectively, during the 2009-2010 school year. $7,539 Total support per pupil in the district. $321 MILLION The estimated cost of the stadium renovation at the University of California, Berkeley. $24.31 The average ticket price for Oakland Athletics games in 2009. 17,392 The average attendance at Athletics home games in 2009, the lowest in the major leagues. $32.43 The average ticket price for San Francisco Giants games in 2009. 35,335 The average attendance at Giants games in 2009, which was 10th in the majors. 35 The number of times per minute that Ariel Hsing, 14, the world’s No. 3-rated table tennis player in her age bracket, can shuffle around a table, back and forth, between one end of the net and the other. Ms. Hsing, who is from San Jose, spends about 20 hours a week training at the Indian Community Center in Milpitas. 30 The number of dragon boats, each with 20 paddlers, that competed in the California Dragon Boat Association’s regatta in Redwood City on May 22. It was the largest number of crews in the eight years of that competition, though smaller than the 110 or so boats competing in the Treasure Island regatta in September.

Athletics and Sports
San Francisco Bay Area (Calif)


Can 2 Network Lineups Learn to Live Together?

Abstract: The news of the teenage wedding between UPN and WB, those two fledgling youth networks, had a shotgun quality. But it might be a glorious match, really, and the old folks in control now have a great deal riding on making the marriage work. If UPN embraces its haphazard novelty side - using WWE's "Friday Night Smackdown!" as its paradigm for success - and lets WB keep its prestigious, soundtrack-heavy dramas, the new network could thrive and pose a credible threat to Fox. A fantasy lineup scraps most of the cookie-cutter comedies on UPN, including "All of Us," "Half & Half," "Girlfriends," "Love, Inc." and "One on One." It keeps "Cuts"- ideally with new writers and Shondrella Avery in an expanded role - and maybe the bearable "Eve." In place of the comedies, CW revives two clever quick-and-dirty UPN reality shows, "The Player" and "High School Reunion," making cool Kristin Cavallari (whose make-a-wish show, "Get This Party Started," should be canceled before it starts Feb. 7) the host of the high school show. Ms. Cavallari, the star of MTV's popular reality show "Laguna Beach," is a master of teenage mind games; she should mix it up with the reuniters and show them how high-stakes teenage reality is played. What's great about "High School Reunion" is that it's the only share-a-house show where the characters have a history together. "The Player" puts on display a different kind of masculinity than is found elsewhere on television; its heroes are Latino and black sweet-talkers who dance, versify, preen and jilt, and not the white family-oriented pharmaceutical-rep stiffs who populate "The Bachelorette." "America's Next Top Model" should be kept - with its spinoff possibilities, especially on Web television, maximized. Charismatic also-rans from the previous cycle of the show, like the aspiring model Kim, should be considered for a teenage talk show. For dramas, the new network should keep "Veronica Mars," because the people who love it, love it - and it has a potent Internet presence. "South Beach" has not been promising so far, though Giancarlo Esposito should be retained by CW, and given his own show. That new show should not be another dopey comedy of black manners, but in the spirit of UPN's two strong canceled dramas, "Kevin Hill" and "Platinum," both of which had black main characters. It should not be afraid of class conflict, drugs, hip-hop or an intergenerational cast. For inspiration, it should look to movies and cable shows like "The Wire" and "Weeds." "Everybody Hates Chris," which tested well but is less of a hit than UPN has advertised, should be turned officially into a children's show, and added to whatever becomes of WB's kid-show block. CW should also add an "Adult Swim"-style stoner block of animated and other sketchy, semi-raunchy shows - miscellaneous stuff they can test on the Web - to compete with Fox's comedy stronghold. Of the existing WB shows, "Gilmore Girls" should naturally be kept, as well as the coming show from that program's creator, Amy Sherman-Palladino. She, along with Greg Berlanti ("Jack & Bobby," "Everwood") and Joss Whedon ("Buffy the Vampire Slayer," "Firefly") should be crowned CW's brain trust, and encouraged to bluster and saber-rattle in the media like the auteur-heroes of HBO (David Chase, David Milch, etc.). "Supernatural" should stay, along with "Smallville" and the proposed "Smallville" spinoff "Aquaman." "One Tree Hill" should also be kept, and lauded for not falling apart as "The O.C." on Fox did. The new network desperately needs a beautifully filmed reality soap to rival "Laguna Beach." Maybe it can bring back WB's "Boarding House" show about surfers, but with more soundtrack and pathos. "Beauty and the Geek" can be kept; it's fun enough. And if money - and not exhaustion by actors - really was the reason that WB canceled "Seventh Heaven," it should immediately be uncanceled. It may one day be CW's "Guiding Light." A lineup packed with trouble, tragedy, tricks and trivia - like adolescence itself. Who could resist that?


A Dual Citizen of Belgium and Italy, With a Cosmopolitan Spirit

Abstract: Patricia Rizzo, a dual citizen of Belgium and Italy, embodied the cosmopolitan spirit of thousands of Brussels-based residents from across the European Union’s 28 member states, who effortlessly navigate language and borders. Ms. Rizzo, 48, who died in Tuesday’s attacks on Maelbeek subway station, was the daughter of an Italian family from Calascibetta, near Enna, Sicily. She was born in Belgium, graduated from a university in Brussels and felt equally at home there and in Italy, where she sometimes vacationed, most recently in her family’s tiny village. Cheerful and possessed of an independent streak, she moved back and forth between Italy and Brussels, working in the human resources department of a European training foundation in Turin, Italy; as an assistant to the director of the European Food and Safety Authority in Parma; and, most recently, for the European Research Council in Brussels. “After a few days of excruciating waiting and angst, our worst fears have been confirmed,” the research council told The Associated Press in a statement. News of her death shook the close-knit Italian expatriate community in Brussels as well as citizens of Calascibetta, where her disappearance after the attack had provoked anxiety and deep concern. Adnkronos, an Italian news agency, noted after Ms. Rizzo was reported missing that everyone in Calascibetta remembered her grandparents, who emigrated to Belgium in 1962 with her mother. Ms. Rizzo returned to visit relatives in Sicily last August. Maria Giuseppa Lo Cascio, a family friend, told Adnkronos that Ms. Rizzo had toured Sicily with a friend. Her cousin Massimo Leonora confirmed her death on his Facebook page. “Very dear friends. First, thank you for your support, your help and help from different countries. Sadly, Patricia is no longer with us. It’s difficult.”He added that the family now had some closure after the interminable race against the clock to try and find her. “Pat, I miss you. We miss you,” he wrote. “I love you,” he added, using a heart emoji. She is also survived by her son and her parents. A photograph circulating on Facebook showed her smiling widely and holding a small child.


China Ranks Last of 65 Nations in Internet Freedom

Abstract: BEIJING — China ranks last in the world for openness among countries studied in a new report on Internet freedom by a prominent American pro-democracy group. The report, “Freedom on the Net 2015,” the latest such annual study by the group, Freedom House, lists the many ways in which China is restricting free access to the Internet , from strengthening its Great Firewall system of website censorship to criminalizing some kinds of Internet speech. China had the worst score of 65 nations, behind Iran, Cuba and Myanmar. (North Korea was not included in the report.) “The aim of establishing control was particularly evident in the government’s attitude toward foreign Internet companies, its undermining of digital security protocols, and its ongoing erosion of user rights, including through extralegal detentions and the imposition of prison sentences for online speech,” says the report released this week. “China was the world’s worst abuser of Internet freedom in the 2015 Freedom on the Net survey.” Image The “Freedom on the Net 2015” report gave China the worst score of 65 nations — behind Iran, Cuba and Myanmar. Credit Greg Baker/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Xinhua, the state-run news agency, reported Wednesday that, through a new criminal law, Chinese officials will be able to impose a prison sentence of up to seven years on a person convicted of creating and spreading “false information” online. The law is the latest in an array of legal regulations that Chinese officials have used in recent years to silence political dissent and quash the spread of information and rumors. The new law, which will take effect Sunday, significantly increases the punishment for those judged to be spreading rumors or politically delicate information. The earlier punishment under a similar measure was an administrative one and not a criminal one, Xinhua reported. Under the earlier administrative law, a person convicted of the charge of spreading rumors online could be placed under detention for five to 10 days and fined as much as 500 renminbi, or about $80. The new law says people who “fabricate false information about hazards, diseases, disasters or crimes and spread it on information networks or other media, or deliberately spread it on information networks or other media while knowing it is false information, seriously disrupting social orders, will be sentenced to a prison term up to three years, placed under detention or face enforcement measures.” “In cases where serious consequences are caused, one will be sentenced to a prison term ranging from three to seven years,” the new law says. Since 2013, Chinese officials have often used another criminal charge, “picking quarrels and provoking trouble,” to jail a wide range of people for online speech, including artists, essayists and liberal lawyers. The best-known case is that of Pu Zhiqiang, a civil rights defense lawyer who was detained last year. He was charged by prosecutors in May with inciting ethnic hatred and picking quarrels and provoking trouble, for which he faces up to eight years in prison. His lawyers said the prosecutors had built their case on 28 microblog posts he had written, some of which criticized China’s policies toward the Uighurs , an ethnic minority. The “picking quarrels” charge has been used as a harsh tool in a widespread official “antirumor campaign” whose aim is to silence certain kinds of Internet speech. This summer, China released a draft law on cybersecurity that, if passed, would further formalize broad powers that the government already wields in clamping down on Internet activity. That includes shutting down the wider Internet in large regions, as the government did in 2009 during rioting involving ethnic Uighurs in the capital of the Xinjiang region. For a year, the government allowed access to only a few official websites across all of Xinjiang, which is one-sixth of the territory of China. “The cybersecurity law is still under discussion now,” said Zhan Jiang, a media studies professor at Beijing Foreign Studies University. “It indicates that more regulations will be placed on the Internet out of security concerns.” China now emphasizes the importance of “cyberspace sovereignty.” The official in charge of the Cyberspace Administration of China, Lu Wei, has stressed that idea in recent meetings with executives of foreign Internet and media companies that want greater access to the Chinese market. Some of the most popular American-run websites are blocked in China, including Google, Facebook and Twitter. (The New York Times has been blocked since 2012.) China has been steadily falling in the annual Freedom House report in recent years. Last year, it ranked third from the bottom among 65 nations, ahead of Iran and Syria. This year’s report says that “over the past year, the renewed emphasis on information control led to acts of unconcealed aggression against Internet freedom.”

China
Freedom House
Censorship
Computers and the Internet
Tech Industry
Freedom of speech


Win No. 5,000 for Jockey

Abstract: The Hall of Fame jockey Gary Stevens rode his 5,000th winner in North America in a $58,000 feature at the Santa Anita track in Arcadia, Calif. Stevens guided the 4-5 favorite Catch a Flight to a neck victory.


Xi Jinping Vows to ‘Reaffirm’ China’s Commitment to Women’s Rights

Abstract: UNITED NATIONS — President Xi Jinping of China, under pressure over the jailing of women’s rights activists , promised on Sunday to “reaffirm our commitment to gender equality and women’s development,” as Secretary General Ban Ki-moon of the United Nations gently reminded world leaders to protect “human rights defenders.” The remarks came a t a conference of global leaders on the 20th anniversary of a landmark United Nations summit meeting in Beijing, where world leaders had promised to change their laws and practices to advance gender equality. China, as the host of that 1995 conference, jointly hosted Sunday’s meeting, which enabled Mr. Xi, analysts said, to highlight his country’s ascendancy on the world stage. Yet the gathering has also exposed tensions between China and the United States on human rights issues, with the American ambassador, Samantha Power, showcasing a campaign to draw attention to political prisoners, including those in China, in the run-up to the event. The organizer of the conference, U.N. Women, said the event was aimed at extracting specific commitments from presidents and prime ministers, and all made promises of various sorts. Video At a United Nations conference of global leaders, President Xi Jinping of China proposed a plan to support women’s development worldwide. Credit Credit Carlo Allegri/Reuters But President Simonetta Sommaruga of Switzerland noted that 20 years after the promises that were made in Beijing, “women face reprisals” in some countries for daring to demand their rights. President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya said his country would do more to fulfill its national policy to prevent domestic violence. Nawaz Sharif, the prime minister of Pakistan, admitted that combating violence against women “requires an attitudinal shift.” His country’s most famous young woman, Malala Yousafzai, was also in New York, and on Saturday night she chided world leaders for squandering their resources on arms, instead of using them for schools. “It’s not that there’s lack of money in the world,” Ms. Yousafzai, an activist for girls’ education who was shot in 2012 after she defied the Taliban, said to great applause at a Central Park concert. “We have billions and trillions of dollars. Where the money goes is to military things that are not useful to society.” President Obama did not attend the conference, though Ms. Power sat at the American table during Mr. Xi’s remarks. Later, the White House released a statement detailing the Obama administration’s commitment to gender equality , including laws that ensure new protections for survivors of violence against women and expanding access to women’s health care, including reproductive services. “In too many places,” the statement said, “from China to Egypt, from Russia to Venezuela — women have been swept up in repressive crackdowns on civil society, and deprived of their universal rights and fundamental freedoms.” President Obama made his sharpest remarks about women’s equality in the General Assembly hall later in the day. Speaking at a session devoted to a new set of development goals, he said that broadening opportunities for women and girls was central to a country’s development, and in comments that could irk some of his most vital allies, including Saudi Arabia, he took aim at cultural justifications offered for contentious issues like child marriage. “I do not have patience for the excuse that well, we have our own way of doing things,” he said. Earlier in the day, at the women’s meeting, Mr. Xi also continued his efforts to court countries of the developing world, pledging to build 100 schools for girls and 100 health clinics, and offering to bring 30,000 women from developing countries to China to receive training in various skills. Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany also pledged to offer professional training to women from other countries. Separately, a report on Sunday from a network of American women’s rights groups called on the Obama administration to advance gender equality in its domestic policies, as well as in its foreign policy priorities. Among other things, the report recommended that the administration “take additional steps to prevent sexual violence in the military,” push Congress to ratify the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women, and push for legislation to allow female immigrants to legalize their status in this country. The report also called for the United States to demand access to reproductive health services as part of its foreign policy. The report welcomed the administration’s announcement last week that it would use the term “sexual rights,” in an important symbolic nod to the rights of lesbian, gay and transgender people.

United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women


Chris Paul’s Fourth-Quarter Surge Helps Clippers Hold Off Nets

Abstract: LOS ANGELES — The Nets will extend their longest trip of the season to Phoenix on Sunday with the knowledge of how close they came to victory Saturday night. The Los Angeles Clippers rallied in the fourth quarter for a 101-95 victory at Staples Center. The Nets’ loss, combined with the Knicks’ 110-84 victory against Toronto, dropped them two and a half games behind the first-place Knicks in the Atlantic Division. Brooklyn also failed to gain ground on Indiana, which has the No. 3 spot in the Eastern Conference standings. The Nets, who led by as many as 8 points late in the third, used a C .J. Watson 3-pointer with 10 minutes 7 seconds left to take a 79-74 lead. But the Nets scored only one free throw during the next 4 minutes 11 seconds, allowing the Clippers to move ahead, 84-80, with 6:49 left. "We got off to a very tough start in the fourth quarter,” Nets Coach P. J. Carlesimo said. “We needed a couple more free throws or a few less turnovers down the stretch. We put ourselves in a position to win the game, and they just did a much better job of closing it out than we did." Deron Williams and Brook Lopez, who each finished with a team-high 18 points, led a spurt that forced a 90-90 tie with 2:33 left. Williams and Lopez each scored 4 points, with Williams adding an assist and a steal. Reggie Evans added a game-high 16 rebounds. The two combined for the play that resulted in the tie. Williams made his steal and drove for an attempted layup that the Clippers’ Chris Paul blocked. The Nets regained possession out of bounds, and Gerald Wallace inbounded the ball to Lopez for the tying slam dunk. Paul’s 20-foot jumper gave Los Angeles a 92-90 lead. A little more than a minute later, Jamal Crawford intercepted a Williams intended pass for Wallace in the Nets’ frontcourt and dribbled the length of the floor for a dunk that extended the Clippers’ lead to 94-90 with 48 seconds to play. “It was a huge, costly play, one I wish I could get back,” Williams said of Crawford’s steal. Joe Johnson’s 3-foot bank shot narrowed the deficit to 94-92 with 41.8 seconds remaining. But Paul took it upon himself to create a lead that would become insurmountable. He drove between Williams and Evans. Williams fouled Paul as Paul converted a fall-away bank shot. Paul’s ensuing free throw gave Los Angeles a 97-92 advantage with 22 seconds remaining. Paul was not finished. He grabbed the rebound of Johnson’s missed 3-point attempt, was fouled by Lopez and made two more free throws that increased the margin to 99-92 with 16.7 seconds left. Paul scored 17 of his game-high 29 points in the fourth quarter on 4-of-7 shooting. He also made all nine of his free-throw attempts. He finished the game with 11 assists, 3 rebounds, 2 blocks and 2 steals. The Nets missed 10 of 17 field-goal attempts in the final period. Lopez said the Nets simply let this one slip out of their grasp. “You think back and you let two free throws get away or an offensive rebound,” he said. “They don’t seem that big in that instance but they really turned the whole tide of the game.” Paul’s performance nullified one of Wallace’s best offensive contributions of the season. Wallace scored 13 points in the third quarter, when the Nets brook a 65-65 tie to take a 73-65 lead with 1:48 left in the period. Wallace finished with 15 points, as did Johnson, who scored 10 in the first quarter. Johnson, who had been bothered by a sore left heel, injured his right quadriceps muscle early in the third quarter but played 16 of his 34 minutes in the second half. Kris Humphries saw his first action since March 1. Humphries, who has had a tight lower back, had two rebounds, an assist, a steal and a block in 10 minutes.

Chris Paul
Brook Lopez
Basketball
Brooklyn Nets


Yale’s Endowment Returns 8.9% for the Year

Abstract: Yale University said on Friday that its endowment, which has sizable assets in real estate, had an investment gain of 8.9 percent last year, an underwhelming performance in a year when many big endowments are reporting gains of 9 percent to 14 percent. The endowment is run by David Swensen, who pioneered the concept of institutional diversification into nonliquid assets like timber, hedge funds and private equity funds, and he has held firm to the strategy even after a steep loss of 24.6 percent a year earlier. The latest return, for the fiscal year ended June 30, retraces a little of that lost ground. Over all, Yale’s endowment rose to $16.5 billion, including $1.4 billion in investment gains, $136 million in gifts and a payout of $1.1 billion to the university. Stocks have done particularly well in the last year, and Yale has been relatively light in that area, with only 16 percent of its portfolio in domestic and foreign stocks that are publicly traded. Harvard, by comparison, said it had roughly 33 percent of its portfolio in public equities when it announced its results. Harvard’s investment gain was 11 percent in the latest year. Over 10 years, Harvard has an annualized return of 7 percent, while Yale said it has an annualized return of 8.9 percent. By most measures, Yale underperformed last year. A model portfolio that was invested 60 percent in big company stocks and 40 percent in bonds would have risen 12.6 percent in the period, and the median return was 13.3 percent for institutional plans, including corporate and public pension plans, foundations and endowments with assets over $5 billion, according to Wilshire Associates. The University of Pennsylvania Endowment on Friday posted a 13 percent investment return. That follows a decline of 15 percent the previous year, when many big endowments lost far more in the financial crisis and recession. The Pennsylvania endowment, led by Kristin Gilbertson, is valued at $5.7 billion. Yale relies heavily on its endowment for operations. In fiscal 2009, the endowment provided about 46 percent of the its operating revenue, and the university has made significant cuts in its costs. The need for endowment strength is growing in a weak economy. While big portfolio gains are vanishing, raising money has also become more difficult. For example, Harvard said that it had raised $596 million last year, down from $602 million a year earlier. Financially pressed households are also wary of tuition increases. Supporters of Mr. Swensen’s endowment model contend that running a diversified portfolio is smart for the long term if the fund avoids both excess leverage and a concentration in illiquid investments, which cannot be easily converted to cash. Yale has added to its private equity holdings since last year, although it is hard to know whether that was because of capital calls from existing funds or voluntary additions. At the same time, Yale slightly reduced its exposure to domestic and foreign equities. One endowment expert, who did not want to comment on the record about a particular school’s performance, said that diversification would provide better returns for the risk, but he cautioned that asset allocation to various asset classes was crucial. Harvard came under pressure when the markets plummeted and it could not easily raise cash. It has since sold some holdings in hedge funds and has discussed selling some holdings in real estate. Yale has given no indication that it was willing to part with its illiquid assets — if that meant selling at distressed prices — to raise capital. Even when endowment returns outpaced the stock market, the compensation of top managers attracted attention among alumni and those in the education community. That is likely to remain the case as returns flag. There is no public data for the actual compensation paid to Mr. Swensen in salary bonuses for the three fiscal years ended June 30. According to Yale’s tax filing in March 2010, Mr. Swensen received $3.7 million as well as deferred compensation of $1.5 million in the 2008 calendar year. About two-thirds of the $3.7 million related to fiscal years 2005 through 2007, which were among the endowment’s best performances. In fiscal 2007, the endowment posted a 28 percent return. The $1.5 million in deferred bonus is also related to performance in 2007. “I do not think that David Swensen is overpaid considering the pot of money that he is running and his long-term performance,” said Brian Foley, an independent compensation expert. “The bonuses paid in 2008 for the previous three fiscal years look reasonable.”


North Korea: Banker Is Said to Defect

Abstract: A senior North Korean banking official who managed money for the North’s leader, Kim Jong-un, has defected in Russia and is seeking asylum in a third country, a South Korean newspaper reported Friday. The banker, Yun Tae-hyong, a senior representative of Korea Daesong Bank, disappeared last week in Nakhodka, in the Russian Far East, with $5 million, the newspaper, JoongAng Ilbo, reported. The United States has said that it suspects that the bank is under the control of the North Korean government’s Office 39, which is widely believed to finance illicit activities. The bank was blacklisted by the Treasury Department in 2010. The newspaper said North Korea had asked for Russia’s cooperation in arresting and repatriating Mr. Yun. South Korea’s Unification Ministry, which handles inter-Korean relations, said it had no knowledge of the matter.

North Korea
Kim Jong-un
Russia
Banking and Finance


Countrywide Agrees to $600 Million Settlement

Abstract: LOS ANGELES (AP) — Countrywide Financial agreed to pay $600 million to settle shareholder lawsuits in the largest payout so far from the mortgage crisis. United States District Judge Mariana Pfaelzer in Los Angeles on Monday gave preliminary approval to the agreement, in which the defendants admitted no wrongdoing. The settlement would end several class-action lawsuits that claimed Countrywide concealed mounting risks as it loosened its standards for loans. Countrywide was once the nation’s largest mortgage lender and was acquired by Bank of America in 2008. The settlement would clear former executives and financial firms that underwrote Countrywide stock and were named in the class-action suits. Angelo R. Mozilo, the former chief executive; David E. Sambol, the former president; Eric P. Sieracki, the former chief financial officer; and former board members were named in the suit. “It is the largest settlement of any shareholder case to come out of the subprime crisis this far,” said Joel Bernstein, lawyer for the New York State and City pension funds that were the lead plaintiffs.

Countrywide Financial Corp
Suits and Litigation
Subprime Mortgage Crisis
Bank of America Corp


France Won’t Extradite Iranian Sought by U.S.

Abstract: PARIS — A French court on Wednesday refused an American request to extradite an Iranian businessman accused of violating an American embargo on exports to Iran . He had raised American suspicions by buying equipment for a front company in Malaysia that was then shipped secretly to Iranian military firms involved in Iran’s nuclear program . The French government prosecutor had opposed the request to extradite the businessman, Majid Kakavand, 37, on the grounds that he had not violated French law and that the equipment involved was not necessarily military in nature. Neither France nor the European Union has a general trade embargo on Iran, as the United States does. The court ordered that Mr. Kakavand be set free, and that his bail of about $260,000 be returned. His passport was given back to him. “I’m leaving as soon as I can,” he said in English after the court session. “I’m going to take a ticket for the first available flight back to Tehran.” The United States had pressed the case hard, and Justice Department officials expressed their unhappiness. Although American officials did not show up for Wednesday’s judgment, they had appeared at various hearings in the case since Mr. Kakavand was arrested in March 2009 on an American warrant when he arrived at a Paris airport with his wife for a vacation. He was released on bail in late August. A Justice Department spokesman, Dean Boyd, said in Washington that efforts to arrest Mr. Kakavand would continue. “Although we’re disappointed by the French court ruling, we will continue to seek justice in this matter,” Mr. Boyd said. “Efforts to apprehend Kakavand are ongoing and should he come into U.S. custody, he will stand trial for his alleged crimes.” The American indictment of Mr. Kakavand accuses him of exporting to an embargoed country, money laundering and goods smuggling. With two associates, it says, he ordered electronic goods online from American companies from January 2006 until December 2008 and had them shipped to a front company in Malaysia, which is not embargoed, then shipped at least 30 deliveries worth $1.2 million to Iranian military companies on United States watch lists. The equipment included capacitors, resistors, connectors, reflectometers and pressure sensors, which the Americans call dual-use equipment intended for military purposes. But Adm. Jean-Louis Barbier, a French weapons expert who went through the list of items at the request of the defense, said he checked it against current regulations and found that the items were not dual use. “What he was importing was dual use in the same sense that a switch or a cable can be dual use, but nothing more,” he said in an interview. “If this is dual use, then everything else is.” But one of the Iranian companies Mr. Kakavand bought for, Iran Electronics Industry, was put on the European Union blacklist in June 2008. The last transaction between him and the company took place in April 2008. The other company, Iran Communications Industry, makes military and civilian communication equipment and is now on the European blacklist. The French news media have suggested that in return for Mr. Kakavand’s release, Iran offered to free a Frenchwoman held in Iran since July 1 on charges of espionage for photographing and e-mailing photographs of rallies protesting June’s election results. She also e-mailed the photos to the French Embassy in Tehran. Both governments deny any connection between the cases. The woman, Clotilde Reiss , 24, was teaching in Isfahan and was arrested at the airport in Tehran on her way home to France. She was released in August to the custody of the French Embassy in Tehran and is awaiting a verdict since her trial appeared to end in January. Since then, French officials have said little about her case. Previously, Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner called the charges against her “absurd” and President Nicolas Sarkozy dismissed them as “pure fantasy,” while President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran said her release would depend on “the approach and behavior adopted by French officials.” American officials said privately that they believed that the cases of Mr. Kakavand and Ms. Reiss were clearly linked. One American official close to the Kakavand case said Iran had been “dangling” the possible release of Ms. Reiss in exchange for releasing Mr. Kakavand. “They’ve put enormous pressure on the French government, and looming in the background of this is the dangling of a potential prisoner swap,” the official said, requesting anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter. After the court verdict on Wednesday, Mr. Kakavand said in an interview that “if Clotilde Reiss is proven innocent I wish she gets released soon, but in my case it has already been proven that I was innocent.” His lawyer, Diane François, said the decision was “an important message for France’s sovereignty.” She added, “It says, ‘We apply laws and don’t cave in to pressure.’ ”

France
Extradition
Iran
Embargoes and Economic Sanctions
Nuclear Weapons
Kakavand Majid


Witnesses’ Recordings Help Investigators Explain Air Accidents

Abstract: When the oxygen masks dropped from their overhead compartments on a Frontier Airlines flight from Denver on Oct. 13, Andrew Vos put his on and looked out the window. “We were dropping down into these mountains,” he said. Thinking the plane might crash, Mr. Vos, a 25-year-old grocer, turned on the video camera of his iPhone . “If the plane did go down and crash,” he recalled later, “maybe my phone would have made it, and it would have been a piece of the puzzle.” Instead, the flight returned safely to Denver, and his video appeared on CNN, CBS and Fox News. These days, Mr. Vos is hardly the only traveler having such impulses. With more people carrying devices like camera phones, events both benign and disastrous are being recorded by civilians and finding a wider audience — not just in the news media and online, but also in accident investigations. And while these documents are often a boon to investigators, they can also be a burden. Videos from bystanders have been particularly useful in investigating the Sept. 16 crash that killed 11 people, including the pilot, at an air show in Reno, Nev., especially since video from plane’s onboard camera was not readable. In the recent past, clues have been found in a tourist’s video of the collision of a helicopter and a private plane over the Hudson River in 2009 and in audio recordings of an airplane crash in Palo Alto, Calif., in 2010. When an Interstate 35 bridge collapsed in Minneapolis in 2007, killing 13, a photo by a passenger in an airplane flying overhead was invaluable to investigators, said Joseph Kolly, director of research and engineering at the National Transportation Safety Board . “I had a picture of that bridge before it collapsed,” he said, “so that I could exactly place where each load of aggregate was, each concrete truck, so we could get an accurate picture of the loading of the bridge.” Yet citizen documentarians are in danger of overwhelming government agencies with all their digital data. Over the last five years, the safety board has seen a 400 percent increase in material coming into its recorder laboratory. Extracting data from hundreds of different kinds of electronic devices that were never intended to be flight data recorders is time-consuming and expensive. “We have invested a lot of money and effort to develop software to help us reverse-engineer these devices,” Dr. Kolly said. Alex Talberg, an Australian air safety engineer, knows well how long data recovery can take. When a Royal New Zealand Air Force plane with no flight data recorder crashed in 2010, Mr. Talberg spent six months coaxing data from a badly burned motion sensor. His efforts paid off — the information helped determine what happened. At a meeting of professional aircraft accident investigators in September, Maj. Adam Cybanski of the Canadian Air Force showed a YouTube video of an F-18 Hornet veering off course and crashing seconds after the pilot ejected from the cockpit. The video was one of three by separate bystanders. Multiple vantage points proved a bonus for investigators, as did a special-effects software program used by movie producers that allowed Major Cybanski to determine the airplane’s course in three dimensions. “We can measure the altitude at a moment in time because we can see the ground features and we can see the airplane and we can measure distances,” he said. Even video of an airplane isolated in cloudless sky can be used to discover the position of flight control surfaces, landing gear and the pilot’s position. Of course, the use of video in investigations precedes the YouTube age. Nearly two decades ago, Robert MacIntosh, chief adviser for international safety affairs at the N.T.S.B., was looking into an accident involving a TACA Airlines Boeing 767 that overran the runway in Guatemala. The biggest clue, he said, came from a passenger who recorded the approach and landing and gave the video to a television station. What is different now is the sheer number of people who have the ability to record practically anything, anywhere and at any time. At the safety board, the workload has increased fourfold but the staff has not. The growing desire of air travelers to digitally document their flights may, paradoxically, create new risks. The use of electronic devices during takeoff and landing is prohibited because signals can interfere with flight systems. In the future, investigators say, they may have to more seriously consider whether passenger gadgets played a part in an accident. And if so, Mr. MacIntosh said, the task could be monumental. “If we have a certain number of passengers and they say, ‘Yeah, we saw my neighbor using a cell,’ we’ve got 50 to 75 cellphones we’ve got to start running checks on,” he said. “Is it expensive and time-consuming? Yeah, but we can’t walk away from it.”

National Transportation Safety Board
Aviation Accidents and Safety
Video Recordings and Downloads
Smartphones


Catalans Campaigning for Independence March in Barcelona

Abstract: BARCELONA, Spain — More than half a million pro-independence Catalans on Friday took over one of Barcelona’s main avenues, as their separatist leaders began their latest attempt to break loose from Spain . The march was held on Catalonia’s national day, but it was also the start of campaigning for a regional parliamentary election on Sept. 27 that Catalonia’s main separatist parties are presenting as a de facto vote on independence after agreeing to run as a joint list of candidates. Speaking here on Friday ahead of the march, Artur Mas, the Catalan leader, said the election was a make-or-break chance for Catalonia to become a new European state. He called on the Madrid government to grant Catalonia the right to secede if separatist parties secure a parliamentary majority. “We cannot lose this opportunity,” Mr. Mas said during a joint news conference with the other main separatist leaders. “When you take a risk, you can win or you can lose, but if we accept the defeat, we also ask that others accept the victory.” The Spanish government of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, however, insists that a parliamentary election cannot be equated with an independence referendum that Spain’s judiciary declared invalid last year. Mr. Rajoy’s Popular Party recently introduced an overhaul of the Constitutional Court that would give the court greater powers to suspend from office Mr. Mas and other Catalan officials found to be infringing the Constitution. Under the Spanish system of proportional representation, separatists could win the most seats without having an absolute majority of votes. Friday’s kickoff of the election campaign puts the difficult issue of Catalan independence back at the top of the national political agenda, two months before a national election. For the past four years, Catalans have turned their national day into a separatist show of force, converging on Barcelona from smaller towns across the whole region. The standoff between Mr. Rajoy and Mr. Mas started in 2012 as a dispute over the tax contribution that wealthy Catalonia should make to poorer regions of Spain. Mr. Mas then turned his frustrated demand for fiscal concessions into a full-fledged drive for independence. “I wasn’t asking for independence five years ago, but I’ve come to the conclusion that our situation with Spain can’t improve any other way,” said Esther Puig, the owner of a small cosmetics company, who traveled about 20 miles to Barcelona to join the march. The protesters formed a giant arrow, to symbolize the direction that Catalonia is taking toward nationhood. “I want to defend my rights, and that includes the right to decide to become a state,” said Jacqueline Tomàs. If Catalan separatists win a parliamentary majority, they then plan to form a transitional government and set up the tax agency, central bank and other structures required for Catalonia to operate as a new European state within 18 months. “We’re not asking for the moon. We’re simply asking for what others have,” Mr. Mas said. Still, even with an election win, a secessionist government would then also have to convince Brussels and other European nations that Catalonia can join the European Union — even without Madrid’s approval. During a recent visit to Madrid, David Cameron, the British prime minister, suggested that Catalonia would have to reapply for European Union membership, joining the end of a list of existing candidates. Despite such stumbling blocks, Mr. Mas suggested that the European Union would seek to accommodate Catalonia, a region of 7.5 million people that represents 16 percent of Spain’s population and has attracted investments from over 5,000 multinationals, most of them European. “We know Europe will do its best to let us be where we want to be, in the European Union and the eurozone,” Mr. Mas said.

Spain
Catalonia
Election
Artur Mas
Mariano Rajoy
Civil Unrest
Legislature


How Waze Tries to Keep Its Crowd Honest

Abstract: Q. How does Waze deal with fake reports? Surely they must get some. A. The Waze app, which is owned by Google, is known for its real-time traffic reports and driving directions that dynamically update based on the latest data available. The app’s interface encourages its users to submit their honest observations as they travel, but instances have occurred where people have attempted to fool the service with incorrect information. Image Icons at the top of the Waze map screen give travelers the chance to deny or confirm previous reports of road hazards, accidents and other traffic-related events. Credit The New York Times For example, suburban residents have tried filing inaccurate reports of accidents or roadwork in their neighborhoods in hopes of making Waze plot traffic routes away from the area. Highway patrol officers, many of whom are concerned that the Waze app includes a button for reporting police sightings (and would like that feature removed for the safety of its officers ), have also allegedly filed false location reports to obscure their true whereabouts. As Waze is an application that relies heavily on crowdsourcing , the overall group of people making reports can help weed out misinformation from polluting the constantly evolving map . When using the app on the road, travelers are encouraged to confirm — or deny — incidents like accidents, construction, highway hazards or police presence. Others passing through can quickly debunk a false report and correct the map. The Waze app itself also has safeguards built in to thwart tampering. As the app uses the smartphone’s GPS service, the software can tell if the user is in the correct area and in motion at the time of a report. Waze also suspends users who file too many false reports — in an attempt to earn points in the app’s gamelike interface — or to incorrectly alter the map.

Google
Waze Mobile
Roads and Traffic
Car Crash


A City Council Race Takes a Vicious Turn

Abstract: Sniping among the mayoral candidates gets more attention, but the knives are out in some down-ticket races, too. Among the nastiest is the race for the City Council seat in the Chelsea district represented for the last 14 years by Speaker Christine C. Quinn, a Democrat now running for mayor. There are two Democratic candidates: Corey Johnson, 31, a community board chairman, and Yetta Kurland, 45, a civil rights lawyer. Both are gay, and they hold similar positions on a number of local issues. But the tone of the campaign has become vicious, nonetheless. A political action committee supporting Mr. Johnson has sent out mailings accusing Ms. Kurland of having mistreated employees at a language school that she founded. The mailings cite a Crain’s New York Business article that quoted former workers saying that she refused to provide them health insurance, sick days, vacation or lunch breaks. “Yetta Kurland has a history of exploiting low-income workers,” one mailing says, over a blurry black-and-white picture of what look like early-20th-century garment workers. Ms. Kurland’s campaign, for its part, has sent out mailings attacking Mr. Johnson over his work for a real estate firm called GFI Development, where he was the director of government relations and community affairs from 2008 to 2010. “One of Wall Street’s Shadiest Real Estate Corporations Put Corey Johnson on Their Payroll,” one of the mailings reads. The words are over a picture of a corporate conference room, with an image of Mr. Johnson giving a thumbs up and holding a sign that says, “Trust me,” while a faceless man in a tuxedo holds out a stack of bills. The mailing says that GFI “spent tens of thousands of dollars backing extreme politicians who oppose equal rights for gay New Yorkers,” citing Assemblyman Dov Hikind of Brooklyn. A spokesman for Ms. Kurland, Rodd McLeod, said that the accusations in the Crain’s article about Ms. Kurland’s language school were being pushed by a disgruntled former employee, whom Ms. Kurland had fired after he took 30 paid sick days in 9 months. The political action committee behind the mailings, Fighting for Our Future, is financed by the Mason Tenders District Council of Greater New York, a union that Mr. McLeod said Ms. Kurland had angered with her opposition to a plan to build condominiums on the site of St. Vincent’s Hospital. Mr. Johnson, in an e-mail, said of his work for GFI: “I did community outreach and relations with the N.Y.P.D. to get drug dealers and peddlers off the streets, getting graffiti removed, new streetlights on Broadway and outreach to local businesses, the Madison Square Park Conservancy and local residential buildings.” Regarding donations by GFI employees to political candidates who oppose same-sex marriage, he said, “Their political contributions were completely separate from anything I was doing — I had never heard of it during my work there.” “All of these untruthful attacks are a distortion of who I am and what I’ve stood for as a community activist for a decade from a desperate campaign,” he added.

City Council races
Chelsea
Corey Johnson
Yetta Kurland
NYC


Merkel Aide Seeks Dismissal of Prosecutor Who Opened Treason Inquiry

Abstract: MÜNSTER, Germany — The uproar over the decision by Germany ’s top prosecutor to investigate two journalists on charges of treason intensified on Tuesday when the justice minister, with the support of Chancellor Angela Merkel, called for the prosecutor to be fired. The move by the minister, Heiko Maas, came hours after the federal prosecutor, Harald Range, lashed out, publicly accusing Mr. Maas of an “intolerable intervention against the independence of the judiciary.” Reacting to those comments, Mr. Maas told reporters in Berlin that his “trust in Mr. Range’s ability to carry out his office has been irreparably damaged,” and that as a result, he had decided to ask President Joachim Gauck to send the 67-year-old federal prosecutor into retirement. He said he had made the decision after consulting with Ms. Merkel. Germany has been in tumult since it was revealed last week that Mr. Range had opened an investigation into whether the journalists, André Meister and Markus Beckedahl, who write for the independent website Netzpolitik.org , had committed treason by publishing documents related to antiterrorism measures. After Mr. Beckedahl and Mr. Meister announced that they were the subjects of the investigation, Mr. Range said that he would not proceed with the inquiry, pending an opinion from an outside expert he had enlisted to determine whether information revealed in the journalists’ reports constituted a state secret — a requirement to press treason charges. The documents cited focused on government plans to expand surveillance of online communications. The suspension of the investigation did little to calm the uproar among Germans, who, because of the nation’s experience with Nazism and Communism, are sensitive to efforts by the government to intrude on privacy or suppress public information. On Friday, Mr. Maas issued a statement expressing doubts about whether “the journalists had the intention to harm Germany or benefit a foreign power through their publication” of the documents, which is the country’s definition of treason. His comments received the “full support” of Ms. Merkel, a spokeswoman for the chancellor, Christiane Wirtz, said Monday.

Germany
Angela Merkel
Heiko Maas
Harald Range
Markus Beckedahl
Netzpolitik.org
Andre Meister
Treason,Sedition
Freedom of the press
News media,journalism


Clinton and Other Experts Discuss Ways to Avert Genocide

Abstract: WASHINGTON — Against the backdrop of memorials to historic atrocities, a group of foreign policy experts, among them Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton , gathered at the Holocaust Memorial Museum on Tuesday to consider modern threats of genocide and how to prevent them. With the specter of mounting violence in some countries, the threat of future mass killings was a prime concern. “The United States and our partners must act before the wood is stacked or the match is struck,” Mrs. Clinton said, “because when the fire is at full blaze, our options for responding are considerably costlier and more difficult.” She and others who appeared at the symposium focused on the practical steps that might be taken to identify places where genocide can occur and to pre-empt it. The risk of mass killings goes up in nations where resources are scarce and governments are fragile or autocratic, they agreed. In her speech, Mrs. Clinton cited Rwanda and Bosnia , two nations where she said genocide occurred during her husband’s presidency, as examples of why the risk of mass atrocities must be addressed before they occur — by identifying warning signs, sending State Department employees to areas that are at risk and reaching out to women in communities who might warn of early signs of trouble, among other tactics. Mrs. Clinton also echoed the themes touched on by President Obama in a speech he delivered at the museum in April in which he announced the creation of the Atrocity Prevention Board to shape the administration’s strategies on this issue. Mrs. Clinton acknowledged that some people might be skeptical about the effectiveness of the board, which met for the first time shortly after the president’s announcement, but said she envisioned it as a means to “galvanize efforts across our government to focus on prevention, to ensure that all our tools and resources are being put to good use.” No one minimized the challenge. “We must remain open to the possibility that the past is not necessarily a predictor of where and when mass atrocities will occur, or the means by which they will,” said Chris Kojm, chairman of the National Intelligence Council , a government agency, which will release its first estimate on the threat of genocide and mass killings later this year. But he said that there were certain reliable indicators that genocide or mass killing would occur, including unmet demand for food, water and energy, and that the report would look at those factors in assessing risk. Demand for all of those is on the rise, and by 2030, nearly half the world’s population will live in areas of “severe water stress,” Mr. Kojm predicted, thus increasing the likelihood of mass killings. In areas where there are disproportionate numbers of young men, Mr. Kojm said, the risk of genocide also rises. And, in much the same way that democracies are less likely to go to war than autocracies are, so too, participants said, are autocratically governed countries more likely to engage in genocide or other mass atrocities. Climate change acts as a “multiplier of other resource crises,” according to Timothy Snyder, a professor of history at Yale University, causing uncertainty about resources, leading to “the ecological panic that I’m afraid will lead to mass killings in the decades to come,” Mr. Snyder told the symposium. “We’ve entered into this moment of ecological panic,” he said. “Global warming will itself almost certainly directly cause mass killing, but it will likely indirectly cause it” as major states like China and the United States seek to feed their citizens, possibly touching off shortages elsewhere, in places that would then be at risk. China has already begun to act and, in a potential harbinger of future problems, has been investing in farmland in Ukraine and in parts of Africa for a few years. But even though the political will to address problems stemming from climate change is finite, Mr. Snyder said, foreign policy in general often works against war, “for the rule of law, for globalization” and therefore “the gap between sound foreign policy and genocide prevention might be rather small.”

War Crimes Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity


Genetics Glossary

Abstract: Chromosome A package of DNA. The human genome — all the DNA in the nucleus of each cell — is contained in 23 pairs of chromosomes. DNA The double-stranded molecule that contains all genetic information in almost all organisms. Deoxyribonucleic acid. Epigenetic An epigenetic influence is something other than the structure of DNA that affects inherited traits. Epigenetic marks Molecules attached to DNA that can determine whether genes are active and used by the cell. Exon What might be considered the heart of the classic gene: a segment of a gene that is transcribed by RNA as a first step in making a protein. Gene Originally, a gene was a factor that was passed down from parents to offspring and determined hereditary traits. By the 1960s, the gene was conceived of as a segment of DNA that carried the instructions for making a protein molecule. Offspring developed particular traits because they inherited certain versions of genes. Genome All of the genetic material in an organism. In humans, the genome contains more than three billion “letters” of DNA. The letters GATC stand for the nucleotide bases guanine, adenine, thymine and cytosine, which are read by the cell when genes are active. Intron A segment of a protein-coding gene that is edited out of an RNA transcript. Noncoding RNA Molecules of RNA produced from DNA that are not used to produce proteins. Protein A molecule (like collagen or hemoglobin ) composed of amino acids. The instructions for building a protein are encoded in several exons. Proteins carry out many of the chemical reactions in the body, including switching genes on and off. P seudogenes Genes that can no longer produce proteins after being disabled by mutations. Some pseudogenes can still produce noncoding RNA. RNA A single-stranded molecule transcribed from DNA. RNA can act as a template for building proteins, a sensor for detecting signals, or a switch for turning genes off or on. Ribonucleic acid. Transcript An RNA molecule copied from a segment of DNA.

Chromosomes
Proteins
Genetics and Heredity
DNA (Deoxyribonucleic Acid)
RNA (Ribonucleic Acid)


Berlusconi Undergoes Restorative Facial Surgery

Abstract: Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi had four hours of facial surgery on Monday to repair damage he suffered when a man hurled a statuette at him in 2009. Mr. Berlusconi suffered broken teeth and a broken nose in the attack at the end of political rally in Milan. His office said the surgery was to “restore the anatomy and jaw function that had been gravely compromised” in the attack.


Saudi Arabia Takes Action After Shiites Are Attacked

Abstract: Saudi Arabian security officials moved aggressively on Tuesday to crush an outbreak of anti-Shiite violence, arresting 15 people in six cities and killing two others in connection with what the Interior Ministry called a terrorist ambush on mosque worshipers in a minority Shiite community. At least two security officers were killed and two wounded in the crackdown on the suspected mosque assailants, who were armed with pistols and machine guns, the Interior Ministry and government-run Saudi news media reported. The mosque ambush, which occurred Monday night and left at least five people dead, came as Shiites, who are a small minority in heavily Sunni Saudi Arabia, were celebrating the eve of Ashura, one of the most sacred holidays in the Shiite branch of Islam. The identities of the assailants and their affiliations were not disclosed. But the ambush raised speculation that Saudi-born Sunni jihadists who had joined Islamic militant groups in Iraq and Syria had brought their violent zealotry home, an outcome that Saudi rulers have long feared. Earlier this year King Abdullah issued a decree that reinforced existing counterterrorism laws and warned that “membership in terrorist organizations and participation in hostilities outside the kingdom will not be tolerated.” The mosque assault risked aggravating Shiite frictions with Sunnis not only in Saudi Arabia but elsewhere in the Middle East, where tensions between the two branches are a theme in conflicts convulsing the region. Shiite worshipers in neighboring Iraq have often been attacked by Sunnis during the Ashura holiday, with the risks considered even greater this year because of the rise of the Islamic State, the extremist Sunni militant group that considers Shiites to be heretics deserving of death. Somewhat incongruously, however, hundreds of thousands of Shiite pilgrims celebrated the holiday in Iraq on Tuesday without any significant attacks by Sunni extremists, according to press accounts from the region. The Saudi Press Agency and other official Saudi media said masked gunmen had attacked Shiites as they left the Husseiniya Mosque in the village of Al-Dalwah in the eastern part of the kingdom on Monday evening. The English-language Arab News website said the victims were young men felled by automatic weapons fire. An Interior Ministry statement released by the Saudi Embassy in Washington said six suspects were arrested near Riyadh and nine more in other areas in the east. The statement quoted the kingdom’s Council of Senior Scholars as calling the attack a “vicious assault and a heinous crime.”


Dalai Lama Urges Outside Inquiry Into Spate of Self-Immolations Among Tibetans

Abstract: The Dalai Lama, Tibet’s spiritual leader in exile, on Friday called for an outside inquiry into the self-immolations of more than 130 Tibetans in anti-China demonstrations over the past five years, and he suggested that in some cases, such acts of protest were understandable and not entirely wrong. If compassion is the reason driving those who immolate themselves, the Dalai Lama said, they should be viewed differently from those motivated by anger. The religious issues surrounding the self-immolations, he said, “are very, very complicated.” The remarks by the Dalai Lama, 78, a soft-spoken Buddhist theologian, were ambiguous compared with his previous criticisms of self-immolations, carried out mainly by ordinary Tibetans frustrated with what they view as China’s repressive policies toward Tibet’s culture and religion. The Dalai Lama made the remarks on the final day of a three-day visit to Norway, where he received the Nobel Peace Prize 25 years ago for his nonviolent philosophy in opposing China’s domination of his Himalayan homeland, which he fled in 1959. China, which considers the Dalai Lama a subversive separatist, has accused him and his loyalists in exile of fomenting the self-immolations, which have embarrassed the Chinese authorities despite government attempts to thwart them. The International Campaign for Tibet, an advocacy group, has chronicled at least 131 self-immolations since February 2009, mostly in Tibetan-populated areas of western China adjoining Tibet. Norwegian lawmakers in Oslo, who were among the Dalai Lama’s hosts, met with him in Parliament, where he appeared at a forum on Friday and answered questions that included whether he had urged a halt to the self-immolations. “This is a very sensitive issue,” the Dalai Lama said, speaking in English . He said the self-immolations were “very sad” and that such “drastic action” probably had little effect on the underlying issue of Chinese policy on Tibet. The Dalai Lama also said outsiders, like his hosts in Parliament, should conduct their own fact-finding visit to determine the causes. “I think sometimes Chinese leaders also need these things, too,” he said, because they are not given accurate information by their subordinates. There was no immediate reaction from Chinese officials, who have described the self-immolations as a form of terrorism. Whether self-immolations are religiously wrong, the Dalai Lama said, “entirely depends on motivation.” “If such a drastic action takes place with full anger, then negative,” he said. “But more compassionate, more calm mind, then sometimes maybe less negative.” The Dalai Lama’s visit to Norway has drawn particular attention because senior Norwegian government leaders decided against meeting with him in deference to China. The Norwegian prime minister, Erna Solberg, justified the decision on the grounds that Norway has been trying to improve relations with China, which has been angry at Norway ever since the Nobel Peace Prize committee gave the award to the Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo in 2010. Ms. Solberg elaborated on the decision on Friday, telling the national broadcaster NRK that it was a “necessary sacrifice” to improve relations with China. Surveys suggested that many Norwegians were critical of the official snub, viewing it as a cowardly capitulation that sacrificed human rights in favor of economics. Thousands of well-wishers turned out to greet the Dalai Lama when he arrived in Oslo on Wednesday. China’s state-run news media have not reported on the Dalai Lama’s trip, but the Chinese Foreign Ministry acknowledged the Norwegian government’s decision to snub him. “China pays attention to the announcement by the Norwegian side,” a Foreign Ministry spokesman, Qin Gang, said on April 28.

Dalai Lama
Immolation
Tibet
China
Norway
Buddhism


Host Qatar Pulls Off a Surprise at Handball Championship

Abstract: The Cuban-born Rafael Capote scored 12 goals to help host Qatar pull off a major upset at the Men’s Handball World Championship with a win over Slovenia, 31-29, that virtually assures Qatar a place in the final 16.


Burton R. Lifland, Bankruptcy Judge in Big Cases, Dies at 84

Abstract: Burton R. Lifland, a pre-eminent federal bankruptcy judge who for three decades rode herd on some of the nation’s biggest corporate rescue efforts and presided over the financial chaos left by the swindler Bernard L. Madoff, died on Sunday in New Haven. He was 84. The cause was pneumonia, his son Craig said. The financial scholar Lynn M. LoPucki, in his 2006 book, “Courting Failure: How Competition for Big Cases Is Corrupting the Bankruptcy Courts,” characterized Judge Lifland as “a bankruptcy celebrity” and “the judge who handled the big cases.” At the heart of those cases were some of the country’s biggest corporations, among them Johns-Manville, LTV, Eastern Air Lines, R. H. Macy, Singer, Bethlehem Steel, Allis-Chalmers and Blockbuster. One of Judge Lifland’s biggest challenges was sifting through the wreckage of Mr. Madoff’s multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme, in which some money from later investors was funneled to earlier investors to give the appearance of real financial gains. In March 2010, Judge Lifland ruled that the bilked investors were owed only the difference between what they paid into a Madoff account and what they withdrew. Mr. Madoff’s victims had argued they should get the amount that they believed they had saved through their investments, amounting to $65 billion. The judge called this calculation “bogus,” saying it “reflected Madoff’s fantasy world of trading activity.” He calculated that they were owed $18 billion. The investors protested. Helen Davis Chaitman, a lawyer for several hundred Madoff victims and a victim herself, said, “Unless this decision is reversed, no American who invests in the stock market with the hope of retiring on his savings has any protection against a dishonest broker.” But Stephen P. Harbeck, president of the Securities Investor Protection Corporation, the industry organization that provides limited protection to investors, countered that Judge Lifland’s decision “does the greatest good for the greatest number of people, consistent with the law.” Judge Lifland was chief judge of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York for most of his 33 years there, but his impact extended well beyond New York. In 1982, when the Johns-Manville Corporation filed for bankruptcy after being besieged by lawsuits claiming injury from its use of asbestos, Judge Lifland instructed the company to use most of its assets to create a trust to pay current and future claimants. The ruling was believed to be the first in which future claimants, still unknown, were specifically included in a bankruptcy arrangement. The idea became part of the federal bankruptcy code. Judge Lifland also cooperated with the State Department to draft Chapter 15 of bankruptcy law to deal with multinational financial failures. “He was not afraid to be innovative,” Judge Cecelia G. Morris, his successor as chief judge, said in an interview on Tuesday. Professor LoPucki, who teaches at the law schools at Harvard and the University of California, Los Angeles, wrote that part of Judge Lifland’s success lay in his commitment to saving companies if possible. The judge, he said, had a way of making lawyers “sorry they had not settled.” In 1992, Judge Lifland approved a move by the conglomerate LTV Corporation to sell its aerospace operations so its steel company could survive. In the case of the video rental chain Blockbuster, he broke an impasse in negotiations in 2011 by ensuring that interested buyers would not liquidate the company, leaving creditors high and dry. Sometimes Judge Lifland put the public ahead of the parties fighting in his courtroom. In the case of Eastern Air Lines, in 1989, he demanded that creditors and potential buyers of the beleaguered company resolve what he called “parochial interests” and get the planes in the air. “The public is a main player here,” he said, citing consumers who had “scrimped and saved” to buy Eastern tickets that they found they could not use. Some negotiators were surprised that the judge had veered from normal matters of who owes what to whom to address customer concerns. The Associated Press quoted a union leader as saying, “Bankruptcy judges do not do heroic things very often.” Burton Raymond Lifland was born on Sept. 30, 1929, in Brooklyn. He graduated from Syracuse University and Fordham University of Law School, then worked in private practice before being appointed to the bench in 1980. When the second circuit of federal courts had a special bankruptcy appeals panel from 1996 to 2000, he was its chief judge. Judge Lifland lived in Manhattan and Essex, Conn. In addition to his son Craig, he is survived by his wife of 62 years, the former Elaine Koren; another son, Howard; five grandchildren; and a great-grandson. Judge Lifland was said to have a biting sense of humor and an informal courtroom manner. During one tense closed-door negotiation, he made bowls of popcorn for everyone. In the early 1990s, when he was supervising the bankruptcy of R. H. Macy & Company, he demanded a guarantee “etched in some form of stone” that a reorganized Macy’s would continue its Fourth of July fireworks and Thanksgiving Day parade. He hinted that he wanted the fireworks over the East River, near his home, rather than over the Hudson on Manhattan’s West Side. (Both locations have been used for the display.) “I don’t know why we want to bring New Jersey in,” he said, “except through the medium of TV.”

Bankruptcy
Manhattan
Burton R Lifland
Bernard L Madoff
Obituary


Post Office Acting to Reduce Losses

Abstract: WASHINGTON (AP) — Battered by economic woes, the United States Postal Service is offering early retirement to 150,000 workers, cutting management positions and closing offices, the agency said Friday. The service lost $2.8 billion last year and is facing even larger losses this year, despite a rate increase — to 44 cents for first-class mail — scheduled to take effect May 11. The agency said it would reduce management staff nationwide by 15 percent, with more than 1,400 processing, supervisor and management posts at 400 facilities being eliminated. Another 150,000 postal workers will be offered early retirement. The agency also made early retirement offers last year, but unions discouraged their members from accepting them, and they were not widely used. The post office did not say if the new proposal would include financial incentives. The American Postal Workers Union issued a statement Friday saying, “Retirement is a personal matter, and the union defers to the decisions of employees who meet the qualifications.” But the union said it continued to challenge the Postal Service’s authority to offer voluntary early retirement without including severance pay. The post office’s 80 districts across the country will be reduced by six, with the closings in Edison, N.J.; Lake Mary, Fla.; North Reading, Mass.; Manchester, N.H.; Erie, Pa.; and Spokane, Wash. District offices handle administrative functions, and officials said the closing should not affect local mail delivery. The closings were expected to take about five months. The first quarter of the fiscal year — October through December — is usually the post office’s busiest, but it still posted a loss of $384 million for the period.

United States Postal Service
Postal Service
United States Economy
Layoffs and Job Reductions
Post Offices and Equipment


Stop Eating Meat and Save the Planet?

Abstract: BRUSSELS — Delegates arriving at the gates of the climate conference in Copenhagen last month were met by women in furry animal suits holding placards showing pictures of lambs, cows and pigs and warning, “Don’t Eat Me.” The women were representatives of Ching Hai, the leader of a group that advocates adherence to Buddhist precepts, including following vegan or vegetarian diets. As they lined up for hours in freezing conditions, many of the delegates seemed grateful for the neatly wrapped snacks — meat-free sandwiches — that the women were handing out free. Followers of Ching Hai say that one of her principal goals is to fight environmental disasters, and her representatives in Copenhagen appeared eager to spread the message that methane, which is belched in large quantities by cows and other livestock raised for the meat and dairy industries, is among the most potent planet-warming gases. But the virtues of vegetarianism as part of the battle to curb climate change are far from being an issue just for the spiritually inclined. Long before the summit meeting in Copenhagen, rising demand for meat and dairy products, particularly among the burgeoning middle classes in countries like China and India with fast-developing economies, meant that links between climate change and food policy were becoming an important element in the debate over what to do about the rising levels of greenhouse gases. The issue appeared to have gained traction in the weeks leading up to the Copenhagen conference, with prominent figures from the worlds of science and entertainment stepping into the fray. Speaking at the European Parliament in early December, Paul McCartney, a former member of the Beatles, said there was an urgent need to do something about meat production, not only because of its effects on the climate but also because of related issues like deforestation and ensuring secure supplies of water. Mr. McCartney, who has long advocated vegetarianism, urged European legislators to support policies like encouraging citizens to refrain from eating meat for one day a week, something that he said could become as commonplace as recycling or cars that run on hybrid technology. Civil servants in the Belgian city of Ghent and schoolchildren in Baltimore already observe a meat-free day each week, he said. Mr. McCartney was joined at the parliament by Rajendra Pachauri, the chairman of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which is the main United Nations body studying the climate. Public awareness of the problems linked to meat is low, and the authorities might have to consider levying a surcharge on beef to discourage consumption, Mr. Pachauri said in comments reported by Agence France-Presse. Meat farmers immediately branded the comments as an assault on the industry, and criticism came from as far away as New Zealand. “Cutting out meat one day a week might seem a simple solution, but there is little evidence to show any benefit,” Rod Slater, the chief executive of Beef and Lamb New Zealand, told the country’s press association. “Suggesting meat’s not green is an emotive slur on an industry which continues investment in ongoing research, striving for further improvements,” added Mr. Slater, who said people living in New Zealand obtained daily nutritional necessities, and most of their protein, zinc and vitamin B12, from beef and lamb. In fact, like a number of other areas of research in climate science, the greenhouse gas intensity of meat production is contested. When a study in the November-December issue of the magazine World Watch claimed more than half of human-produced, planet-warming gases were caused by meat industries, a research group for the livestock industry countered that a study by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization already had shown that the relevant figure was closer to 18 percent. The study published in World Watch failed “to enlarge on any counterfactuals, such as what a world without domesticated livestock would look like,” Carlos Seré, the director general of the International Livestock Research Institute in Nairobi, wrote to Green Inc. in November. “Would, for example, wild herbivores and termite mounds take over many of these environments, and end up producing as much greenhouse gases as domestic ruminants?” Mr. Seré asked. “We frankly don’t, and can’t, know that yet.” Certainly the issue may be more nuanced than some commentators have suggested. For example, cattle fed on grass may have much lower carbon footprints than those fed in feedlots because animals in pasture lands require fewer fossil fuel-based inputs like fertilizers and because they help the soil sequester carbon. Renewed efforts are under way to get to the bottom of the matter. Early this month, the Paris-based World Organization for Animal Health said it would study the effect of meat output on climate change in light of requests from its member countries. “It’s a question that needs to be studied with a lot of distance,” Bernard Vallat, the organization’s director-general, told a news conference, according to Reuters. “We want to make a modest and independent contribution,” he said. Mr. Vallet said that one of the thorniest issues was how to involve agriculture in efforts to reduce gases while maintaining food security. Mr. Seré, of the livestock research institute, acknowledged the need to develop a form of livestock production between factory and family farming that would ease poverty without depleting natural resources or hurting the climate. He said environmental campaigners should keep in mind that the “biggest concern of many experts regarding livestock in developing countries is not their impact on climate change but rather the impact of climate change on livestock production.” The “hotter and more extreme tropical environments being predicted threaten not only up to a billion livelihoods based on livestock but also supplies of milk, meat and eggs among hungry communities that need these nourishing foods most,” he said.

Vegetarianism
Livestock
Global Warming
Greenhouse Gas Emissions


Pettitte Leads Yankees Past Royals

Abstract: KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Andy Pettitte was closely following his son’s high school baseball team in its playoff series through various hand-held devices. Pettitte’s son Josh had thrown a no-hitter for his team in Deer Park, Tex., on Friday night. On Saturday, hours before Pettitte took the mound, he learned that his son’s team had staged a late-inning comeback, with Josh providing two key hits, to win the series. Pettitte was beaming with pride as he gave game details in the Yankees’ clubhouse. It may have been the best baseball result of the day for the Pettitte family, but it was not the only one. After a couple of subpar starts, Andy Pettitte rebounded Saturday night to help the streaking Yankees beat the Kansas City Royals, 3-2, at Kauffman Stadium and take sole possession of first place in the American League East. Still, for the Pettitte family, the Yankees’ game came in second place on Saturday. “Oh, Josh’s game was much bigger,” Pettitte said afterward. “My wife probably didn’t even watch my game.” If she did watch, she saw a fine performance by her husband, as well as a dicey finish in which the Royals came within inches of tying the score off Mariano Rivera in the ninth inning. But with Jarrod Dyson on second base and two outs, Yankees left fielder Vernon Wells tracked down Mike Moustakas’s line drive headed for the gap, and Rivera had his 14th save in 14 tries. The Yankees have won four straight. It was the first time Rivera had pitched here since he sustained a season-ending knee injury during batting practice on May 3, 2012. It was also the 70th time that Rivera had saved a Pettitte victory. Wells not only made the defensive play of the game, but also had the go-ahead hit, a two-run homer in the top of the fifth that provided the final margin of victory. It was the second time on the Yankees’ current trip, in which they are 4-1, that Wells was the offensive and defensive star of the game. Rivera got two quick outs in the ninth inning, but Salvador Perez doubled down the right-field line. Moustakas came up and hit a ball down the same line that was foul by inches. Based on the swings and the way that catcher Chris Stewart was setting up, Wells had a feeling, he said, so he moved a few steps toward the gap in left-center field. “I knew that the only place that he most likely would be hitting the ball was in the gap,” Wells said. “So I kind of shaded him a little bit and was in the right place.” Dave Robertson struck out the side in the eighth before Rivera entered. Pettitte went seven strong innings, allowing two runs and five hits, and won for the first time in four starts. His only real blemish was a solo home run by Billy Butler in the fourth. Pettitte also rediscovered his cut fastball, or at least discovered that he had never lost it. He entered Saturday’s game having given up 10 earned runs and 14 hits in his previous nine and one-third innings, and in his last start he issued a season-high four walks. But the Yankees’ pitching coach, Larry Rothschild, and others told him that many of his cutters in those games were actually good, and when Pettitte looked at the film, he saw that was the case. “Everybody kept telling me that,” he said, “but I don’t want to listen half the time. You guys have been around me enough. I wear my feelings on my sleeve a little bit when I lose ballgames. I probably should have looked at the video a bit sooner.” The real problem, he said, was that his arm angle was too low. He said it was obvious on the film, and when he got back to a more normal arm slot, the results were just as obvious. “To get a big league win, man,” he said, “those are precious.” But as Pettitte would attest, high school wins are pretty good, too. INSIDE PITCH The Yankees are getting closer to placing Eduardo Nunez on the 15-day disabled list with a strained muscle in his rib cage. Manager Joe Girardi said that he spoke to General Manager Brian Cashman Saturday and that they would probably make a decision before Monday’s doubleheader at Cleveland. “We’re going to need some extra infielders,” Girardi said. “We’ll be in need of another player if he can’t go, so we’ll see.”... The Yankees’ bullpen has not allowed a run since the eighth inning of a 5-4 loss on May 5, a streak of 151/3 innings.

Yankees
Andy Pettitte
Baseball
Kansas City Royals


McIlroy Shoots 5-Under 65 to Take Lead at St. Jude Classic

Abstract: Rory McIlroy snapped his string of three straight missed cuts in style Friday, shooting a five-under-par 65 to take the lead into the weekend at the St. Jude Classic in Memphis. He birdied three of his final four holes, and had an eagle, five birdies and two bogeys to match his lowest PGA Tour round this year. Jeff Maggert, tied for the first-round lead with John Merrick, shot a 68 to match J. B. Holmes (64) and Kevin Stadler (65) at six under.


Guest Appearance by Alec Baldwin at a Hamptons Dinner

Abstract: By the end of the night, Alec Baldwin had followed us to a restaurant miles from the gala at which we’d just met him, squeezed himself onto the banquette at our table for four, and was meticulously deboning our deep-fried whole sea bass. It didn’t start off that way. Saturday evening in the Hamptons began at a beautiful party under white tents for the Group for the East End , an environmental protection organization, held at the Wölffer Estate Vineyard in Sagaponack. Cars and at least one stretch limousine blundered across fields to reach the party, which raised more than $600,000. We chatted with the evening’s host, Ina Garten, known as the Barefoot Contessa, who told us the well-known story of her version of a dish called “engagement chicken.” When women make the roast chicken and feed it to their boyfriends, they propose within 24 hours, she said. Nocturnalist would like to get married one day, but a pescatarian is doomed, right? Ms. Garten suggested a vegetable lasagna and added, “Try a nice Bolognese.” (But a quick look at her recipe for “weeknight Bolognese” shows it calls for ground sirloin. We’re not a chef with our own television show and seven cookbooks, but we’re pretty sure that ingredient once had fur.) Was a confused cook the best we could glean from a Long Island excursion? We had once more trotted out our Hamptons camouflage, the white jumpsuit. Would it go to waste again ? Enter Alec Baldwin. With a mottled beard, a slightly fatigued look — he’d recently flown in from filming in Rome with Woody Allen, he said — and a trimmer physique (he “quit sugar” and stopped eating after 8 p.m.), Mr. Baldwin pepped up as we interviewed him, or tried to. “Isn’t that the way this works?” he said. “You ask a question and I say whatever the hell I want?” He asked us about our education. We told him. He responded that our life as a party reporter was tragic. We tried to get back on the evening’s topic — conservation of the East End — and segued to a story about a nature walk Nocturnalist had taken that morning, after which we discovered that several ticks had crawled under our jeans. Mr. Baldwin, who has had Lyme disease, was clearly interested in the topic. “Because I work in the movie business and television business, I visualize things,” he said. “When you say ‘I took off my jeans,’ did you take your jeans off when you got home and you were undressing to change in the normal course of events, or did you take off your jeans in the middle of, like, Three Mile Harbor Road?” he asked, referring to a road in East Hampton. We didn’t answer. His Lyme disease was chronic. “At the same time of year, I get really tired,” Mr. Baldwin said. “That’s depression,” said Nocturnalist. “That’s what that is?” he said. “I was so hoping it wasn’t.” Around his left ring finger was a black ponytail elastic. Whose? “It’s mine; I buy them by the box to remind me of something,” he said. “You know what I reminded myself of when I put this on this morning?” he said. “To be careful of talking to you.” He added: “As a journalistic condom.” Somewhat startled, we excused ourselves, telling Mr. Baldwin we had to meet friends at a restaurant about four miles away. Two hours later, around 10 p.m., Nocturnalist regaled friends at the restaurant with tales of how Mr. Baldwin had asked us if we’d exposed ourselves on Three Mile Harbor Road. “Oh my god,” said a friend. Mr. Baldwin was at the door, making a beeline for our table. We scooted over. You said you’d be here, he said, plopping down with his male friend on our banquette. So we had. Suddenly we lost our appetite as a conga line of restaurant patrons formed at our table to fawn over Mr. Baldwin, interrupting our conversation every few moments. Mr. Baldwin was unfailingly polite — he has to be, he said. When he hasn’t felt like shaking 1,000 hands, slighted fans have begun angry Twitter campaigns against him. Mr. Baldwin was a delight, a refreshing change from the press-release-spouting animatrons many of his peers become around Nocturnalist. And then, when our sea bass finally came, he instantly swiped it from in front of us and turned his steely blue gaze to the task of deboning it, filleting the fish and serving it to us on a plate. Our jaw dropped. He said he’d stay for five minutes, but stayed an hour. As he departed, all the eavesdropping diners, still awestruck, erupted in applause. Chicken as the food of love, Ms. Garten? It’s sea bass.

Parties (Social)
Baldwin Alec
Garten Ina
Hamptons (NY)


Brass-Colored, Good as Gold

Abstract: Any white wine from Hugel, an Alsatian house founded in 1639, is a low-risk purchase. Hugel’s basic 2005 riesling, a sommelier’s dream, can match vinegar-free salads, shellfish, grilled fish, pork and spicy (but not sweet) Asian dishes. This brass-colored wine feels sleek and beautifully balanced. It offers a clean, crisp lemon flavor and a long finish. Gotham, 2517 Broadway (94th Street), charges $17.99.

Wines
Goldberg Howard G
Alcoholic Beverages


Titans Might Have Won Numbers Game, but Ravens Made Plays Count

Abstract: NASHVILLE — The regret in the Tennessee Titans ’ locker room carried from player to player. The team that started the season 10-0, and had so much promise for the N.F.L. playoffs with its terrific defense and solid offense, held its collective head in its hands. “I don’t know if this is something you ever get over,” Titans quarterback Kerry Collins said. By all statistical measures, the Titans outplayed the Baltimore Ravens . But Tennessee was ruined by three turnovers inside the Ravens’ 20. The Titans were also called for 12 penalties, and a 51-yard field-goal attempt sailed left of the goal posts. All those factors combined to produce a 13-10 loss in an American Football Conference divisional-round playoff game. Afterward, there was no glow to be found from their 13-3 regular season that produced a divisional championship. “After tonight, it’s hard to feel good about this year,” Collins said. “We accomplished a lot and put ourselves in position to make a run at it, and when you fall short, it’s hard to see the positives. To think we are going to feel any better about it because of the regular season I think is not going to be the case.” He added: “To say it is disappointing is an understatement. This is a tough one to swallow.” It was the second time the Ravens came here as a wild-card team and upset top-seeded Tennessee. Baltimore won by 24-10 here in 2000 on its way to winning Super Bowl XXXV. The Ravens managed 50 yards rushing and had 211 yards of total offense. The Titans had 391, but their blunders erased any statistical edge. “We gave away 9 points, at least 9 points,” Tennessee linebacker Keith Bulluck said. “They forced three turnovers in the red zone. You can’t as a team have those kinds of mistakes and expect to win.” Under pressure in the second quarter, Collins was intercepted by Samari Rolle at the Baltimore 9. “I was trying to give our guy a chance and just threw a bad ball,” Collins said. On the Titans’ last play of the first half, running back LenDale White fumbled at the Baltimore 17. The third turnover, which came in the fourth quarter, was particularly wrenching. With his team trailing by 10-7, Collins completed a short pass to the veteran tight end Alge Crumpler, but he fumbled the ball, which the Ravens recovered at their 1. “I have no answer for this feeling right now,” Crumpler said. “This team won’t be the same next year. Our shot was now. I’ve never been in a situation where I felt like I hurt a team more than I hurt this team in my life.” Just as crucial as the turnovers was the injury to the speedy rookie running back Chris Johnson in the second quarter. Johnson ran for 72 yards on just 11 carries in the first half against a Baltimore defense that ranked third in the N.F.L. in run defense in the regular season. Johnson said he hurt himself on his last carry of the first half, which came with 7 minutes 15 seconds to play in the quarter. He did not know how bad his ankle was injured until he tried to stand up off the bench after coming off the field. “I tried to go back in, but they wouldn’t let me,” Johnson said. “When I was in there in the first half, we were doing whatever we wanted to do.” Every break seemed to go Baltimore’s way. On their way toward the winning field goal, it appeared that the play clock ran out on the Ravens on a third-and-2 from the Baltimore 32. But no flag was thrown, and Joe Flacco completed a crucial 23-yard pass to Todd Heap. Tennessee defensive end Jevon Kearse said that he and his teammates were on the sideline yelling that the play clock had expired, “but no one was listening to us.” Kearse refused to use turnovers or questionable calls as alibis. On Baltimore’s winning drive, Willis McGahee stepped off an 11-yard run, and Matt Stover followed with a 43-yard field goal. “We still had a chance to get out there and make a stop, and we let them get first downs,” Kearse said.

Tennessee Titans
Baltimore Ravens
Football
Playoff Games
Flacco Joe