Mets Reiterate That Reyes Has Elevated Thyroid Levels

Abstract: LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — In an effort to head off any confusion, General Manager Omar Minaya of the Mets consulted with team doctors and the agent for shortstop Jose Reyes on Wednesday morning, then reiterated what the team said in a statement on Tuesday: that test results showed Reyes had elevated thyroid levels. Minaya would not specify how high the levels were, but Peter E. Greenberg, Reyes’s agent, said Tuesday night that the tests showed Reyes had only a very mild case of hyperthyroidism and might not need treatment. Reyes was awaiting results from additional tests, and unless those tests are radically different from the others, he could be ready to resume baseball activities in a few days. Doctors will continue to monitor Reyes’s thyroid levels every few weeks to make sure they do not change. Reyes told ESPN Deportes on Tuesday night that doctors “found inflammation in my throat, and no medicine to treat the thyroid or any other condition has been prescribed.” This is not necessarily inconsistent with what the Mets said in their statement Tuesday. “I had a conversation with our doctors, had a conversation with the representative, and we’re all in agreement that he has elevated thyroid levels,” Minaya said. Greenberg agreed with that assessment. Dr. Robert McConnell of New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center in Manhattan said there were cases of mild hyperthyroidism in which no treatment was necessary. One is known as silent thyroiditis, or painless thyroiditis. Both conditions are rare in men. He said there was a condition known as subclinical hyperthyroidism, which is essentially a very mild case of Graves’ disease, that does not require therapy. “Sometimes high doses of iodine, either in medication or, in rare cases, because of diet, can cause this,” he said. “It doesn’t require any therapy and you just have to have it monitored to make sure the levels don’t change.”


A Big Loss at Merrill Stirs Unease

Abstract: Since becoming chief executive of Merrill Lynch in 2002, E. Stanley O’Neal has been credited with making the investment bank leaner and more disciplined. But analysts raised questions yesterday about the extent of that discipline after Merrill announced that it would take its first loss since the end of the technology boom and would write down $5 billion primarily in its fixed-income sector: subprime loans, complex debt instruments and leveraged, or risky, loans. Merrill said it expected to lose up to 50 cents a share for the quarter, compared with a profit of $3.17 a share, or $3 billion, for the quarter a year ago. The size of the write-down was second only to one for $5.9 billion taken by Citigroup, which is three and a half times the size of Merrill. “While market conditions were extremely difficult and the degree of sustained dislocation unprecedented, we are disappointed in our performance in structured finance and mortgages,” Mr. O’Neal said in a statement. “We can do a better job of managing this risk, as we have done with other asset classes.” Richard X. Bove, a financial services analyst at Punk, Ziegel & Company, wrote that Merrill’s problems show that “the company doesn’t have a consistent path in fixed income like Lehman or Bear or JPMorgan.” Two ratings agencies, Moody’s and Fitch, quickly downgraded Merrill’s long-term debt outlook to negative from stable. Moody’s said the write-down, which had been forecast at about $4 billion, exceeded expectations. “As a result, Moody’s assessment of the quality of risk management at Merrill Lynch has diminished.” In its report, Fitch said that the size of the loss and this week’s departure of crucial fixed-income executives raised questions about whether Merrill had adequate risk controls in place. Yesterday’s warning was the latest among banks as they try to deal with the fallout from losses in the origination and packaging of subprime loans as well as lending to private equity firms. UBS has announced a $3.4 billion write-down, and Deutsche Bank, $3.1 billion. And Washington Mutual, the savings bank, warned that third-quarter income would decline 75 percent. More bad news is expected. Analysts at Sanford C. Bernstein & Company said yesterday that they expected JPMorgan Chase to write down about $2 billion, and the Bank of America Corporation about $1 billion. Merrill, however, will be the first big bank to report a loss. Its closest rivals, including Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns, all made money. (All had the benefit of June, which was a strong month. Merrill does not include June in the quarter but does include September.) “They lost more than others,” Mr. Bove said. “Merrill tended to focus its efforts in the highest-risk areas because that’s where the rate of return was the greatest.” The write-down has caused some frustration among the bank’s army of financial advisers, who feel they make money for the bank while the investment bankers make more and then take risks that lead to painful blow-ups. “We’ve seen this before,” said one executive who was not authorized to speak to the media. Investors reacted by pushing up the stock, relieved that Merrill had provided information about its problems and a belief that the worst was over. Shares rose $1.89, to $76.67. Mr. Bove questioned that reasoning. “These companies are not going to see their markets jump back immediately,” he said. “The theory that if the company writes off $2 billion it should see its stock price up $1 and if it writes off $6 billion the stock should jump $3 is not one I can embrace.” Merrill’s loss will be a blow to Mr. O’Neal, who was brought in to manage the fallout from the technology boom and distinguished himself from his predecessor as someone who could make tough decisions and who would manage risk effectively. When Wall Street started making big returns on everything from proprietary trading to new and creative ways of reselling the home mortgages, Merrill charged in headfirst. But as Merrill broadened its credit business, it struggled to find senior fixed income management (fixed income produced 42 percent of Merrill’s second quarter global markets and investment banking revenue). Last July, Jeffrey Kronthal and Harry Lengsfield, two senior fixed-income officials, were abruptly fired, and Osman Semerci, who had worked in various posts in Asia, was put in charge of fixed income, commodities and currencies, a huge division. At the time, the global markets and investment banking group was run by Gregory J. Fleming, who oversaw investment banking, and by Dow Kim, who oversaw trading. In May, Mr. Kim said that he would leave to start a hedge fund. Merrill said it would invest in the hedge fund, and Mr. Kim retained an office at Merrill. When the credit business hit a wall in July, Merrill got caught with commitments to lenders that it could not resell and complex debt instruments, called collateralized debt obligations, that deteriorated sharply in value. It wrote down $4.5 billion worth of subprime loans and collateralized debt obligations and $463 million, net of hedges, in commitments to fund loans. As a result of the losses, Mr. Semerci, 39, and Dale M. Lattanzio, the head of structured credit products, were dismissed, and David Sobotka, 50, was made the head of fixed income. “Merrill has an erratic past,” Mr. Bove said. “It has a tendency to fire people too easily.” “In 2001,” he said, “it fired a big chunk of fixed income and then they tried to rebuild again. You need some kind of consistency, you need to go through cycles with it and Merrill hasn’t done that.” Merrill also severed all ties with Mr. Kim and announced it would not invest in his hedge fund. It is unclear whether there could be more casualties from the losses. In July, Mr. O’Neal appointed two co-presidents: Mr. Fleming and Ahmass L. Fakahany, who had been vice chairman and chief administrative officer. Merrill executives, who are not authorized to speak to the media, say Mr. Fakahany, a crucial member of Mr. O’Neal’s inner circle, had taken a larger role in the day-to- day running of the bank, even though he has not run trading, investment banking or wealth management. A Merrill spokesman declined to comment.

Hedge Funds
Merrill Lynch & Company Inc
Banks and Banking
Company Reports


U.S. Agent Posing as Donor Is Heard at Trial of Ex-Aides for Liu

Abstract: The Texan called himself Richard Kong; he said that he wanted to open restaurants in New York and that he needed a politician in his corner. So he helped to organize a fund-raiser for John C. Liu , the city comptroller, in August 2011. At the event, he was introduced to Mr. Liu. “I want to see you ... as the next mayor,” Mr. Kong told Mr. Liu, according to a transcript of their conversation that was introduced in Federal District Court in Manhattan on Thursday. “Well, with your help, we will,” Mr. Liu replied. What Mr. Liu did not know at the time was that the purported restaurateur Richard Kong was actually Special Agent John Chiue of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Houston division, who was working under cover in the federal inquiry into Mr. Liu’s campaign finances. The investigation, which dates from 2009, resulted in charges against Mr. Liu’s former campaign treasurer, Jia Hou, and a fund-raiser, Xing Wu Pan . Both went on trial this week on charges that they conspired in an illegal fund-raising scheme to benefit Mr. Liu; each has pleaded not guilty. Mr. Liu, a Democrat now running for mayor, has not been charged with any wrongdoing, and he said this week that the more information that came out, “the better it will be” for the defendants, the public at large and his campaign. In court, Mr. Liu’s name surfaced repeatedly on Thursday, as Agent Chiue testified about how he had taken on the role of a Houston restaurant consultant who wanted to make a political contribution to Mr. Liu that exceeded the legal limit, through a so-called straw-donor scheme. The prosecution then played for the jury a series of video and audio recordings of the agent’s interactions with Mr. Pan, who is accused of organizing the event at which Mr. Kong gave Mr. Liu’s campaign $16,000 through a group of straw donors. Mr. Pan is heard more than once on the recordings suggesting strongly to the agent that Mr. Liu was aware of the illegal scheme, although parts of the conversations are ambiguous. Some aspects have been cited in prior court filings, but their full flavor surfaced as the recordings were played in court. In a recording of a conversation on July 27, 2011, Mr. Pan tells the agent that if he lets Mr. Liu know that the businessman has 20 people each donating $800, Mr. Liu will “run here,” and that he will then tell Mr. Liu that the money is “all from ——” “One person,” the undercover agent interjects. “All from Richard,” Mr. Pan says, adding, “He knows.” It appears Mr. Pan is speaking prospectively about how he would tell Mr. Liu about the scheme. On Aug. 15, 2011, Mr. Kong tells Mr. Pan: “So J. L. knows that uh ... that uh ... the $20,000 is coming from me, right?” “Well, I ... I told him this whole event is yours,” Mr. Pan replies, adding, “So he should know.” On Aug. 16, Mr. Pan again tells the undercover agent, “I told him again, ‘John, this is Richard’s event.’ ” “So he’ll know that the money is from me,” the agent says. “Cannot be that open,” Mr. Pan replies. “When I say that’s your event ... he’ll understand what I’m talking about.” At the event, on Aug. 17, Mr. Pan introduces the businessman to Mr. Liu. Mr. Pan tells the comptroller, “Tonight his event,” referring to the businessman, a transcript shows. “O.K.,” Mr. Liu says. Neither the agent nor Mr. Pan mentions that the Texan is behind the donations, although the businessman tells Mr. Liu that perhaps he could “help me down the road just by placing a phone call.” “Plus I’ll be able to bring jobs to the city,” Richard Kong says. “That’s right, good,” Mr. Liu replies. Mr. Pan, in a later interview with the F.B.I., said he used the phrase “Richard’s event” with Mr. Liu to imply that Richard Kong had provided all of the money being donated at the function, but that he did not know if Mr. Liu “took it that way.” Mr. Liu’s lawyer, Paul Shechtman, said on Thursday that the “key conversation” was the one between Mr. Liu and the undercover investigator at the Aug. 17 event. “There is no mention of wrongdoing, and I remain confident that if there were, John Liu would have thrown him out of the restaurant,” Mr. Shechtman said.

Campaign finance
Jia Hou
Xing Wu Pan
NYC
John C Liu
FBI
Corruption


Inspectors in Syria Find Traces of Banned Military Chemicals

Abstract: International inspectors have found traces of banned toxic chemicals in at least three military locations in Syria, four diplomats and officials said, less than two years after President Bashar al-Assad agreed to dismantle the country’s chemical arsenal. Traces of sarin, a nerve agent, were found in drainage pipes and in artillery shells in two places, and traces of another banned toxin, ricin , were found in a third location, a scientific research center, according to a United Nations diplomat, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss confidential reports from the inspectors. The discovery of the small amounts of banned materials, first reported by Reuters, comes as Syrian government forces are being accused of continuing to bombard insurgent-held areas with chlorine bombs. Taken together, the recent events raised troubling questions for international inspectors about whether Damascus was violating the terms of a deal brokered by Russia and the United States in 2013 that forestalled an American military strike. The United States and its allies held the Syrian government responsible for a series of chemical weapons attacks, including a deadly sarin attack near the capital, before that accord. A Western diplomat briefed on the findings by the inspectors from the global Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said that while there was no clear evidence of new use or production of forbidden chemicals, “the strong suspicion is they are retaining stockpiles which are being held back.” “This, and the open defiance in using prohibited chlorine bombs, is indicative of bad faith from the beginning,” the diplomat said. A violation of the deal struck to eliminate Syria’s chemical arsenal would undermine President Obama’s single claim to policy success in Syria, where four years of war has displaced nearly half the country, killed more than 200,000 people and shown no sign of abating. It could also embarrass Russia, Mr. Assad’s most powerful military and diplomatic patron. Already there was mounting evidence that Mr. Assad’s forces had violated the terms of the international treaty banning use of chemical weapons — and signed as part of the deal facilitated by Washington and Moscow — by dropping jerry-built chlorine bombs on insurgent-held areas. While the Syrian government has denied using chlorine or any chemical as a weapon, only the government has access to the helicopters that witnesses say are being used, and rescue workers say the pace of such attacks has increased in some areas. Now, inspectors are trying to determine the significance of the new findings of small amounts of banned agents, which do not necessarily indicate a lingering weapons program and were described by some diplomats as being perhaps less troublesome than the charges that the Syrian government is dropping barrel bombs loaded with chlorine. The inspectors, whose last tour ended on April 3, are expected to seek answers from Syrian officials during a visit beginning Sunday. An investigation into both allegations could put even more pressure on Mr. Assad during a renewed push to find a negotiated settlement to the conflict that could lead to his removal from office. On Tuesday, President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, Mr. Assad’s most powerful ally, met with Secretary of State John Kerry in Sochi, Russia, to discuss Syria, and Staffan de Mistura, the United Nations special envoy for Syria, continued a new round of talks in Geneva. Both sets of talks are aimed at re-energizing the search for an elusive political solution. At the United Nations, the Security Council has been hamstrung on chemical weapons, as Syria’s allies contend that the allegations are part of a political campaign against Mr. Assad by Western governments, including the United States, that have called for his ouster. Evidence of chemical weapons remains a fraught issue for global public opinion more than a decade after false claims of an Iraqi chemical weapons program were used to justify the American invasion that deposed Saddam Hussein. The detection of traces of banned chemicals were revealed as the Security Council confronted the charges about the use of a more mundane chemical, chlorine, which is not a banned substance but whose use in weapons is forbidden under international law. Government opponents, doctors and rescue workers contend that Syrian forces are increasingly using chlorine in bombs dropped from aircraft. Syria After Four Years of Mayhem A look at the conflict that has dismembered Syria and inflamed the region with one of the world’s worst religious and sectarian wars. Inspectors found last year that chlorine had been used in battle in violation of international law. But with Syria’s ally Russia wielding a Security Council veto, the joint mission of the global monitoring organization with the United Nations was not mandated to investigate who had used it. In recent days, the United States has sought to establish a United Nations mission to determine who is responsible. As for the new discovery of traces of banned chemicals, it is not necessarily a ground for punitive action by the Security Council, officials said. There is no evidence that banned materials were used in weapons after Syria signed the treaty, or that Syria possesses sufficient quantities to use in future weapons. What is clear is that the Organization for the Prevention of Chemical Weapons, the international group that enforces the chemical weapons convention, has sent its team of inspectors eight times to Syria. The body is still seeking to clarify gaps in the government’s required official declarations about the location and amounts of its toxic stockpiles and the nature and scope of activities at weapons sites. What steps the Security Council might take depend on what the monitoring organization’s inspectors conclude about why the traces were there. “To have some gaps in the initial declaration is quite common,” the diplomat said. “To have them persist after a year and a half I find a little odd. It should have been cleared up now.” At an executive council meeting of the international monitoring group on May 7 in The Hague, attendees were told that one or more facilities in Syria had not been inspected because the government said security problems prevented access, according to diplomats who attended. The United States ambassador to the organization, Robert Mikulak, told the group that there were “gaps and inconsistencies” in Syria’s declaration of its weapons, according to a copy of his speech. “Progress continues to be agonizingly slow in destroying all of the remaining chemical weapons facilities,” he said. He added: “It is the duty of this council — and of its technical secretariat — to ensure that the facts about use of chemical weapons are determined and made known. Silent toleration is not an acceptable option.” Two other United States officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the reports, confirmed the United Nations diplomat’s account that traces of two banned agents were used. A former United States official added that small amounts of banned agents might be less problematic than large amounts of chlorine. “Traces usually means just that — traces,” the official said of the other banned chemicals. A spokesman for the international monitoring organization in The Hague pointed out that the chemical weapons treaty, which Syria signed in October 2013, required Syria to declare the precise locations of facilities that were part of its chemical weapons program, as well as the nature and scope of the activities. The spokesman added that his colleagues were “continuing to work with the Syrian Arab Republic to clarify their declaration,” though he said he could not divulge details of the “operational verification matters” because of confidential provisions in the treaty.


Japan Offers a Plan to Invigorate Its Economy

Abstract: TOKYO — Japan promised a host of measures on Monday in a bid to ignite its faltering economy and temper a punishingly strong yen. Prime Minister Naoto Kan proposed new stimulus steps, while the Bank of Japan , under pressure from the government, further eased its already easy monetary policy. But analysts called the measures too timid in the face of the problems plaguing Japan’s export-oriented economy. A yen that has paradoxically surged to 15-year highs despite weaknesses in the country’s economy, coupled with the damaging phenomenon of falling prices known as deflation , continues to hinder hopes of a strong recovery, analysts said. The proposals, however, had little effect on the currency markets, where the yen strengthened again Monday. The yen rose to 84.67 against the dollar . “There seems to be a sense of fatalism. The B.O.J. continues to play the same old game of making incremental, but ultimately meaningless, policy changes in response to political pressure,” said Richard Jerram, economist for Japan at the global investment bank, Macquarie. “The government talks of the need for fiscal reconstruction, but then tries to construct an economic stimulus package with tiny fiscal measures and minor, uncoordinated structural reforms,” Mr. Jerram said. Intervention in the currency markets “looks necessary, but is absent,” he said. Japan has not intervened in currency markets since 2003-4, when the finance ministry sold 35 trillion yen for dollars. Some analysts said that the latest government moves appeared symbolic, a stand by Prime Minister Kan to show that he was addressing the strengthening yen when his leadership was in question. At party elections next month, Mr. Kan will face a challenge from one of his lieutenants, the longtime lawmaker Ichiro Ozawa. Though Mr. Ozawa appears to be unpopular with the public — he faces a criminal investigation into a political financing scandal — he is credited within the ruling Democratic Party with engineering its victory in elections last year, and still commands a large following. Mr. Ozawa’s reputation as a proponent of more government spending — something Mr. Kan, a relative fiscal hawk, has been averse to — could be spurring the prime minister to instead lean on the Bank of Japan to do more to prop up the economy. Mr. Ozawa has been critical of Mr. Kan for his handling of the economy. The infighting brings another layer of uncertainty to Japan’s economic outlook, analysts said. “Given the very fluid political situation at present, including the possibility of political realignment, it is hard to forecast just what impact the outcome of the leadership election will have on the direction of longer-term economic policy,” Takahide Kiuchi, an economist at the Financial and Economic Research Center at Nomura Securities, said in a report late Monday. A global economic crisis led Japan to its worst recession in decades, and the country’s recovery has looked increasingly shaky. Figures released in August showed that Japan’s economy grew 0.1 percent in the April-June quarter. A jump in the value of the yen to 15-year highs has hampered exports, which are responsible for much of Japan’s growth, by making them more expensive. Disappointing Japan’s exporters, Mr. Kan was silent on whether Japan would intervene directly in international currency markets to help weaken the yen. Though such a move could cap the yen’s rise in the short term, intervention by Japan alone is not expected to do much to weaken the currency in the longer term — especially because Tokyo is unlikely to find much support from other big currency players like the United States or the European Union, both of which are quite happy for Japanese exports to stay uncompetitive. Still, Mr. Kan said at a meeting with lawmakers Monday that the government and central bank working in tandem was a step forward toward recovery. “The two pillars of economic policy and the Bank of Japan’s new monetary measures will enable us to respond speedily,” Mr. Kan said. The Bank of Japan announced Monday after an emergency meeting that it would expand the volume of money available to banks under a special fixed rate to 30 trillion yen ($351 billion) up from 20 trillion yen. It also introduced a six-month loan facility on top of a three-month program already in place, all steps aimed at raising the supply of loans to banks. The central bank’s board voted to leave its main overnight target rate at 0.1 percent. Apart from easing the yen’s rise, the measures are intended to help Japan’s economy by increasing the supply of money and encouraging banks to lend more. But years of economic stagnation in Japan have sapped demand for loans from companies and consumers, despite rock-bottom interest rates, which has fueled deflation, a general decline in prices that eats into profit and wages. The bank also indicated that it had downgraded its assessment of the economy, citing volatile foreign exchange markets and uncertainty over the economic health of major trading partners like the United States — a move that could pave the way for more steps to ease monetary policy. But markets were disappointed: anticipation of decisive action had sent Japan’s Nikkei index up more than 3 percent early Monday, but stocks surrendered almost half of the gains after the bank’s announcement. The Nikkei ended 1.76 percent higher at 9,149.26. Analysts say that though the bank’s options are running out, there are still steps it could take to help the economy. It could cut its main interest rate from 0.1 percent to zero percent, increase its purchase of Japanese government bonds or buy other assets. Some opposition lawmakers have called for an inflation target to raise expectations among investors that the bank will keep monetary policy easy until Japan sees inflation of 1 to 2 percent. Still, the governor of the Bank of Japan, Masaaki Shirakawa, defended the bank’s steps, calling them timely and effective, and warned against too much monetary easing. “We engaged in further monetary easing to deal with the risks of a downturn, in a pre-emptive, accelerated manner,” Mr. Shirakawa said after the announcement. “Currently interest rates are low and near zero. We need to carefully examine the drawbacks when considering cutting interest rates further.” Meanwhile, Prime Minister Kan outlined a stimulus package of 900 billion yen ($10.8 billion), about 0.2 percent of Japan’s gross domestic product, aimed at beating deflation, protecting jobs and bolstering domestic investment and consumer spending. Because the amount had already been incorporated into the government’s 2010 budget as emergency funds, economists did not expect much of an impact. “This is indeed a small stimulus. But it is even smaller than it appears, since it is being cobbled together out of unspent money from the current budget,” William Grimes, a professor in Japanese political economy at Boston University, wrote in an e-mail. “In other words, there is literally no new money.” The government plan extends a subsidy program that has spurred sales of eco-friendly electrical appliances, as well as low-interest housing loans for energy-efficient homes. To help young people find jobs, the plan calls for more career counselors at colleges and internship opportunities at corporations. To discourage companies from moving overseas, the plan offers technological and financial support for small and medium-size businesses. The government also calls for deregulation in sectors like energy, health care and tourism. Analysts said the stimulus plan did not address fundamental weaknesses in Japan’s economy. In a note to clients, Masaaki Kanno, economist at JPMorgan Securities Japan, said the country still struggled to break free of a vicious cycle in which a strong yen hurts corporate profit, worsens deflationary expectations, raises real interest rates and in turn further strengthens the yen. “Japan’s economy is in a trap,” Mr. Kanno said.

Japan
Bank of Japan
Interest Rates
Economic Conditions and Trends
Kan Naoto


American Soldier Killed by Assailant in Afghan Army Uniform

Abstract: KABUL, Afghanistan — An attacker wearing an Afghan Army uniform opened fire on American soldiers in remote eastern Afghanistan on Friday, killing one before escaping, in what appeared to be another in a recent string of assaults on coalition soldiers by their Afghan partners. The shooting took place early Friday in a camp run by the Afghan National Army where the American troops had gone to train Afghan soldiers, said Attaullah, the police chief of the Ghaziabad district in Kunar Province near the Pakistan border. The gunman was on guard at the camp, Mr. Attaullah and other local Afghan officials said. The officials also said the gunman wounded two other American soldiers before he fled into the surrounding area — a mountainous region that has seen heavy fighting in recent months as the coalition has sought to reopen crucial supply lines but that still remains largely under Taliban control. Mr. Attaullah said the gunman, named Mamood, was from Helmand Province. NATO confirmed that there had been an attack in Kunar Province killing one soldier but did not disclose that soldier’s nationality or give any details beyond saying it was investigating. In a separate statement, NATO said a second coalition soldier had died Friday, this time in an insurgent attack in southern Afghanistan. There has been a quickening in the pace of shootings of NATO soldiers by their Afghan counterparts in a year that has seen provocative acts by American soldiers, including the burning of Korans at a military base in February and a deadly rampage against Afghan civilians in March attributed to an American soldier. In the so-called green-on-blue episodes, members of the Afghan security forces turn their weapons on their coalition partners. The killings are raising tensions and complicating NATO’s efforts to train Afghan soldiers and eventually withdraw Western forces from the country. In a briefing for reporters in Kabul on Monday, a senior NATO official said the coalition was taking the trend seriously. According to NATO, assailants wearing Afghan Army uniforms have carried out 15 attacks on coalition counterparts, resulting in 20 NATO deaths. The official said the coalition had found that most of the attacks were motivated by “private reasons, mainly of the attackers,” and that the proportion of the attacks by Taliban infiltration were in the “single-digit percentages.” The Taliban claimed that one of their fighters was responsible for the attack on Friday. Ghaziabad was one of several districts in Kunar that had become a gathering point for large numbers of fighters crossing the border from Pakistan. In October, it was a focus for an operation to regain control of convoy supply routes cut off by the insurgents. New checkpoints run by the Afghan Army were installed, but since then security has worsened again, local officials said. In Kunar, as elsewhere across the country, NATO troops have been making an intense effort to weaken insurgents as much as possible before coalition troops withdraw and hand over combat outposts and forward operating bases to the Afghan Army. On Sunday, President Hamid Karzai is scheduled to announce the next regions of the country where NATO will transfer security control to the Afghans. According to an Afghan and a Western official who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk about the decision, the new group will probably put around three-quarters of the population under Afghan control. It is not clear yet whether control of all provincial capitals will be transferred, which would be an important milestone for Afghanistan. Separately on Friday, heavy flooding in northern Afghanistan killed 20 people, according to Abdul Jabar Taqwa, governor of Takhar Province. And in Helmand Province, seven civilians were killed, including five children, when their minivan hit a roadside bomb, said a spokesman for the provincial governor. A police officer was killed by a second bomb when he went to the scene.

United States Defense and Military Forces


A Walk in Cortlandt, Without Sidewalks

Abstract: ONE Saturday not long ago, I decided that I needed a healthy dose of nature. Living as I do in Upper Manhattan, I don’t get a whole lot of wildness, and I thought a day trip would be ideal. I pulled out my Hagstrom “50-Mile Radius Map From Columbus Circle, New York City” and followed the east bank of the Hudson River northward. Near Peekskill, I spotted a green, thumb-sized patch labeled “Blue Mountain Reserve,” or to be precise, “Blue Mountain Reserv.” I’d never heard of the place, but it looked to be about five miles south of Peekskill, a town I’d never been to. I saw that Metro-North had a stop just before Peekskill, called Cortlandt. I’d never been there, either, but I reasoned that Cortlandt must be closer to the Blue Mountain Reserve than Peekskill. Catching the 10:02 a.m. train at the 125th Street Station in Harlem, I sat back and enjoyed the view. The tracks run right next to the river, sometimes so close you think you can reach down and touch the glossy water. When I got off the train at Cortlandt, I saw — a parking lot. Since it was Saturday, the lot was almost empty. Where the devil was I? Was there an actual town of Cortlandt? Where was the Blue Mountain Reserv? I didn’t see any signs, although I did see two police cars. “Yeah?” one of the officers said as I approached. “I’m looking for the Blue Mountain Reserve,” I replied. “Yeah, it’s around here. But you should’ve gotten off at Peekskill. There’s a state police barracks down the road. I’d ask them.” After making my way to the barracks, I asked the trooper there how to find the Blue Mountain Reserve. “That’s easy,” he replied. “Take a left here at the light, walk about a half a mile until you come to Watch Hill Road, then turn left and just keep going.” I began walking, and found myself on the edge of one of those suburban-country roads that have at best two-inch shoulders. The cars whizzed by me. I didn’t see a sidewalk the entire time I was there. One wonders if that’s even in the town’s vocabulary. I could picture a Ray Bradbury-like conversation with someone in Cortlandt. “Do you have any sidewalks in Cortlandt?” “Sidewalk? What is that? Leia, this man here speaks to us of ‘side-walks.’ Do you know what he means?” “No, Zoran, I do not. Wait — many years ago I remember an uncle of mine — the one who imploded — who spoke to me of a ‘side-walk.’ I do not remember what he said they were. Are they dangerous?” I wasn’t sure exactly how far the Blue Mountain Reserve was, but I figured it couldn’t be that far, or the state trooper would have mentioned that. Wouldn’t he? I was walking alongside a gray-top road now with an even narrower shoulder than the first road’s. It was a shoulderette. What was I seeing? Well, not terribly much. I crossed a bridge and felt very Woody Guthrie. I walked by houses. I saw some trees. I kept going, risking my life, because I thought the Blue Mountain Reserve was just around the corner, or over the hill. A woman stopped her car at her mailbox, got out, collected the mail, and saw me. She quickly got back into her car, slammed the door and sped up her driveway. Who was I? An illegal alien? Or, worse, a drifter? I’ve always wanted to be a drifter — part time, perhaps — because the word has a romantic, tidal allure to it, until so many serial killers ruined it by being drifters. I walked by a man mowing his lawn on the other side of the road. Looking both ways, I quickly crossed the road, narrowly missing being hit by an SUV. The man stopped mowing when I approached. He looked around, as if to see what resources he had to protect himself. I asked him where the Blue Mountain Reserve was. “You gotta go back to the blinking light there, and take a right and then go about three or four miles,” he replied. “There’s some trails and stuff.” “Three or four miles?” He nodded. Three or four miles, and then the hiking would start. I’d already walked at least three miles. Now, three more. Then God knows how many miles of hiking. And then the walk back to the train station. I was already a nervous wreck from the cars nearly sideswiping me. I decided, reluctantly, to abandon my dreams of going to the woods. I turned back, more concerned than ever that I might be struck by a text-messaging, suburban SUV-driving, just-got-my-license-three-days-ago teenager. Looking over my shoulder every 13 seconds, I finally reached the main road and headed back to the train station. Then I began laughing maniacally. What a ridiculous day! I saw a bus stop by the side of the road, glass enclosed, with some seats. Exhausted, I sat down next to an older, red-haired woman and asked, “How are you today?” “I’m fine, thank you,” she answered. “It’s quite a nice day, isn’t it?” THAT brogue of hers. I recognized it. “It certainly is,” I said. “There aren’t many sidewalks around here, are there?” “No!” she replied with great emphasis. Her eyes widened. “You’re not from Cortlandt, are you?” “No, Forest Hills, Queens,” she said smiling. “And I miss it terribly.” “So is this retirement here for you?” “Well, sort of. A few years ago I had a stroke, and my son, who was living here at the time, begged me to sell my house and come up here and live near him. But last year, he moved to Florida.” “Oh, no! Left you high and dry?” “Now I can’t afford to move back. It’s too expensive. But in Queens, I used to be able to walk everywhere. Oh, there were buses, but I always walked. I loved it.” “Yeah, and they do have sidewalks in Queens.” “Everywhere!” “I don’t think they have many sidewalks in Cortlandt,” I said. “Not many.” “Say, where is Cortlandt — the town?” I asked her. “There is no town.” “What?” “This whole area is called Cortlandt. It includes towns like Croton.” “But the train station. It says ‘Cortlandt.’ ” “Oh, that’s only five years old.” “No wonder I’d never heard of it.” I took a deep breath. “So Cortlandt doesn’t actually exist?” “No.” “What about the Blue Mountain Reserve?” “I don’t think I’ve ever heard of that.”


Ashland Sells Its Distribution Business

Abstract: Ashland, the owner of Valvoline, said it would sell its distribution business to the private equity firm TPG Capital for $930 million in cash. The news sent Ashland shares up more than 9 percent. By leaving the distribution business, Ashland will be able to focus solely on plans to grow in the high-margin specialty chemical sector. TPG, meanwhile, is gaining a highly lucrative asset that is likely to grow in value as the economy recovers. Ashland’s distribution business ships chemicals, plastics and other materials in North America and Europe for both Ashland and competitors. It brought in about 37 percent of Ashland’s fiscal 2010 revenue, roughly $3.4 billion, more than any other part of the company. Ashland may use some proceeds from the TPG deal for a large transaction, potentially to bolster its water treatment business, said James J. O’Brien, Ashland’s chief executive. “The four businesses that remain are Ashland,” he said. “We are going to ride these horses into the future.” Like many of its competitors, including Dow Chemical, Ashland has slowly been moving away from the low-margin, cyclical commodity chemicals sector. It bought Hercules, a specialty chemicals and water technologies company, for $2.6 billion in 2008. Ashland said it expected after-tax proceeds of $825 million. The good news for TPG is that global demand for chemicals continues to improve, with strong results last month from industry giants Bayer Dow Chemical and BASF. Shares of Ashland rose $4.86, or 9.5 percent, to $55.80. There is a termination fee of $120 million tied to the deal, Ashland said. Bank of America Merrill Lynch acted as financial adviser to Ashland, while Cravath, Swaine & Moore was primary legal counsel. Citi, Barclays Capital, Deutsche Bank Securities and Morgan Stanley acted as financial advisers to TPG Capital, with Vinson & Elkins and Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton acting as legal advisers.

Private Equity
TPG Capital
Ashland Incorporated
Mergers Acquisitions and Divestitures


Iran Hints at Compromise on Nuclear Inspections

Abstract: WASHINGTON, Feb. 17 - A senior Iranian envoy, making a new bid to resolve the impasse over his country's nuclear program, was quoted Friday as saying Iran would allow the resumption of spot international inspections of its nuclear facilities if it could continue limited uranium enrichment. But the offer was immediately dismissed by a senior American official. The Iranian offer appeared to be addressed to a demand from Britain, France and Germany that Iran ratify an additional protocol of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty that would allow for surprise inspections. Iran began following the protocol in 2003 but suspended the inspections this month after the International Atomic Energy Agency voted to refer its case to the United Nations Security Council. The offer came in the form of a statement from the Iranian Embassy in Paris, according to Reuters. A senior State Department official said the United States and its allies continued to insist that the only solution to the impasse is a full suspension of uranium conversion and enrichment, which they see as a crucial step in the manufacture of nuclear weapons. The next critical moment in talks with Iran will occur next week, when Iranian officials meet with Russian officials to discuss a Russian offer to allow Iran to enrich uranium on Russian territory, so that the process cannot be used to cover up a weapons program. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said earlier in the week that the United States had begun discussing possible sanctions against Iran if it did not give up its uranium activities, but that these would not be formally debated until the Security Council takes up the issue next month. Earlier this week, Iran announced that it had begun enriching uranium in defiance of Western demands, and European and American leaders denounced Tehran for walking away from negotiations over its nuclear program. The French foreign minister, Philippe Douste-Blazy, said Thursday that Iran was pursuing a weapons program.

IRAN
URANIUM
ATOMIC ENERGY
STATE DEPARTMENT
UNITED STATES
REUTERS PLC
ATOMIC WEAPONS


U.S., in Shift, Backs Arms Embargo for South Sudan as Genocide Risk Rises

Abstract: UNITED NATIONS — The United States said Thursday that it was ready to impose an arms embargo against South Sudan, a shift in position that many rights groups called long overdue to help stop the deadly violence convulsing the world’s youngest country. The change coincided with warnings by the United Nations about the risk of genocide in South Sudan, where a civil war has been raging for three years. The American proposal, near the end of the Obama administration, would halt the import of weapons to South Sudan, place travel restrictions on certain individuals deemed responsible for the violence and freeze their assets overseas. The United States has not said how quickly it will propose the sanctions, nor whether they will include the country’s president, Salva Kiir; his rival and former vice president, Riek Machar; or their military commanders. The American ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, said she would introduce a draft resolution before the Security Council soon. “As we sit here, more arms are flowing into this country,” she told the Council. Ms. Power’s remarks signaled that the Obama administration had lost patience with South Sudan’s rival leaders. She accused them of obstructing United Nations peacekeepers and of sending letters to United Nations headquarters with “happy talk” and “blatant misrepresentations.” Human rights advocates have long called for targeted sanctions and an arms embargo against South Sudan. At first, the United States, which supported that country’s independence five years ago, was unwilling to take such action, saying privately that such punitive measures were tools of last resort. Resistance to an arms embargo has also been expressed by other members of the Security Council, including Russia, which, like the United States, has veto power. Russia’s deputy permanent representative, Petr Iliichev, said Thursday that an arms embargo would not help and described any sanctions as “the height of irresponsibility.” He said any new punitive measures would make it even harder for United Nations peacekeepers to operate. China, which has peacekeepers in South Sudan, including those found to have failed to protect civilians during a grisly attack in Juba in July, said it supports “patient dialogue and consultation.” It was noncommittal on an arms embargo and suggested a “prudent” approach on sanctions. The United States helped South Sudan gain independence from Sudan in 2011, after decades of war. Two years later, political rivalry between South Sudan’s two main leaders dragged the country into armed conflict. Each side whipped up ethnic animosity against the other’s communities. The United Nations has for years documented harrowing crimes, along with the inability of its peacekeepers to stop them. On Thursday, a grave warning was issued by the United Nations special adviser on the prevention of genocide, Adama Dieng, who said he had chronicled the “potential for genocide” in a visit to South Sudan last week. In one anecdote, Mr. Dieng said an older man had told him he worried that his community “would be finished.” Mr. Dieng called for expanded targeted sanctions and an arms embargo. Ms. Power referred to his warnings when she said: “None of us can say we did not see it coming. So the question for us is, ‘What will we do?’ ” Secretary General Ban Ki-moon warned in a report this month that peacekeepers deployed in South Sudan would be unable to halt an escalation of violence. “There is a very real risk of mass atrocities,” the report said. Rights activists welcomed the American shift. John Prendergast, director of the Enough Project , called it a “critical first step” to hold perpetrators accountable.

War Crimes,Genocide,Crimes Against Humanity


China’s Economic Growth Takes a Domestic Turn

Abstract: HONG KONG — Since China entered the World Trade Organization in November 2001, a rising tide of exports, combined with a torrent of investment, has lifted the country’s economy ever higher, while consumer spending has lagged. But now, the Chinese economy relies increasingly on growth at home, as data released Thursday made clear. A decline in exports has become a serious drag on growth, while government spending has led domestic investments higher at a remarkable pace and consumer spending appears to have been fairly strong as well. Some economists wonder whether China is actually becoming too reliant on investment spending and whether the government’s economic stimulus program may be making this worse. “For China’s nascent economic recovery to be sustainable beyond the short term, policy makers must take steps to ensure that consumption remains on a firm growth trajectory and that the investment boom does not exacerbate the economy’s structural imbalances,” the chairwoman of China equities at JPMorgan, Jing Ulrich, said in a research note. Chinese exports plunged by a record 26.4 percent in May from a year earlier, the Chinese customs agency announced Thursday, as buyers in industrialized countries remained cautious about placing orders. But investments in fixed assets like roads, factories and apartment buildings set a record in the opposite direction. Chinese investment expenditures rose 32.9 percent in the first five months of this year, compared with the investments in the period last year, the National Bureau of Statistics announced in Beijing. Yu Song, a Goldman Sachs economist, calculated that after adjusting for inflation, Chinese investment spending had grown in May at a breakneck pace, rising close to 50 percent from May of last year. The government’s stimulus program is powering much of that increase, with spending on railroads soaring 110.9 percent in the first five months of 2009, compared with the same period last year. The Chinese media reported that retail sales in May, scheduled to be announced Friday morning, are likely to show an increase of 15.2 percent. That would represent a modest acceleration from April, when the increase from a year earlier was 14.8 percent, and a robust gain when adjusted for the gradual decline in overall prices in China. The Chinese government has struggled to keep economic data secret, and leaks to the media have frequently been right. One of the biggest supports for retail sales in China has been the auto market, with car sales rising briskly as the government has offered various subsidies, especially in rural areas. The big question for China is how long the economy can stay strong without the support of vigorous exports. Wages and profits have slipped in export-oriented coastal zones of China, limiting the spending power of consumers. Chinese imports fell a little more slowly than exports last month, dropping 25.2 percent from the period a year earlier. The Chinese trade surplus last month was $13.39 billion, compared with $13.14 billion in April and $16.37 billion a year ago.

China
Economic Conditions and Trends
International Trade and World Market


Penn State Topples Ohio State After Blocked Field-Goal Attempt

Abstract: Grant Haley returned a blocked field goal 60 yards for a touchdown with 4 minutes 27 seconds left in the fourth quarter, and host Penn State upset No. 2 Ohio State, 24-21, on Saturday night for the Nittany Lions’ biggest win in the post-Joe Paterno era. Penn State (5-2, 3-1 Big Ten) took its first lead when Marcus Allen leapt high to block Tyler Durbin’s 45-yard field-goal attempt and Haley scooped it up and sprinted to the end zone. A crowd of 107,280 at Beaver Stadium roared, and Penn State’s defense closed out the Nittany Lions’ first victory over the Buckeyes since 2011 with two sacks of quarterback J. T. Barrett. The Buckeyes (6-1, 4-1 Big Ten) had won 20 straight road games. S.M.U. 38, HOUSTON 16 Ben Hicks threw for three touchdowns and ran for another, and Southern Methodist (3-4, 1-2 American Athletic Conference) stunned No. 11 Houston (6-2, 3-2) in Dallas for its first win over a ranked team in five years. MICHIGAN 41, ILLINOIS 8 Wilton Speight threw for 253 yards and two touchdowns in three quarters before watching No. 3 Michigan (7-0, 4-0 Big Ten) finish off visiting Illinois (2-5, 1-3). WASHINGTON 41, OREGON ST. 17 Jake Browning threw for three touchdowns and rushed for another, and No. 5 Washington (7-0, 4-0 Pacific-12) mounted a big first half in rolling past Oregon State (2-5, 1-3) in Seattle. Image Louisville’s Lamar Jackson set a team record for total touchdowns in a season, with 34. Credit Andy Lyons/Getty Images LOUISVILLE 54, N.C. STATE 13 Lamar Jackson broke a team single-season record with four first-half touchdowns, and No. 7 Louisville (6-1, 4-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) intercepted three passes in a rout of visiting North Carolina State (4-3, 1-2). Jackson has 34 scores with five games to play. NEBRASKA 27, PURDUE 14 Tommy Armstrong Jr. accounted for 303 yards of offense and two touchdowns, and No. 8 Nebraska (7-0, 4-0 Big Ten) rallied from a 4-point halftime deficit to survive against visiting Purdue (3-4, 1-3). WISCONSIN 17, IOWA 9 Corey Clement ran for 134 yards and a touchdown, and No. 10 Wisconsin (5-2, 2-2 Big Ten) used a stout defense to defeat host Iowa (5-3, 3-2) and halt a two-game skid. W. VIRGINIA 34, T.C.U. 10 Skyler Howard threw four touchdown passes, and No. 12 West Virginia (6-0, 3-0 Big 12) leaned on its improving defense to hold visiting Texas Christian (4-3, 2-2) scoreless in the second half. AUBURN 56, ARKANSAS 3 Eli Stove broke free for a 78-yard touchdown run on Auburn’s first play, giving the No. 21 Tigers (5-2, 3-1 Southeastern Conference) momentum they never lost in a dominant home victory over No. 17 Arkansas (5-3, 1-3). UTAH 52, U.C.L.A. 45 Joe Williams rushed for a team-record 332 yards and four touchdowns in his second game back after quitting the team, and No. 19 Utah (7-1, 4-1 Pac-12) held off host U.C.L.A. (3-5, 1-4). W. MICHIGAN 45, E. MICHIGAN 31 Zach Terrell threw for 398 yards and three touchdowns, and No. 20 Western Michigan (8-0, 4-0 Mid-American Conference) finished with 569 yards of total offense in a victory over visiting Eastern Michigan (5-3, 2-2). N. CAROLINA 35, VIRGINIA 14 Mitch Trubisky threw three touchdown passes, and No. 22 North Carolina (6-2, 4-1 A.C.C.) limited host Virginia (2-5, 1-2) to one touchdown — on a trick play — until the fourth quarter. NAVY 42, MEMPHIS 28 Will Worth rushed for a career-high 201 yards and three touchdowns, and No. 24 Navy (5-1, 4-0 American) beat Memphis (5-2, 2-1).


Axial Theater Still Evolving as 10th Season Opens

Abstract: Pleasantville DALE FURNIA crouched under a table pulling a blanket over his head. Gail Greenstein wandered about the room clutching a cloth doll to her chest and face. The actors were working on their roles as mentally ill, homeless souls in “The Shroud of Turin,” a one-act play written by Linda Giuliano, a member of the Axial Theater company. Howard Meyer, founder and artistic director of Axial Theater, was directing the scene. “Allow yourselves to cultivate something from your own life — a wound, mental hauntings,” he told the actors. “Create your little world from areas of your own.” Mr. Meyer has appeared off Broadway and regionally at New York Theater Workshop, Manhattan Theater Club and other theaters and directed the well-received Off Broadway premiere of Athol Fugard’s “Hello and Goodbye.” His acting program — classes are taught by Mr. Meyer and members of Axial — is now in its 15th year. The theater’s 10th season opens this week with “Inside/Out,” an evening of four short plays: two past favorites (including “The Shroud of Turin”) and two new ones. Performances begin on Thursday and run through Nov. 2 at St. John’s Episcopal Church on Sunnyside Avenue in Pleasantville, where Axial stages performances, workshops and rehearsals. New plays are developed in year-round workshops based on raw scripts from company members and outside writers. After readings of early drafts the company typically explores its casting options. “Different members tried out reading parts from an early draft of my play ‘AngelBeast,’ ” Mr. Meyer said, “and when the right actors emerged I could then go back for rewrites with more vigor. The characters were now fueled by the actor playing the part.” Audience “talkbacks” after performances are also an integral part of the process and help the company fine-tune projects. At a rehearsal in August the company began creating a play solely through improvisation. Instead of a script it started with a general theme: how technology has altered communication. Armed with cellphones, the actors were directed by Mr. Meyer to avoid working from any preconceived idea. “Find out what your relationship to this way of communicating is,” he told them. “Hate it? Love it? Are you avoiding person-to-person discomfort?” This core idea continues to evolve, Mr. Meyer said, and may even turn into something else altogether in the course of their discoveries. “As a company we are always percolating,” he said. Mr. Meyer started Axial with three other theater artists: an actor and two playwrights. They charged expenses to their credit cards, hoping to make money at the box office. “Remarkably we have never been in debt,” he said. “Out of New York City this is a rare achievement.” Axial is partially funded by the New York State Council on the Arts, the Westchester Arts Council and the William T. Morris Foundation. The theater company now has 15 members — 5 of them Equity actors — as well as a manager and a technical director. All have day jobs. Ryan Mallon was 15 years old when he took his first class at Axial 10 years ago. In 2004 he became a company member, and now he acts and writes. His play “The Tunnel” was produced by Axial last January. Rachel Jones, an Equity actor and a company member from the onset, acts, directs and teaches in the acting program. After moving to Westchester from New York City, she was happy to find what she described as “a vibrant group of theater people” who respected the demands of her life with young children. “We all treasure Axial,” she said. “We nurture it, and it bears fruit. And Howard’s passion is contagious.” At the heart of the theater is collaboration; an actor may write, a director may act. “It’s about the company and not the ego of the individual,” said Stephen Palgon, a company member. “We’re harsh in respect to what’s going to tell the story best. At times it’s not fun — feelings are hurt. But if, for example, something needs to be cut, we’ll get it out.” “The gift of it all,” he said. “You get so surprised.


French Socialists Choose Ex-Labor Chief as Leader

Abstract: PARIS — The woman who masterminded France ’s 35-hour workweek a decade ago, Martine Aubry , was declared the winner on Saturday of a runoff election for the leadership of the Socialist Party by a razor-thin margin over its standard-bearer in the last presidential election. Ms. Aubry , the mayor of the northern city of Lille and a former labor minister, defeated Ségolène Royal by 42 votes out of more than 130,000 cast. Some in Ms. Royal’s camp immediately demanded a new vote. Ms. Royal lost the presidential election last year to Nicolas Sarkozy. Glamorous and controversial, she had campaigned hard for the party’s leadership position to make a comeback. Ms. Aubry has called for the Socialist Party to be “anchored on the left,” dismissing Ms. Royal’s idea of a possible alliance with the centrist Democratic Movement. Vowing to present Mr. Sarkozy with a revived political opposition, Ms. Aubry wants to create a shadow cabinet of politicians who would systematically challenge their counterparts in the Sarkozy government. The party voting, which was held in 3,200 chapters across France on Thursday and Friday, was supposed to end months of squabbling among senior Socialists over who was best placed to lead their movement into the future after losing three consecutive presidential elections. But after a long, acrimonious night, in which Ms. Royal first refused to concede and then insisted on a recount, the party looks as splintered as ever. The recount held up the announcement of a victor until early Saturday. Ms. Royal’s lawyer, Jean-Pierre Mignard, called the result “questionable,” while another high-profile supporter, Manuel Valls, said another ballot should be organized next week. Ms. Aubry shot back that there was “no reason” a new vote should be held. According to a statement released by the Socialist Party, Ms. Aubry won 50.02 percent to Ms. Royal’s 49.98 percent. Only 134,784 of the party’s 233,000 members cast valid ballots. The departing party leadership is to meet Wednesday to certify the results. Ms. Aubry, Ms. Royal and a third candidate for party leader, Benoît Hamon, the leader of a left-wing Socialist faction, participated in the first round of voting on Thursday. Mr. Hamon finished third, and because no candidate obtained a majority, the runoff was held Friday. Ms. Aubry’s critics say her promise of renewal and change will be a hard sell to the general electorate, which remembers her from a decade ago, when she served in Prime Minister Lionel Jospin’s government and cut the workweek from 39 to 35 hours. Beyond the leadership issue, the Socialists remain torn about the ideological direction they should take.

France
Socialist Party
Aubry Martine
Royal Segolene


Zoo’s Killing of Gorilla Holding a Boy Prompts Outrage

Abstract: It seemed like quick thinking when the Cincinnati Zoo shot to death a gorilla who was manhandling a small boy who had fallen into its enclosure on Saturday afternoon. But soon animal rights supporters were organizing a vigil outside the zoo in remembrance of the gorilla, named Harambe, a teenage male. Online petitions circulated blaming the mother of the child for negligence. By Monday the chorus of outrage had reached such an intense pitch that the zoo held a news conference to defend itself. Speaking to reporters, Thane Maynard, the zoo’s director, forcefully rejected the second-guessing of what he called “Monday morning quarterbacks” over the decision to kill the gorilla, one of an endangered species, instead of using a tranquilizer dart. After the 4-year-old boy breached a barrier to the Gorilla World exhibit and fell into its moat, Harambe seemed to take an intense interest in the child. Image Kate Villanueva of Erlanger, Ky., center right, during a vigil for the gorilla Harambe on Monday outside the Cincinnati Zoo. Credit John Minchillo/Associated Press “The child was being dragged around,” Mr. Maynard said. “His head was banging on concrete. This was not a gentle thing. The child was at risk.” Mr. Maynard said a tranquilizer would have taken precious minutes to knock out the western lowland gorilla, weighing more than 420 pounds, while the impact of the dart might have startled him, posing an even graver danger. Mr. Maynard said the animal was capable of crushing a coconut with his hands. The boy was lucky that Harambe had not done so to him, if only out of carelessness, he said, noting that the gorilla had become agitated and disoriented by screams from the crowd. Neither the child nor his mother has been publicly identified. But the boy’s family, in a statement released through a public relations firm, said on Monday that he was doing fine after being treated at a hospital and released on Saturday. “We are so thankful to the Lord that our child is safe,” the family said. “We extend our heartfelt thanks for the quick action by the Cincinnati Zoo staff. We know that this was a very difficult decision for them, and that they are grieving the loss of their gorilla.” The boy’s mother, however, has certainly not been at peace. On Twitter, Facebook and other forums, tens of thousands of people have expressed vitriol over her failure to keep the boy out of trouble. By late Monday, an online petition had garnered more than 180,000 signatures calling for her to be investigated by law enforcement and child protective services agencies for possible child neglect. On Tuesday, the Cincinnati police said they were investigating the episode.. In hundreds of comments on the petition, supporters said Harambe, an innocent animal, had not deserved to die. Shannon Blackmer of Raleigh, N.C., summed up one of the themes : “One woman’s negligence cost a primate his life and nearly cost her son his.” Outside the zoo on Monday, the gorilla’s supporters held placards that read “ R.I.P. Harambe ,” “ Because his life mattered ” and “In loving memory, Harambe.” Inside, flowers were placed at a gorilla statue. Witnesses at the zoo’s popular Gorilla World enclosure on Saturday said the boy had somehow slipped past its wire and wood barriers, then scurried through brush before falling about 10 feet into a small moat. For about 10 minutes, Harambe held onto the boy, at times standing over him in what appeared to be a protective posture, but at others darting across the moat while yanking the child violently by the ankle. A woman could be heard yelling, “Mommy loves you!” On Monday, Mr. Maynard defended the enclosure’s barriers. He said they had passed regular checks by an accrediting agency and had not been breached since the exhibit opened in 1978. “The barriers are safe,” he said. “The barriers exceed any required protocols. The trouble with barriers is that whatever the barrier is, some people can get past it.” Asked by reporters who was then to blame, Mr. Maynard reiterated that the barrier was adequate, then added, “We all need to work to make sure that our families and our kids are safe, whether you’re visiting the zoo or you’re visiting the shopping mall.” He repeatedly declined to blame anyone. Rob Vernon, a spokesman for the Association of Zoos and Aquariums , which accredits zoos, said it expected a report from the Cincinnati Zoo. “I would expect that through the process of a review that we may find that we need to have more stringent protocols related to gorilla enclosures, and that’s the direction we’ll head,” he said. Some people have come to the mother’s defense. Kevin Figueroa Torres, who set up a Facebook page in support of the mother, said he had learned how slippery small boys could be when he helped run a preschool for four years. People do not get that, he said. “It just bothers me,” Mr. Torres, 23, said in an interview on Monday. “They’re acting like kids don’t run off, like kids don’t do sneaky stuff like that.” Brittany Nicely was standing nearby on Saturday when the boy fell into the pen. She said it had all happened very fast. The mother, she said, had not been neglectful. “She had three other kids that she was with. She had a baby in her arms,” said Ms. Nicely, 29, who has two children of her own. The boy had made his move and was in the pen in “the blink of an eye,” she said. Mr. Maynard said on Monday that the zoo was going through a tough time, but that it had also received plenty of support. “We’ve heard from thousands of people around the world, colleagues all the way to Jane Goodall, zoo directors from all over the world, with both sympathy and with support for a difficult decision,” he said. Zoo workers gathered early Monday to share stories about Harambe. Some tears were shed, Mr. Maynard said. “We’re the ones who took the loss on this,” he said. “It doesn’t affect anyone as much as it does the people here at the zoo.”

Zoo
Cincinnati
Endangered Species
Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden
Monkeys and Apes
Civil Unrest
Child Abuse


Baseball Set Precedent for Disciplining an Owner

Abstract: Any punishment handed down to Donald Sterling, the Los Angeles Clippers’ owner, will inevitably be compared with Major League Baseball’s actions in the 1990s against Marge Schott. Schott, the widow of a prominent Cincinnati car dealer and the owner of the Reds, was a popular and eccentric society matron. She adored her St. Bernards, Schottzie and Schottzie 02, who accompanied her to Riverfront Stadium. But she made offensive comments about blacks and Jews and insisted afterward that she did not mean to hurt anyone. She owned a swastika armband, a gift, she said, from an employee who had taken it off a dead German during World War II; spoke compassionately of Adolf Hitler; and sometimes used a slur to refer to blacks. In 1992, baseball’s executive council investigated her for using racial slurs toward employees and making anti-Semitic remarks. Bill White, who was the National League president, recalled in an interview that there was some brief internal discussion about forcing her to sell her share of the Reds. “But I don’t think you can put a price on bigotry,” he said. “My suggestion was not to allow her in the ballpark for a year and give her diversity training.” Robert Bennett, a Washington lawyer on Schott’s defense team, would not let her be “trampled or be made a scapegoat by the powerful baseball machine,” he said Monday. Bennett told other owners “that he had prepared a bunch of pleadings questioning their authority to impose harsh penalties,” he said. “And I indicated that I wanted to depose all of the owners regarding whether they made similar statements in the past” or had used slurs. Baseball ended up suspending Schott in early 1993 for a year from the day-to-day operation of the Reds. The league also fined her $25,000. Robert Kheel, who was counsel to the National League, said Monday that baseball weighed Schott’s comments against a belief that they were not said maliciously and that Schott, who was born in 1928, was a “creature of her times.” “The gist of it was not to throw her out of the game,” Kheel said. The suspension, Bennett said, “was very favorable.” In 1996, Schott reiterated her view that Hitler was initially good for Germany but went too far, and she made disparaging remarks about women and Asian-Americans. She subsequently agreed to surrender her position as the Reds’ managing general partner for two years. But she preserved her access to the field, her field-level seats and her private box. Bud Selig, then baseball’s acting commissioner, said negotiations with Schott did not include any discussion about forcing her to sell her 6.5 shares of the Reds’ 15-share ownership. Still, baseball had been looking into claims by General Motors that she had falsified records at her Chevrolet-Geo dealership to meet sales quotas. In 1999, her suspension over, she sold her shares for $67 million. “Knowing Marge, I think she just got tired of the headlines,” White, the National League president, said of Schott, who died in 2004. More recently, Selig, now baseball’s official commissioner, took temporary day-to-day control of the Los Angeles Dodgers from the owner Frank McCourt, leaving McCourt concerned that the move was a step toward Selig’s dictating a sale. McCourt took the team into bankruptcy and eventually sold it in 2012 for $2.15 billion. In 1953, Fred M. Saigh, sentenced to 15 months in prison for tax evasion, was reportedly pressured by Commissioner Ford C. Frick to sell his St. Louis Cardinals. The team was bought by Anheuser-Busch. Sterling, the Clippers’ owner, has faced calls to sell his team since TMZ released audio of racist remarks late Friday and identified Sterling as the speaker. But the N.B.A. constitution limits Commissioner Adam Silver’s powers in disciplining Sterling. The constitution, listing various causes, allows for an ownership to be terminated by a three-quarters vote of owners, according to two people who had read the relevant section, and the constitution appears to say that “willfully” violating any of the document’s provisions could lead to termination. Silver can fine Sterling a maximum of $1 million and suspend him indefinitely. Sterling has been a fixture in the N.B.A., having bought the San Diego Clippers in 1981 (the same year Schott became a minority partner of the Reds) and moved the franchise to Los Angeles in 1984 (the year Schott acquired the controlling interest in the Reds). As a practical matter, a long suspension for Sterling, a regular attendee at Clippers games, might give him sufficient reason to sell. Kheel, the National League counsel, said Silver had to be concerned about whether others would come forward with new accusations about Sterling. “One lawsuit started it with Marge, and then people started piling on,” said Kheel, a lecturer at Columbia Law School. “That’s part of Silver’s problem. He might know all the facts about this incident, but he has to be concerned about others.”

Baseball
Donald Sterling
Clippers
Marge Schott
Reds
Basketball
Discrimination
Race and Ethnicity
Judaism
Black People,African-Americans


Swindle With Ants Gets Chinese Tycoon a Death Sentence

Abstract: BEIJING, Feb. 15 (AP) — A Chinese business executive was sentenced to death for swindling $385 million from investors in a fake ant-breeding scheme, a court official said Thursday. The executive, Wang Zhendong, chairman of the Yingkou Donghua Trading Group Company, had promised returns of up to 60 percent for buying kits of ants and breeding equipment from two companies he set up, news media reported. Ants are used in some traditional Chinese medicinal remedies, which can fetch a high price. Mr. Wang sold the kits, which cost $25, for $1,300, the Xinmin Evening News and other newspapers reported. Mr. Wang promoted his products through advertising and drew in more than 10,000 investors from 2002 to June 2005, when investigators shut down his companies, the Web site of the People’s Daily reported. Prosecutors told the Intermediate People’s Court in Yingkou, in northeastern China, that one investor committed suicide after realizing he had been duped, and only $1.28 million of the swindled money had been recovered by the time the case was filed with the court last June, the official Xinhua News Agency said. On Tuesday, the court sentenced Mr. Wang to death, said an official in the case who gave only his surname, Yin. Fifteen managers of the company were given prison terms ranging from 5 to 10 years and fined from $12,800 to $64,000, Xinhua said. Fake investments and pyramid investment schemes have become common during China’s transition from a planned economy to a free market. Chinese leaders have tried to eradicate the swindles, fearing that widespread losses could add to already percolating social unrest. The death penalty is used broadly in China. Though usually reserved for violent crimes, it is also applied for nonviolent offenses that involve large sums of money or are deemed to have a pernicious social impact.

Wang Zhendong
China
Frauds and Swindling
Capital Punishment


Lundqvist Helps Rangers Win Second in a Row

Abstract: PHILADELPHIA — There is no telling where the Rangers would be this season without Henrik Lundqvist. That point was driven home yet again on a snowy Saturday afternoon as Lundqvist withstood another third-period barrage and preserved a 2-1 victory for the struggling Rangers at the expense of the equally struggling Flyers . It was not pretty, but it was the second straight win for the Rangers, the first time they had consecutive victories since Nov. 25, and their first back-to-back regulation wins since October. “I’ll take 2 points, no matter how we look,” said Chris Drury, who scored the Rangers’ first goal. The afternoon was an apt distillation of the Rangers’ season so far. They entered the last period ahead, 2-1, on Artem Anisimov’s second-period goal after being outshot by 21-19. But the Flyers overwhelmed them in the third, outshooting the Rangers by 16-5. Lundqvist held them off, successfully preventing a loss that might have touched off another tirade from Coach John Tortorella. Instead, Tortorella seemed relieved. “We were on our heels a little bit in the third,” he said. “Henrik was outstanding. We’re struggling a bit in our end zone right now. We just need Hank to be Hank as we grow as a hockey team.” The game was played at the Wachovia Center, which despite an announced attendance of 19,637 was only about one-fifth full because of a snowstorm. The Rangers have been rattled lately by turmoil: a slow tumble down the Eastern Conference standings; Tortorella’s scratching the highly paid defenseman Wade Redden for two straight games; Redden’s expression of anger over being scratched; and talk-radio rumors of the possibility of General Manager Glen Sather’s being fired. There are signs, however, that Redden could return to the lineup as early as Monday at Carolina because the Rangers sent defensemen Bobby Sanguinetti and Ilkka Heikkinen to the Hartford Wolfpack of the American Hockey League. Tortorella’s recent statements seem to betray a scattershot approach that resembles his constant shuffling and reshuffling of lines during games. On Thursday and Friday, he said that he would sit any veteran who was not performing well. “We’ll go through some bumps in the road with kids, but not with underachieving veterans,” he said. Yet on Dec. 10, Tortorella and Sather sent the rookie defenseman Matt Gilroy to the Wolfpack. On Saturday, Tortorella had Drury, the captain, on the fourth line, the first line, and at center, right wing and left wing. “Whatever he says, I’ll go out and try to do my best,” Drury said, referring to Tortorella. “He asked me on the bench if I can play wing. I said, ‘Yeah, I can play wing.’ ” Drury’s goal was his fifth of the season and his second in two games after he had not scored since Oct. 17. That date marked the last of seven straight wins by the Rangers, which raised expectations that the team might finish among the N.H.L.’s elite. Drury’s goal was set up by a nice shift from Sean Avery, who has often looked like the Rangers’ best skater as they have fallen in the standings. Avery created havoc in the Flyers’ zone, forcing an errant pass that Drury intercepted, then fired home. It helped that Avery got away with a cross-check that flattened the Flyers’ Claude Giroux right next to Drury. “The last month or so I’ve tried to initiate the forecheck and set an example,” Avery said. “Hopefully it’s contagious with guys.” But like the rest of the Rangers, Avery has had a lot of trouble finishing. The sole exception has been Marian Gaborik, whose 24 goals led the N.H.L. entering Saturday’s games and who had accounted for a quarter of the Rangers’ output. Gaborik has been left alone to play his game alongside Vinny Prospal for most of the season. But in a few recent games, Tortorella demoted Prospal to a lower line. Tortorella denied that the move was punitive, but it was another example of the constant ferment that may be working against the consistency Tortorella is seeking in his players’ performance. In the meantime, there is Lundqvist. He was aided in part by the Flyers’ own ineptitude — they flubbed two four-on-two breaks because of a penchant for making drop passes — but in the end Lundqvist prevailed. “The emotions we have should almost be a little bit angry,” Lundqvist said, referring to where the Rangers are now in the Eastern standings. “We’re in the last five. We shouldn’t be here.” Asked about the third-period barrage, he said: “What can I say? Of course they’re going to come hard, so it’s tougher for us to stand up. As long as we win, I don’t really care how it looks.” The Rangers’ hopes will center on Lundqvist. Tortorella said he did not foresee giving him a break until January. Lundqvist said he could handle the workload. “Right now I’m just so focused on trying to help the team turn this around, I don’t even think if I’m tired or not,” he said. “I just want to play.”

Hockey Ice
New York Rangers
Philadelphia Flyers


Photos of U.S. Soldiers Charged in Atrocities Threaten Afghan Relations

Abstract: KABUL, Afghanistan — The release of explicit photographs of American soldiers apparently engaged in atrocities against Afghan civilians threatens to ignite tensions between the Afghan and American governments and provide fodder for the Taliban ’s efforts to persuade Afghans that the foreign troops fighting here are a malevolent force. NATO officials and Western diplomats here have been steeling themselves for the release, worried that it will further undermine relations with President Hamid Karzai at a sensitive time when there have been several recent episodes of civilian casualties. Despite an overall decline in civilian casualties caused by NATO forces, the episodes have tarnished the coalition campaign and put Mr. Karzai in the awkward position of having to explain why the country’s allies are killing unarmed children and women. Three photographs, published in the German magazine Der Spiegel , show members of the self-designated “Kill Team” comprising United States Army soldiers who are accused of making a sport of killing innocent Afghans as they show off one of their victims in a kind of trophy photo; one of the photos shows two Afghan civilians who appear to be dead. Der Spiegel, which published the photographs in its March 20 print edition, blurred the victims’ faces so that their expressions could not be seen. While that makes the photographs somewhat less inflammatory than they might otherwise be, it does not conceal the faces of the soldiers, who look disconcertingly satisfied as they kneel next to an Afghan civilian who appears to be dead. Five of the soldiers accused of being involved in the killings , who were from the Fifth Stryker Brigade, Second Infantry Division, based at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington State , are now facing court-martial proceedings for the deaths of three unarmed Afghan civilians. Seven other members of the unit are accused of lesser crimes. The men are accused of faking combat situations to justify killing randomly chosen Afghans with grenades and guns. The case came to light after one of the soldiers informed military investigators; he was then beaten severely by other members of the unit for betraying them, according to the charges against the soldiers, and had to be hospitalized. The killings occurred last year in Maiwand District in Kandahar Province. The pictures bring to mind those of the torture and humiliation of Iraqis at the hands of American troops at the Abu Ghraib prison, which came to light in spring 2004. There was little reaction on Monday because it was Nowruz, the Persian New Year, and many Afghan families go out for picnics. So even those few with Internet access were less likely to see the pictures. The Afghan government had no comment about the photos on Monday, nor did the American Embassy, which referred all questions to the military. The military and diplomats are hoping to mute public anger by emphasizing that the soldiers were being brought to justice. The Army described the actions as “repugnant.” “The actions portrayed in these photographs remain under investigation and are now the subject of ongoing U.S. court-martial proceedings,” an Army statement said. “The United States Army is committed to adherence to the law of war and the humane and respectful treatment of combatants, noncombatants and the dead,” it added. “When allegations of wrongdoing by soldiers surface to include the inappropriate treatment of the dead, they are fully investigated. Soldiers who commit offenses will be held accountable as appropriate.” One of the pictures published by Der Spiegel shows a soldier, Specialist Jeremy N. Morlock of Wasilla, Alaska , posing, a grin on his face, next to a dead Afghan who is mostly undressed, his body streaked with blood, as the soldier is lifting the man’s head as if to show him off like a trophy. Specialist Morlock has been charged with murder. A second, similar, photograph shows another soldier, Pfc. Andrew H. Holmes of Boise , Idaho , who has also been charged with murder, kneeling next to the same corpse. A third photograph shows two Afghan civilians who appear to be dead and whose bodies have been arranged leaning against a post. The photos had been described to reporters by defense lawyers for some of the soldiers, but their release had been prohibited by a military judge. It was not clear how Der Spiegel obtained the images.

Afghanistan
Civilian casualties
US Military
Der Spiegel,Spiegel Online


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 0.09 percent. The rate on the six-month issue was 0.13 percent, and the rate on the four-week issue was 0.05 percent. The following tax-exempt fixed-income issues are scheduled for pricing this week: TUESDAY Maryland Transportation Authority, $60.5 million of revenue bonds. Competitive. THURSDAY Virginia, $96.8 million of general obligation bonds. Competitive. ONE DAY DURING THE WEEK Colorado, $106 million of unlimited tax general obligation bonds. RBC Capital Markets. Douglas County, Colo., School District, $52 million of general obligation refinancing bonds. RBC Capital Markets. Lake Travis, Tex., Independent School District, $158.5 million of unlimited tax school building bonds. Bosc. New York State Dormitory Authority, $900 million of debt securities. Citigroup Global Markets. Pueblo County, Colo., $55 million of certificates of participation. Wells Fargo Securities. Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority, $1 billion of debt securities. Bank of America. Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority, $250 million of taxable local debt securities. Bank of America. Tennessee, $385 million of general obligation bonds. J. P. Morgan Securities. Texas, $440.8 million of joint revenue refinancing airport system bonds. J. P. Morgan Securities. University of Cincinnati, $67.4 million of general receipts bonds. RBC Capital Markets. Virginia Transportation Board, $290 million of debt securities. Bank of America. Will County, Ill., $65 million of general obligation bonds. Wells Fargo Securities.


A Change of Heart on Education

Abstract: NEW YORK — We’ve been trying to figure out why Johnny can’t read in this country for decades, centuries even, and the cures for the problem have always drawn a mixture of adulation and contempt. A century ago, the superintendent of schools in New York, William Henry Maxwell, heaped scorn on one theorist who proclaimed “vertical penmanship” to be the solution to all ills. Well, at least there’s a certain discipline and seriousness implied in holding the pen upright, ridiculous as it might seem as a cure for every problem. In any case, according to Diane Ravitch, who is probably America’s leading historian of education, vertical penmanship probably wasn’t any worse than a lot of other panaceas offered since — particularly panaceas offered in recent times. We’ve seen progressive education — students designing their own curriculum, deciding for themselves what they want to learn. In the past couple of decades, as test scores drop and the United States falls farther behind other countries in math and science, the idea that schools should follow a business model has been dominant, stressing competition, choice and accountability, raising teacher pay for higher test scores, closing schools that fail. So, how are we doing? Ms. Ravitch says very badly, maybe even worse than before, and her view, elaborated in a new book — “The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice are Undermining Education” — has been getting a good deal of attention, including from Congress, which she was off to visit this week. “The response has been kind of overwhelming,” Ms. Ravitch said in a phone conversation. “I’ve been fielding requests from all over the country to speak.” She has 24 appearances on her calendar for the immediate future and another 20 or so looming. “My analysis of the situation is that all these decisions have been made by a small coterie of elite, very wealthy people who have the answers to everything but haven’t actually spent much time in a classroom,” she said. “The response I’m getting is from parents and teachers who don’t have much contact with them.” Ms. Ravitch’s basic idea is that the education bureaucrats, the politicians, and the heads of a group of fabulously wealthy foundations have cleaved to the latest fads and theories, most of which can be subsumed under the business model of public education. The belief has been that smaller, specialized schools — known generally as charter schools — whose principals are given a great deal of autonomy, will give parents and children a great deal of choice and that they should replace the large, amorphous, all-purpose public schools that, in any case, haven’t been doing a good job. It’s a general approach that, Ms. Ravitch acknowledges, once aroused her own enthusiasm. It holds principals and teachers and schools accountable for their students’ performance — performance to be measured especially in the elementary and middle schools by standardized tests. Indeed, accountability is one of the mantras of the new orthodoxy, along with choice. This has been invented and implemented by politicians, educational bureaucrats and wealthy foundations with the greatest of good wills and the most ardent and even the most altruistic of intentions. The problem is that, like most orthodoxies, when it hasn’t worked, its advocates continue to advocate it. In Ms. Ravitch’s opinion, it hasn’t worked. This is, she believes, the case with what is probably the most important and far-reaching national policy initiative ever taken, and one that she herself had high hopes for: the No Child Left Behind law, enacted in the administration of President George W. Bush, which essentially forced school systems across the country to teach to standardized tests in grades three through eight. And the obsession with tests and test results, in Ms. Ravitch’s view, is antithetical to the spirit and purpose of education. “I came to believe that accountability, as written into federal law, was not raising standards but dumbing down the schools as states and districts strived to meet unrealistic targets,” she writes. Ms. Ravitch devotes a devastating chapter to New York City, where the administration of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has made claims, soberly dismantled in Ms. Ravitch’s book, that under his care public administration has continued to make steady improvement, largely through the creation of charter schools that give parents and students ever more choice. Ms. Ravitch shows that claims of improving scores on state tests have actually been produced mainly by ever-lower test score requirements, so low in one instance that many students could get to an acceptable level by random guessing. Another devastating chapter is on what Ms. Ravitch calls “The Billionaire Boys’ Club,” meaning the wealthy foundations, like the Walton Family Foundation and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, that have bought in to the business model and are pouring billions into it. These unelected and (to turn the current mantra against them) unaccountable foundations “exercise vast influence over American education because of their strategic investments in school reform.” But by looking one by one at the programs they have favored, Ms. Ravitch found that they have produced little in the way of measurable results. Often, as in the case of the Gates Foundation’s creation of small high schools to replace large, big-city high schools, they have brought about the opposite of what they intended. “The most durable way to improve schools,” Ms. Ravitch writes, is the one thing that is actually discouraged by the stress on tests: It is “to improve curriculum and instruction and to improve the conditions in which teachers work and children learn.” In other words, for students to be introduced, say, to the moral choices facing Abraham Lincoln in the Civil War isn’t the sort of thing that can be measured on tests of basic skills in reading and math. So much for test scores as the dominant measure of educational success. Meanwhile, choice has had the effect of producing many competing schools while destroying what ought to be the bedrock of early education, the solid, well-run neighborhood public school with its coherent and clear ideas of what children need to know to be responsible citizens in a democracy. “Ten years from now,” Ms. Ravitch warns, “a kid will have to apply for admission to the school across the street, and he might be turned down.”

Charter Schools
Tests and Testing
Education and Schools
No Child Left Behind Act


World Series — Napoli Responds to the Big-Game Pressure

Abstract: Arlington, Tex. It was Joe Maddon who made the call, back in the division series, before the Texas Rangers had even advanced to the second round. After Mike Napoli homered to lead Texas to a victory at Tampa Bay, Maddon, the Rays’ manager, proclaimed this “the Year of the Napoli.” “That was a nice thing of Joe to say,” Napoli, who does not say much himself, acknowledged on Sunday night. “I had a good year. I put a lot of hard work in, and things have been working out for me.” They kept working out on Monday, in Game 5 of the World Series, when Napoli drove in the tiebreaking runs to put the Rangers on the verge of their first championship. Napoli lashed a two-run, bases-loaded double to right center off Marc Rzepczynski, giving the Rangers their margin of victory in a 4-2 win over the St. Louis Cardinals . Why did Manager Tony La Russa allow Rzepczynski, a left-hander, to face the right-handed Napoli, who had crunched a three-run homer on Sunday and is now batting .308, with nine runs batted in, this World Series? Why, for that matter, was the Cardinals’ Allen Craig running with Albert Pujols at bat in the seventh — and again in the ninth? Both times, Craig was thrown out. And why, if Napoli is the Rangers’ hottest hitter, is he batting eighth in their lineup? That move, at least, continues to work out for the Rangers and their manager, Ron Washington. “I just call it playing baseball; that’s what I do,” Washington said before the game, when asked about his unorthodox decisions. “I’m not as dumb, either, as people think I am.” La Russa, for that matter, was not as charmed in Game 5 as he had been earlier this postseason, and for much of his career. The managerial moves on Monday were just part of the intrigue in a World Series that is easily the most compelling in nearly a decade. For the first time since 2003, we arrived at Game 5 knowing the series will end in another city. The hero was still out there, still waiting to reveal himself, and now we know it may be Napoli. For five and a third innings on Monday, Napoli had the unenviable task of yanking his glove above, below and to the side of the strike zone, as C.J. Wilson repeatedly flirted with disaster. The season will end in St. Louis because the National League won the All-Star Game in July, a game lost by Wilson, who allowed a three-run homer to Prince Fielder of the Milwaukee Brewers. Wilson, who faced Chris Carpenter in Game 5, is the only pitcher ever to lose in the All-Star Game, the division series, the League Championship Series and the World Series in the same year. It is a quirk, more than anything. Wilson is a very good pitcher, one of just eight this season to work 220 innings with 200 strikeouts and an earned run average of 3.00 or lower. The others were Roy Halladay, Clayton Kershaw, Cliff Lee, Tim Lincecum, C.C. Sabathia, James Shields and Justin Verlander. He is in very good company. And yet, by the middle of next month, all of those pitchers besides Shields and Wilson will probably have at least one Cy Young Award. Wilson is still fighting to squeeze into the elite. His performance this postseason — 0-3 with a 6.08 E.R.A. in his five starts — has not helped. “That’s what the commercial says, that legends are born in the postseason or whatever,” Wilson said Sunday, adding later, “It’s sort of one of those things that’s very difficult to process sometimes, as a starting pitcher, because you feel like everything is on your shoulders.” That is the mythology of Wilson’s position. The starting pitcher probably has more control over the outcome of a game than any other position in team sports. When he completes a World Series game in dominant fashion, like Jack Morris in 1991 or Josh Beckett in 2003, he is given a tag that sticks: Big-Game Pitcher. But so much is out of the starter’s control. Carpenter has the halo effect of postseason success, with an 8-2 record and a 3.06 E.R.A. in 14 career postseason starts, including Monday. But he lost a 2-0 lead in Game 5 by allowing solo homers to Mitch Moreland and Adrian Beltre. Napoli nearly made it worse. Napoli flied out to the deepest part of the ballpark, just in front of the 407-foot sign, with two on to end the sixth. Carpenter left the field swearing, and after one more inning, with the score still tied, he left the game and the Cardinals lost the lead. Wilson, who lost Game 1, was wild for the second time on Monday. He ran his pitch count to 100 through five innings, and walked five (two intentionally) in five and a third. His 19 walks tied a postseason record, with Jaret Wright in 1997, and he is only the third pitcher to make five starts in a postseason without a win. Fair or not, Wilson missed a chance to make a statement about himself. He is a free agent after the season, so it could be his last game as a Ranger. Wise general managers will not base their offers to Wilson on how he pitches in October, but a positive final impression could not have hurt. The Rangers, at least, survived Wilson’s wildness, with the bullpen preserving a tie into the bottom of the eighth. That is when Napoli struck, and sent the Rangers to St. Louis needing one win for the title.

World Series
Texas Rangers
Baseball
St Louis Cardinals
Carpenter Chris
Napoli Mike