Contenders Use Late Deals to Pad the Margins of Their Rosters

Abstract: The shelves were not exactly empty for general managers on Friday, but the snazziest items were already gone. The flurry of deals in the final hours before the nonwaiver deadline mostly helped contenders at the margins of their rosters. The Mets were an exception, acquiring the slugging outfielder Yoenis Cespedes from the Detroit Tigers just minutes before the 4 p.m. deadline. But the other major stars to switch places in July were already on the move. Image The Blue Jays acquired outfielder Ben Revere from the Phillies for two prospects. Credit Laurence Kesterson/Associated Press A full rotation of top starters had changed teams before daybreak on Friday: Johnny Cueto (Cincinnati to Kansas City), Cole Hamels (Philadelphia to Texas), David Price (Detroit to Toronto), Scott Kazmir (Oakland to Houston) and Mike Leake (Cincinnati to San Francisco). The Chicago Cubs found another starter in the veteran Dan Haren, acquiring him from Miami on Friday for two Class AA prospects. The Cubs, who were two games back for a wild-card spot before Friday’s games, also acquired a reliever, Tommy Hunter, from Baltimore for outfielder Junior Lake. The Cubs are chasing the Pittsburgh Pirates and the St. Louis Cardinals in the National League Central, and both made moves Friday. The Cardinals, who had previously added Steve Cishek to their bullpen from Miami, traded for another right-hander, Jonathan Broxton, from Milwaukee. The Pirates acquired starter J. A. Happ from Seattle for a prospect, while placing the struggling All-Star A. J. Burnett on the disabled list with elbow inflammation. Pittsburgh also got first baseman Michael Morse from the Los Angeles Dodgers for outfielder Jose Tabata. Image The Mariners, who have been one of baseball’s most disappointing teams, sent the veteran reliever Mark Lowe to the Blue Jays for two prospects. Credit Duane Burleson/Associated Press Several teams fighting for an American League playoff spot also addressed needs. The Orioles, who started the day two games behind the Minnesota Twins for the second wild-card spot, traded Zach Davies, a well-regarded starter at Class AAA, to Milwaukee for outfielder Gerardo Parra. A two-time Gold Glove winner, Parra is having his best season, hitting .328 with an .886 on-base plus slugging percentage for the Brewers. The Twins, who badly needed a reliable setup reliever, traded two prospects to Tampa Bay for the right-hander Kevin Jepsen, who had a 2.81 E.R.A. in 46 games for the Rays. Image The Brewers sent outfielder Gerardo Parra to the Orioles for Zach Davies, a well-regarded starter at Class AAA. Credit John Minchillo/Associated Press The Blue Jays also acquired a veteran setup man, trading two prospects to get Mark Lowe from the Mariners, who have been one of baseball’s most disappointing teams, at 46-57 before Friday. Lowe, who pitched for the Rangers’ World Series teams at the start of this decade, allowed only four earned runs in 36 innings for the Mariners this season. Lowe was the second reliever the Blue Jays added this week, joining LaTroy Hawkins, who came to Toronto with shortstop Troy Tulowitzki in a deal with Colorado late Monday night. The Blue Jays also acquired outfielder Ben Revere, a fleet leadoff man batting .298, from Philadelphia for two prospects. Price, who was traded at the deadline last year from the Rays to the Tigers, was en route to Toronto for much of Friday in a saga that played out on Twitter. First, he asked the Blue Jays to have a giant trash bag of popcorn waiting for him. The Blue Jays dutifully posted a picture of Price’s locker, with several bags of popcorn awaiting his arrival. By then, though, Price had been delayed — he blew a tire on his drive to Toronto, called for roadside assistance and had to wait for tires that would fit. When a fan asked Price how he stayed so positive, Price replied, “Too blessed to be stressed! Could have been much worse!” True enough: Price was unharmed, his snacks were ready at the Rogers Centre and he would soon join a fortified team striving for its first playoff berth in more than 20 years.

Mets
Chicago Cubs
Pittsburgh Pirates
St. Louis Cardinals
Baseball
Orioles
Minnesota Twins
Sports Trades


CIT Group’s Creditors Support Prepackaged Bankruptcy

Abstract: As the CIT Group sought desperately to avoid bankruptcy this summer, it argued that being forced into Chapter 11 protection would spell disaster for its customers: a wide swath of the nation’s small and midsize businesses who rely on the 101-year-old company for financing. On Sunday, CIT entered what it called a different kind of bankruptcy, one that will let it reemerge from court protection by the end of the year under the ownership of its creditors, who widely supported the reorganization plan. The filing marks the culmination of months of bargaining among CIT, its creditors and the federal government over the company’s fate. Bank regulators concluded over the summer that even though CIT was vital to many small businesses that needed financing, the company’s problems did not pose the type of systemic risk that led to the aggressive rescues of Citigroup and Bank of America. Even so, the bankruptcy filing means taxpayers will lose the $2.3 billion investment they made in CIT as part of the government’s sweeping financial rescue last fall, marking the first such loss of the bailout program. Even though the government has been repaid with interest for its investments in companies like Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, it will probably see more losses in companies like the American International Group and Chrysler. By filing a so-called prepackaged bankruptcy plan, CIT is aiming to limit the damage inflicted on the scores of retailers and other companies that depend on the specialized financing it provides. It is the dominant provider of factoring, in which a company sells the debt it is owed to a company like CIT at a discount. Many companies that provide factoring have been hit hard by the faltering economy and have closed their doors, leaving more businesses dependent on the likes of CIT, according to Michael C. Appel, the head of the retail and consumer practice at Quest Turnaround Advisors, a consulting firm. “In the long run it will be good for CIT,” said Emanuel Weintraub, chief executive of Emanuel Weintraub and Associates, a management consultancy. “In the short term it will not be good for thinly financed companies that may not be immediately taken in by other lenders.” When CIT disclosed its troubles in July, many retailers were preparing their orders for the holiday season and were terrified by the prospects of a sudden and uncontrolled Chapter 11 filing, said Ellen Davis, vice president of the National Retail Federation. CIT’s filing will test whether a financial company can survive the Chapter 11 process. Bankruptcy has long been considered a death knell for lenders, whose very existence depends on the confidence of its creditors and customers. The company’s struggles have been watched with interest and trepidation by analysts and its clients. “The decision to proceed with our plan of reorganization will allow CIT to continue to provide funding to our small business and middle market customers, two sectors that remain vitally important to the U.S. economy,” Jeffrey M. Peek, CIT’s chairman and chief executive, said in a written statement. It also means the end of CIT’s efforts to transcend its roots as a sleepy financier of retailers, restaurants and manufacturers. Under Mr. Peek, a former high-ranking Merrill Lynch executive, the company branched out into student lending and investment advisory services. Befitting its ambitions, it moved from an office park in Livingston, N.J., to a flashy tower in Midtown Manhattan. But the company was laid low by the turmoil in the credit markets, which sapped its ability to finance its daily operations. Even after receiving the initial $2.3 billion in government aid, it went to its regulators for additional help, only to be told it needed to find a solution in the private markets. It subsequently bargained with its creditors over a restructuring plan that would keep it operating and cut $10 billion in unsecured debt. While CIT had hoped to stay out of bankruptcy court through a bond exchange offer, that plan failed to win enough support from bondholders, the company said in a statement. With $71 billion in assets and nearly $65 billion in liabilities, CIT’s bankruptcy ranks among the largest in corporate history, though it is dwarfed by the bankruptcies of Lehman Brothers and Washington Mutual. CIT said in its bankruptcy petition that $800 million of its bonds would mature from Sunday through Tuesday. CIT said that only its holding company was filing for bankruptcy, and that most of its important operating subsidiaries, including its Utah bank, would continue to operate normally. As part of an effort to revamp its business model, the company plans to move more of its operations into its bank instead of relying on the more volatile capital markets. Bondholders will receive about 70 cents for each dollar owed them through the prepackaged bankruptcy. CIT said investors would have received as little as 6 cents on the dollar in the alternative, a free-fall bankruptcy that lacked a pre-approved reorganization plan. CIT said in a statement that holders of about 85 percent of its $30 billion in bond debt participated in the voting. Those investors voted almost unanimously to support the prepackaged bankruptcy plan. Last week, the company got a $4.5 billion loan from several investors. It also reached an accord with Goldman Sachs that would preserve a $2.13 billion loan.

Emergency Economic Stabilization Act (2008)


Ivory Coast: Unity Government

Abstract: The opposition said Friday that it would join the new government announced by the prime minister this week because it was satisfied that the electoral commission had been re-established. The opposition had refused to join the government, after President Laurent Gbagbo had dissolved the previous one and the commission on Feb. 12, until it was reinstated.

Ivory Coast
Politics and Government
Gbagbo Laurent


Newfound Freedom Has Princeton Feeling Relaxed

Abstract: BALTIMORE — The Princeton lacrosse team went on a nine-day, three-game exhibition tour of Ireland and Spain in June. The trip followed a disappointing 7-6 season for the Tigers, whose success is measured against the six national championships their program won from 1992 to 2001. In other words, the trip came at the perfect time. The Tigers toured the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin and jumped off a 15-foot cliff into the Mediterranean Sea near Alicante, Spain. “Watching 46 knuckleheads between the ages of 18 and 22 isn’t usually much fun,” Coach Bill Tierney said Saturday after 11th-ranked Princeton’s 14-8 win over No. 3 Johns Hopkins at M&T Bank Stadium. “But the guys were just great.” Tierney decided that if he trusted his players to roam through Europe , he should trust them to roam free on a lacrosse field. “I think the trip really allowed us as a team to loosen up and realize there’s no need to stifle these young men,” Tierney said. “If you miss some shots, you miss some shots.” So the Tigers, who had built their championship tradition with an unforgiving defense, began to construct a new tradition behind an aggressive offense. In Europe, their exhibition games against England ’s national team were played on a rugby field, with goalposts towering behind the nets and white cones taking the place of a goalie’s crease. Princeton won all three games. “When we played overseas, we had a chance to really freelance for the first time,” the senior midfielder Mark Kovler said. “It wasn’t too structured, and it meant a lot that the coaches were comfortable with us playing like that.” Entering this season, Princeton had scored 14 goals or more just eight times in its last 68 games. The Tigers have scored 14 goals in both games this year, and they are 2-0 for the second time since winning the 2001 national championship. On Saturday, the Tigers outshot Johns Hopkins, 51-28. “Today, for the first time ever, Coach told me to keep shooting,” said the sophomore attackman Jack McBride, who has eight goals this year. Although Princeton plans to spice up its offense, it will not abandon its trademark defense. The Tigers added the nation’s top-ranked recruiting class this season, led by goalie Tyler Fiorito and the long-stick defender Chad Wiedmaier. Fiorito had 11 saves against Johns Hopkins, and his veteran teammates kept him from becoming overwhelmed by the high-profile opponent, the N.F.L. stadium and the announced crowd of 17,119. Fiorito said that when play moved to the other end of the field, the junior defender Chris Chandler would turn and smirk at him, keeping the mood light. “We’ve got 12 freshmen here that were probably at their senior prom last year at this time,” Tierney said. “They don’t know anything about this yet.” The Tigers scored six goals on 13 shots in the first quarter against the Blue Jays. In their season-ending loss to Brown last year, they scored a total of five goals. Tierney said there were moments last year when his team seemed burdened by the program’s past success. The players who grew up watching Princeton win one national title after another had never even reached the national semifinals. So he made it clear that they were a new group, a new team. And now, it appears, they have a new and exciting style of play to prove it. Still, the Tigers do not plan to become carried away with their sudden freedom. Tierney said he would still prefer to win by 5-4 instead of by 15-14. “I mean, if you miss, Coach is still going to yell,” McBride said. Sitting a few feet away, Tierney glanced toward McBride, nodded slightly and added a disclaimer. “But,” Tierney said, “it is a different yell.” MARYLAND EDGES DUKE Ryan Young had three goals and two assists as No. 7 Maryland defeated No. 12 Duke, 11-8, in the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader at M&T Bank Stadium. Greg Catalino added two goals and four assists for the Terrapins (3-1).

Princeton
Lacrosse
Bill Tierney
College Sports
Amateur sports


Suicide Bomber Kills Pakistani Politician in Swat Valley

Abstract: ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — A suicide bomber killed a provincial lawmaker in the northern Swat Valley on Tuesday, offering a grim reminder that militants retain their ability to strike even in areas where the government has claimed control. Swat, a picturesque valley in North-West Frontier Province, 100 miles north of the nation’s capital, Islamabad, was the focus of heavy fighting this year. While the military was able to wrest the region from the control of the Taliban, most of the insurgent leadership managed to escape and sporadic violence has continued. The slain legislator, Shamsher Ali, was a member of the provincial assembly from the Awami National Party, a liberal, secular political party that leads the governing coalition in the province. The party has taken a tough stand against Taliban militants, and its members have been the targets of several assassination attempts and attacks. Mr. Ali was receiving guests at his house on Tuesday afternoon when a suicide bomber entered the compound and detonated explosives, killing Mr. Ali, 59, and his brother, government officials said. At least 15 people were wounded, police officials said.

Assassinations and Attempted Assassinations


Tarmac Purgatory Ends, but New Trials Appear

Abstract: WALK down memory lane with me to wintertimes in years gone by, when bad weather routinely caused passengers on hundreds of flights to be stranded on airplanes that had pulled away from the gate but then sat idled on tarmacs, neither taking off nor returning to the terminal, for three, five, even 12 hours and more. Oh, the horror stories we heard about desperate and angry passengers, some sick; wailing babies; overflowing toilets; wretched ventilation; frantic flight crews. An average of 1,500 domestic flights in each of the worst years, 2007 and 2008, were stranded on tarmacs for three hours or longer, the Transportation Department said. During late 2006 through 2009, I often heard from stranded, angry passengers on such flights — some who called on their cellphones or emailed directly from stricken planes. One of my favorite stories came from Mark Veil, who was among the 150 stuck for over 10 hours on an American Airlines flight diverted by storms to Austin, Tex., on Dec. 29, 2006. As conditions worsened, “I finally took out my cellphone, which has a function to flash an attention light, and began signaling S-O-S out my window, over and over,” he said. On another plane sitting nearby, a passenger named Kate Hanni, already horrified by the atrocious conditions on her own plane, happened to look out her seat window and saw Mr. Veil’s signal flashing through the gloom. “I’m trying to figure out what the heck it was,” Ms. Hanni told me later, “and then I realized: dit-dit-dit ... dah-dah-dah ... dit-dit-dit ... S.O.S.! I don’t know Morse Code, but everybody knows S.O.S.” The S.O.S. didn’t bring help, but it did help Ms. Hanni in her determination to take action for reform in the weeks and years after. Working indefatigably through grass-roots organizing, she started a group and a website called FlyersRights.org that over two years later (and despite sustained derision from the airline industry), achieved its goal: “passengers’ rights” provisions in federal law, and a federal rule that set draconian fines of up to $27,000 per passenger for airlines that keep passengers stuck for over three hours on planes that leave the gate but remain on the tarmac. Let’s look at the mess in air travel this winter, in which horrible weather caused airlines to cancel a total of 95,576 flights from December through Feb. 14, according to the flight-information service FlightView. That’s more than twice the number of flights canceled in the same period a year ago. And more than 15,000 additional flights have been canceled since Feb. 14. Yet during this stretch of cancellations and bad weather, which directly or indirectly affected all of the major United States airports, there were only a few reports of excessive tarmac strandings like those that occurred by the thousands in bad weather from 2006 through 2009. In the last two years, tarmac delays of over 3 hours have ticked up slightly — to 83 domestic flights last year, according to the Transportation Department. Not all such delays trigger fines. But last October, the department announced the largest fine yet assessed, $1.1 million against United Airlines for 13 individual delays exceeding three hours during severe thunderstorms at O’Hare airport in Chicago. Still, since the delay rules first took effect in April 2010, “Controllable tarmac delays all but vanished,” according to a report, “ Tarmac Rule: Three Years Later ” by the aviation data consultancy masFlight. There is no dispute on this point, and the group Ms. Hanni founded takes well-deserved credit from fliers — and blame, from the airlines. “While we are not happy about the performance during this winter, with the massive number of cancellations and disruptions, the fact that we’ve had virtually no, or very few, of these strandings is really a success story,” said Paul Hudson, the president of FlyersRights.org. “There’s always talk about regulation being a big problem for airline industry, but it’s hard to explain, especially in light of this bad weather, how we didn’t have more strandings this winter.” Noted, said Joshua Marks, chief executive of masFlight. But Mr. Marks and Mr. Hudson agree that the issue is more complicated than airlines simply fixing the tarmac strandings because of the threat of huge fines, including canceling flights in advance out of fear that the weather might cause those fines. “We have compound factors at work this winter,” Mr. Marks said, explaining that the tarmac-delay rules might have combined with new federal regulations on the number of hours pilots can work without rest, known as Part 117 rules, to account for some of the many cancellations this year. “It’s hard at this point to try to single out what was being caused by the tarmac-delay rule and what’s been caused by 117,” he said, “and in many respects the two are linked” as airlines try to calculate the odds of prompt sanctions in any given situation. “There’s balance between those two factors and how much the cancellations were caused by the fact that the weather was just terrible,” he said. At present, with domestic flight cancellations since December now at a number that exceeds the total of all commercial flights in any three average days, passengers who need to rebook canceled flights have been experiencing difficulties. That’s because airlines have consolidated and reduced the number of flights, and most flights have nearly all seats occupied. “So there is the inconvenience of people being delayed up to three to five days but not being stranded,” Mr. Hudson said. “The biggest problem right now is to recover from these storms, because the airlines don’t have sufficient reserves.”

Transportation Department
Kate Hanni
Delays
Airlines,airplanes
Regulation and Deregulation
FlyersRights


U.N. Cites Global Rise in Detection and Treatment of AIDS

Abstract: JOHANNESBURG — The number of people being tested for H.I.V. more than doubled in dozens of countries last year, improving detection of AIDS and contributing to a major surge in those being treated. The ranks of people taking antiretroviral drugs in the developing world rose by more than a million to surpass four million people globally, the United Nations reported Wednesday in its 2009 progress report on H.I.V. and AIDS. The vast international effort on AIDS, financed by the United States , European countries and other donors, also ensured that growing numbers of children with AIDS, who had largely been left to die quick, unheralded deaths in past years, also benefited from the life-saving drug therapies. Their number rose to 275,700 in 2008 from 198,000 just a year earlier. And the portion of mothers who got medicines to prevent them from infecting their babies with H.I.V. also rose markedly, to more than half those in need, in the parts of Africa hardest hit by the disease. “In the space of one year, you’re seeing a huge ramping up of AIDS services,” said Mark Stirling , regional director for the United Nations ’ efforts against AIDS in eastern and southern Africa. “It’s unprecedented. In the acceleration and intensification of reach, 2008 was an extraordinary year.” But the United Nations’ progress report on AIDS also contained sobering news. While more than a million people were put on drugs in the past year — drugs they will need for the rest of their lives — 2.7 million people were newly infected with H.I.V. in 2007, the latest year for which there were estimates. “We are walking backward on the treadmill,” said Prof. Salim S. Abdool Karim, who runs the Center for the AIDS Program of Research in South Africa , based in Durban . “We’re not going to treat our way out of this problem.” The United Nations report, published by the World Health Organization , Unicef and the United Nations AIDS program , stressed that African countries this past year laid the groundwork to broadly offer men circumcisions. The removal of the foreskin has been shown to cut a man’s risk of H.I.V. infection by more than half. But health officials, experts and advocates said that political leaders, particularly in Africa, would have to be far more outspoken about how having more than one long-term sexual partner fueled the epidemic and that circumcision cut the risk of infection. “I’m worried,” Mr. Stirling said. “I don’t hear the most senior political leaders talking about concurrent partners or male circumcision, not enough.” South Africa , which has more H.I.V.-positive citizens than any other nation, exemplified both the progress on treatment and the uncertain prospects for prevention, experts said. The number of people getting antiretroviral drugs last year grew by more than half, faster than in any other country. South Africa now has by far the largest AIDS treatment program in the world. The United Nations estimated that more than 700,000 South Africans were getting the medicines, though advocates here have said the number is actually closer to 600,000 after discounting those who have died or dropped out. Even with the gains, however, less than half those here who need the drugs are getting them, advocates say. And South Africa lacks a male circumcision policy. It is still overcoming setbacks from the years when its president at the time, Thabo Mbeki , denied the scientific consensus that H.I.V. caused AIDS and that antiretroviral drugs were essential to treat the disease. The country’s new leaders have broken cleanly with those views but still need to act with greater urgency on H.I.V. prevention, said Mark Heywood, executive director of the AIDS Law Project and deputy chairman of the South African National AIDS Council , which advises the government. “South Africa will get its act together, but it hasn’t at the moment,” he said.


Alone in Infamy, but Not in Misery

Abstract: The 2008 Detroit Lions will be immortalized as the N.F.L’s worst team, but in a season in which so many teams played so badly, it is almost a shame that the Lions have to go into the record books alone. There were three teams with two wins or fewer this season, the most since the strike-shortened 1982 season. Like the Lions, the Bengals (4-11-1) lost their first eight games, but were spared further ignominy by a posting a three-game winning streak to end the season. But the Bengals’ offense was in a league of its own. Cincinnati, with Carson Palmer injured, scored the fewest points (204, 64 fewer than the Lions) and gained the fewest yards. The Bengals tied with the Browns and the Rams for the fewest touchdowns (20). Cincinnati also had the most punts (100), and more than a third of its drives (34.4 percent) were three-and-outs. The Browns (4-12) did not score an offensive touchdown in their final six games. The four quarterbacks who started games for them combined for a passer rating of 53.7, culminating Sunday with Bruce Gradkowski’s 5-of-16 performance for 18 yards with 2 interceptions. The Lions were the only team to allow more than 400 yards a game and more than 500 points over all, but even they were not outscored by two to one the way the Rams (2-14) were. The Rams were also the only team with fewer red zone possessions than the Lions, and St. Louis scored touchdowns only 34.5 percent of the time on those possessions. Detroit, on the other hand, was among the best in the league at scoring touchdowns on red zone possessions, doing it 61 percent of the time. And then there was Detroit’s A.F.C. counterpart, the Kansas City Chiefs (2-14), who like the Lions have lost 23 of their last 25 games. The Wisdom of Crowds On the night the Jets acquired Brett Favre, the Fifth Down ran a blog post skeptical of the move. The entry was published at 1:16 a.m. on Aug. 7. At 1:21 a.m., the first comment by a reader said: “Chad, welcome to South Beach!!” (Chad Pennington signed with Miami the next day.) At 1:42 a.m., the next comment, by a reader named Andrew, read in part: “Note to fellow Jets fans: be careful what you wished for; you just got it. I put the over-under on interceptions at 22.” (Favre had exactly 22 interceptions this season.) Andrew went on to say, “Imagine Pennington running his play-action game with a real running back, a real offensive line and a real defense.” Andrew, since identified as Andrew Sloin, a longtime Jets fan and a professor of history at Earlham College in Richmond, Ind., was asked Tuesday to offer a prediction for the Jets in the new year. “With Cowher, 8-8; with Cassel, 6-10; with either Schottenheimer, 4-12,” he said in an e-mail message. TONI MONKOVIC Eagles Aren’t Finished Leaving aside a three-game slump in November, when they lost twice and tied the Bengals, the Eagles (9-6-1) might be having their best season since 2004, when they finished 13-3 and lost to the Patriots in the Super Bowl . The Eagles, who won four of their last five games, set a franchise record with 416 points and won seven games by 13 points or more. Donovan McNabb, who was benched at halftime of a Nov. 24 loss to the Ravens, rallied to break his team record for passing yards with 3,916. The offense eclipsed the yardage totals of the 2004 team, and the defense limited opponents to 50 fewer yards a game on average. Philadelphia will open the playoffs Sunday at Minnesota, a team McNabb has never lost to. “We can do it,” McNabb said of winning the Super Bowl as a wild-card team. “New York did it last season, so we know it can be done.” JOHN WOODS Around the League Seven of this season’s playoff teams did not make the playoffs last year. Four (Miami, Baltimore, Philadelphia and Atlanta) finished the 2007 season in last place. ... The Chargers are the ninth 8-8 team make the playoffs since the schedule expanded to 16 games in 1978. Only two have won a game. ... The Packers’ Donald Driver and Greg Jennings each had 100-yard receiving games against the Lions and Ryan Grant and DeShawn Wynn, left, each rushed for at least 100 yards. It was the first time a team had two 100-yard rushers and two 100-yard receivers in a game. ... The Colts allowed six touchdown passes, the lowest total for a 16-game season. ... The Chiefs had one sack against the Bengals, leaving them with 10 for the season, the fewest by any team since sacks became an official statistic in 1981. (NYT)


Large-Scale Action in a Tiny Package

Abstract: THE Lord's Prayer written on a grain of rice is not better than the Lord's Prayer written on a piece of paper, but it is a lot more impressive. The same is true of Sony Bend's stealth-action game Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror, made for the Sony PSP hand-held game console. It is not better than stealth-action games for the Xbox or the PlayStation 2, but one is simply awestruck that so much can be squeezed into such a tiny package. Dark Mirror begins with the sort of elaborate animated scene one associates with large-scale console games. In it we are introduced to Gabe Logan, a covert antiterrorist agent, who receives orders that do not appear to tell the whole story. Gabe enters enemy territory, seeking documents, rescuing hostages and fighting off wave after wave of heavily armed terrorists. The story is intricate, involving security leaks, unidentifiable plant life and Gabe's somewhat mysterious ex-girlfriend. Dark Mirror aims to lure the player in with intrigue; Gabe spews out various versions of "What the hell is going on here? We need some answers." Unfortunately the story is often more muddled than engrossing, and I was generally uncertain about what was going on. While the story never grabbed me, I was completely drawn in by the gameplay. With infrared and night-vision goggles and an electric device that can fry electronic locks and oblivious terrorists, Gabe is a well-equipped operative. He can also handle a variety of guns, but one noisy shot and terrorists will run in from all directions. It is better to attack nearby guards by sneaking up behind them with a knife. If they are farther away, you can use a sniper rifle loaded with gas darts that explode only when triggered. If you shoot a terrorist with a dart and trigger it remotely when he walks up to his comrades, you can watch the whole group collapse in a cloud of poison gas. When surrounded by terrorists I found it easiest to keep track of them with the infrared goggles, which can show you enemies out in the open and even indicate those hiding behind barriers. The terrorists do not need goggles; remarkably eagle-eyed, they seem able to see the smallest movement in the dark from a hundred feet away. Fortunately, Gabe can choose a target while flattened against a wall out of sight and then peek out and take a quick shot. With a silenced weapon, your prey should fall without causing a commotion, but if you are seen and the enemy fires a shot, then your cover is blown. At this point, things become more chaotic, and knives and gas darts give way to machine guns. Stealth is not always an option, and at times the game forces the player to run a gantlet of bad guys. These sequences are among the most difficult of the game, in part because of the limitations of the PSP. While some weapons can be aimed automatically, others cannot, and it is difficult to aim manually without the right thumbstick, which is a standard feature of full-size console controllers. As you frantically jab at the buttons used for aiming you are likely to encounter the PSP's biggest design flaw -- the power switch is placed where it can easily be turned off in the middle of the action. Fortunately, this does not result in the loss of your progress, but it is darn annoying. That is not Dark Mirror's fault, and the designers have done an excellent job of working within the PSP's limitations. Like all new game devices, the PSP has had a rocky start. There have been a few good racing games, and the graphics have almost invariably been impressive, but the sort of elaborate games the hardware is capable of have been in short supply. Dark Mirror is everything a PSP game should be -- an extravagant interactive movie with intricate gameplay and an elaborate story. The racing-action game Pursuit Force from Bigbig Studios is another PSP game that wants to be bigger than its container. In many ways it succeeds, but unfortunately the game's difficulty level is as outsize as its gameplay. Pursuit Force is a series of wild chases, mainly by car or motor boat, involving tasks like chasing down criminals or protecting other vehicles. There is no real story, just an explanation of who the bad guys are, followed by a lot of action. You are a cop who can stop the bad guys by shooting at the cars until they explode. But if you get close enough you can actually leap from your vehicle, land on the hood and shoot the passengers, then jump in their car. Drive well and a special gauge fills up that allows you to leap in slow motion, gunning down your enemies from the air. If the car you are driving has taken too many bullets, you can even jump to a civilian car and start driving that. This fast-paced, frenzied gameplay is tremendous fun. Apparently the designers were afraid the game might just be too much fun, so they compensated by making the missions brutally, mind-numbingly difficult. Some games begin easy and ramp up the difficulty level, but even Pursuit's first missions are quite hard, requiring you to drive and shoot with almost preternatural precision. These missions are often quite long and can have multiple sections; finishing one after only four or five retries is so rare that it feels somewhat miraculous. This will delight those hard-core gamers who pine for the glory days of the 1980's when grindingly difficult games were the norm, but for the rest of us, Pursuit might as well put a big "Keep Out" sign on the front of the box. It is a shame, because the game is nicely designed, with good graphics and a great sense of speed and excitement. But Pursuit makes no concessions. Adding a turbo button for quick bursts of speed could save the player from those moments when it becomes impossible to reach an enemy in time. And an easy mode that lengthens time limits and makes your vehicle a little sturdier might have opened up a much larger audience for Pursuit. But the designers have chosen to make a game for only the most grittily determined of players, and they are welcome to it. The goal of a game should not be to make the player suffer all the time. Unlike Pursuit Force, Dark Mirror works because it spaces out the suffering. Some parts of Mirror are extremely difficult, and there were times when I had to replay the same section over and over until I figured out just the right place to take cover and just the right way to take out my enemies. It is exciting to overcome tremendous odds through your own cunning, but a game that has nothing except those moments is brutalizing. Mirror has the sense to offer quiet periods to let you plot out strategy or search for extra ammunition. Both Dark Mirror and Pursuit Force achieve the miracle of creating a big game on a tiny platform. But there is more to creating a great hand-held game than impressive miniaturization. Whether writing on a grain of rice or creating a portable game, what you shrink is as important as how well you do it. SYPHON FILTER: DARK MIRROR Developed by Sony Bend and published by Sony Computer Entertainment America for PlayStation Portable; for ages 17 and up; $40. PURSUIT FORCE Developed by Bigbig Studios and published by Sony Computer Entertainment America for PlayStation Portable; for ages 13 and up; $40.

BIGBIG STUDIOS
SONY CORP
REVIEWS
COMPUTER AND VIDEO GAMES


Carlyle Fund Seeks Halt to Liquidation

Abstract: LONDON — The Carlyle Group’s troubled mortgage-debt investment fund, Carlyle Capital, said Monday that it had asked lenders to halt further liquidation of collateral worth as much as $16 billion while the two sides discuss ways to repay the debt. The fund, which invests mainly in triple-A rated mortgage securities issued by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac , has received $400 million in margin calls, and some lenders started to liquidate collateral for $5 billion of debt. Banks are asking for their money back amid concerns the economic climate may deteriorate further. The Carlyle fund said Monday that it had “requested a standstill agreement whereby its lenders would refrain from foreclosing and liquidating their collateral, and we are awaiting responses.” Banks are asking for more collateral to cover loans after writing down more than $160 billion in assets linked to the subprime mortgage crisis, and fears of a recession are prompting them to call in some loans outright. Costs to protect even the safest bonds are close to a record, and investment funds like Carlyle Capital are finding it increasingly difficult to meet rising demands for collateral as the value of their portfolios declines along with the financial markets. “At the beginning, banks were willing to accept not to trigger margin calls because they feared forced assets sales,” said Philip Gisdakis, a senior credit strategist at Unicredit in Munich, “but now that there is a serious deterioration in the valuation of collateral, they cannot do that any longer and need to protect their loans.” The Carlyle fund, which sold shares in an initial public offering on the Amsterdam stock exchange last summer, shares some of the Carlyle Group’s management and received a $150 million credit line from the firm. Among the fund’s lenders are Citigroup, Bank of America and Merrill Lynch. With the help of the Carlyle Group, the fund continues to meet with lenders to discuss the situation and “is evaluating all available options to maximize value for all interested parties.” Should the fund fail to reach an agreement with the lenders or to find new financing, it may have to close, some analysts said last week. Peloton Partners, a London-based hedge fund run by former Goldman Sachs partners, liquidated its largest funds last month after it failed to reach an agreement with some lenders on the levels of collateral. Thornburg Mortgage, a mortgage lender in the United States, also ran into trouble after it failed to meet some margin calls. More funds that used a high level of leverage to buy less-risky assets are likely to face difficulties, Mr. Gisdakis said. Central banks may choose to revive last year’s cash-injection programs as banks continue their reluctance to lend to one another and maintain their own liquidity. Borrowing costs are again on the rise after some emergency cash auctions at the end of last year temporarily relieved pressure on the short-term debt markets. Some funds were able to buy at least some time from their lenders. KKR Financial Holdings, a publicly traded fixed-income fund linked to the private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Company, agreed last month with its lenders on an extension to repay debt.

Carlyle Group
Fannie Mae
Freddie Mac
Credit
Stocks and Bonds
Recession and Depression


Comcast and Netflix Reach Deal on Service

Abstract: Comcast, the country’s largest cable and broadband provider, and Netflix, the giant television and movie streaming service, announced an agreement Sunday in which Netflix will pay Comcast for faster and more reliable access to Comcast’s subscribers. The deal is a milestone in the history of the Internet, where content providers like Netflix generally have not had to pay for access to the customers of a broadband provider. But the growing power of broadband companies like Comcast, Verizon and AT&T has given those companies increased leverage over sites whose traffic gobbles up chunks of a network’s capacity. Netflix is one of those sites, accounting for nearly 30 percent of all Internet traffic at peak hours. The agreement comes just 10 days after Comcast agreed to buy Time Warner Cable for $45 billion, an acquisition that would make Comcast the cable provider to nearly one-third of American homes and the high-speed Internet company for close to 40 percent. Federal regulators are expected to scrutinize whether that deal would thwart competition among cable and Internet providers. It is also unclear whether the Comcast-Netflix deal violates the principles of what is known as net neutrality — where all content providers have equal and free access to consumers. People close to the deal characterize it as a common arrangement. Content companies frequently pay a middleman to carry traffic to a broadband provider, which then moves through its pipes and into a consumer’s home. In a news release announcing the deal, the companies said, “Netflix receives no preferential network treatment under the multiyear agreement.” Details were not disclosed, but a person close to the companies said it involved annual payments of several million dollars. Others, including Tim Wu, a Columbia Law School professor and advocate for net neutrality, said the interconnection agreement between Comcast and Netflix was one of the first such arrangements where a broadband provider like Comcast has extracted payment to send specific content through the “on ramp” to its network. “This is the water in the basement for the Internet industry,” Mr. Wu said, the first in what could be a flood of such arrangements. “I think it is going to be bad for consumers,” he added, because such costs are often passed through to the customer. One fear is that if such deals become common, only the wealthiest content companies will be able to afford to pay for them, which could stifle the next Netflix from ever getting off the ground. Image A Comcast distribution center’s cables and routers, which send video and more to customers. Credit Joe Raedle/Getty Images The agreement also follows a January ruling from a federal appeals court that struck down the Federal Communications Commission’s net neutrality rules, saying the agency overstepped its authority. This type of deal between Comcast and Netflix might have been forbidden under a liberal reading of the F.C.C.’s rules. The announcement on Sunday confirmed reports that had trickled out late last week, as close watchers of Internet traffic began to detect a more direct Internet path of Netflix videos to Comcast customers. In recent months, Netflix had reported that delivery speed of its content to Comcast subscribers had declined by more than 25 percent, resulting in frequent interruptions and delays for customers trying to stream television shows and movies delivered through Netflix. Customers of other providers, including Verizon, also reported delays. Comcast, Verizon and other Internet service providers denied that they were playing any role in slowing down traffic. Instead, they blamed the intermediaries that Netflix used to deliver its content to Comcast on its way to consumers. They said that those middlemen — companies like Cogent Communications — were trying to shove too much data through too small a pipe. The agreement, which is expected to be put fully into effect in the coming weeks, had been many months in the making, well before the Time Warner Cable announcement. The contours of a deal were reached after a meeting between Brian L. Roberts, chief executive of Comcast, and Reed Hastings, the chief executive of Netflix, at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last month, as well as the engineering teams of both companies, said sources close to the deal. The new arrangement will deliver an “even better user experience to consumers, while also allowing for future growth in Netflix traffic,” the companies said in their joint statement Sunday. Netflix will now deliver its content directly to Comcast rather than going through an intermediary. These types of deals, known as “paid peering,” are typically struck between companies that manage the plumbing of the Internet, unseen by consumers. Netflix does far more than that, offering original programming and features like TV and movie recommendations for users based on their previous choices. Netflix will now essentially have its own on ramp to Comcast customers. That is different from paying to be moved through the pipes more quickly, a deal known as “paid prioritization” that is generally seen as a net-neutrality violation. That the technical, arcane details of how streaming videos arrive on a customer’s screen are the focus of corporate announcements and media coverage speaks to the outsize importance of Comcast and Netflix in how Americans now watch movies and television. Craig Aaron, president of the consumer advocacy group Free Press, saw the Netflix deal as more reason to prevent Comcast from growing. “As a consumer, this is a really opaque process — being unable to really know who’s paying what to whom,” he said. “All you know as a consumer is that you are really paying in the end.”

Comcast
Netflix
Time Warner Cable
Net Neutrality
TV
Computers and the Internet
Tech Industry


U.S. Picks Roster for Two Friendlies

Abstract: The United States men’s national team coach Bob Bradley announced the 24 players he had selected for a training camp in advance of two international friendly matches later this month. And he did not take the safe route. The United States will face Argentina at New Meadowlands Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., on March 26 and then play Paraguay at LP Field in Nashville on March 29. Bradley named three players who have never played for the team: Nuremberg midfielder/striker Timothy Chandler, Duisburg goalkeeper David Yelldell and Norwich defender Zak Whitbread. Also named to the team were four players from Major League Soccer: Tim Ream and Juan Agudelo of the Red Bulls, Vancouver’s Jay DeMerit and the Galaxy’s Landon Donovan. The team will convene in Cary, N.C., on Sunday. Sixteen players picked for the roster played for the United States at last summer’s World Cup in South Africa. Eight players are based in England, four in Germany, and one each in Belgium, Denmark, France, Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway, Scotland and Turkey.

United States National Soccer Team (Men)


A Long Goodbye for Tim Duncan? ‘That Wouldn’t Be Him’

Abstract: When the news was delivered by way of a vanilla organizational statement, the San Antonio Spurs might as well have been announcing that Tim Duncan would be appearing at the Alamo to sign copies of his book, “Compared to Me, Coach Popovich is a Blabbermouth.” Just kidding. In 19 N.B.A. seasons as the strong, silent and never-salacious type, Duncan did not write a book, run off at the mouth, or elaborate on much. He played without seeking fanfare and retired on his wordless terms with no explanation posted on The Players’ Tribune, no tear-stained news conference and, most characteristically, no farewell tour. Paul Pressey, who, on a scouting mission in 1997, described Duncan to Coach Gregg Popovich as “the next coming,” said he expected nothing more, and yet was a little wistful about it all. He could remember another introspective giant, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, agreeing to make that last celebratory lap around the league during the 1988-89 season with the Los Angeles Lakers and returning a final time to Milwaukee, where he had sky-hooked the Bucks to their first and only N.B.A. title as a second-year player in 1971. “I was still playing there and I remember me and Sidney Moncrief went out on the floor to make the presentation,” Pressey said in a telephone interview not long after the news that Duncan, 40, was walking away from the game with his five championship rings. Image Duncan, left, and David Robinson in 2003 after the Spurs won the N.B.A. title. Credit Barton Silverman/The New York Times “You didn’t think Kareem was the type but, you know, I’ve never thought doing the tour was a bad thing, giving people a chance to say thank you for everything you’ve given to the game.” After saying he wanted no part of a prolonged goodbye, Kobe Bryant went out this season the only way he could, savoring every cheer to the last jump shot. Pressey said, “Tim Duncan, no, that wouldn’t be him.” Who was Tim Duncan beyond the fundamentally pure, team-first all-timer? None of our business, he answered repeatedly across the years with his trademark reticence. After all this time, we can’t even authoritatively define Duncan by position, not that we need to. The Spurs mostly listed him as a power forward but, after David Robinson’s retirement in 2003, who in Duncan’s generation other than Shaq was ever more of a hub, or a centerpiece? “I never saw him as just a center or a power forward,” Pressey said. “I saw him as both because he was whatever you needed him to be. Low post, high post — facing the basket, you could even say he was like a point guard. That was the first thing that hit me when I went to see him. His impact on the game could be like Magic Johnson.” Go ahead, laugh at the notion of Duncan, perhaps the greatest bland player/personality in N.B.A. history, as the stylistic equal of a man nicknamed Magic. But Johnson would be the first to tell you that his true playmaking genius was derived from the basic bounce pass, the simplicity of the play that made most sense. In 1997, as the Spurs’ injury-aided descent in the standings resulted in the lottery luck of the No. 1 pick, Popovich dispatched Pressey, an assistant coach, to Wake Forest to work Duncan out in a series of drills. Image Duncan shooting over Cavaliers center Zydrunas Ilgauskas in Game 2 of the 2007 N.B.A. finals, a series that San Antonio swept. Credit Matt Slocum/Associated Press Pressey had once been a so-called point (or passing) forward for the innovative Don Nelson in Milwaukee, and was curious to determine how responsive Duncan was in going about his business. Pressey watched the 6-foot-11 Duncan calmly move from side to side, banking in 15-footer after 15-footer, which even back then was almost a lost basketball art. Over dinner, Duncan explained to Pressey that using the glass was the result of many hours playing the angles in video games. If they put those white lines above the cylinder, wasn’t it logical to go ahead and aim? “Then I ran him through N.B.A. drills and with everything he did, it was exactly the same,” Pressey said. “He was never in a hurry, absorbed everything quickly. Explain it to him once, he’d do it and say, ‘Oh, you mean like that?’” No fuss, no emotion, just execution. If the Spurs could have sent out an order to the basketball factory to build them the perfect leading man for their delightfully unsexy market, it would have been Duncan. His poker face gave away nothing to opponents or to news media critics, who always gave him his due, admitted he was great, but occasionally lamented his standoffish off-court persona. Derek Jeter, a high school basketball star who counted himself among Duncan’s ardent admirers, heard similar complaints that in 20 major league seasons, he never said anything. But didn’t Jeter and Duncan do enough — or more than most — between the lines to fill their entertainment quota? Or did we at some point reach a point of celebrating only players who preen? “You look at a guy like DeMarcus Cousins, for example, every possession is a problem,” Pressey said of Sacramento’s talented center. “He’s the other extreme. We say, ‘He’s not a bad kid, just emotional. That’s who he is.’ I never understood why anyone would have wanted Tim to be different. That’s who he is.” Right to the end, though, if you paid close attention, there were moments — and one in particular — when Duncan opened a rare window into his big basketball heart. He missed from close range in the dying Game 7 moments of the 2013 finals, the Spurs’ last chance after coming so maddeningly close to winning the title in Game 6. At the other end, out of sheer frustration, he smacked the floor with both hands, as demonstrative as he’d ever been. He went to the bench for a timeout, sheer misery etched on his face. Later, on his long walk to a postgame news conference, white polo shirt drooping over his belt, Duncan seemed in a trance-like state, shuffling his feet forward, as if it were too painful to walk. You watched this great, devoted champion with appreciation, with sadness, wondering if he believed what you believed, that his last chance at winning a fifth ring was gone. Duncan would much later tell an old friend that Popovich, still haunted by Ray Allen and Game 6, was even more difficult to live with than usual in the early part of the next season. Duncan worried that Popovich might even lose the team. Behind the scenes, never to be publicly revealed by Duncan, he would not let that happen. He and Popovich had come too far together and the title they would win months later, making it look easy in Miami, was one of the most uplifting comeback stories by any team of any time. When Duncan raised his arms in triumph that night, what more had to be said?


Davis and Molder Share Lead at Crowne Plaza Invitational

Abstract: FORT WORTH — For the third consecutive hot and windless afternoon, the venerable Colonial Country Club became the vulnerable Colonial Country Club on Saturday, and the field in the Crowne Plaza Invitational laid siege with gusto. By the time the last putt was holed across the soft and smooth 18th green, Bryce Molder and the Englishman Brian Davis — each seeking his first PGA Tour win — were tied for the lead and taking dead aim on the 72-hole tournament scoring record. Molder rode a putter that was the only thing in town hotter than the 95-degree temperatures baking the golf course, one-putting nine holes in a row en route to a 67 that left him tied with Davis, who shot a 65, at 16-under-par 194. Zach Johnson shot 64 to trail by one, and Jason Bohn (68), Ben Crane (64) and Jeff Overton (66) are all at 14-under-par 196, two strokes back. With 10 golfers no more than four strokes behind the leaders, Sunday at Colonial is shaping up as something akin to the Calgary Stampede. And with maximum scoring conditions expected — no significant winds, and temperatures once again forecast in the mid-to-high 90s — it will probably require something in the mid-60s for Molder or Davis to hang on and join the group of seven golfers who have made Colonial their first tour win. Molder , 31, has had enough close calls to know he needs to go low to win. A four-time all-American at Georgia Tech, he is playing in his 95th tour event without a victory. He had a chance to win the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am this year but was derailed by a late quadruple bogey, and he led the Houston Open after three rounds only to finish tied for eighth after a 74. “My game plan the first two days was just to see how many times I could hit it to 20 feet and inside,” said Molder, who shot 65-62. “That’s all I tried to do today. And really, I will just try to do the same thing tomorrow.” Davis’s closest brush with victory in the United States came at Hilton Head this year. A 35-year-old transplant from London, Davis finished second after calling a penalty stroke on himself during a playoff with Jim Furyk . Since then he has missed three cuts in a row, but he seems to have recaptured the rhythm and confidence of that week. “I’ve been on a roller coaster after Hilton Head,” he said. “Obviously it was my real good chance to win over here. I had to recharge the batteries and obviously come into this week feeling pretty good, and so far I’m in the hunt, so very happy.” In the 63-year history of the event here, Colonial’s narrow fairways and holes that demand a golfer move the ball both ways off the tee and into the smallish greens make it kinder to players with experience than those seeking their first victories. Johnson, who counts the 2007 Masters among his six victories, is just that type of player. So, too, is Bohn, who got his first career win at the Zurich Classic in New Orleans this year. And Crane, who won his third at the Farmers Insurance Open in San Diego. There is even a chance that the United States Ryder Cup captain Corey Pavin, playing in his 27th Colonial, with 15 victories — including two Colonials — may contend. He is four strokes back. Johnson said: “I think it’s a good golf course for me. I think it does require more trajectory control and for you to hit the ball straight, nothing that’s overly powerful. We have seen all sorts of champions in the past, so I don’t know.” And there have never been so many players this low after three rounds, with a record 23 at 10 under par or lower. Whatever happens, one of the two leaders will have another disappointment. Molder, who has already overcome two congenital conditions — he was born without a left pectoral muscle and with webbed fingers on his left hand that required two operations before his fifth birthday — is the one holing the putts. That is usually the separator on tour. If Molder can continue, it could be his time. He said he had gotten ahead of himself too many times before, thinking about what might happen. Now he is thinking about enjoying himself, whatever happens. “To actually enjoy the challenge of hitting shots when you are nervous, and you are hot and you are sweating,” he said. “There is a ton of people with a chance to win tomorrow because you can certainly go low. My goal is to step on the first tee and look forward to that shot and all of the others.”

Golf
Davis Brian
Molder Bryce
Johnson Zach
Bohn Jason
Crane Ben
Overton Jeff
Furyk Jim
Pavin Corey
PGA Tour Inc


Pressure Is on Germany to Narrow Its Trade Gap

Abstract: FRANKFURT — Germany’s huge trade surplus, a source of pride for Germans but an irritant to the rest of Europe, could undergo much tougher European Union scrutiny, officials in Berlin acknowledged on Tuesday. Olli Rehn, the commissioner overseeing economic and monetary policy for the European Union, is expected to step up pressure on Germany on Wednesday when he issues growth prescriptions for the 28-country bloc. German officials acknowledged on Tuesday that the pressure could eventually include opening a review that at least in theory could lead to financial penalties. Because European Union agreements require members to maintain balanced economies, Germany’s trade surplus — a whopping 45.9 billion euros ($61.7 billion) in the second quarter of this year — makes a conspicuous target for a type of review known as a macroeconomic imbalance procedure. The German Finance Ministry said that it would welcome a review of the economy but that fines were out of the question. German officials noted that the imbalance procedure was normally aimed at countries that were considered insufficiently competitive, not those that were too competitive. “In light of the significant current account surplus, the government sees no grave weaknesses in competitiveness,” the finance ministry said. The ministry said any decision on invoking the review would be made by the European Commission, the administrative arm of the European Union, and would require several months for any formal procedure to begin. But the statement was tacit acknowledgment that a review was under consideration. In theory, the commission could recommend fining Germany up to one-tenth of 1 percent of its gross domestic product if the government in Berlin does not take steps to fix the problem. But the chance that Germany will face such a fine is very low, since European Union finance ministers agreed in 2011 that large and sustained current account surpluses do not raise the same issues about the stability of the euro zone that ballooning budget deficits do and “will not lead to sanctions.” The trade surplus has become a source of friction not only with euro zone partners but also with the United States. Washington has warned that Germany’s export success, with no offsetting demand for imports, has depressed demand in the euro zone and increased the risk of deflation. Germany’s trade partners want it to increase domestic demand, which has long been weak because of an aging population focused on saving. Economists generally agree that large trade surpluses are unhealthy because they mean that the fruits of a country’s labor remain abroad. But Germans see their trade surplus as confirmation of their prowess in world markets, and any sanctions would be met with indignation. German companies dominate the luxury car market, and German industrial machinery is ubiquitous in the world’s factories. Frank Appel, chief executive of Deutsche Post DHL, which manages the German postal system and operates the DHL global shipping network, said it was “nonsense” that “Germany should be penalized because it’s too competitive.” But in speaking to several reporters in Frankfurt, Mr. Appel did say that Germany and other wealthier euro zone countries should do more to help stricken countries in Southern Europe. “We are all in one boat,” he said. Officials at the European Commission have long made clear their concerns that Germany’s export strength might come at the expense of other members of the euro zone. The decision about Germany forms part of an alert mechanism that has given the European Commission a greater role in coordinating economic policy, a change made in response to the debt crisis that threatened to sink the euro. On Wednesday, Mr. Rehn will also issue prescriptions for growth across the European Union, including an update on change in areas from employment to public finances.

Germany
International trade
Euro Crisis
GNP
EU


An Office Space of One’s Own for Entrepreneurs

Abstract: WITHIN a few months of starting In Good Company Consulting, a business to advise female entrepreneurs, Amy Abrams and Adelaide Fives discovered that they shared something with many of their clients. They, too, needed office space that was well located and professional with a place for private meetings. And they wanted to be near like-minded entrepreneurs. They tried subletting space from another firm. They rented space at the corporate office suites HQ (now the Regus Group ) and BevMax Office Centers and visited virtually every flexible and temporary office space in Manhattan. But they were disappointed with what they regarded as the often cold and impersonal qualities of those places, not to mention the shared restrooms that never seemed to be clean enough. “And nothing had the energy and buzz we were looking for,” Ms. Fives said. So they designed it. And last September, In Good Company Workplaces opened in the Flatiron district of Manhattan with its first 39 members. Their company Web site speaks of “the three essential elements every successful business needs: productive workspace, powerful connections and effective ideas.” By many accounts it is an unusual hybrid: equal parts business incubator, co-working and learning space and members-only networking group. “They are onto something here,” said Nell Merlino, founder of Count Me In , a nonprofit group that makes small loans to female entrepreneurs. Ms. Merlino, who had never heard of In Good Company, said that the idea made sense in light of the research she had conducted. “Seventy-three percent of women business owners work by themselves, so community is very important.” Still, Ms. Merlino cautioned women who are considering this kind of move. “An awful lot of women worry about being defined by not having a nice space,” she said. “The focus has got to be about growth, not just ‘I want to go and hang out with other people’ or ‘I need to get out of the house so the kids are not climbing all over the place.’ ” The company’s menu of offerings reads like a gym membership, with an annual fee and various options based on how many hours of desk and meeting room time the entrepreneur wants to rent each month. All memberships include free Wi-Fi, printing and faxing, a monthly 30-minute consultation with Ms. Abrams or Ms. Fives, free admission to events and seminars and a listing in the member directory. Members can change their plans from month to month. At the moment, the company has 110 members, with 60 percent on a basic plan that costs $300 a year and allows them to rent meeting and desk space à la carte. The space, which Ms. Adelaide and Ms. Abrams designed, has a loftlike feel and a sleek, minimalist style with white desks, exposed brick walls and a rotating art exhibit featuring women artists with a connection to In Good Company. The common area has a collection of desks that members choose based on what is available on the days they work. Members say that voices are fairly hushed during phone calls, which are generally on cellphones unless someone chooses to use the landline next to the sofa in the back of the room. For more privacy on calls, members can briefly step into an empty meeting room if one is available. E. B. Moss, the founder of Moss Appeal , a marketing and promotion services company, uses a toll-free number that automatically forwards to her cellphone when she is at In Good Company. Initially, she was concerned that when clients came for meetings, they would have to look for In Good Company rather than her company’s name on the directory. But she has grown comfortable with that. “Transparency is what it’s all about,” she said. “When I first started out, I was protective about letting people know there were no bricks and mortar to me. It fits in with the green division of my company. I like to keep my footprint small.” Members, who find their way to In Good Company through word of mouth and the women’s groups where the founders have relationships are exuberant in their praise for the arrangement. “The space is just a dream come true, with beautiful space options, which I utilize happily,” said Emily Wolper, a college and graduate school admissions consultant , who lives in New Jersey where she has a home office. Ms. Wolper books meeting room space for client sessions and uses one of the desks in the open workspace area when she has time in the city between meetings. She also uses Ms. Fives as a business consultant. “As a solo practitioner, I don’t have a staff or a boss to talk about issues that come up, so I have found Adelaide to be an amazing resource.” she said. Galia Gichon, the founder of Down-to-Earth Finance , a financial advisory company, gravitated to In Good Company when Two Rooms, a workspace on the Upper West Side catering to working mothers, closed. Ms. Gichon was so impressed with the way Ms. Fives and Ms. Abrams operated that she agreed to be on their advisory board. “I was part of two focus groups they did, and they were as professionally done as what Colgate-Palmolive does. As soon as they opened their doors, I said, ‘Sign me up.’ ” Even as a board member, she pays full rates. Many of the women say that the environment is a tonic against the loneliness that can plague a solo or start-up business. “There is just nothing like it in the city,” said Marissa Lippert, who runs Nourish , a company that offers nutrition and lifestyle counseling. “It’s the best of both worlds — you run your own schedule and company, but you have the benefits of a corporate culture.” The company gets high marks for its flexibility. Ms. Moss currently uses the highest level of membership, which gives her about 20 hours a week of desk space and 2 hours of meeting room space. But she says she may downgrade to a lower plan when business is slow. Ms. Wolper, whose business fluctuates with the school admissions calendar, also appreciates the ability to change plans during the year. Though many of the members say they were not specifically searching for an all-female office, some businesses are particularly well suited to it. Krisztina Jenei, a custom dressmaker and seamstress, drapes a curtain over the glass partition and uses the meeting rooms to do fittings with her clients. “It’s just not professional fitting clients in office bathrooms,” she said. Though men cannot be members, they are welcome in the space as clients or at events. And though initially the partners were courting female backers, the company’s first round of investors were men. In fact, six of the company’s seven individual investors are couples in which the husbands signed on after being introduced to the company by their wives. The partners say they have found a way to take their business model further than they would have had they retained a pure consulting practice. “Consulting is only as big as the people you have. You scale by hiring more people,” Ms. Abrams said. “We wanted to focus on how to touch more business owners. Also, a lot of women come because there is a problem. Once you’ve solved the problem, you don’t see them again. We wanted to develop something to help in a more ongoing way.” They said they also wanted to build something that would offer a model of a certain type of entrepreneurial behavior to their target market. “Our plan,” Ms. Abrams said, “is to be much bigger than one space, and to build a bigger business for many years to come.”

Office Buildings and Commercial Properties


Debt Ceiling Clash Nears for Lawmakers

Abstract: WASHINGTON — With the resolution of the year-end fiscal crisis just hours old, the next political confrontation is already taking shape as this city braces for a fight in February over raising the nation’s borrowing limit. But it is a debate President Obama says he will have nothing more to do with. Even as Republicans vow to leverage a needed increase in the federal debt limit to make headway on their demands for deep spending cuts, Mr. Obama — who reluctantly negotiated a deal like that 18 months ago — says he has no intention of ever getting pulled into another round of charged talks on the issue with Republicans on Capitol Hill. “I will not have another debate with this Congress over whether or not they should pay the bills that they’ve already racked up through the laws that they passed,” the president said Tuesday night after he successfully pushed Republicans to allow tax increases on wealthy Americans. On Wednesday, he signed the legislation. The president’s position is sure to appeal to his liberal allies, who fear another round of compromises by Mr. Obama. But it once again sets the stage for a nail-biting standoff that economists warn could lead to a damaging financial default and doubt from investors about the ability of the country to pay its obligations. Moody’s, the rating agency, warned on Wednesday that the looming political battles over the nation’s debt could lower the group’s rating of American debt. “We’re in for another round of brinkmanship and uncertainty,” said Mark Zandi, the chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, who predicted weeks of “angst, discussion and hand-wringing” in Washington. “I don’t think the economy can really find its footing and jump to a higher level of growth until we get to the other side of this.” Joel Prakken, senior managing director of Macroeconomic Advisers, an economics forecasting firm, said bluntly, “This is kind of a mess.” The financial imperative for an increase in the debt limit comes at a time of increasingly sour relations between the president and his Republican adversaries in the House. To secure a deal to avert automatic tax increases and spending cuts on Jan. 1, Mr. Obama was forced into last-minute talks with Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, after weeks of negotiations with Speaker John A. Boehner in the House collapsed amid acrimony and internal Republican dissension. Now, the president and Mr. Boehner are signaling a fresh round of take-it-or-leave it stands that are in sharp opposition: The president says increasing the borrowing limit is nonnegotiable, while Republicans say the House is all but certain to pass a bill that raises the debt limit only in exchange for significant cuts — a challenge to Mr. Obama and the Democratic-controlled Senate. Smarting from the president’s victory on taxes over the New Year’s holiday, Republicans in Congress are betting that their refusal to raise the $16.4 trillion debt ceiling will force Mr. Obama to the bargaining table on spending cuts and issues like changes in Medicare and Social Security. But doing so would inevitably reprise the bitter debate over the debt ceiling that took place in the summer of 2011, when the government came close to defaulting on its debt before lawmakers and the president agreed to a 10-year package of spending cuts in exchange for Republican agreement to raise the debt ceiling by about the same amount. And that is exactly what Republicans want — again. “If they want to get the debt limit raised, they are going to have to engage and accept that reality,” said Brendan Buck, a spokesman for Mr. Boehner. “The president knows that.” Senator Patrick J. Toomey, Republican of Pennsylvania, said flatly that his party should risk the possibility of default — including interruptions in federal benefit checks and paychecks for government workers — if it was the only way to compel the president to support deep spending cuts that will reduce the deficit. Image A broadcast of President Obama's Dec. 31 statement on the fiscal talks was shown on a monitor in the Senate press gallery. Credit Stephen Crowley/The New York Times “That’s disruptive, but it’s a hell of a lot better than the path that we’re on,” Mr. Toomey said Wednesday on MSNBC. “We absolutely have to have this fight over the debt limit.” The Republican Party’s caucus in the House will discuss a debt ceiling strategy at a private retreat in Williamsburg, Va., this month, according to a top Republican aide, who said they were determined to insist again on spending cuts that equal the amount of increase in how much the country can borrow. “The speaker told the president to his face that everything you want in life comes with a price,” the aide said. “That doesn’t change here. I don’t think he has any choice.” White House officials say Mr. Obama is equally determined to avoid letting the debt ceiling become a regular Republican tool for extracting concessions on spending on programs popular with Democratic constituents. “It means that he won’t negotiate on it,” a senior administration official said Wednesday about the president’s comments. ”He’s not entertaining offers about it. We’re not having meetings about it.” The official, who asked for anonymity to discuss legislative strategy, said the debt limit “was never used as a policy leverage tool before.” “This is them paying the bills for the spending that they racked up,” the official said. “They need to do that.” Some people in both parties questioned why Mr. Obama would so emphatically vow not to negotiate over the debt limit, a promise he may ultimately be forced to break if necessary to avoid economic shock waves. “It’s bizarre,” said one veteran Democratic senator who would not be named, citing the proven willingness of Republicans to force a fiscal crisis unless the president makes a deal for additional spending cuts. Mr. Obama resolved immediately after the 2011 debt crisis, privately and publicly, that he would not be drawn again into negotiations over the borrowing limit. He has said that presidents and Congresses have a fundamental, shared responsibility to ensure that the government pays bills that it owes to its citizens and creditors. In saying he will refuse to bargain over the debt limit, Mr. Obama is counting on help from the business community, given its traditional ties to Republicans. Recently, for example, the head of the Business Roundtable, John Engler, a Republican and former governor of Michigan, called for extending the debt limit for five years. “You don’t put the full faith and credit of the United States’ finances at risk,” said David M. Cote, chairman of Honeywell and a Republican member of the 2010 Simpson-Bowles fiscal commission. “The whole idea of using debt ceiling that way or saying ‘I’ll do this horrible thing to all of us unless you give in’ just doesn’t make any sense for anybody. It makes me very nervous. It’s not a smart way to run the country.” Mr. Obama might also take to the road again, using the power of his office in an effort to convince the public that another fight over the debt ceiling risks another economic crisis. Public polls after the last debt ceiling fight suggested that more people blamed Republicans for the threat of a shutdown. “If Congress refuses to give the United States government the ability to pay these bills on time, the consequences for the entire global economy would be catastrophic — far worse than the impact of a fiscal cliff,” Mr. Obama said Tuesday.

US
Congress
Congress
Legislation
Senate
US National Debt
US Economy
Barack Obama
Federal Budget
House of Representatives


UConn Women Atop Poll

Abstract: Connecticut was the unanimous choice atop the Associated Press women’s basketball poll. South Carolina was second, the university’s best ranking since Jan. 3, 1982. Notre Dame, Tennessee and Texas A&M follow. Connecticut received all 35 votes Thursday, marking the 10th time that the Huskies are the top team in the preseason. Six of those years UConn went on to win the national championship. “A lot of rankings are based on what you did last year and what you have coming back,” Auriemma said. “It’s nice when people are talking about your program and we like that feeling.” UConn has won its last 46 games, including going 40-0 en route to a ninth national championship in April. The Huskies are led by sensational junior Breanna Stewart, the two-time most outstanding player of the Final Four. She was the only college player on the U.S. national team that won a gold medal at the world championship earlier this month. Connecticut, which also was the preseason No. 1 in 1995, ’99, 2000, ’01, ’03, ’08, ’09, ’10 and ’13 opens Nov. 14 at UC Davis before visiting No. 6 Stanford three days later. The Huskies only trail Tennessee’s 12 appearances at No. 1 in the preseason poll.

College basketball
College Sports
AP
University of Connecticut


Court Rejects Move to Include Profits in Madoff Recovery

Abstract: A federal appeals court panel reviewing one of the fiercest legal disputes to arise from Bernard L. Madoff ’s Ponzi scheme ruled on Tuesday that the embattled trustee’s approach on how to calculate investor losses in the case is “legally sound” and fundamentally fair. The ruling upheld a formula that limits investor claims to the actual cash that they had lost in the scheme, not the fictional profits they believed had accumulated in their accounts over the years of the fraud. The ruling , by the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, is a significant victory for Irving H. Picard, the court-appointed trustee who is liquidating the Madoff firm in bankruptcy court in Manhattan. Lawyers in the field said the long-awaited decision would also serve as a practical guide for those involved in unraveling other complex Ponzi schemes in the future. Significant as the victory was for the trustee’s work, it was not the last big legal battle he faces. He has already suffered some potentially damaging setbacks in the lower courts in recent weeks, and several other important legal decisions affecting his work could come later this summer. But legal experts who reviewed the opinion on Tuesday said that it affirmed a crucial aspect of Mr. Picard’s handling of the controversy-riddled case and would guide those involved in similar disputes. “I think we do know more than we did before this morning,” said John V. Donnelly III, a securities lawyer at Cozen O’Connor in Philadelphia. “If you encounter other Madoff-like cases in the future, you’re less likely to have this fight over again.” The ruling could also advance the day when claims for the eligible victims in the case can be paid from the $10 billion pool of assets Mr. Picard has already collected. Except for a token payment of about 4 cents on the dollar approved by the court earlier this summer, those payments had been held up by the dispute. The legal drama at the heart of Tuesday’s ruling began with the arrest of Mr. Madoff on Dec. 11, 2008. On that date, he confessed to his family that his private money-management business, which he ran in offices separate from his legitimate stock trading firm, was a giant Ponzi scheme. The victims believed they had a total of $64.8 billion invested in their Madoff accounts, a sum that was pure fiction. As the trustee handling the liquidation of the failed firm, Mr. Picard determined victims were entitled to claim only the difference between the cash they invested and the cash they had withdrawn from their Madoff accounts. That formula generated fierce criticism from lawyers for the thousands of investors — including the wealthy family that owns the New York Mets baseball team — who had taken more cash from their accounts over the years than they had invested. Mr. Picard sued a large number of those investors to recover the fictional profits they had withdrawn so he could return the money to those from whom it had been stolen. Lawyers agreed that the appellate ruling supported the trustee’s use of these so-called clawback lawsuits to recover the fictional profits, a factor that may persuade some clawback defendants to seek out-of-court settlements with Mr. Picard rather than continue their fight. Rejecting a crucial argument by Mr. Picard’s opponents, the appeals court ruled that federal law did not dictate a single approach to calculating losses in such cases. Its decision, it said, was rooted in the specific facts of the Madoff case, in which Mr. Madoff had full discretion over his customers’ accounts and never made any investments with the cash he collected from them. “Different fact patterns will inevitably call for differing approaches to ascertaining the fairest method” for determining losses, the ruling noted. But given the facts in the Madoff case, it continued, relying on the final account statements to define investor losses, as Mr. Picard’s opponents have demanded, would have been “impermissible” and “would have undermined” the fundamental goal of achieving “a fair allocation of the available resources among the customers” caught up in the fraud, the court said. Amanda Remus, a spokeswoman for Mr. Picard, said the ruling affirmed that the trustee’s approach “is the fairest approach to the determination of claims, and we hope that the court’s decision can be the final word on this issue.” The trustee is still facing legal challenges over his attempts to recover damages from banks and other third parties who dealt with Madoff investors, his attempt to collect from those he said had been “willfully blind” to evidence of fraud and his refusal to honor claims from those who invested indirectly through investment partnerships and other feeder funds. Some members of Congress have supported those critical of Mr. Picard’s approach, proposing legislation that would change the laws governing Wall Street bankruptcies and Ponzi scheme loss calculations. After Tuesday’s ruling, those critics said they would intensify their efforts in Congress. Brian Neville, one of the lawyers opposing Mr. Picard, said he felt certain the ruling would be appealed. Helen Davis Chaitman, another of the losing lawyers and a Madoff victim herself, predicted the ruling “will destroy investor confidence in the capital markets” because it does not require the Securities Investors Protection Corporation, the industry-supported organization that provides a limited safety net for customers of failed brokerage firms, to honor the Madoff investors’ final account statements. But the ruling was applauded by several investors who had benefited from Mr. Picard’s formula. One of them, Howard Siegel of Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., said: “To me, justice has been served. Fairness requires that people who had not received back all the cash they put in should be made whole before other people shared in the recovery.” He added: “I have said from the beginning that if you’ve gotten someone else’s money without knowing it was stolen, you’re totally innocent. But if you keep it once you know it was stolen — where’s the fairness in that? So to me, justice was done today.”

Ponzi Schemes
Decisions and Verdicts
Madoff Bernard L


Iraq: Car Bomb Kills 14, Raising Day’s Toll to 26

Abstract: A parked car bomb blew up by a crowded Baghdad market on Tuesday night, killing at least 14 people and bringing the day’s death toll in political violence to 26, officials said. Baghdad has been hit by bombings since April as sectarian violence has increased.

Iraq Bombs Terrorism Fatalities,casualties


New York City to Formally Start Its Municipal ID Card Program

Abstract: For generations, the label has been at once exclusive and widely misapplied, available to millions in earnest, but vulnerable to line-blurring by suburban peers who claimed New York City residency without an address to match. Could a New Yorker be identified by a harried gait? A brash retort? The knowledge that L trains are to be avoided on weekends? Perhaps. But beginning this week, the evidence will, for the first time, be wallet-size. On Monday, New York is expected to introduce the country’s largest municipal-identification program, issuing cards intended as a boon for undocumented immigrants, the homeless and others who strain to navigate the bureaucracy of city services and institutions without government-issued ID. The card will confer discounts for prescription drugs, access to city buildings and free memberships to zoos and museums. It will be accepted as a library card across the city’s three public library systems and recognized as identification to open an account at several banks and credit unions. “For New Yorkers who couldn’t have an official ID, this card is the key to a fuller life,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a statement, adding that it was “fraud-proof, secure and appealing to anyone.” The card’s layout seems befitting of its most high-profile booster, a longtime Park Slope, Brooklyn, resident who has sought to govern with an eye toward the boroughs outside Manhattan. The map on the front of the card might startle New Yorkers with its accuracy: Unlike the subway map, with its oversize Manhattan, this version is to scale, with Brooklyn and Queens sprawled across the center. The spot for the main head shot obscures much of Staten Island and the Financial District. On the back, one landmark is shown: the Brooklyn Bridge. Officials have cast the program as among the mayor’s most significant initiatives, based partly on those in cities like New Haven and San Francisco. The City Council approved the program’s creation in June, part of a series of immigration-related initiatives undertaken by the new Council speaker, Melissa Mark-Viverito. Ms. Mark-Viverito also led a push for the city to stop honoring detention requests issued by immigration authorities without a warrant from a federal judge. The card, she suggested in a phone interview, doubled as “a way of validating people who live in New York City and are contributing positively.” “It’s an affirmation,” she added. For undocumented immigrants in particular, many realities of city life — renting an apartment, filling a prescription, encountering a police officer who asks for identification — have long produced headaches. “You have to be in the shadows,” Juan Carlos Gomez, an undocumented immigrant from Colombia, said in July, at an event where Mr. de Blasio signed the Council bill into law. The cards, known as IDNYC cards, will be available to all New Yorkers age 14 and older, who can apply at enrollment centers across the city. Enrollment will be free in 2015, though fees may be charged in the future. Applicants are required to prove identity and city residency, with documents that could include passports, driver’s licenses or birth certificates, from the United States or elsewhere, among other options. Though the plan has the broad support of immigrant-service providers and other advocacy groups, the New York Civil Liberties Union has expressed concerns about privacy. Johanna Miller, the group’s advocacy director, said that while the city had taken steps in recent months to protect cardholders’ personal information, law enforcement agencies will not have to meet a “probable cause standard” to obtain documents, as the group had hoped. The city said that applicant information will not be shared with other government agencies or third parties, “except for purposes of verifying the applicant’s eligibility for additional city benefits, services and care,” or in response to a judicial subpoena or warrant. Cardholders will also be told if their information has been sought. Among the top challenges for the program will be reaching homeless New Yorkers without fixed residences. Though cards will typically be mailed to applicants, the administration said that if mailing a card is not possible or unsafe — in the case of a domestic violence victim, for instance — it can be picked up in person. The administration declined to estimate how many people might sign up for the card. Nisha Agarwal, commissioner of the mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs, said that in other cities with similar programs, about 1 percent of the population has enrolled. “We expect to do a lot better than that in New York City,” she said, citing the discounts on admission to venues like the Brooklyn Academy of Music and the Bronx Zoo that come with the card. One potential applicant, Nick During, 31, from Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, wondered if the offers might tilt the tourist-to-local ratio at some venues. Anita Dunbar, 64, from Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, suggested the card’s appeal was far simpler. “I’m a sucker for new stuff,” she said.


Staten Island Helps Define a Native’s First Novel

Abstract: On the last day of his legal career, Eddie Joyce packed up his desk and turned in his security badge. He said goodbye to the partners and associates, to his six-figure salary, to his Park Avenue office. He was 34 years old. His wife was nine months pregnant. And he had just decided to give up his job as a lawyer to try to write short stories and novels. Exhilarated, anxious and uncertain, he was sure of only one thing: That he would write about the borough where he grew up. It was the place his mind drifted to when he was on the subway in Manhattan or staring at the computer screen in his apartment in Brooklyn Heights: The island with dunes on one end and industrial waterfront on the other. The tight-knit neighborhoods filled with police officers, teachers, firefighters and secretaries. The summertime splashes in backyard swimming pools, the sweat and hustle on gritty basketball courts, the flickering candles at Sunday morning Mass. A literary work about Staten Island? That’s right. Last month, Mr. Joyce’s debut, “ Small Mercies ,” published by Viking, arrived in bookstores around the country. The New York Times described it as “an intimate family portrait.” Richard Russo, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author , hailed it as “a terrific first novel.” Mr. Joyce, who left the legal profession nearly six years ago, knows that some of you might be conjuring up images of Mafia bosses and New Yawk voices, gold chains and shellacked hair. Maybe you envision the televised caricatures in “ Mob Wives ” and “ Jersey Shore ” when you think about his borough — if you think about it at all. Image Tottenville High School: “I spent four years here in the Classics Institute, a honors-track program with a focus on history and literature. I played on the basketball team and ended up scoring 1,000 points. They still make a big deal of that on Staten Island: They stop the game, give you a game ball and your name ends up on a list that runs in the paper every time someone else scores a thousand. It’s one of the things that makes Staten Island feel like a small town.” 1 / 7 But that is not the Staten Island he knows. It is not the community that shaped him as a writer or the borough he wants to introduce to the world. Mr. Joyce’s accent has faded. His childhood home in Tottenville has been torn down. His parents and siblings have moved to Brooklyn and New Jersey. It has been more than 16 years since he lived in the borough of his birth. But sometimes a place seeps into your psyche, even when you’re not looking, even when you’re long gone. So Mr. Joyce populated his novel with working-class and middle-class people like his parents, his aunts and uncles, his friends and neighbors. And in his tale of an Irish-Italian family grappling with the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, he brings to life an island that is often slighted and overlooked in the city and its literature. “I always knew that the place was going to be an extremely important part of the book, that in some ways it would almost define the book,” Mr. Joyce, now 39, explained over coffee at Mikey Bagels in Tottenville. “When you come from someplace like Staten Island and you go out in the world, you either feel pride or shame or some mixture of the two,” he said. “I don’t recall feeling shame. I’m sure I felt some tiny dollop of it. I’m almost defiantly proud to be from Staten Island.” I grew up on Staten Island, and to me his portrait of this small town in the big city feels immediately familiar: Young people, some adrift, some burning with purpose, cruise the bars on Forest Avenue and take classes at the College of Staten Island . There are receptions at the Staaten catering hall and dates at Denino’s pizzeria , kitchen tables loaded with steaming plates of pasta and the latest edition of The Staten Island Advance . There are strong women who hold their families together and children who struggle to find their way. Some flee the island’s sometimes suffocating insularity. Others, like Frank, a character in the novel “whose great ambition was tomorrow night,” never leave. Image Photos at Jody’s Club Forest, where Mr. Joyce made bets in March Madness pools, starting when he was a teenager. Credit Bryan Thomas for The New York Times It is not, thankfully, a romanticized view. Mr. Joyce also describes the racial bigotry that sometimes spills into barroom banter, the divide between the predominantly white south shore and the more ethnically diverse north, and the occasional battles with drink and depression. And he vividly depicts the sense of alienation that some Staten Islanders share, the feeling of being outsiders in their own city, of being disdained and misunderstood. (Other Staten Island writers have also found inspiration in our forgotten borough, including Paul Zindel , who won the Pulitzer Prize in 1971 for his Broadway play, “The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds.” ) Mr. Joyce said he never forgot that feeling “of being the underdog,” even after he graduated from Tottenville High School and moved on to Harvard University and Georgetown University Law Center. He lives comfortably, thanks to his wife’s rewarding legal career, and his budding success has given him hope that he can make something of this writing life. But he has not lost his appreciation for Staten Islanders like his mother and father, a teacher and a bar owner, “the people who work hard and don’t ask for much and aren’t given much.” Mr. Russo, who has championed Mr. Joyce’s book, said Staten Island emerges as an “exquisitely rendered” character in the novel, as do the blue-collar men and women who live there. “He doesn’t look at these lives like a sociologist would,” Mr. Russo said. “He knows them from the inside.”

Staten Island
Eddie Joyce
Small Mercies
Books
Writer