Jeremy Stein to Resign From Fed Board to Return to Harvard

Abstract: WASHINGTON — Jeremy C. Stein, a member of the Federal Reserve’s board who has raised concerns about its stimulus campaign, will resign at the end of May and return to his previous role at Harvard. Mr. Stein, who joined the Fed in 2012, needed to return within two years to preserve his tenured professorship. “During my time here, the economy has moved steadily back in the direction of full employment, and a number of important steps have been taken to make the financial system stronger and more resilient,” Mr. Stein wrote in a letter informing President Obama of his resignation , which was released by the Fed. He added, “There is undoubtedly more work to be done on both dimensions.” Mr. Stein, an economist and noted academic, has helped to provide an intellectual rationale for the cautious evolution of the Fed’s stimulus campaign, which has not succeeded in returning either unemployment or inflation to normal levels. He has argued that the Fed should temper its efforts to minimize unemployment because those policies encourage financial risk-taking, which can undermine long-term growth by destabilizing markets and causing new crises. Image Jeremy Stein had been on the seven-member Fed board since 2012. Credit Larry Downing/Reuters “Monetary policy should be less accommodative — by which I mean that it should be willing to tolerate a larger forecast shortfall of the path of the unemployment rate from its full-employment level — when estimates of risk premiums in the bond market are abnormally low,” he said in a speech last month . His views remain controversial. Many of Mr. Stein’s colleagues, including the Fed’s chairwoman, Janet L. Yellen, have said that they see no signs of dangerous overheating in financial markets. Some critics say Mr. Stein is focused on the last crisis instead of the present problem: high unemployment. There is also a continuing debate about whether it ever makes sense to correct overheating in financial markets by raising interest rates. Many officials regard that as a crude tool, at best, because the effects are felt throughout the economy. Mr. Stein, however, sees this as a potential benefit, because the higher rates would potentially solve even problems that regulators did not notice. Mr. Stein’s tenure will be among the shortest in recent Fed history; he had about four years left on his term. Frederic S. Mishkin, who resigned in 2008, was the last governor to serve less than two years. “Jeremy has made important contributions and served as an intellectual leader during his time at the board,” Ms. Yellen said in a statement . “His understanding of monetary policy and markets as well as his expertise in banking and financial regulation has proven invaluable in his service to the Federal Reserve and the country.” His departure could create a fourth vacancy on the seven-member board. Two nominees, Stanley Fischer and Lael Brainard, are awaiting Senate confirmation. Mr. Obama has not announced a nominee for a third vacancy, created last month when Sarah Bloom Raskin became deputy Treasury secretary.

Harvard
Federal Reserve
Unemployment
Jeremy C Stein
College


Mets Put Wright in, but Is He Ready to Play?

Abstract: The Mets have a board at the entrance to their clubhouse that lists the starting lineup for every game. The players’ names, written on strips of laminated paper, are slipped in and out before each game. But it’s a wonder that someone bothers to remove David Wright ’s name at all. Wright is the only player in the major leagues to have played every inning of every game this season. For the record, that’s 616 2/3 innings of baseball. “Am I a little tired? Yes; everybody’s a little tired,” he said Saturday at Shea Stadium before the Mets’ game was rained out. “As long as I feel like I’m helping the team, then I like being in there.” Recently, though, the question has become: How much does a weary, and slumping, Wright really help the team? His batting average fell below .300 on April 24 and was at .276 going into Monday night’s game in Anaheim. He was 14 for 57 in June. “It comes up when you struggle,” Wright said of the demands of playing every inning. “I’m not seeing the ball all that well, I’m not swinging the bat well, but physically and mentally I feel fine. “If it ever gets to the point where I’m mentally or physically exhausted and I think that I’m hurting the team by going out there and playing, then I’ll be the first one to go in there and talk to Willie.” Manager Willie Randolph has never been inclined to bench Wright. In 2005 and 2007, Wright played 160 games; he played 154 in 2006. When a player starts to make mental mistakes or when his swing slows, Randolph said, then he may need a day off. “You watch a guy take b.p.,” Randolph said, referring to batting practice. “You watch him every day, you know exactly how they look when they’re right and how they look when they’re not quite right. And David’s swing’s a little bit long.” Before Monday’s game, Randolph said he would try to give Wright one game at designated hitter during the Mets’ series with the Angels. That will give him a bit of a break, even if he is still in the lineup. Carlos Beltrán, who played in all but a handful of innings during the Kansas City Royals’ 2002 season, said Wright was the kind of player who could play every day. “No player’s going to go in there and ask for a day off,” he said. The Mets have won 11 games this season by at least five runs. Yet in each of those routs, Randolph left Wright in the game. “There’s a difference between being a little banged up and being injured,” Wright said. “You’ve got to be able to play through being banged up. I’ve had little things, but you try to go out there and realize that it’s going to be a grind.” With the team still under .500 and dealing with constant speculation that Randolph’s tenure as manager could end any day, Wright said it would be even harder now to take a game off and watch from the dugout. “It’s a long season, and you want to do what’s best for the team and you personally for the long run,” Wright said. “At the same time, when the team’s not playing all that well, you want to be in there to try and get the job done and be one of the guys that gets us back on the right track.” In the first game of the Mets’ doubleheader against the Texas Rangers on Sunday, Wright looked sluggish at the plate, going 0 for 3, but in the 30 minutes between games, he seemed to turn it around. In the second game, Wright was on base four times, with three hits and a walk. He had his first multihit game in two weeks, and the Mets defeated the Rangers, 4-2. The team then boarded a flight to Los Angeles. Nearly 3,000 miles and 24 hours later, Wright was in uniform, ready to go against the Angels. “He wants to play and he’s our third baseman,” Beltrán said. “I think if you ask if he wants a day off, he’d say no.”


The Road to Gay Marriage in New York

Abstract: In the 35th-floor conference room of a Manhattan high-rise, two of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo ’s most trusted advisers held a secret meeting a few weeks ago with a group of super-rich Republican donors. Over tuna and turkey sandwiches, the advisers explained that New York’s Democratic governor was determined to legalize same-sex marriage and would deliver every possible Senate vote from his own party. Would the donors win over the deciding Senate Republicans? It sounded improbable: top Republican moneymen helping a Democratic rival with one of his biggest legislative goals. But the donors in the room — the billionaire Paul Singer, whose son is gay, joined by the hedge fund managers Cliff Asness and Daniel Loeb — had the influence and the money to insulate nervous senators from conservative backlash if they supported the marriage measure. And they were inclined to see the issue as one of personal freedom, consistent with their more libertarian views. Within days, the wealthy Republicans sent back word: They were on board. Each of them cut six-figure checks to the lobbying campaign that eventually totaled more than $1 million. Steve Cohen, the No. 2 in Mr. Cuomo’s office and a participant in the meeting, began to see a path to victory, telling a colleague, “This might actually happen.” The story of how same-sex marriage became legal in New York is about shifting public sentiment and individual lawmakers moved by emotional appeals from gay couples who wish to be wed. But, behind the scenes, it was really about a Republican Party reckoning with a profoundly changing power dynamic, where Wall Street donors and gay-rights advocates demonstrated more might and muscle than a Roman Catholic hierarchy and an ineffective opposition. And it was about a Democratic governor, himself a Catholic, who used the force of his personality and relentlessly strategic mind to persuade conflicted lawmakers to take a historic leap. “I can help you,” Mr. Cuomo assured them in dozens of telephone calls and meetings, at times pledging to deploy his record-high popularity across the state to protect them in their districts. “I am more of an asset than the vote will be a liability.” Over the last several weeks, dozens of lawmakers, strategists and advocates described the closed-door meetings and tactical decisions that led to approval of same-sex marriage in New York, about two years after it was rejected by the Legislature. This account is based on those interviews, most of which were granted on the condition of anonymity to describe conversations that were intended to be confidential. ‘I Have to Do This’ Mr. Cuomo was diplomatic but candid with gay-rights advocates in early March when he summoned them to the Capitol’s Red Room, a ceremonial chamber with stained-glass windows and wood-paneled walls. The advocates had contributed to the defeat of same-sex marriage in 2009, he told them, with their rampant infighting and disorganization. He had seen it firsthand, as attorney general, when organizers had given him wildly divergent advice about which senators to lobby and when, sometimes in bewildering back-to-back telephone calls. “You can either focus on the goal, or we can spend a lot of time competing and destroying ourselves,” the governor said. This time around, the lobbying had to be done the Cuomo way: with meticulous, top-down coordination. “I will be personally involved,” he said. The gay-rights advocates agreed, or at least acquiesced. Five groups pushing for same-sex marriage merged into a single coalition, hired a prominent consultant with ties to Mr. Cuomo’s office, Jennifer Cunningham, and gave themselves a new name: New Yorkers United for Marriage. Those who veered from the script faced swift reprimand. When Assemblyman Daniel J. O’Donnell, an openly gay Democrat from Manhattan, introduced a same-sex marriage bill in May without first alerting the governor’s office, he was upbraided by Mr. Cohen. “What do you think you’re doing?” the governor’s aide barked over the phone. Mr. Cuomo’s hands-on management was a turning point not just for the marriage movement, but also for his long and fraught relationship with the gay community. Advocates groused that he had waited until 2006 to endorse same-sex marriage, years after many leading New York political leaders did so. And many of them still remembered his work on his father’s unsuccessful 1977 bid for mayor of New York, which had featured homophobic posters aimed at Edward I. Koch . Over time, however, championing same-sex marriage had become personal for Mr. Cuomo. He campaigned on the issue in the race for governor last year, and after his election, he was staggered by the number of gay couples who sought him out at restaurants and on the street, prodding him, sometimes tearfully, to deliver on his word. The pressure did not let up at home. Mr. Cuomo’s girlfriend, Sandra Lee , has an openly gay brother, and she frequently reminded the governor how much she wanted the law to change. Something else weighed on him, too: the long shadow of his father, Mario, who rose to national prominence as the conscience of the Democratic Party , passionately defending the poor and assailing the death penalty. During his first few months in office, the younger Mr. Cuomo had achieved what seemed like modern-day miracles by the standards of Albany — an austere on-time budget and a deal to cap property taxes . But, as Mr. Cuomo explained by phone to his father a few weeks ago, he did not want those accomplishments to define his first year in office. “They are operational,” he told his father. Passing same-sex marriage, by contrast, “is at the heart of leadership and progressive government.” “I have to do this.” A Democratic Surprise Nobody ever expected Carl Kruger to vote yes. A Democrat from Brooklyn , known for his gruff style and shifting alliances, Senator Kruger voted against same-sex marriage two years ago, was seen as a pariah in his party and was accused in March of taking $1 million in bribes in return for political favors. Some gay activists, assuming he was a lost cause, had taken to picketing outside of his house and screaming that he was gay — an approach that seemed only to harden his opposition to their agenda. (Mr. Kruger has said he is not gay.) But unbeknown to all but a few people, Mr. Kruger desperately wanted to change his vote. The issue, it turned out, was tearing apart his household. The gay nephew of the woman he lives with, Dorothy Turano, was so furious at Mr. Kruger for opposing same-sex marriage two years ago that he had cut off contact with both of them, devastating Ms. Turano. “I don’t need this,” Mr. Kruger told Senator John L. Sampson of Brooklyn, the Democratic majority leader. “It has gotten personal now.” Mr. Sampson, a longtime supporter of same-sex marriage, advised Mr. Kruger to focus on the nephew, not the political repercussions. “When everything else is gone,” Mr. Sampson told him, “all you have left is family.” With Mr. Kruger suddenly a possible yes vote, the same-sex marriage organizers zeroed in on the two remaining Democrats who had previously voted no but appeared open to switching sides: Shirley L. Huntley and Joseph P. Addabbo Jr., both of Queens . Senator Huntley, a close friend of Mr. Sampson, had privately assured him that she would support the marriage bill, largely out of personal loyalty to him and fellow Democrats. Persuading Senator Addabbo proved trickier. Same-sex marriage advocates had nicknamed him the Counter, after he told them his vote would hinge entirely on a tally of his constituents who appealed to him for or against the measure. By mid-May, Mr. Addabbo sent word to Mr. Cuomo that the numbers were not there for same-sex marriage. Until then, members of the same-sex marriage coalition had deliberately refrained from inundating Mr. Addabbo’s office with feedback from supporters of the bill, fearing it might alienate and offend him. But now, the advocates received a message from the governor’s office: Open the floodgates. Brian Ellner, who oversees the marriage push for the Human Rights Campaign, called the head of his field team, who had compiled an exhaustive list of supporters of gay rights in Mr. Addabbo’s district. “Bury him in paper,” Mr. Ellner said. Over the next week, the field team collected postcards signed by 2,000 of Mr. Addabbo’s constituents who favor same-sex marriage, twice as many as he had received in the previous few months combined. When his final tally was completed in early June, he had heard from 6,015 people — 80 percent of whom asked him to vote yes. “In the end, that is my vote,” Mr. Addabbo said. Republicans Resist In a private room at the Fort Orange Club, a stately brick manor in Albany where the waitresses still wear French maid uniforms, a pollster laid out the results of his research on gay marriage for Senate Republicans in early June. There was little political rationale for legalizing it, the numbers suggested: statewide support did not extend deeply into the rural, upstate districts that are crucial to the state’s Republican Party . And with unemployment at 9 percent, the issue was far down the list of priorities for voters. Many of the Republicans wanted to avoid ever taking a vote on the issue — a simple strategy to carry out. As the majority party in the Senate, they could block any bill from reaching the floor. But the caucus — a group of 32 senators who had seized control of the Senate in the elections last year but held just a single-seat majority — was far from unified. And, crucially for same-sex marriage advocates, the Republicans’ relatively untested leader showed no interest in forcing them to reach a consensus. “My management style,” the Senate majority leader, Dean G. Skelos of Long Island , had told lawmakers, “is that I let my members lead.” Mr. Cuomo was determined to exploit the leadership vacuum by peeling off a few senators from moderate districts. A major target was James S. Alesi, a Republican from suburban Rochester , who seemed tormented by his 2009 vote. Cameras in the Senate chamber captured him holding his head in his hands as the word “no” left his mouth. The coalition approached him from every angle. The Republican donors invited him to a meeting on Park Avenue, telling him they would eagerly support him if he backed same-sex marriage. “That’s not the kind of lily pad I normally hop on,” Mr. Alesi recalled. The advocates collected 5,000 signed postcards from his constituents and nudged a major employer in his district, Xerox, to endorse the bill. And Mr. Cuomo called him, over and over, to address his objections and allay his fears. He told Senator Alesi that as the first Republican to endorse same-sex marriage, he “would show real courage to the gay community.” On June 13, aides to the governor left urgent messages with same-sex marriage advocates, who had just left a meeting in Mr. Cuomo’s office, to return there immediately, offering no explanation. As the group assembled around a conference table, the governor opened the door to his private office and peeked in. “I want to introduce the first Republican to support marriage equality,” he announced. Mr. Alesi walked into the room, which erupted into applause. In emotional remarks, he apologized to them for what he called his “political vote” against same-sex marriage in 2009. The next day, Bill Smith, a lobbyist for Gill Action, a gay-rights group, turned to the governor and asked, “How many rabbits are you going to pull out of the hat?” Outgunned Opponents It was befuddling to gay-rights advocates: The Catholic Church, arguably the only institution with the authority and reach to derail same-sex marriage, seemed to shrink from the fight. As the marriage bill hurtled toward a vote, the head of the church in New York, Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan , left town to lead a meeting of bishops in Seattle . He did not travel to Albany or deliver a major speech in the final days of the session. And when he did issue a strongly worded critique of the legislation — he called it “immoral” and an “ominous threat” — it was over the phone to an Albany-area radio show. Inside the Capitol, where a photograph of Mr. Cuomo shaking hands with Archbishop Dolan hangs in the governor’s private office, the low-key approach did not seem accidental. Mr. Cuomo had taken pains to blunt the church’s opposition. When he learned that church leaders had objected to the language of the marriage legislation, he invited its lawyers to the Capitol to vent their frustration. Mr. Cuomo even spoke to Archbishop Dolan about the push for same-sex marriage, emphasizing his respect and affection for the religious leader. An adviser described the governor’s message to Archbishop Dolan this way: “I have to do what I have to do. But your support over all is very important to me.” By the time a Catholic bishop from Brooklyn traveled to Albany last week to tell undecided senators that passing same-sex marriage “is not in keeping with the will of their people,” it was clear the church had been outmaneuvered by the highly organized same-sex marriage coalition, with its sprawling field team and, especially, its Wall Street donors. “In many ways,” acknowledged Dennis Poust, of the New York State Catholic Conference, “we were outgunned. That is a lot to overcome.” With the church largely out of the picture, the governor’s real worry was the simmering tension in the Senate Republican delegation. Its members met, for hours at a time, to debate the political and moral implications of allowing a vote. But each time new arguments arose. Some questioned whether homosexuality was genetic or chosen. Others suggested that the same-sex marriage legislation be scrapped in favor of a statewide referendum. Mr. Cuomo invited the Republicans to visit him at the governor’s residence, a 40-room Victorian mansion overlooking the Hudson River, just a few blocks from the Capitol. There, in a speech the public would never hear, he offered his most direct and impassioned case for allowing gays to wed. Gay couples, he said, wanted recognition from the state that they were no different from the lawmakers in the room. “Their love is worth the same as your love,” Mr. Cuomo said, according to someone who heard him. “Their partnership is worth the same as your partnership. And they are equal in your eyes to you. That is the driving issue.” In the late hours of Friday night, 33 members of the State Senate agreed with him.

New York
Legislation
Politics
Carl Kruger
Same-Sex Marriage,Gay Marriage
Andrew Cuomo
State legislature
Joseph P Addabbo Jr
James S Alesi


In New Home, Wilson Continues to Push Boundaries

Abstract: LOS ANGELES — When the baseball season began, Brian Wilson was far removed from the rituals that he had come to live by: batting practice, conditioning runs, group stretches, dominoes in the clubhouse and, often enough at the end of the workday, the opening of the bullpen gates. He was instead in a grimy shack in Costa Rica, far more primitive than what he could afford. But who needs a five-star resort when the point is to step outside — not just outside the door to explore the beaches, jungles and culture, but also outside the boundaries of convention, a place that has always been his comfort zone. And so, as the season winds to a close, Wilson is again in another unexpected place, the clubhouse of the Los Angeles Dodgers, his former rivals, and working toward a return to form as a pre-eminent relief pitcher. Few teams — including his former one, the San Francisco Giants — were willing to bet on that after he had a rare second Tommy John elbow operation 17 months ago. It is slightly jarring now to see him in blue and white instead of black and orange. But the qualities that so endeared Wilson to San Franciscans remain: his free-spirited personality and distinctive black beard. So does his Mohawk, though it has grown longer and the beard bushier, giving Wilson the look of a samurai warrior who ran off to barnstorm with the House of David team in the early 20th century. He no longer wears No. 38, choosing to wear 00 instead. Why? “Why not?” Wilson said, drawing a laugh from Carlos Marmol, another reclaimed former closer, from the adjacent locker. Wilson, 31, who signed with the Dodgers on July 30 for $1 million through the end of the season, has been finding his niche in a clubhouse where he had few acquaintances and in a bullpen where he has acclimated well to setup and mop-up duty. Since his recall from the minors, he had allowed one run in his first 12 appearances, covering eight and one-third innings. On Thursday against the Giants, Wilson pitched a scoreless top of the 10th inning in a tie game and was credited with the win after Adrian Gonzalez’s run-scoring single lifted the Dodgers to victory. He did not speak to reporters who cover the Giants before the game, and he spoke to no reporters afterward. It was with Wilson pitching that the Giants got the final out of the 2010 World Series , and it was with him as a cheerleader and popular presence in the dugout that they won again last season. At the time, it appeared likely that the Giants, leery of his health, would not pick up Wilson’s $8.5 million option for this season. The Giants and he could not agree on other terms, like incentives, last winter, and the team did not offer him a contract in July after watching him work out. In an interview last Monday, Wilson did not acknowledge the Giants by name, referring to them as “the team I used to play for,” and said he had learned from a television ticker that they would not re-sign him. But he insisted there was no motivation in proving them or anyone else wrong. “They were going on business terms,” Wilson said of the last-place Giants, whose problems extend far beyond their bullpen. “And we’ll just have to see how that investment pays off — or lack of investment. I remained silent through the whole process, and I will now because it doesn’t matter. It’s a game. It’s an employer. You get released from Apple, you go work for Google.” Later, though, Wilson acknowledged that it had not been easy to leave behind his teammates, who he said were “like a band of brothers,” and a city that adored him. He had seen it before, when the Giants traded a teammate, and he knew it would eventually happen but had not prepared for it. He called it disheartening. “Sometimes, it’s difficult being embraced by a city, being loved so much by a city,” Wilson said. “That can affect somebody for a little while. But I’ve also had 17 months to deal with that, and I think I have in an orderly fashion.” Besides, he said, “there’s been a lot more hardships in my life than getting released by one team and still having 29 other teams available.” When Wilson was 12, his father, an Air Force veteran who had raised him, cultivating a work ethic and self-reliance, learned he had brain cancer. Five years later, he died. “You lose out on your childhood,” Wilson said, “so you have to grow up when you’re 12 and take care of things, and then you’re kind of left alone. You’ve got to learn life by yourself, which is something you have to do when you’re a man. But when you’re 12 years old, it’s not something you should have to go through. But I hung in there. He was a military man, so there was no weeping, there was no crying. It was move on, take care of yourself and hopefully, I’ll leave this world and have taught you some valuable lessons.” Wilson paused. “I’m a survivor,” he continued. “It’s what I do.” Wilson is wrapped in a package of nonconformity, with his hair, quips, tattoos, bizarre TV interviews and T-shirts with the sleeves removed. This is how he described his fashion sense: “I’ve got a fluorescent-colored shirt I might want to wear because I think it’s sweet at that moment. I like shoes. Sometimes, I have weird, flashy shoes because they catch my eye.” But beneath all that lies the bedrock of discipline, determination and fearlessness that has carried Wilson here. He remembers all the cues — from the teacher who told him he should have a Plan B in life — that remind him of the enormous odds against making it to the major leagues, let alone thriving there. So he has pursued his objective with unwavering purpose. His great curiosity notwithstanding, he asked his college counselor for easy classes so as not to distract from the pursuit of his career. The searing runs up Camelback Mountain near his home in Phoenix, and the longer-than-required workouts are what he calls the unnecessary necessary work. Earlier this year, that meant a routine of three hours spent strengthening his shoulder, elbow and core; taking a break for lunch; then heading to the gym for two hours and sometimes throwing. He maintained the schedule whether he was at one of his three homes in the United States, or in Costa Rica, Mexico, Hungary or Romania. He went to Romania because, he said, “I’m a huge fan of vampires, so why wouldn’t I want to see Dracula’s castle, maybe catch a vampire or two?” Most of an hour of conversation with Wilson took place where he is usually found several hours before a game — in a lounge chair in the clubhouse playing chess, checkers or pai gow, or working on a crossword puzzle or other games that stimulate his mind. On this day, it was dominoes, and he was busy crushing Juan Uribe, his teammate with the Giants and now the Dodgers, while conducting an interview. “If you give 50 percent to two things, maybe you’ll get 100 percent success,” Wilson said with a hint of a smile. “There’s something to be said for games of strategy, games of thinking ahead. When you’re on a baseball field, you have to think, what happens if the ball is hit to me? That’s a very simple question. Sometimes, it’s not a very simple solution when mixed with emotion and fear. It’s like being able to walk into a room and you know where all the exits are. Plan ahead. I think it’s beneficial.” Later that night, after Uribe belted three home runs, Wilson said that he had indeed planned ahead. Once the interview ended, he began allowing Uribe to win. “And when Uribe wins in dominoes, it has a positive effect on his game,” said Wilson, knowing well the importance of settling into a comfort zone, wherever it may be.

Baseball
Brian Wilson
Dodgers
San Francisco Giants


Hungarian Towns Begin Cleanup of Nightmarish Red Sludge

Abstract: KOLONTAR, Hungary — Just before he raced for refuge in the attic of his family’s home here on Monday at lunchtime, Krisztian Holczer called his mother at her job at a school near here. “You won’t believe what is happening,” Mr. Holczer said he told her. A wave of caustic red sludge had just poured in over the back fence and was descending rapidly over the backyard, smothering chickens and hares as well as a garden of flowers, peppers, grapes and tomatoes. It rose up until it covered the tiled front porch and leached in through the front door, dyeing the pristine white lace curtains red. Mr. Holczer, 34, escaped with burns on his feet from the dangerous muck. The origin of the liquid was a nearby sludge reservoir holding the leftovers of the process that converts bauxite to aluminum. For more than 25 years, residents say, a Hungarian manufacturer, MAL Rt., the Hungarian Aluminum Production and Trade Company, has stored such waste at several artificial storage ponds in the region. Once a state-owned company, it was privatized in the 1990s like much of Communist-era industry in Eastern Europe. Just after noon on Monday, a corner of the sludge reservoir broke, sending the goo into the surrounding countryside, turning four prosperous, picturesque villages into red-tinged towns out of science-fiction horror films. The mud drowned at least four people and sent more than 100 to hospitals with burns, caused by a highly alkaline caustic substance. Sixteen square miles are covered in the muck, hundreds of residents suffered mild burns or lung irritations, and many animals were killed. Residents here are still waiting for officials to release their analysis of the sludge’s chemical content. A dangerous pollutant at best because of its corrosive nature, red mud from the aluminum production process can contain heavy metals and low-level radioactivity, ingredients that can cause health problems like cancer, and in the long term it can contaminate the environment. The sludge poured into local streams, which now all appear to be tinted with henna, and is moving downstream at about a mile an hour. It is headed for the Raba River, which empties into the Danube. It has already killed all the river life in the local rivers and streams but now threatens a broad international environmental disaster if high concentrations of the sludge get downstream. So far the damage is limited to Hungary , which has not asked the European Union for assistance in responding to the catastrophe, but Joe Hennon, the European Commission’s spokesman for environmental issues, said that the organization was concerned about the sludge or its elements moving where it could affect other countries. “There is potential for widespread environmental damage,” Mr. Hennon said. “Right now, they’re trying to contain it, to stop it from reaching the Danube.” The mud is normally regulated as a pollutant in Europe but can be classified as a hazardous substance if levels of toxic elements are high, he said. There are more than a dozen sludge storage ponds in this area, which used to be home to a thriving mining industry, for bauxite and coal . Today, the Hungarian Aluminum Production and Trade Company is the only one of three aluminum factories still in operation. But sludge ponds from various aging or even shuttered industries dot the landscape in Europe and the United States, often poorly maintained, and posing a threat to health and the environment. The broken wall of the sludge pond has been repaired, but the cleanup has just started. Police officers, firefighters and soldiers have descended on the towns, evacuating residents. Brigades of government workers and residents, wearing thick boots and surgical masks, are shoveling the red muck into trucks and hosing down homes and roads. Hungary’s top investigative agency is looking into the spill. A case has been opened to consider possible criminal negligence, although it was not clear whether the investigation was aimed at the company or individual employees. Jozsef Deak, a company engineer, said that “the company is not shying away from responsibility.” Heavy rains may have raised the sludge level, although company officials say it was within permitted limits before this week’s spill. The sludge reservoirs that dot the area are often poorly maintained, said Gabor Figeczky, acting C.E.O. of WWF-Hungary, a conservation group. The sludge reservoirs, in theory, have a sealed base and are supposed to be closed once they are full, but some, like the one that broke this week, are large, and filling them can take decades. In the meantime, they are subject to regular inspections. The European Commission said that it had been told that the company had received its most recent permit in 2006 and that it had no recorded history of violations or accidents. The sludge ponds in the region were scheduled to be inspected again this month, WWF-Hungary said. “There used to be three of these aluminum factories, and all were on flood plains, and two were next to the Danube,” said Csaba Vaszko, project officer for WWF-Hungary, who said that in some ways sludge ponds of closed factories were more worrisome than those of operating companies. “These old factories were supposed to maintain the sludge ponds and keep them safe,” Mr. Vaszko said, “but it is a huge problem in Eastern Europe because these companies didn’t set aside enough money for that.” Because this is the first large-scale accident involving aluminum sludge, experts are feeling their way in the cleanup. In the long term, the region’s topsoil will have to be totally replaced, because it is irretrievably alkaline and possibly contaminated with heavy metals, environmental groups say. Residents have been promised that their homes will be decontaminated, although it is not yet clear who is responsible for the decontamination and who will pay for the cleanup. And many residents say that is not satisfactory. Nikolett Fekete said she was mowing her lawn when the dog began to “bark like mad” and she heard a “strange moving sound like horses running in a field,” announcing the red mud’s arrival. At the height of the spill, there was more than a meter of muck in her house, she recalled, displaying the burns on her hands. “No, no, no, I don’t want to come back,” she said. “Who would want to stay here after something like this?”

Hungary
Drownings
Environment
Hazardous and Toxic Substances
Accidents and Safety


Republicans Are Optimistic of Winning a Majority in the Senate

Abstract: WASHINGTON — Just two years after watching Democrats claim a 60th seat in the Senate, Republicans are heading into the 2012 election season well positioned to challenge them for control of the chamber, giving the party reason for optimism even as it worries about the strength of its presidential field. With Democrats defending 23 seats to their 10, top Republicans believe they have a built-in advantage in their drive to pick up at least the four seats that would vault them into the majority even if President Obama wins a second term and Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. remains able to break Senate ties. And they calculate that their chances are enhanced because important races will be in relatively conservative states like Montana, Nebraska and North Dakota. “With our encouragement, I do think people are focusing on the Senate and how that can be the place where we can pick up the most yardage in 2012,” said Senator John Cornyn of Texas, chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee. Democrats are hardly conceding the Senate, and even though the election is 18 months off, campaigns are quickly moving into high gear and contenders are scurrying to raise the millions of dollars they will need. In Montana, Senator Jon Tester, the Democratic incumbent, is already engaged in a full-blown fight with his Republican opponent, Representative Denny Rehberg. An advocacy group is advertising in Massachusetts against Senator Scott P. Brown, a Republican and a top target of Democrats. Potentially vulnerable incumbents are busily crisscrossing their states. “I am going like there is no tomorrow,” said Senator Bill Nelson, Democrat of Florida, who faces a tough race in a major battleground state. The announcement Friday by Senator Herb Kohl, the four-term Wisconsin Democrat, that he would not seek re-election only added to the difficulties facing Democrats, depriving them of a relatively popular incumbent who could have financed his own campaign. Mr. Kohl’s exit instead left Democrats with another open seat to protect — their sixth — and added Wisconsin to the list of more than a dozen high-wattage races that will decide control of the Senate, which is now split 53 to 47. Republicans are even trying to turn concerns about their uncertain prospects in the presidential race into an opportunity in the battle for Senate supremacy, arguing that a Senate takeover could fundamentally alter the balance of power in Washington even if Mr. Obama won a second term. They are making the case to donors and voters that winning a Senate majority would give the party control of Congress and a united front against the president from Capitol Hill if Republicans hold the House. It is not lost on Republicans that the last time a Democratic president won a second term, when Bill Clinton was re-elected in 1996, Senate Republicans still expanded their numbers. “I am hoping he is not re-elected,” Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the top Senate Republican, said about Mr. Obama. “But it is notable to look back at 1996, when we gained two seats even when we did not succeed. We are focused like a laser on trying to get over the top in the Senate, and we have a reasonable shot.” Reince Priebus, the chairman of the Republican National Committee, said that the fight for control of the Senate was among the highest priorities for the party, and that while activists were eager to reclaim the White House, the Senate provided an easier path to changing the direction of Washington. “The fact that Democrats are running for the hills is making it easier for us to win back the Senate and take full control of the legislative agenda,” Mr. Priebus said in an interview. But Democrats say the struggle for the Senate is more than a numbers game. Acknowledging that the landscape looked grim in the days after the midterm elections, they say the outlook has improved, partly because House Republicans have pursued a conservative agenda that has allowed voters a good look at the policies Republicans would enact if they controlled both chambers on Capitol Hill. “It is changing, and it is changing for the better,” said Senator Patty Murray of Washington, the chairwoman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. “The senators running on our side aren’t sitting back. They are raising money, they are being aggressive, they believe in what they are fighting for and they know their states.” Eyeing Republican-held seats in Indiana, Massachusetts, Nevada and elsewhere, Democrats also say they intend to make Senate gains of their own, making it more difficult for Republicans to execute their takeover plans. Democrats are also counting on an assertive and sophisticated turnout operation by the Obama campaign to substantially reshape the electorate from the one that favored Republicans in 2010. Both sides essentially put North Dakota in the Republican camp with Senator Kent Conrad, a Democrat, not seeking re-election, but their views of the Senate landscape diverge sharply from there. Republicans say they see strong chances of victory in Montana over Mr. Tester and in Nebraska, where Senator Ben Nelson, a Democrat and a former governor, has trailed potential Republican rivals in polls. “That leaves us 20 more seats to pick up one to get into the majority,” Mr. Cornyn said. But Democrats say Republicans are seriously underestimating Mr. Nelson and Mr. Tester and are overlooking the prospect that Democrats could win Republican seats. Democrats say that if Senator Richard G. Lugar of Indiana loses to a conservative challenger in the Republican primary, their candidate, Representative Joe Donnelly, would have a strong chance running as a moderate. A similar situation could play out in Maine, they say, where Senator Olympia J. Snowe, a moderate Republican, faces a potential Tea Party challenge. They also have high hopes in heavily Democratic Massachusetts against Mr. Brown. “If you look race by race in each state, I think we are in much better shape than you would have ever imagined,” said Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York, the No. 3 Senate Democrat, who oversaw the campaign operation in 2006 and 2008. Mr. Schumer and others expect Republicans to get tangled up in the sort of messy primaries that cost them in the 2010 Senate races. And they say Republicans have so far failed to recruit top candidates in states that would seem to offer opportunities, like Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania. “They are struggling,” said Senator Sherrod Brown, an Ohio Democrat who is up for re-election next year. “That speaks volumes. If you would have asked right after the election, November or December, I think you would have seen people lining up for those races.”

Senate
Elections
United States Politics and Government
Republican Party
Democratic Party


Donald Trump Blasts Ted Cruz Using the Senator’s Own Words

Abstract: Fighting neck-and-neck in the Iowa polls with Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, Donald J. Trump has gone negative, with a 60-second advertisement assailing Mr. Cruz over a hot-button issue with conservatives in Iowa: immigration. On Screen A thumbs-up from Mr. Trump, then right to the attack: “Trump vs Cruz on Immigration,” a full-screen headline promises. A faux television shows Mr. Cruz, in a clip from December, struggling as he tries to parry questions from Bret Baier of Fox News, about an amendment Mr. Cruz offered to legislation that would have overhauled the nation’s immigration laws and created a path to citizenship for people in the country illegally. “Sounded like you wanted the bill to pass,” Mr. Baier says. As Mr. Cruz first stammers his way to a yes, then corrects himself to say he only wanted his amendment to pass, the ad delivers a harsh verdict, branding him “Pro Immigration.” As Mr. Cruz confusingly tries to dig himself out of a hole with Mr. Baier, another big headline sums up what viewers might be thinking: “What is He Talking About?” It then musters its evidence: video footage of Mr. Cruz addressing the Senate Judiciary Committee in May 2013. “I want immigration reform to pass,” he declares — adding, after a jump cut, “that allows those who are here illegally to come out of the shadows.” Another verdict by headline: “Pro Amnesty.” Mr. Baier restates that Mr. Cruz’s amendment would have allowed undocumented immigrants to stay in the country indefinitely and gain legal status. As Mr. Cruz begins to explain himself, saying, “Actually, Bret, it wouldn’t have,” viewers are helpfully shown what to think with another big headline: “Yeah, Right Ted.” The final third of the ad shows Mr. Trump, not confined to the mock TV screen that showed Mr. Cruz, outlining his own beliefs on immigration in an ABC News interview: Secure the borders, if humanely, to prevent people from “pouring in” and “doing tremendous damage.” The Message Double-barreled. First, Mr. Cruz cannot be trusted as the hard-liner he claims to be on immigration — an issue that Mr. Trump elevated to the forefront in the Republican primary, and which he apparently is intent on monopolizing from the right. Second, Mr. Cruz, the smooth-talking, polished debater, is at the core just another double-talking politician. Mr. Trump, by contrast, stands for simple, if severe, principles. Fact Check Mr. Cruz has defended his record on immigration, claiming his amendment was a poison pill intended to kill the entire immigration overhaul. And in a December debate , he said he “does not intend to support legalization.” But in 2013, he insisted several times that he was not trying to kill the overhaul bill, and that his amendments would have helped it pass. Where In Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, on broadcast and cable television, as part of a $2 million-a-week advertising schedule. Takeaway The ad highlights an unfamiliar and uncomfortable glimpse of Mr. Cruz: off-script, struggling to keep his story straight, uttering words that will inflame conservatives alarmed about illegal immigration, and stammering like Elmer Fudd caught without even his pop gun.

Donald Trump
Ted Cruz
Iowa
Polls
Immigration
Primaries
Illegal Immigration
2016 Presidential Election
Campaign advertising
US Politics


Still Questioning the Best-of-Five Format in Men’s Tennis

Abstract: When Wimbledon begins on Monday, it will be notable for the absence of the 14-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal and for the presence of the 17-time major winner Roger Federer, who is still trying to recover from a back injury that caused him to miss the French Open. Had a 1970s experiment with a shorter format in the early rounds of Grand Slam events not been discarded, it is possible that things might have been different. The bruising nature of the men’s tour, with players bigger than ever, a predominating baseline style that leads to long rallies, the homogenization of court surfaces and the increasing emphasis on physicality, has caused many top players to take time off for injuries in recent years. At Grand Slam events, players have wilted as matches stretch past three hours, particularly in the heat of Melbourne, Australia, and Flushing Meadows, Queens. At last year’s United States Open, 10 men retired from their first-round matches. Watching Andy Murray visibly tire in the final of the French Open this month, it was easy to wonder what might have been had he not had to play five sets in each of his first two rounds. Then again, if the French Open had used a best-of-three format in the first two rounds, as it did from 1973 to 1975 (and had this year’s matches in Paris played out the same way), Murray would have been eliminated long before the final. Still, concerns about extending players’ careers have led to questions about the best-of-five format for men’s singles at Grand Slam events. Men play best-of-five matches only at majors and in Davis Cup matches. Other ATP Tour events and all WTA tournaments have a best-of-three-set format. (That men play best-of-five at the Grand Slam events and women do not is an argument used by many critics of equal prize money.) Most male players, past and present, say the best-of-five-set format represents the truest test, physically and mentally. To change it, they say, would affect how Grand Slam champions are compared with those of the past. But in the 1970s, the decade in which television helped increase prize money and transform tennis into a truly global sport, three of the four Grand Slam events tested a best-of-three-set format in the men’s events. Image John McEnroe, left, with Jimmy Connors at Wimbledon in 1977, said the top players of his era believed the longer format favored them because of their superior fitness. Credit Fox Photos/Getty Images The Australian Open started the ball rolling in the 1973 and 1974 tournaments, in which only the first-round matches were best-of-three. The French Open was best-of-three in the first two rounds in 1973, 1974 and 1975; and the United States Open tried it in the first three rounds in 1975, 1976 and 1978 and through the fourth round in 1977. According to an article in The New York Times on June 17, 1975 , the change in format at the United States Open was made to accompany a switch from grass courts to clay. “The reason for the change was that the matches on clay were expected to last longer than on grass because of more extended rallies,” the article said. In the three United States Opens leading up to the change, first-round matches were often one-sided. From 1972 to 1974, 104 of the 192 first-round matches were won in straight sets, including retirements. Only 26 matches went five sets, and only 15 would have had different results had they been played best-of-three. In 1979, a year after the tournament moved to the National Tennis Center from the West Side Tennis Club and switched to hardcourts, the tournament returned to a best-of-five format. There were 37 straight-sets wins in the first round and 14 five-set matches, and six matches would have had different outcomes over the shorter format. Forty-odd years on, the memory of those involved is understandably hazy, but John McEnroe, who first played at the United States Open in 1977, said the top players believed that the longer format favored them because of their superior fitness. “I did lose in the round of 16 in the U.S. Open in 1977, my first Open, 6-2, 6-3, and it seemed like it happened too fast,” McEnroe said in a conference call Tuesday. Manolo Santana, who won three Grand Slam singles titles in the 1960s, remembered that players were unhappy about the best-of-three format. “I think it was done because some of the early matches were very quick, and then the television people wanted it,” he said at the French Open last month. Frew McMillan, a South African who won 10 Grand Slam titles in men’s and mixed doubles, said the players were pleased when the experiment ended. “I think any player with any history of the game, not only through their own experience but looking back over the years, all the majors stood out and were played over five sets,” said McMillan, who is now a commentator for the Eurosport television network. “It was very much a routine for us, and so to reduce events in the majors to three sets in some ways reduced the value in our eyes.” The 1975 World of Tennis yearbook includes one withering paragraph about the 1974 French Open. “A distasteful feature of the men’s singles was the decision once again to play two rounds over the best of three sets and the rest over the best of five,” it read. “This broke the rhythm of the tournament and asked players to transform themselves from sprinters into stayers.” The 1976 book refers to the format in a more positive way, saying that “abbreviated matches” helped raw youngsters “take the strain” of a packed schedule. Wimbledon is the only one of the four Grand Slam tournaments not to have tried the shortened format. The oldest and most famous of the four majors, it prides itself on tradition, upholding, as it often says, everything that is great about tennis while being open to innovation. An email statement from Wimbledon said that officials there were not aware of any discussion in the past about a possible change of format. “We consider five sets to be the ultimate test for a tennis player in the men’s game and there are no plans to change the format at the Championships,” the statement said. McEnroe said tennis should always think of ways to improve itself. “I don’t think the door should be closed on saying that women would never play best-of-five or guys will never play best-of-three,” he said. “I think it’s something that’s an ongoing discussion.” Eric Butorac, the president of the ATP Player Council, said in an email, “In all my discussions in previous years, most players were in favor of staying with the best-of-five format despite the congestion.” Murray was open to ideas. “I’m not against change or trying something, trying something new,” he said last week. “It could make it better, for sure. That’s possible. It could make it more interesting, more entertaining, but it could also go the other way as well.” He added: “I don’t mind the best-of-five. I think it makes it a little bit different to the rest of the tour. It makes all the hard work kind of worthwhile. Best-of-three matches physically don’t often take too much out of you. We’ve played best-of-three since we were kids in all competitions, so in the best-of-five, the extra training and extra effort helps in those scenarios. So I like a five-set format, but I’m not against change, either.”

Tennis
French Open
Australian Open
US Open Tennis
Wimbledon Tennis,Wimbledon
Assn of Tennis Professionals


Workers Use Handicapped Parking Slots at Airport

Abstract: MIAMI — The lure of free and convenient parking for the handicapped was apparently too much for some able-bodied baggage handlers to resist. County investigators said Wednesday that at least 227 workers at Miami International Airport had been caught parking near the terminals with permits for the handicapped, only to walk away from their cars, typically with very little effort and bags in hand. Some used illegally obtained handicapped permits more than 500 times since 2005. And, investigators found, roughly half of the handicapped parking spaces at the airport’s public garages or lots were typically being used by airport employees who were supposed to park in employee areas farther away. Not that they tried to hide their privileged positions. Surveillance videos from December through February showed workers, in uniform, reaching into the trunk for large boxes or bags. One federal employee was even seen working on his car. Twice. The report, by the county’s Office of the Inspector General, describes a common, brazen scenario in which employees of airport agencies thought nothing of parking free in the best places, reserved for the disabled. “On numerous occasions all of the disabled-parking spaces in either of the garages or short-term lot were occupied — many of which were occupied by the airport workers’ cars that we were monitoring,” the report said. “During these instances, the passengers requiring disabled spaces were forced to park in regular spaces much farther away from the elevators and entrances.” Some employees also parked in non-handicapped spots, but generally the motivation was simple — to avoid paying full price, taking the irritating shuttle ride from off-site parking lots or both.” As a result, the county lost about $1 million a year, based on daily parking fees of up to $30 a day, the report said. While the inspector general stopped short of calling the most egregious offenders liars, cheaters, lazy or cheap and it was unclear how employees faked injuries, the report said that none of the observed workers “required the use of specialized equipment to move about. It had an exception: “We note that one airport worker, who regularly parked for free, did make limited use of a cane to walk.”

Handicapped
Parking
Airports
Miami (Fla)


U.S. Judge Backs Ban on Sports Betting in New Jersey

Abstract: TRENTON — A judge ruled on Friday that New Jersey cannot partially lift a prohibition on sports betting in an effort to aid the state’s struggling horse racing and casino industries. The decision from Judge Michael Shipp of Federal District Court was the expected outcome since the judge had ruled similarly in the past. The state, locked in a legal battle with the National Collegiate Athletic Association and four professional sports leagues, is expected to appeal. “We are going to continue pursuing every legal option available,” Stephen M. Sweeney, a Democrat and president of the State Senate, said in a statement. “The economic impact that sports wagering can have on New Jersey is far too important to simply shrug our shoulders and move on.” A federal law bans New Jersey and most other states from authorizing betting on sports. But the state contended that it did not want to license or authorize the betting. Instead, New Jersey was seeking to end the prohibition on sports betting, but would not regulate it. But Judge Shipp agreed with the sports leagues that setting parameters like limiting sports gambling to certain places amounts to regulation. But he noted that he “finds that the present case is not nearly as clear as either the leagues or the defendants assert.” While the judge agreed with the central part of the sports’ leagues argument, he dismissed some of their other arguments. New Jersey has been pushing to allow sports betting at horse tracks and casinos in an effort to support both struggling industries. Voters have approved the concept, but a federal court rejected it in a slightly different form. The United States Supreme Court declined to hear the case earlier this year, and it seemed that might be the end of it. But as the financial crisis in Atlantic City’s casinos deepened, Gov. Chris Christie’s administration tried a new approach. Instead of legalizing sports gambling in defiance of the leagues and federal government, it called for not enforcing the state’s ban. The Legislature followed with a bill to lift the ban as it pertains to casinos and tracks. Mr. Christie, a Republican, signed that into law last month. The N.C.A.A. and the professional sports leagues contend that federal law would allow the state to lift the ban entirely — but not to allow sports betting with some conditions, like limiting it to certain locations and keeping minors from participating. The ruling comes just over a week after Adam Silver, the National Basketball Association commissioner, said he supported legalizing sports gambling, though not in the way it would happen if New Jersey prevailed. Mr. Silver is the first commissioner of a major United States league to make such a stand.

New Jersey
Gambling
NCAA
Michael A Shipp


Operation Turns Tilting Cargo Ship From Collision Course With French Coast

Abstract: A listing, out-of-control cargo ship on a collision course with the French coast has been rotated away from danger, French maritime officials said on Monday. The ship, the Modern Express, had been adrift in the Bay of Biscay between Spain and France since early last week, when it began tilting severely to its starboard side, prompting an aerial rescue of its 22 crew members . Since then, rough seas have thwarted attempts to attach a towline to the vessel — a Panamanian-flagged ship — that could be used to steer it back out to sea. On Friday, specialists succeeded in attaching a line, only to see it snap when powerful waves applied too much strain. With the vessel less than 30 miles from the coast on Monday, a window of milder weather presented officials with a last chance to take action before an expected collision by Tuesday. Video A Panamanian cargo ship, Modern Express, was adrift in the Bay of Biscay near the French coast for days before rescue crews, hampered by high winds, could attempt to salvage it. Credit Credit Loic Bernardin/Prefecture Maritime Atlantique, via Associated Press In a bold operation, a four-person team from a Dutch maritime services company were lowered from a helicopter onto the vessel, tilted at about 40 degrees, and they again attached a towline. French officials said a tugboat was then able to yank the ship away from danger. Now, they said, they were keeping an eye on the line and the ship, hoping it would hold as they sought to create distance from the coast. Officials will then look for a safe harbor. The Modern Express had been traveling from Gabon to the French port of Le Havre, carrying timber and equipment, when it ran into trouble and issued a distress call last Tuesday . If the operation on Monday had failed, the ship had been expected to run aground in the Landes region by Tuesday night.


Palm Tree Returns to a New York Lounge With a View

Abstract: Some things are so predictable. The ball falls in Times Square. The swallows go back to Capistrano. The bulls run in Pamplona. And No. 15 returns to New York. No. 15 is a palm tree that stands about seven feet tall and is slender and green. It spends the winter in Florida, on a tree farm owned by someone who was a Marlboro Man in cigarette ads in the 1960s. Its home in Manhattan is at 230 Fifth, a lounge near Madison Square Park. No. 15 took up its position there around noon on Sunday, after three days of bumping along Interstate 95 in a tractor-trailer. There were also two elevator rides and some pulling, shoving, dragging, rolling and squeezing. “It looks better than last year,” said Steven A. Greenberg, the financier and night life investor who owns 230 Fifth . No. 15 — and about 60 other trees that were unloaded on Sunday morning after the 1,315-mile trip from Florida — completed the bar’s spring-and-summer makeover, taking the places of evergreens that occupy the roof the rest of the year, even in the cold-weather months when the 14,000-square-foot terrace is closed and the customers are confined to the 8,000-square-foot indoor section of the lounge. The transformation happened about eight hours after last call at 4 a.m., and about four hours before the bar reopened at 4 p.m. Mr. Greenberg, whose mantra is “retail is detail,” wanted precision — he had posted diagrams with a layout showing which trees belonged where, and the trees had been labeled with coat-check tags. The numbers on the tags were supposed to correspond to the numbers on the diagrams. The problem was, some of the numbers had faded away in the Florida sun. But the tag on No. 15 was bright and legible. To the species-conscious, No. 15 is a Phoenix roebelenii. It has an alias: pygmy date palm. Mr. Greenberg discovered No. 15 at a shop at 28th Street and Avenue of the Americas that is owned by the onetime Marlboro Man, Chris King. That was in April 2006, soon after 230 Fifth had opened. “When September came around, I said, ‘What do I do with these palms?’ ” Mr. Greenberg recalled. He considered trying to park them for the winter with the home-industry merchants who lease showrooms at the building at 230 Fifth Avenue, known as the New York Market Center . “I was going to let each of them take care of a tree for the winter and reward them with a bottle of Champagne,” he said. He had second thoughts about that idea after a conversation with Mr. King. “I said, ‘How much would you charge me to take the trees to Florida and bring them back?’ These trees typically retail for $500 or so. He said $250 each. I said, ‘That’s a bargain, I don’t have to buy them the next year.’ We numbered them, we sent them down to Florida and the next spring they came back.” But the numbers had been removed, Mr. Greenberg said. That led to the current method of tying the numbered coat-check tags onto the trees with wire. The trip to New York began on Thursday, when No. 15 and the other palms were loaded onto the truck at the farm in Homestead, Fla., south of Miami. Mr. King said the tractor-trailer arrived in Manhattan at 3 a.m. Sunday and stopped at his shop to drop off some other plants. Then the truck headed to 230 Fifth, where the palms were taken off the truck and lined up on the sidewalk on West 27th Street. From there, No. 15 went on an elevator ride to the basement. Then two waiters, Juan Reyes and Pedro Sotarriba, did a push-and-drag maneuver to move it across the basement to another elevator, because the first one does not go to the 21st floor, where the bar is located, and the palms could not go into the building the way Mr. Greenberg’s customers do, through the front entrance. No. 15 went into the second elevator and emerged onto the roof less than two minutes later. Two busboys, Tamding Norbu and Leksang Khuzor, carried it 120 feet to the place indicated on the diagram. Its planter was waiting, and with the lounge’s manager, Kevin Stafford, they lifted it and dropped it into the planter. It did not fit. Mr. King had apparently repotted it, Mr. Stafford said, and the new plastic pot was a fraction of an inch larger than the planter. Mr. Stafford said this was a job for Frank Montilla, the lounge’s engineer. Mr. Montilla brought over a power saw and sliced off a seven-inch piece from the edge of the plastic pot. No. 15 dropped into the box. Then John Benedetti, the executive chef at 230 Fifth, tilted it, and Mr. Norbu slipped off the black band that had held the leaves in a bundle. They unfurled, and Mr. Norbu looked pleased. “Done,” he said as he padded off to find No. 1, No. 51 and No. 54. “Looks great.”

Bars
Seasons and Months
Manhattan (NYC)
Trees and Shrubs


European Central Bank Buys Bonds to Calm the Markets, but to Little Avail

Abstract: FRANKFURT — Once again seeking to calm market tension, the European Central Bank intervened unexpectedly in bond markets on Thursday in an effort to prevent the region’s debt crisis from engulfing Italy. The show of force initially bolstered Italian and Spanish bonds. But the move appeared to backfire as stock markets in Europe and the United States fell sharply after Jean-Claude Trichet , the central bank’s president, warned of dangers ahead, while the modest scale of the bank’s bond-buying apparently fell short of what investors considered adequate. Compounding the tension, a top European official said that a deal reached two weeks ago to ease the debt crisis was not working and urged leaders to consider bolstering the region’s existing bailout fund. European leaders decided last month to authorize the European Financial Stability Facility — the European Union’s bailout fund — to buy bonds in open markets, relieving the central bank of that responsibility. But it will take months before the rescue fund is able to start making purchases. In addition, European leaders did not increase the size of the fund, leaving questions about whether it would be up to the task if a country as big as Italy or Spain needed help. The European Commission president, José Manuel Barroso, has been pushing euro zone leaders to do more. In a letter released Thursday, he called for a “rapid reassessment of all elements” related to the stability fund, so that it was “equipped with the means for dealing with contagious risk.” He also criticized European politicians for “the undisciplined communication and the complexity and incompleteness” of the package agreed to at the summit meeting on July 21. “Markets remain to be convinced that we are taking the appropriate steps to resolve the crisis,” he wrote. “Whatever the factors behind the lack of success, it is clear that we are no longer managing a crisis just in the euro area periphery.” As part of its response to the crisis, the central bank also moved to prop up weaker banks that may be having trouble raising cash, expanding its lending to euro zone institutions at the benchmark interest rate. The central bank left that rate unchanged at 1.5 percent, while the Bank of England left its benchmark rate at a record low of 0.5 percent. Mr. Trichet declined to say what bonds the bank was buying or how much. He said the bank acted in response to “renewed tensions in some financial markets in the euro area.” It was the first such intervention since March. Traders said the central bank had bought Irish and Portuguese government debt during the day. But the bank did not buy bonds of Italy and Spain, two countries with huge bond markets and now seen as most vulnerable in the region. The move to buy Portuguese and Irish debt made little sense, given that they are insulated by their official bailouts and no longer have to raise money on the market, said Michael Leister, a fixed-income analyst at WestLB in Düsseldorf, Germany. Mr. Trichet, however, had “opened the door to acting on behalf of Spain and Italy,” he added. The yield on 10-year Italian debt rose 11 basis points, to 6.19 percent. Yields on 10-year Spanish bonds rose three basis points, to 6.28 percent. Earlier, Spain sold 3.3 billion euros, or $4.7 billion, of bonds due in 2014 with demand more than twice the level of supply. But the average yield rose to 4.813 percent from 4.037 percent at a comparable auction in June. “Over all, sentiment hasn’t changed yet,” Mr. Leister said after the central bank had acted. “Everyone’s afraid that the debt spiral will become a self-fulfilling prophecy. And the E.C.B. is the only institution with the firepower to stop the situation in the short term.” The central bank first began buying bonds in the open market in May 2010 but tapered off the interventions earlier this year, a move investors may have interpreted as a lack of resolve. Michael T. Darda, chief economist at MKM Partners in Stamford, Conn., warned Thursday that half-hearted forays into the bond market “will fail, just like they did last year.” “In each case, the debt crisis got worse instead of better,” he wrote in a note. The central bank also responded to signs of stress in interbank markets when institutions, wary of each other’s exposure to troubled government paper, became reluctant to lend to each other. One worrisome sign was a surge in the cost at which European banks borrow dollars in the open foreign exchange market. Mr. Trichet said that next week the central bank would lend banks as much cash as they wanted for six months at the benchmark interest rate, assuming the banks could provide collateral. A six-month term is longer than is customary. Speaking to reporters Thursday after a regular meeting of the bank’s governing council, Mr. Trichet also gave a more subdued view of the European economy. “As expected, recent economic data indicate a deceleration in the pace of economic growth in the past few months, following the strong growth rate in the first quarter,” he said . While he expected moderate growth to continue, he said, “uncertainty is particularly high.” Nonetheless, some analysts said they still expected the bank to raise its benchmark rate for the 17-nation euro zone again this year, after Mr. Trichet retires at the end of October, handing the presidency to Mario Draghi, the governor of the Bank of Italy. The central bank has raised its main rate in two steps since April, from 1 percent to the current 1.5 percent, in an attempt to head off rising inflation. “The E.C.B. gave the impression that further rate hikes are necessary,” Jörg Krämer, chief economist at Commerzbank, said. “However, the E.C.B. would probably immediately refrain from raising interest rates if the sovereign debt crisis escalated.” Mr. Trichet beseeched political leaders to speed up efforts to cut their budget deficits and remove impediments to growth, like overly protected labor markets. “The key for everything is to get ahead of the curve, in fiscal policy and structural reform,” he said. With Italy in danger of being swept over the same waterfall as Greece, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi on Thursday pledged sweeping changes to increase growth. He said the measures would include privatization, infrastructure projects, cutting administrative hurdles, streamlining the government, and carrying out a “historic” change to Italy’s constitution that would require balanced budgets. “We want to adopt a comprehensive pact” between the government, labor unions and businesses “absolutely by September,” Mr. Berlusconi said, a day after addressing Parliament. Mr. Berlusconi played down growing fears that Italy could become the next country at risk in the spreading European debt crisis. “I don’t think the crisis will get worse,” he said. “We should not be afraid about the current level of spreads because they only affect a small part of the public debt at any moment, which overall remains at the interest rates it was placed at years ago.” At a news conference later, the Italian finance minister, Giulio Tremonti, said Italy was in contact with the European Union, International Monetary Fund and Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development on strategies for growth. Mr. Berlusconi interrupted Mr. Tremonti, to add, “And the E.C.B.” Mr. Tremonti looked taken aback and said, “I think it’s important, but not involved.” He suggested the hope the bank would buy some Italian bonds.

European Central Bank
Stocks and Bonds
European Sovereign Debt Crisis (2010- )
Banking and Financial Institutions
Economic Conditions and Trends
Trichet Jean-Claude


An Encouraging Sign in Loan Loss Reserves

Abstract: Don’t count on a rebound in business to lift bank stocks — but they might not need it. That’s the message to glean from JPMorgan ’s second-quarter results. Granted, the bank’s performance was hardly disastrous, especially considering the recent slowdown in trading across the industry. But almost a third of the bank’s profit came from a $1.5 billion gain on releasing reserves for loan losses. By itself, that’s another encouraging sign that the wounds inflicted by the financial and economic crisis are healing. There are others: JPMorgan’s credit card business made money for the first time in a while, and the bank has revised downward estimated losses on problem mortgage loans. But business was sluggish. Credit card revenue actually fell 4 percent from the first quarter, while both asset management and commercial banking were flat. The investment bank, meanwhile, suffered from a marked slowdown in client flow that reduced overall revenue by 24 percent and fixed-income trading revenue by more than a third. Tellingly, the bank made the point that bid-offer spreads had returned to precrisis levels and that competition was well and truly back — implying that the bumper performance of trading desks across Wall Street for the last few quarters might finally be on the wane. All in, the bank’s earnings before provisions actually fell 9 percent from the first quarter. That’s where the loan loss reserves prove so handy. Had these stayed at the same rate as the first three months of the year, JPMorgan’s annualized return on equity for the quarter would have been far more anemic than the reported 12 percent. The bank isn’t trying to fudge the numbers, though. The chief executive, Jamie Dimon , made it clear what he thought of the gain from releasing reserves: “It’s just ink on paper. It means nothing.” It is still good news for shareholders, assuming the economy continues to slowly improve. Even if pretax, preprovision earnings don’t grow, JPMorgan’s stock could more than double if provisions for loan losses fall by three-quarters over the next few quarters. It’s a similar story for the likes of Bank of America and Citigroup. That should give shareholders a good deal of comfort. Patent Insurance EBay is being sued for $3.8 billion by an outfit called XPRT Ventures. The online auctioneer is far from alone. Many big technology companies are regularly hit by patent infringement lawsuits. It’s lucrative for the plaintiffs — but terribly inefficient. The basic idea is that an investment firm buys a pre-existing patent for, say, $2 million. It then sues perhaps a dozen companies that use technology potentially overlapping the patent. Each firm that fights may end up paying $500,000 or more to defend itself and could also face penalties. The alternative is to settle for, say, $1 million or so. If just three firms pay up to avoid a battle, the patent owner makes big money. The number of lawsuits of this kind is rising. Last year there were nearly 500, more than six times as many as in 2001. Sometimes the infringement claims are legitimate — often because there’s a coordination issue. Take the example above. None of the dozen firms has much incentive to spend $2 million up front to buy a patent it may not be infringing — especially when the worst possible outcome is paying $1 million in a settlement. The opportunities available to patent trolls that accumulate intellectual property rights have attracted big bucks. Intellectual Ventures, set up by two Microsoft alumni, has raised $5 billion from investors and has acquired tens of thousands of patents. The firm prefers to establish licensing agreements rather than litigating. Yet it still has an incentive to extract as much revenue as possible. One better way to deal with the patent issue is the exchangelike model of the start-up RPX. The company charges tech firms a fixed amount, about $5 million annually for the biggest customers, and buys up patents. It also promises not to raise fees over time. Since big companies typically face a dozen infringement claims annually, according to the American Intellectual Property Law Association, that seems like cheap insurance — especially once RPX gathers a critical mass of patents. Microsoft, Verizon and Intel are among those involved. RPX pockets a chunk, of course. But for the tech groups, that is less of a lottery than paying the trolls. ANTONY CURRIE and ROBERT CYRAN

Banks and Banking
JPMorgan Chase & Co
Bank of America Corp
Dimon James


Raiders Sign Trent Richardson

Abstract: The Oakland Raiders signed the free-agent running back Trent Richardson. The Raiders will be Richardson’s third team since he came out of Alabama as the third pick in the 2012 draft.


In a Slump, Delgado Accepts Order to Rest

Abstract: The slumping first baseman Carlos Delgado was benched Friday night by Manager Willie Randolph as the Mets returned home for a three-game series with the Atlanta Braves. “From time to time, you’ve got to make sure of a day off here and there, so I took it,” said Delgado, who was hitting .198 after going hitless in four at-bats during Thursday night’s 10-5 defeat in Washington. It was the Mets’ fourth defeat in five games. Delgado, who came into the season with a career batting average of .280 since breaking in with Toronto in 1993, had 4 hits in 41 at-bats in the 11 games before Friday. Asked whether he tried to persuade Randolph to change his mind about resting him, Delgado, 35 years old, said: “Sometimes, you’ve got to pick your fights. I fought it last week.” Marlon Anderson made his first start of the season, replacing Delgado. Randolph said Delgado would play Saturday against the Braves’ right-hander Tim Hudson because he has a history of success against Hudson. “Maybe he just needs a break,” Randolph said. “Sometimes, a mental break might be good. He hits Hudson pretty good.” Delgado, in 21 games, has one home run and nine runs batted in. “I can definitely be more selective within the strike zone,” Delgado said. Delgado also seems to be slumping in the field. He had committed three errors and missed a ground ball against the Nationals that could have been scored as a fourth. Does a slump at the plate sometimes cause a slump in the field? “It shouldn’t,” Delgado said, “but I guess sometimes it does. I’m not saying it is in my case, but sometimes you find yourself thinking about something out there you shouldn’t be thinking about.” Anderson batted seventh Friday night. Left fielder Ángel Pagán hit sixth, Delgado’s recent place in the order. SCHNEIDER STILL IN HOSPITAL The Mets said catcher Brian Schneider would stay in the Hospital for Special Surgery until at least Sunday for antibiotic treatment of an infection in his left thumb. Schneider left the team in Washington on Thursday and checked into the hospital because the team hoped the infection could be cured with intravenous medication. Schneider has played only one game since April 19, on Wednesday, when he went 1 for 3 at Washington. He had been out with a bruised arm. Willie Randolph said the two medical conditions were unrelated. Randolph was vague on Schneider’s current problem. After saying doctors hoped to “get some of the swelling and stuff out of there,” he also said, “It’s something new, a staph infection is something most ballplayers don’t get.” But when Randolph was asked to confirm whether Schneider had a staph infection, the Mets’ vice president for media relations, Jay Horwitz, said only that it was an infection. Schneider was batting .309 with eight runs batted in. BACK TO FUNDAMENTALS Teams do not always practice fielding on a regular basis during the season, but the Mets were on the field early Friday to go over those fundamentals. “We don’t do a lot of infield,” Willie Randolph said. “I prefer to do it when we can. For some reason, it’s become obsolete.” Asked whether his team might regain its focus by playing the Braves, a divisional rival, Randolph said: “It’s not about regaining focus. We don’t need any refocusing. We don’t need anyone to give us any motivation.” INSIDE PITCH Moises Alou, the left fielder recovering from hernia surgery, was to play Friday night for Port St. Lucie but was scratched because of a sore ankle. Willie Randolph said it was unlikely that Alou would return to the Mets this weekend. ... The right-hander Tim Hudson of the Braves will pitch against the right-hander John Maine of the Mets on Saturday. On Sunday, in another matchup of right-handers, it will be John Smoltz of the Braves against Nelson Figueroa.

New York Mets
Delgado Carlos
Anderson Marlon
Baseball


Twindexane Lares, Keeper of the Double Dutch Team Spirit

Abstract: T HE thumps in the background formed a steady beat that complemented the light Trinidadian lilt of Twindexane Lares. Twindexane, a senior at Sheepshead Bay High School in Brooklyn, stepped away from her teammates and retreated to the side of the dance studio where her team was practicing for the inaugural double Dutch season of the Public Schools Athletic League, which opens competition on March 21. Double Dutch, which involves jumping through a daunting skein of twin ropes twirling simultaneously, was said to have been brought to New York centuries ago by Dutch settlers to the burgeoning town of New Amsterdam. On more modern city streets and sidewalks, double Dutch evolved into a game shared by generations of New Yorkers, primarily girls. The team from Sheepshead Bay High will be one of 17 participating in the new league. Twindexane, who is 18, is the captain of her high school team. The other day, as her teammates practiced behind her, ropes clicking against the floor and girls cheering as their feet pounded out the sport’s unique rhythm, she talked about double Dutch and the coming season. SOPHIA HOLLANDER • I live in East New York, in Brooklyn, and came here from Trinidad when I was 4. My mother has eight kids. Two brothers and a sister stayed down there, and three sisters and our brother came up here. It was during third grade, maybe earlier, that I saw people playing double Dutch outside during recess. I was used to the single rope, and I was scared to jump in because of the double ropes. It was like both of them were coming at you at once, so you don’t know where to jump in. At first when I started to play, people would tell me to put my hand in just in case, to get ready to get in the rope. Every time the rope goes up, you stick your hand in and out so the other rope won’t hit you. When you feel ready, you just jump in. It took me four hand-in-and-outs to get in the rope. When I jumped in, my foot got caught in the back side. The rope just collapsed. When something’s hard for me, I keep trying until I get better. After the first time, I would practice every day or whenever I got the chance or with whoever had a rope. I’d just jump. During school, we’d practice during recess. Then we’d get home and after homework we’d go outside and see who had a rope. We’d ask around. We played on the sidewalk or on the street. Not where the cars are; more to the side where the parked cars are. The type of people who would play are Spanish and black, nearly all of them girls. At first they were strangers, but they were on my block, and we got to know each other. I was always the last kid playing. I’m energetic. I would try to convince them to keep jumping, saying: “One more jump. One more jump.” They would just give in. Knowing that it was a challenge made you want to play every day in the summer, in the street, in the park. It’s hard. And sometimes they don’t play with regular ropes. The real double Dutch competition ropes, those are cotton, and they’re heavier than the plastic ones. The plastic ones come in a lot of colors, white and yellow and green and light green. And they sting more. Then there are the phone cords. Some people, they would see a guy fixing something, I guess a phone line, and they would ask him for two cords. I didn’t ask. I was scared. After, like, sixth or seventh grade, I stopped jumping. I was busy with school stuff. Now I’m back again. They started it in my school, so I decided to join just to see how it was. The first practice, it was snowing outside, so only two people came to tryouts. What we had to do was try to jump straight in without doing anything we used to do on the block. In the street, we get to use our hands. And in the street, we don’t have a special way of jumping; we just jump any way we want. Competitively, we can’t use our hands, and we always have to keep our knees high. There’s a routine that you do at competitions. We call it “compulsory” — a count of eight using the right foot and the left foot, and you do crisscrosses and high knees. On the block, you don’t have to do drills or stretch. Now we’ve got to work out the legs and practice compulsories. We also have to practice getting out — at some point during compulsory, you have to jump out of the rope. On the block, you just go until you mess up. This is my last year. I guess the coach thought I was captain material. I guess I know what’s needed for the drills to work. I keep it fun. Play around, laugh around, but also motivate the team. Some people think it shouldn’t be a sport, but it’s the same workout really. We work out just as much as other teams. I hope everyone is dedicated about staying on the team and that we can win competitions. I think we’re good. We hope to be the best.

Public Schools Athletic League
Jump Rope
Education and Schools
Sheepshead Bay (NYC)


Deal is Reached to Ease Tension in East Ukraine

Abstract: GENEVA — The United States, Russia, Ukraine and the European Union reached an agreement on Thursday evening that called for armed pro-Russian bands in eastern Ukraine to surrender the government buildings they have seized and that outlined other steps to defuse a crisis that has rattled the international community. The diplomatic accord, while limited in scope, represented the first time Russia and Ukraine had found common ground since protests toppled a pro-Moscow government in Kiev, leading the Kremlin to annex the Crimean Peninsula and threaten other parts of Ukraine with 40,000 troops on its border. The deal came hours after Ukrainian security forces killed three pro-Russian activists in a firefight. But neither President Obama in Washington nor President Vladimir V. Putin in Moscow signaled that the crisis over Ukraine was over. During a long, televised question-and-answer session before the agreement was announced, Mr. Putin asserted historic claims over Ukrainian territory and the right to send in Russian troops. Speaking after the agreement was announced, Mr. Obama sounded a skeptical note, saying it offered “a glimmer of hope,” but “we’re not going to count on it,” and adding that the United States would take more punitive action if Russia did not abide by its terms. “My hope is that we actually do see follow-through over the next several days,” Mr. Obama told reporters at the White House, “but I don’t think, given past performance, that we can count on that, and we have to be prepared to potentially respond to what continue to be efforts of interference by the Russians in eastern and southern Ukraine.” Mr. Obama did not outline what those measures might be, but aides said that the White House had assembled a list of more Russian figures and institutions to sanction if Russia did not pull back and the situation in Ukraine continued to worsen. The president does not plan to impose more stringent measures against whole sectors of the Russian economy unless Moscow sends in troops or otherwise takes more drastic steps, aides said, a recognition of resistance in Europe, which is more tied economically to Russia. Hoping to coordinate a future response with European leaders, Mr. Obama spoke by telephone with Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany and Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain. Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. called Slovakia’s prime minister for the second time in recent days to press him to help reverse the flow of a natural gas pipeline to reduce Ukraine’s reliance on Russian energy. Image Left, Secretary of State John Kerry with Russia’s foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, in Geneva for talks on Ukraine. Credit Jim Bourg/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Tension on the ground continued to mount in the hours before the Geneva agreement was announced. Pro-Russian protesters tried to storm a Ukrainian base in the eastern city of Mariupol, prompting a firefight that left three of the activists dead, 13 wounded and 63 captured, according to Ukraine’s interim interior minister. In Donetsk, where pro-Russian militants have taken over a government building, fliers appeared ordering Jews to register with the authorities. And in the hours after the accord, brokered in part by Secretary of State John Kerry and Foreign Minister Sergey V. Lavrov of Russia, militants occupying the government building in the name of the newly declared and wholly unrecognized People’s Republic of Donetsk said that they would not be bound by anything Russia had agreed to. Roman Velikodny, who called himself commandant of the occupied building, said he had no intention of asking militants to leave until after a referendum that would allow residents of the region to choose autonomy from Kiev. “Before they let people openly express their opinions on the future of this land, we won’t leave the building,” he said. “There will be no handing over of weapons and buildings before people express their views.” Vasili Domashev, who described himself as an aide to the commandant, said the armed men would not leave because they did not trust the Kiev government. “Lavrov and Kerry decided, but who are they to us?” he said as a guard sat beside him, tapping the flat side of a samurai sword against his boot. “We are the Donetsk Republic. We have people who make their own decisions.” The Geneva agreement — hammered out during six hours of talks between Mr. Kerry; Mr. Lavrov; Andrii Deshchytsia, the interim Ukrainian foreign minister; and Catherine Ashton, the foreign policy chief for the European Union — called on all sides in Ukraine to refrain from violence or provocative behavior and rejected all forms of intolerance, including anti-Semitism. “All illegal armed groups must be disarmed,” the joint statement said. “All illegally seized buildings must be returned to legitimate owners; all illegally occupied streets, squares and other public places in Ukrainian cities and towns must be vacated.” In exchange, the interim Ukrainian government agreed to grant amnesty to protesters who leave the government buildings they have occupied and give up their arms, unless they are suspected of murder or other capital crimes. The Kiev government would also ensure that constitutional revisions involve “outreach to all of Ukraine’s regions and political constituencies,” a reference to Russian speakers in the eastern part of the country. But the agreement was as notable for what it did not address as for what it did. It did not require Russia to remove its troops from the border, nor did it commit Moscow to hold direct talks with Ukrainian officials, two of Mr. Obama’s demands. Moreover, the agreement made no mention of Russia’s seizure and annexation of Crimea, an action deemed unacceptable by the United States and Europe and yet unlikely to be reversed, at least in the foreseeable future, Western officials have acknowledged privately. Video After a diplomatic agreement to ease tensions in Ukraine was reached, the president expressed skepticism about Russia’s promise to de-escalate the volatile situation. Credit Credit Stephen Crowley/The New York Times “None of us leave here with the sense that the job is done,” Mr. Kerry said afterward. “We do not envision this as the full measure of de-escalation.” But he called the measures an important first step to avert “a complete and total implosion” in eastern Ukraine and said they could lead to more far-reaching moves to resolve the conflict. In response to a question, Mr. Kerry insisted that the United States had not dropped objections to Russia’s annexation of Crimea but acknowledged that it had not been the focus of the meeting. “We didn’t come here to talk about Crimea,” he said. Mr. Obama said Ukraine’s government presented a “detailed and thorough presentation” of overhauls it would make and went “out of its way to address a range of the concerns” expressed by Russians. Now it was time for Russia to “use the influence that they’ve exerted in a disruptive way” to give Ukraine a chance to hold elections and stabilize its economy. But Mr. Lavrov put the onus on the authorities in Kiev, saying that the deal was “largely based on compromise” and that a broader settlement of the crisis was primarily Ukraine’s responsibility. The talks were held at the same luxury hotel where five years ago Mr. Kerry’s predecessor, Hillary Rodham Clinton, presented Mr. Lavrov with a red “reset” button intended to signal a fresh start in Russian-American relations, a gesture marred at the time by a mistranslation and mocked since as a symbol of a failed foreign policy. In Germany, the European country with the closest ties to Russia, the agreement was received with palpable relief. Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the foreign minister, said the agreement was “a first step, and many more must now follow,” but he seemed clearly content that “diplomacy now has a chance.” The firefight in Mariupol on Thursday was the deadliest in eastern Ukraine since the crisis began. According to Ukrainian authorities, attackers threw firebombs and opened fire on perimeter guards at a base used by the newly formed National Guard, which has drawn volunteers who took part in last winter’s protest movement against the old pro-Moscow government. About 300 people were in the crowd. “After warnings, in accordance with our rules, and after repeat attacks, we opened lethal fire,” Arsen Avakov, the interim interior minister, said in a statement.

Ukraine
Russia
US
John Kerry
Andrii Deshchytsia
Catherine Ashton
EU
International relations
US Foreign Policy
Sergey V Lavrov


Opening Loss Is More Bad News for Rutgers

Abstract: PISCATAWAY, N.J., Nov. 11 — With the Don Imus imbroglio and a defeat in last season’s national championship game behind it, Rutgers was hoping to begin a new chapter and a new season on a positive note Sunday night. Instead, the Scarlet Knights were left to deal with a different kind of painful experience: a last-second loss. No. 7 Stanford defeated the third-ranked Scarlet Knights, 60-58, after the sophomore Epiphanny Prince was called for a foul with 0.1 of a second left in the game for swiping at Stanford’s Candice Wiggins about 80 feet from the basket. With Prince standing nearby in tears, Wiggins made both free throws to give Stanford the victory. Prince said she did not think she fouled Wiggins, who also cast doubt on the call. “I was just kind of pushing it up, and I think what happened is she kind of just swiped at me,” Wiggins said. “I don’t know if there was contact or not, but just the actual motion of swiping when you’re driving hard is going to look like a foul.” For Rutgers, Sunday’s game was its first since losing to Tennessee in last season’s N.C.A.A. final. After that game, Imus, a radio talk show host, made disparaging remarks about the team that eventually led to his firing. The situation gave the Rutgers players and Coach C. Vivian Stringer an unwanted place in the national spotlight. For the most part, Sunday night’s game went back and forth. Rutgers led, 37-36, at the half and had a 52-50 lead with 4 minutes 30 seconds to play after a layup by Heather Zurich. But after Matee Ajavon gave the Scarlet Knights a 58-56 lead with 1:04 to go, Stanford’s Jayne Appel tied the score, 58-58, with 30.7 seconds left on a turnaround jumper. Rutgers’s Essence Carson then missed an open 3-pointer from the right wing in the waning seconds, and Kayla Pedersen pulled down the rebound for Stanford. Pedersen passed to Wiggins, who seemed prepared to let the game go into overtime. “I just think I didn’t think about what I was doing at the time,” Prince said of the foul. “I shouldn’t have been that aggressive that far away from the basket with so little time left.” Prince led Rutgers with 21 points, and Carson scored 15. Wiggins led Stanford (2-0) with 19. Had Rutgers done more things right leading up to the final seconds, Prince’s foul might not have made a difference. The Scarlet Knights failed to score over the last 1:04, shot 28.6 percent in the second half and had a miserable night on the backboards. Stanford outrebounded Rutgers, 50-32, and had 20 offensive rebounds. Pedersen, a freshman, had 16 rebounds and the sophomore Appel had 13. “They completely overpowered us inside,” Stringer said. “The freshman and the sophomore just completely abused us.” The poor rebounding effort was among the reasons the Rutgers players labeled this game a team loss and refused to pin the blame on Prince. “First and foremost, if we had done the job we were supposed to do before there were .10 seconds left on the clock, she wouldn’t have been in that situation,” Carson said of the Prince foul. “It’s not the last play that makes the game; it’s all the plays that are in between. It was the turnovers. The bad shots.” The game began what may be the most challenging stretch any women’s team will face this season. The Scarlet Knights have five more top 15 teams on their schedule before mid-December.

Rutgers The State University of New Jersey