In Manchester, Supremacy in English Soccer Is Poised to Move Across Town

Abstract: The Premier League title will be awarded Sunday in Manchester, England; that much is certain. This is not an uncommon occurrence. Since the league’s founding for the 1992-93 season, more than half of the campaigns (12 of 19) have ended with Manchester United holding the silverware aloft. This season could be different: for the first time since 1968, United’s crosstown rival, Manchester City, is poised to plant its flag atop English soccer. Tied in first place with United but holding a vastly superior goal difference entering the season’s final day, City needs only to defeat relegation-threatened Queens Park Rangers at home to complete the job. “You dream of those moments, but we haven’t won a thing yet,” City defender Joleon Lescott said last week. “We need everyone to keep their feet on the ground.” That will be difficult. For a generation, United has racked up titles while City has yo-yoed in and out of England’s top division. This year, after spending most of the season in first place, stumbling out of it in March and then surging back — a rally capped by a victory over United two weeks ago — City is at long last the toast of its town. As long as it wins on Sunday. United will play at Sunderland with one eye on the scoreboard, hoping its rival stumbles. “Maybe people will say I’m crazy or that I’m only saying this because I’m a Manchester United player, but I still believe we can win this title,” United defender Patrice Evra told reporters Friday, adding, “We have no choice but to believe.” The end of the title race, though, is only one reason hundreds of millions of viewers will be tuning in for the so-called Survival Sunday. (For the first time, all 10 games will be carried live in the United States , with City-Q.P.R. on ESPN2 and the rest on an array of Fox-owned channels.) Right behind the Manchester rivals is a furious battle for the Premier League’s last two places in next season’s lucrative UEFA Champions League, with Arsenal (67 points) trying to hold off Tottenham (66) and Newcastle (65). One team will miss out on the tens of millions that participation in that tournament can bring. There is also a rich prize at stake at the other end of the standings. In contrast with American leagues, where also-rans merely play out the schedule, teams at the bottom of the Premier League are fighting for their future in the top flight. The bottom three teams in the league are relegated to a lower division every season; this year, Wolverhampton and Blackburn are already assured of demotion, and Q.P.R. or Bolton will join them. It is not merely a matter of pride. Premier League teams are guaranteed about $65 million, with millions more available from sponsorships and other sources. Relegation can be a staggering blow, leading to salary cuts, player sales and financial misery. That is why Q.P.R. is a dangerous opponent for City on Sunday; it probably needs only a tie to hold off Bolton and stay up. But if it gets one, that could cost City the title. “Everybody is expecting a big day for Man City,” Q.P.R.’s James Mackie said. “But for us, we’re scrapping for our lives, and a point would mean the world to us. “We feel we can go there and spoil the party.” That would be perhaps the bitterest blow for a club that has known many. Champions of England in 1968, Manchester City was relegated and promoted twice in the 1980s. A founding member of the Premier League, the club was relegated again in 1996, and two years later went down further, spending a year in League Two — the third tier of English soccer. Its fortunes stabilized in the last decade under managers like Mark Hughes. He was in charge in 2008 when new owners from Abu Dhabi provided City with an influx of oil money that financed a spending spree. Over the last four years the club has spent nearly $1.5 billion acquiring players. Some (Vincent Kompany, Carlos Tévez) were worth the investment, but others (strikers who did not strike like Robinho, Jo and Roqué Santa Cruz) were not. When Hughes’s team faltered in 2009, he was replaced by Roberto Mancini. Mancini kept buying — Yaya Touré, David Silva, Mario Balotelli, Samir Nasri — and built the winner the club’s fans will cheer on Sunday. In a strange coincidence, Hughes will be on the opposing bench, trying to deny his old club the prize. “People keep throwing that word revenge up, but it is not in my mind,” Hughes said. “From my point of view, I am completely focused on what we have to do.” So is City. It led the league for most of the season but faltered after it was eliminated from the Champions League, eventually losing its grip on first place as well. After a 1-0 loss to Arsenal on April 8, City was 8 points behind United with six games left. Mancini began telling interviewers that the race was finished. The club’s jersey color, blue, also described its mood. But United promptly lost to Wigan and tied Everton, and then memorably fell at City to give up its advantage. With two games left, the title was City’s to lose again. The club’s fans cried tears of joy last Sunday when a win at Newcastle moved City to the doorstep. For many, a victory on Sunday will make up for a lifetime of watching friends and relatives, neighbors and co-workers celebrate United’s many triumphs. “Forty-four years is an unbelievably long time to wait for another title — it is too many years for the fans to wait,” Touré said. “Now we have one game left and we have to deliver.”

Soccer
Manchester City (Soccer Team)
Manchester United (Soccer Team)
English Premier League
Queens Park Rangers (Soccer Team)


India and Pakistan Agree to Renew Peace Talks

Abstract: NEW DELHI — India and Pakistan announced on Thursday that the two countries would resume peace talks that have been stalled since 2008, when Pakistani militants staged coordinated terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India, killing 163. The agreement, announced in simultaneous statements put out by both governments, followed high-level meetings on Sunday between the foreign secretaries of India and Pakistan and appeared to set the stage for high-level, open-ended and wide-ranging talks on a variety of contentious issues from counterterrorism to improving economic relations. The renewed talks are likely to be welcomed by the United States, which has been eager to ease tensions between the two countries so that Pakistan can divert troops from its border with India to its frontier with Afghanistan and aid in the American effort to fight Taliban insurgents. As part of the agreement, Pakistan’s foreign minister, Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi, will visit India in July to review the progress of the discussions, which will include meetings focused on diffusing tensions over the disputed border region of Kashmir. Each side holds a portion of the territory but claims the entire region, and Pakistan-based militants have waged insurgency inside India aimed at breaking loose the province. The peace talks were first initiated in early 2004, after the armies of the nuclear-armed neighbors nearly went to war in 2001, and appeared to be bearing fruit when they were abruptly cut off in the wake of the deadly terror attack in Mumbai. Secret talks in 2007 came close to resolving some of the most difficult issues, including the status of Kashmir. But they lapsed as then-president Pervez Musharraf lost his grip on power, and the attacks the following year plunged relations into their worst freeze since the two countries fought a brief war in 1999. The Mumbai attackers belonged to a terrorist group whose main aim was to take over the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir. The two sides have repeatedly tried to resume talks since 2008, but these efforts have foundered as New Delhi had insisted that Islamabad make progress fighting terrorism within Pakistan and put the planners of the Mumbai attack on trial.


Justices Say U.S. Cannot Impose Antiprostitution Condition on AIDS Grants

Abstract: WASHINGTON — Groups receiving federal financing to combat AIDS abroad may not be required to adopt policies opposing prostitution, the Supreme Court ruled on Thursday. Under a 2003 law, the federal government has distributed billions of dollars to private groups to help fight AIDS around the world, imposing two conditions in the process. First, the money may not be used “to promote or advocate the legalization or practice of prostitution and sex trafficking.” That condition was not before the court. The question for the justices was whether the second condition, requiring recipients to have “a policy explicitly opposing prostitution and sex trafficking,” passed constitutional muster. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., writing for a six-justice majority , said the condition ran afoul of the First Amendment because it required recipients “to pledge allegiance to the government’s policy of eradicating prostitution.” He said the groups challenging the law feared that “adopting a policy explicitly opposing prostitution may alienate certain host governments, and may diminish the effectiveness of some of their programs by making it more difficult to work with prostitutes.” Marine Buissonniere, the director of the Open Society Public Health Program, one of the groups that challenged the condition, said the policy was counterproductive. “Public health groups cannot tell sex workers that we ‘oppose’ them, yet expect them to be partners in preventing H.I.V.,” she said in a statement. “Condemnation and alienation are not public health strategies.” Chief Justice Roberts acknowledged that the Supreme Court’s jurisprudence on “unconstitutional conditions” was confusing. As a general matter, he said, the government has no obligation to spend money, just as recipients are not required to take the government’s money. But sometimes, he wrote, “a funding condition can result in an unconstitutional burden on First Amendment rights.” “The line is hardly clear,” the chief justice wrote, but it is crossed when the government seeks “to leverage funding to regulate speech outside the contours of the program itself.” Image Visitors waited Thursday outside the Supreme Court in Washington. Credit J. Scott Applewhite/Associated Press The condition requiring groups receiving AIDS money to adopt an antiprostitution policy was on the wrong side of the line, he said. “A recipient cannot avow the belief dictated” by the government, he wrote, “and then turn around and assert a contrary belief, or claim neutrality, when participating in activities on its own time and dime.” Chief Justice Roberts rejected an argument by the Obama administration that the requirement to adopt a policy was needed to protect the prohibition on the use of government money to promote prostitution. Money is fungible, it said, and the availability of government money could free up private money to promote prostitution. The Supreme Court accepted a similar argument in Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project , a 2010 decision that said the First Amendment did not protect benign assistance in the form of speech to groups that the government said had engaged in terrorism. Chief Justice Roberts, who wrote the majority opinion in the 2010 case, said the earlier case was different because there had been evidence that “support for those organizations’ nonviolent operations was funneled to support their violent activities.” Justices Anthony M. Kennedy, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen G. Breyer, Samuel A. Alito Jr. and Sonia Sotomayor joined the majority decision on Thursday. In dissent, Justice Antonin Scalia said the contested condition did nothing more than allow the government to “enlist the assistance of those who believe in its ideas.” “That,” he continued, “seems to me a matter of the most common common sense.” He gave an example: “A federal program to encourage healthy eating habits need not be administered by the American Gourmet Society.” Justice Clarence Thomas joined the dissent. Justice Elena Kagan recused herself from the case — Agency for International Development v. Alliance for Open Society International, No. 12-10 — presumably because she had worked on it as solicitor general. In 2011, a divided three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, in New York, blocked the law , saying it “compels grantees to espouse the government’s position on a controversial issue.” In summarizing the majority opinion in the courtroom on Thursday, Chief Justice Roberts said he could not improve on what Justice Robert H. Jackson had said in announcing a decision from the bench “70 years ago last Friday.” That 1943 decision, West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette , struck down a law compelling public school students to salute the flag. “If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation,” Chief Justice Roberts said, quoting Justice Jackson, “it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion or other matters of opinion, or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein.”

United States Agency for International Development


U.S. Sweetens Offer to Take Sudan Off Terrorist List

Abstract: WASHINGTON — President Obama has told Sudan that if it allows a politically sensitive referendum to go ahead in January, and abides by the results, the United States will move to take the country off its list of state sponsors of terrorism as early as next July, administration officials said Sunday. The offer, conveyed to the Sudanese authorities over the weekend by Senator John Kerry , the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations committee, represents a significant sweetening of the package of incentives the administration offered to Sudan in September for its cooperation with the vote. Under a peace agreement that ended years of civil war in Sudan, the government in Khartoum agreed to a referendum, now scheduled for Jan. 9, in which the people of southern Sudan will decide whether to secede from the north. They are expected to vote overwhelmingly to do so. But as the date for the vote nears, there are persistent reports of foot-dragging by the Sudanese authorities in preparing for it, as well as fears of a new outbreak of violence if the north does not honor the results. Dividing Sudan is hugely complicated, since most of its oil fields lie in the south. In September, the administration presented Sudan with incentives ranging from modest steps like the delivery of agricultural equipment to more sweeping measures, including debt relief, normalized diplomatic relations, the lifting of sanctions and the removal of Sudan from the State Department’s list of state sponsors of terrorism, which it has been on since 1993. Administration officials said then that they did not expect to take that last step until late 2011 or 2012, one official said, because it was also linked to a resolution of the violence in the Darfur region. But now the United States has made it contingent only on the referendum. The Sudanese government, another official said, had pushed in recent weeks for more clarity in the incentives. “I believe a broad agreement is within reach if they act with the sense of urgency that is necessary to seize this historic opportunity,” Mr. Kerry said in a statement on Sunday as he left Sudan. Sudan has long petitioned to be removed from the State Department list, which also includes Iran, Cuba and Syria. Under President Bill Clinton, the administration designated its placement there on the grounds that it harbored Osama bin Laden and other terrorists. But in recent years, Sudan has cooperated in counterterrorism efforts. Over time, Sudan’s designation has been expanded to include its role in mass killings in Darfur. Economic sanctions against Sudan remain linked to the violence in Darfur, officials said, and cannot be lifted without approval from Congress. Earlier this week, Mr. Obama renewed those sanctions. The president can remove Sudan from the terrorism list after notifying Congress. The United States, an official said, will not relax “our commitment to solving the problems that have dogged Darfur.” The administration’s offer does not depend on resolving another sticking point: a separate plebiscite by people in the contested border region of Abyei to decide to join northern or southern Sudan. The two sides have not agreed on the terms of that vote, also scheduled for January. With diplomats still struggling to break the impasse, administration officials said they recognized that the plebiscite on Abyei may have to be deferred until after the broader vote on independence by southern Sudan. North Korea was the last nation the United States removed from the terrorism list. That was done by the Bush administration in 2008, in an effort to encourage Pyongyang to be more pliant in talks over its nuclear program — a goal that has been largely unmet, given North Korea’s recent intransigence.

Sudan
Terrorism
Referendums
State Department
United States International Relations
Embargoes and Economic Sanctions
Obama Barack
Kerry John


A Little Magic in Nicosia, a Lot More in Barcelona

Abstract: LYON — If you wrote a script that had Lionel Messi and Apoel Nicosia creating history in the same competition on the same night, you might just be led away by men in white coats to Fantasy Island. Until now, who would have thought of Messi and Apoel in the same context? One is the most gifted soccer player on earth, quite possibly the greatest soccer player ever. The other is a club that has existed in Cyprus since 1926, without any notions of joining the Champions League elite. Yet on Wednesday night, the wonder of Messi and the achievement of Apoel were joined. Little Leo scored five goals in Barcelona ’s 7-1 demolition of Bayer Leverkusen. “It’s nice,” he said, “to score five.” Nice? It’s downright outrageous. Messi chipped goals with his right foot and left. He drew three defenders and then waltzed away from them, the ball still in his possession until he once more released it into the net. Perhaps nobody told Messi that this was the team that defeated Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga last weekend? Perhaps it made no difference who they were — Messi was in the mood because he had missed a Barcelona match last Saturday. And Messi without the ball is a boy without his favorite toy. “From him, you expect anything,” said his teammate Cesc Fàbregas. “Leo is the greatest player in the history of the game.” Statistics cannot define that greatness, but they are giving it a darned good try. These were the 182nd to 186th goals Messi had scored for Barça in his last 201 matches. He is only 24 years of age, yet he has already scored 49 goals at the top level of European competition, tying the career total of Alfredo di Stéfano. Di Stéfano was one of the most illustrious players of all time, and, like Messi, he was an Argentine who came to Spain. Like Messi, he played in the finest club side of its era, the Real Madrid of the 1950s and early 1960s. The Great Alfredo shares the title of honorary president of Real Madrid. What the Catalans will give Lionel Messi the day he finally eclipses all records known to man, heaven knows. But it will be nice, whatever it is. What Messi has, and shares with the team from Nicosia, is modesty. To him, it is just a game. He doesn’t astonish himself, and to be honest, he scarcely astonishes the watching world any longer with anything he does. And he plays, to be fair, in a team of near-geniuses. Xavi, Andrés Iniesta and even the wing back Dani Alves compete to feed him passes. There is a never-ending stream of youth from the academy — talents like Cristian Tello, who came on as a substitute Wednesday and scored with almost his first touch in the Champions League, then scored again to prove it was no fluke. Poor Leverkusen. The German team’s coach, Robin Dutt, said what many men have long thought. “Without Messi, Barcelona is the best team in the world. With Messi, they are in another galaxy.” Money cannot buy what Barça has, but it is a fact that its top players each make what Apoel budgets for its entire team. We know what that is because Apoel officially caps its annual spending at €10 million, or $13.2 million. For that, the team is excelling. Its Serbian coach, Ivan Jovanovic, takes journeyman players from Brazil, from Portugal and from Greece. He instills a defensive order that, apparently, few in the Champions League this season can break down. Something is working, because inside the GSP Stadium in Nicosia, the place was really rocking Wednesday. The first task was to negate the one-goal advantage that worldly wise Olympique Lyon had from the first leg in France. After just nine minutes, that goal was neutralized when Constantinos Charalambides carved out the chance, and one of Apoel’s Brazilians, the 34-year-old Gustavo Manduca, scored from it. Manduca doesn’t have Messi’s touch, or his quiet charm. He tore off his yellow shirt and whirled it above his head. Obeying the joyless diktat of FIFA, the referee, of course, showed Manduca the yellow card. But it had consequences. Lyon could not score, a fact that made us wonder again about that strange night in Zagreb last winter when Lyon scored seven against the seemingly disinterested home side, Dinamo. Seven then, none this week, and into extra time this contest trudged. Alas for Manduca, he received a second yellow card, and thus a sending-off, in the 115th minute of the elongated stalemate. Without him, Apoel clung on. And without him, the Nicosia side played the penalty shootout much better than its French foes. Four times, Apoel players strode up and scored their penalty kicks. Three times, Lyon was a match for them. But then Alexandre Lacazette struck a somewhat tame penalty shot that the home goalie Dionisios Chiotis read correctly, diving to his left to palm it away. Lacazette is 20, and just a kid at this nervy game. The next Lyon man to the penalty spot, however, was Michel Bastos, a little more experienced at 28. Bastos, however, struck almost an exact replica of Lacazette’s penalty kick, and Chiotis made the same move, low down to his left, to keep the ball out of his net. Cue wild celebration. Chiotis, a 34-year-old Athenian, has never known a night like this when everyone from the ball boys to his teammates piled on top of him. When the ecstasy subsides in, say, a week or a fortnight on the island, it might occur to the people of Nicosia that the next European game in their 22,000-capacity stadium could be a Champions League quarterfinal against Barcelona. Bring it on, we can almost hear Apoel cry: Messi versus Chiotis for a place in history.

Cyprus
UEFA Champions League (Soccer)
Barcelona (Soccer Team)


Steady Mussina Gives Yankees a Needed Lift

Abstract: ARLINGTON, Tex. — He ended last season mopping up a playoff loss, and he started this season with uncertainty. If Mike Mussina had not been signed for $11 million, the Yankees probably would not have wanted him back. But there is a reason the Yankees had agreed to pay him. Mussina has a track record of excellence that puts him in the discussion for the Hall of Fame. Free of the nagging injuries that bothered him last year, he has outlasted all the young starters who seemed poised to replace him. Mussina has been the Yankees’ best starter and one of the biggest reasons they are still contenders. He spun more magic Thursday, working seven innings without his best stuff as the Yankees blanked the Texas Rangers , 3-0, to split a four-game series. “I just kept going with what I had, kept mixing it up,” Mussina said. “I stayed away from most guys and used a lot of fastballs, more fastballs than normal. You know your best stuff’s not going to be there every time, and you hope for ways to get it done with less than your best. You get lucky sometimes.” Mussina became the first visiting starter to not allow a run at Rangers Ballpark since last August. He has allowed two runs or fewer in seven of his last eight starts, and he earned his 15th victory, tying Cleveland’s Cliff Lee for the American League lead. “He doesn’t throw as hard as he used to throw, but it seems like his stuff is better,” said Derek Jeter, who had a homer and two runs batted in. “His control is as good this year as I’ve seen it, his ball’s moving all over the place and changing speeds. He’s got so many different. When you add control to that many different pitches, it’s pretty tough.” Mussina came into the game leading the majors in fewest walks in nine innings, with a career-low 1.28. He walked one hitter Thursday, but it was understandable, because Frank Catalanotto drew it. Catalanotto has a .459 career average against Mussina. They have a long history — in 1998, when Catalanotto was a rookie, he broke up a perfect game by Mussina with two outs in the eighth inning. Mussina is helpless to stop him. “I assume he’s going to get a hit,” he said. “If it’s a lousy single up the middle or a ground ball to right field, I’ll take it every time, because I know he’s going to get a hit.” This time, Catalanotto squeezed the walk between two singles. All three times, the All-Star Michael Young followed with an inning-ending out: once on a double play and twice by striking out on sliders. Young was not the only standout Mussina handled. He also struck out Josh Hamilton twice, the first time a backdoor slider that spun the wrong way. That was one reason Mussina felt lucky. “It wasn’t any great pitch,” he said. “But he committed to it and the ball went a different way than he expected — and a different way than I was trying to make it go.” Mussina helped himself by starting two double plays, including a pivotal one to end the sixth inning. He caught Marlon Byrd in a rundown between second and third, and Wilson Betemit nabbed the hitter, Brandon Boggs, who was racing to second. With plays like that, the Yankees left Texas with a much better vibe than they could have expected. They played poorly in the first two games, and Alex Rodriguez went 0 for 14 in the series, flailing at breaking balls and grounding into four double plays. The Yankees could live with it Thursday because of the way Mussina pitched. It is how he has done it for most of this season, when his revival has kept his team alive. INSIDE PITCH Phil Hughes threw 68 pitches over four and two-thirds scoreless innings for Class AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Thursday. Hughes, who is recovering from a fractured rib, threw consistently at 93 to 94 miles an hour and will throw 85 pitches Tuesday at Pawtucket. “It feels like it’s almost to that point where I can throw a full start,” Hughes told The Scranton Times-Tribune. ... Another injured starter, Carl Pavano, worked three and two-thirds scoreless innings for Class AA Trenton as he recovers from elbow surgery. ... Iván Rodríguez, who bruised his right knee in a collision at the plate Wednesday, said he expected to be ready to play Friday. ... Melky Cabrera (0 for 13) was benched for the fourth game in a row. ... Hideki Matsui tested his inflamed knee by taking batting practice and jogging in Tampa, Fla. He has not been cleared for a rehab assignment. ... The veteran Victor Zambrano made his first start in the minors, throwing four scoreless innings in the Gulf Coast League. ... The first-base coach Bobby Meacham was in Colorado for the wedding of his daughter, Ally, who is marrying Maurice Evans, a shooting guard for the Atlanta Hawks.

Texas Rangers
Mussina Mike
New York Yankees
Baseball


European Union Forecasts Fragile Growth in 2010

Abstract: BRUSSELS — The European Union economy is recovering from the deepest and longest recession in its history, but growth is still fragile although risks in 2010 are broadly balanced, the European Commission said on Thursday. The E.U. executive kept its 2010 growth and inflation forecasts for the 16 countries using the euro, as well as the whole 27-nation bloc, unchanged from early November, and said risks to the projections were broadly balanced. It said both the euro zone and the entire E.U. would expand by 0.7 percent this year, after contractions of 4 percent and 4.1 percent respectively in 2009. “With many of the main driving forces being still temporary in the E.U. and globally, the robustness of the recovery is yet to be tested,” it said in a statement. The commission said in its interim forecasts for 2010 that while better-than-expected global demand could further spur exports, investment remained very weak, reflecting exceptionally low capacity utilization. “A muted outlook for investment typically implies a weak labor market ahead, which in turn is likely to dampen private consumption,” the commission said. It said euro-zone inflation, which the European Central Bank targets at just below 2 percent, would be 1.1 percent in 2010. In the whole E.U., inflation should be 1.4 percent, above the 1.3 percent forecast in November. “A sizeable slack in the economy is set to keep inflation in check, offsetting increases in energy and commodity prices,” the commission said. “Price stability is expected to be maintained.” Risks for the inflation outlook were broadly balanced, as for the growth outlook. “On the downside, the situation of financial markets remains highly uncertain and subject to serious adverse risks,” the commission said. “On the upside, the vigor of the global recovery, particularly in Asian emerging markets, and the imminent turning of the inventory cycle in the E.U. may have a greater impact on domestic demand than currently anticipated.”

European Union
Economic Conditions and Trends
Gross Domestic Product


Productivity Growth Slows and the Costs of Labor Rise

Abstract: WASHINGTON (AP) — Worker productivity, a crucial factor in rising living standards, slowed sharply in the last quarter of 2007 while wage pressure increased. The Labor Department reported Wednesday that productivity, the amount of output for each hour of work, increased at an annual pace of 1.8 percent from October through December, down from a 6 percent pace in the July-September period. The slowdown reflected an overall weakening in economic activity. Labor costs rose by 2.1 percent, after having fallen by 1.9 percent in the third quarter and 1.1 percent in the second quarter. Still, the increase in productivity was nearly double what economists had been expecting, and the rise in labor costs was slightly less than expected. Ian C. Shepherdson, chief United States economist at High Frequency Economics, said he looked for productivity to slow further in 2008, reflecting an extremely weak economy in the first half of the year. For all of 2007, productivity rose 1.6 percent, a modest increase from a 1 percent gain in 2006. Both years were well below the average annual increases of 3.2 percent from 2000 through 2004. Productivity allows businesses to pay their workers more without having to raise the cost of their products. Productivity was stagnant for two decades after the oil shocks of the 1970s. Starting in 1995, however, it began showing bigger improvements, reflecting in part the capital investments made by companies in computers and other equipment. Economists are debating whether that substantial gain in productivity is now waning or whether the slowdown is a temporary reflection of the deterioration of the overall economy. Some analysts argue that the fourth-quarter slump in productivity and the rise in labor costs will not alarm Fed policy makers, who are focused on fighting the sharp slowdown in overall economic activity rather than worrying about inflation. For all 2007, labor costs rose 3.1 percent, a slight increase from a 2.9 percent rise in 2006.

Labor Department
United States
Economic Conditions and Trends
United States Economy
Company Reports


Pickle-Shaped Tower Put Up for Sale in London

Abstract: One of London’s most recognizable office buildings, the Norman Foster-designed tower nicknamed the Gherkin for its distinctive shape, has been put up for sale, which is expected to generate worldwide interest. The accounting firm Deloitte was appointed receiver of the skyscraper this year after one of the building’s owners, Immobilien of Germany, went into bankruptcy protection. IVG and Evans Randall bought the tower in early 2007 for 600 million British pounds from the insurer Swiss Re, a record at the time for a building in London’s financial district. The Gherkin is a 40-story office building with 20 tenants, including Swiss Re, Kirkland & Ellis International and ION Trading.

London
Commercial Real Estate
Norman Foster
Architecture


Britain: Online Surveillance Challenged

Abstract: Three British organizations said Thursday that they had filed a legal challenge in the European Court of Human Rights to the online surveillance programs of the British spy agency the Government Communications Headquarters. The groups are seeking to have the court declare the collection of metadata, including e-mails and social media messages, in secret programs revealed by the American intelligence analyst Edward J. Snowden to be an illegal breach of the right to privacy. The case, financed through donations, has been brought by English PEN, the Open Rights Group and Big Brother Watch, as well as by a German activist. The government said that a similar challenge could not be brought in domestic courts, but that a complaint could be made only to the Investigatory Powers Tribunal, which does not act in public.

Government Communications Headquarters Great Britain


U.S. Anti-Gang Sweep Yields Over 1,100 Arrests

Abstract: Federal authorities have arrested more than 1,100 people since February as part of an enforcement campaign against gangs that traffic guns, drugs and people across United States borders, officials said. The gangs caught in the dragnet were not small-time operators, said Sarah Rodriguez, a spokeswoman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. “We are talking about sophisticated organizations who are involved in human trafficking, who are involved in drug smuggling, gun smuggling,” she said. Of the 1,133 people arrested during the five-week operation, more than 900 were members or associates of gangs, including MS-13, the Sureños, the Norteños, the Bloods and several others based in prisons, the immigration agency said in a statement. A majority of the enforcement actions took place in and around Los Angeles; San Francisco; Houston; El Paso, Tex.; Atlanta; and San Juan, Puerto Rico, the authorities said. Image The authorities conducted the anti-gang sweep, called Project Shadowfire, over a five-week period. Credit U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement There were also arrests along the East Coast. The Newark area had more than 20, while New York City, Boston, Baltimore, Philadelphia and Washington each had more than 10. Called Project Shadowfire, the operation was conducted under the banner of Operation Community Shield, an initiative begun in 2005 by the immigration agency to target violent gangs. Regular sweeps over the past 11 years have resulted in more than 40,000 gang-related arrests and the seizure of more than 8,000 firearms, officials said. In the latest campaign, conducted in tandem with local and state law enforcement agencies, officials seized more than 20 kilograms of narcotics — including marijuana, cocaine, heroin — illicit cash and weapons, Ms. Rodriguez of I.C.E. said. Some experts have observed a shifting emphasis by drug smugglers away from marijuana as the drug has been decriminalized across the United States in recent years. Data released by the United States Border Patrol showed that marijuana seizures along the southwest border with Mexico fell to their lowest level in at least a decade in 2015, even as other data suggested a rise in methamphetamine imports. Most of those arrested in the immigration agency’s sweep were American nationals, but about 240 were natives of countries in Latin America, Europe, Asia and the Caribbean, officials said. More than 130 people were accused of immigration violations, and about 80 were arrested because of open warrants. Agents seized 150 firearms and more than $70,000 in American currency, officials said.

Gang
Human trafficking
Smuggling
Immigration and Customs Enforcement,ICE
US
Drug Abuse
Gun Control


World Cup 2014: In Porto Alegre, a More Dour Soccer Culture

Abstract: PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil — “Tell me how you play, and I will tell you who you are.” It is one of soccer’s great truisms, and nowhere does it have more meaning than in Brazil, where soccer is widely thought to articulate the country’s sense of self. When the country won its third World Cup in 1970, the Jornal do Brasil asserted that “Brazil’s victory with the ball compares with the conquest of the moon by the Americans.” Overnight, the country was no longer recognized for its Carnival, but for its soccer. Brazil had found its place in the world. The “jogo bonito” intoxicates those who watch it. Brazil’s style of play represented a better, idealized version of the country where improvisation led to transcendence, success and international acclaim. The curse of Brazil has always been the gulf between what it could be — since the 1940s it has been the “country of the future” — and what it is. On the soccer field, this was felt most sharply in 1982, when Brazil lost in the second round of the World Cup. The magical midfield of Falcão, Zico, Sócrates and Cerezo proved so dazzling that many observers were blinded to the side’s vulnerability. Brazilians still crave a World Cup for this phantom team that never delivered. Not everyone in Brazil expects this national team to win. Expectations often vary by region. Here in the southern city of Porto Alegre, everyone is dressed for winter. They wear black, as if they are mourning the warmth of summer. This is not the subtropical, samba Brazil of the imagination, but the dour reality of winter in Brazil’s southernmost state, Rio Grande do Sul. On any other weekday, people here would be at work, but Thursday was the Feast of Corpus Christi, a national holiday. Some two dozen middle-aged men took to an unkempt soccer field, wedged between the high-rise apartment blocks in the genteel neighborhood of Moinhos de Vento. They play for two local clubs, as their fathers did before them. The soccer on offer is of meager fare; it is bereft of the skill and guile associated with the Brazilian game. This is football as it might be played in northern Europe. Fernando, who works in administration, is waiting to join the game. “There’s a lot of contact and hard tackling in our gaúcho football, which you don’t see in other states,” he says. “It’s a more physical game here.” Image Neymar’s extraordinary skills seem to give the country's team enough Brazilian-ness to satisfy the nation. Credit Lucas Uebel/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Porto Alegre’s two main clubs, Grêmio and its archrival Sport Club Internacional, have a reputation for playing the Uruguayan and Argentine way: tough, and without restraint. This is the warrior-like culture of the region’s gaúcho heritage. They call it having raça — guts. There is even a belief that, due to its geographical proximity to the Río de la Plata, soccer in Brazil was first played here rather than in São Paulo. This region has stood apart from the rest of the country for decades. In 1972, Brazil celebrated its 150th anniversary of independence with a small international tournament. No player from the state of Rio Grande do Sul was chosen to play. To make up for the slight, the local soccer federation organized a match between the national team and a team of local players. This would be no friendly. Such was the regional fervor in Porto Alegre’s Beira-Rio stadium that the national anthem was jeered and local fans took to burning the national flag. Whenever the “Brazilians” had the ball, they were greeted with abuse from the 110,000 spectators. The match ended in a 3-3 draw. The usual conspiracies began to circulate. The national team, which had not lost a match in five years, could not be allowed to lose. The current Brazilian team seems not to possess either of the two principal aspects of the Brazilian game — it has neither the samba nor the fearlessness. But Neymar’s extraordinary skills at least seem to give this team enough Brazilian-ness to satisfy the nation. Meanwhile, Luiz Felipe Scolari, Brazil’s coach, has crowded his midfield, hoping for a goal with the help of a partisan crowd. Still, here in Porto Alegre, some are unconvinced of Brazil’s chances of success. Fernando cracks a half smile and says, “If you mark Neymar and Oscar out of the game then we don’t look too threatening.” Scolari is from Rio Grande do Sul, so there are no charges of bias. Though the same cannot be said for the choice of sites. Even if the national team reaches the final, it will not have set foot in Porto Alegre. When Argentina faces Nigeria at the Beira-Rio stadium here next week, the city is likely to descend into football fervor. For the visiting Argentine fans — and no doubt the attendant hooligans known as barras bravas — they will find a home away from home. For the locals, however, it may just be a little unnerving to watch their River Plate brand of soccer being played by the Argentine national team.

Soccer
Brazil
Neymar
Luiz Felipe Scolari
Argentina
2014 World Cup
Uruguay
River Plate Soccer Team


In Losing a Mentor in McNair, Vince Young Becomes One

Abstract: Nashville When Vince Young was an N.F.L. rookie, in 2006, he often found himself overwhelmed by high expectations. Just when things seemed to reach a breaking point, Steve McNair , Young’s mentor and childhood hero, was always there to restore calm. “He would always say, ‘Everything’s going to be O.K.,’ ” Young recalled Thursday after the Titans ’ practice. “That was his biggest thing. He’d say: ‘You’ll be fine, boy. Go back out there, and show ’em the type of good quarterback you are.’ ” Now, after McNair’s unspeakable death in July 2009, Young has found himself saying the same reassuring words to McNair’s young sons, Tyler, 12, and Trenton, 6: “Things will be better in the morning.” Their world was turned inside out when their father was found shot to death in an apartment he rented in downtown Nashville. McNair was murdered by his mistress, who turned the gun on herself and committed suicide. The circumstances surrounding McNair’s murder were in a sharp contrast to his national image. McNair was a poster for civic responsibility, and, by every weight and measure, he was a great, ever-present dad. A year later, the initial shock has worn off, the national news media have moved on, and the N.F.L. season is at its midway point. McNair’s family and friends, however, continue to pick up the shattered pieces of their lives. His wife, Mechelle, has virtually dropped out of public view and has not made a statement since the shooting. Young immediately stepped in to fill the void, acting not so much as a father figure to McNair’s sons but as an older, wiser sibling. “I still do things that I would have been doing if Steve was here — things that he taught me when I was growing up,” Young said. “Focus in on your books; be on your good behavior. You’re going to make some mistakes, just know that you need to learn from your mistakes.” McNair often brought his sons to practice and inside the locker room after home games. Young has kept up the tradition. Mostly he talks to the boys, reassures them, interacts with them over lunch and dinner at their home or at a restaurant. He surprised them last year when he picked them up at their home and took them to a school-sponsored “dear dad breakfast” at a local restaurant. He also took them to the Pro Bowl in Miami. “I like to be honest with them; I tell them the truth,” Young said. “Over all, I just want them to know they are loved by me, the big brother, and by the other guys here as well.” This side of Young has nothing really to do with football and everything to do with the maturity of a player who has had his own issues: having great success as a rookie, sustaining injuries, soldiering through spotty play, having a bizarre reaction to being benched, winning back his job and now dealing with an ankle injury and more expectations brought on by Tennessee’s acquisition of Randy Moss. What Young has learned about fighting through adversity, he has passed on to McNair’s sons. “I tell them that you’ve got to go through the process,” Young said. “You’ve got levels in life, especially as a young man. You have got a lot levels, a lot of obstacles you got to get over. Sometimes you’ll be thinking you’re fine for a second, then here comes another issue. I tell them you’ve got to keep on taking dead aim at all these issues and continue to make yourself mentally strong.” One of the many sorrows of McNair’s death is that as his children grow older and begin to learn more about their father, he won’t be around to explain, to answer questions, to stand as proof that he is still a good man, flaws and all. That responsibility will fall on good friends like Young. “Right now, they still are kind of hurting; they break down once in a while, so I stay away for that,” Young said. “We do talk about Pops when we can. When they do get a little older, I’m going to explain to them, ‘This is the reason I loved your dad: for the things he did in the community. He was a very physical guy, funny; he was a guy who loved to have a good time, looked to give back in the community. And he loved to spend time with you two.’ ” Time moves on, and, for many, time heals wounds. Meanwhile, a legion of friends and family deals with the aftershocks. A wife loses a husband, sons lose their father, another father loses a daughter. Vince Young lost a great mentor. “If I was going through another matter at home that was stressing me out,” Young said, “he’d say, ‘Man, you’ll be O.K.; just pray on it, move on to the next day, and work to make it better.’ ” Young has assumed the role of the reassuring, good shepherd for McNair’s sons, a role that McNair once played for Young. Everything’s going to be all right. It’s going to be all right.

Football
National Football League
Tennessee Titans
Young Vince
McNair Steve


Treasury Auctions Set for This Week

Abstract: The Treasury’s schedule of financing this week includes Monday’s regular weekly auction of new three- and six-month bills and an auction of four-week bills on Tuesday. At the close of the New York cash market on Friday, the rate on the outstanding three-month bill was 0.11 percent. The rate on the six-month issue was 0.15 percent, and the rate on the four-week issue was 0.07 percent. The following tax-exempt fixed-income issues are scheduled for pricing this week: TUESDAY Bangor, Me., $56.5 million of general obligation bonds. Competitive. WEDNESDAY Maryland, $617.6 million of general obligation bonds. Competitive. Virginia Public School Authority, $66.3 million of revenue bonds. Competitive. THURSDAY Missouri, $307.7 million of revenue bonds. Competitive. Rochester, $66.9 million of general obligation bonds. Competitive. ONE DAY DURING THE WEEK Fairfax County, Va., Industrial Development Authority, $350 million of health care revenue bonds. Morgan Stanley. Houston, $249.1 million of combined utility system first-lien revenue refinancing bonds. RBC Capital Markets. Jacksonville, Fla., $119 million of sales tax refinancing revenue bonds. Goldman Sachs. Jacksonville, Fla., Electric Authority, $110 million of debt securities. Citigroup Global Markets. Kansas Development Finance Authority, $311 million of hospital revenue refinancing bonds. Ziegler. King County, Wash., $52 million of limited tax general obligation refinancing bonds. Citigroup Global Markets. Nashville and Davidson County, Tenn., $140.4 million of general obligation bonds. Piper Jaffray. New York Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority, $1.2 billion of general revenue refinancing bonds. Goldman Sachs. New York University Hospitals Center, $250 million of taxable bonds. J. P. Morgan Securities. Northside, Tex., Independent School District, $70 million of variable-rate unlimited tax school building bonds. Citigroup Global Markets. Purdue University, $58.7 million of student fee bonds. Morgan Stanley. San Antonio, $171.8 million of general improvement bonds. Piper Jaffray. San Diego Unified School District, $240 million of tax and revenue anticipated notes. Citigroup Global Markets. Trustees of California State University, $365 million of revenue bonds. Barclays Capital.

Stocks and Bonds
States (US)
Treasury Department


Facing Long Mine Rescue, Chile Spares No Expense

Abstract: SAN JOSÉ MINE, Chile — The government has consulted NASA about the extreme isolation of space. Chilean Navy officers have come to discuss the emotional stress of living in a submarine. Doctors stand at the ready with antidepressants. Even a tiny home theater is being funneled down in plastic tubes to occupy the 33 miners stuck in their subterranean home. Chile is sparing no expense or attempted innovation in trying to rescue the miners trapped by a cave-in on Aug. 5, fully aware that the country — and the world — is closely watching the ordeal. But like everything else being done to maintain the psychological health of the miners over the weeks or months they may remain nearly half a mile underground, officials will carefully control what they are exposed to, down to the messages they receive from their families or the kind of movies that might be projected on the wall of the mine. “Movies are possible,” said Ximena Matas, a local city councilwoman. “But the psychologists will decide what movies they will see. It’s up to them if something like ‘Avatar’ would be too upsetting.” No fewer than seven government ministers roam the dusty brown dirt of the makeshift camp outside the mine here in Chile’s Atacama Desert, not to mention the countless politicians, millionaire donors and observers who almost outnumber the family members camping in tents. With his popularity already slipping, President Sebastián Piñera has staked his nascent presidency on rescuing the miners, and is keeping up a full-court media press that reflects both his background as the billionaire former head of a media empire and the strategy that helped get him elected, analysts said. “With a conviction that seemed to border on political suicide, the authorities bet all or nothing, and this time the returns will have incalculable reach,” Max Colodro Riesenberg, a professor at the University Adolfo Ibáñez, wrote in a newspaper column this week. Government officials said they held a teleconference on Wednesday afternoon with five NASA specialists, among them doctors who put astronauts through tests that simulate the grueling isolation of a voyage to Mars. Dr. Jaime Mañalich, the health minister, said he had urged NASA to send a team to “monitor what we are doing here” and announced Thursday that three or four NASA specialists would arrive in Chile next week to assist medical officials with the miners. “This is a unique experience,” Dr. Mañalich said. The miners are in relatively good spirits, officials say, but psychologists are concerned that both the miners and their families may soon suffer from post-traumatic stress once the euphoria wears off from establishing contact on Sunday. Psychologists are coaching family members and the miners on what they should say to each other and are filtering notes before they are sent down to the miners. “They are giving good advice,” said Margarita Lagos Fuentes, 54, the mother of Claudio Lagos, a 34-year-old miner trapped below. “If they are in hell, why should we make it worse?” Health workers are organizing a special exercise and recreation program to keep the men fit during their long wait. And they are instructing the miners about the need to distinguish between daytime and nighttime activities. Beyond the immediate 600-square-foot chamber the miners have sought refuge in, there are ample tunnels in which to move around and find a little privacy, mining company officials said. For days after discovering the miners alive, officials carefully avoided telling them that it could take months to get them out, for the sake of preserving morale. Then on Wednesday, the health minister announced that officials had informed the miners that they would not be rescued before Chile’s Independence Day on Sept. 18 and that “we hoped to get them out before Christmas.” The miners reacted calmly to the news, Dr. Mañalich, the minister, said. “But we have the impression that in the days to come they are going to suffer from huge challenges regarding their psychological conditions.” The miners finally got their first solid food on Wednesday afternoon — cereal bars — after four days of liquids. Because of the small size of the borehole, which is only about four inches in diameter, health workers have been struggling to send enough food and liquid, and hoped to be able to provide each miner with 800 calories on Thursday. Before being discovered, the miners survived on tiny bites of emergency rations and have lost an average of about 20 pounds each. Just outside the borehole, a reporter asked Marcela Zúñiga, a nurse, when the miners would receive their first empanadas, a popular Chilean pastry usually stuffed with meat. “Those are being prepared by a special team in Santiago,” Ms. Zúñiga said. Short, usually one-page notes from the miners have brought tears and laughter to family members above — like the one Orlando Contreras, 19, the brother of Pedro Contreras, 25, keeps in his wallet — quickly becoming cherished property. The miners have asked family members to send toothbrushes, clean underwear and, usually in jest, comforts like beer, bottles of wine and CDs. Ómar Rojas sent a note to his family asking for a steak and television “to kill the boredom.” The miners have also been sending their credit and bank cards to family members via the tubes, which are pulled up by a winch. Government officials said they were starting to send them soccer updates and other news. Psychologists are helping families choose who will make their first verbal communication with the miners on a modified telephone through the borehole, officials and family members said. Only one family member will be allowed to speak to each miner, for up to five minutes each. A videocamera may also be connected by cable to officials above, allowing family members to see the miners themselves. The mine has had a history of accidents and was forced to shut down briefly to make safety improvements, but its owners did not carry them out, according to some lawmakers and a risk prevention specialist who worked for the company. The miners became trapped when two levels above them collapsed, leading them to seek refuge in a shelter about 2,300 feet deep. As the days passed, the nation grew increasingly skeptical that any of the miners had survived — let alone all of them. Now officials face a new set of questions, including whether to send the miners, many of whom smoke, cigarettes. Ultimately, it was decided that they would be sent nicotine gum instead. That was just fine with Mrs. Fuentes, the mother of Mr. Lagos. “I’m hoping they come out of there with a more mature attitude,” she said. “Forget about beer and cigarettes.”

Rescues
Chile
Mines and Mining
Pinera Sebastian
Accidents and Safety


In New Home, Policy Group Gets Big Gift

Abstract: WASHINGTON — The American Enterprise Institute — one of the nation’s oldest conservative think tanks, but one that has never had its own home — is getting financial help for its new headquarters in a stately Dupont Circle building from a $20 million donation by Daniel A. D’Aniello , a co-founder and chairman of the private equity firm the Carlyle Group. Mr. D’Aniello, whose philanthropy has largely been limited to social welfare programs and the Roman Catholic Church, has been a longtime admirer of A.E.I.’s president, Arthur C. Brooks , whom he met years ago and with whom he was maintained a close relationship. The gift will allow A.E.I., which last year had revenues of $44.4 million, to increase its staff and expand its conservative mission. The group is seeking to move out of the shadow of the much younger Heritage Foundation, which for years has been more influential and which has increasingly moved to become more of a political than a research organization. “This move is an example of A.E.I.’s expanding service to the nation and is only possible because of the strong support of our community of investors,” Mr. Brooks said in a news release. He said Mr. D’Aniello’s gift will allow A.E.I. to better “lead the fight for the system and culture of freedom that are America’s gift to the world.” The donation was first reported on The Washington Post’s website. The institute, which has culled staff from various Republican administrations, focuses on foreign and defense, economic and health care policies and on cultural issues. The group’s new headquarters, which will be named after Mr. D’Aniello, was built in 1917 and was once a luxury apartment building. A.E.I. bought the Beaux-Arts building last year from the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Mr. D’Aniello’s charitable giving has largely been overshadowed by that of another of Carlyle’s three founders, David Rubenstein, who has drawn national attention for his lavish purchases like Magna Carta, which is on loan at the National Archives in a room named after him. Mr. Rubenstein keeps his money out of political causes. Mr. D’Aniello has had a keen interest in groups that promote entrepreneurs. Forbes has estimated his worth at $2.6 billion.

American Enterprise Institute
Carlyle Group
Daniel A D'Aniello


Study Finds Hispanic Youngsters Face Obstacles to Integration

Abstract: A snapshot of Hispanic youngsters — the fastest-growing group in the United States by age and ethnicity — concludes that the obstacles and inequalities they face today “may hinder the broader integration of Latinos into U.S. society if left unattended.” If those problems are addressed, though, the authors of the study say, “we can expect that over time Latinos will assimilate” just as earlier immigrant groups did, with an accompanying rise in their social and economic status. More than one in five American children are Latino. While 92 percent of them are citizens, 58 percent live with one or more foreign-born parents. The study, done jointly by the Population Reference Bureau and the National Council of La Raza, a Latino civil rights group, found that while most Latino children were growing up in two-parent households with at least one working parent, those households tended to be poor or low-income, and in neighborhoods that are socially and economically isolated from better-off families. Unless current trends are reversed, the study says, by 2030, 44 percent of poor children in the United States will be Latino, compared with one-third today. But in an interview, Patricia Foxen of La Raza, who co-wrote the study, suggested that the picture could brighten as Hispanics assimilated. “Other research has found that there have generally been improvements on a number of indicators for Latino children, similar to immigrant groups who have integrated into the country — improved socioeconomic indicators, educational attainment, college attendance, etc.,” Ms. Foxen said. “Nonetheless,” she added, “that research has also shown that there continues to be a substantial subgroup of Latino children who continue living in poverty, do not finish high school, get stuck in dead-end jobs, etc.” Ms. Foxen said poverty’s legacy, discrimination, alienation and a general feeling of “not quite belonging” were to blame. Hispanics are faring better in the nation’s traditional gateway cities and worse in the South, where low-paying jobs in poultry processing, furniture making and commercial agriculture have drawn the most recent immigrants. In Alabama, nearly half the Hispanic children live in households where no one age 14 and older speaks English well, about twice the national rate. The Census Bureau said Tuesday that the number of people who speak Spanish at home rose to 23.4 million from 1980 to 2007, a 211 percent increase. The share of Latino children living in single-parent families soared six percentage points to 38 percent since 2000, a larger increase than among blacks or whites. Still, Hispanic youngsters are less likely to live in single-parent families than blacks (38 percent compared with 65 percent). Hispanics who reach the ninth grade are more likely than blacks to graduate with a regular diploma (55 percent compared with 51 percent) and Hispanic men are less likely than black men to be imprisoned at some point in their lives (one in six, compared with one in three). The Latino child poverty rate is almost as high as that among blacks. But among children in low-income families making up to twice the poverty threshold, Latinos and whites were more likely than blacks to have parents who were employed. Among high school dropouts, 18-to-24-year-old Latinos made more than whites’ or blacks’ mean earnings ($12,647, compared with $8,373 and $10,025, respectively). Latinos also have much lower infant mortality rates than blacks (although their teenage pregnancy rate is higher than that of other groups). Titled “America’s Future: Latino Child Well-Being in Numbers and Trends,” the report identified a few positive developments. While Hispanic children are more likely than whites or blacks to live with mothers who have not graduated from high school, since 2000 the share in that category plunged by 10 percentage points. In general, the report said, “first- and second-generation Latino youth have worse educational and economic outcomes than children whose families have lived in the United States for several generations.” Still, third-generation youngsters born in the United States of American-born parents (concentrated in the Northeast, where more are likely to be Puerto Rican, and in the northern Midwest) fared worse in health and proportion of single parents than first- and second-generation Latinos. The study did not differentiate between native-born and immigrant blacks, nor did it compare Hispanics by place of origin. But it cited the significance of regional differences, which sometimes were a reflection of when immigrants arrived and from where. In Florida, with a large and more rooted Cuban population, 34 percent of eighth-grade Latino students tested below the basic level for math. In Alabama, a newer immigrant magnet, 51 percent did. Janet Murguía, president of the National Council of La Raza, said Hispanic young people should be a national public policy priority. “Latino youngsters are household and community influencers who — given their potential English-language fluency, familiarity with American culture and institutions and exposure to mainstream media — are poised to lead the successful integration of Latinos into U.S. society,” Ms. Murguía said.

Hispanic-Americans
Children and Youth
Minorities


How Apple and Other Corporations Move Profit to Avoid Taxes

Abstract: Why would a company with billions of dollars in the bank — and no plans for a large investment — decide to borrow billions more? A decade ago, that was a question some short-sellers were asking about Parmalat, the Italian food company that had seemed to be coining money. It turned out that the answer was not a happy one: The cash was not real . The auditors had been fooled. A huge fraud was being perpetrated. Now it is a question that could be asked about Apple. Its March 30 balance sheet shows $145 billion in cash and marketable securities. But this week it borrowed $17 billion in the largest corporate bond offering ever. The answer for Apple is a more comforting one for investors, if not for those of us who pay taxes. The cash is real. But Apple has been a pioneer in tactics to avoid paying taxes to Uncle Sam. To distribute the cash to its owners would force it to pay taxes. So it borrows instead to buy back shares and increase its stock dividend. The borrowings were at incredibly low interest rates, as low as 0.51 percent for three-year notes and topping out at 3.88 percent for 30-year bonds. And those interest payments will be tax-deductible. Isn’t that nice of the government? Borrow money to avoid paying taxes, and reduce your tax bill even further. Could this become the incident that brings on public outrage over our inequitable corporate tax system? Some companies actually pay something close to the nominal 35 percent United States corporate income tax rate. Those unfortunate companies tend to be in businesses like retailing. But companies with a lot of intellectual property — notably technology and pharmaceutical companies — get away with paying a fraction of that amount, if they pay any taxes at all. Image Protests in Britain last December led Starbucks to promise to pay about £10 million, or $16 million, in extra British taxes. Credit Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images Anger at such tax avoidance — we’re talking about presumably legal tax strategies, by the way — has been boiling in Europe, particularly in Britain. It got so bad that late last year Starbucks promised to pay an extra £10 million — about $16 million — in 2013 and 2014 above what it would normally have had to pay in British income taxes. What it would normally have paid is zero, because Starbucks claims its British subsidiary loses money. Of course, that subsidiary pays a lot for coffee sold to it by a profitable Starbucks subsidiary in Switzerland, and pays a large royalty for the right to use the company’s intellectual property to another subsidiary in the Netherlands. Starbucks said it understood that its customers were angry that it paid no taxes in Britain. Starbucks could get away with paying no taxes in Britain, and Apple can get away with paying little in the United States relative to the profits it makes, thanks to what Edward D. Kleinbard, a law professor at the University of Southern California and a former chief of staff at the Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation, calls “stateless income,” in which multinational companies arrange to direct the bulk of their profits to low-tax or no-tax jurisdictions in which they may actually have only minimal operations. Transfer pricing is an issue in all multinational companies and can be used to move profits from one country to another, but it is especially hard for countries to monitor prices on intellectual property, like patents and copyrights. There is unlikely to be a real market for that information, so challenging a company’s pricing is difficult. “It is easy to transfer the intellectual property to tax havens at a low price,” said Martin A. Sullivan, the chief economist of Tax Analysts, the publisher of Tax Notes. “When a foreign subsidiary pays a low price for this property, and collects royalties, it will have big profits.” The United States, at least theoretically, taxes companies on their global profits. But taxes on overseas income are deferred until the profits are sent back to the United States. The company makes no secret of the fact it has not paid taxes on a large part of its profits. “We are continuing to generate significant cash offshore and repatriating this cash will result in significant tax consequences under current U.S. tax law,” the company’s chief financial officer, Peter Oppenheimer, said last week. A company spokesman says the company paid $6 billion in federal income taxes last year, and “several billion dollars in income taxes within the U.S. in 2011.” It is a testament to how profitable the company is that it would still face “significant tax consequences” if it used the cash it has to buy back stock. There is something ridiculous about a tax system that encourages an American company to invest abroad rather than in the United States. But that is what we have. “The fundamental problem we have in trying to tax corporations is that corporations are global,” says Eric Toder, co-director of the Tax Policy Center in Washington. “It is very, very hard for national entities to tax entities that are global, particularly when it is hard to know where their income originates.” Image In principle, there are two ways the United States could get out of the current mess. The first, proposed by President John F. Kennedy more than 50 years ago, is to end the deferral. Companies would owe taxes on profits when they made them. There would be, of course, credits for taxes paid overseas, but if a company made money and did not otherwise pay taxes on it, it would owe them to the United States. After it paid the taxes, it could move the money wherever it wished without tax consequences. President Obama has not gone that far, but he has suggested immediate taxation of foreign profits earned in tax havens, defined as countries with very low tax rates. Some international companies hate that idea, of course. They warn that we would risk making American multinational corporations uncompetitive with other multinationals, and perhaps encourage some of them to change nationality. The other way is to move to what is called a territorial system, one in which countries tax only profits earned in those countries. Apple would then be free to bring the money home whenever it wanted, tax-free. But without doing something about the ease with which companies manage to claim profits are made wherever it is most convenient, that would simply be a recipe for giving up on collecting tax revenue. Companies around the world have done a good job of persuading countries to lower tax rates. Back in the 1980s, the American corporate tax rate of 34 percent was among the lowest in the world. Now the 35 percent United States tax rate on corporate income is among the highest. In this country, notwithstanding the high rate, the corporate income tax now brings in about 18 percent of all income tax revenue, with individuals paying the rest. That is half the share corporations paid when Dwight Eisenhower was president. There seems to be something of a consensus developing around the idea that the United States rate should be lowered. Both President Obama and Representative Dave Camp, the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, say they want to do that without reducing government revenue, but they disagree on most details. Mr. Camp likes the territorial idea, but he concedes that we would have to do something about the ease with which companies move income from country to country. In fact, the need for such a rate reduction is not as clear as it might be. Reuven Avi-Yonah, a tax law professor at the University of Michigan, studied the taxes paid by the 100 largest American and European multinationals and found that, on average, the Americans paid lower rates. Professor Avi-Yonah says he thinks that the developed countries should cooperate and enact similar rules. He compares that to the American Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which makes it illegal for American companies to bribe foreign governments. American companies used to say that was unfair, but now most developed countries have similar laws. Something like that may be growing a little more likely. At the request of the Group of 20 governments, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development is doing a study called BEPS, for Base Erosion and Profit Shifting. In Europe, where budget problems have grown drastically, there seems to be a growing understanding that governments must raise a certain amount of revenue and a belief that if one sector manages to avoid paying taxes, that means other sectors must pay more. That led to the anti-Starbucks demonstrations in Britain. In this country, there is little sign of similar attitudes, let alone a belief that those who find ways to twist the laws to avoid paying taxes are being unpatriotic. If that belief were to become widespread, Apple and similar companies might find that their success in avoiding taxes was making them unpopular with other taxpayers — people whom Apple wants to be its customers.

Apple
Tax
Corporate tax
US Politics
US Economy


Medical Boards Draft Plan to Ease Path to Out-of-State and Online Treatment

Abstract: WASHINGTON — Officials representing state medical boards across the country have drafted a model law that would make it much easier for doctors licensed in one state to treat patients in other states, whether in person, by videoconference or online. The plan, representing the biggest change in medical licensing in decades, opens the door to greater use of telemedicine and could alleviate the doctor shortage, a growing problem as millions of people gain insurance coverage under the Affordable Care Act. The draft legislation — in the form of an interstate compact, a legally binding agreement among states — was developed by the Federation of State Medical Boards , composed of the agencies that license and discipline doctors. “The proposed compact would create a new pathway to speed the licensing of doctors seeking to practice medicine in multiple states,” said Dr. Humayun J. Chaudhry, the president of the federation. “It would allow doctors to see more patients than ever before, if they want to.” The proposal could increase access to doctors by people in underserved areas. It could also allow people with complex illnesses or rare diseases to more easily consult experts at places like the Mayo Clinic using telemedicine technologies, which connect a patient in one location with doctors in another. Sixteen senators — 10 Republicans and six Democrats — commended state officials and endorsed the idea in a recent letter. Under the proposed compact, doctors who meet certain standards could sidestep a longstanding requirement that they apply for licenses state by state. But it would preserve the authority of each state to regulate the practice of medicine within its borders. Doctors would still have to comply with the laws and rules of each state in which they chose to practice. By definition, the compact says, “the practice of medicine occurs where the patient is located at the time of the physician-patient encounter,” regardless of where the doctor may be. A compact is essentially a contract among states that approve and adopt it as part of state law. The compact on medical licensure would be administered and enforced by an interstate commission. Working through the commission, a doctor licensed in one state could seek an “expedited license” from one or more additional states. To be eligible, a doctor would have to be certified in a medical specialty and have no history of being disciplined, penalized or punished by a court, a medical licensing agency or the Drug Enforcement Administration. (About three-fourths of doctors have been certified as specialists.) Moreover, the compact says, a doctor could not obtain an expedited license if the doctor was “under active investigation by a licensing agency or law enforcement authority in any state, federal or foreign jurisdiction.” As part of the compact, states would agree to share information on doctors who had been disciplined or were under investigation. The commission would serve as a clearinghouse. If a license is revoked or suspended in a doctor’s home state, then all licenses issued to the doctor by other states participating in the compact could be automatically revoked or suspended. The proposal comes as more doctors and hospitals are exploring the use of telemedicine. The Mayo Clinic, in Minnesota, for example, has established links with more than two dozen hospitals and health systems including: Dartmouth-Hitchcock in New Hampshire; NorthShore University HealthSystem in the suburbs of Chicago; Baptist Health Care in Pensacola, Fla.; and ThedaCare in Wisconsin. Mayo experts, working with local doctors, help evaluate patients and make treatment recommendations. Robots allow stroke experts to observe and examine patients hundreds of miles away. “Cross-border licensure is a strategic imperative as we move forward in this brave new world,” said Kathleen M. Harrington, who is in charge of government relations at Mayo. Interstate compacts have been used since the nation’s early years. More than 200 are in effect today. Initially they were used to settle boundary disputes. Many allocate water rights among states. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey was created by an interstate compact, as was the transit agency that runs subways in the Washington area. Other compacts govern use of the Great Lakes, the supervision of juvenile offenders and enforcement of state tax laws. Mari E. Robinson, executive director of the Texas Medical Board, said her agency had voted to support the compact and would share its views with the State Legislature. “The compact would make it easier for physicians to get a license to practice in multiple states and would strengthen public protection because it would help states share disciplinary information that they cannot share now,” Ms. Robinson said. Dr. Jon V. Thomas, a member of the Minnesota Board of Medical Practice, said the compact would bring licensure up to date for the 21st century, accommodating the rapid growth of telemedicine technology without any loss of state authority. From time to time, members of Congress have suggested a larger federal role in the licensing and regulation of doctors. But Dr. Thomas said, “A federal solution for a problem that can be solved by the states would be wasteful, cumbersome and inefficient.” Blake T. Maresh, executive director of the Washington State Board of Osteopathic Medicine and Surgery, said the criteria for an expedited license would be higher in some ways than the current licensing standards. For example, he said, states generally do not require that doctors be certified in a medical specialty. The Obama administration is promoting the use of telemedicine and has provided several hundred thousand dollars in grants to the federation to increase cooperation among states in licensing doctors.

Doctor
Federation of State Medical Boards
Health Insurance
Obamacare,Affordable Care Act
Videoconferencing
US states
Regulation and Deregulation


Top Chefs and Local Farmers in Spain Regenerate Their ‘Green Caviar’

Abstract: ARRIETA, Spain — Making his way down a row of pea plants, Iker Villasana Hernaez, a Basque farmer, leans down to feel each pod individually before deciding whether it is ready to pick. If the peas inside feel slightly hard, “best to leave it for one more day,” he said. “It’s really all about the perfect timing.” Such harvesting is backbreaking work, particularly compared with the tractor-driven, industrial farming commonly used for peas. But the reward is that this pea, called the “guisante lágrima,” or “tear pea,” because of its small size and shape, has also become known as “green caviar” among Spain’s flourishing community of top chefs. It is a vegetable so highly prized that, once it is shelled, its value reaches around 200 euros a kilogram, or roughly $100 a pound. That places it in the ranks of the world’s exquisitely priced edible plants and vegetables. (The hop shoot sells for as much as €1,000 a kilo.) “This is an extraordinary and incredibly seasonal produce,” said Joan Roca, the Catalan chef whose family-run restaurant, El Celler de Can Roca , has been rated the best in the world. “This pea really is like a grain of caviar that explodes in the mouth.” But the tear pea also exemplifies the symbiotic relationship between Spain’s leading chefs and local farmers, and how it is helping revive some rare and nearly forgotten indigenous produce. In fact, Mr. Villasana Hernaez grows everything exclusively for Josean Alija, the chef of Nerua , a restaurant in Bilbao’s Guggenheim Museum, which has been awarded one Michelin star. Nerua’s ascendancy allowed Mr. Villasana Hernaez to turn his farming hobby into a full-time job and “a nonstop experiment with weird and wonderful products.” Mr. Villasana Hernaez, 39, said he was always attracted by the farmland and planted an orchard as a youngster next to his family’s holiday home. Five years ago, after his mother died, he made a more radical lifestyle change and walked away from the family-owned driving school where he had taught. He decided to start “growing things that others didn’t.” For the first two years, he sold as many as 20 varieties of pumpkins and other produce at specialty food markets and local fairs, until a friend put him in touch with Mr. Alija, who offered him a chance to break through as a top restaurant supplier. Image Preparing tear peas at Nerua, a restaurant at the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao. The peas are known as “green caviar” among Spain’s top chefs. Credit Samuel Aranda for The New York Times Today, Mr. Villasana Hernaez estimated that he is among a dozen producers of tear peas around the Basque Country. “Gastronomy has brought back value to a type of ecological agriculture that was being lost, and it is encouraging more young people to become farmers and make nature their work office,” he said. Mr. Villasana Hernaez sows his peas in January and harvests them about four months later. He also grows about 30 other vegetables or herbs for Mr. Alija, from the autochthonous to the exotic. In addition to the peas, he harvests “baby” versions of other vegetables, including undersized pumpkins, carrots, and six varieties of eggplants, originally from countries like Turkey, Italy and Japan. His herbs include huauzontle from Mexico and jambu, also called toothache plant, from Brazil. The tear pea is expensive because of its unpredictable and short harvest, the intensive labor it requires, and the need to transport it quickly from the orchard to the kitchen. During the spring harvest, Mr. Villasana Hernaez picks the peas early in the morning to avoid exposing them to strong sunlight. Then he drives 20 minutes from his hillside greenhouse to Nerua’s kitchen in Bilbao, where eight of Mr. Alija’s assistants spend about 45 minutes delicately shelling them. Image Mr. Villasana Hernaez, who grows vegetables and herbs exclusively for Josean Alija, the chef of Nerua, delivered a box of tear peas to him. Credit Samuel Aranda for The New York Times This is followed by a second selection process, as some misshaped or larger peas get discarded or are turned into a fried appetizer dish. The peas are cooked only for seconds, using one of three different techniques, depending on what Mr. Alija is preparing. The tear pea’s skin is thin and fibrous, requiring it to be handled delicately. But it is also what helps create the sensation of an “explosion” in the mouth when the skin is burst and the sap and sugars are released. Despite its sweetness, the pea also has a slightly salty taste, which Mr. Alija attributes to the sea winds that sweep across the coastal farmland of the Basque Country. The tear pea is tasty even raw, but gains flavor when it is slightly steamed or grilled because the smoke adds “a spicy touch,” Mr. Alija said. Last year, he combined the peas with egg yolk and vanilla, and this spring he served them with an olive oil ice cream and grapes. For 2017, Mr. Alija is planning to add Swiss chard juice and chili pepper to the peas. However the tear peas are served, “it is all in the moment,” Mr. Alija said. “Two days of keeping means losing 60 percent of its quality,” he added, unlike truffles and other gourmet produce that keep longer and travel more easily. In fact, the sugar of the tear pea begins to transform so quickly into starch right after it is picked that it would be challenging to deliver unaltered even to Madrid, about 250 miles away, according to Mr. Villasana Hernaez. Mr. Roca, the chef of El Celler, said he discovered the tear pea in the Basque Country, and persuaded his local Catalan producer to start growing his own version, which “is a bit different, but has the same taste and gives the same sensation.” “The development of this pea is a fantastic example of the dialogue and relationship between the chef and the local producer,” Mr. Roca said. “Even if you can’t expect people on the street to pay such a high price for peas, I think gastronomy is the springboard to show just what our orchard can yield.” In turn, he added, being able to produce something special like tear peas “brings prestige to a farming region, which will trickle back down to ordinary consumers.” Not every Spanish chef, however, is as enthralled. “Everybody suddenly seems to be using the tear pea, but I think it’s a bit of a fashion,” said Óscar Velasco, who runs Santceloni , a restaurant in Madrid that has been awarded two Michelin stars. “For me, the texture of the tear pea somewhat lacks crunchiness because it is just too small.” Instead, Mr. Velasco uses a sweeter and larger pea grown in Maresme, in Catalonia. Even if all his colleagues have not been won over by his favorite pea, Mr. Alija seems to value the tear pea as much for how it bonds him to Mr. Villasana Hernaez, his fellow Basque and farmer, as for its flavor. “The essence and soul of high gastronomy is in the local,” he said.

Chef
Spain
Pea
Restaurant
Agriculture
Basque Spain
Luxury Goods


Lyric Semiconductor Develops a Probability Chip

Abstract: Complex as they may seem, traditional computers deal in a simple art. They rely on tiny switches that turn on and off, producing the streams of ones and zeros that software eventually translates into something meaningful to a human. Some computer scientists find solace in the degree of certainty that comes from trading in yes-or-no operations. Lyric Semiconductor, a start-up that emerged from work at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, looks to forgo this certainty in favor of probability. It unveiled plans this week to build a chip that can compute likelihoods. Such technology may help figure out which book someone will want to buy on Amazon.com or help create a better gene-sequencing machine. “We decided there are lots of probability problems out there that are so important they deserved their own hardware,” said Ben Vigoda, the co-founder and chief executive at Lyric. Most of Lyric’s nearly $20 million in financing has come from the Department of Defense and what the company will only refer to as a three-letter government agency. The military interest revolves around Lyric’s approach to determining the relationship between bits of information in a stream of communications and separating noise from useful data. Over time, Lyric plans to step out from this military work and offer its wares to corporations working with large sets of data. Mr. Vigoda pointed to companies like Amazon and Google as possible beneficiaries of Lyric’s technology. Today, retail Web sites throw lots of computing horsepower and algorithms at the prediction engines that try to determine which product someone might want to buy based on their past purchases and ratings. This is a grand probability puzzle, and it taxes traditional computers because they are made to deal with black-and-white questions. Lyric, by contrast, can tell a computer that someone buys a mystery book 60 percent of the time and a science fiction book 30 percent of the time, and then hunt for the probability that the reader will like a new title that touches on these interests. Similarly, the technology could be used to determine the best search results for an individual, or the likelihood that an e-mail message is spam. It could determine if a recent credit card purchase is fraudulent by comparing it with past purchases. Crucially, Lyric claims it can perform these calculations using just a handful of the transistors inside a chip rather than the hundreds it takes today because it has created algorithms and chip designs geared toward probability. This means that companies could spend far less on computing gear for these complex tasks and save energy and space. Lyric’s approach is similar to that of other chip companies that have filled niches in the past. Nvidia, for example, boomed after it created graphics chips that made things like video games and nuclear weapons simulations run faster. Jon Stokes, the author of “Inside the Machine: An Illustrated Introduction to Microprocessors and Computer Architecture,” said Lyric faced “a really tough road ahead.” “To take it to the next level requires an investment that reaches into the hundreds of millions of dollars, and it’s very risky and very hard to raise money for that sort of play right now,” Mr. Stokes said. This week, the company unveiled one take on the technology that it hoped to license to makers of the memory that went into gadgets and computers. Lyric produced a small chip that could help catch errors that arose as those devices read and wrote data.

Lyric Semiconductor
Probability
Computer Chips


Amar G. Bose, Acoustic Engineer and Inventor, Dies at 83

Abstract: Amar G. Bose, the visionary engineer, inventor and billionaire entrepreneur whose namesake company, the Bose Corporation, became synonymous with high-quality audio systems and speakers for home users, auditoriums and automobiles, died on Friday at his home in Wayland, Mass. He was 83. His death was confirmed by his son, Dr. Vanu G. Bose. As founder and chairman of the privately held company, Dr. Bose focused relentlessly on acoustic engineering innovation. His speakers, though expensive, earned a reputation for bringing concert-hall-quality audio into the home. And by refusing to offer stock to the public, Dr. Bose was able to pursue risky long-term research, such as noise-canceling headphones and an innovative suspension system for cars, without the pressures of quarterly earnings announcements. In a 2004 interview in Popular Science magazine, he said: “I would have been fired a hundred times at a company run by M.B.A.’s. But I never went into business to make money. I went into business so that I could do interesting things that hadn’t been done before.” A perfectionist and a devotee of classical music, Dr. Bose was disappointed by the inferior sound of a high-priced stereo system he purchased when he was an M.I.T. engineering student in the 1950s. His interest in acoustic engineering piqued, he realized that 80 percent of the sound experienced in a concert hall was indirect, meaning that it bounced off walls and ceilings before reaching the audience. This realization, using basic concepts of physics, formed the basis of his research. In the early 1960s, Dr. Bose invented a new type of stereo speaker based on psychoacoustics, the study of sound perception. His design incorporated multiple small speakers aimed at the surrounding walls, rather than directly at the listener, to reflect the sound and, in essence, recreate the larger sound heard in concert halls. In 1964, at the urging of his mentor and adviser at M.I.T., Dr. Y. W. Lee, he founded his company to pursue long-term research in acoustics. The Bose Corporation initially pursued military contracts, but Dr. Bose’s vision was to produce a new generation of stereo speakers. Though his first speakers fell short of expectations, Dr. Bose kept at it. In 1968, he introduced the Bose 901 Direct/Reflecting speaker system, which became a best seller for more than 25 years and firmly entrenched Bose, based in Framingham, Mass., as a leader in a highly competitive audio components marketplace. Unlike conventional loudspeakers, which radiated sound only forward, the 901s used a blend of direct and reflected sound. Later inventions included the popular Bose Wave radio and the Bose noise-canceling headphones, which were so effective they were adopted by the military and commercial pilots. A Bose software program enabled acoustic engineers to simulate the sound from any seat in a large hall, even before the site was built. The system was used to create sound systems for such diverse spaces as Staples Center in Los Angeles, the Sistine Chapel and the Masjid al-Haram, the grand mosque in Mecca. Image Amar G. Bose, chairman of Bose, with a Wave radio in 1993. Credit Michael Quan In 1982, some of the world’s top automakers, including Mercedes and Porsche, began to install Bose audio systems in their vehicles, and the brand remains a favorite in that market segment. Dr. Bose’s devotion to research was matched by his passion for teaching. Having earned his bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate degrees in electrical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the 1950s, Dr. Bose returned from a Fulbright scholarship at the National Physical Laboratory in New Delhi and joined the M.I.T. faculty in 1956. He taught there for more than 45 years, and in 2011, donated a majority of his company’s shares to the school. The gift provides M.I.T. with annual cash dividends. M.I.T. cannot sell the shares and does not participate in the company’s management. Dr. Bose made a lasting impression in the classroom as well as in his company. His popular course on acoustics was as much about life as about electronics, said Alan V. Oppenheim, an M.I.T. engineering professor and a longtime colleague. “He talked not only about acoustics but about philosophy, personal behavior, what is important in life. He was somebody with extraordinary standards,” Professor Oppenheim said. Dr. William R. Brody, head of the Salk Institute in the La Jolla neighborhood of San Diego, was a student in Dr. Bose’s class in 1962. He told Popular Science: “His class gave me the courage to tackle high-risk problems and equipped me with the problem-solving skills I needed to be successful in several careers. Amar Bose taught me how to think.” Amar Gopal Bose was born on Nov. 2, 1929, in Philadelphia. His father, Noni Gopal Bose, was a Bengali freedom fighter who was studying physics at Calcutta University when he was arrested and imprisoned for his opposition to British rule in India. He escaped and fled to the United States in 1920, where he married an American schoolteacher. At age 13, Dr. Bose began repairing radio sets for pocket money for repair shops in Philadelphia. During World War II, when his father’s import business struggled, Dr. Bose’s electronics repairs helped support the family. After graduating from high school, Dr. Bose was admitted to M.I.T. in 1947, where he studied under the mathematician Norbert Wiener, along with Dr. Lee. An avid badminton player and swimmer, Dr. Bose spent several weeks each year at his vacation home in Hawaii. Dr. Bose and his ex-wife, Prema, had two children, Vanu, now the head of his own company, Vanu Inc. in Cambridge, Mass., and Maya Bose, who survive him, as does his second wife, Ursula, and one grandchild.

Bose
Acoustics
Amar G Bose
Obituary
Audio Speakers
MIT


Suh’s Block May Draw Punishment

Abstract: Ndamukong Suh’s illegal low block in Detroit’s game on Sunday against Minnesota will be reviewed for potential discipline, the N.F.L. confirmed Monday. Suh, a Lions defensive tackle, hit Vikings center John Sullivan during an interception return, and the penalty against him negated a touchdown during Detroit’s 34-24 win. Suh said he was not going after Sullivan’s knees, adding that the two talked at halftime. Sullivan said afterward the hit was part of the game and it was penalized. “He apologized and said there was no intent to injure,” Sullivan said. “It’s fine. I think guys get caught up in the play sometimes.” The hit took place behind the play. Sullivan appeared to have no chance to catch linebacker DeAndre Levy, who was heading to the end zone after his interception. The N.F.L. fined Suh $30,000 last year after he kicked Houston quarterback Matt Schaub in the groin. He was suspended for two games in 2011 after he stamped on Green Bay’s Evan Dietrich-Smith. Image The N.F.L. said it would review Ndamukong Suh’s hit on the Vikings’ John Sullivan. Credit Duane Burleson/Associated Press JAGUARS QUARTERBACK OUT Jacksonville said Blaine Gabbert would miss Sunday’s game at Oakland after he sliced open the back of his throwing hand in the season opener. Gabbert caught his right hand on a defender’s face mask while scrambling for a 4-yard gain in the closing minutes of a 28-2 defeat to Kansas City on Sunday. He received 15 stitches to close the wound. The team said it hoped Gabbert would return Sept. 22 at Seattle. 49ERS’ COACH UPSET San Francisco Coach Jim Harbaugh criticized Green Bay linebacker Clay Matthews, who was penalized for a late hit on quarterback Colin Kaepernick in the second quarter of the 49ers’ 34-28 win. “That certainly was a cheap shot, launching, clotheslining to the neck-head area,” Harbaugh said. Joe Staley, the 49ers’ left tackle, received an unsportsmanlike-conduct penalty when he tussled with Matthews after the play. The N.F.L. said that Staley should not have been penalized. As it was, the penalties offset and the 49ers scored on the next play, which the officials later said should have been fourth down rather than a repeated third down. PANTHERS LOSE GUARD Carolina announced that the starting right guard, Garry Williams, had torn the anterior cruciate and medial collateral ligaments in his left knee and would miss the rest of the season. The injury occurred in the first half of a 12-7 loss to Seattle. TWO STEELERS OUT FOR YEAR Pittsburgh said it had lost two top contributors for the season. The Pro Bowl center Maurkice Pouncey is to have surgery this week to repair his injured right knee. Linebacker Larry Foote is to have surgery to fix a ruptured right biceps. Both players were hurt in Sunday’s 16-9 loss to Tennessee. JOB SWAP A former San Diego Padres executive, Tom Garfinkel, was introduced as the president and chief executive of the Miami Dolphins and their stadium. He succeeds Mike Dee, who replaced Garfinkel in July as the president and C.E.O. of the Padres.

Ndamukong Suh
Football
Minnesota Vikings
Detroit Lions
Sports injury