Borrowing for a Mortgage From Your Parents

Abstract: MATT RADO is in the market for his first home, but the 41-year-old in Santa Ana, Calif., does not plan to get a loan from a bank. Instead, Mr. Rado, who works in sales for a technology company, plans to have his retired parents lend him the money. The idea behind the lending strategy is this: Mr. Rado, who is preapproved for a 30-year fixed mortgage at about 4.75 percent from a commercial lender, will get at least as favorable a rate from his parents along with lower closing costs. At the same time, his parents will get a higher rate of return than is offered by a traditional savings vehicle like a savings account. In addition, the mortgage payments will function like the annuitylike investments that Mr. Rado’s 71-year-old father had been considering. “I just feel better about the money going to my dad as opposed to going to some bank,” Mr. Rado said. With credit tight and interest rates at historic lows, such intrafamily loans can be a win-win for parents and children. “It’s an absolutely terrific time to make an intrafamily loan,” said Carol G. Kroch, head of wealth planning for Wilmington Trust. Such loans, whether for a home, car or education, are essentially family bonds that could protect money from risky behavior by others. Rick Kahler, a financial adviser in Rapid City, S.D., who has experience in the real estate industry and is the author of four books on financial planning, said such loans could potentially deliver higher returns than a double-A-rated 10-year corporate bond, which he said was returning about 4 percent; a triple-A bond, which he said was delivering around 3 percent; or a certificate of deposit, which has rates that are even lower. Still, he said, the intrafamily loans are much riskier than such investments, and so are not necessarily equivalent to them. With an intrafamily loan, parents are betting that their children and their children’s significant others will have the income to repay the loan. And even if the children have excellent credit scores now, their status could change drastically — much faster than a corporation’s — if a job loss or illness were to occur. To help lessen these risks, financial planners have specific recommendations about who should make and get such loans. With all the news about faulty foreclosures, “even a dysfunctional family could look like a financial refuge right now,” said Deborah L. Jacobs, author of the book “Estate Planning Smarts.” According to the 2010 National Association of Realtors Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, to be released on Friday, 9 percent of first-time home buyers received a loan from a friend or relative this year to help with down payment costs, up from 6 percent last year and a record high since the survey began. That is still a much smaller percentage than those receiving gifts of money from friends or relatives. The association attributed the increase to more parents trying to help children take advantage of the home buyer’s tax credit. The following are tips for families considering intrafamily loans. HOW IS THE FAMILY SITUATION? Financial planners say such loans are good options for parents who have enough money in the bank to comfortably make the loan, want a safe and secure investment and want to earn a higher rate than offered by C.D.’s, Treasuries or corporate bonds. Such loans are also good options for parents who may not have enough money to give outright to their child or don’t want to spoil their grown children with gifts. Intrafamily loans probably aren’t right for parents who “have a lot of opinions about the lifestyle of their children” because a loan could make them become overly critical of the grown child’s spending habits and potentially damage the parent-child relationship, said Lauren Locker, a certified financial planner at Locker Financial Services in Little Falls, N.J. Instead, she said, such parents “may want to give the money.” THE BANK LOAN QUESTION Most financial planners recommend that parents make such loans only to children who would receive a loan on their own from a commercial lender. While parents may be able to give their adult children a lower interest rate than the bank, “the family is taking too much risk to lend to someone who can’t get bank approval,” said Donald Martin, a certified financial planner with Mayflower Capital in Los Altos, Calif. A loan to a child unable to get a bank loan, planners say, is more likely to be a bad investment with a greater chance of default. In such circumstances, gifts are a better idea. For parents, “you are engineering a dilemma where you will need to ask yourself if you will foreclose or forgive the loan,” said David H. Diesslin, a financial adviser and owner of the financial advisory firm Diesslin & Associates in Fort Worth. SETTING UP THE LOAN To avoid tax consequences, the parents will need to charge an interest rate for loans with a set term that is at least what the government’s applicable federal rates are at the time the loan is created. The Internal Revenue Service sets the rates monthly for short-term loans (like loans to pay off credit debt), intermediate-term loans (like car loans) and long-term loans (like mortgages) with various compounding periods. For November, for instance, the long-term rate for loans over nine years was 3.35 percent, the midterm rate for loans of three to nine years was 1.59 percent, and the short-term rate for loans of up to three years was 0.35 percent, according to Ms. Kroch of Wilmington Trust, who said those rates were near historical lows. WATCH THAT GIFT TAX By charging at least the applicable federal rate, parents lower the risk of gift tax and other tax consequences. For 2010, a person can give up to $13,000 annually per recipient without paying gift taxes. But any gift above that amount requires the filing of a gift tax return and counts toward the $1 million limit people are allowed to give tax-free during their lifetimes. If the government recharacterizes a loan as a gift, the amount transferred would count toward that $1 million and could affect other gift and estate plans. To make sure the money is considered a loan and not a gift for tax purposes, experts also recommend that the loans be documented as formal promissory notes that state the terms of the loan, including repayments, the interest rates and what will happen if the loan is not repaid. Mark M. Gleason, a senior financial adviser with the Wescap Group in Burbank, Calif., also recommended that the lending family member “be prepared to write off a substantial part of the loan if things don’t turn out well — just like banks have been doing the last few years.” Financial planners say the formal structure also can help lessen the chance of loan-related family strife if the lender were to pass away. “With the right documentation, the money is treated as a loan when splitting up the estate,” said Mr. Kahler, the financial adviser in South Dakota. “It’s very clear that the child owes that money to the estate and it can be adjusted out of his or her share.” REGISTERING THE LOAN Such official mortgage paperwork can even be registered with the appropriate government authority, so the borrower can legally deduct annual interest payments and the consequences of not repaying are much more official. To get the loan documentation drawn up, lenders can consult with lawyers willing to do the work for a lump sum, or check out companies like National Family Mortgage, which will help create notes for intrafamily loans. For $599, National Family Mortgage, which focuses on intrafamily mortgages specifically, will help families structure a promissory note, including penalty terms, and will also file the loan with the appropriate government authority. For about $15 a month, the company will also keep the loan an arm’s-length transaction, for instance, by collecting payments from the borrower’s bank account and depositing them in the lender’s account. Tim Burke, founder of National Family Mortgage, was previously social-lending sales manager for Virgin Money in the United States, which offered similar services for all customers until about a year ago and recently closed its operation in the United States, according to a spokeswoman for Virgin USA. “Virgin Money U.S. is no longer in operation,” she said. “The difficult macro environment in the U.S. made it tough to scale the social-lending business as anticipated.” RATE CHANGES AND PREPAYING Financial planners say parents can build clauses into loans that ensure neither party is hurt if rates change. For instance, the lender could have the option to raise rates after a certain time period and the borrower could have the option to prepay with no penalty. And they recommend including all children in the discussion when setting up the loan and making sure to reflect the loan in estate plans. Such provisions can go a long way toward protecting relationships. Intrafamily loans can also benefit families in ways beyond financial returns. For Roey Diefendorf, 58, chief executive of financial planning firm Diefendorf Capital in Locust Valley, N.Y., giving his daughter an intrafamily mortgage enabled her to buy a house close to his that she might not otherwise have been able to afford. “The best investment I can have is to have my grandchildren eight minutes away,” he said.

Mortgages
Interest Rates
Families and Family Life
Personal Finances


U.N. Orders Libyan Assets Unfrozen

Abstract: UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United Nations Security Council ordered the assets of two Libyan banks that had been under the control of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi to be unfrozen on Friday, clearing the way for the return of more than $40 billion to help the new government rebuild the country. The transitional government had asked the Council’s sanctions committee to lift the asset freeze on the Central Bank of Libya and its subsidiary, the Libyan Foreign Bank. There were no objections from any of the 15 Council nations who make up the committee by the deadline on Friday evening, so the sanctions were immediately lifted. Soon after, the United States government announced that it had rolled back most sanctions against Libya’s banks, unblocking more than $30 billion in assets. Foreign Secretary William Hague of Britain said his government was seeking swift European Union action to pass the regulation required to release about $10 billion in assets frozen in Britain. Billions of dollars more in Libyan assets frozen elsewhere are also expected to be released. The Council froze the assets of five key Libyan financial institutions in March, after Colonel Qaddafi’s deadly crackdown on the uprising against his 42-year rule.

Middle East and North Africa Unrest (2010- )


Eighth Grader Full of Sports Knowledge Is Left Without a High School

Abstract: When Omri Shefet started at East Side Middle School two years ago, as a sixth grader, he felt quite small. He had learning problems and needed special education services, including speech and physical therapy , as well as extra support in math and English. He was mainstreamed in regular classes, but in some ways that made things harder. The school is on Manhattan ’s well-to-do Upper East Side, serving mostly high-achieving students. They often get top scores of 3 and 4 on the state tests and go on to selective high schools. The thing Omri is really good at — sports knowledge — doesn’t get graded. In the morning, until he has to run out the door at 7:55, he watches “SportsCenter” on ESPN . When he gets home in the afternoon, he reads Wikipedia to learn about the former greats; he is that rare 13-year-old who knows that Oscar Robertson was “the Big O. ” Each morning, the principal, David Getz, and the sports-crazy assistant principal, Michael Goldspiel, stand outside the gate welcoming students. Omri was surprised how quickly they knew his name. From little comments they made, he could tell Mr. Goldspiel respected his sports knowledge. Someone must have told Greg Cesa, the math teacher, because he started giving Omri sports problems to solve: “Explain how the Atlanta Hawks had a winning record and yet had fewer total points for the season than their opponents. Show your work.” When Omri was cut from the basketball team, Mr. Cesa, the coach, made him the team statistician. For Mr. Cesa’s technology class, Omri prepared a PowerPoint presentation comparing Real Madrid with Barcelona , his favorite soccer team. He joined the school whiffle ball league. (A home run is over the third-floor windows.) In elementary school Omri had a few friends. But at East Side? The place is crawling with boys who know their sports — Ben Singer, Jesse Levine, Izzy Skenazy, Jacob Knoll, Jake Stimell, Sam Axel and Miles Patricof to name a few. Last Tuesday morning, Mr. Goldspiel and Omri were arguing about how long it would take for the Jets to bench Mark Sanchez in favor of Tim Tebow , when Ben Singer came racing up 92nd Street, outraged as usual. “Why is the media making such a big deal about a backup quarterback who’s going to last 10 minutes?” he wanted to know, which really got Omri, Izzy, Jacob Knoll and Mr. Goldspiel going. That so many people know Omri became important a few weeks ago when the 69,000 eighth graders across the city learned what high schools they had been selected to attend next year. Of the 127 eighth graders at East Side, only five were not picked by any school, and Omri was one of them. “Omri was up in homeroom crying hysterically, so we brought him downstairs,” Mr. Goldspiel said. “I found him sobbing, sitting on the floor outside the main office waiting for me.” “I was speechless,” Omri recalled. “Everyone else was saying, ‘I got in, I got in,’ and I just felt dumb and stupid. I had anger in me I never really felt before. I didn’t know how to react.” Mr. Cesa took Omri aside. “What about Victor Cruz?” he asked Omri. Mr. Cesa had a point. No one picked Cruz in the N.F.L. draft, and now he’s a star with the Giants. “What about Jeremy Lin ?” Mr. Cesa wanted to know. It was true. Every team had passed over Lin , and now he has his own line of Linsanity T-shirts. “ Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team,” Mr. Cesa said. “Their loss.” Omri recalled: “Mr. Cesa told me, ‘You’re still an amazing kid and everything happens for a reason.’ I got support from Jacob Knoll, a good friend. He said, ‘You’ll be fine.’ Mr. Cesa and my parents sort of convinced me — everything was O.K. and no matter what, you’re still a great kid — and I know that I’m a great kid.” Mr. Getz called Omri’s mother and father, a businessman, who came over in the middle of the day and started preparing for the next round in the high school lottery. Jessica McInnis, the guidance counselor, thought Frank McCourt High School would be a good match, although things were a little shaky at first. “He went for a tour and they said they wanted to interview him,” Ms. McInnis said. “He was thrown off; he thought it was just a tour. It’s a big school. He saw the metal detectors. He just walked out. He said he couldn’t do it.” Omri confirms this. “I sort of got a panic attack,” he said. “I got confused. I didn’t know about the interview. They did something I wasn’t aware of.” But like Carmelo Anthony , after a shaky start, Omri’s back. The second visit went well, he said — plus, Jesse Levine is going, and he likes the Jets, the Yankees , the Rangers and the Boise State football team. The next round of high school acceptances go out at the end of April. “We have high hopes for Omri,” Mr. Getz said. “We’ll keep pushing.” If there’s one thing Omri has learned in life, it’s to stand up for what you believe. Since fourth grade he’s been a Celtics fan, and he doesn’t care what Izzy or Jacob Knoll think. He has five Celtics jerseys and wears his Celtics stocking cap to school even on warm spring days. He will miss East Side Middle. “It has some of the greatest teachers I’ve ever seen,” he says. Asked whether sports was his favorite thing, he got very quiet. “I’m thinking,” he said. “That’s a big question. It’s something I enjoy but it’s not like my family, my friends. Sports isn’t the only thing I like to do. I’m thinking if it wasn’t for my parents, my friends, I don’t know where I would have been.”

K-12 Education
Friendship
East Side Middle School
Manhattan
Omri Shefet


Facebook Looks to Extend Its Presence

Abstract: SAN FRANCISCO — With about half of Facebook ’s 400 million users checking in daily, the social networking company has established itself as one of the Web’s most popular destinations. Now Facebook is intensifying its efforts to expand its empire beyond its Web site; the company wants to turn scores of sites across the Internet into satellites where users will be able to interact with their Facebook friends. Details of Facebook’s plans — which involve a variation on its “Share” button, already prevalent on many sites — are expected to be introduced by Mark Zuckerberg , the company’s chief executive, on Wednesday during its conference here for third-party developers. But even before Facebook makes its plans public, its aim to become a social networking force across the Web is facing competition. On Monday, a coalition of other companies, including some Facebook rivals like Google and MySpace , are banding together to establish a new standard for Web sites to allow visitors to share information, not just with Facebook but also with dozens of other social networking sites. The coalition is led by Meebo, a company that offers a toolbar featured at the bottom of many Web sites that visitors can use to share articles, photos and other links with a variety of social networking services. In the meantime, Twitter is also looking to expand its presence across the Web with its @anywhere service, which will allow people to log in to Twitter from other Web sites. The moves by Facebook and its rivals set up a battle for control over social interactions across the Internet. “There is definitely a multiround fight that is going to be happening here,” said Jeremiah Owyang, a partner at the Altimeter Group, a digital strategy consulting firm. Analysts say Facebook’s desire to spread its tentacles across the Web could run into privacy hurdles, as it will require the company to share increasing amounts of personal information about its users with other sites. “They are going to have to secure more consumers’ approval for data-sharing,” said Augie Ray, an analyst at Forrester Research. Facebook’s strategy, in some ways, follows an approach taken by Google nearly a decade ago. The Internet search engine, after establishing itself as a destination for Internet queries, began syndicating its search box, and later its advertising system, across the Web through toolbars and partnerships. As Facebook becomes an ever more important source of traffic to other Web sites, the two companies’ rivalry is certain to sharpen. Facebook declined to comment on its coming announcements. But people familiar with Facebook’s plans say the company will introduce a series of products and technologies to deepen its presence across the Web. For instance, Facebook will introduce a universal “Like” button that Web publishers will be able to put on their pages. Similar to the Facebook “Share” buttons that are already popular with many Web sites, the “Like” buttons will make it easier for Web publishers to offer more social experiences, in essence allowing Facebook friends to enjoy those sites together. While “Share” buttons allow users to post links that their friends see on their Facebook pages, those links are fleeting. The Like button will allow Facebook to keep a record of what a user linked to, providing the company with ever more data about people’s preferences. Facebook, in turn, plans to share that data with Web publishers, so that a magazine Web site, for instance, may be able to show users all the articles that their friends like. A site like Yelp may show reviews from a user’s friends, rather than those from strangers. Facebook is also planning to offer a toolbar that Web sites will be encouraged to place at the bottom of their pages. The toolbar will build on Facebook Connect, a service the company introduced in 2008, allowing people to use their Facebook identities to log into various sites. The toolbar will be easier for publishers to use and may encourage more users to log in. Facebook engineers were still working on the feature, and it was not clear if it would be introduced at the conference. But Facebook’s toolbar is likely to collide with the efforts of Meebo, whose own toolbar has gained growing acceptance. It allows users to log in to Web sites with their identities from many social services, chat with friends from those services and select pieces of content from a site, like a photo, to share with those friends. The new alliance will establish standards that will allow Meebo, and other similar services, to know easily what networks a user belongs to and give them an option to sign in with their identities from those networks. “We’ll know which networks and which buttons to put in front of you,” said Seth Sternberg, chief executive of Meebo. Meebo and its allies, which include Microsoft and Yahoo, plan to hand over the technology to a nonprofit group that will oversee its development. Chris Messina, open Web advocate at Google, said Twitter and Facebook were leading the way among social sites. But he added, “It is far too soon to write the last chapter in digital identity.”

Facebook.com
Social Networking (Internet)
Computers and the Internet
Zuckerberg Mark E
Google Inc
Twitter
MySpace.com
Meebo


Making Sense of the Options for Greece

Abstract: Greece seems to lack a strategy for extricating itself from its parlous state. Not only does the government, led by Alexis Tsipras, lack a credible plan for reaching agreement with its eurozone creditors and the International Monetary Fund, it doesn’t seem to have a thought-out fallback plan of how to default while containing the damage. Greek financial markets have perked up in the past few weeks, largely because Yanis Varoufakis, the combative finance minister, has been sidelined from discussions with the creditors. The new composition of the negotiating team has led to more productive talks, but there is still a mountain to climb and little to no chance of a deal when eurozone finance ministers . meet on Monday When Mr. Tsipras took office in January, he seemed to have thought he could extract more cash from his creditors as well as secure relief on Athens’s debts without undertaking serious reforms. This was pie in the sky. The government also didn’t initially factor into its calculations how badly the economy would be damaged by months of political uncertainty and a liquidity crisis. In November, the European Commission was predicting growth of 2.9 percent this year. Last week, it cut that to 0.5 percent, and even that could prove optimistic. The deteriorating economy means Athens will find it a lot harder to balance its books. Even if its creditors lower the budget target for this year, the government will have to introduce more austerity measures, and that will further damage the economy. Athens’s cash position is desperate. It needs to repay the I.M.F. 750 million euros, or about $840 million, on Tuesday and give it a further €1.5 billion in June. Mr. Tsipras hopes he can persuade his eurozone creditors to lend Greece some cash in the next few weeks to stave off bankruptcy. But that will only be possible if he crosses his own red lines on matters like pensions, labor laws and value-added taxes. Even if Athens survives its immediate liquidity crunch, it will struggle to secure a long-term deal. Negotiations on that are scheduled to finish by the end of June, but they are not supposed to start until the talks on the short-term deal are concluded. The problem is not merely a matter of time. It is also a matter of money. Given Greece’s deteriorating economy, the next bailout will require more than previously estimated — perhaps topping €50 billion. It will be hard to persuade other eurozone nations to cough up this sort of cash, not least because good will toward Greece has almost vanished. Given such a gloomy prognosis, it is important to examine alternatives. There are two: default and leave the euro, or default and stay in the single currency. The latter would be the least bad option, though far from good. To minimize the damage, the government would have to recapitalize the banks, as a default by the government would tip them into insolvency, too. If they weren’t recapitalized, the European Central Bank would cut off liquidity, the banks would go bust and the economy would be dragged further into the abyss. The snag is that Athens would not itself have the cash to bail the banks out and wouldn’t be able to get any money from abroad either. The only solution would be to “bail in” depositors — converting a portion of their savings into new equity in the banks. Although the banks are not very exposed to the government, they would also need to be recapitalized to take account of the fact that more loans to the private sector would turn sour. If Athens defaulted, it would also have to live within its means. Although the government would no longer need to find cash to pay its creditors, it would still have to cut salaries and pensions because tax receipts would fall in line with the deteriorating economy. Some pundits, including Martin Wolf, of The Financial Times, suggest that Athens should instead pay salaries and pensions by issuing i.o.u.s. This would be a bad idea because, whatever the government said, the Greek people would see these i.o.u.s as the precursor of new drachmas and would discount them heavily. Tax revenue would plummet — partly because the economy would be shrinking and partly because citizens would be loath to pay taxes in euros if they thought the drachma was around the corner. So the government would have to issue yet more i.o.u.s, leading to a vicious circle in which quitting the euro might become a self-fulfilling prophecy. But that’s not a good option either. Quite apart from the fact that the Greek people don’t want to leave the single currency, the transition to the drachma would be nightmarish. And even once the currency was reintroduced, there is little likelihood the government would run a responsible economic policy. It would probably print money, fueling a spiral of inflation and devaluation. Given that even the best Plan B is dire, Mr. Tsipras should work out a realistic strategy for how he is going to come to terms with his creditors. And do so fast. Hugo Dixon is editor at large of Reuters News.

Greece
Eurozone
Alexis Tsipras
Yanis Varoufakis


With 2,200 Hours of Live Video, NBC Tries to Cover It All Online

Abstract: On the final day of the 2006 Winter Olympics, NBC simultaneously televised and streamed live video of Sweden’s clinching victory over Finland for the hockey gold medal. Gary Zenkel, the president of NBC Olympics, was watching the game on both screens in his office at the international broadcast center in the industrial Italian city of Turin. “I took a picture because I knew we were on the verge of unleashing the Internet as a coverage platform,” he said. “And that’s what we went to work at — to develop the capability of taking the volume of the Olympics and put it on the computer screen.” The hockey game gave NBC a critical if little-seen glimpse at its Olympic digital future in Beijing and beyond, to Vancouver in 2010 and London in 2012. So much of each Olympics is unseen. Even with seven NBC networks churning out 1,400 hours of coverage from Beijing, plenty of archery, basketball, canoeing, judo, tennis, water polo and other sports are still available for viewing. In China, then, NBC will stream 2,200 hours of live events across 25 sports on NBCOlympics.com , NBC’s Olympics Web site. The network has been spurred on by technologies that can send out mass quantities of video in high resolution and confine them to users in the United States, the only territory where NBC’s rights are relevant. “The user demand for video on the Internet is massive,” Zenkel said. Users will be able to watch the events on up to four screens at a time during each day of competition. When the athletic venues are quiet, the Web site will repackage events already seen online and on NBC’s TV channels into 3,000 hours of on-demand encores of full events and highlights. The viewing experience on NBCOlympics.com will differ from the TV standard. The games will not be slickly produced or described by pairs of announcers; instead, users will see the standard world feed that is sent to all broadcasters, and bloggers will serve as play-by-play voices and analysts. Users will also have access to statistics, athlete biographies and other information as they watch the action. “We think the experience will be powerful without the commentators,” Zenkel said. TV watchers will witness the expansion of NBC’s multiple-network strategy, which began in 2000 with the addition of CNBC and MSNBC to the mix. NBC, CNBC, MSNBC, USA, Telemundo, Universal HD and Oxygen (the newest in the fold) will combine for an exhaustive 24-hour presence that in many cases will overlap during parts of each day. NBC’s 225 hours of afternoon, prime-time and late-night coverage will be an eclectic mix but will focus on gymnastics, track and field, volleyball, swimming and diving. USA (2 a.m. to noon Eastern) will specialize in United States men’s and women’s basketball and soccer; CNBC (midnight to 4:30 or 5 a.m. and 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.) will focus partly on boxing; and Oxygen (6 p.m. to 8 p.m.) will carry equestrian events and gymnastic recaps. Telemundo (in three daily blocks) and MSNBC (5 a.m. to 5 p.m.) will show various sports and Universal HD will have 24 hours of CNBC and MSNBC simulcasts. Those channels’ output will be augmented by two additional ones, created just for the Games and devoted to basketball and soccer; they will run in 12- to 14-hour blocks, from around 2:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and 5 a.m. to 5 p.m., respectively, on nearly every day of the Games. The channels are expected to be in most American cable and satellite homes, NBC said. The added channels are further evidence of an evolution to 24/7 Olympic coverage (and of the parent company NBC Universal’s acquisitions of networks), but the online effort is more of a revolutionary leap. Still, NBC’s decision to stream those 2,200 hours is not a surprise because the cyber-pipelines needed to transmit live video, offering greater capacity and efficiency, are in place. College basketball fans are now accustomed to seeing N.C.A.A. tournament games online as well as other streamed sports, like holes at major golf tournaments, Nascar races and baseball games on MLB.com . ESPN created an entire online channel, ESPN360, and the N.H.L. runs a multichannel digital network on NHL.com . NBC last month announced that it would stream its coming season of Sunday night football games. Zenkel, who has worked on NBC’s Olympics since 1992, said: “I always hoped that the Internet would be able to offer what television could not and to give the user the ability to watch what they might have missed or relive what has created buzz. As video became a quality experience, I was hopeful that we’d be able to get to this day.” After NBC became the sole Olympic broadcaster in the United States in 2000, it dipped into the Internet with a Web site that was merely informational and complementary. The Internet had not matured enough to be viable for large-scale video distribution. Rick Gentile, a former CBS Sports executive who is now a professor of sports management at Seton Hall University, recalled NBC officials’ voicing their resistance to a digital future at an Internet conference held by the International Olympic Committee after the 2000 Sydney Games proved to be a prime-time ratings disappointment. “They were adamantly opposed to the Internet’s encroachment on broadcasters’ rights,” Gentile said. “It was a hold-the-line position and my feeling was, You’re sticking your finger in the dike. You have to make it work before it engulfs you.” Now, as he observes NBC’s online transformation, Gentile said, “They’ve made a nice course adjustment and they’ve gone nuts, God bless them.” But even with the abundance of live streams, one truism remains: prime time on NBC still rules. Those watching online will not see live gymnastics, track and field, swimming, diving, volleyball or beach volleyball. That is reserved for NBC from 7 p.m. or 8 p.m. Eastern to midnight or beyond, when the audience is at its height and advertisers are paying the most. If something important happens online, it may find its way into prime time. But Michael Phelps’s races and Allyson Felix’ sprints will not be available online until they are done and available on-demand. NBC contends that adding an enormous online component will help in prime time. “We proved to ourselves in Athens that providing as much coverage as we have the capacity for fuels the buzz in the Games,” Zenkel said. “Prime time benefited from having that coverage on ubiquitously throughout the day in gyms, in offices and on trading floors.”

Olympic Games (2008)
Computers and the Internet
National Broadcasting Co
Television


With Injuries to Diehl and O’Hara, Giants’ Line Is a Patchwork

Abstract: EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — In the upper left corner of his locker, center Shaun O’Hara has taped a yellowing newspaper photograph of the Giants’ offensive linemen sitting on the sideline, from left tackle to right tackle. The image has been a constant for nearly a decade. But though the line has been woven seamlessly into the fabric of the offense over the years — among the regular starters, Kareem McKenzie’s six seasons are the fewest — it is now a patchwork. The Giants (6-2) are likely to be without O’Hara and left tackle David Diehl on Sunday when they host the Dallas Cowboys (1-7) . In addition, the backup center Adam Koets was placed on injured reserve with a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee. Left guard Rich Seubert will probably play center, and the first-year Giant Shawn Andrews will play left tackle, protecting Eli Manning’s blindside. At left guard, some combination of the rookie Mitch Petrus and Kevin Boothe, who was activated off the physically unable to perform list, could replace Seubert. “We prepare the guys that are healthy to play,” Coach Tom Coughlin said. “That’s what we have to do — and hope that we get some of these people back faster than is being predicted.” The line, which has been composed for years of Diehl at left tackle, Seubert at left guard, O’Hara at center, Chris Snee at right guard and McKenzie at right tackle, may not play together for several weeks. O’Hara, who missed three games with a left ankle injury that has nagged him since the preseason, has been sidelined recently with a mild sprain of a ligament in his right foot. Diehl, who has started all 127 games since the Giants drafted him in 2003, will be out after sustaining hamstring and hip injuries in the Giants’ 41-7 win over the Seattle Seahawks. The line has been banged up since training camp, and the experience of playing with different combinations then may help now. “Having to spend a lot of time with guys in different spots in preseason, like it or not, does have its merit in situations like that,” Coughlin said. “But we’ve just got to get positions stabilized and get the people who are going to be in the backup roles prepared and ready to go.” Still, the addition of Andrews, Petrus and Boothe alongside the remaining stalwarts can cause breakdowns in communication that would be unlikely to occur with the core group intact. Manning is often responsible for making the presnap calls and checks for the offensive linemen. “You lose somebody, for example, who has been taking Spanish class for four years and then have a guy that is just taking it in his first year,” Pat Flaherty, the offensive line coach, said recently. “Maybe that’s a good comparison. The guy that’s taking it for the first year has to get a little bit smoother at the language, and that’s what it really is.” Seubert said: “It’s still football. We’re still blocking. We’re still running the football. We’re still protecting Eli.” The shuffling among the front five has highlighted a key move by General Manager Jerry Reese to acquire Andrews, who has been a valuable addition . Andrews has played at tackle, at guard and as a blocking tight end. In late August, the Giants’ signed Andrews to a six-year contract that was loaded with performance-based incentives. Back injuries limited Andrews to only two games the previous two seasons with Philadelphia, and the Giants were able to add a Pro Bowl talent at a low risk financially. In addition to versatility, Andrews has shown the nimble footwork that it takes to play tackle, where he wanted to play when he signed with the Giants. Andrews played guard for the Eagles. Against the Seahawks , Andrews started at left tackle and played 79 snaps in place of Diehl, who was outspoken about remaining at his position when the Giants signed Andrews. Before Diehl was sidelined with the hamstring and hip injuries, he played left guard for Seubert, who started at center. “Playing tackle was something different for me, and I know that I’m capable of it — and excelling,” Andrews said, adding, “There is a difference; you really have to have some kind of athletic ability to play tackle.” Giants coaches explained last Sunday’s moves as a way of putting veterans out front in Seattle’s noisy Qwest Field, not as an occasion to start reading tea leaves about the long-term complexion of the line. But recent injuries have ensured that, at least for now, the offensive line as the Giants knew it will look different. Extra Points Steve Smith strained his pectoral trying to make a catch and left practice early for further testing. ... Brandon Jacobs returned after sitting out Wednesday with an unspecified illness. ... The Giants hosted 23 wounded soldiers at practice for Veterans Day .

Football
New York Giants
Diehl David
O'Hara Shaun
Seubert Rich
Pro Bowl


Gaël Monfils Outlasts Fabio Fognini at French Open

Abstract: PARIS — “We play tennis crazy because we’re both a little crazy,” Fabio Fognini said before his third-round match Saturday at the French Open against Gaël Monfils. After Monfils, a 23rd-seeded Frenchman, defeated Fognini, a 14th-seeded Italian, 5-7, 6-2, 6-4, 0-6, 6-2, on Court Suzanne Lenglen, the only part of Fognini’s pronouncement that could be disputed was “a little.” Even when seemingly in control of a match, Fognini will sometimes throw tantrums that turn the crowd against him and derail his concentration. Tied at 2-2 in the second set after winning the first, Fognini lost a point and twice smacked his racket hard against the court, drawing jeers from a crowd that seemed to be waiting to boo him. He then lost four straight games, allowing Monfils to tie the match. Monfils, for his part, often seems to put showmanship ahead of pragmatism, with a scenic-route approach to point construction that takes him to parts of the court farther behind the baseline, wider of the sideline and higher in the air than other players dare to venture. While Monfils likes to play to the crowd, Fognini is often dismissive of it. Annoyed on Saturday by a female spectator sitting behind the baseline who was slow to find her seat after a changeover, Fognini scowled and said, “Sit down, you ugly goat,” in Italian. He castigated himself in similar terms minutes later, when his normally reliable forehand deserted him. “You’ve made over 60 forehand errors — you’re nothing but a human goat!” he shouted after a shot curled wide. Addressing Fognini’s antics after the match, Monfils said: “Actually, you know, I wasn’t focusing on him. I know sometimes, Fabio talks or, I don’t know, shows stuff and does stuff. My focus was on myself. I was, I think, too tired to watch him.” Monfils was so tired, he appeared to be sleepwalking through the fourth set. After being broken in the first game, Monfils barely moved for balls, and he hit first serves as slow as 80 miles per hour, winning just six points in the set. “It’s easy,” he said of his decision to throw away the set. “I want to serve first in the fifth. So I mean, the only option I had is to take six-love. Why should I make any effort?” Fognini said he expected that approach from Monfils. “He always do like that,” Fognini said with a shrug. Monfils served first in the fifth set and saved two break points before holding the game. The velocity of his serve in the final set increased to a match-high 132 m.p.h. Once again, Fognini began acting up. He was assessed a point penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct after throwing his racket in the third game of the final set, which put him behind, 3-0. He lost his serve at love five times in the match, each time after being disheartened by a lengthy Monfils hold. The last time Fognini was broken at love was in the final game of the match, when he committed four consecutive forehand errors. After the last one veered far to the right, Monfils leapt high, and the crowd roared and continued clapping and cheering for minutes, except for a brief respite to boo Fognini one last time as he left. “I played epic match there, and I feel great,” Fognini said, adding: “I’m happy about my tennis. I’m not happy, of course, because I lost, but this is the sport.” Rafael Nadal, the winner of a match that was played simultaneously but far more quickly, defended what he had seen from Monfils and Fognini as he watched the conclusion of their match. “It’s a game that you can do whatever you want,” Nadal said. “You know, it’s not only one way to play tennis. There are different ways to play tennis.” He added: “All the respect for Monfils and for Fognini; they make a good show for the crowd. Long match. Crowd involved. Good for tennis.” It may have been good for tennis, but it was not necessarily good tennis.

Tennis
French Open
Fabio Fognini
Gael Monfils


Tribe Proposes a Casino for a Queens Racetrack

Abstract: An American Indian tribe awaiting federal recognition is set to submit a plan to the state today to build a casino at the Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens, tribal leaders said yesterday. If the proposal is accepted — it will have a long road ahead, given the political and regulatory hurdles — the tribe, Shinnecock Indian Nation, has said it will abandon plans to construct a similar venue at its 800-acre reservation in the East End of Long Island. That project has been the source of a legal dispute between the tribe and its neighbors. Earlier this year the state issued a request for proposals for the operation of video-lottery terminals at Aqueduct in Ozone Park. The tribe’s plans, however, are more ambitious in size and scope: The casino would have 490,000 square feet of gambling space, with 350 card tables and more than 10,000 slot machines. Randy King, chairman of the Shinnecock trustees, said the project would generate 22,000 permanent jobs and about $2.1 billion a year in revenues, with about a quarter of that going to the state. The Shinnecocks do not plan to take over operations of the Aqueduct track, Mr. King said. “This proposal is about promoting prosperity, both for our tribe and our state, which has lost an enormous amount in potential revenue to casinos in places like Atlantic City and Connecticut, which are not that far away,” Mr. King said in an interview. Tom Shields, a spokesman for Gateway Casino Resorts, a Michigan company that owns a casino in Detroit and is the Shinnecocks’ partner in the project, said it was “a perfect opportunity to suggest to the state of New York that you can do better than just turn Aqueduct into a slot house.” The tribe’s plans were first reported yesterday in The Daily News. Through a spokesman, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, who has supported the installation of video-lottery terminals at the Aqueduct, declined to comment on the Shinnecocks’ proposal. “As of now the Shinnecocks are not recognized as a federal tribe by the Bureau of Indian Affairs,” said Christine Anderson, a spokeswoman for Gov. Eliot Spitzer. “We cannot comment on the issue of a casino until their status is clarified by the courts. If, in the end, they’re not federally recognized, they can’t get the benefits of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act.” Casinos are illegal in New York unless they are operated by Indian tribes and are situated on tribal land. A federal judge ruled in 2005 that the Shinnecocks were entitled to federal recognition, but the Bureau of Indian Affairs has not acknowledged the decision. The tribe has filed a suit to force the federal government’s hand in making a decision. New York State has recognized the tribe for centuries. With federal recognition, the Shinnecocks could acquire land at Aqueduct, with state agreement. In September, Governor Spitzer recommended that the New York Racing Association, which has been beset by bankruptcy and scandal, continue to run the tracks at Saratoga, Belmont and Aqueduct, but cede control of the video-lottery terminals at Aqueduct to another entity. The plan, which requires the Legislature’s approval, has faced criticism from Senate Republicans. The Shinnecock Indian Nation draws most of its income from an annual powwow, as well as a series of federal and state grants, said Lance A. Gumbs, a Shinnecock trustee. Mr. Gumbs and other members also profit from the tax-free sale of cigarettes at the reservation, “but it’s not a source of revenue for the tribe,” a spokeswoman for the tribe said. The tribe has tried for years to break into the gambling business. In 2003, the Shinnecocks stunned their neighbors in Southampton by breaking ground on a casino proposed for its reservation in Hampton Bays; the town sued, claiming the tribe could not run a casino since it was not federally recognized. A trial came to an end in May, but the judge has yet to issue a decision, Mr. King said.


An Engineer’s Eureka Moment With a G.M. Flaw

Abstract: DETROIT — Somewhere inside the two-inch ignition switch from the 2005 Chevrolet Cobalt was the clue that Mark Hood was seeking. Mr. Hood, an engineer in Florida, had photographed, X-rayed and disassembled the device in the fall of 2012, focusing on the tiny plastic and metal switch that controlled the ignition. But even after hours of testing, Mr. Hood was at a loss to explain why the engine in Brooke Melton’s Cobalt had suddenly shut off, causing her fatal accident in 2010 in Georgia. It was no small matter to her family, which had hired Mr. Hood for their lawsuit against General Motors. Then he bought a replacement for $30 from a local G.M. dealership, and the mystery quickly unraveled. For the first time, someone outside G.M., even by the company’s own account, had figured out a problem that it had known about for a decade, and is now linked to 13 deaths. The discovery was at once subtle and significant: Even though the new switch had the same identification number — 10392423 — Mr. Hood found big differences. A tiny metal plunger in the switch was longer in the replacement part. And the switch’s spring was more compressed. And most important, the force needed to turn the ignition on and off was greater. “There was a substantial increase in the torque of the switch,” Mr. Hood said. “We took measurements. And they were very different.” So began the discovery that would set in motion G.M.’s worldwide recall of 2.6 million Cobalts and other cars, and one of the gravest safety crises in the company’s history. Mr. Hood came to realize that G.M., and the supplier that made the part, Delphi, had quietly changed the switch sometime in 2006 or early 2007, making it less likely that an unsuspecting driver could bump the ignition key and cause the car to cut off engine power and deactivate its air bags. The change was made so quietly that G.M. hired outside consultants last year to help identify which Cobalt model years contained the original switch. Now, the details behind the change have become critical issues in determining whether the automaker intentionally concealed a safety defect. Next week, G.M.’s chief executive, Mary T. Barra, and the nation’s top auto safety regulator, David Friedman, will testify before the House and Senate about events leading up to the wide-ranging recall. Mr. Hood’s work in the Melton case was a turning point in solving the mystery of the faulty switches, and led to the first depositions by G.M. engineers that confirmed years of internal studies of ignition problems in the Cobalt. G.M. settled the wrongful-death suit brought by the Melton family last year. “It was obvious they changed the switch, and we showed G.M. that,” said Lance Cooper, the Georgia lawyer who represented the Melton family. It was hardly a straight path to Mr. Hood’s finding. After taking the case in 2011, Mr. Cooper first hired a mechanic to see if the crash was related to a power steering problem that was the subject of a G.M. recall at the time. But data taken from the car’s black box pointed to ignition failure — and Mr. Hood, a veteran investigator of the engineering of airplanes, cars, trains and medical devices, was given the task of analyzing it. Mr. Hood zeroed in on how the switch functioned. He learned that the small plastic-and-metal component at one end controlled whether the car’s engine was in the on, off, or accessory position. The accessory position allows certain electronics, like the radio, to run. Once he determined that the original part from Ms. Melton’s car differed from the store-bought replacement, Mr. Hood began combing junkyards, acquiring more switches from Cobalts — 18 in all. By the time Mr. Cooper started taking depositions from G.M. engineers in April 2013, Mr. Hood had documented the change in the part so thoroughly that the company could not escape the facts. In one deposition, Mr. Cooper confronted Raymond DeGiorgio, the head switch engineer on the Cobalt, with the differences between the original switch and the replacement. While Mr. DeGiorgio said he saw the differences, he could not explain why the part had been changed without a corresponding change in its identification number. “I was not aware of a detent plunger switch change,” he said. “We certainly did not approve a detent plunger switch change.” But in federal filings for the recall in February, G.M. said that an unnamed engineer had in fact signed a document in April 2006 approving design changes in the switch suggested by Delphi. G.M.’s Own Findings vs. Drivers’ Experiences A timeline maps internal findings by General Motors and driver experiences. In the same filing, the automaker also acknowledged that Mr. Hood’s detective work on the switch changes was the first time an outsider had “observed and documented” the switch change. Government investigators have requested that G.M. provide any documents chronicling the switch change and who within the company approved it. The change of a basic part on a high-volume vehicle like the Cobalt is unusual, and correspondence between G.M. and Delphi on the switch could be seen as evidence that the automaker knew the original part was defective. It was not just the Cobalt that contained the switch. In addition to the 2005-7 Cobalt, G.M. also recalled the 2007 Pontiac G5 , the 2003-7 Saturn Ion; the 2006-7 Chevrolet HHR and Pontiac Solstice ; and the 2007 Saturn Sky . On Friday, G.M. added 971,000 later model Cobalts and other cars to the recall. Late Friday, G.M. raised the number of deaths linked to the faulty switches from 12 to 13, after confirming an additional fatality related to an ignition-switch accident in Canada. Mr. Hood’s research could also play a part in class-action suits filed against G.M. covering all owners of Cobalts and other vehicles in the recall. He said his investigation was nothing extraordinary in scope, just a meticulous breakdown of a commodity auto part found in millions of vehicles. The newer, improved switch has now gone back into production at a Delphi plant in Mexico. Ms. Barra said two shifts of workers were making the switch, with a goal of having initial shipments ready for dealers by early April. G.M. has said it will replace the old switch with the new one, at no charge to vehicle owners. In the interim, Ms. Barra told customers in a video on a company website that the recalled cars were safe to drive , as long as there were no objects attached to the ignition key. The moment that will linger for Mr. Hood is when he removed the switch from the ignition assembly salvaged from Ms. Melton’s car. He then replaced it with the store-bought part, and realized how much better the entire part worked. “It’s satisfying to me because I’m working on behalf of the Meltons,” he said. “It won’t bring their daughter back, but if it goes toward a better understanding of the problem, it might save someone else.”

GM
Automobile safety
Recalls and Bans
Delphi
Mark Hood


Naked in the East Village

Abstract: Dear Diary: This was probably sometime during the mid-80s, when I left my East Village tenement late one very hot summer night to grab something from my local deli. Walking down my street, I’m barely aware of a young guy sitting on a high step of a nearby stoop, crouched over. At the deli, I make my purchase (probably a pint of strawberry Haagen-Dazs) and head back to my very humble abode. As I pass that same stoop, the kid says to me, “Mister, do you know where I can get some shorts?” Well, I consider myself a die-hard New Yorker, who, even back then (maybe especially back then, before Giuliani whitewashed my city of delicious sin) has already experienced a wide variety of bizarre street scenes. But this stops me dead in my tracks. As I look over at him, I realize he’s trying to hide the fact that he’s stark naked. A little taken aback, I tell him to wait there. I go back to my apartment and grab an old pair of gym shorts, some socks and pair of worn sneakers (black Converse high-tops). I return to him and offer up my very humble gift. He’s very appreciative. Then he stands up to put the shorts on; I can’t help noticing that he’s a fine young specimen. I ask him, “What happened?,” at which he starts to cry. I immediately say, “Don’t tell me.” He stops crying and quickly finishes dressing as I turn and head back home, never knowing anything more than what I’ve just told you.


Chinese Man Kills Relative of U.S. Olympic Coach

Abstract: BEIJING — A Chinese man wielding a knife attacked an American couple related to a United States Olympic volleyball coach on Saturday, killing the man and wounding his wife and their Chinese guide atop an ancient tower in central Beijing. The attacker then killed himself by leaping from the tower, American and Chinese officials said. The attack on the tourists occurred on the first day of competition at the Olympic Games in Beijing, after a dazzling opening ceremony the previous night in which China sought to project an image of power and strength while welcoming hundreds of thousands of foreign visitors. As news of the killing spread, it darkened the mood somewhat in the city, from the warrens of old alleyways where Chinese are eager to open their homes to foreigners, to the stadiums where visitors waited in line for events like swimming and gymnastics . The dead American was Todd Bachman of Farmington, Minn., the 62-year-old father-in-law of Hugh McCutcheon, the head indoor men’s volleyball coach, American Olympic officials said. Bachman’s wife, Barbara, 62, was in critical but stable condition after eight hours of surgery. The Chinese guide is a woman, according to Xinhua, the state news agency. She was not identified. McCutcheon’s wife, Elisabeth, a member of the 2004 United States women’s Olympics volleyball team, was with her parents when they were attacked. The attack is an embarrassment for China, where leaders have taken pains to say that, more than anything else, these Olympics would be safe. The Chinese government has faced enormous challenges this year, notably during the Tibetan riots in March and the deadly earthquake in May, and is determined to show people here and abroad that it can maintain strict control of the country under any circumstances. Violence against foreigners is extremely rare in Beijing and across China. Chinese generally do not exhibit hostility toward Americans or the United States. During the opening ceremony on Friday night, the American delegation drew thunderous applause when it marched into the Bird’s Nest, as the Olympic stadium is known, from Chinese watching inside and outside the stadium. The victims were not wearing anything that would have clearly identified them as Americans or visitors who had a connection to a United States team, said Darryl Seibel, a spokesman for the United States Olympic Committee. The attack took place at noon on the second floor of the Drum Tower, which was built in the 13th century and lies on the imperial north-south axis that runs from the Temple of Heaven to the Forbidden City to the main Olympic site. The tower, a majestic red building, draws tourists who climb it for a sweeping view of one of the best preserved ancient neighborhoods in Beijing. Xinhua identified the attacker as Tang Yongming, 47, from Hangzhou in Zhejiang Province. He was a factory worker who was divorced five years ago, Xinhua reported. He quit his job and then sold his house in 2006, and no longer had a permanent home. He came to Beijing on Aug. 1, the report said. The wounded victims were being treated at the Peking Union Medical College Hospital, one of Beijing’s best medical centers, in the Wangfujing shopping district. The Chinese government, fearful of a terrorist attack from separatists, has tightened security throughout the capital, reinforcing the usual police units with paramilitary officers and soldiers. Tens of thousands of surveillance cameras have been installed on lampposts and in bars and Internet cafes, and a legion of residents, most of them elderly, are volunteering as neighborhood sentries. They sit on curbsides and in alleys looking for any suspicious act or person. “This is shocking because I thought the government had done a lot to ensure safety,” said a patient at a nearby hospital out for a walk by the Drum Tower who would give only her last name, Lu, and age, 62. Several other Chinese blamed the guards in the tower for not being more vigilant. “The timing of this is suspicious,” said a man who identified himself as Wang, 35, a lifelong neighborhood resident who wondered whether the assailant intended to disrupt the Olympics. “I think this might hurt China’s image in the world, but I don’t think it’ll disturb the Olympics per se.” The men’s volleyball team, which is staying in the athletes’ village, was notified of the attack soon after it occurred, Seibel said. The team still plans to compete in a match on Sunday, with the coach absent. No additional security measures would be put in place for American athletes. President Bush and Laura Bush were still in Beijing on Saturday. “Laura and I were also saddened by the attack on an American family and their Chinese tour guide today in Beijing,” Mr. Bush said in his hotel after making a brief statement about the fighting in Georgia. “The United States government has offered to provide any assistance the family needs.” Bachman was the chief executive of Bachman’s, a garden center and florist that has locations across Minneapolis-St. Paul and employs more than 1,000 people. The company, which is led by several members of the Bachman family, issued a statement thanking Olympic officials and people who had offered their condolences. “The Bachman family and our entire company family are shocked about the tragic and senseless attack,” the statement said. Spectators at Olympic sites began hearing of the attack shortly after it took place. “To tell you the truth, this is really a shock because there’s so much security here,” said Annette Busateri, 31, a communications manager from Salt Lake City who was watching men’s gymnastics qualifications when she heard the news. “There are guards everywhere and cameras.” She and her husband, who were traveling around China with a tour group, paused when asked if they would still wear clothes with “U.S.A.” on them. “I would, I think, because there is still national pride there,” Ms. Busateri said. “You can’t let something like this change the way you live or make you shy away from being American.” Tina Jacobson, 55, of Atlanta, was wearing a shirt with the American flag on it as she waited with her 19-year-old daughter, Jackie, to get into the fencing site. They were in Beijing to cheer on Ms. Jacobson’s other daughter, Sada, who is competing in the women’s saber fencing final on Saturday night. “I feel safe,” Tina Jacobson said. “We do a lot of traveling. This is a very big city and there are people who do bad things.” Anne Donovan, the coach of the American women’s basketball team, said she brought up the attack with her players on their way to a game. “We said a prayer for them in the locker room and I have goose bumps talking about it,” she said. “It’s something that changes the events right now for the Olympic Games.”

Olympic Games (2008)
Volleyball
Beijing (China)


S.E.C. to Seek Comments on New Financial Rules

Abstract: WASHINGTON — Faced with drafting scores of regulations and conducting multiple studies over the next year, the Securities and Exchange Commission is expanding its public comment process to solicit input from investors and Wall Street before the formal rules are drafted, the chairwoman of the agency said Tuesday. Mary L. Schapiro, the S.E.C. chairwoman, said, “While we want and need input, we recognize that there is significant interest in how we obtain it.” “I believe that an open process maximizes public confidence in the rules that are proposed and ultimately adopted, as well as in the studies that are released,” she added. In part, the S.E.C.’s outreach is intended to quell fears that have emerged about putting into effect legislation that will overhaul regulation of financial institutions. Consumer advocates as well as business interests are concerned that the rule-making will be done behind closed doors and be dominated either by Wall Street lobbyists or by groups hostile to business and industry. Ms. Schapiro spoke at a forum sponsored by the United States Chamber of Commerce at which she outlined the new procedures and noted that the commission had set up a Web site for submission of comments. The new law calls for the S.E.C. to draft regulations that could, for example, govern corporate disclosure of executive compensation , allow shareholders to nominate candidates for company boards, tighten oversight of credit rating agencies and, together with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, impose new capital and margin requirements on derivatives trading. The S.E.C. began the first of the act’s required studies on Tuesday, asking investors for feedback on whether the practices of stock brokers and investment advisers should continue to be subject to different regulatory standards. By law, the S.E.C. regularly seeks comments on proposed rules after a regulation has been drafted and published, a practice that will continue. By expanding the process beyond the legal requirements, Ms. Schapiro said “the idea is to offer maximum opportunity for public comment and to provide greater transparency.” All comments submitted to the new Web site will be posted for public viewing, Ms. Schapiro said. In addition, when industry or consumer groups meet with members of the commission’s staff to discuss rule proposals, the meeting’s agenda will be publicly released, she said. The commission will also conduct public hearings on selected topics. Ms. Schapiro cautioned, however, against using the process as a forum to debate the requirements of the law. “The regulatory process is not designed to re-debate issues that Congress has resolved,” she said. The commission’s study of the effectiveness of existing standards of care for broker-dealers and investment advisers will help the S.E.C. determine whether the two groups should continue to be governed by different rules. Currently, brokers are governed by what is known as the “suitability rule,” under which they are required to have reasonable grounds for believing that an investment recommendation is suitable for a customer. Registered investment advisers, however, are required to exercise “fiduciary responsibility” in their dealings with clients, a legal requirement that the interest of the investor comes first, before the adviser’s possible financial gain. The S.E.C. is asking for the public to weigh in on whether retail customers understand that there are different standards for the two groups and on the effectiveness of each standard. The commission is also seeking comments on the potential impact that changes in the requirements for either group would have on fraud protection and on access to personalized investment advice and securities recommendations.

Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (2010)


Platitudes Create Rifts Between Berlin and Its Allies

Abstract: BERLIN — More than a century ago, Kaiser Wilhelm II, Emperor of Germany and King of Prussia, bombastically half-commanded the world to heal itself through an infusion of something he called the German essence. Last year, two world wars (and much rejected German essence) later, Chancellor Angela Merkel, the calm, modest, reasonable pastor’s daughter, twice picked up Kaiser Bill’s theme in the midst of a recession that has hit Germany perhaps harder than any other industrial country. To a New Year’s audience, she talked of the virtuous regulation of the German economic and financial system, and said, “These guiding principles must be followed worldwide.” Then, just before her re-election, she proclaimed that anchoring the worldwide precepts of the German economic and social model — “the defense of our ideals” — would be the main task of her new coalition government. This declaiming got little notice in the big, wide world, but its tonality persists to this day, particularly in relation to Europe. Last week, the chancellor wrote in a newspaper article that the “Federal government is very conscious of the exemplary role model Germany assumes in terms of stability policy within the euro area.” Read that as a we’re-boss-here laying down of the law for Germany’s neighbors. Ms. Merkel skipped any reference to the need for creating growth, although the official rules of the European Union ’s common currency are contained in the very deliberately named Stability and Growth Pact. Indeed, she referred only to “stability policy.” That’s a euphemism for more German-designated austerity in Europe, where the International Monetary Fund estimates that growth will lag significantly behind that of the United States and Asia this year and next. Big questions about the solidity and wisdom of Ms. Merkel’s prescriptive inclinations enter here like a thunderclap. How could it be otherwise when she projects an increasingly assertive, single-minded, self-absorbed Germany stating economic obligations that only a minority of the Union’s membership can possibly shoulder? That has been enough for the former Chancellor Helmut Schmidt to decry “national egotism” and “Berlin’s nasty taste for Wilhelm-style bluster.” John C. Kornblum, a former U.S. ambassador to Germany, describes it these days as an “it’s all about us place,” akin to China in its “confusion” about “how to contribute to the common good.” Joschka Fischer, a former foreign minister, speaks of a new variety of “isolationism.” On an instability scale, that’s matched now by a rolling implosion here of Ms. Merkel and her government’s domestic political status. Polls over the weekend showed 86 or 87 percent of a sample of voters finding that her Christian Democratic and Free Democrat coalition had not created any palpable progress. If elections had been held Sunday, together they would have scored under 40 percent, one poll said. In terms of personal popularity, the chancellor has now dropped below the level of Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the Social Democrat opponent she easily defeated in elections last September. At the same time, editorials have been filled with references to an absence of authority, incompetence, government by a chancellor’s office clique, and, repeatedly, the phrase “the weakest government” in postwar Germany. The anger is not at all about Ms. Merkel’s inclination to instruct Europe and the world. Germany would have loved giving the globe a soccer lesson with a World Cup victory, which — unlike pronouncements of economic wisdom — doesn’t raise questions about Germany’s unwillingness to assume greater practical responsibilities or risks. Instead, the dissatisfaction is about things like botched promises involving taxes and health care that relate to a tightened budget, and obvious political weakness following the coalition parties’ defeat in regional elections and their open dissension about Ms. Merkel’s candidate for the post of president. I talked about the subject to three Christian Democrats, all with official positions in a party leadership riddled by resignations. One, exchanging anonymity for frankness, said: “She’s not up to the job. She was always an administrator, not a leader, and now she’s lost her touch.” My goodness. Still, none of three saw certain disaster, and they hoped in the short term for the mind-numbing effect of summer vacations and the continuation of improved numbers for the German economy. In these and other conversations, it was notable that no one here pointed to what so galls some economists (in the International Monetary Fund, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and the administration of President Barack Obama, for example) about the management of the German economy. It’s that Ms. Merkel has paid absolutely no attention to their admonitions that Germany try to limit its surpluses by increasing domestic demand and thereby creating a greater market for the exports of its trading partners. Doing so would look like Germany’s taking heed of the fact that its imbalances restrict growth elsewhere. Evading it reinforces the arguments of Germany’s harshest critics: that the Merkel government, in an attempt to reclaim the competitiveness it has lost to China, pursues a deflationist or beggar-thy-neighbor policy, based on low wages, export subsidies, decades of restrictive Bundesbank habit, and a semi-captive E.U. market. When Americans, in gentler terms, argued in this sense, friends of the chancellor fired back in touchy overkill mode. Hans-Werner Sinn, head of the Ifo economic research institute, linked the United States’ calls for continuing stimulus measures to an attempt at prising money out of Germany of “a similar nature to the rescue packages for the crisis countries in southeastern Europe.” Looking back, much of Ms. Merkel’s original boldness as the world’s righteous economist had to do with flattering an electorate that has since moved beyond such stroking. That leaves the current German economic uptick as her irreplaceable domestic ally. Of course, there always seems to be somebody around determined to drag reality into things. As Andreas Wörgötter, an O.E.C.D. economist, has noted, “Germany has one of the lowest potential growth rates” in the West. Last week, the ZEW economic research group did its bit as well. It reported, in a survey of financial analysts and institutional investors, that the “upside potential of the German economy would appear to be largely exhausted by the end of the year.” So how to judge Germany’s course? Vicente del Bosque, Spain’s soccer coach, said something that might well pertain after his team knocked the Germans out of the World Cup: “They were not as strong as we feared.”


Autoworkers Union Grew for 6th Consecutive Year

Abstract: Membership in the United Automobile Workers rose by nearly 5,200 workers in 2015, to 408,639, the sixth straight year of small gains. The Detroit-based union said in a filing with the Labor Department that membership rose 1.3 percent last year. That remains down from the more than 700,000 members it had in 2002, and from its peak of nearly 1.5 million in 1979. Since hitting a low of 355,191 in 2009, membership has risen 15 percent. A U.A.W. spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Bureau of Labor Statistics said in January that there were 14.8 million workers in unions in 2015 in the United States, up from 14.6 million in 2014.


Jeter Gets Day Off as Yankees End Trip With Loss

Abstract: TORONTO — Derek Jeter was one of three regulars given the day off Sunday as the Yankees completed a challenging 11-day, four-city trip with a 3-0 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays . Normally, Jeter wants to play every day, but Manager Joe Girardi said Jeter and several of his teammates had showed signs of fatigue. After a few days of struggling to hit the ball out of the infield, Jeter finally admitted that the hectic schedule of rainouts, rain delays and West Coast travel made Sunday a welcome respite. “At this point in the season, any opportunity helps,” Jeter said, “especially with the schedule we’ve had.” But with 11 games remaining in the regular season, Jeter, even with a 3-for-18 dip in his last four games, has been on the doorstep of .300 for a month now as he has clawed back from a dismal first half to post a more respectable .292 batting average. Considering that he was batting .257 on July 7 (after the first 66 games of the season), with 2 home runs and 12 doubles, his second half has been something of an eye-opener. That includes a torrid stretch from July 9, when he went 5 for 5 and reached 3,000 career hits, to Sept. 4, when he had two hits, including a home run, and five runs batted in. During that 46-game period, he hit .358 and had eight doubles, three triples and three home runs, with 31 runs and 32 R.B.I. During the early part of the season, Jeter did not look like the career .314 hitter he was coming into the season, and there were questions about whether his days as a perennial .300 hitter were behind him. The contentious off-season contract negotiations reflected a difference in opinion in how the Yankees and Jeter saw his abilities over the next several years. Observers outside the organization wondered if his .270 batting average last season was a sign of the natural decline of a shortstop who would turn 37 early in the 2011 season. But despite his improved numbers in the second half, and his recent flirtation with .300, Jeter says he has not had anything to prove as he has raised his level of play closer to his past standards. “I don’t think I have to prove anything,” he said. “That’s not why I’m playing. I’m playing to win. I’m not out there thinking about proving anyone right or wrong. We’re trying to win games. There’s too much to think about if you’re trying to prove people right or wrong.” Even though he finished last season with a .270 average, Jeter has hit .298 with 33 extra-base hits and 86 runs since last Sept. 18. But he said that number in itself did not tell him anything about what he could do to help the Yankees win games. “Maybe it tells you something,” he said. “I don’t need anyone to tell me anything. I know what I can do.” The Yankees headed back to New York with a four-and-a-half-game lead over the Boston Red Sox in the American League East, with Mariano Rivera looking to earn his record-setting 602nd career save, which would follow Jeter’s much-celebrated run toward 3,000 hits. Also on the radar of individual accomplishment is C. C. Sabathia’s bid for his 20th victory. Another possibility could be Jeter’s chasing .300. With Sunday’s day off — Jeter was joined by Mark Teixeira and Curtis Granderson while the short-handed Yankees managed only five hits in the shutout — a more refreshed Jeter could still have a shot at .300 with a big finish, not that he would ever claim to be focused on such a goal. “I’m not running to the scoreboard to see what my batting average is every day,” he said. “We’re trying to win games, and I have a job to do. Sometimes that means hitting a ground ball to second base to move a runner over, and if that’s what I’m supposed to do, that’s what I’ll try to do. Everyone would like to be hitting over .300, but we’re trying to win games, so whatever is going on in the game dictates what you’re going to do.” There have been several theories regarding Jeter’s second-half improvement. Girardi has said he thinks it has been because of Jeter’s shedding the pressure of reaching 3,000 hits. Others think the time he spent on the disabled list in June with a calf strain actually rejuvenated him. Jeter says it was the time he spent with the minor league hitting instructor Gary Denbo, working on staying back on pitches while in the batter’s box. Jorge Posada said: “After coming back from the D.L., I think that helped him a lot. Mentally, it helped him more than anything. He’s the guy that we follow in every sense of the word. When he gets on base, everything kind of trickles down.” INSIDE PITCH With Sunday’s loss to the Blue Jays, the Yankees finished their trip 4-6, but added two games to their lead over the Red Sox in the American League East. Freddy Garcia allowed two solo home runs to Adam Lind in the loss and was taken out of the game before Lind came up again in the fifth inning with two runners on base.

Toronto Blue Jays
New York Yankees
Rivera Mariano
Garcia Freddy
Jeter Derek
Granderson Curtis
Teixeira Mark
Baseball


G. Warren Whitaker, Estate Lawyer, Describes Request to Redo Astor Will

Abstract: G. Warren Whitaker , a Manhattan trusts and estates lawyer, testified on Monday that he received a telephone call in December 2003 from a lawyer working for Brooke Astor with an urgent request. Mrs. Astor was not satisfied with a recent amendment she had made to her will, and she wanted to do more, Mr. Whitaker said he was told by the lawyer, Francis X. Morrissey Jr. The amendment, or codicil, had given Mrs. Astor’s son, Anthony D. Marshall , the authority to decide which charities would receive 49 percent — roughly $30 million — of one of Mrs. Astor’s trusts. But Mrs. Astor wanted her son to have more control of the trust, Mr. Whitaker said Mr. Morrissey told him, adding that Mrs. Astor’s longtime law firm, Sullivan & Cromwell, might try to prevent that from happening. Both Mr. Whitaker and Mr. Morrissey decided that it was best to move quickly, Mr. Whitaker said, because they were unsure how much longer Mrs. Astor, 101 years old at the time, would live. That telephone conversation, recounted by Mr. Whitaker, was the first step toward a January 2004 codicil on which Manhattan prosecutors are in some ways staking their fraud charges against Mr. Marshall, 85, and Mr. Morrissey, 66. The two men are on trial in State Supreme Court in Manhattan, accused of taking advantage of a demented Mrs. Astor to funnel millions of dollars their way. With the trial entering its eighth week of testimony, Mr. Whitaker, 58, presented the first significant account of Mr. Morrissey’s role in the case. Mr. Whitaker drafted and executed the January 2004 codicil, which gave Mr. Marshall outright control of a $60 million chunk of Mrs. Astor’s estate . Parts of Mr. Whitaker’s testimony were similar in nature to that of the man who came before him — both on the witness stand and in Mrs. Astor’s life. That man, Henry Christensen III , formerly of Sullivan & Cromwell, spent seven days on the witness stand earlier in the trial, testifying that he had served as Mrs. Astor’s lawyer for about 15 years before Mr. Marshall forced him out and replaced him with Mr. Whitaker. Mr. Whitaker and Mr. Christensen are important parts of the prosecution’s case. Though not charged with crimes, prosecutors say that both men helped facilitate Mr. Marshall’s and Mr. Morrissey’s alleged fraud by having extensive dealings with Mr. Marshall and Mr. Morrissey about Mrs. Astor’s estate before consulting Mrs. Astor. From Jan. 8 through Jan. 10, 2004, Mr. Whitaker billed Mrs. Astor $5,000 for 10 hours of meetings and conversations he had with Mr. Marshall and Mr. Morrissey regarding her will, even though he never met or spoke with Mrs. Astor, according to evidence and testimony. Mr. Whitaker testified that he also drafted a codicil around that time, not having ever met Mrs. Astor. However, he testified, Mr. Marshall held his mother’s power of attorney and was authorized to handle Mrs. Astor’s financial and estate plans. In addition, Mr. Whitaker said, Mr. Morrissey and Mr. Marshall had repeatedly told him that the changes they were discussing had been requested by Mrs. Astor. “What both of them were telling me was that Mrs. Astor had said very specifically that she did not want to restrict her son, that she wanted to be more generous,” Mr. Whitaker said, adding that he was told Sullivan & Cromwell was trying to restrict Mrs. Astor’s wishes. Mr. Whitaker said that Mr. Marshall told him that he and his mother had grown closer in recent years, and that this was why she wanted to restructure her estate to his benefit. “I think prior wills before the person’s current existing will are fairly unimportant,” Mr. Whitaker said. Before the January 2004 codicil, Mrs. Astor appointed her son to pass a $60 million portion of her estate on to any charities that he pleased. The codicil simply gave Mr. Marshall wider discretion to pass it on, Mr. Whitaker said, which is why he believed it was consistent with Mrs. Astor’s estate plan. But Joel Seidemann, an assistant district attorney, suggested in his questioning that Mr. Whitaker was not completely at ease with making changes to Mrs. Astor’s will. “Was your fear of a will contest a factor in the drafting of these particular words?” he asked, referring to explanatory language. “Sure, it was a consideration,” Mr. Whitaker said.

Astor Brooke
Marshall Anthony D
Morrissey Francis X Jr
Christensen Henry III
Wills and Estates
Frauds and Swindling


Helene Gayle of CARE, on Managers as Dual Citizens

Abstract: This interview with Helene D. Gayle , president and chief executive of CARE U.S.A., the anti-poverty organization, was conducted and condensed by Adam Bryant . Q. Were you involved in leadership roles when you were younger? A. I was the middle of five children, and we were five very opinionated siblings. That probably pushed me to learn to speak up for myself. And I got very involved in student leadership when I was in high school and college. Q. What about your parents’ influence? A. My father had the main barber- and beauty-supply business in the African-American community in Buffalo. All five of us worked there from as early as it was probably feasible. It was a hub of community life, so all of us learned how to deal with a wider range of people from an early age. My mother was also a social worker, involved in community and civic organizations. She would say to us: “Speak up for yourself. You’ve got a good brain, and you’ve got a big mouth — use it.” Q. Any lessons from early management roles? A. At the Centers for Disease Control, I rose up fairly quickly into management positions. The first team I led there included many people who had been my supervisors in previous roles or were more senior than I was. So it was kind of a daunting challenge. I know that I didn’t delegate enough, and I got labeled as somebody who didn’t know how to delegate and who felt like they had to do it all themselves. For me, it wasn’t a question of not being willing to delegate; it was switching from being on the technical side as an individual contributor — where the way you prove yourself is to be smart — to focusing on how you actually make a team work and bring out others’ contributions. Another lesson was learning when the decision is mine and when it is a group decision. A big part of leadership is just being comfortable with the fact that some decisions really are only yours. Image Helene D. Gayle, president and C.E.O of CARE U.S.A, the anti-poverty group, says managers have a double-edged duty. "You've got to be thinking about your own interests," she says, "but also wearing that broader corporate hat." Credit Earl Wilson/The New York Times Q. Any feedback about your leadership style that you’ve heard over the years? A. I tend to be very comfortable with ambiguity, and my willingness to engage over a lot of different options as we’re thinking through solutions sometimes throws people off. I’ve learned to be better about communicating when I’m throwing out a hypothesis versus saying that this is the direction we’re going. So I’ve tried to be better about saying, “O.K., I’m in exploratory mode now” or “I’m in decision mode.” Q. Anything else about running meetings? A. I think that using code or signals in certain touchy or tense situations in meetings often works. In my last job at the C.D.C., we had many times when it would have been easy to get mired in challenges of stressful and frustrating situations. I had been talking to a friend who said when she started getting stressed about work, she would think about how a duck lets water just roll off its back. So I used that to introduce a way of saying “let’s not sweat it and move on,” especially if discussions were getting heated. So anyone was free to start quacking like a duck when we got stuck. The rest of the team usually joined in and we would refer to them as our duck moments. It relieved the tension and got us back on track. Q. Tell me about the culture you’ve tried to foster at CARE. A. Some of the things I’ve tried to develop include a culture of openness, leadership and accountability. A not-for-profit doesn’t have some of the incentives that you have when you’re operating a for-profit organization. It’s a very different sort of culture. When you don’t have those incentives, a lot of it is by persuasion and influence. Sometimes there’s a very democratic environment in an organization that’s about social justice. That can be great, but it also means that sometimes people shy away from the notion of leadership, and that it’s seen as almost an elitist notion that somebody is a “leader.” But I’ve worked through that so that everyone understands that there is a set of people, myself included, who have leadership roles. We focus a lot on developing that as a concept that people feel comfortable with, but then also explaining the practical leadership behaviors we want. I’ve had to make some fairly major changes since I’ve been here in my leadership team because I had leaders who really weren’t fostering the kind of openness and collaboration that we needed. We can’t have people who are competitive and just thinking about their turf. I like to think of it as people needing to be dual citizens. You’ve got to be thinking about your own interests but also wearing that broader corporate hat. Q. How do you hire? A. I want to know their motivation. We’re very much a mission-driven organization, so it’s important to know, why are you here? What’s your primary motivation? I like to have a sense that people are reflective and insightful. When I ask about strengths and weaknesses, it’s more about wanting to know if there’s a correlation between how they see themselves and how others see them. Do they have a good sense of where they need to grow? I think the willingness to be candid and open is critical, so I try to probe for people to get beyond the niceties and tell me something that they might not tell somebody else, or to tell me something that might be a little bit shocking and feeling that that’s O.K. to do that. I’ll ask people, “What was the biggest risk that you took, and what did you learn from it?” And I tend to like people who have a sense of fun, because it is important that there is a sense of pleasure in what they do. Q. If you could ask somebody only two questions in a job interview, what would they be? A. I’d ask them what’s the biggest joy in their life, what brings the most happiness, because usually the things that bring you the most happiness in life are also the kinds of things that would bring you the most happiness at work. It says a lot about somebody. The corollary is, what are the things that bring you the most displeasure in life? By putting it in different terms than the usual interview questions, I think you get a lot more out of people.

CARE
Management
Job Recruiting and Hiring
Helene D Gayle


Sarkozy Throws Open His Arms to Bush, and U.S.

Abstract: WASHINGTON, Nov. 6 — France ’s president, Nicolas Sarkozy , burst onto the Washington scene on Tuesday, clearly reveling in his first official visit to the White House and asking the United States to embrace him as a friend. Mr. Sarkozy has met President Bush several times, so the brief visit was a vehicle for Mr. Bush to reward him for his friendship and for the French leader to introduce himself and his team to official Washington. Setting aside the recent anger he has shown because of his divorce, Mr. Sarkozy backslapped and hugged his way through the day. He also proclaimed his determination to be a reliable partner of the United States. “I come to Washington to bear a very simple message, a message that I bear on behalf of all Frenchmen,” he said in a toast at a formal White House dinner in his honor. “I want to reconquer the heart of America.” In his toast, Mr. Bush welcomed his guest with the words “Bienvenue à la Maison-Blanche.” Earlier in the day Mr. Sarkozy, calling France’s opposition to the American-led war in Iraq “a disagreement,” told the French American Business Council: “I never quite understood why we had to fight with the United States. I never quite got it.” He also distanced himself from the American presidential race, saying, “Regardless of who is president — male or female — we will work hand in hand together.” Mr. Sarkozy arrived in Washington without a spouse but with some of the women who reflect the diversity of his cabinet: Finance Minister Christine Lagarde, a former chairman of a Chicago-based law firm, Baker & McKenzie; Justice Minister Rachida Dati, who has a Moroccan father and an Algerian mother; and Rama Yade, his 31-year-old Senegalese-born subminister of foreign affairs and human rights, whom Mr. Sarkozy calls his “Condi Rice.” At a reception at the French Embassy, he announced that he would take the women to the black-tie dinner in his honor at the White House, saying that they and the rest of his cabinet represent “a new France.” Among the other members of his party were the chef Guy Savoy, holder of three Michelin stars; Henri Loyrette, director of the Louvre; and several members of the French Parliament. Mr. Sarkozy awarded the Legion of Honor on Tuesday to seven World War II veterans, including Senator Daniel K. Inouye, Democrat of Hawaii, who, as a 20-year-old lieutenant, lost an arm leading an attack in Italy in 1945. On Wednesday, Mr. Sarkozy will address a joint meeting of Congress, as his predecessor, Jacques Chirac, did before him, before having lunch and holding a news conference with Mr. Bush at George Washington’s home at Mount Vernon. He will also meet with American Jewish leaders. The entire visit is to last 26 hours. “Sarko l’Américain,” as he is called, is considered the most pro-American French president in decades. The son of a Hungarian immigrant and a French-Greek woman whose father was Jewish, he unabashedly confesses his admiration for the United States, particularly its work ethic and popular culture. He told the business council that during his presidential campaign, “I said I was a friend of America, and with that, they elected me — not bad.” Mr. Sarkozy’s relationship with Mr. Bush is said to be warm, and his tough stance on Iran’s nuclear program — which envisions new punitive sanctions that will hurt French business interests — is welcomed by the White House. Mr. Sarkozy has brought France closer to the position of the United States on dealing with Afghanistan, where France has troops; the Middle East, where he has called himself a friend of Israel; and Russia. The French leader also supports Washington’s position that the province of Kosovo will eventually become independent of Serbia. “The tide has really turned in this relationship,” R. Nicholas Burns, under secretary of state for political affairs, said in a speech in Paris last week. But Mr. Bush is resigned to the fact that Mr. Sarkozy will do nothing to support the American war effort in Iraq. Mr. Sarkozy sidestepped a question at the business council meeting on an American troop withdrawal, saying: “No one is saying that there should be an immediate, unconditional withdrawal. What we want is that as soon as possible, the Iraqi people can decide their future and secure their unity.” French officials said that Iraq was not even on their agenda. Nor is France ready to rejoin the military wing of NATO after a four-decade break, despite Mr. Sarkozy’s flirtation with the idea. He has called the possible admission of Turkey into the European Union, which the Bush administration supports, “nonsensical,” saying that 98 percent of Turkey is in Asia Minor, not Europe. He has sharply criticized Mr. Bush for failing to make the environment a high policy priority, a criticism he repeated Tuesday. Mr. Sarkozy has also faulted the American health care system, which leaves many Americans uninsured, and the fact that much of America knows and cares little about the rest of the world. “If I was in love with the American model, I’d go and live there,” he wrote in “Testimony,” his 2006 campaign book. “This is not the case.” Since Mr. Sarkozy’s divorce from his wife, Cécilia, was announced Oct. 18, he has piled even more events onto his already frenetic schedule. Cécilia Sarkozy said in interviews following their divorce that she wanted to retreat from the limelight and lead a tranquil life. That doesn’t seem to mean the absence of movement, however. The New York Post on Monday ran a photo of her and her daughter Jeanne-Marie leaving Orsay restaurant on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. Mr. Sarkozy has refused to speak about the collapse of his marriage. He stormed out of a recent interview on “60 Minutes” when pressed, before the divorce was announced, about Mrs. Sarkozy’s whereabouts. Yet in “Testimony,” he confessed his hurt that his wife had left him for several months in 2005, saying that openness in explaining the trauma was in order. “This evolution toward transparency in public life, unimaginable only 10 years ago, has become inevitable today,” he wrote. “So you might as well deal with it head on and not try to dodge it.”

France
Sarkozy Nicolas
Democratic Party
Presidents and Presidency (US)
United States International Relations
Friendship
Bush George W