Delgado Hits His 462nd Homer, and Mets’ Bullpen Is Full of Quality Relife

Abstract: MILWAUKEE — This had to be Sept. 1, or 40-man roster day. Between the players squeezed onto the corner bench and those standing around, the visiting bullpen at Miller Park on Monday afternoon had the look of Penn Station at rush hour as commuters waited for the track postings: people everywhere. Mets Manager Jerry Manuel did not use any of the five pitchers who arrived from Class AAA New Orleans in the Mets’ 4-2 victory against the Brewers . But the four he did call on in relief of Johan Santana — the winner, Nelson Figueroa; Pedro Feliciano; Joe Smith; and Luis Ayala, who got his fourth save — combined to allow one hit in three scoreless innings. It marked the second mix-and-match success by the beleaguered Mets bullpen in two days. And once again, a bullpen other than Manuel’s coughed up a lead. Carlos Delgado continued his remarkable clutch hitting with a two-run homer in the Mets’ three-run eighth against Eric Gagné, wiping out a 2-1 Brewers lead. That allowed the Mets to shrug off a freak right knee injury to Carlos Beltrán, who upended the umpire Ed Rapuano while sliding into the plate for the final run in the eighth. Beltrán left the game, but the Mets said he did not sustain structural damage. “I’m not worried,” said Beltrán, who added that he would see how the knee felt Tuesday before deciding whether to play. Delgado’s homer, the 462nd of his career, tied him with José Canseco for 31st on baseball’s list. It also gave him 45 runs batted in over his last 43 games. And it helped the Mets, who trailed, 2-0, going to the seventh, open a two-game lead in the National League East on Philadelphia, which lost, 7-4, in Washington on Monday. “Carlos has been amazing,” Manuel said. “If he’s swinging it well, he seems to come up at the right time and put a good swing on it.” The Mets could not do much against Milwaukee starter Ben Sheets, who shut them out for five innings before leaving with tightness in his left groin muscle. Ryan Braun doubled in a run in the first, right after J. J. Hardy tripled off left fielder Daniel Murphy’s glove. Santana, who allowed two runs and seven hits with 10 strikeouts, balked in a run in the sixth. But for the third time in six games on this trip, the Mets came from behind to win. “Good teams do this,” Delgado said. “We’ve been grinding it out, we’ve been fighting. Ideally, you want to be ahead, but you’ve got to be ahead. But if you’re not, you’ve got to continue to put together good at-bats, get base runners and try to get a big hit.” Beltrán led off the seventh with a double, and scored on a wild pitch by Mitch Stetter. Murphy led off the eighth by doubling on a 3-2 pitch from Gagné, the once-dominant Los Angeles Dodgers closer whose earned run average rose to 6.81 with his sixth blown save of the season. David Wright, who struck out in the sixth with runners at the corners, struck out in the eighth with no outs and Murphy on second. Gagné threw two quick fastballs for strikes to Delgado, who struggled to see the ball in the afternoon shadows at Miller Park. He lofted the next fastball into the first row of seats in right field. “I was just trying to make contact,” Delgado said. “They’re probably the worst shadows I’ve ever been involved in in professional baseball, but it goes the same way for both teams.” But could the bullpen hold the lead? In Sunday’s 6-2 victory at Florida, Manuel needed five relievers to secure the final nine outs. On Monday morning, he joked about all those trips to the mound. “I’ve got to get a new pair of tennis shoes; I wore these out,” he said, sneaking a quick look beneath his desk for effect. Figueroa retired the side in order in the seventh. But when Braun doubled to lead off the eighth, Manuel summoned the left-handed Feliciano, who struck out Prince Fielder. On came Joe Smith to face the right-handed-hitting Corey Hart and the former Met Mike Cameron. Smith struck them out. Then it was Ayala, who was unavailable the last two days in Florida with a groin-muscle strain. This time, he retired the side in order in the ninth. “They attacked the hitters, threw strikes, and the catchers did a good job bringing them to that,” Manuel said. “I felt going in, a lot of our right-handers appeared to match up well against this team. They’re a very aggressive-hitting club.” Manuel did not use Aaron Heilman, who walked in the winning run Saturday at Florida and also worked a third of an inning Sunday. Delgado said he was just glad the lead held up, something that has not always happened, especially in Santana’s starts. “It was nice,” Delgado said. “It was nice to see Figueroa come in and get some quick outs. And Ayala, a nice 1-2-3 inning. That’s great.” INSIDE PITCH DAMION EASLEY started at second base for the second consecutive day. Jerry Manuel said he thought LUIS CASTILLO was “wincing almost with his back and leg” after playing Friday and Saturday on Florida’s hard grass surface. Castillo pinch-hit in the ninth and struck out.

Baseball
New York Mets
Milwaukee Brewers
Delgado Carlos


A French Politician Who Has Helped Refine the National Front Party

Abstract: ST.-MACAIRE-EN-MAGUES, France — Florian Philippot was about to take the stage in this small western village in the hope of lifting the fortunes of the local candidates of the far-right National Front party. But he was not using a last moment of quiet to collect his thoughts. Instead, he was testing his latest turn of phrase on a handful of local journalists who had come to interview him. France ’s beleaguered president, François Hollande, had recently said that he wanted to “yank” voters away from Mr. Philippot’s party. “As if our supporters were weeds,” he said with a huff. “Maybe he would do better to think more about how to yank voters off the unemployment rolls.” The line is an example of why some in France have called Mr. Philippot, who at 33 is the National Front’s vice president in charge of communications and strategy, the “argument machine.” Experts give Mr. Philippot credit for much of the party’s success so far, saying he has been critical in its efforts to present a respectable face — and one that is ready to govern. He told the crowd here that he had come to support the local candidates in Sunday’s departmental elections (a layer of government between county and regional) because it is a corner of “forgotten France,” but a corner that the National Front still cares about. That line, too, won him applause. RIGHT-LEANING parties — the mainstream conservative Union for a Popular Movement party, or UMP, as well as the National Front — are expected to do well. But analysts doubt it will be a breakthrough election for them, though the UMP may face runoffs with the National Front in a number of second-round elections. The last time that happened was in the 2002 presidential election when Jacques Chirac, the center-right candidate, faced Jean-Marie Le Pen, the father of Marine Le Pen, who has succeeded him as the National Front leader. Mr. Chirac won by a landslide , with 82 percent of the vote. These days, the French actually hear more from Mr. Philippot, who is a constant presence on television talk shows, than they do from Ms. Le Pen. It is not hard to see why he is such a popular guest. He is a graduate of one of France’s elite business schools as well as its École Nationale d’Administration, known as ENA, which has trained most French politicians, including Mr. Hollande, and he appears indestructible on television. Like the front-row student who always has his hand up, he sits, neatly groomed, on the edge of his chair, happily jousting with panels of gray-haired experts who mean to portray his party as dangerously extreme. But more often than not they are flummoxed by Mr. Philippot’s intellectual agility. RECENTLY, he was mocking the French economy minister’s latest reforms, which are largely a collection of small-bore items such as letting more stores stay open on Sundays and developing more bus routes between towns. Mr. Philippot scoffed at the notion that new bus routes might be called progress. “What’s next?” said Mr. Philippot, rolling his eyes. “Rickshaws?” When the National Front was led by Mr. Le Pen, it was seen as a marginal party of racist and anti-Semitic old men. He made his ideas heard during presidential election years, but never did the groundwork to build a functioning party. In contrast, his daughter, with Mr. Philippot’s help, is developing a political machine with a broad base. The National Front won the mayoralty in some 10 city halls last year, as well as city councilors in hundreds of other municipalities. Now with the departmental elections, the party is fielding more than 7,000 candidates, and Mr. Philippot is using the accomplishments of the new mayors, many of whom are in their 20s and 30s, to argue that the party has already proved it is capable of governing, and in many cases cutting taxes. Mr. Philippot said he has only expanded on Ms. Le Pen’s ideas, helping her develop party policy on a broad range of issues, including education and economics. Her father, he said, spent far too much time on his trademark anti-immigrant discourse. “He only talked about immigration,” Mr. Philippot said. “A political party should be able to speak on all subjects.” He describes his first meeting with Ms. Le Pen in 2009 as a kind of political love at first sight. A friend had arranged a dinner party, knowing that Mr. Philippot was intrigued. By the end of the night, Ms. Le Pen has said, they were finishing each other’s sentences. “From the beginning we connected both on a human and a political level,” Mr. Philippot said, adding, “I was attracted to her energy, her dynamism, her courage.” And, he said, the National Front was a party that would allow young people a place at the table. IN public, Mr. Philippot is rousing. His message is that France needs to stop being ashamed of its history. It needs to renegotiate its treaty with the European Union, and restore its currency and its borders. Schools need to spend more time teaching the French language. On the economy, protectionism is the way to go. The audience applauded often, and happily stood with him at the end to sing the national anthem. Mr. Philippot has less charisma in one-on-one situations. He smiles little and looks awkward when he has to shake hands with people after his speech. While he campaigned to be mayor of a small town last year, aides reportedly had to continually remind him to greet people on the street and make small talk. He fell short in that contest but won a seat on the City Council, and went on to win a seat in the European Parliament a few months later. He makes no secret of his ambitions. He expects a ministerial position if Ms. Le Pen wins the presidency. “Which job is up to her,” he said. “But I want an active role in the executive, yes.” Mr. Philippot’s rise in the party has been meteoric. He officially joined the National Front in 2010, and was named to his post in the wake of the party’s 2012 results, when it took nearly 18 percent of the vote in the first round, more than ever before. He had campaigned only once before, as a university student in 2002 for a candidate who garnered only 5 percent of the vote. Mr. Philippot was born in the north of France near Lille, where deindustrialization has fed pockets of strong support for the National Front. His father is the principal of a public school, and he shrugs when asked if his father agrees with his politics, saying that the family gets along well. His grandmother, he said, who lives in a small village, clips articles about him. He has repeatedly refused to discuss his private life. But in December, the gossip magazine Closer, which last year published photos of Mr. Hollande sneaking out of the Élysée Palace on a scooter to meet an actress, published photographs of Mr. Philippot on vacation with a boyfriend. SOME experts say the disclosure may not sit well with the National Front’s conservative supporters, but Mr. Philippot seems unperturbed. “It doesn’t matter at all,” he said. “It’s just that we should be entitled to private lives, and the idea that someone was following me for three days is just horrible.” Mr. Philippot said his political idol is Charles de Gaulle, who led Free France during World War II and later twice served as president. He is the last real president the country has had, Mr. Philippot said. Last November, he led a group of 100 young National Front supporters to lay a wreath at de Gaulle’s grave. Mr. Philippot said he had always been interested in politics, but was not a fan of the National Front before Marine Le Pen came along, and he would not have joined the party with Mr. Le Pen at the helm. Mr. Le Pen, 86, who founded the National Front, has a habit of causing controversy even now. Just recently he made headlines when, in an interview with a Russian newspaper, he suggested that the Charlie Hebdo massacre might have been the work of an “intelligence agency” working with the connivance of the French authorities. Mr. Philippot stepped up to deflect the uproar, suggesting that Mr. Le Pen had perhaps had “a little vodka” before he made his statement. Mr. Le Pen later said his statements had been mistranslated.

France
Florian Philippot
Election
National Front France


BHP and Rio Abandon Australian Iron Mining Venture

Abstract: HONG KONG — BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto on Monday pulled the plug on their plans to form a $116 billion iron ore joint venture after regulators in Australia and elsewhere signaled they would block the deal because of competition concerns. A revival of demand for raw materials as the global economy regains strength has fueled a string of takeovers and deals in the mining and energy sectors in recent years, and the two companies had hoped to reap substantial savings by combining their iron ore operations in the remote Pilbara region in Western Australia. BHP and Rio, both of which have headquarters in Australia, are the world’s largest producers of iron ore, the central steel-making ingredient, along with Vale of Brazil. They had estimated the potential synergies from collaborating on mining, logistics and other infrastructure activities at more than $10 billion. But the planned joint venture — announced in June 2009 , eight months after the collapse of an audacious effort by BHP to buy Rio outright — had faced intense opposition from steel makers, antitrust authorities and some investors. The European Commission, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, the Japan Fair Trade Commission, the Korea Fair Trade Commission and the German Federal Cartel Office had all advised Rio and BHP that their proposed venture would not be approved in its current form, BHP said in a statement announcing the companies’ decision to walk away from their plans. “Some regulators have indicated they would require substantial remedies that would be unacceptable to both parties, including divestments, whereas others have indicated they would be likely to prohibit the transaction outright,” Rio said, adding that both parties had agreed that no breakup fee would be payable. In a separate statement, BHP’s chief executive, Marius Kloppers, said, “The large synergies from combining our Western Australian iron ore assets with Rio Tinto’s have caused us to persevere in seeking to obtain regulatory approvals.” He added, “However, it has become clear that this transaction is unlikely to obtain the necessary approvals to allow the deal to close, and as a result, both parties have reluctantly agreed to terminate the agreement.” The collapse of the deal had been widely anticipated by the markets, and the share price reaction on Monday was muted. BHP was down 1.1 percent in midafternoon in Australia, and Rio fell 0.7 percent, broadly in line with the 1 percent decline in the Australian benchmark index S&P/ASX 200. For BHP, the collapse of the iron ore deal is now likely to shift management’s attention to its hostile bid for a large Canadian fertilizer company, the Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan , worth about $40 billion. Although BHP is best known for its activities in iron ore, aluminum, copper and coal , the mining company, based in Melbourne, has been expanding into the generally lucrative market for fertilizer components, in a bid to tap into the expected soaring demand for fertilizers as the world struggles to feed its growing population.

Australia
BHP Billiton PLC
BHP Billiton Ltd
Rio Tinto PLC
Steel and Iron


Landmarks Panel Approves Greenwich Village Condo Tower

Abstract: After nearly 19 months of controversy and intermittently turbulent public hearings, the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission voted Tuesday to approve a luxury condominium tower that is the financial linchpin of a two-tower, $1.63 billion reconstruction proposal by St. Vincent’s Hospital Manhattan that would modernize its facilities in the Greenwich Village Historic District. After months of objections by commissioners, the 9-to-1 vote — in the ninth public hearing on the project — endorsed a 203-foot-tall, 16-story residential building that would occupy the east side of Seventh Avenue, between West 11th and West 12th Streets, in the historic district. Originally, the hospital, in conjunction with the Rudin Management Company , proposed a 266-foot-tall condominium, but after repeated objections from the commissioners over its size and architectural features, the tower was whittled to 233 feet last year and to 218 feet in June, and is now an additional 15 feet shorter. The tally effectively gave the approval of the landmarks commission to the entire St. Vincent’s proposal, since the commissioners already voted, 8 to 3, in March to permit the hospital to build an $830 million, 286-foot-tall medical building, after St. Vincent’s had originally proposed a 329-foot tower. It subsequently suggested a 299-foot-tall redesign, but requests and criticism from the commissioners in December spurred a shrunken version. The project still requires approval from the New York City Planning Commission and the City Council, and construction could not begin, under the most optimistic projections, until 2012. “Without a doubt, this application has posed the most complex historic preservation issues in recent memory,” said Robert B. Tierney, the commission’s chairman. He added that the plan “now successfully meets the challenge of knitting together the old and the new.” The developer William C. Rudin said that “the process was fair and balanced, and we’re happy we got approved.” The hospital had said it needed some $300 million from the Rudin company to help pay for its own hospital tower. (Mr. Rudin said the exact payment had not yet been calculated.) Now, the plan has advanced over “a very significant hurdle,” said Henry J. Amoroso, president of St. Vincent Catholic Medial Centers, the entity that includes the hospital. “We’re very happy.” Nevertheless, a coalition of New York historic preservation and community groups filed suit against the commission and the hospital in March, seeking to block the project. And the lone dissenter on the commission, Margery H. Perlmutter, said, “I still think the Seventh Avenue building is too tall.” Andrew Berman, executive director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation , said after the vote that “it’s certainly not over,” since the proposal will segue to the planning commission and the City Council. From the beginning, critics have assailed the mass and height of the proposed towers and their impact on the historic neighborhood, while the hospital’s supporters underscored the need to upgrade St. Vincent’s. The commissioners had already voted to demolish the 44-year-old Edward and Theresa O’Toole Medical Services Building, a landmark, sawtooth-sided neighborhood monument the hospital owns on Seventh Avenue between 12th and 13th Streets, where the hospital would be built. Last year the commission said the hospital could not tear down O’Toole, given its status in a landmark district, but the hospital reapplied and won approval under provisions that permit institutions to claim hardship as a reason to demolish old buildings if they can prove that the maintenance of structures they own interferes with their ability to carry out their charitable purpose. Public testimony and the statements of some commissioners, like Roberta Brandes Gratz, claimed that O’Toole was “an iconic modern landmark,” as Ms. Gratz said. They argued demolishing it would set a bad precedent since the building is suitable to be used by the hospital. The lawsuit by preservation and community groups, which is pending, claimed that the commission members failed to follow the hardship standard established by the United States Supreme Court during two previous preservation battles that saved Grand Central Terminal and that prevented St. Bartholomew’s Church from demolishing its community house to build a 59-story office tower so it could finance church programs. Commissioners who had supported the hardship application have defended their votes, and the hospital has said that preservationist groups were seeking to prevent it from building “a modern medical facility to serve Manhattan’s West Side.”

Landmarks Preservation Commission
Condominiums
Hospitals
St Vincent's Hospital


Buckeyes Set to Pick Starter

Abstract: Ohio State Coach Urban Meyer said he was not ready to publicly name a starting quarterback for the top-ranked Buckeyes’ game at Rutgers on Saturday. Meyer said he would meet with Cardale Jones, who has started all seven games this season, and J. T. Barrett, the starter for most of last season, on Monday and would tell them his decision.

Ohio State
J. T. Barrett
College football


Kyle Busch Prevails in Xfinity

Abstract: Kyle Busch made it 3 for 3 in the Xfinity Series this season, cruising to a victory at Phoenix International Raceway in Avondale, Ariz. A week after leading all but one lap at Las Vegas, Busch led 175 of 200 laps on the mile oval to win for the 79th time in the second-tier series.


Kidnapping Becomes a Growing Travel Risk

Abstract: WHEN the kidnappers shackled his feet and cuffed his hands, Edo de Ronde managed to restrain his fears. The Dutch marketing consultant, who was abducted last year in South Africa, kept calm in captivity, he recalled, until a gun was put to his head. Mr. de Ronde then asked himself, “What will they say at my funeral?” His ugly odyssey began after a colleague at a Chinese trading company he works with answered a fake ad for scrap metal and agreed to buy 42 million rand ($5.3 million) worth of phantom steel railroad tracks. The trading company asked Mr. de Ronde, in the Netherlands, to meet with the sellers in Johannesburg. Before his ill-fated trip, Mr. de Ronde asked to review the sellers’ financial statements as well as a report by an independent verification service. The scam artists provided the requested documents, which turned out to be “very, very professional” forgeries, Mr. de Ronde said. A chauffeur, arranged for by the kidnappers, picked up Mr. de Ronde at the Johannesburg airport. While driving to his hotel, impostors posing as police officers stopped the car and ordered Mr. de Ronde to strip to his underwear. “I thought it was just a routine check,” he said. He later learned from the real South African police that the kidnappers used the bogus traffic stop to rifle through his possessions and gather intelligence. The next morning, another driver delivered Mr. de Ronde to the site of his “meeting,” a local guesthouse that turned into his prison. “Only afterwards, I know not to do that, only meet in public places,” said Mr. de Ronde. His company soon paid a ransom of more than $30,000, securing his release after nearly two days of terror. But upon returning home to Rotterdam, Mr. de Ronde coped with an unwelcome surprise: cold callers. Companies selling various kidnapping prevention services viewed him as a potential customer. According to security consultants, kidnappers generally prey on victims more vulnerable than business travelers, who tend to limit time in dicey destinations and keep irregular schedules. But sometimes even the business class gets swept up in this rising international crime wave. Many companies offer help in response, among them international insurance companies, secretive consultants who manage hostage situations and local outfits offering abduction prevention courses. As the Web site of Chartis, a leading underwriter of kidnapping insurance, says: “Kidnapping is not a rare occurrence; it’s big business.” And it’s getting bigger. Kidnapping for ransom is on the rise in many countries. In 2011, the Mexican government reported a more than 300 percent increase in the crime since 2005. The United States State Department Web site, which tracks worldwide crime trends, warns of “alarming increases” in kidnapping in Venezuela, and that abductions in Pakistan “continued to increase dramatically nationwide.” But statistics can be difficult to gather, and the numbers of victims are likely underestimated. Many released hostages refuse to report the crime; some fear attracting copycat criminals, while others distrust corrupt police who moonlight as kidnappers. In Venezuela, for instance, the State Department estimates that roughly four out of five kidnappings are not reported. Insurance companies say business is brisk. “Kidnapping and ransom is a very profitable insurance business,” said Ana Paula Menezes, a former underwriter. Kidnap insurance policies typically include the services of response teams that coach victims’ families on everything from proof-of-life questions to ransom prices, which the policies reimburse. “Generally, the family will have someone in front of them within 24 hours,” said Jeff Green, the director of Griffin Underwriting, which specializes in kidnap and ransom insurance. He explained the kidnapping bargaining process: “It’s a business negotiation, where somebody is trying to sell something — and you know you are going to buy it, you have to buy it. But the advantage you have is that you are the only buyer, because they have no value to anyone else.” Some response consultants deal directly with clients lacking kidnapping coverage. “It’ll cost you at least $3,000 a day, and it’s going to be money up front,” said Christopher T. Voss, an adjunct professor at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business and former lead international kidnapping negotiator at the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Several security companies market antikidnapping training. For $650, Risks Incorporated in Miami, for instance, promises to teach students about the “real world of terrorism and kidnap and ransom!” And, yes, there’s an anti-kidnap app. BrickHouse Security, a surveillance emporium, sells Executrac software ($29.95 and a $19.95 monthly subscription), “a powerful, invisible application that turns any BlackBerry or smartphone into a covert GPS tracker with an emergency panic button.” Mr. Voss questions the value of tracking technology. Kidnappers are “more and more aware these days that the phone can be tracked,” he said. He gave some advice to travelers visiting high-risk countries: “Get off the X, No. 1. The X is the spot where the kidnappers try and take you.” Mr. Voss argues that running away from abductors, if possible, can make sense. “Kidnappers generally don’t pursue,” said Mr. Voss. “They’re not runners. And they are not going to shoot at you. It’s a waste of ammunition and they will probably miss anyway.” He said he came to that controversial conclusion when a former Navy Seal trainer, a classmate of his at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, told him: “Let’s be honest, the Navy Seals, when we do renditions” — the spiriting of people from one nation to another — “effectively we’re doing kidnappings. Nobody is better at it than we are. We are the most organized, and not one person, not one of us, was assigned to chase anybody. If we’re not chasers, then the bad guys aren’t chasers.’” Mr. Voss also urges business travelers to vary their routine, even if it means being intentionally late to appointments. “A good businessman is on time and consistent,” said Mr. Voss. “And a lot of businessmen are horrified at the idea of breaking out of consistency. If you vary your schedule by 10 minutes, 15 minutes, one way or the other, you can throw the bad guys off enough that they just might look for someone who is a little more precise.” In a coming book, “International Security: Personal Protection in an Uncertain World,” Orlando Wilson, a security consultant, suggests another common-sense strategy for travelers: “Do not draw attention to yourself. Consider what you wear and drive, don’t be loud and rowdy. And don’t tell strangers too much about yourself.” That can be a challenge in an era of oversharing. Marivel Andreu of the Celedinas Insurance Group in Miami warns against revealing to Facebook friends travel plans — or lunch plans. Her clients, often wealthy families in Latin America, “are sharing all sorts of information, where they’re traveling, where they are, where they’re not, and, unfortunately, the kidnappers are using that information against them.” A report, “Expatriate Risk Management: Kidnapping and Ransom,” by Richard A. Posthuma, professor of management at the University of Texas at El Paso, found that the length of time that Mexican kidnappers conducted surveillance decreased as they deploy “more sophisticated surveillance techniques,” like monitoring social media. Julie Mulligan of Drayton Valley, Alberta, concedes she maintained a high profile while leading a Rotary Club exchange trip to Kaduna, Nigeria, in 2009. She appeared on a local TV show, and soon after kidnappers dragged her out of her host’s car. Held nearly two weeks, hobbling around on the high heels she wore when snatched, Ms. Mulligan “had some really dark moments.” At one point, she contemplated an escape and hid keys to the house where she was held. Her guard discovered the keys and flew into a rage. “He raised his arm to hit me, and he called me ‘woman.’ ” Before that, said Ms. Mulligan, “he had been calling me ‘Auntie,’ a sign of respect for an older woman.” Despite the psychological scars from captivity — “Anybody that’s been kidnapped for more than 24 hours, the life that they knew is gone. It’s over,” said Mr. Voss — Ms. Mulligan says her experience actually enriched her life. “I started writing this list of people who were part of the fabric of my life,” she said. For days, Ms. Mulligan edited the list on a piece of cardboard, stopping at 472 names. “When I got home I found out, realized, that it could have been so much bigger.” While she struggled to survive, eating little but white rice, stung by countless mosquitoes and threatened by guards the age of her children, she was “humbled” to learn that the churches in her town had united for an interdenominational prayer service. “The biggest thing that I have to say that I’ve understood is the goodness, the innate goodness of people,” she said. Mr. de Ronde, the Dutch kidnapping victim, agrees that even brutal kidnappings can prove strangely liberating. “You feel the things that you are not doing right in your life,” he said. Before his trip to South Africa, he and his wife planned to buy a large house in Rotterdam, but after the kidnapping he canceled the contract. “We went on a holiday straight away, and we said, what do we really want to do in life? One of the things was, we can continue working, working, working. As I am married to a Chinese wife, I said I want to experience more of your culture.” Mr. de Ronde and his family moved to China. He did not say where.

Kidnapping
Business Travel
Insurance
Security and Warning Systems
Griffin Technology Inc
Chartis Inc


Which Power Conference Won’t Vie for National Title? Sorry, Pac-12

Abstract: There is a simple math problem at the heart of the college football season: five power conferences, four playoff spots. That is, at least one of the major football conferences, having played a full season and produced an impressive champion, will fail to land a team in the season-ending College Football Playoff for the national championship. Two years ago, the snubbed conference was the Big 12, whose co-champions, Baylor and Texas Christian, ended up fifth and sixth in the selection committee’s final rankings. Last year, it was the Pacific-12, whose champion, Stanford, though an obviously impressive squad with a Heisman Trophy runner-up in running back Christian McCaffrey, had committed the cardinal sin of losing two games when every other conference champion had lost one at most. Trying in September to predict who will play for the national championship in January is a fool’s errand. There are so many teams. There is so much roster turnover. The oldest players are barely post-adolescent. And the argument is never really settled, nor can it be. “This is all fun to talk about — it kind of makes college football really go, that there is opinion involved, and that’s what differentiates it from the N.F.L.,” the CBS college football analyst Gary Danielson said. “But this also leads to frustration.” He added, “The difficult part of this is even a committee that has the task of deciding the final four goes about it in unusual ways.” Image Baylor’s Jay Lee beat Texas Christian’s Corry O’Meally for a touchdown catch in 2014. Baylor and T.C.U. ended up as co-champions in the Big 12 that season but fifth and sixth in the selection committee’s final rankings. Credit Manny Flores/Icon Sportswire, via Associated Press Images But that’s just it: During the past two seasons, we have come to know the committee — its idiosyncratic preferences, its quirky biases. At this early date, we may not be able to forecast which team will win it all. But we can hazard informed guesses about the following question: Which of the five major conferences will fail to place a member in the final four team bracket? For now, it is in the teams’ hands. But on the last several Tuesdays of the season, the selection committee will rank its top 25, based on a host of factors, including strength of schedule and advanced metrics. It will issue its final rankings on Sunday, Dec. 4, after the conference championship games. This year, the national semifinals will take place on Dec. 31 at the Peach Bowl in Atlanta and the Fiesta Bowl in Glendale, Ariz. The winners will meet Jan. 9 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Fla. Eight teams have made the playoff during its first two years (Alabama has done so twice), and all entered as conference champions. This is one of the committee’s stated metrics, and while the Big 12’s lack of a conference championship game kept its members out in 2014, last season’s Big 12 champion, Oklahoma (11-1), sneaked in ahead of Stanford (11-2) of the Pac-12. As with the Bowl Championship Series algorithm that preceded the playoff, the committee values winning percentage, perhaps over strength of schedule: Witness its placing last year of not only Oklahoma but Iowa (12-1), which lost its conference championship game after a relatively soft schedule, over Stanford, which thrashed Southern California after a more difficult regular-season slate. One more pattern: Both of the snubbed conferences in previous years, the Big 12 and Pac-12, were, at the time, the only two to play nine-game conference schedules. And each year, conference rivals took turns handing others defeats; the committee member Condoleezza Rice memorably called it “fratricide.” Conference depth — producing multiple tough matchups against familiar foes, sometimes at distinctly unfriendly stadiums, and fewer doormats — is the ultimate playoff obstacle. So which conference provides the clearest path to an undefeated or one-loss conference champion? The one with an eight-game schedule and the least depth: the Atlantic Coast Conference. Despite the presence of feisty No. 19 Louisville, it is a decent bet that either fourth-ranked Florida State or second-ranked Clemson — which is coming off a national title game appearance and is led by the Heisman Trophy contender Deshaun Watson at quarterback — will cruise to 13-0 (or perhaps 12-1). It is even more likely that the winner of the annual game between the two (Oct. 29, in Tallahassee, Fla.) will eventually claim the conference title and earn a playoff spot. The Big Ten’s top playoff contenders are all in the East Division — No. 6 Ohio State, No. 7 Michigan and No. 12 Michigan State — creating a potential round-robin of defeats. The Buckeyes are among college football’s youngest teams, while the Wolverines face a punishing road schedule (at No. 17 Iowa, at Michigan State, at Ohio State). That could allow the Spartans, winners of two of the past three conference titles, to emerge in the best shape. “Whenever I do an interview, it’s always about Ohio State and Michigan,” the ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit said. “It’s almost like Michigan State’s not playing.” The Big 12 appears top-heavy, with No. 3 Oklahoma and No. 13 T.C.U. The Southeastern Conference is unlikely to be snubbed, though that would certainly produce amusing talk radio. The conference most likely to be left out, then, is again the Pac-12. Not because its teams are not good enough. Mostly because too many of them are. “I don’t see one or two teams that just stand out,” Herbstreit said. “I think it’s going to be one of those years where you have a two-loss team coming out of there.” Consider: No. 8 Stanford has to travel to No. 14 Washington, which has to travel to No. 24 Oregon, which has to travel to No. 20 U.S.C. And the winner of that North Division must still beat the winner of the South in the conference championship game. Danielson summed up the paradox, saying, “I would say the Pac-12 is the second-toughest conference, but has the toughest road to the final four.” “Which,” he added, “is a problem.” There are other potential problems. Two conferences could be snubbed if one league lands two teams in the playoff; or if Notre Dame, an independent ranked 10th, qualifies; or if a Group of 5 conference champion elbows its way in. The last situation might be most likely: If No. 15 Houston beats Oklahoma on Saturday, then beats Louisville later in the season and goes unbeaten through its American Athletic Conference slate, there may be a race to see whether the Cougars get an invitation to the playoff or to the Big 12 first. Finally, with resurgent Tennessee ranked ninth, running back Leonard Fournette probably entering his final season with No. 5 Louisiana State, and Alabama ranked No. 1, fratricide in the SEC remains a possibility, too. But if the SEC finds itself without a team in the playoff, it would do well to stage its own, with its best four teams. The competition would be about as good.

College football
Atlantic Coast Conference
Southeastern Conference
Big 12 Conference
Big Ten Conference
Pacific-12 Conference


Global Trade to Be Weaker Than Expected, W.T.O. Says

Abstract: GENEVA – Global trade will be weaker than expected this year as European economies struggle with their debt crisis, and will recover only slightly in 2014, the World Trade Organization said Wednesday. The global trade body forecast in its annual report that trade would grow 3.3 percent during 2013, significantly less than the 4.5 percent it had earlier predicted. That would be only a meager improvement from the 2 percent rise in 2012, a terrible year for global trade. Exports were ravaged then by the financial turmoil in the 17-country euro zone, economic aftershocks from Japan’s earthquake and nuclear crisis, and the impact of political unrest in the oil-rich Middle East. The trade body had earlier forecast a 3.7 percent rise in trade in 2012, based on what a W.T.O. economist, Coleman Nee, described as assumptions that the European Union was ‘'getting its act together'’ financially. In fact, the debt crisis continued and remains a source of uncertainty for the bloc, the world’s largest economic region. Trade growth remains well below the 5.3 percent rate it averaged over the last 20 years, the organization said. The figures represent the total volume of merchandise exported across borders, accounting for changes in prices and exchange rates. The World Trade Organization’s director-general, Pascal Lamy, said ‘'the final trade numbers for 2012 are quite sobering,'’ with developed economies notching a paltry 1 percent increase in their exports last year while shipments from developing economies grew 3.3 percent. ‘'The revival of the sovereign debt crisis in the middle of the year meant that the deceleration of trade was stronger than anticipated,'’ he said. The disparity between developed and developing economies was still more dramatic on the import side, the figures show. Among developed economies, imports fell 0.1 percent in 2012, while they rose 4.6 percent among developing economies. For 2014, Mr. Lamy said, trade was expected to rebound to ‘‘more like 5 percent growth,’’ close to the 5.2 percent rate seen in 2011. The recent slowdown, he said, shows that ‘‘there is a need for more rules-based trade in order to reduce unemployment and to stimulate growth.’’ ‘'The threat of protectionism may be greater now than at any time since the start of the crisis, since other policies to restore growth have been tried and found wanting,'’ Mr. Lamy added. Measured in dollar terms, the total value of merchandise traded in 2012 was $18.3 trillion, essentially unchanged from the year earlier because of falling prices for traded goods like coffee, cotton, iron ore and coal.

World Trade Organization
International trade
Euro Crisis


Shares and Dollar Drop; Oil Surges

Abstract: Stocks fell yesterday as a weakened dollar and a surge in oil prices kindled fresh concerns about inflation, snuffing out a two-day rally that followed the Federal Reserve’s deep cut in a crucial interest rate. Initial optimism that the Fed’s aggressive move would keep the economy out of recession gave way to concerns about the inflationary impact of a flagging dollar, which raises the cost of imported goods. Banks and brokerage firms slid, meanwhile, as investors locked in gains booked since the rate cut on Tuesday. Shares of Lehman Brothers, which rose 10 percent after Lehman reported strong quarterly results on Tuesday, fell 2.8 percent, to $62.31. “The U.S. has cut rates, and so it’s less attractive to hold dollars,” said Milton Ezrati, senior economic strategist at Lord Abbett & Company in New York. “I think it causes an adjustment in all asset classes denominated by dollars.” But he added, “It’s not at all surprising that the market would go down, even without the dollar, after the last couple of days of enthusiasm.” Scattered evidence pointing to a prolonged economic slowdown further soured the mood. FedEx, the package delivery company whose performance serves as a business barometer, lowered its profit outlook for the full year, citing a tepid economic environment. Its shares dropped 2.9 percent, to $104.45, while the Dow Jones transport average fell 1.9 percent. The National Retail Federation said holiday sales were expected to rise 4 percent, to $474.5 billion — their slowest pace in five years — sending the Standard & Poor’s retail index down 2 percent. The Dow Jones industrial average was down 48.86 points, or 0.35 percent, to end at 13,766.70. The S.& P. 500-stock index was down 10.28 points, or 0.67 percent, to finish at 1,518.75. The Nasdaq composite index was down 12.19 points, or 0.46 percent, to close at 2,654.29. The benchmark 10-year Treasury note fell 1 7/32, to 100 13/32, for a yield of 4.70 percent, up 16 basis points in just a day. Bond yields move inversely to prices. Crude oil settled at a record $83.32 a barrel, gaining $1.39, on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Bear Stearns shares slipped 0.2 percent, to close at $115.46, reversing an earlier gain of 3.3 percent to a session high at $119.50. The investment bank posted a sharply lower profit, but its chief financial officer, Samuel L. Molinaro Jr., said the worst of times were behind the company. He said he saw business returning to normal in 2008. Other investment banks’ shares also dropped, including those of Morgan Stanley, down 3.6 percent, at $64.63. The S.& P. financial index was down 1.7 percent. The Dow Jones home construction index, which also rose sharply after the Fed’s rate cut, dropped 5.7 percent. Among retailers, shares of Home Depot fell 2.4 percent, to $35.32. Shares of Circuit City Stores plummeted 18 percent, to $8.67, after the home electronics seller reported a larger-than-forecast quarterly loss. Trading was below average on the New York Stock Exchange, with about 1.27 billion shares changing hands. Declining stocks outnumbered advancing ones by a ratio of about 12 to 5 on the New York Exchange.

Nasdaq Composite Index
Stocks and Bonds
Dow Jones Stock Average
Economic Conditions and Trends


New Weapon to Fight Zika: The Mosquito

Abstract: Every weekday at 7 a.m., a van drives slowly through the southeastern Brazilian city of Piracicaba carrying a precious cargo — mosquitoes. More than 100,000 of them are dumped from plastic containers out the van’s window, and they fly off to find mates. But these are not ordinary mosquitoes. They have been genetically engineered to pass a lethal gene to their offspring, which die before they can reach adulthood. In small tests, this approach has lowered mosquito populations by 80 percent or more. The biotech bugs could become one of the newest weapons in the perennial battle between humans and mosquitoes, which kill hundreds of thousands of people a year by transmitting malaria, dengue fever and other devastating diseases and have been called the deadliest animal in the world. “When it comes to killing humans, no other animal even comes close,” Bill Gates, whose foundation fights disease globally, has written. The battle has abruptly become more pressing by what the World Health Organization has called the “explosive” spread of the mosquito-borne Zika virus through Brazil and other parts of Latin America. Experts say that new methods are needed because the standard practices — using insecticides and removing the standing water where mosquitoes breed — have not proved sufficient. “After 30 years of this kind of fight, we had more than two million cases of dengue last year in Brazil,” said Dr. Artur Timerman, an infectious disease expert in São Paulo. “New approaches are critically necessary.” But the new efforts have yet to be proved, and it would take some years to scale them up to a meaningful level. An alternative to mosquito control, a vaccine against Zika, is not expected to be available soon. So for now, experts say, the best modes of prevention are to intensify use of the older methods of mosquito control and to lower the risk of being bitten using repellents and by wearing long sleeves. Women are being advised to not get pregnant and to avoid infested areas if pregnant, since the virus is strongly suspected of causing babies to be born with abnormally small heads and damaged brains. One old method that is not getting serious attention would be to use DDT, a powerful pesticide that is banned in many countries because of the ecological damage documented in the 1962 book “ Silent Spring. ” Still, it is being mentioned a bit, and some experts defend its use for disease control. “That concern about DDT has to be reconsidered in the public health context,” said Dr. Lyle R. Petersen, director of the division of vector-borne diseases at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He said the damage to fish and wildlife stemmed from widespread outdoor use of DDT in agriculture, not the use of small amounts on walls inside homes to kill mosquitoes. Image Oxitec’s genetically engineered mosquitoes, which have been released in the southeastern Brazilian city of Piracicaba, are engineered to pass a lethal gene to offspring, which die before they can reach adulthood. Credit Alexandre Carvalho/Oxitec Other experts say the old methods can work if applied diligently. “We’ve had great success using old methods for the last 50, 60 years,” said Dr. Peter J. Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at the Baylor College of Medicine. “We just need to be very aggressive and exercise political will.” A determined American doctor named Fred L. Soper eradicated a malaria -carrying mosquito in Brazil in the 1930s, even before the widespread use of DDT. And dengue-carrying mosquitoes were eradicated in 18 Latin American countries from 1947 to 1962, Dr. Hotez said. But Dr. Soper was a fanatic, making sure every house was thoroughly inspected and all standing water removed. In Brazil, he was backed by the government, which made it a crime to deny entry to an inspector. According to a profile of him in The New Yorker , Dr. Soper used to say that mosquito eradication was impossible in a democracy. Such an autocratic approach might not be feasible in today’s societies. Moreover, Latin American cities have grown tremendously since then, said Carlos Brisola Marcondes, a medical entomologist at the Federal University of Santa Catarina in Brazil. “The situation is much worse than it was in the past,” he said. The main mosquito that transmits Zika virus — and also dengue, chikungunya and yellow fever — is Aedes aegypti, a particularly wily foe. It prefers urban areas and bites mainly people, making it very efficient at spreading disease. It bites in the day, so bed nets, a common way to protect people against the night-biting malaria mosquitoes, have little effect. It breeds in small containers of water, such as flower pots, cans and tires that collect rainwater. “I’ve seen Aedes aegypti merrily breeding in discarded soda caps,” said Joseph M. Conlon, technical adviser to the American Mosquito Control Association. Aedes aegypti is found in the southern part of the United States, so public health authorities say there will be some local transmission of Zika in this country, though it will be far less serious than in Latin America. Dr. Petersen of the C.D.C. said he envisioned “almost a SWAT team approach” in which resources would be rapidly deployed to areas of local transmission to control mosquitoes using conventional methods. The genetically engineered Aedes aegypti mosquitoes were developed by Oxitec, a British company, to fight dengue, but would also work to curtail the spread of Zika. Since last April, the mosquitoes have been released in one neighborhood of Piracicaba populated by about 5,000 people. By the end of 2015, there was a reduction in wild mosquito larvae — as opposed to larvae inheriting the lethal gene — of 82 percent, the company said. Oxitec and the city said this month that they would extend the project for another year and expand it to cover an area of up to 60,000 people. Oxitec is building a new factory to rear enough mosquitoes to cover an area with 300,000 people. The company, which was acquired last year by the American biotechnology firm Intrexon, calls its creation the “friendly Aedes aegypti” and notes that it releases only male mosquitoes, which do not bite. It says its solution is ecologically friendly because only the one species is targeted, whereas chemical spraying can affect many types of organisms. Short Answers to Hard Questions About Zika Virus Why scientists are worried about the growing epidemic and its effects on pregnant women, and how to avoid the infection. But critics worry about the long-term effects of releasing genetically modified organisms. Oxitec has run into public opposition to a proposed test in the Florida Keys. A Brazilian commission that oversees genetically engineered organisms declared the Oxitec mosquitoes safe to release into the environment in 2014. But Oxitec still does not have a license from Brazil’s health regulators that would allow it to actively market its approach to Brazilian cities. Still, said Hadyn Parry, the company’s chief executive, with the outbreak of Zika, “We’ve had a huge amount more interest from different municipalities.” Another approach, being tested in one Rio de Janeiro neighborhood, is to infect the mosquitoes with Wolbachia, a bacterium that does not infect them naturally. Once infected, the mosquitoes do not pick up and transmit viruses as easily. The bacteria can be passed to the next generation through eggs, so they spread through the mosquito population. “The beauty of it is it is a sustainable method — once you put it out it sustains itself in the environment and gives ongoing protection,” said Scott O’Neill, dean of science at Monash University in Australia. He is the leader of Eliminate Dengue , a Wolbachia project supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and others. Tests are now underway in Indonesia and Vietnam to see if the technique can reduce the number of people getting dengue fever . Dr. Paulo Gadelha, president of the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, a scientific institute under the Brazilian Ministry of Health, said initial results in his country were good and there were plans to try it on a larger scale, in Niterói, a municipality across Guanabara Bay from Rio. “We are planning to scale this up,” he said. “The mayor has already agreed.” A new and even more powerful tool may be gene drives, which are genetic mechanisms that rapidly propagate a trait through a wild population. Just in the last few months, scientists have made gene drives that work in mosquitoes in the laboratory. Anthony A. James, a professor at the University of California, Irvine, said it would be straightforward to use a gene drive to spread something like a sterility trait through the Aedes aegypti population to kill them off. “We have all the blueprints and have demonstrated proofs of principle,” he said. “It’s just public will to do this.” The public might not be ready to deploy gene drives outside the laboratory because once a new trait is let loose to spread through the population, it would be difficult to reverse it if something went wrong. Dr. Petersen of the C.D.C. said of all the new approaches, “We don’t know about the efficacy of any of them on a wide enough scale.” He added, “For now, we’ve got to deal with what we have.”

Mosquito
Brazil
Genetic engineering
Zika Virus
Latin America
DDT
Pesticide
American Mosquito Control Assn
US


Federer Falls to Hewitt, but Australian Open Awaits

Abstract: BRISBANE, Australia — This stage of Roger Federer’s career will primarily be measured by his success in fending off younger players, but he finished the first week of his 2014 season with a rare loss to an older foe. In a battle of 32-year-olds, each of whom won his first Grand Slam title more than a decade ago, Lleyton Hewitt defeated Federer, 6-1, 4-6, 6-3, on Sunday in the final of the Brisbane International. It was the 29th title of Hewitt’s career but his first in three and a half years, a drought dating to a 2010 tournament on grass in Halle, Germany, where he also beat Federer in the final. Sunday’s win was also Hewitt’s first title in his home country since he won in Sydney in 2005. Hewitt, who has had the nickname Rusty for years, looked anything but, playing well in nearly all the aspects of his game. He often returned Federer’s serve with interest, and he used a deep arsenal of shots to finish off points. Federer, conversely, was often erratic, especially in a woeful first set, in which he committed 22 unforced errors in seven games. He struggled mightily at times with his backhand, and although he steadied himself as the match continued, a lapse in the third set gave Hewitt a crucial break that he did not squander. Especially after falling behind early, Federer had the support of a majority of the fans, even in Hewitt’s home country. The loudest cheers of the day, however, were from a boisterous group of fans in green and gold who serenaded Hewitt with enthusiastic chants and repurposed songs (although the lyrics — like “walking in a Hewitt wonderland” — often left something to be desired). “I didn’t play great today, which is a bit unfortunate, but also Lleyton was the best player I played this week,” said Federer, who is five and a half months younger than Hewitt. “He made it toughest on me. So I have a clear idea what I need to work on, and I have a clear idea where my mind and body is at. I’m very hungry and eager to attack the Australian Open next week.” Federer expressed confidence in his preparation and fitness after playing four singles matches and three doubles matches in Brisbane. “Through all of December, I probably practiced more than all the guys ranked ahead of me because they were playing exhibitions and all that stuff,” Federer said. “I did that for a full month, a lot of training there, and now here I had another busy week, and I’m actually holding up very good. So that’s a good sign moving into 2014.” Some of Federer’s off-season practice sessions in Dubai were under the eye of Stefan Edberg, a six-time Grand Slam singles champion. Edberg is slated to travel with Federer only part time, and he will arrive in Melbourne just as the Australian Open gets under way. “I thought if we could do a few weeks together, maybe 10, maybe 12, it could be something fresh, new, inspiring,” Federer said of his partnership with Edberg. “Him being the legend he is and someone I look up to so much, anything he will say will mean very much to me and my team.” In last year’s Australian Open, Federer reached the semifinals, where he lost in five sets to Andy Murray. It would prove to be the high point of a year that was his worst since he became a top player, both in terms of his results and his durability. He struggled with back pain for much of the season. Federer lost in the quarterfinals of the French Open, the second round of Wimbledon and the fourth round of the United States Open. His ranking fell from No. 2 at the start of last year to No. 6 by the end. He also earned his fewest titles in a season (one) since 2001. That slide spurred Federer to tinker with his equipment during and after the season. Wilson, his sponsor, adjusted his racket for his evaluation during the off-season, and Federer grew comfortable enough to begin the season with a slightly larger, 98-square-inch frame that will provide a slightly larger sweet spot. “I’m not thinking about it when I’m going out there, which is a great thing,” he said of the new racket. “I’m hitting the ball really well, so I’m very pleased with the racket.” He added: “Now it’s just down to forehands and backhands and tactics and movement. That’s kind of what you want it to be, because unfortunately it hasn’t always been that way, last year with my issues.” Hewitt, laudatory of Federer even in the wake of his victory, called him the fourth favorite to triumph in Melbourne, behind Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray. “I haven’t thought about it a whole lot,” Federer said when asked what would constitute a successful Australian Open. “I think I can play very well.” He added: “But I’m not thinking too far ahead; I’m not thinking short term. I’m definitely going there to hopefully be there for a long time and putting myself in a good position.”

Australian Open
Roger Federer
Lleyton Hewitt
Tennis


Can a Smile in a Passport Photo Help Lift France’s Spirits?

Abstract: A jovial French civil servant was so determined to see his “depressed” compatriots grin that he turned to the courts with an unlikely mission: overturning a ban on smiling in passport photos or identity papers. France is not the only country with such a restriction; security experts say facial-recognition scanners at airports can be confounded by open mouths or unusual expressions. Many countries require neutral facial expressions, though the United States allows a neutral expression or a “natural smile.” But the French official, whose name has not been disclosed by the French news media, has argued that France, a country where a grimace can be worn as a proud accessory, needs to cheer up. Despite their professed joie de vivre and enviable quality of life, the French in recent years have ranked among the most pessimistic people on earth . And a recent spate of terrorist attacks have shaken the nation. The official began his quest to change the rules two years ago, after his passport photograph was rejected for violating Interior Ministry rules . The rules, codified in 2009, stipulate that a person’s expression must be “neutral with the mouth closed.” “Is it responsible, in a depressed France, for the authorities to reproach French people for smiling?” the man wrote in a letter that was obtained by Agence France-Presse. “Except perhaps they want them to continue making a sulky face on their identity papers, further weighing down the country’s morale.” An appellate court was not persuaded. On Thursday, it affirmed a 2014 ruling by a lower court that upheld the ban on smiling. But the man has not given up, and his lawyer, Romain Boulet, said he was considering whether to appeal. Beyond the imperative to improve the national mood, Mr. Boulet argued that relaxing the smiling prohibition would buttress France’s image in the world. This being the country of Sartre and Descartes, where even mundane questions inspire philosophical debate, the civil servant also cited the literary critic and philosopher Roland Barthes, and told the appellate court that he had identified the smile as the symbol of neutrality. Moreover, Mr. Boulet argued that the enigmatic smile of the Mona Lisa showed that a person could convey happiness while retaining a neutral expression, and keeping his or her lips together. His client, he added, had an “undertaker’s smile” in the photograph that French passport officials rejected, with his lips almost imperceptibly upturned. The client remains upbeat, despite the setback. He spoke with reporters after the decision on Thursday. “The day started with a smile,” he said, “and will finish, whatever happens, with a smile.”

Computer vision,Facial Recognition Software


Rodriguez Calls Claim of Affairs Irrelevant

Abstract: MIAMI (AP) — Alex Rodriguez said he agrees with his wife on two things: Their marriage is over, and she is a good mother to their two daughters. But Rodriguez, the Yankee third baseman, said allegations of infidelity should not bear on their divorce. Rodriguez said in papers filed in Miami-Dade Circuit Court that his five-year marriage to Cynthia Rodriguez was “irretrievably broken.” But because Florida is a no-fault divorce state, Rodriguez contends that his wife’s claims of affairs are “immaterial and impertinent.” In her divorce petition filed July 7, Cynthia Rodriguez accused her husband of “marital misconduct,” including infidelity. She did not mention names, but Alex Rodriguez has been linked to the pop star Madonna and a number of other women. The filing by Alex Rodriguez’s lawyers in Miami-Dade Circuit Court also said that he was willing to continue paying all expenses for their two young daughters and that he was seeking parenting time with them. As for their $12 million Coral Gables home, cars and other assets, Alex Rodriguez said the couple’s 2002 prenuptial agreement should decide who gets what. Cynthia Rodriguez wants the house, alimony, insurance, unspecified personal items and her S.U.V. “Husband denies any duty to support wife beyond those obligations specifically set out in the parties’ prenuptial agreement and Florida law,” Alex Rodriguez said in his reply. That agreement has not been made public. The Philadelphia lawyer Lynne Z. Gold-Bilkin, who specializes in family law and is not involved in the case, said that Alex Rodriguez’s response was “totally reasonable and rational” and that Cynthia Rodriguez was wrong to make allegations of affairs given Florida’s no-blame divorce law. “Her lawyers brought in non-legal extraneous matters for the purpose of smearing him,” said Gold-Bilkin, former chair of the American Bar Association’s family law section. Alex Rodriguez’s filing was devoid of any accusations against his wife and praised her at one point, calling her a “loving and nurturing mother.”

Rodriguez Alex
Divorce Separations and Annulments


Protest of Nobel Peace Prize for E.U. Gets Local

Abstract: OSLO — After braving a blizzard of denunciation from China from afar over its decision two years ago to honor a jailed Chinese dissident, the Norwegian Nobel Committee faced anger in its own backyard Sunday on the eve of a ceremony awarding this year’s Nobel Peace Prize to the European Union . In a protest organized by left-wing political groups and peace activists, hundreds of people marched through the snow-covered streets of central Oslo, carrying flaming torches and shouting “the E.U. is not a worthy winner.” The parade ended with a burst of anti-Brussels chants outside the Grand Hotel, where winners of the Nobel Peace Prize stay. “Giving the E.U. the peace prize is absurd,” said Heming Olaussen, the leader of No to the E.U. The organization has campaigned for years to make sure that Norway , which has twice voted to not join the union, stays outside the crisis-racked 27-nation bloc. Support for joining the European Union in Norway, which hovered around 50 percent in the last decade, has plunged in recent months in tandem with Europe’s falling economic fortunes, according to opinion polls. Support for the union in member countries is also flagging. “There has never been such low support for joining the E.U. as there is now,” said Erna Solberg , the leader of Norway’s opposition Conservative Party, the country’s most pro-Europe political force. The European Union’s multiple trauma, Ms. Solberg said in an interview, have made the idea of Norway ever becoming a member so toxic that “we are certainly not going to campaign on this” ahead of elections next fall. Peace activists who joined Sunday’s protest said they do not necessarily reject the cause of European integration, but view the union, with its vast bureaucracy headquartered in Brussels, as undeserving of a peace prize that was originally meant to honor contributions to disarmament. Hedda Langemyr, the director of the Norwegian Peace Council, which is composed of peace groups, said that European Union member states account for a third of global arms exports, and that the union’s institutions “have done nothing to prevent this and have even encouraged it.” Speaking earlier at the Nobel Institute in Oslo, European Commission President José Manuel Barroso acknowledged criticism of the Norwegian Nobel Committee’s choice and said he welcomed “rational arguments” against the union. But, warning against “Europhobia,” Mr. Barroso rejected what he described as the “extreme nationalist views” held by some of the union’s critics. “We know what are the results of extreme nationalism, xenophobia and racism,” he said. “I am against them.” The Nobel Peace Prize has often stirred controversy amid complaints that the award has drifted from the intentions of Alfred Nobel, the 19th-century Swedish industrialist and inventor of dynamite who bequeathed the award — and four other prizes — in his will. The 2009 award to President Obama was met with dismay and protest from Norwegian peace groups. A year later, the Chinese Communist Party reacted with fury when the peace prize went to Liu Xiaobo, a dissident literary critic serving a prison sentence for subversion. Beijing placed restrictions on Norwegian salmon imports and recently signaled it was still angry, when it kept Norway off a long list of countries whose citizens will be granted visa-free access to China for brief visits. The most fervent denunciations of this year’s award at Sunday’s Oslo demonstration came from Dimitris Kodelas, a member of the Greek Parliament for the left-wing opposition group Syriza. Describing a peace prize for the European Union as a “joke against the people of Europe,” he said the union, through its demands for deep budget cuts, “has declared war against the people of my country.” How can you award a prize,” he asked, “to someone that has pushed my country and the whole of southern Europe back to the Middle Ages?”


In Secret Tape, New York Police Press Ticket Quotas

Abstract: For nearly every New Yorker who has received a summons in the city — caught at a checkpoint monitoring seat-belt use, or approached by a small army of police officers descending on illegally parked cars — quotas are a maddening fact of life. No matter how often the Police Department denies the existence of quotas, many New Yorkers will swear that officers are sometimes forced to write a certain number of tickets in a certain amount of time. Now, in a secret recording made in a police station in Brooklyn, there is persuasive evidence of the existence of quotas. The hourlong recording, which a lawyer provided this week to The New York Times, was made by a police supervisor during a meeting in April of supervisors from the 81st Precinct. The recording makes clear that precinct leaders were focused on raising the number of summonses issued — even as the Police Department had already begun an inquiry into whether crime statistics in that precinct were being manipulated. The Police Department’s chief spokesman, Paul J. Browne, did not respond Thursday to three e-mails and three phone calls requesting comments on the tape. He was sent extensive excerpts from the recording. On the tape, a police captain, Alex Perez, can be heard warning his top commanders that their officers must start writing more summonses or face consequences. Captain Perez offered a precise number and suggested a method. He said that officers on a particular shift should write — as a group — 20 summonses a week: five each for double-parking, parking at a bus stop, driving without a seat belt and driving while using a cellphone. “You, as bosses, have to demand this and have to count it,” Captain Perez said, citing pressure from top police officials. At another point, Captain Perez emphasized his willingness to punish officers who do not meet the targets, saying, “I really don’t have a problem firing people.” The recording is the latest in a series of audiotapes from the precinct that have raised concerns among community leaders and residents of the neighborhoods it covers, Brownsville and Bedford-Stuyvesant. Those Brooklyn residents contend that the tapes show a department fixated on the number of summonses and low-level arrests, and that the result is a pattern of harassment. Critics say this is the flip side of CompStat, the Police Department analysis system that has been credited with bringing down major crimes but faulted as creating a numbers-driven culture. Police officials have long denied the existence of a quota system, but they add that they do have “performance goals” they expect officers to meet. A previous set of recordings of station-house roll calls was made in 2008 and 2009 by Patrol Officer Adrian Schoolcraft, who has filed a lawsuit against the department claiming retaliation after he reported accusations to the Internal Affairs Bureau. Officer Schoolcraft accused supervisors in the precinct of manipulating crime statistics and enforcing ticket and arrest quotas, which are a violation of state labor law. The accusations are at the center of a broad internal investigation of how the precinct recorded crime statistics. Amid the inquiry, Deputy Inspector Steven Mauriello, who had been the commander at the 81st Precinct, was transferred in July to a transit district in the Bronx. The latest recording was made on April 1, as the internal inquiry was under way, and after some of Officer Schoolcraft’s allegations had become public in The Daily News and The New York Post. Inspector Mauriello invoked Officer Schoolcraft’s name at the April 1 meeting, as he warned precinct leaders about “rats coming out of here wearing tape recorders.” The person who made the recording gave it this week to Officer Schoolcraft’s lawyer, Jon L. Norinsberg, in an effort to show that Officer Schoolcraft, who has been suspended from the force, was not alone. “He wanted to do anything in his power to support Schoolcraft, and I think this is his way of corroborating Schoolcraft’s allegations,” said Mr. Norinsberg, who said the new recordings would be used as evidence in his case. “It is evidence the quota system is ongoing. Subsequent to the public revelations that have taken place, it’s business as usual in the N.Y.P.D. ” At one point in the new tapes, Inspector Mauriello introduced Captain Perez, who the supervisor said was second in command, as someone who “wants his summonses.” “They’re counting seat belts and cellphones; they’re counting double parkers and bus stops,” Captain Perez said, referring to types of low-level summonses typically tracked by the department’s TrafficStat program. “If day tours contributed with five seat belts and five cellphones a week, five double-parkers and five bus stops a week, O.K. “Your goal is five in each of these categories, not a difficult task to accomplish on Monday,” he added. “If it’s not accomplished by Monday, you’ve got to follow up with it on Tuesday. But there’s no reason it can’t be done by Thursday. So whatever I get by Friday, Saturday, Sunday is gravy. I’m not looking to break records here, but there is no reason we should be losing this number by 30 a week.” Losing by 30 a week refers to a decline in the activity as reflected in departmental CompStat reports, which tally the weekly summons totals and the year-to-date totals for every command, said the person who made the recording. He spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation and of risking his standing with people in the department. Asked if the conversations were evidence of a quota, he said, “Absolutely,” adding that he had seen evidence of it in several boroughs. He added that his concerns about the precinct’s integrity led him to begin recording meetings, well before he had ever met Officer Schoolcraft. Roy T. Richter, the president of the Captains Endowment Association, said he did not believe that what Captain Perez, a member of his union, said “articulates a quota.” From several references in the new recording, and in a separate recording made after April 1 and given to Officer Schoolcraft’s lawyer, it is clear that Inspector Mauriello and other supervisors were out to push underproducing officers — and punish them if they did not deliver. “What I plan on doing — three cops are getting bounced to midnights, and three midnight cops are getting bounced to day tours,” Captain Perez said in the April 1 meeting. “I don’t care about people’s families, if they don’t want to do their job,” he said. “Their paycheck is taking care of their family. If they don’t realize that, they’re going to change their tour; they’re going to start being productive if they want a tour that works for their family.” He explained how punishment for failure would proceed. “After I bounce you to a different platoon for inactivity, the next thing is to put you on paper, start rating you below standards and look to fire you,” Captain Perez said on the tape. “I really don’t have a problem firing people,” he continued. “I don’t need to carry you. So that’s the attitude that you’ve got to sell to the cops.” At one point in the second recording, made after the tapes by Officer Schoolcraft were put online in May by The Village Voice, Inspector Mauriello told supervisors to get officers out of squad cars and onto the streets. People in the community “think cops are on the take,” Inspector Mauriello said. “I know it ain’t true, but that’s what they say: ‘Man, I need help. I got drug dealers in front of my house, and they’re in their car and they’re not getting out, not moving them.’ ” He also told supervisors not to emphasize specific numbers, even while pressing their officers for more activity. And at one point, he made clear the pressure he felt from his bosses. “I’m going to get beat up,” Inspector Mauriello said. “Everybody took a shot at me at CompStat, like a piñata last time, so I’m expecting that again.”

quotas
Police Department (NYC)
Schoolcraft Adrian
Brooklyn (NYC)
Perez Alex
Recordings and Downloads (Audio)


Iran Opposition Is Focus of Attacks

Abstract: TEHRAN (Reuters) — Government supporters attacked the car of a moderate Iranian opposition leader and surrounded the home of a senior cleric in the holy city of Qum on Sunday, the opposition Kaleme Web site reported. The cleric, Yousef Sanei, had supported Mehdi Kerroubi and Mir Hussein Moussavi, the defeated candidates in last year’s presidential vote, which the opposition says was rigged for the incumbent, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Mr. Sanei had strongly criticized the authorities for suppressing opposition protests during the post-election unrest. The authorities say the vote was the healthiest election in the Islamic republic in three decades. On the first anniversary of the disputed vote on Saturday, minor clashes between security forces and opposition supporters were reported in Tehran. A senior police official said 91 suspects had been arrested, the semi-official Fars news agency reported.


How Swimming Photographers Make Their Underwater Moment

Abstract: LONDON — As Al Bello struggles to wedge his lean body into his scuba gear, it appears that taking the photographs has to be the easy part. Bello pulls the skintight black shirt over his shoulders, tugs the legs of his shorts closer to his knees and straps on a heavy tank. Placing a mask on his shaved head and flippers on his feet, he drops backward off the edge into the Olympic pool, where he will spend more time during these Games than Michael Phelps or Ryan Lochte. A camera rests three meters down, its lens protected by a clear glass dome the size of mixing bowl. Bello, a 44-year-old Brooklyn native and an award-winning photographer for Getty Images, placed it there a week ago. He and his colleagues Clive Rose and Adam Pretty visit the camera daily — sometimes more than once — to change its battery, shift its position and adjust its connections to the metal plate that holds it in place on the pool floor. Sports photographers who shoot underwater used to free-dive to make these adjustments; now many, including Bello, Rose and Pretty, are certified scuba divers. That has given them the comfort of extended time underwater to perfect the art of capturing the world’s best swimmers from below. But it also leads to an odd sight every night at the London Aquatics Centre: a glass-and-plastic reef composed of 10 cameras and a platoon of frogmen who enter the pool soon after the last race to tend to them. “You’ve kind of got to visualize what you want,” said Bello, who has been scuba-certified for a decade. “You have to look under there and see the ceiling or a clean pool with no swimmer in it and just think to yourself: this is what’s going to happen, this is where the swimmer’s going to break the water, this is where a reflection might be, this might be a good angle where a swimmer might come into your frame.” Swimming’s million-dollar shot can be had for about $30,000 in equipment, but it takes a lot of nerve and a little luck to create something memorable. When Heinz Kluetmeier of Sports Illustrated snapped a series of pictures of Michael Phelps catching Serbia’s Milorad Cavic in the final meters of the 100-meter butterfly in Beijing in 2008, the photos became a story in themselves. The tension of the frame-by-frame advance of Cavic leading Phelps , of Phelps taking one last stroke as Cavic glides in, of their hands reaching desperately for the wall, remains as dramatic as the live finish was. The image of four sets of fingertips bent backward against the touch pads prompted a Serbian protest, instantly becoming an aquatic Zapruder film. Kluetmeier, 69, donated it to the International Swimming Hall of Fame, which sells copies . “Journalistically speaking, it was the best swimming photo ever taken at the Olympics,” Kluetmeier said. He should know. He was the first person to place a camera at the bottom of an Olympic pool, at the Barcelona Games in 1992. That year he dived the 12 feet to the bottom, only to resurface to find a guard with a submachine gun. “He said I had to take it out,” Kluetmeier said. “He thought it was a bomb.” One of the images that camera captured, of Mel Stewart winning the 200-meter butterfly in record time with the scoreboard above him, remains a Kluetmeier favorite. “After that, 100 people wanted to do it,” he said. Not everyone can. There is a waiting list to join wire services like Getty and Xinhua, the Chinese state news agency, as well as magazines like Sports Illustrated, at the bottom of the pool. Preparation is everything. Each camera has to be set up to focus on a specific race, or perhaps two lanes where a close finish is expected. Sometimes a camera will wait all day for a specific swimmer to splash into frame. They use a handheld trigger to operate the shutter. It’s connected, via cable, to the camera at the bottom of the pool. Now that cameras are all digital, almost as soon as they are taken, the images can be viewed on a laptop. On Sunday night, Bello prepared for his day’s turn with the shutter’s trigger by spending a half-hour in the pool setting up a shot of Phelps. Bello knew Phelps would swim his morning preliminary in Lane 4, so he pulled the camera to the surface, swapped an 8-millimeter fisheye lens into its housing, replaced the dome and returned it to the bottom. Then he floated above it, so Rose could check the focus on a poolside laptop, and crossed his fingers. A number of things can go wrong underwater, the photographers say: camera housings can leak, cables can get wet or short out, or batteries can die. If any problem occurs, an entire day’s session can be lost. And there is always the chance a competitor will collide with the camera, or kick it out of position. The 12-time Olympic medalist Natalie Coughlin said that at the 2002 Pan Pacific championships, her deep backstroke starts sometimes caused her to hit a camera at the bottom of the pool, but her coach had it moved before she raced. “Now,” she said, “it’s not distracting at all.” Pretty said curiosity was a bigger concern. A swimmer at the Commonwealth Games once grabbed the dome on his camera and tried to look through it. “But I was lucky because they moved it diagonally and it looked quite cool,” he said. “So I was like, ‘Huh, I’ll take credit for that.’ ” Bello, Rose and Pretty share scuba duties and control of the underwater camera’s trigger, taking turns a day at a time. Each has his own vision of what he wants to emerge when the splashing stops. Pretty advocates setting up for the one shot he most wants. Rose said it was important to try something different every day, “otherwise you just get the same picture over and over.” Bello, who is covering his ninth Olympics, said he was still searching. Now that more cameras are in the pool, he said, it is harder to produce something special. “I am looking for a picture that’s in my head that I want to come out through my hands underwater through the camera,” he said, adding, “I’ve wanted that Phelps shot for a year and now I’ve got it.”

Swimming
Olympic Games (2012)
Photography
Bello Al


For Washington Residents, This Inauguration Is Special

Abstract: WASHINGTON — Presidents come and go from this city. Hosting inaugurations is nothing new. But for Washington residents, over 92 percent of whom voted for President-elect Barack Obama , his inauguration this month is special. The day ushers in hopes and expectations for a president who speaks to local residents and brings with it the excitement of a predominantly black city welcoming the nation’s first black president. With the inauguration scheduled for the day after the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend, the timing also strikes a chord for a city that was torn by riots after Dr. King’s assassination. “For D.C., this inauguration is less like hosting a visiting official and more like throwing a homecoming party for a family member,” said Ronald Walters, a professor of government and politics at the University of Maryland. Dr. Walters added that normally the inauguration was an exclusive black-tie affair. “This time,” he said, “it feels like the city has taken ownership of what is becoming a people’s party.” At Ben’s Chili Bowl, one of the city’s oldest and most famous restaurants, the inauguration offers a certain historical reconciliation. “It took about 40 years,” said Kamal Ali, the owner and son of the restaurant’s founder, Ben Ali. “But in terms of race relations, the celebration that day will bring this neighborhood, this city, full circle.” In April 1968, four days of race riots here after the King assassination left 12 people dead. Huge swaths of what was then called Black Broadway for its concentration of black-owned clubs and theaters were destroyed. Ben’s Chili Bowl was one of the few restaurants along U Street that was not burned or ransacked. “What happened here along U Street on election night when Obama won was the exact inverse of those race riots,” said Mr. Ali, recounting how on Nov. 4 the streets filled with racially diverse crowds who were initially kept out of traffic by a large and somewhat jittery police force. Eventually, he said, the police opted to close down the area and let the partyers celebrate freely. Across the Anacostia River, in one of the city’s poorest sections, Thomas Thorton, 82, sat waiting for a bus. “For us, for this side of the river, the inauguration is personal,” Mr. Thorton said, standing in front of the hilltop Washington View Apartments, not far from the former home of the abolitionist Frederick Douglass. Mr. Obama’s message of renewed possibility resonates in Washington, he said, because this city, like few others, embodies extremes within inner-city and black America. Washington has some of the highest rates of incarceration and infant mortality in the country, yet it also has one of the largest populations of college-educated and upper-income African-Americans of any large city. “It’s one day when all the folks in this city really can really come together and share something,” Mr. Thorton said of the inauguration. “We can think about how much has changed.” Washington’s mayor, Adrian M. Fenty , reflects that change. In choosing Mr. Fenty two years ago, Washingtonians bucked the candidate selected by the Democratic Party machine and opted for a younger, more liberal biracial candidate who relied on a populist message and a huge grass-roots effort to straddle the city’s racial and class divides. “Voters are not looking for categories,” said Mr. Fenty, who, like Mr. Obama, is the child of a black father and a white mother. “They’re looking for results.” Mr. Fenty added that the city was especially hopeful that Mr. Obama would help deliver voting rights for the city’s nearly 600,000 residents, who have no voting representation in Congress. More than any previous presidential candidate, Mr. Obama has supported changing that, and with a Democratic majority in Congress, there is a real chance the city could win those rights. Mr. Fenty said that early in Mr. Obama’s candidacy, he told Mr. Obama that he wanted to support him but that voting rights was one issue Mr. Obama needed to get firmly behind. “He promised he would,” Mr. Fenty said. In an early test of Mr. Obama’s commitment to follow through on that promise, the City Council last month sent him a letter asking him to put District of Columbia license plates that bear the phrase “Taxation Without Representation” on the presidential motorcade. President Bill Clinton used the plates briefly at the end of his second term. President Bush has not, opting for district plates without the phrase. Asked if she thought this inauguration would be different than previous ones, Alice Mukabane, the co-owner of Safari DC, a Kenyan restaurant on Georgia Avenue, laughed. “Of course, and not because of race,” Ms. Mukabane said. Behind her a collection of posters and photographs of Barack and Michelle Obama hung on a wall in an area she calls the Obama Corner. “Obama came from a home with just one parent,” Ms. Mukabane said. “He worked as a community organizer. He has ties to inner-city Chicago. He can relate to real people like those who live here.” Like so many tourists, foreign dignitaries and Capitol Hill staff members, presidents are transients here. To them, the city consists only of an eight-block radius around the White House. Beyond that is hostile territory. Residents hope, however, that Mr. Obama, already at ease in big cities, will get out more than Mr. Bush. “This city considers Obama as one of our own,” Ms. Mukabane said, “and I think that will show on inauguration. But after the inauguration, we’re also hoping he will see the city as his own.” From the ceiling of her restaurant hung a large white banner filled with well-wishes written by customers. Four squares remained empty, reserved for the first family’s signatures.

Inaugurations
Blacks
Race
Obama Barack
Fenty Adrian M
Washington (DC)


Deal in Senate on Protecting News Sources

Abstract: WASHINGTON — The Obama administration, leading Senate Democrats and a coalition of news organizations have reached tentative agreement on legislation providing greater protections against the fining or imprisonment of reporters who refuse to identify confidential sources. Under the deal, made public Friday, federal judges could quash subpoenas demanding testimony or information from reporters if the judges determined that the public interest in news gathering outweighed the need to uncover the source of a leak, including, in some circumstances, unauthorized disclosure of classified government information. Protection under the so-called shield law would also be extended to unpaid bloggers engaged in gathering and disseminating news. A version of shield legislation was approved by the House in March. But a similar bill has stalled in the Senate, and its prospects appeared to dim significantly in September when the administration, responding to apprehension expressed by intelligence agencies and prosecutors, took a harder line with regard to cases in which the government could claim national security concerns . With the new agreement, however, the White House has now moderated that position. “We expect this proposal to move forward with bipartisan support, and the president looks forward to signing it into law,” said Ben LaBolt, a White House spokesman, who noted that the Obama administration was “the first administration in history to support media shield legislation.” The protection would apply not only against subpoenas for reporters’ testimony or information but also against investigative efforts to obtain phone and Internet records to find out who had been talking with them. Under the agreement, the scope of protection for reporters seeking to shield the identities of confidential sources would vary according to the nature of the case: civil, criminal or national security. In civil cases, the litigants seeking to force reporters to testify would first have to exhaust all other means of obtaining the information. Even then, the judge would apply a “balancing test,” and the burden would be on the information seekers to show by a “preponderance of the evidence” why their need for the testimony outweighed the public’s interest in news gathering. Ordinary criminal cases, as in prosecutors’ effort to find out who leaked grand jury information about professional athletes’ steroid use to The San Francisco Chronicle, would work the same way, except that the balancing test would be heavily tilted in favor of prosecutors. For a judge to quash a subpoena, the burden would be on a reporter to make it “clear and convincing” that the public interest in the free flow of information should prevail. Most cases involving disclosure of classified information would work the same way as criminal cases. But judges could not quash a subpoena through a balancing test if prosecutors showed that the information sought would help to prevent or mitigate a future terrorist attack or other acts that are “likely to cause significant and articulable harm to national security.” On the other hand, the prospect that a confidential source might, in the future, disclose something else that is classified would not be enough to bring about that exception. The compromise grants no protection against a reporter’s being required to disclose the identity of someone who has engaged in an act of terrorism. Nor does it cover nonconfidential information, like unpublished interview notes or news footage that has not been televised, which are often the object of subpoenas. The House version of the shield bill would protect such material, and abandoning that provision was a chief concession of the bill’s Senate sponsors and news organizations. “There was compromise on both sides,” said Paul J. Boyle, senior vice president for public policy at the Newspaper Association of America. Along with most other major news organizations, The New York Times Company supports the agreement, said George H. Freeman, vice president and assistant general counsel. Mr. Freeman emphasized that even if the agreement became law, reporters would face a “daunting” standard to avoid disclosing sources. “But at least we could explain to a judge why it is in the public interest that we have published stories,” he said, “and therefore we would have a shot at protecting our confidential sources.” The leading proponents of the legislation, Senators Charles E. Schumer of New York and Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, both Democrats, expressed confidence that the compromise would move quickly through the Senate. “We still get most of our information from investigative journalists,” Mr. Specter said. “If you can’t protect sources, there is a lot of public corruption and private malfeasance that will go undetected and unpunished.” In a recent call for action on shield legislation, Mr. Specter said that since 2001 at least 19 journalists had been subpoenaed by federal prosecutors for information about confidential sources and that four had been imprisoned for refusing to comply. About three dozen states already have some form of shield law. Proponents argue that it is in the public interest to allow reporters to protect confidential sources, in order to bring important information to light. Opponents argue that news organizations should not have special privileges or be allowed to decide on their own whether exposing secrets is justified.

Subpoenas
Newspapers
News Sources Confidential Status of
News and News Media
Law and Legislation
Obama Barack
Classification of Information


Search Ends for Japanese Climbers on Mount McKinley

Abstract: ANCHORAGE (AP) — The National Park Service said on Sunday that a search for four Japanese climbers who were swept by an avalanche from Mount McKinley had been permanently suspended after a mountaineering ranger found their climbing rope in debris at the bottom of a crevasse. “We believe this is their final resting place,” said Kris Fister, a spokeswoman for the service. Officials believe that the shallow avalanche itself may not have killed the climbers, but that it pushed them into a crevasse more than 100 feet deep. The four missing climbers were identified as Yoshiaki Kato, 64; Masako Suda, 50; Michiko Suzuki, 56; and Tamao Suzuki, 63. The avalanche early Wednesday also pushed a fifth climber with the group, Hitoshi Ogi, 69, into the crevasse. But he climbed 60 feet out of the crevasse and reached a base camp on Thursday. Mr. Ogi had been attached by a climbing rope to the other members of the team as they descended in an avalanche-prone section of the Alaska peak’s West Buttress route. The rope broke in the avalanche and fall. A 10-person rescue crew and a dog searched for the climbers on Saturday and found no sign of them. The danger of falling ice made it too dangerous to continue an attempt to recover bodies, Ms. Fister said.

National Park Service
Avalanches
Rescues
Mount McKinley (Alaska)
Mountain Climbing


Baseball Hall of Fame’s View on the Steroid Era Is in Flux

Abstract: Andre Dawson, the Hall of Fame outfielder, suggested on Monday it should remain the task of baseball writers — at least for now — to decide the legacy of players tainted by steroids. The new veterans committee would rather avoid the issue. “I just don’t think that this is the time that should be moved forward,” Dawson, a member of the committee, said. “I can echo the sentiments of a lot of the Hall of Famers themselves: At some point, it may transpire, but I don’t think this was the proper committee to set that in motion, with that whole thing.” The veterans committee that voted this year is one of several created by the Hall of Fame, but it is the one charged with overseeing the period since 1988, thus leaving it to consider potential steroid users that have not been elected by writers. None of the players on the most recent veterans committee Hall of Fame ballot, revealed on Sunday, received even five votes from the 16 members of the panel. The group of candidates included Mark McGwire, who hit 583 home runs but admitted to using steroids for much of his career. McGwire never received more than 23.7 percent of the vote in his 10 years on the writers’ ballot, with 75 percent needed for election. John Schuerholz, the former general manager of the Kansas City Royals and the Atlanta Braves, was elected unanimously on Sunday. Dawson said he voted for Bud Selig, the former commissioner who received 15 of 16 votes, saying that Selig deserved the honor for his overall contributions to the game. Asked if players who used steroids should be inducted now, given that the commissioner during the steroid era is in, Dawson demurred. “Somewhere probably down the line, with the way the game is changing, you don’t know what’s going to happen,” he said. “But as a committee, we don’t feel like we are the ones to make that decision, at this time.” Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens, two players even more accomplished than McGwire, have been stuck below 50 percent in their four years on the writers’ ballot, though their percentages rose last year. Expect their totals to rise again when the results of this year’s writers’ ballot are announced on Jan. 18. Some of the writers are softening their stance on steroids, based on Selig’s induction. Peter Botte of The Daily News wrote that he would now vote yes for Bonds and Clemens. Susan Slusser of The San Francisco Chronicle — a former president of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America — tweeted that she had changed her thinking, too. “Senseless to keep steroid guys out when the enablers are in the Hall of Fame,” Slusser wrote. “I will now hold my nose and vote for players I believe cheated.” Asked after his news conference Monday about his role in the steroids era, Selig referred to baseball’s strict drug policy, which he had mentioned in his conference call with reporters the night before. “As commissioner, my role was to solve that problem,” Selig told reporters. “And we did. In fact, we solved it better than I think any of us had any right to believe.”

Baseball
Baseball Hall of Fame
Steroid
Bud Selig