O.E.C.D. Sees Weak Growth Ahead but No 'Great Recession'

Abstract: LONDON — Economic growth in much of the advanced world is near stagnation and set to remain limp through the rest of the year, although a downturn on the scale of the last one appears unlikely, an international research group said Thursday. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development , or O.E.C.D., said the recovery from the so-called Great Recession almost came to a halt in the second quarter of this year in many of its 34 members, including the United States and the euro area. In its latest outlook, the Paris-based group said a number of factors had darkened the picture since its last report in May. These included the recent gridlock over fiscal policy in United States, the euro area sovereign debt crisis , continued bank balance sheet problems, slowing trade flows and concerns about whether the existing economic policy tools can offset any further weakness. “The risk of more negative growth going forward has become higher in some major O.E.C.D. economies, but a downturn of the magnitude of 2008 and 2009 is not foreseen,” it said. In Japan, growth was less negative than projected in the immediate aftermath of the March earthquake and subsequent nuclear disaster, it said. But activity in China slowed in the course of the first half and manufacturing production there weakened. The O.E.C.D. projected that growth in Group of 7 economies excluding Japan would remain less than 1 percent at annualized rates on average in the second half of this year. It predicted an expansion in the United States of 1.1 percent in the third quarter and 0.4 percent in the fourth. For the three largest euro zone countries — Germany, France and Italy — the forecast was for 1.4 percent in the third quarter and negative 0.4 percent in the subsequent three months. “The impact of the sovereign debt woes in Europe and the United States and the associated turbulence in stock markets over the summer have not yet fully fed through into the indicators underpinning the projections,” the report said. Growth in Japan is expected to be buoyed by post-disaster reconstruction, though its effect should fade by year-end. And Germany and Italy are both likely to see contractions during one quarter of the second half. But the report said that uncertainty surrounding the projections was particularly high. The main risks in the second half include a possible intensification of Europe’s debt crisis; further balance-sheet problems for banks; additional businesses running down inventories amid weak consumption; and the risk that unemployment rates in some economies could become entrenched. But it also said that the unwinding of temporary factors that had dampened growth in Germany — like the shutdown of nuclear plants — and in France, such as the effects of phasing-out car scrapping subsidies, “may prompt a sharper than projected rebound in activity in the third quarter.” In addition, data on the federal budget had been better than expected so far this year in United States, it said. The report said that official interest rates in most advanced economies should be kept on hold. If in coming months signs emerge of enduring economic weakness, the O.E.C.D. said rates should be lowered where there is scope. Where there is no scope, other measures could include further central bank intervention in securities markets, even if that brings diminishing returns, it said. The governance of the euro area must still be improved and the capitalization of banks in the region strengthened to stop contagion and restore confidence, the report said.


At Former Florida Boys’ Home, Looking for Reasons — and Bodies — in the Ground

Abstract: MARIANNA, Fla. — Nobody is quite sure how many boys’ bodies lie beneath the grounds of the notorious Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys, or which one is Thomas or Owen or Robert. Nobody is quite sure how most of them died — the cause is often listed as “unknown” or “accident” — or why a great number were buried with such haste. The scattered graves bear no markings: no names, no loving sentiment. The only hint of a cemetery are the white crosses that the state planted in the 1990s, belatedly and haphazardly. From the time it opened in 1900, as the state’s first home for wayward children, until it closed in 2011, as a residential center for high-risk youths, Dozier became synonymous with beatings, abuse, forced labor, neglect and, in some cases, death. It survived Congressional hearings, state hearings and state investigations. Each one turned the spotlight on horrific conditions, and little changed. But now, spurred on by families of the dead boys and scores of former students — now old men — forensic anthropologists from the University of South Florida have spent the last year using sophisticated radar equipment to search for answers beneath the 1,400-acre campus. Decades after some of the worst abuses, former students have come forward to talk of brutal and repeated beatings; the families of some of the dead want dignity for those they lost. The crosses, they say, are an afterthought. They want to know more: where the children are buried and how they died, and whether the deaths were accidental, intentional or simply the result of illness. And they want the bodies brought home. “What happened, happened, and I am willing to forgive,” said Glen Varnadoe, whose Uncle Thomas was sent to the school in 1934 after he was accused — falsely, the family says — of stealing a typewriter from a neighbor’s yard in Brooksville. Thomas was declared dead of pneumonia a month later. “But I want my uncle’s remains, and I want to return him to his rightful place, next to his mother,” he said. “He was 13. He didn’t do anything but walk across a backyard.” The anthropology team has focused largely on Boot Hill, which during the segregation era was a documented cemetery on the African-American side of campus. So far, the team has located 50 grave shafts there, 19 more than a 2009 Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigation said existed. And with the help of school, state and historical records, they have counted at least 98 deaths dating from 1913 to 1960. Their search was stymied last year when the state tried to sell the property. But a court order halted that. The team now has permission from the state to keep searching. “With the possibility of additional graves on the Dozier School property, I asked that the Department of Environmental Protection refrain from selling the land to allow for further research into this very disturbing matter,” said Attorney General Pam Bondi. Dr. Erin Kimmerle, who is leading the team, said she believed that more boys were probably buried at the school. It is highly unlikely, she said, that black and white children at the school, in northern Florida, would have been laid to rest in the same cemetery before desegregation, which means that white boys, like Thomas Varnadoe, may be buried elsewhere. Documents and witnesses make mention of other burial spots, but none are directly identified. Some families of the dead want their boys found, exhumed and brought home. The state and the district medical examiner’s office, which can exhume decades-old bodies if the deaths appear suspicious, are still considering whether to grant permission. “Where there is smoke, there is fire,” Senator Bill Nelson, a Florida Democrat who also urged the Justice Department to get involved, said at a recent news conference with two families. “I want them exhumed. I want them examined. I want to see if potential crimes were committed.” Looking for Answers and Bodies in the Ground 8 Photos View Slide Show › Image Meggan Haller for The New York Times Getting to the children, and perhaps the truth of what occurred, has been a hard-fought battle, mostly because decades-old records are contradictory and incomplete. “This is what is important: to get some closure in our lives,” said Ovell Krell, 84, whose brother is said to be buried there. In 1941, school officials told her parents that Owen, who was sent to the school for stealing a car, had run away. He was later found dead under a house on a January night, apparently from pneumonia. The family wondered: why would a 14-year-old boy not seek help for days if he was dying of pneumonia? By the time his parents learned of his death and drove hours to the school, Owen was in the ground. With little money or know-how to do battle, the family simply went home. Their mother never recovered, Mrs. Krell said. Most nights, she sat on the porch, listening for Owen’s whistle. “If my mother could have been sure that was Owen in that grave, she might have come to terms with it,” Mrs. Krell said. “It was the not knowing. This is the thing that eats people up inside.” Almost from the moment it opened as the Florida State Reform School, there was a steady stream of reports of abuse, indentured servitude, crowding and neglect. So many children — among them incorrigibles and runaways — were sent to the institution that it became the largest in the country. Accounts surfaced early on of children as young as 6 chained to walls. Fierce whippings were common. Children were forced to pick crops, make bricks and print paper, all to profit the prison and other businesses, records show. A fire in 1914 killed eight boys who had been locked in a room. Flu epidemics killed others. Some runaways were shot. The beatings continued well into the 1960s. When Gov. Claude Kirk made a surprise visit in 1968 to inspect the decrepit school, he said, “If one of your kids were kept in such circumstances, you’d be up there with rifles.” Even when the beatings stopped, abuse continued. The “whips and chains” mentality of the staff, as a former student called it, was deep-rooted. In the 1980s, children at the school said they were hogtied and put in isolation. This led to a 1983 class-action suit, which the state settled. Yet problems persisted. A highly critical 2011 Justice Department report called the mistreatment of children at the school “systemic, egregious and dangerous.” The school was closed that year for cost-cutting. In 2008, a group of men who attended the school in the 1950s and ‘60s began to tell harrowing stories to The Miami Herald and The St. Petersburg Times. They called themselves “The White House Boys,” a nod to the small cinder-block building where they say they were viciously flogged for the slightest infraction. The men who say they were abused now number about 300. Robert Straley, 66, who arrived in 1963, soon after he was caught riding in a car a friend had stolen, said he was beaten his first day. Echoing the stories of the other White House Boys, Mr. Straley said he was taken to the house and was told to lie stomach down on a blood-specked mattress and hold tight to the head rail. A one-armed guard pummeled him with a leather strap lined with sheet metal, he said. Forty blows tore up his bottom, leaving him bloodied and terrified. Other boys sometimes received as many as 100 blows, he said. An oversize industrial fan roared outside to drown out the sound. “I thought he was hitting me with a two-by-four,” Mr. Straley said. He was told: “ ‘You could bite the pillow.’ You weren’t supposed to let go. If you did, they would start over. You were allowed to cry but not scream.” In 2008, Gov. Charlie Crist ordered a state investigation. The inquiry, which acknowledged that it relied in part on incomplete school records, found only 31 grave sites and did not substantiate or refute claims of abuse. It concluded that the 31 deaths were attributable to known causes. The families called it a whitewash. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement defended its report in December, when researchers found more graves. Now Dr. Kimmerle and her team have brought new hope that the children may finally be honored. “They want the boys brought home,” said Dr. Kimmerle, who has helped locate graves all over the world. “These were not throwaway children.”

Florida
Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys
Cemetery
Child Abuse


Saudis Issue a Response to Criticism by Obama

Abstract: WASHINGTON — A top Saudi intelligence chief said on Monday that President Obama failed to appreciate all that the kingdom has done to stabilize the Middle East, fight terrorism and support American priorities, hitting back after the president called Middle Eastern governments “free riders” on U.S. initiatives. “You accuse us of fomenting sectarian strife in Syria, Yemen and Iraq,” Turki al-Faisal, a Saudi prince and former ambassador to the United States and Britain, wrote in an open letter published Monday in the English-language Arab News. “You add insult to injury by telling us to share our world with Iran, a country that you describe as a supporter of terrorism.” Prince Turki’s letter was a response to comments Mr. Obama made in a much-discussed interview with The Atlantic magazine in which Mr. Obama referred to the Saudis and other allies as “free riders” who push the United States to act but contribute little themselves. Mr. Obama has long been cooler toward the Saudis and other Arab allies than his predecessor, but his willingness to forcefully criticize them stunned many in Washington’s foreign policy establishment. “Usually people unload with such undiplomatic language once they’re outside of government,” said Alberto Fernandez, vice president of the Middle East Media Research Institute and a former ambassador. “I don’t remember anyone inside of government, never mind the president, saying something like this.” Prince Turki gave a lengthy list of efforts that Saudi Arabia has undertaken to protect the United States from further terrorist attack, combat extremism and stabilize the Middle East. “Could it be that you are petulant about the Kingdom’s efforts to support the Egyptian people when they rose against the Muslim Brothers’ government and you supported it?” Prince Turki asked. Arab frustration with the Obama administration welled up during the Arab Spring uprisings of 2011. The Saudis grew angry at how quickly Mr. Obama called for President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt to step down and later with Mr. Obama’s refusal to launch military strikes against Syria after President Bashar al-Assad’s forces used chemical weapons in 2013. The complaints peaked last year with the international agreement to dismantle Iran’s nuclear program that Arab states saw as overly solicitous of Iran. But decades of dependence on the United States for arms sales and security guarantees have left the Saudis with few immediate alternatives. Mr. Obama has long viewed Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries as repressive societies obsessed with sectarian issues whose principal export, oil, warms the climate and whose strict interpretation of Islam contributes to violent extremism. On Monday, Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary, said that Mr. Obama valued the security relationship between the United States and Saudi Arabia, particularly in the fight against the Islamic State, also known as ISIL. “At the same time,” Mr. Earnest said, “we’ve made no bones about the fact there’s more that we would like to see all of our partners in the counter-ISIL coalition do to advance our efforts, and that includes Saudi Arabia.”

Saudi Arabia
Military
Turki al- Faisal
Barack Obama
US Foreign Policy
ISIS,ISIL,Islamic State
US Politics
Atlantic Monthly


Kennedy Case Goes to Jury After Debate Over How Quickly a Sleep Aid Works

Abstract: WHITE PLAINS — In an indignant summation, the prosecutor in the misdemeanor trial of Kerry Kennedy asked the jury Thursday to ignore the defendant’s magnetic background, and convict her for continuing to drive after she became aware she was under the influence of the sleeping pill Zolpidem. “On any given day, any American can engage in conduct that becomes a crime,” said Doreen Lloyd, an assistant district attorney. “She is not exempt from the rule of law.” Then pointedly using the title of a book Ms. Kennedy published on human rights, Ms. Lloyd concluded by telling the six-person jury: “I’m confident you will speak truth to power and convict Kerry Kennedy of the crime she committed on July 13, 2012.” Ms. Kennedy, 54, the former wife of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and a daughter of Robert F. Kennedy, was arrested and charged with driving under the influence of a drug, after sideswiping a tractor-trailer on Interstate 684 near Armonk. She faces up to a year in jail if convicted. The case was given to the jury late Thursday afternoon, and the jurors deliberated for a half-hour before going home. Neither side disputes that she was driving erratically on her way to her gym after taking Zolpidem, a generic form of Ambien. Ms. Kennedy has maintained that she took the pill accidentally, mistaking it for medication she took for a thyroid condition. The core question that may determine her guilt or innocence is whether she should have been aware that she was feeling the drug’s soporific effects and stopped the car. One of Ms. Kennedy’s lawyers, Gerald B. Lefcourt, in his closing argument contended that the jury had “not heard any evidence from the prosecutor, who has the burden of proof that Kerry Kennedy did realize she accidentally took the sleeping pill Zolpidem and continued to drive.” “This is a case with not a reasonable doubt — there is overwhelming doubt,” Mr. Lefcourt said. To convict Ms. Kennedy, he concluded, the jury would have to believe that “she’s a callous person and knowing she was under the influence of Zolpidem and continued to drive.” Before the summation, the last defense witness, Dr. David Benjamin, a clinical pharmacologist in the Boston area who helped conduct the trials for Ambien in the years before it received federal approval in 1992, testified that the drug depresses “your ability to make good decisions and good judgment.” The drug can result in “automatic type behavior” he described as “zombieism.” Persons driving a car under the influence of the drug, he said, might “become impaired, but don’t know they’re impaired.” Under the prodding of Mr. Lefcourt, Dr. Benjamin read from an article in The New England Journal of Medicine last August about Zolpidem. The article concluded that people may not be aware of impairment by the drug. “A variety of new data have shown that people affected by impairment after taking Zolpidem frequently do not recognize their impaired state,” the article, by three researchers for the Food and Drug Administration, concluded. “Patient self-perception is not an adequate gauge for impairment.” Mr. Lefcourt later described the article as “a home run” for Ms. Kennedy’s case. During the cross-examination, Ms. Lloyd tried to get Dr. Benjamin to acknowledge that Ms. Kennedy should have felt drowsy and disoriented before falling into her somnolent state and stopped her car on the road. She quoted from testimony that Dr. Benjamin gave in an earlier case in which he compared the impact of Ambien to a “dimmer switch on the chandelier over the dining room table.” “The purpose of the drug is to gradually put you to sleep,” Ms. Lloyd emphasized. “Actually it’s to put you to sleep really quickly,” Dr. Benjamin retorted. At another point, he said, “People take it and all of a sudden it’s lights out and they’re oblivious to what’s happening.” The “dimmer switch” comparison was one the jury asked to have read back as it began deliberations. When he was questioned again by Mr. Lefcourt after Ms. Lloyd’s cross-examination, Dr. Benjamin said that there had been no research on the so-called onset symptoms of the drug and whether people felt drowsy before falling asleep. Earlier, Dr. Benjamin testified that he considers himself an expert in medication errors and the taking of wrong medicine and pointed out that it is not uncommon for “a young woman running out of the house like we all do” to have taken “the wrong bottle by mistake,” particularly since the containers for the thyroid medication, Synthroid, and the Zolpidem looked identical.

Kerry Kennedy
Ambien
Driving Under the Influence DUI
Car Crash
Westchester


High Anxiety at a Popular Preschool

Abstract: AMONG the many posts about the Riverside Church Weekday School that appeared on the Urban Baby online message board this fall, one from a parent interested in learning about the school prompted this response: “Currently in turmoil.” Some parents may resist this characterization. But over the past seven months, the elite preschool on Morningside Heights, where the annual tuition can exceed $18,000, has endured a series of complicated staff changes that have upset many parents. “The school has lost some of its warmth and connection with parents, the two things that really set it apart from other preschools,” said Stacey Schonfeld-Calcano, whose two daughters attend Weekday. The school’s troubles began in March when Linda Herman, Weekday’s director for four years, was suspended over allegations that she had violated the privacy of two students by discussing test scores and other issues. Many parents had criticized the church’s handling of the matter as too secretive and abrupt. Ms. Herman was cleared by the church of the allegations against her, and she returned to Weekday to finish out the year. But in August, Weekday parents learned that Ms. Herman had decided not to return to the school this fall. Then, just days before classes began in September, a recently hired head teacher chose not to take the job offered her, and a teacher assistant resigned. On Oct. 19, Deborah Flynn, Weekday’s administrative assistant for 13 years, resigned as well. In the midst of these departures, the school Parent’s Association has zeroed in on the Urban Baby posts from frustrated Weekday parents, trying to discourage online venting. The remarks, the four chairmen of the parents’ group said in an e-mail message, make it harder to hire new teachers. Kimberly Kress of Rubenstein Associates, a spokeswoman for the school, said that its relations with its parents were of “utmost importance,” adding that school officials have met with parents to address their concerns. Ms. Kress also denied that the personnel problems had hurt the school’s ability to hire new teachers. She said that a new teacher assistant had recently been hired and that school officials were confident they would be able to hire a head teacher. According to Shaba Keys, a chairwoman of the Parent’s Association, part of the problem has to do with the intensity that surrounds private school education in the city. “You have so many families and so few private opportunities,” Ms. Keys said, “that there’s such an anxiety that underlies it all.”

Education and Schools
Suspensions Dismissals and Resignations
Private and Sectarian Schools


‘Blue Collar, White Collar, No Collar’ - Off the Shelf

Abstract: I’VE often wondered why there aren’t more strong works of fiction dealing with the business world. Offhand, with the possible exception of Tom Wolfe’s “The Bonfire of the Vanities,” Richard Ford ’s real estate dramas, or Michael Crichton’s forgettable “Disclosure,” I can’t think of many novels of recent years that grapple with the kinds of issues most business people encounter. Invariably, what we get instead is the corporate thriller. You know, young Ned lands a job in the mailroom at Faceless Colossus Inc., climbs the ladder to middle management, then finds his boss in a pool of blood and balance sheets in the conference room, then uncovers a giant global conspiracy to subvert humanity in the boardroom, then goes on the run, where he is pursued by stern men in Joseph Abboud suits as he and the inevitable girlfriend scramble to save their lives, the world and, I don’t know, their 401(k) s. The villain is always the C.E.O. The paucity of thoughtful business fiction, I surmise, has to do with the novelist’s preference for matters of life and death, or at least love. Writers yearn to put their characters in jeopardy, whether actual or emotional, and at first glance the main thing at stake in most corporate dramas, real or otherwise, is money. If the crucial issue is whether Faceless Colossus makes its earnings estimate for the quarter, or whether young Ned gets that bonus, well, not many novelists want to go there. Which is kind of a shame. Television, after all, has set all kinds of excellent tales in the business world. “Mad Men” jumps to mind; it actually finds drama in the gritty realities of account management. “L.A. Law.” Heck, even “Ally McBeal” had its moments. These shows also illuminate the lives that people lead in the workplace — another part of experience that is not especially well represented in fiction. Sloan Wilson (“The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit,” published in 1955), Joshua Ferris (“Then We Came to the End,” from 2007) and Mr. Ford are among the few who have found fictional inspiration inside the office. Mr. Ford attempts to add to the meager store of workplace fiction with a new paperback collection of short stories he has edited, called “Blue Collar, White Collar, No Collar: Stories of Work” (Harper Perennial). By and large, these pieces don’t pierce the dark heart of Corporate America, or limn its existential dilemmas. Instead, most are character studies set in all manner of work environments, be they barrios, furniture warehouses or typewriter repair shops. It’s hard to generalize about 32 stories by 32 authors, including some written by such luminaries as Alice Munro, Donald Barthelme, John Cheever and Joyce Carol Oates. A few are vignettes that deal only glancingly with work at all. Mr. Ford’s piece, for instance, gives us a young couple driving to his boss’s home when, on a darkened country road, the wife suddenly volunteers that she has had an affair with the boss. There is some awkward silence, a fast punch to her nose, then a dead raccoon and a quick denouement. Mr. Ford’s prose is evocative, but this is what usually passes for a story when novelists write about “work” — a sharp vignette set against a workplace backdrop, but not really about the work. Which is fine. Nice story. Maybe I should read more modern fiction, but a few of these tales left me scratching my head. One called “Zapatos,” by T. Coraghessan Boyle , is about a vaguely Chilean shoe importer who sends his son off to a distant warehouse to buy shoes that fit only a left foot. Maybe you had to be there. Or the first one, by Max Apple, about a Houston woman attempting to open a small business; it meanders through a trip to a loan officer and a come-on from a supplier and then ends with the promise of impending marital sex. (Don’t look at me; I didn’t understand it either.) The Russell Banks offering tells the story of three kids from a distant barrio who start their own security business and get rich; as nicely as Banks writes, I’m still not sure what the point of the thing was. For every tale that’s a little, um, odd, there are stories here that do take us into work, and into lives, that feel very real. One of my favorite stories from the collection, “Drummond and Son,” by Charles D’Ambrosio, is a gentle snapshot of a lone father trying to raise his troubled son in the father’s Seattle typewriter repair shop. It gets the feel of a small business just right, the usual customers, the minutiae of the work, the juggling of family and outside pressures that press into the day. Another perceptive piece is “Edison, New Jersey,” by Junot Díaz , which chronicles a few days in the life of a Dominican delivery man as he and his partner cart pool tables around the New Jersey suburbs. The man steals a little — O.K., a lot — hits on the help, and leaves unpleasant bathroom surprises for customers he dislikes. There is nothing remarkable about the story or the protagonist, but a reader is left with a keen sense of a frustrating blue-collar job, the kind of work, done by the kind of person, that we find too easy to ignore. WALKING up and down airplane aisles, I usually notice that most businesspeople are reading work materials, nonfiction or some kind of self-help book. Rarely do I spy anyone reading business-themed fiction. But if you want to give it a try, or just sample snippets from some good fiction writers, this book is worth a read. I learned a few things, smiled a time or two and made myself a promise to leave very, very good tips for the next delivery man who comes to our house.

Books and Literature
Labor and Jobs
Ford Richard
Boyle T Coraghessan
Diaz Junot
D'Ambrosio Charles
Banks Russell
Apple Max


New E.T.F.s Appeal to Those With Bigger Appetites for Risk

Abstract: Imagine a fund that offers exposure to the strategies of the world’s sharpest hedge fund investors. Or one that tracks the steady dividends paid by companies like Apple, instead of their more volatile shares. In stodgy mutual fund land, these are distant thoughts at best. But at the far frontier of the booming exchange-traded fund business, everyday investors can have access to an increasingly eclectic menu of investment themes that, traditionally, were available to only wealthy individuals and sophisticated institutions. E.T.F.s are vehicles that trade like ordinary stocks and follow a standard or specially created index of stocks, bonds, commodities and currencies. Because of their liquidity, transparency and low fees, E.T.F.s have become the fastest-growing component of the fund industry and now stand at more than $2 trillion in assets. With such growth comes an increased appetite for risk though. Take the fund introduced last year by Reality Shares , an upstart exchange-traded fund outfit based in San Diego. The firm’s co-founder and chief executive, Eric R. Ervin, recalled that when he was a broker to wealthy individuals at Morgan Stanley, his clients were looking for a way to invest in growing businesses that threw off a consistent stream of dividends while reducing their exposure to the whims of the marketplace. “The dividends of a business are based on reality,” Mr. Ervin said. “The stock price is based on emotion.” Mr. Ervin also notes that in the last 43 years, there have been only three years when companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index have not shown positive dividend growth, while there have been many years when stock prices have ended up lower. So Mr. Evin left his job at Morgan Stanley and established Reality Shares, which, with its flagship DIVY fund, gives an investor, via a suite of derivatives, exposure to broad dividend growth, absent stock appreciation or depreciation. In a rising stock market, DIVY is likely to lag the main indexes. But when stocks sell off, as long as dividend payouts don’t decline as well, Mr. Ervin is betting that the Reality Shares fund will stand out. DIVY has seen some asset growth recently but has yet to truly catch on and has funds of just $31 million. It also relies heavily on derivatives to capture its dividend exposure, which increases its risk profile relative to its peer group. Wide gaps between its net asset value and its share price suggest that this reliance on difficult-to-trade derivatives makes the fund less liquid than other dividend-oriented E.T.F.s. “No doubt they are innovative, but it is also a complicated structure,” said Paul Britt, an E.T.F. specialist at FactSet Research Systems in San Francisco. “The wide spreads and the liquidity is also a concern.” To date, the E.T.F. sector has been dominated by giants like BlackRock, State Street and Vanguard, which oversee mammoth funds that track major stock and bond indexes. Firms like Invesco PowerShares, and in particular WisdomTree , have also seen explosive growth by churning out funds that track specific market segments, such as export-oriented companies in Japan and Europe that benefit from a strong dollar. Now, a slew of smaller names like Reality Shares are coming to the market with the idea of democratizing riskier trading strategies that had not been available to everyday investors in the past. One of the more successful E.T.F.s in this regard has been IndexIQ’s multi-strategy E.T.F., which tracks the so-called macro strategy that large hedge funds follow. Founded by Adam S. Patti, a former index specialist at Fortune magazine, the fund mimics core hedge fund strategies by buying the relevant E.T.F.s — ranging from bonds to equities. The fund strives for consistent returns, absent sharp ups and downs. And, to date, it has been more successful in raising funds than Reality Shares, with its main E.T.F. now at about $1 billion. And best of all, says Mr. Patti, one does not have to to put up the rich fees that hedge funds charge their investors. The expense fee for the fund is less than 1 percent. “There is no need to pay ‘2 and 20’ here,” Mr. Patti said.


2 Witnesses at Winston Hearing Are Said Not to Testify

Abstract: TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Two of Jameis Winston’s Florida State teammates at his code of conduct hearing Tuesday had been expected to offer testimony on Winston’s assertion that he did not sexually assault a female student two years ago. The players, Chris Casher and Ronald Darby, had witnessed the encounter between Winston and the woman. But after being sworn in, Casher and Darby declined to answer questions, according to a person close to the case. Winston’s hearing — which is being heard by Major B. Harding, a former Florida Supreme Court chief justice — will continue Wednesday, beginning at 9 a.m., and could spill into Thursday. Harding will decide if Winston violated as many as four parts of F.S.U.’s code of conduct, two of which involve sexual activity without consent and creating a hostile environment. Potential penalties for Winston range from a reprimand to a suspension to expulsion from the university. But given the time frames for the hearing process and possible appeals, Winston will quite possibly not be affected by a ruling until after the Seminoles, who are No. 4 in the College Football Playoff rankings, have completed postseason play. Tuesday’s hearing was held on campus and lasted five hours. The accuser, who has left F.S.U., was also present, but she and Winston were never in the same room. Winston, the Seminoles’ quarterback, later joined Casher and Darby at football practice, which Coach Jimbo Fisher moved from 3:45 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., apparently to accommodate the players. Casher and Darby were part of some legal maneuvering and posturing Tuesday. The university does not have subpoena power, and F.S.U. policy allows students to refuse to answer questions. Winston had previously refused to be interviewed by the police and prosecutors. Casher and Darby had their own conduct hearings this year for their actions in the case. Casher videotaped the encounter between Winston and the woman but said he erased the video by the time the police questioned him 11 months later. It is a violation of the student code to record a sex act without permission of the participants. Casher was placed on a year’s probation; Darby was cleared. With possible civil lawsuits looming, the players may have been advised not to testify so as not to contradict earlier statements made in affidavits to the police in Winston’s criminal case. But Baine Kerr, one of two Title IX lawyers representing the accuser, saw Tuesday’s proceedings as a strong start for his client. “A year ago, few people thought this day would come,” Kerr said after the hearing. “A Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback is finally having to be accountable for his actions. It’s a tremendous day for our client and women’s safety in the United States. We’re very satisfied with how it’s going.” Winston and the woman are allowed one adviser in the hearing. The lawyers are not allowed to speak on behalf of their clients but are permitted to consult with them. Before the hearing, Winston’s lawyer, David Cornwell, adamantly repeated that Winston did not sexually assault the woman. A dozen or so members of the news media staked out the hearing Tuesday while the rest of F.S.U.’s campus bustled on a sunny day. “We intend to end this process today,” Cornwell said in a statement. “Unfortunately, in these type of cases, the only way to confront the lie is with the truth. Jameis will tell the truth today, and we are confident that Justice Harding, when he hears her multiple lies and Jameis’s truth, will find, as every other entity has to this point, that she is lying.” Kerr and the fellow Title IX lawyer John Clune had already sent out a statement. “This is the day that Mr. Winston has been desperately trying to avoid for two years,” it read. “This courageous young woman finally gets the chance to stand up for herself and against Mr. Winston and big-time college sports, which has long run over the rights and protection of women on campus.” It continued, “Neither Jameis Winston nor his lawyer can stop what is coming.” Harding has 10 days to notify Winston and his accuser of a ruling, according to F.S.U. policy. A dozen or so witnesses are expected to be called, a person close to the case said. Winston could possibly miss practice time Wednesday — unless Fisher again pushes back practice from the scheduled time of 3:45 p.m. — as the Seminoles prepare for the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game, set for Saturday night against Georgia Tech. If F.S.U. beats the Yellow Jackets, the Seminoles are expected to be one of the four teams picked for the College Football Playoff . The national semifinals are Jan. 1, and the championship game is Jan. 12. Both Winston and the accuser can appeal Harding’s ruling. They have five days after being notified of the decision to respond and file a written appeal. Tim Jansen, a defense lawyer from Tallahassee who has advised at more than 100 code of conduct hearings at F.S.U., said the process could last a month or two. Jansen represented Winston in his criminal case but is not involved in Winston’s conduct hearing. “I’ve never seen a ruling in a case like this in two days,” Jansen said. “They usually go up to 7 or 10 days, and then it goes from there.” He added: “The ultimate person who makes the decision is the president of the university, if he chooses to get involved. No matter what the finding or sanctions are, the president of the university can have the final decision.”

Jameis Winston
Florida
Chris Casher
Ronald Darby
College football
Rape
Florida State University


Syria: Assad Relative Is Arrested After Protests Over a Killing

Abstract: The Syrian authorities have arrested a relative of President Bashar al-Assad, the state news agency said Monday, two days after protesters called for the man’s punishment over suspicions that he killed an army officer in a traffic dispute. Hundreds of Syrians staged a protest on Saturday in the coastal city of Latakia, a stronghold of Mr. Assad and his Alawite sect, to demand the execution of Suleiman al-Assad, the son of the president’s cousin Hilal. SANA, the state news agency, said the authorities had “arrested Suleiman Hilal al-Assad and transferred him to the relevant parties.” It gave no further details. Syria’s state news media had not reported the protest or the reported killing, and accounts of what happened vary. But according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and supporters of the president on social media, Suleiman al-Assad was angered when Col. Hassan al-Shaikh, who was in a car with his family, overtook his vehicle, and so shot him dead.

Syria
Bashar al-Assad
Suleiman al-Assad
Civil Unrest
Murders and Homicides


Eggs Wanted, Dyed and Otherwise

Abstract: In 2007, as in most years, Americans bought more eggs during the week before Easter than at any other time, according to figures collected from supermarkets and drug stores by the Nielsen Company. In dollar terms, however, a different holiday is responsible for the most egg sales: the hottest week in 2007 was just before Christmas, followed by the week that included Christmas. Egg prices have risen steadily over the last few years: nationwide last week, the average supermarket price of a dozen grade A eggs was $1.55, compared with 71 cents during the same week in 2003, according to the Agriculture Department. Most observers blame the rising cost of poultry feed for that price increase. Nielsen found that people in cold cities were most likely to buy egg-coloring kits, perhaps because they long for spring. Supermarkets sold such kits in the most disproportionately high volumes in Cincinnati, in the Buffalo-Rochester areas, and in the Boise-Salt Lake City areas.

Eggs
Agriculture Department
Holidays and Special Occasions
Easter and Holy Week


Canadian Firm Buys Tower on Park Avenue

Abstract: A Canadian investment firm has agreed to pay $575 million for a 33-story office tower at Park Avenue and 57th Street in the latest indication of a soaring real estate market spurred by foreign investment. The tower, 450 Park Avenue, is in Midtown East, a neighborhood where chic retailers pay some of the highest rents in the world and developers are now erecting tall, slim buildings with $95 million condominiums. The sale price for 450 Park, whose tenants include hedge funds, private equity companies and law firms, represents a remarkable comeback for a building that last sold for a record $509 million in 2007, a year before the market collapsed after a debt-fueled real estate boom. Oxford Properties Group , the real estate arm of the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System, emerged from a hotly contested auction on Monday evening to sign a contract to buy the building from Somerset Partners and the Michael Tabor family trust. It will be one of the highest prices ever paid for a Manhattan office building, over $1,700 per square foot. But Oxford is betting that the property will become more valuable when the developer Harry B. Macklowe completes the tallest residential tower in the Western Hemisphere, a 1,398-foot skyscraper next door at 432 Park Avenue. “It’s one of those irreplaceable locations,” Dan Fasulo, a managing director of Real Capital Analytics, said. “This could be a unique deal where both the seller and the buyer end up winning.” The sale of the trophy tower at 450 Park follows other high-profile deals last year that attracted bidders from around the world, including the $1.1 billion sale of the Sony Building on Madison Avenue, the $1.36 billion sale of 650 Madison Avenue and the $1.54 billion sale of 7 Times Square. “A lot of pension funds, Asian companies, sovereign funds and other investors are increasing their allocations for real estate,” said Douglas L. Harmon of Eastdil Secured, the broker on the Park Avenue deal. “If you do that, the first place you want to be is Manhattan.” Oxford has been an active investor in New York. The company is a partner with Related Companies in a $15 billion commercial and residential development over the rail yards on the West Side of Manhattan. Chinese companies, like Fosun International, which bought Chase Manhattan Plaza last year for $725 million, have gotten a lot of attention. But Canadian companies, Mr. Fasulo said, are by far the most active foreign buyers in the city. The fate of 450 Park did not always look so good. Somerset and Mr. Tabor set a record — the highest price on a square-foot basis — in summer 2007 when they paid $509 million for the 334,404-square-foot building. Over the next year, the economy collapsed, severely wounding most investors who had bought buildings with mostly borrowed money at the height of the real estate boom. But unlike other buyers, Keith Rubenstein, a principal at Somerset, said his company had borrowed only 30 percent of the purchase price for the deal. They had poured most of their profits from the 2007 sale of 85 10th Avenue for $425 million, $136 million more than they had paid in 2005, into the purchase of 450 Park. Mr. Rubenstein said the company then bought out the leases of its small retail tenants and then signed a lucrative deal with the auction house Phillips de Pury & Company to lease all of the ground floor space. More recently, Somerset brought in Mr. Harmon, Adam Spies and Kevin Donner from Eastdil to handle the sale of the property. Mr. Harmon’s team is on a roll, having sold the Sony Building, 650 Madison and the office space at Time Warner Center. Ultimately, more than a half-dozen finalists bid for 450 Park. “We survived because we only had 30 percent leverage,” Mr. Rubenstein said. “It turned out to be one of the best investments we ever made.”


Man Accused of Videotaping of School Bathrooms

Abstract: A secret surveillance camera found in a bathroom of a Long Island home led to the arrest Tuesday of a school employee who was also videotaping women's rooms at two Brooklyn high schools, officials said. The man, Michael Conte, 46, of Staten Island, was accused of secretly videotaping a girls' locker room at Brooklyn Technical High School and a women's faculty bathroom at Westinghouse High School. He faces charges of unlawful surveillance and endangering the welfare of a child. His bail was set at $75,000 last night. The surveillance case came to light Sunday after a woman in Selden told Suffolk County detectives that she discovered a computer hard drive containing images of her family using the bathroom. Mr. Conte, a friend, had done repairs at the home. Detectives arrested Mr. Conte and alerted the New York City police. Mr. Conte admitted that he had secretly videotaped at Westinghouse, where he worked as a custodian's assistant, a police official said. Detectives who searched the school found a hole in the rear of the women's faculty restroom. On Tuesday, a search of his home in the Grasmere section of Staten Island yielded more than 800 cassettes and DVD's; pinhole cameras, high-powered lenses and other surveillance equipment; and a shotgun and ammunition, an assistant district attorney, Anthony Catalano, said.Some videotapes showed a girls' locker room at Brooklyn Tech, where Mr. Conte is a machinist's helper, officials said. There was no answer at Mr. Conte's home last night. Michael Best, general counsel for the city's Education Department, said Mr. Conte was fired from his Westinghouse High job yesterday, and had been reassigned from his Brooklyn Tech job.

WOMEN
CONTE MICHAEL
RECORDING EQUIPMENT
RECORDINGS AND DOWNLOADS (VIDEO)
SEX CRIMES
EDUCATION AND SCHOOLS
TEACHERS AND SCHOOL EMPLOYEES
BATHROOMS AND TOILETS


Tripping Over Lobbyists at City Hall

Abstract: NOW that the term limits question has returned because the City Council wants four more years, the focus is on method and whether the public should get to vote in another referendum or the Council should vote itself an extension. A good subject for debate. Here's another -- over substance, not method, and a nettlesome matter of unintended consequences. When term limits went into effect 12 years ago, critics made dire predictions that Council staff members would take over the city's legislature while lawmakers, relegated to the revolving door of term limits, would be turned into bystanders. That didn't happen. But something else did. The influence of players in another segment of the permanent government grew so great that they are riding high today: lobbyists. Their number and power have grown so noticeably that when Councilwoman Christine C. Quinn became speaker eight days ago, the Council chamber couldn't hold all the lobbyists who turned up. "It's problematic, something we need to be vigilant about, to make sure that the familiarity does not cross over the line," Ms. Quinn said in an interview. Unions and cultural and civic organizations that never turned to lobbyists before hire them routinely now, convinced they need help dealing with the Council. Lobbyists are nothing new in city government, but consider the recent numbers. In 2000, 148 lobbyists registered with the city and earned just over $14.5 million from clients, the city clerk's lobbying report shows. In 2004, 225 lobbyists registered with the city and earned $22.6 million. In 2000, lobbyists represented 728 clients, most of them large institutions, including unions, universities, theaters, churches, museums and real estate development companies. In 2004, lobbyists represented 1,195 clients, and they ranged from the familiar, larger institutions to small cultural and nonprofit groups, even small charities. Some say it's because of more competition for fewer city dollars. But there's clearly something else going on. "It's increasingly necessary because the people keep changing," said Peter H. Kostmayer, president of Citizens for NYC, a nonprofit organization that makes grants to community organizations for several programs. "We need a sherpa to show us around. Before, you got to know people, they stayed in the same roles. Now you get to know people and they change." Mr. Kostmayer hired James F. Capalino, a lobbyist and former Koch administration official who made sure Mr. Kostmayer attended the Quinn installation, and arranged for him to meet with lawmakers about one of his organization's initiatives -- helping New Yorkers determine their eligibility for earned income tax credits. The Council turnover, said Mr. Kostmayer, a former congressman from Pennsylvania, means that "you have to go in year after year to explain your program." THERE is another reason for the lobbyist explosion. In four years, 37 members of the Council will leave because of term limits, and 37 new members will come in. Lobbyists know more about city government than most newcomers do. "Say it's budget time. Millions for education has no meaning outside of the context of what did we do last year, what's happened with that money?" said Eric Lane, a Hofstra University law professor and adviser to Ms. Quinn's predecessor, Gifford Miller. "If you have all new people, who are new people going to ask?" They ask lobbyists, some of whom are fine folks who do fine work educating lawmakers. Some are not fine folks. But all have something in common. They serve their clients, not the public. And some play two roles -- as political consultants to council members and as lobbyists for clients with business before the Council. Proponents of modifying the term limits law note that lobbyists were not as prevalent 12 years ago and predict that they would lose some of their cachet if the limits were extended (from two four-year terms to three four-year terms). "When legislators serve long-term, you don't need to rely on lobbyists in the same way because you've developed expertise," said Councilman Bill de Blasio, who championed a term extension during his unsuccessful race for speaker. The argument is plausible but hasn't gotten much attention. One can hope it will. Otherwise, with so many lobbyists in and around City Hall these days, New York shouldn't be surprised if it finds itself some day with a local version of the Jack Abramoff problem, and who needs that? Metro Matters E-mail: purnick@nytimes.com

CITY HALL
QUINN CHRISTINE C
LOBBYING AND LOBBYISTS


Treasury Presses Mortgage Firms for Loan Relief

Abstract: The Obama administration disclosed a plan on Monday intended to increase pressure on mortgage companies to permanently reduce monthly payments for troubled homeowners. Under the guidelines , the government will fine lenders that fail to find ways to increase the number of homeowners who are given relief on their mortgage bills. The move is the government’s latest endeavor to reinvigorate a $75 billion program that promised to stem foreclosures and help hundreds of thousands of struggling homeowners with their mortgages. So far, however, only a small percentage of eligible Americans have had their mortgage payments reduced, and many are encountering difficulties as they try to make the cuts permanent. The Treasury Department has blamed banks and mortgage companies, which it says have been slow to process documents, for the program’s lukewarm start . Homeowners participate in the program for up to five months on a trial basis, and if they make timely payments and provide documents proving their financial need, they are eligible for permanent reductions. On Monday, the department said it would require lenders to submit plans outlining how they will increase the number of homeowners given permanent mortgage reductions. If they fail to do so, the department said it would use “any and all authority” to impose fees and other sanctions. It will also publicly list the worst offenders and withhold cash incentives until reductions in mortgage payments are made permanent. In addition, the Treasury Department will appoint staff to monitor the progress of home lenders on a daily basis. The government seemed to raise expectations on Monday when it predicted that 375,000 homeowners would be eligible for permanent mortgage reductions by the end of the year, pending the approval of paperwork. Many analysts scoff at the idea that the actual results will come near that figure. Only tens of thousands of the more than 650,000 borrowers in the program have had their mortgage payments reduced permanently, according to estimates by analysts. “That is a pipe dream,” said Edward Pinto, a consultant to the real estate finance industry who was chief credit officer to the government-backed mortgage company Fannie Mae in the late 1980s. “You have to subtract people who won’t be able to provide documentation, who don’t qualify and who don’t have income to make the payments.” Meg Reilly, a spokeswoman for the Treasury Department, acknowledged that the actual number was likely to be lower. She said, however, the department believed “a significant number” would still gain permanent relief. Homeowners taking advantage of the program, known as the Home Affordable Modification Program, have had their monthly payments cut by an average of $576, according to the department. The benefits can be significant for those with permanent reductions. Even so, some homeowners get caught in the trial stage , making payments they would normally not make for several months only to be a denied a permanent reduction by their banks.

Mortgages
Foreclosures
Treasury Department
Subprime Mortgage Crisis


Irish Tycoon Wins a Round in Claridge’s Takeover Fight

Abstract: LONDON — Patrick McKillen, the Irish property tycoon locked in a fierce takeover struggle involving Claridge’s and its two sister landmark hotels in London, has won the latest round in his battle with rival British magnates . On Wednesday, he announced that he had paid off more than 800 million euros, about $1.1 billion, in loans to a state-owned Irish institution — debt that had put him at risk of losing the takeover fight, which is still far from over. With the backing of a California-based private equity real estate investment firm, Mr. McKillen effectively fended off a tactical move by his rivals, the Barclay brothers in England. The Barclays had been trying to buy his debts — secured by the hotels — as a way of gaining control of the trophy properties, which have hosted monarchs and celebrities for more than two centuries. Even with this latest development, however, the two sides — which have sparred over the issue in British and Irish courtrooms — remain in stalemate. The Barclay brothers control more than 60 percent of the hotel chain’s shares, to Mr. McKillen’s 36 percent. But he insists he will not be bought out. “I will never sell to them, absolutely never — I think they will get that message now loud and clear,” said Mr. McKillen, 58, whose struggle with David and Frederick Barclay, identical twins in their late 70s, dates back three years. “They tried their best to outmaneuver me on the board. But I am steadfast in my determination not to allow them to bully me.” The investment firm Colony Capital, based in Santa Monica, Calif., emerged as the white knight for Mr. McKillen, providing the financing to pay off the outstanding loans that were being sold off by the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation, which was formed to take over Anglo Irish Bank and liquidate its loans in the economic crisis that struck Ireland in 2008. Mr. McKillen’s loans with Anglo Irish Bank were tied up in his extensive property investments, which included an office tower in Boston and shopping centers, commercial developments and real estate in Paris, London, Asia and South America. A statement issued Wednesday on behalf of the Barclay brothers said that “nothing has changed” with regard to the Maybourne Hotel Group, the chain that includes Claridge’s and the other hotels. The only difference, according to the statement, is that Mr. McKillen’s minority shareholding in Maybourne is now collateral held by Colony Capital, instead of by the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation. “Colony or Mr. McKillen will presumably decide who will represent their interest on the board of Maybourne for which they have one of the six board seats,” the statement from the Barclays said. Colony Capital, founded by Thomas J. Barrack Jr., had a stake in a company that then included the Savoy Hotel, Claridge’s and two other hotels. Colony Capital and its partner, Blackstone, sold the stake in 2004 to an Irish consortium that included Mr. McKillen and a former tax inspector in Dublin, Derek Quinlan. That deal was Mr. McKillen’s first involvement in Claridge’s. “There are no more revered hotels in Europe than the three jewels of London we are financing for Paddy,” said Mr. Barrack in a statement, referring to Mr. McKillen. “Colony was the proud owner of the Savoy Group for many years. We remain intimately familiar with these hotels and did not hesitate to jump at the opportunity to renew our association once again.” When Mr. Quinlan’s own financial empire started crumbling, the Barclay brothers started purchasing his debt in the hotels — setting in motion a long ground war over the Claridge’s hotel that included legal battles over an agreement that only shareholders had first rights to buy any shares. Through a series of legal maneuvers, the Barclay brothers acquired control of shares and were backed by a London court. With the two sides gridlocked, Mr. McKillen has vowed to move now in Irish courts — where the Irish consortium struck its original shareholder agreement — to challenge the arrangement between Mr. Quinlan and the Barclay brothers. The Barclays, who have lent more than €4 million to Mr. Quinlan according to court documents, have voting control of his shares, but have not purchased them outright. Mr. McKillen said that he had made five approaches to buy out the Barclay brothers, most recently in December, but to date had not received a response to those requests. The bitter wrangling has already had an impact on investments in the development of the hotels, he added, because the board cannot agree on the future. “This has become personal,” he said. “The Barclays don’t like to be beaten. They usually get their way. They have attacked all these companies in an aggressive, hostile way. I will not be intimidated.”

London
Patrick McKillen
Claridge's
Mergers and Acquisitions
Frederick Hugh Barclay
David Rowat Barclay


Car Attacks in Denmark Spread ‘Like an Infection’

Abstract: The arsonists appear to operate with little deference to class, equally at ease scorching a shiny new BMW or Mercedes as they are setting a battered old van ablaze. And they almost always follow a pattern — smashing a window and dousing the interior of the vehicle with gasoline before setting it on fire. At least 185 cars have been set ablaze in Copenhagen, the Danish capital, so far this year, the police say, with a sudden and mysterious increase over the past two months or so, when about 80 automobiles were burned. Image A car fire last month in Malmo, Sweden, where more than 70 vehicles have been burned since early July. Investigators in Copenhagen, the Danish capital, say the spike in arson in Denmark may be related to the Swedish car burnings. Credit Johan Nilsson/TT NEWS AGENCY, via Associated Press Car burning has long been a potent and extreme example of urban revolt in some countries — France in 2005 , in particular. But it is particularly jarring for Danes, who have long taken pride in their country’s social harmony and in being ranked among the happiest people on the planet. “It is a mystery why this is happening, and there has been a big increase over the last few months and that is worrying,” said Jens Moller Jensen, a detective inspector with the Copenhagen police, charged with investigating the attacks. He said that he had expected a roughly 40 percent increase in car burnings this year compared with the previous year, and that the police had created a special unit to investigate them and had ratcheted up patrols. “I am working on several hypotheses,” he added. The cars are always empty, so no one has been hurt or killed. In late September, the police arrested a 17-year-old male, but provided no further details. As the motives and identities of the attackers remain a mystery, speculation is growing. Violent nihilism or rage? Immigrant angst? Simple boredom or, perhaps, large-scale insurance fraud? One theory is that cars in Denmark are being burned by individuals from an angry underclass in a country where far-right groups have organized bitter protests against immigration, calling it a threat to the nation’s identity. The government has recently clamped down on migration, introducing a law requiring recently arrived asylum seekers to hand over valuables , like jewelry or gold, to help pay for their stay in the country. “It is a bit like an infection that has spread,” said Frank Hvilsom , a crime reporter for Politiken, a leading Danish newspaper. “At a time when we have a toxic debate about immigration in this country and immigrants are being told, ‘You are not Danish,’ this could be the work of attention seekers who are trying to disturb society and are saying, ‘Let us show you what we can do.’ ” Even after the Danish police arrested a 21-year-old man in August in relation to the arson, cars continued to burn. Mr. Moller Jensen said that both of the men who were arrested came from a working-class neighborhood in Amager, a Danish island. Playing down the idea that the burnings could be related to immigration, he said that one suspect was an ethnic Dane, while the other was not. Mr. Moller Jensen said the car burning may have spread from neighboring Sweden, where more than 70 cars have been burned in the city of Malmo since early July. Dozens of cars have also been set on fire in Stockholm, and Goteborg, on the west coast of the country. Car burning has become such a scourge there that the Swedish authorities have turned to drones to try to catch the arsonists. He said that he had his theories of what was behind the car fires, but that he did not want to undermine his investigation by divulging too much. “I’d be a bad cop if I put money on one of them,” he said.


Pakistan Army Moves Against Taliban in Swat as Civilians Flee

Abstract: ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — The Pakistani Army pressed a surprisingly vigorous offensive on Friday against the Taliban militants who had taken control of a broad swath of territory northwest of the capital, sending tens of thousands of Pakistanis fleeing the fighting. The exodus — by truck, car, foot and horse cart — reached close to 200,000 people, forcing relief workers to erect new rows of tents in camps along the clotted road running south from the Swat Valley , the scene of the heaviest fighting. More trouble loomed: Relief officials said as many as 300,000 people were moving or preparing to flee. The humanitarian crisis unfolded as the Pakistani Army moved ahead with what it described as an all-out attack on the Taliban militants in Swat , the epicenter of a power struggle over months between government forces and the militants. Army officers said they were confronting a force of about 4,000 militants, who took advantage of a peace agreement in February to seize control of much of the district and its government buildings. There have been a number of indications over the past week that the Pakistani Army has finally decided to confront the militants forcefully, though previous hopes, dating back five years, have always been dashed. The uncertainties included whether the army, even if it wanted to, was competent enough to deliver a deathblow to the militants or whether defeating them would come at such a high cost to civilians that it would further erode public support. Pakistanis in the area said the Taliban had so far held on to every neighborhood they had seized in the previous days and months. Witnesses said Friday that the insurgents remained in control of Mingora, the district capital, and many parts of the districts of Buner and Lower Dir. At the military’s headquarters in Rawalpindi, Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas made few claims of territorial progress. He said that helicopters strafed militants in Swat over the previous 24 hours, and that 140 militants and 7 Pakistani soldiers had been killed. “They are on the run and trying to block the exodus of innocent civilians by preventing their departure through coercion,” General Abbas said. Militant resistance in neighboring Buner, just 60 miles from Islamabad, has decreased considerably, General Abbas said. He said the military had lifted a curfew in Buner to allow civilians to escape toward Mardan and other areas. There was no way to verify General Abbas’s account; reporters and most outsiders have been blocked from the areas. The Pakistani government and the military, which has largely stood by as the Taliban insurgency has surged forward in recent months, have been under intense American pressure to take action against the militants. A government official reached at his home in Mingora said many militants had been killed this week when Pakistani helicopter gunships attacked an emerald mine that sits on the approach to Mingora. Still, the government’s position was unchanged, the official said; it was clinging to only a small corner of Mingora. The mayor’s office and police headquarters were still in Taliban hands. The official said electricity and water in the district capital were both gone. “Thousands of people are leaving,” he said, speaking on the condition of anonymity for fear that he would be killed. A Pakistani who spoke to his family in Mingora on Friday said they had confirmed that the Taliban remained in control of the city. He said the roads into the capital had been booby-trapped with land mines, and that in some places, like Matta, a Taliban stronghold, militants were blocking civilians from leaving. Another Pakistani in Swat, also speaking on the condition of anonymity, said Taliban fighters had begun to loot local banks, including three on Thursday. Some civilians fleeing the area said the Pakistani Army had imposed a round-the-clock curfew across much of the embattled area, preventing thousands of people from leaving. Those people would flee at the first chance, the refugees said. Pakistani soldiers gave out pamphlets accusing the Taliban of playing into the hands of so-called anti-Pakistan elements. “They are the same as Jewish forces who are against the existence and security of the country and wanted to create disturbance in the region,” read a leaflet, according to a report in Dawn , a prominent Pakistani newspaper. Thousands of civilians continued to move Friday, many of them to three camps set up in the low-lying areas south of the battlefields. Officials with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees expressed alarm at the growing human tide, saying their workers had set up a series of centers to track the number of refugees and make it easier to help them. “Given the massive influx of people, this is not enough,” the office said in a statement . The 200,000 people who have fled the stricken areas join the half-million others who have already left parts of the North-West Frontier Province, as well as the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, because of fighting between the government and the Taliban, and because of the fear of missile strikes by remotely piloted American aircraft. Refugees arriving Friday in Mardan had few kind words for the Taliban militants or their own government. One Pakistani woman, stepping from her tent in a camp at the outskirts of the city, said the fighting had succeeded only in ruining the lives of people with no hand in the conflict. “We have nothing,” the woman said, standing amid a sea of other refugees. She arrived Friday with eight relatives. “We have no blankets and no food. The government is bombing us from the mountains, and the Taliban is shooting at us from the city. “The army and the Taliban are not killing each other — they are friends,” the woman said. “They are only killing civilians. When civilians are killed, the government says they have killed a bunch of terrorists.”

Pakistan
Taliban
Refugees
Swat (Pakistan)
Buner District (Pakistan)


Uncertainty Over States and Medicaid Expansion

Abstract: WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court said on Thursday that a huge expansion of Medicaid envisioned in the 2010 health care law was an option, not a mandate, for states. Experts disagreed on whether states would take the option, one of the most important questions created by the court’s decision. Senator Lamar Alexander, Republican of Tennessee and a former governor, said: “Many states, maybe most, will decide that they simply cannot afford to choose to expand Medicaid. If I were governor of Tennessee, I would not expand Medicaid as the program is currently run.” Matt D. Salo, executive director of the National Association of Medicaid Directors , representing state officials, said his initial sense was that many states would expand the program, though he said the expansion “is now technically optional.” And Sara Rosenbaum, a professor of health law and policy at George Washington University, predicted that “only a small number of states” would pass up the opportunity to expand Medicaid, given the generous terms of the deal authorized by Congress. The Medicaid expansion is a central part of the law, accounting for roughly half of all the uninsured people expected to gain coverage, according to the Congressional Budget Office. It estimates that 17 million uninsured people will gain coverage through Medicaid, at a cost to the federal government of $930 billion from 2014 to 2022. While upholding the expansion of Medicaid, the Supreme Court limited the power of the federal government to secure compliance by penalizing states that refuse to go along. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. said the federal government could not compel states to comply by cutting off all the federal money they receive for existing Medicaid programs. The threatened loss of so much federal money — more than 10 percent of state budgets — “is economic dragooning that leaves the states with no real option but to acquiesce in the Medicaid expansion,” the chief justice said. “A state could hardly anticipate that Congress’s reservation of the right to ‘alter’ or ‘amend’ the Medicaid program included the power to transform it so dramatically.” The chief justice said Congress had put “a gun to the head” of states by requiring them to expand Medicaid or risk the loss of all federal Medicaid money. “States,” he said, “must have a genuine choice.” Senior administration officials said Thursday that they were confident states would expand Medicaid when it was offered to them as an option. However, Republican governors like Mitch Daniels in Indiana and Bob McDonnell in Virginia refused to make commitments. Mr. Daniels said the “Medicaid expansion would put one in four Hoosiers — approximately 500,000 new enrollees — in Medicaid at a cost of approximately $2 billion” to the state over 10 years. Officials in other states, like Georgia and Nevada, said they had not decided what to do. Senator Max Baucus, Democrat of Montana and a principal author of the new law, said the federal government was offering states “a big juicy carrot” as an incentive to expand Medicaid. But he said he was unsure whether his own state would go along. Normally, the federal government and the states share Medicaid costs, with the federal government paying an average of 57 percent of the total. Under the new law, the federal government will pay the full cost of covering those newly eligible for Medicaid for three years, from 2014 to 2016. The federal share will then gradually decline; it will be 90 percent, starting in 2020. But many state officials worry that Congress will reduce the federal share and shift more costs to the states as it seeks ways to reduce the federal budget deficit. It is a common misconception that Medicaid covers all poor people. In fact, many low-income people, including millions of childless adults and parents, cannot obtain coverage. Medicaid eligibility rules are notoriously complicated. To qualify, a person must fit into one of several dozen categories. The new law will simplify eligibility, sweeping away many of those categories in favor of a single standard: People under the age of 65 would generally qualify for Medicaid if their income was less than or equal to 133 percent of the federal poverty level (up to $25,390 for a family of three). If a state chooses not to expand Medicaid, it may be in a peculiar position. People with incomes from 133 percent to 400 percent of the poverty level could obtain federal subsidies to buy private insurance, through online markets known as insurance exchanges, but many people with incomes below that level could not obtain assistance. Senator John D. Rockefeller IV, Democrat of West Virginia and a champion of Medicaid, said he was deeply concerned that the Supreme Court had “seriously undermined” health care options for low-income people by giving states a choice. Chief Justice Roberts said Congress could offer money to states to expand Medicaid and could attach conditions to such grants. But he said, “what Congress is not free to do is to penalize states that choose not to participate in that new program by taking away their existing Medicaid funding.” The federal government has long asserted that it could cut off all Medicaid money to a state that flouted requirements for the program. It has never used this sledgehammer, but the existence of the power has often induced states to comply.

Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (2010)


Société Générale to Raise Funds to Repay Bailout

Abstract: PARIS — Société Générale, the French bank, said Tuesday that it aimed to raise €4.8 billion, or $7.1 billion, by issuing new shares in order to pay back aid received from the French government and to buy the 20 percent of Credit du Nord that it does not already own. The lender said it would repay the €3.4 billion it owes the state, half in subordinated debt and half preferred stock. The move is something of a turnabout for Société Générale, given that the bank in August reported €1.7 billion in write-downs for the second quarter. Banks throughout Europe are more leveraged than their U.S. counterparts, and many have announced or are said to be planning stock offers to raise funds while market conditions are conducive. BNP Paribas, the largest bank in France, said last week that it would repay the €5.1 billion it owed the government by selling new shares to investors. UniCredit, the biggest Italian bank, also announced plans for a €4 billion share issue last week. “We’re entering a new world,” Frédéric Oudéa, president and director general of Société Générale, said in a conference call, explaining that the global economy had stabilized thanks to the efforts of central banks and other factors. Mr. Oudéa said the capital-raising would serve three purposes: repaying the government, acquiring the rest of Credit du Nord, and increasing the company’s core Tier One ratio to 8 percent, in keeping with recent guidelines laid out at the G-20 summit in Pittsburgh. Tier One ratio compares a bank’s equity to its total assets, and is seen as a measure of a lender’s ability to sustain future losses. “We said we would reimburse the state once market conditions normalized, which is the case today,” said Didier Valet, the bank’s chief financial officer. Explaining the timing of the offer, Mr. Oudéa added that the bank had been watching both the market and public opinion, saying that it wanted “not to be the first, nor the last” to issue shares. He added that France was seeking to invest in other sectors, and that the bank’s move would help it do that. On Monday, President Nicolas Sarkozy announced plans to make €2 billion available to small and midsize French companies to ease credit conditions. Société Générale also said Tuesday that it was in talks with Dexia, a bank based in Brussels, to buy its 20 percent stake in Credit du Nord with the rest of the funds. The bank did not disclose further terms of the transaction, saying only that the parties hoped to close the deal by the end of the year. Société Générale has one of the strongest retail banking networks in the country, which it hopes to strengthen by taking full control of Credit du Nord, another retail bank. For its part, Dexia is in the process of restructuring. Mr. Oudéa said Société Générale was eyeing other acquisitions in the next year and a half to two years, in central and eastern Europe, and in the sector of private banking. He also sounded a warning on new financial regulations under consideration, saying “if we go too far, the banking system will not be able to finance the economy.” Under the terms of the Société Générale stock offer, the bank’s current shareholders will have the right to buy two new shares for every nine already owned. The price will be 36 euros apiece, a discount of nearly a third to the closing price on Monday. The offer will run from Thursday until Oct. 20, underwritten by a consortium of banks and lead managed by Société Générale itself.

France
Banks and Banking
Societe Generale
Stocks and Bonds


Competition Would Be the Best Solution to Rising Drug Prices

Abstract: An antitrust investigation is the caboose of the drug consolidation train. American prosecutors are investigating Mylan, Allergan and others for colluding over generic-medicine prices. Lawmakers are on the case, too. But the apparent cooperation on raising the cost to consumers may simply be the natural consequence of a big reduction in competition. Mergers have been rife in the health care industry, with a record $368 billion worth of deals announced last year alone, according to Thomson Reuters data. That is more than twice the annual average for the preceding decade. Makers of generic pills were among the busiest. That has raised suspicions that survivors have used mergers and acquisitions to create cartels and illegally raise prices. Generic drugs are a huge market, with $85 billion of annual sales in the United States. Some of the price increases have been eye-catching: The Government Accountability Office found that about one-fifth of the generic drugs it surveyed had at least one 100 percent price increase over five years. So it is hardly surprising that the industry has attracted the attention of both law enforcement and politicians. Proving wrongdoing will be difficult, though, because that could require evidence like incriminating email or other correspondence. But there may be nothing nefarious going on. Many generic drugs have only a few producers, or just one. So a company might simply raise prices of its own accord; rivals, if any, may simply follow suit. Competition would be the best remedy. Prices fall steadily as the number of producers rises, according to the Food and Drug Administration. Multiple barriers, however, inhibit the invisible hand from working. Regulators have been speeding up approvals, but there is still a backlog of about 3,000 generic drugs awaiting authorization, with the median wait time measured in years. That is partly excusable, because it is difficult but also necessary to prove scientifically that a drug works properly. Manufacturing drugs is also a gigantic headache. Drugs can be complex to make, and errors can have deadly consequences. So regulators and companies have understandable incentives to be conservative about producing new drugs. Some drug sales may be too small to attract rivals, too, or safety conditions attached to them may mean producers can prevent rivals from getting samples to prove equivalency. That leaves prosecutors and lawmakers with a lot of hoops to jump through to make their cases.


Iraqi Shoe Thrower Gets Three Years

Abstract: BAGHDAD — An Iraqi journalist who gained acclaim for hurling his shoes at President George W. Bush during a news conference here in December was sentenced to three years in jail on Thursday as distraught family members and supporters wept outside the courtroom. Although views differed among Iraqi journalists and other observers about whether the sentence was merited, there was the sense that his gesture, which made headlines around the world, would be burned into the Iraqi narrative of the American occupation. “This will become part of Iraqi political folklore,” said Ghassan al-Attiya, a political scientist at the Iraqi Foundation for Democracy and Development, which is based in London . “This is a symbolic act that caught the imagination of the masses and not just in Iraq ,” he said. The journalist, Muntader al-Zaidi , had pleaded not guilty, saying at a hearing this month that he was overcome by passion because of the suffering of the people of Iraq after the American-led invasion six years ago that toppled Saddam Hussein . At the trial on Thursday, Mr. Zaidi appeared calm. He wore a beige suit and dark brown tie and when asked if he was guilty, he said: “I am innocent. It was a natural reaction to the crimes of the occupation.” Just before the sentencing, journalists were barred from the room along with Mr. Zaidi’s family. Seconds after the verdict was read, word trickled out and his sisters and aunts wept loudly, some praying, others cursing the Iraqi judiciary. The men of his family shouted as well, insulting the Iraqi sentries who were guarding the court. The lawyer who led Mr. Zaidi’s defense team, Dhiya al-Saadi, said the decision would be appealed to the Court of Cassation, Iraq’s highest court. Some experts said they expected that the government would pardon him after he had served part of his sentence. “Hero!” supporters shouted as Mr. Zaidi was escorted from the courtroom. He smiled, but it was unclear from his reaction whether he was shocked or heartened. Family members and politicians from the movement led by Moktada al-Sadr , the anti-American Shiite cleric, charged that the sentence was political and had been determined even before Mr. Zaidi’s lawyer had made his closing argument. “This is a setback in the history of the Iraqi judiciary,” said Maha al-Dori, a member of Parliament loyal to Mr. Sadr. Among journalists, opinion was divided about whether the sentencing was fair. Some said Mr. Zaidi had been merely expressing his opinion and did not deserve to be jailed, especially since the gesture had not harmed Mr. Bush. Others said Mr. Zaidi had brought shame on Iraq, because in a society where tribal traditions are accorded respect, a host should never insult a guest. Mr. Zaidi’s shoe-throwing had brought shame on Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki , who embodied the Iraqi state, which was hosting Mr. Bush, they said. “Internationally, Zaidi’s act is considered a way of practicing democracy, but maybe it is unaccepted in Arab and Middle East countries,” said Ziad al-Ajeeli, the head of the Iraqi Observers of Press Freedom, an organization that supports journalists’ rights. “A journalist in an occupied country cannot be objective about the occupier,” said Maher Faisal, the managing editor of Addustour, a daily newspaper published in Baghdad. “He expressed his opinion, and by Western standards they should release Muntader. He does not deserve this punishment .” However, the editor of another newspaper and the news manager of an independent television channel said Mr. Zaidi’s actions had embarrassed other journalists. “It was not professional,” said the television news manager. Both asked that their names not be used because of the delicacy of the case with the government. Mr. Faisal and the other two journalists noted that reporters were now having trouble getting politicians to meet for interviews or news conferences because of anxiety that they might throw shoes at them. Many people here had expected a longer prison term, but at the sentencing trial on Thursday the prosecutor asked that the charge be changed to one that carried a lighter penalty. Instead of assault of a foreign head of state, which carries a maximum sentence of 15 years, Mr. Zaidi was charged with assault of an official during the execution of his duties, a crime that carries a maximum sentence of three years. Judge Abdulamir Hassan al-Rubaie, who was overseeing the trial, agreed. When Mr. Zaidi hurled his shoes at Mr. Bush during the Dec. 14 news conference, the act seemed to capture a deeply felt emotion here. A statue depicting a large shoe was erected in Mr. Zaidi’s honor in Tikrit, the northern Iraqi town that was home to Mr. Hussein’s family, though the statue was later ordered dismantled by the Iraqi Parliament. In countries from Egypt to Iran to Britain , shoe throwing became the means of expressing protest. In Saudi Arabia , a man offered $10 million for one of Mr. Zaidi’s shoes.

Iraq
Muntader al- Zaidi
Decisions and Verdicts


Military Curbs F-22 Over Oxygen Concerns

Abstract: WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta on Tuesday ordered immediate restrictions on flights of the F-22 Raptor fighter jet after a “60 Minutes” program that profiled two pilots who refused to fly the planes because of fears of oxygen deprivation in the cockpit. Pentagon officials said the restrictions required all F-22 flights to remain within safe proximity of landing strips, though they declined to offer more details on how close pilots would have to stay to air bases. But George Little, the Pentagon press secretary, said that lengthy air patrols out of Alaska would be conducted by other aircraft. Mr. Panetta has also ordered the Air Force to speed up the installation of a backup oxygen system in the F-22. Air Force officials have tried for years to find the source of the problem, which has troubled the F-22, the most advanced fighter jet, since it went into service in December 2005. The Air Force said there had been 22 reported cases of symptoms of oxygen deprivation, or hypoxia, in pilots flying the plane. The F-22 was grounded last May after 11 of the cases were reported, but it resumed flying in September after Air Force officials deemed it safe. Since then, there have been 11 more reported cases of hypoxia symptoms in pilots, as well as 5 cases in maintenance crews. Crew members breathe the cockpit air when they work on the plane on the ground. Symptoms of hypoxia include dizziness, wooziness and, in extreme cases, blackouts. The Air Force said that no F-22 pilot had ever blacked out during a flight, but that symptoms of dizziness and wooziness during flights had been reported. The Air Force said that a number of those reporting hypoxia symptoms had been forced to abort their flight missions and return to base. Capt. Josh Wilson of the Virginia Air National Guard, one of the F-22 pilots interviewed on “60 Minutes,” said that he felt himself losing control during a routine training flight in February 2011, and that he was so confused he could not find the emergency oxygen ring. “I couldn’t remember, you know, what part of the aircraft it was in,” he told the correspondent Lesley Stahl. His symptoms were so severe that the Air Force sent him to a hyperbaric chamber. Mr. Panetta has also asked that the Air Force submit a monthly report to him on the status of the F-22.

United States Defense and Military Forces


Giants' Israel Idonije Finds Success in Comic Books

Abstract: The 12th season of Israel Idonije’s N.F.L. career finds him in New York, and this protagonist is worn down, fighting his body’s aches and scrambling to catch on at the end of the roster for the Giants, his third team in three years. Call it a prelude to a superhero resurgence story, except this is the real world. There is no bolt of lightning destined to endow Idonije with cosmic powers, and the archvillain is time working against him and his aging physique. This saga at the very least, though, provides Idonije, a defensive lineman, with the tales from the field that he has used as the creator of a comic book series, The Protectors. The series melds sports with graphic novels and gives Idonije an outlet that no other professional athlete has. And it is already making waves in the industry. Working with the acclaimed writer Ron Marz and the artist Bart Sears, Athlitacomics , the publishing house Idonije founded, has produced two volumes of his series, with at least three more due out soon. Image A page from The Protectors, Idonije's comic book series. Credit Athlitacomics They are preparing for a grand launch next spring on multiple platforms that could lift Idonije into a rarefied echelon of comic producers. While at training camp with the Chicago Bears in 2007, Idonije, 33, began sketching the concept: Professional athletes discover they have inherent superpowers and are entrusted with menial tasks like saving the human race — at least while they are not scoring touchdowns. “The goal was just to have a comic book that I created, that I could hold in my hand and flip through the pages,” Idonije said, standing outside the Giants’ practice complex last week. But that vision has evolved to include a formidable creative team and a licensing agreement with the N.F.L. Players Association, which allows the team to transform recognizable faces into fantastical creations for a new series, Sports Heroes. Among those due to be illustrated: Giants quarterback Eli Manning. “I’ve got a lot of guys wanting me to make them into comics,” Idonije said, laughing. Idonije has allowed his creative staff at Athlitacomics to take the reins of the project, which began in earnest in 2012 and produced its first volume, The Protectors #0 Issue, in March 2013. A second issue was released in April at the Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo. Idonije remains a hands-on supervisor, and he may even feature some of his own artwork in coming issues. Born in Nigeria and raised in Manitoba, Idonije said he fixated on comic books as he grew up and adjusted to a new culture. He doodled ceaselessly and took some art classes in high school, but he received no formal training. Image The series melds sports with graphic novels. Credit Athlitacomics Yet even as he grew to over 6 feet 6 inches and 275 pounds and began considering football as a career, he maintained a hearty enthusiasm for the superhero genre. “The platform of comics was big for me as far as reading,” Idonije said, adding that his effort was “an opportunity to really push comics as a platform for reading and reading comprehension.” Idonije’s path to the N.F.L. could fill a fantasy series. He began his career in 2003 as an undrafted free agent with Cleveland after three years at the University of Manitoba. Waived midway through the season, he was picked up the next season by Chicago and wound up spending nine years as a valued edge rusher for the Bears, recording 28 1/2 sacks and 198 tackles in 134 games. As a means of passing idle time in training camp in 2007, Idonije started sketching his imaginative creations on lined paper. A friend saw it and connected him with Marz, whose work on titles like Silver Surfer and Green Lantern in the late 1990s earned praise. The two men met for the first time in a hotel lobby at the Comic-Con International convention in San Diego. “I liked the fact that it was earnest; there wasn’t any gimmick involved,” Marz said in a telephone interview, describing the project. “It wasn’t an athlete that wanted to star in his own comic as a vanity project.” It is not the first time pro sports have been adapted into comic illustrations. In the late 1940s and early ’50s, Harvey Comics introduced a short-run series of sports cartoons under the name Babe Ruth Sports Comics, starring the Bambino himself. Some people might remember a Marvel Comics series in 1991 called NFL SuperPro, which depicted a former football player who was transformed into an indestructible superhero in a helmet and pads. Image Idonije's comic books have given him an outlet that no other professional athlete has. Credit Athlitacomics That series, which ended after 12 issues, was widely panned, and for a while it served as a cautionary tale for artists considering a journey down the sports avenue. “The history’s well known within the industry,” Sears said, “that sports comics are essentially pretty dumb and not that entertaining and don’t have any life span.” But Idonije’s vision for The Protectors had a more classical theme. Star athletes were already naturally endowed with certain gifts. That a crisis might activate supernatural traits whenever a crisis arose seemed part of a fairly natural and relevant progression. “The underpinnings of it all are this kind of grand science-fiction story that wouldn’t be terribly far removed from the kind of stuff you might see in Avengers or Guardians of the Galaxy or a Jack Kirby comic,” Marz said, adding, “It’s very much a classic superheroes story in the vein of the stuff that I read when I was a kid.” Sears said, “It’s a sports comic without being a sports comic.” If Idonije does not make the Giants’ 53-man roster coming out of training camp, he will face free agency or retirement. But for this N.F.L. player, there is plenty to work on when he is not working. “The comic book thing is really just a passion,” Idonije said. “It’s just something I enjoy doing, and fortunately it’s taken some root.”

Giants
Israel Idonije
Football
Comic strip


7 Friends Drown in Reservoir in India

Abstract: NEW DELHI — Seven friends drowned in the western Indian state of Maharashtra after taking an abandoned boat to the middle of a natural reservoir, the police said Monday. A group of men ages 18 to 23 were celebrating a birthday on Sunday evening with a picnic in a remote village in the Nagpur district when eight of them decided to climb into the boat, using a stick to row to the middle of the 10-foot-deep reservoir, said the district police chief, Arti Singh. As they were taking selfies, the boat started leaking and eventually capsized. One of the men was saved by friends who remained on shore. The bodies of the seven others were dragged from the reservoir on Monday morning by the district police.